Saving and opening gone crazy

Hi folks, this is probably something simple, well at least I hope

When I go to save, save as or open rather than have a dialogue box pop up I have a box for text entry. Please aee attahced. What have I managed to do here??

Thanks

Try resetting FILEDIA to a value of "1".

ReMark, I love you! Cheers

Begs the question how it was set to zero considering I have been sat in front of it all morning and not messing with any system variables. Hmmmmm, odd that

Thanks

Had you used any lisp routines this morning?

Nope. To be honest in my line of work I barely ever use them. Most of the drawings I do are pretty simple and dull. If I get to use a polar array it has been an exciting day

Then it was either gremlins or elves.

Polar arrays are exciting? You need to change jobs.

I'm going for Gremlins, I swear I heard a sinister "Gizzzzmo" earlier!

I'm probably being a bit too harsh on my job. Just quickly I work for my family packaging biz, we manufacture cardboard and wooden cases mostly for aerospace and also do some CNC routing. My job varies from shop floor manager to CNC setter to doing all the CAD work. There are only 20 of us here so we don't exactly have a large design dept.

If you're interested there's a picture of the back of my head here drawing some 3D stuff that is literally about as exciting as it gets CAD wise. I do however love my job. http://www.linesandsons.com/design.htm Horrible website I know but we're a good business, been going 40 years and things are good

Thanks again for the help

Actually, back when I started with autocad 12 years ago I did some pretty damn cool Isometric drawings that I was quite proud of. JDM would probably have a fit that I spent the time, but I had no 3D knowledge back then. Not that it's great now!

Thanks for the link.

Someone had to be the "face" of the company so it might as well have been you.

Packaging. I am always amazed at the complexity of some of the packaging I see. We are big on recycling so very often when I have to break down packaging for disposal I do so in such a way as to visualize all the seams, folds, inserts, etc. How do you even start on designing a package to accommodate a particular object? I would think 3D would be used on a daily basis.

So, if I wanted a custom foam package to ship, let's say a laptop, from the U.S. to the Philippines your company could create something like that?

Some Express Tools and Native AutoCAD commands will reset System Variables, also, if canceled mid-command.

SLW210....interesting, I didn't know that

ReMark, yes, I could indeed do that. We manufacture a great deal of bespoke packaging that travels the world......want one, I'll do you a good deal? ;-)

Like I said, most of our products are used within aerospace....single journey and re-usable wooden & cardboard cases for fuel pumps, actuators, deploy tubes etc. If you've been on a plane made by one of the bigger guys then chances are bits of it have been in our boxes! Not all of it is aerospace, we do also do CNC foam routing for point of sale display items, protective packaging for commercial goods, tool drawer inserts (I get to look and measure a big bunch of tools and then make a nice looking foam insert for the drawer), lots really.

As far as design goes I use 3D when I can, but mainly so as not to lose what little skill I have and also for the manufacturing drawings, maybe to give an isometric view. Generally speaking the process is we get given installation drawings (paper prints of a catia model) of let's say a fuel pump with relevant views and sections and we design from that, drawing our wooden cradles etc on the actual paper drawing then making patterns and templates from that.

In an ideal world I'd get a CAD drawing and sometimes I do but mostly, even though I have an NDA with my largest customer they aren't always too willing to send digital drawings. Shame as it's a damn sight easier when they do!

As far as the cardboard point of sale display items you may have seen on the website those are not our products, we merely cut them to shape on large presses.

I'll keep your offer in mind as I may be purchasing a notebook or a netbook for a friend in the Philippines and their postal system is notoriously bad when it comes to handling packages. You should have seen what I had to do just to ship a motherboard over to him (double boxed, foam, thin plywood stiffeners, foam peanuts...the works!). Thanks.

Just re read my last post.....damn I ramble on when I get going!

Just re read my last post.....damn I ramble on when I get going!

That's what happens when you sit in front of a monitor all day doing CAD work. You really should get up and take a stroll around the plant every now and then. LoL

Just done so, feel much better now!

I'll keep your offer in mind as I may be purchasing a notebook or a netbook for a friend in the Philippines and their postal system is notoriously bad when it comes to handling packages. You should have seen what I had to do just to ship a motherboard over to him (double boxed, foam, thin plywood stiffeners, foam peanuts...the works!). Thanks.

Next time you should try checking DX (deal extreme) first, they ship from Hong Kong, with free worldwide shipping, and China pricing.

It is a lot closer to the Philippines than Connecticut, assuming that they have what you need. Surprising what they DO have!

It is an amazing resource.