PowerCADD 8: ACAD Translator: Black on Black hidden objects

Issue: Black Hole: When writing a DWG^? from PCD8, objects with a black pen color in PCD8 seem to disappear against the black background of ACAD's model space.

Affects:

• PowerCADD 8.0.0, ACAD Translator External
• Priority: High
• This issue has been reported to Engineered Software

Description

Saving a PowerCADD 8 drawing a dwg will result in objects with a black pen color in PCD8 to render as black when opened in ACAD model space. If the ACAD user has a model space background of black, the objects will seem to 'disappear into a black hole'. When the ACAD users switches to Paper Space, all the objects will be there because paper space layouts use a white background. By default, all PCD8 dwg files open into a paper space layout in ACAD so the content will appear correct; the ACAD user will have to switch to model space to see the problem.

Here is a screen shot of a simple example created in PowerCADD 8 and saved as dwg. When opened in ACAD, paper space, all the objects (two, one black one yellow) are visible.

Here is how the same content looks when the ACAD user switches to model space. We have selected both objects for illustration, note the select handle bars immediately above the yellow line appear to be selecting 'nothing'. That 'nothing' is the black line shown in paper space above.

Work Around

If your drawing does not contain Advanced Text blocks (new and specific to PCD8), the fastest work around is to open the file in PowerCADD 7 and write/save the dwg file from there. If your PCD8 drawing contains advanced text blocks (for example from a previous inbound translation), then opening and saving in PowerCADD 7 will not work as Advanced Text from PCD8 is rendered as PDF^? in PCD7, and PDF content is not written when saving as dwg.

If you drawing contains Advanced Text then consider some of these possible work around solutions. Prior to attempting any work around operations make sure to perform a Save As... and work on a copy of your original drawing file.

Getting around the problem involves changing objects in PCD8 with a black pen color attribute to something other than black. The fastest way to do that is using Edit menu → Select Special... feature or the new PCD8 Magic Wand tool (reference your PCD8 printed or PDF manual for details). That allows you to globally select all objects with a pen color of black and change them to something else. Please make sure you have turned Edit All Layers : ON from the Layers Window to speed up that process.

The down side to using Select Special is it will not look in side of Groups or Symbols. In those cases you can assign a Layer Color Attribute to those layers containing Groups or Symbols to change their pen color attributes. (see comment below for clarification of this deletion)

Please remember, when writing a DWG file, all layers (whether turned on or off) are included in the translated file. If you do not want to include hidden layers, and they contain black objects which might be confusing to the ACAD user, delete those layers in your copy of the original drawing prior to saving as dwg.

Other solutions in ACAD may exist but are beyond the scope of this article. For example, an ACAD user could select the black objects while they are visible in paper space and change them to another contrasting color like yellow.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak, Co-founder and Managing Editor, caddpower.com - powercadduser.com

PowerCADD 8: ACAD Translator: Layer Color Attributes don't stick

Issue: Layer Color Attributes assigned in PowerCADD 8 (PCD8) don't stick when opened in ACAD.

Affects:

• PowerCADD 8.0.0, ACAD Translator External
• Priority: Medium
• This issue has been reported to Engineered Software

Description

When writing a dwg file from PCD8, Layer Color Attribute settings assigned in PCD8 are not assigned by default when the file is opened in ACAD (the objects do retain the assigned layer color). In PowerCADD 7 (PCD7), Layer Color Attribute settings were/are correctly assigned when the dwg file is opened in ACAD.

To see the incorrect condition, do this:

1. Assign a Layer Color Attribute in PCD8. An example is pictured below.



2. Write (save) as dwg.
3. Open the dwg from (2) in ACAD.
4. Results: The objects retain their correct color attributes but the layer in ACAD does not have the correct layer color attribute assigned. The screen shot below illustrates the results:

To see the correct condition, do this:

1. Assign a Layer Color Attribute in PCD7 (or open the same file created in PCD8).
2. Write (save) as dwg.
3. Open the dwg from (2) in ACAD.
4. Results: The objects retain their correct color attributes and the layer in ACAD has the correct layer color attribute assigned. The screen shot below illustrates the results:

Work Around

There is no work around directly in PowerCADD 8 other than turning off the layer color attribute and performing a select all on the layer and changing the object color attributes; a potentially destructive technique if we accidentally save over the original file.. If the PCD8 file doesn't contain Advanced Text blocks then the file can be opened in PowerCADD v7 and the dwg file can be saved from there. The alternative is to re-assign the correct layer color attribute setting in ACAD.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak, Co-founder and Managing Editor, caddpower.com - powercadduser.com

PowerCADD 8: ACAD Translator: Rotated Arcs

Issue: Sometimes when translating a dwg file arcs are rotated out of position

Affects:

• PowerCADD 8.0.0, ACAD Translator External
• Priority: High
• This issue has been reported to Engineered Software

Description

When reading a DWG^? file, in some cases (but not all) arcs are rendered correctly in the Tranlator Preview window but are rotated incorrectly when opened in PCD8. The two screen shots below show the condition of the correct preview, and the incorrect result -- note that not all arcs are affected. The DWG file used to create this example is attached below for additional testing if necessary.

Work Around

There is no direct work around to correct the problem during the translation process. Obviously after the file has been opened in PCD8 the arcs can be rotated to their correct position and snapped into place. Another alternative would be to convert the arcs to polygons in ACAD prior to opening the file in PCD8 but this is less than elegant. We understand from conversations with EngSW this issue is on the list of items to be addressed in a rolling update to PCD8 and the ACAD Translator XTNL.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak, Co-founder and Managing Editor, caddpower.com - powercadduser.com

Attachment	Size
DOWNLOAD 04.dwg_.zip	167.98 KB

PowerCADD 8: ACAD Translator: mis-assigned fonts

Issue: The font specified in the ACAD Translator → Text Settings dialog for Editable fonts is not what is assigned when the file is opened in PowerCADD 8.

Affects

• PowerCADD v8.0.0, ACAD Translator External
• Priority: High
• This item has been reported to Engineered Software

Description

When translating a DWG^? or DXF^? file, you can specify which font is used in the resulting PCD8 drawing as an editable font. However the font specified is ignored and all text appears as Helvetica.

To see the condition, do this:

1. Drag and drop a DWG file onto the PCD8 application icon (or use any means you like to open the file in PCD8).
2. In the Translator Settings dialog, click the Text button to display the Text Settings dialog as pictured here:



3. Choose the Editable radio button and specify a font from the pop up list (Arial Black in our example shown above.
4. Press Ok and complete the translation process. The file will open in PCD8, each piece of text will be a new Advanced Text block.
5. Double click any of the text blocks to open the Advanced Text Edit Window.
6. In the Advanced Text Edit Window, open the Fonts window.
7. As pictured below, the selected text is described as being Helvetica Regular rather the specified font Arial Black.



Work Around

The easiest work around is, after translating the file and opening it in PCD8, choose Text Menu → Replace Font to change Helvetica to your font of choice. For more on working with Replace Font see this related article on our site which applies to PowerCADD 7.0.5 or newer and PowerCADD 8.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak, Co-founder and Managing Editor, caddpower.com - powercadduser.com

PowerCADD 8: ACAD Translator: status of font popup menu

Issue: The status of the font selection popup menu in the Text Settings of the translator external is confusing.

Affects:

• PowerCADD 8.0.0, ACAD Translator External
• Priority: Low
• This issue has been reported to Engineered Software

Description

There is a minor cosmetic issue regarding the Font Popup menu when selecting between Editabel and Visually Accurate radio buttons in the Text Settings dialog.

When the Visually Accurate radio button is selected, PowerCADD 8's ACAD Translator automatically converts all fonts to polygon outlines. As such, the status of the Font Popup menu should be dimmed (unavailable) since any selection made in that menu is irrelevant.

When the Editable radio button is selected, the Font Popup menu should be enabled. Currently it is enabled all the time which is incorrect as selections made in this menu only apply when the Editable radio button is selected.

This illustration shows the incorrect status. If Visually Accurate (blue) is selected, the menu (red) should be dimmed.

Work Around

This is a cosmetic issue and no work around is required. Simply realize the status of the menu is incorrect as described above.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak, Co-founder and Managing Editor, caddpower.com - powercadduser.com

PowerCADD 8: Submit Diagnostic Report Typo

Issue: Typo in the Submit Diagnostic Report... dialog.

Affects:

• PowerCADD 8.0.0
• Priority: Low
• This issue has been reported to Engineered Software

Description

When choosing Help menu → Submit Diagnostic Report..., the static text in the dialog currently reads:

• Please enter your name and telephone number so can contact you if necessary.

It should read:

• Please enter your name and telephone number so we can contact you if necessary.

Work Around

No work around is required, this is a cosmetic issue.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak, Co-founder and Managing Editor, caddpower.com - powercadduser.com

PowerCADD 8: Text Attributes Window displays incorrect font

Issue: After translating a DWG^? or DXF^? file, the Text Attributes Floating Window always displays the selected text block as being Geneva when in fact it is some other font.

Affects

• PowerCADD 8.0.0
• Priority: Low
• This item as been reported to Engineered Software

Description

After translating a DWG or DXF file, and choosing Editable Text in the Text Settings dialog, the text blocks in the new PCD8 drawing are always described as Geneva when in fact their font is something else.

To recreate the condition:

1. Translate a DWG file and choose Editable in the Text Settings dialog and choose any font other than Geneva from the pop up list.
2. Choose Windows menu → Text Attributes.
3. Select any Advanced Text Block.
4. Observe; as pictured below, the selected text block is described as being Geneva when in fact it is not.

Work Around

There is no known work around to what is essentially a cosmetic condition. When editing the text block in the Advanced Text Edit Window the Fonts panel will render the correct font and you may still change it to whatever you like.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak, Co-founder and Managing Editor, caddpower.com - powercadduser.com