Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2006 Readme

Known Issues in ADT 2006

Working with Previous Versions

• Using the new Display Themes object will create proxy objects when opened in previous versions of Architectural Desktop.

• The new Gross and Usable profiles for spaces are not supported in previous releases. Enabling and using this feature in Architectural Desktop 2006 will result in spaces only displaying the Net boundary in previous versions, as this was all that was available in previous versions.

• The new mask option for Break Mark Tool is not supported in previous releases. Using this feature in Architectural Desktop 2006 will result in Break marks only displaying the cut line and not the masked area in previous versions of Architectural Desktop.

• An additional display representation was added in ADT 2006: "Anchor Extended Tag to Entity" for schedule tags using the constrain option. Since this display representation is not present in prior versions of ADT, the representation will show up as proxy in these versions.

• Uninstall of ADT 2004 after ADT 2006 has been installed will break Tool Palettes in this version. Running a Repair Registry will restore proper operation.

• Database Field Codes values are cached but will not update in previous versions of ADT or AutoCAD.

AEC Details

• Users should be careful when deleting records from size tables. This operation is harmless if there are no drawings that reference the deleted rows. Otherwise users may have some problems since the IDs can be reused. For example, a "size" record with record ID = 100005 and some drawing object "A" references this "size". There are two (2) potential problems after the user deletes this "size" record: If the "Size" record is deleted, we cannot get the properties of object "A", thus no data will be displayed on the Extended data tab of the property palette for that detail component; If the user creates a new "size" record it may get the same ID = 100005. Drawing object "A" will reference a newly created record after that. The actual geometry of object "A" is based on parameters of the deleted record. But if we check its properties we will get the data from the new "size" record.

• When initially specifying a drawing in the Component Properties dialog; the “Block Drawing” field may be completely blank or may contain “Browse…”. However, the drawing has been correctly selected. Exiting and re-entering the Component Properties dialog or changing a selection in another field's drop list will refresh the field and display the drawing path correctly. This affects the Stamp, Bookends and Linear Array jigs.

Drawing Management

• New Project features in ADT 2006, for new projects and updated projects, will be lost if the Project Properties or Project Sheet Set are modified in previous versions of ADT. For example, this includes but is not limited to, the use of Relative Paths in ADT 2006.

• You may encounter missing buttons on the Configure Project Standards dialog. The only line of NVIDIA cards that successfully handle cad graphics are the Quadro line. Problems such as missing buttons in dialogs are known to occur with the NVIDIA GeForce4 4200 Go, for example.

• If you add a callout or other annotation to a manually created Named View in a view drawing & drop into a sheet file, those objects will be frozen in the current viewport. Thawing the layers in the sheet’s viewport will display your missing layers. You will not see this issue if you create the model space view from Project Navigator.

Layer Manager

• After a layer is deleted, you must OK from the Layer Manager before you can create a new layer of the same name.

• Creating New Layer From Standard in Layer Manager switches to "All Used" layer filter.

• Restoring a Layer Snapshot will not change the Lineweight, Plot Style or Plot (Yes/No) settings.

3D DWF

• Some double-byte characters will not display correctly in 3D DWF files.

VIZ Render

• Link to VIZ Render. It is possible for Architectural Desktop to Link to VIZ Render while VIZ Render is otherwise occupied, such as rendering. This can result in an Application Error and loss of data from Architectural Desktop and/or VIZ Render. It is recommended that data not be pushed from Architectural Desktop to VIZ Render while VIZ Render is otherwise occupied.

• If a VIZ Render file and its source drawing file are relocated, Relinking or Reload of data may overwrite changes made with in the VIZ Render scene.

• User content paths are dependant on first user run. If the Administrator is the first user to run Architectural Desktop, then some VIZ Render data paths will be set to look to different directories than if a user has first run. Path locations can be verified in the Configure paths dialog.

• In the Tool Palettes page of the Customize User Interface dialog, deleting a palette in the same dialog instance of the Customize User Interface dialog will delete any new Groups created.

• When using Adaptive Sub-Division radiosity on older files, the default settings may be incorrect.

• The default Mesh Settings are: Metric (Imperial)
  Maximum Mesh Size: 1.0 (3' 3 11/32")
  Minimum Mesh Size: 0.1 (0' 3 29/32")
  Contrast Threshold: 75.0 (75.0)
  Initial Mesh Size: 0.3 (0' 11 25/32")

• Substitution Manager. Substituting an item from an external reference of a drawing linked into VIZ Render will replace the whole external reference.

• 3rd Party Plugins. Plugins created for previous versions of VIZ Render may not function properly in VIZ Render 2006.

• The Properties of the last material i-dropped from the Render Material Catalog of the Content Browser are unavailable. The workaround is to drop one additional material and delete it. This refreshes the Scene - Unused palette to recognize the one you want. This does not affect materials directly i-dropped from the Render Material Catalog onto an object in the scene.

Project Standards

• If you have Windows XP SP2 installed, Audit reports may appear not to function properly. In order to view the Audit reports associated with Project Standards as they are intended to be used, you must change the settings via the Information Bar at the top of the Internet Explorer page. Right click on the Information Bar and choose Allow Blocked Content. By doing this, you will have access to the additional functionality via the radio buttons. For additional information about this setting for Internet Explorer, please consult Microsoft's Help system.

• When Project Standards is enabled for a project, some actions in Style Manager and Display Manager may not update the tree icons properly. Closing and reopening Style Manager or Display Manager will display the proper icons.

Additional Issues

• Windows Explorer: The new 'Find within Explorer' feature of AutoCAD 2006 does not support Architectural Desktop objects.

• Layer Keys: The DISPTHEME layer key has been added to support the new Display Themes feature.

• Schedule External Drawing: Please notice that if you take advantage of the new relative path option in ADT 2006, prior releases will fail to recognize this. It is recommended not to use relative paths if drawings are to be used in prior versions of ADT.

• Drape Command: Regular extrapolations may produce unexpected results, such as 'wavy' topo lines where they should be level. If this condition is encountered, try creating a non-regular topo.

• Section/Elevation Object Hatching: Solid hatch patterns used for Surface and Section hatching will not be displayed in 2d Section and Elevation objects. Instead, you may use another hatch pattern, such as Line, set at a dense hatch scale to simulate the solid hatch. This could cause slow performance depending on the amount of hatching required.

• Merge Common Materials: Merge Common Materials may fail to work in Sections and Elevations where a Slab Material is merged with other Object Materials. To workaround this issue, disable Merge Common Materials for the Slabs and use Edit Linework to remove lines between Slabs and other Objects.

• Smart Blocks: It is not recommended to use ADT objects in Smart Blocks, nor to edit blocks containing ADT objects with the Smart Block Editor (BEDIT). Doing so can cause unexpected results.

• Database field codes and Relative path option in a project standards environment: If you are using Database field codes in a Property Set Definition in a project standards drawing, it is not recommended to use Relative path option when creating the database link. You will observe problems resolving the correct path to the database.

• Spaces: If you use Add Selected from Spaces that were created using the Rectangle or Polygon option you will see unpredictable results.

• Editing Details Databases in MS Access: Due to limitations in Microsoft® Access 2000, we recommend that you edit Details Databases in Microsoft Access 2002 or newer. Opening the database in MS Access 2000 may cause the default value for "Allow Zero Length" attribute for the description field in the Components table to be errantly set to “false”. This can be reset to “true” using Access 2002 or newer.

• Style Manager: Note that if new Structural Member styles or Opening Endcap styles are created in a drawing that is only opened in Style Manager, you will not be notified to save the drawing if the styles have not been edited.

• External Reference Files: Avoid tagging objects in a drawing that is attached as an Xref Overlay. While there will be no problem in the original drawing, if that drawing is subsequently Xref attached to a new host drawing, you will encounter "Enhanced reference audit problem" error messages. This is due to the fact that Overlay attached Xrefs are dropped when their host is subsequently attached to another drawing. Since the lowest level drawing is no longer present, any tag or AEC dimension that is based on an object in that drawing will have a broken reference.

• Grips: Setting UCSFOLLOW to 1 will interfere with the automatic UCS changes that occur when some grips are selected. A detailed explanation follows.

  • A drawing with UCSFOLLOW = 1 for one or more viewports will NOT allow dragging any Z-direction oriented grip (example -wall height grip ). The dynamic dimensions will still work, and osnaping along Z direction will work. In other words, temporary change in UCS is not allowed by any grip if there exists one or more viewports with UCSFOLLOW = 1.

  • A SAVE is recommended immediately after any change in UCSFOLLOW system variable.
     

• Export to AutoCAD: From Top View all objects drawn at an elevation other than 0 will be flattened to 0. Hatches on these objects are an exception to this.

• Stairs. Styles that contain a center stringer may show a change in appearance from previous versions. This is due to the Cleanup setting on the Stringer tab of the Stair Style. In previous releases, centered stringers under flights and landings would cleanup with each other even if this setting was "Truncate." If you see that the stringer has changed, it is probably due to this setting. Change it to "Cleanup" and the previous appearance will be restored. However, in the case of U-shaped, 1/2 Landing stairs, the stringer will always have the Truncated appearance. Use a Multi-landing stair with 1/2 landing to correct this problem.

• Dynamic Input Settings. Due to instability in certain situations, the initial Dynamic Input behavior is limited to "Enable Dimension Input where possible." In order to investigate other new features, right-click on the DYN button, pick "Settings..." and check "Enable Pointer Input" and "Show command prompting and command input near the crosshairs." Note that if Pointer Input is enabled, the Visibility setting "As soon as I type coordinate data" may cause Architectural Desktop to hang when using the Tab key to switch fields.