Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published July 2004

DWF: Writing and Reading

When you need to get a drawing into the hands of folks that don't have AutoCAD, there are a number of solutions, the most common of which is to create a PDF file. OK, so you're a small shop and you haven't shelled out the nominal currency for Adobe Acrobat. An alternative might be to use the fabulous product pdf995 ( www.pdf995.com), which costs less than US$10.00 and creates a PDF Printer Driver for any Windows application capable of output. But I digress.

Nonetheless, if you send a PDF file to the customer, chances are they will not be able to plot it to scale… or turn off layers… or access a hyperlink to a website. But if you send them a DWF file they can do all of that!

To turn Off layers in a DWF file, you need to use the DWF eView (optimized for viewing).pc3. Since neither A2004 or A2005 have that driver installed by default, you will need to load it. We'll start there in the instructions.

Instructions to Create a DWF File in A2004 and A2005 (other versions are similar)

1. Select FilePlotter Manager…, then double-click the "Add-A-Plotter Wizard" icon.
2. Navigate through the screens to the point at which you can select the Autodesk DWF eView (optimized for viewing) Model.
3. When configuring the output (in either Page Setup or Plot), select the DWF eView (optimized for viewing).pc3 device from your list of printers and plotters.
4. Select the desired sheet size for the plot. Please note that the DWF file supports the full spectrum of sheet sizes, something you may not have available in your PDF plotting utility.
5. In the Plot dialog box of A2004, specify a name for the DWF file at the bottom of the Plot Device tab BEFORE you click Plot (the default DWF path and name is that of the drawing file).

In A2005, if you have specified a DWF output, you are prompted for the DWF name WHEN you click Plot; there isn't a place in the Plot dialog to specify the output name.

Multi-Sheet DWF in A2004/A2005: For drawings with multiple layouts to be plotted, the Publish command (FilePublish) can create a Multi-Sheet DWF.

6. Email the DWF file to your project associates who don't have AutoCAD.

If the Autodesk Express Viewer has been installed on the system, when they/you double-click the DWF file, the Viewer opens. If it is a Multi-Sheet DWF, you will see thumbnail views on the left in the viewer.

Features for Viewing the DWF File:

1. Standard Pan and Zoom features are incorporated in the viewing area. Wheel mouse functions included.
2. Hover over a hyperlinked object for the “CTRL + Click” tip.
3. Right-click in the viewing area for a shortcut menu with items for Layers, Views, Zoom, and Printing.
4. In the Print dialog box, select the area to print, the Orientation, and the Scale.

Tip: Since the printing is based upon the current view's lower left corner, zoom to the desired area first, then open the Print dialog box.

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