managing markups - autocad® and the digital red pen - augi · december 2-5, 2003 mgm grand hotel...

December 2-5, 2003 ◊ MGM Grand Hotel Las Vegas

Managing Markups - AutoCAD® and the

digital red pen Jim Mays

IN13-1 This session covers all aspects of digital markups including Volo View's markup features, how to import these revisions into your drawings, output options for transmitting drawings (i.e. DWF, PDF), and the new security features of AutoCAD® 2004 along with options for doing online markups with NetMeeting and Windows XP remote desktop.

About the Speaker: Jim is the Director of Information Services for Echeverria Design Group, a retail store design firm located in Miami. He has 15 years of diverse AutoCAD® experience, including AutoCAD consulting, 10 years of CAD management, as a technical director for an AutoCAD reseller, and as an AutoCAD instructor at Broward Community College. Jim has contributed articles to CADENCE magazine and AutoCAD® Tech Journal. He was also the national winner of CADENCE's 1991 Top Gun competition. Jim has been a speaker at AutoDesk University® since 1994.

email: [email protected]

Managing Markups - AutoCAD® and the digital red pen

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Introduction One of the things that all AutoCAD users (and design professionals) have in common is that no matter how perfectly you create a drawing, there are bound to be changes. And then more changes. And then more opinions on how it should look. Traditionally this leads to a lot of dead trees and red pens, along with large FedEx bills and missed deadlines. With all the communication tools available to us today, we should be able to do better, and that’s what this session is all about.

We are going to cover some of the issues related to sending drawing files, creating DWF and PDF files, marking up these files, real-time collaboration and inputting markups back into drawings.

Output There are many options when it comes to sending design information to a client or another consultant; the most obvious is to plot on paper and send the hardcopy. In today’s business environment this option often falls short in one very important way: it’s slow. We now have several other options including DWG, DWF and PDF files.

Sending DWG files One of the most flexible ways to send drawings is to send the actual DWG file – albeit this approach has it’s downside in that you are opening the door for someone else to modify and/or copy geometry from your original. You should be able to completely trust the receiving party if you are taking this approach.

In order to deliver a DWG in complete form, you should use the eTransmit command. This command will package the drawing along with all the associated xrefs, images, fonts and plotting files for you.

Figure 1 – eTransmit

There are two items to check when using eTransmit – the file type is set to .EXE by default and I always change this to .ZIP, because many email systems will reject .EXE files as potential viruses. The


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second item is to “Remove paths from xrefs and images; this should remain checked, since the party you are sending this file to probably does not have the same drive and directory structure you have – with all the files placed in the same directory you should have no problems with xref and image paths.

You can also convert the drawings to be sent to 2000 format if the receiving party is not using 2004, and the “Send email with transmittal” option conveniently attaches the .ZIP file to an email in your default email client.

If you want to make very sure that only the person you are sending a drawing to can open it, AutoCAD 2004 now has the ability to encrypt drawing files; you access this option by doing a “Saveas” and then pulling down “Tools” and picking “Security Options”:

Figure 2 – Adding a password to a drawing file

This only works if the file remains in 2004 format – saving to another version will discard the password protection. You should give the receiving party the password with a phone call, not an email, as this would make it very easy to break the protection.

To remove a password from a file, simply follow the same steps as encrypting it and set a blank password.


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Creating DWF Files The newest entry in drawing exchange formats is DWF (design web format, originally drawing web format) – and there are many good reasons to use this format when sending drawings. DWF files are very compact compared to DWG files, and present drawing information in a “plotted” format that cannot be modified. DWF files can be viewed, printed, plotted to scale and redlined, depending on the application you use to view them. I’ll discuss the viewing and redlining options later; let’s talk about how to create DWFs for now.

There are presently three ways to create a DWF file; you can simply plot the current layout and use the DWF6 ePlot pc3 plotter definition to create a single sheet DWF within AutoCAD 2004, use the “Publish” command from inside AutoCAD 2004 or 2002 (you must download and install the DWF Creator from www.autodesk.com/dwfcreator for 2002), or you can use the DWF Writer product (www.autodesk.com/dwfwriter) to create a windows system printer for use with Revit or any other windows application.

Using the ePlot DWF pc3 within AutoCAD 2004 creates a single page DWF; this option is useful when you want to create a quick DWF of an area without setting it up as a separate layout sheet.

The DWF Writer works very much like Adobe Acrobat – you simply choose the “AutoDesk DWF Writer” as your printer and the system prompts you to provide a file name and location. This option will not create a multi-sheet DWF and lacks many of the options available in the Publish command.

The Publish command gives you the most flexibility and features for creating DWF files. The command is almost identical within AutoCAD 2002 and 2004:

Figure 3 – Publish within AutoCAD 2002


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Figure 4 – Publish command within AutoCAD 2004

As you can see, the only difference here is the “Plotters named in page setups” option in 2004; this very useful option lets you build a complete list of project layouts and send them to your plotter all at once.

The Publish dialog is fairly straightforward, but I’ll point out a few details here; you have the option of password protecting the generated multi-sheet DWF file; you can rearrange the order of the generated sheets, and the most powerful part of this command is being able to add additional sheets from other drawings (or entire project folders). Once your list of sheets is complete you should save the list for future use; this is a set it up once, use it forever feature that will save lots of time as your project goes forward.

A right-click menu lets you access additional features within Publish:


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Figure 5 – Right-click options within Publish

As you can see, you have the ability to rename sheets on-the-fly, change the page setup used, copy sheets within the set, and set options for including or excluding layouts and model tabs when adding sheets to the set.

One other aspect of creating DWF files bears mentioning – the ability to include layer information within the DWF file. You can turn this feature on by going into the custom properties of the DWF6 ePlot pc3:

Figure 6 – Configuring DWF to export layer information

This gives the recipient of the DWF file the ability to turn layers on and off.


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Creating PDF Files While sending drawing information to others within the design industry can be very effectively done using DWF and DWF files, there are times when the recipient of your drawing information is not familiar with these file formats. While some are ready and willing to download a product like AutoDesk Express Viewer, others are better served by simply giving the information to them in a format they are familiar with. Adobe Acrobat PDF files fill this role very nicely, as almost every computer has the Acrobat reader installed on it.

Adobe seems to want to position PDF as the file format of choice for CAD users, as they are actively working with Bentley to optimize the PDF format for drawing file exchange. There are two versions of Acrobat available – Standard and Professional. The Professional version is targeted at AutoCAD users and adds a custom menu and most importantly support for large paper sizes.

To create a PDF file, you need either the full Adobe Acrobat product, one of the available low cost PDF creation tools such as PDF995 (www.pdf995.com) or a product like Bluebeam (www.bluebeam.com) that is written specifically for creating PDF files from within CAD applications.

Another product popular with many users is Acroplot (www.cadzation.com); this line of products can create individual PDF files or batch plot multiple drawings in to a single PDF. They are also working on a product to support DWF creation and another that automatically generates PDFs or DWFs of selected directories on a pre-determined schedule.

Creating a PDF with Adobe Acrobat is pretty much the same within any application, including AutoCAD. You simply print to the “Acrobat Distiller” system printer and the system will prompt for a file name and location. Acrobat 6.0 adds a toolbar to AutoCAD 2002 (and soon to 2004) that adds the layer support option, and an option to create and email the PDF file.

If you use the “Convert to Adobe Acrobat PDF” button, you then are given the option to flatten or include layer information:

Figure 7 – Exporting layer information to PDF


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You are not given this option if you simply use the Plot command and choose the Acrobat Distiller system printer. Personally, I can’t see any reason to export layer information into a DWF or a PDF – the whole idea of these file formats is to present a “plot” electronically, and including this information just opens the possibility of the end user modifying your intent.

Both Acrobat and AutoDesk DWF support and enable font embedding by default – this means text within your drawing will display the same on anyone’s system, even if they do not have the same fonts. This feature can be turned off if necessary, although I can’t see a reason to do so.

By the way, two excellent web resources related to PDFs are www.pdfzone.com and www.planetpdf.com.

I’ll get into a breakdown of the pros and cons of DWF –vs.- PDF later after we’ve discussed viewing and redlining.

Viewing and Redlining We’ve covered how to create DWF and PDF files, now let’s talk about what happens on the receiving end of this transaction. We want to be able to view these drawings, mark up any errors or changes required and then send them on their way. One temptation is to print these files and mark up the hardcopies – this would be a mistake for all the same reasons we created them in the first place. If you are sending these files out you may need to remind some people of this. Let’s cover some of the ways you can view and redline DWF and PDF files; there are many other third party viewing and redlining products on the market, but here I’ll concentrate on the AutoDesk and Adobe offerings.

Volo View Express This DWG and DWF viewer comes with AutoCAD 2002, and offers viewing and redlining of DWG, DWF and Inventor files generated from 2002; files created in 2004 are not supported. The redline features of Volo View Express are limited to a sketch tool and a text box tool. These redlines can be saved as an RML file (discussed below), DWF or DXF.

Express Viewer AutoDesk Express Viewer (available at www.autodesk.com) is a small, simple DWF viewer designed to make it easy for anyone to view and print DWF files. The program is around 3MB, so it would be easy to send the program to someone along with DWF files to be reviewed.

This viewer can also be embedded into an HTML page, Excel spreadsheet, Word document or PowerPoint presentation. When installed, it adds DWF support to your Internet Explorer as well, replacing the Whip driver.

You can navigate through multiple sheet DWFs using the Navigation Pane or the arrow buttons:


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Figure 8 – Express Viewer

Dynamic zooming and panning work identically to AutoCAD with the mouse wheel; the only difference is double clicking the wheel does not do a zoom extents. You can do a “fit to window” by hitting the Home key.

Printing DWFs from the Express Viewer is simple – there are only a few options other than picking which printer to send the file to:


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Figure 9 – Express Viewer print options

If your original DWF was printed to scale and you want to print to scale from Express Viewer, you will need to turn off the “Best Fit” option and make sure to pick a paper size big enough for the drawing. Note that the page area is listed for you, and you have the option of printing the full page or the current view. You can force all geometry to print black, and as with most multi-sheet applications, you can print the current page, all pages or specify which specific pages to print.

There are a few addition program options easily available from the right-click menu:

Figure 10 – Express Viewer right-click menu options


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You can elect to display any hyperlinks or existing markups in the drawing, and the copy option will place the current view on the clipboard for pasting into other applications. To access any existing hyperlinks, simply control-click.

Volo View 3.0 Volo View is a “step up” from the Express Viewer – it has all the same options when viewing and printing DWF files, but adds extensive markup and measurement features and adds support for these same functions on DWG, DXF and Inventor files.

You are given many tools for redlining and measuring drawings; autosnap lets you snap to existing geometry and can be turned on an off via the Tools pull-down menu. One feature I would like to see is a toggle key (like F3 in AutoCAD) that turns the autosnap on and off.

The markup tools are easy to use and self-explanatory, and include line, polyline, arc, sketch, rectangle, circle and a great revision cloud. There are three text tools including text, note (these can be toggled on and off) and a callout text box with an arrow.

Figure 11 – Volo View markups


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Measuring tools include a single measure command, which will place the measured distance as an annotation if you right-click and “Apply annotation”:

Figure 12 – Adding Volo View measurement text

There is also a “measure multi-distance” for picking around a perimeter for instance. Areas can be measured as well. Both of these tools do not include an apply annotation option, but the text in the display window can be copied to the clipboard and pasted as a text object.

Once you are done marking up a drawing, you can save these annotations to either a DWF file or to an RML file, which I’ll describe below.

If you are using Volo View to view an AutoCAD DWG file, you also have full plotting capabilities identical to AutoCAD.

Adobe Acrobat While there are many products to create PDF files, and the Acrobat viewer is an almost standard application on most systems, you need the full Acrobat client to do markups and measurements.

Printing drawings from Acrobat works the same as in Volo View; in order to print to scale you need to pick the right sized paper and make sure the “fit to page” option is turned off.

One quirk of Acrobat is that you often will have to rotate the view (View pull-down… Rotate View…) even though you plotted the drawing correctly. The zooming and panning controls take some getting use to in Acrobat, but if you stick to the “Zoom In” tool and “Fit to page” you can find your way around pretty well. There is also a “dynamic zoom” that works fairly well, and if you hit the escape key you are put back into pan mode.

The available markup tools in Acrobat are almost identical to those in Volo View, with the exception that there is no autosnap feature.


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Figure 13 – Adobe Acrobat markups

Measuring tools are also very similar to Volo View, but the measure tool annotations are handled differently; you must hover over or click on the “dimension” to display the text:

Figure 14 – Adding Adobe Acrobat measurement text


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Note that the distance is measured in decimal feet – there is no option to use feet and inches, and you must manually set the drawing scale when using the measure tools:

Figure 15 – Setting Adobe Acrobat measurement units

Also remember that without any object snapping these measurements are only approximate.

DWF –vs.- PDF feature comparison Feature DWF PDF

Smaller file size Yes No

Print / Plot to scale Yes Yes

Cost of software Free to Low Low to High

Automatic Multi-sheet file creation Yes No*

Project plot list support Yes No

Zooming and panning similar to AutoCAD Yes No

Compatible with all computers / users No Yes

Redline import into AutoCAD Yes No

Aware of layouts Yes No

Snap supported for measurement Yes No

* Available with third party products

Real time collaboration While sending DWF and PDF files via email is certainly a faster way to markup drawings, what if you need an answer RIGHT NOW? There are several tools available for doing real time collaboration – where you and the other party can view a drawing at the same time and discuss changes.

Windows Messenger and Microsoft NetMeeting contain a whiteboard component that can be used to capture images and mark them up collaboratively. If you are using Windows XP, NetMeeting is not available until you install it by doing a Start… Run… “Conf”. This fact alone makes this solution no longer a viable alternative for sharing information, as I don’t want to walk someone through installing and configuring an application on their computer remotely.

The whiteboard component is a very simple screen capture application with markup tools:


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Figure 16 – Microsoft NetMeeting Whiteboard

The best way to connect with NetMeeting is to “call” the other person’s IP address.

Windows Messenger has virtually the same whiteboard application; the problem here is all parties must have a .NET password to use this product, which is used to connect to the other user.

So, both of these products have major downsides. How can we get a quick answer?

XP Remote Assistance Another big IF for this solution: everyone needs to be running Windows XP. While Remote Assistance is touted as a way to get technical assistance (and it works very well for this), it also gives users the ability to share an AutoCAD or Volo View session over the web.

Remote Assistance is not the same as Remote Desktop, which lets you for instance control your work computer from home via VPN, or control other computers in your office over the LAN.

Whoever “owns” the drawings to be reviewed should be the party requesting the remote assistance.

You can access Remote Assistance through the main Help screen in Windows XP:


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Figure 17 – Starting Remote Assistance

Figure 18 – Inviting another user

You are given the option of using Microsoft Messenger, sending an email, or creating an “Invitation file”:

Figure 19 – Contact options


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Figure 20 – Setting security options

Notice that there is a time limit on Remote Assistance for obvious security reasons, and that a password is very strongly recommended.

When the recipient starts up the invitation, you need to supply the password:

Figure 21 - Connecting


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On your end, you are given a choice to accept or decline the connection:

Figure 22 – Accepting the connection

You can then pass control of the desktop back and forth:

Figure 23 – Remote Assistance

The person requesting help has the ultimate control here – a press of the ESC key will return control at any time, and the person providing the remote assistance must request and be granted permission to take control.

While you can transmit voice over this same connection, I find that conversing with a speakerphone works much better. Remote Assistance is a great tool for quickly and securely resolving critical design issues.


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Input Incorporating redlines back into your AutoCAD drawings is pretty much the same process it has always been – reference the markups, make your changes, reference, change, etc., etc. Using digital markups certainly speeds up the routing of drawings to be marked up, but the only real tool available for pulling these changes back into the AutoCAD environment is the use of RML (Redline xML) files. From Volo View, you have the option of saving your markups into an RML file; this file can be imported into the original AutoCAD drawing with the RMLin command. This places all the markups on a layer named _Markup_, which is set to locked by default. We’ve had success unlocking this layer and deleting each markup notation as they are implemented. If you are not going to delete these markups, it would be a good idea to set this layer to non-plot.

Other than using RML files, you can also simply view a DWF markup in Express Viewer and switch back and forth (a valid argument for dual monitors if I ever heard one), or simply print the markup plan and implement as you would a paper markup.

Conclusion As with all communications issues, the most important thing to consider is your target audience – how technically savvy are they, and what is the best format for delivering information?

The recipients of your design information break down into these groups:

- View and print: DWF or PDF are good solutions at no or very low cost.

- View, print and redline: DWF or PDF, along with the full Adobe Acrobat Professional and/or Volo View.

- View, print and edit: DWG files, along with data security concerns are the answer here.

- I base the DWF/PDF decision on the technical ability of the receiving party.

- For immediate answers, use Remote Assistance.

Using these tools should help to speed up your design review process, reduce your FedEx bill and save a few trees in the process.

managing markups - autocad® and the digital red pen - augi · december 2-5, 2003 mgm grand hotel...

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