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@mhupp unfortunately this ssget filter in autocad returns nothing: (ssget "_X" '((0 . "VIEWPORT") (-4 . "!=") (410 . "Model") (-4 . "!=")(-4 . ">") ))

if your trying to select all Paperspace viewports at once. this filters all viewports that are not in model or the first (paperspace) (defun C:CLV () (C:CollectLayoutViewports)) (defun C:CollectLayoutViewports (/ ss) (if (not (setq ss (ssget "_X" '((0 . "VIEWPORT") (-4 . "!=") (410 . "Model") (-4 . "!=") (69 . 1) (-4 . ">") (68 . 0)))) (princ "\nNo Active Paperspace Viewports Found") (princ (strcat "\n" (sslength ss) " Viewports Found")) ) ss )

so you now know how to filter out the selection of a "true view port"?

For pure LISP, FAS and VLX are generally OK - commercially these are used. Unless you are selling thousands of copies for thousands each time to make it worth while to break the coding, perhaps selling a few copies to each company doesn't make it worth breaking them. It is possible but the forums (including this one) are very quick to stop any such requests. I'd be happy to sell these in formats. Then of course you have sent your file out into the wild, it can be copied and sent around an office as fast as an email. You could hard code each file with details specific to the computer / user (www.cadtutor.net/forum/topic/34596-computer-name/) - perhaps check (getenv "ComputerName") and (getenv "UserName") and test these against a (unique) hard coded variable in each file that you sell. Down side is you have to trust them when they want an updated file if they update their computer (Limit this to '1 updated computer every 4 years is allowed') - though you could also do a check that the AutoCAD version has also increased when requesting a new LISP file. That does mean extra work for you or your team though, and not a fully automated process. These 2 should be enough to protect yourself from legitimate business stealing your code. After that your protection has to come out of AutoCAD and LISP and into professional file hosting solutions - not my thing there - but one solution was to again hard code their LISP file to link to a cloud based LISP file that will return a code to the first LISP - this, computer name, user name can validate that they are in their license period and LISP can run. Benefit here is you have complete control if they can get access and of course, the date / expiry is hard coded into the remote / your LISP. I'd have one remote LISP file for each licensed File you send out. Downside here is a financial cost to maintain a web presence, with firewall and authentication systems. Since it is just a file most commercial thing should do what you want, and you need internet access for that initial validation in each CAD instance. Taking that a step further, the file you sell could be a simple "appload" command linking to your remote files, once validated apploaded into that CAD instance - offline use will be OK s long as there was internet to connect and download initially for that CAD instance. Noting that any remote file is not copied to their system and to access it / read it needs the user to break the encoding to get the file path, to copy it to break the coding again to copy the programming. Good question - I might be out tomorrow with a systems architect and this is his thing - if I remember I'll see his thoughts, but that is who you want to talk to. It might be possible to host it all yourself. Of the developers on here Tharwat sells his work commercially and is up to speed with protecting his stuff, he might be around to give a few pointers. Final part - reverse engineering - if it is being used, not a lot you can do about that, just got to hope that whoever buys it realises the time and cost to remake it and that yours is a lot better value.

Here is how the codes line up between all the view ports:

if you're only looking for true rectangular vports then testing for the dxf 340 is the best way to filter that out.

That didn't work but I notice some have code 340, other don't (Clipping boundary) so filtering post ssget worked... Just not exactly sure this true in every case. (defun c:CollectLayoutViewports (/ ss i ent ed layout number status pt items counts item) (setq items nil ss (ssget "_X" '((0 . "VIEWPORT") (67 . 1))) ) (princ (strcat "\nSelection count: " (if ss (itoa (sslength ss)) "0"))) (if ss (progn (setq i 0) (while (< i (sslength ss)) (setq ent (ssname ss i) ed (entget ent) layout (cdr (assoc 410 ed)) ) (if (and layout (/= (strcase layout) "MODEL") (assoc 340 ed)) (setq items (cons ent items)) ) (setq i (+ i 1)) ) ) ) (princ (strcat "\nResult count: " (if items (itoa (length items)) "0"))) )

Try this selection filter which should remove the paperspace object itself which is also considered as a vport (ssget "_X" '((0 . "VIEWPORT") (67 . 1) (-4 . "/=") (69 . 1)))

I'm trying to select all the true view port in each layout but I'm running into issues. There are more view ports in the drawing than what's visible to the user(not sure why this is as I only create one single view port in each layout). So I need to filter for the actual view ports. (defun c:CollectLayoutViewports (/ ss i ent ed layout number status pt items counts item) (setq items nil counts nil ss (ssget "_X" '((0 . "VIEWPORT") (67 . 1))) ) (princ (strcat "\nSelection count: " (if ss (itoa (sslength ss)) "0"))) (if ss (progn (setq i 0) (while (< i (sslength ss)) (setq ent (ssname ss i) ed (entget ent) layout (cdr (assoc 410 ed)) number (cdr (assoc 69 ed)) status (cdr (assoc 68 ed)) pt (cdr (assoc 10 ed)) ) (if (and layout (/= (strcase layout) "MODEL") (> number 1) (> status 0)) (progn (setq items (cons ent items)) ) ) (setq i (+ i 1)) ) ) ) items ) is there a DXF code I can filter by or any other suggestion... ViewPortTest.dwg

Thanks for @mhupp recommendation. @Sathar These issues you raised, I should have solved them all on VedaCAD, but all the technologies are developed specifically, without using any mature commercial solutions or public libraries, so there is no way for me to provide you with my technical implementation. But I have an idea that might be easier to achieve, perhaps it could provide you with some ideas: Notion can actually be accessed through API, all operations in Notion are graphical, such as creating a table accessible through API, when your users verify through the client, check if there is corresponding authorization information in the table. At this point, the Notion table functions like a database, avoiding the trouble of creating a database (designing a database from scratch is really Trouble, the database in the development of vedacad has been adjusted for at least over 100 rounds). You need a server (even a dedicated domain is not necessary, but it needs to connect the client and the Notion API, and storing the Notion token on the server instead of hardcoding it on the client is a safe isolation strategy), let your client access your server, let the server access your Notion table, and return true/false and time to the client, and set a reasonable reconnection time interval, which should be able to implement a certain degree of online authorization verification system. As long as you master how to make the client connect to a specific server endpoint, the above pattern should be achievable, unlike VedaCAD, which also needs to transmit the file itself, which is the easiest part to crash. Although protecting our intellectual property is our business strategy, this forum is more open to discussions on the open-source of some simple/free plugins, hoping the above ideas can help you.

@VicoWang might have a solution.

I need to get my grandkids on there and see what they think. They have played around with AutoCAD some, I'm not sure why, but they like to draw stuff and hatch it.

When you’re learning AutoCAD, some topics don’t always go very deep. MText is one of those. A new user will learn how to create new text objects, along with the basics of editing and formatting them. Quite often, these topics will be covered in a Basics or Essentials course, with the deeper dive tucked away in a future Advanced course. Often, too, is the fact that many (if not most) users never make it to the advanced course. If that’s you, today’s post is going to look at a few of the more useful MText editing tools. Format fractions and tolerances While lettering in the olden days of board drafting, fractions were always expressed inline – or what we would now call horizontal. Today, we have the option of using a stacked fraction as well, with your choice of slash style. Just make sure the method you choose is in accordance with your published CAD Standard, please. Start by creating a new MText object (or edit an existing one). In the In-Place Text Editor, type the numerator (for example, 1). Then type one of these special characters: – Forward slash (/) for a horizontal fraction – Number sign (#) for a diagonal fraction Follow it immediately with the denominator (for example, 2) and press the Spacebar or another valid character. The text stacks automatically, and a lightning-bolt icon appears next to it. Click the lightning-bolt icon to adjust the stack: switch between horizontal and diagonal styles, open Stack Properties to fine-tune size and alignment, or align decimal points for cleaner tolerance displays. You can also right-click the stacked text and choose Stack Properties for more control. For tolerances, type a numeric value, a caret (^), and the second value – such as 1 +0.05^-0.01 and then press Spacebar. The caret creates a tolerance stack with no dividing line. Use the lightning bolt icon to unstack the tolerance if you need to. These tools let you produce professional-looking fractions and tolerances directly in the text editor without extra steps or external workarounds. Convert your text to a list It’s also easy to create Numbered, Lettered, or Bulleted lists. I’ll use a numbered list in my example, but once you get it, the others are just as easy. If the Text Editor is still active, select the text you want to convert. If not, double-click the MText object to open the editor and make your selection. On the Text Editor contextual ribbon tab, go to the Paragraph panel and click the Bullets and Numbering drop-down menu. Choose Numbered. (or, as I said, Lettered or Bulleted). Note that list formatting only works when the Allow Bullets and Lists option is enabled. After the list is applied, adding new items is straightforward: place the cursor at the end of an existing item and press Enter. The numbering updates automatically. I told you it was easy. How do you create sublists, you might be asking? Again, it’s easy when you know how. Select the text that you want to turn into a sublist, then press the Tab key on your keyboard. The selected text will indent and renumber. What if you chose the wrong text, or you get a redline back telling you to remove the sublist? Again, easy. Select the text in the sublist, and this time press Tab and Shift at the same time. The list will return to its original condition. Do you need to remove the list (or bullets, or letters) entirely? From the editor, select the text to remove the formatting from, then expand the Clear Formatting pull-down menu from the contextual ribbon (as shown in the image below). Click on Remove All Formatting to remove the numbering from your text object. Insert images into your MText Many symbols are automatically inserted when you create them. The diameter symbol comes to mind when you create a Diameter Dimension. Most of the time though, you’ll need to enter a special symbol into an MText string yourself. Let’s say you need to add the little “circle R” symbol when you reference something with a registered trademark. In our example, we’ll use everyone’s favorite CAD program. Place your MText editor cursor at the point where you want the symbol to be inserted. In our case, right after the word AutoCAD. Now, from the contextual ribbon, click on the Symbol drop-down menu. At the top, you’ll get the big three, Degrees, Plus/Minus, and Diameter. Notice the %%x after each. Back in the day, we had to remember these codes in order to place the symbols into our text. I’m glad times have changed. Below those are the most commonly used symbols, followed by their Unicode number. If what you need is in this list, simply click on it, and it will appear at your cursor. If not, you’ll have to find it in the character mapping for the font. Click on Other at the bottom of the dropdown, and the Character Map dialog will display. Find your symbol, click on it, then click on the Select button. This workflow differs, as you’ll be copying your symbol(s) to the clipboard instead of inserting them via the dialog. Click Copy to do this. Dismiss the dialog with the X in the corner, then paste at your cursor location. That’s it! There you go. Three workflows that aren’t in most beginners’ coursework. It would be smart to take some time to go through the other tools in the menu that you may not be familiar with. Maybe you’ll find that one tool that you need, but didn’t even know existed. More Tuesday Tips Check out our whole Tuesday Tips series for ideas on how to make AutoCAD work for you. The post MText – Beyond the Basics: Tuesday Tips With Frank appeared first on AutoCAD Blog. View the full article

AutoCAD is CAD software used to create precise 2D drawings, 3D models, technical documentation, and industry-specific design workflows. Many different professionals benefit from developing their design ideas with AutoCAD and the utmost level of accuracy it provides. Whether it’s an architect delivering a floor plan, an engineer creating an electrical layout, or a product designer preparing parts for manufacturing, AutoCAD helps them express their design intent in the clearest terms, with consistent documentation and a full slate of collaboration features. Extended teams of manufacturers, drafters, and construction professionals using AutoCAD can coordinate frequent design changes and handoffs with confidence. Common AutoCAD uses and applications Most workflows start with the simple need to create accurate design information that all contributors can understand, review, and build upon. 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Try AutoCAD and evaluate its results on your team’s most common deliverables: 2D plans, layouts, sections, elevations, or schematics 3D design references, models, or visualization needs Construction, manufacturing, or technical documentation Reusable blocks, layers, standards, and drawing templates Collaboration workflows involving reviews, markups, and revisions Industry-specific drafting needs for architecture, mechanical, electrical, MEP, map, plant, or raster workflows If AutoCAD fits the way your team designs and documents work, you can download a free trial of AutoCAD and test it with a project that reflects your real workflow. AutoCAD uses FAQs What is AutoCAD mainly used for? AutoCAD is mainly used for 2D drafting, 3D design, and CAD workflows across industries. Professionals use AutoCAD to create plans, layouts, schematics, models, dimensions, annotations, and drawing sets that communicate design intent clearly. What industries use AutoCAD? AutoCAD is used in architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, product design, interior design, facilities planning, mapping, and related design fields. These industries use AutoCAD to create accurate drawings, document project information, coordinate changes, and communicate technical details. Do architects use AutoCAD? Yes. Architects use AutoCAD to create floor plans, elevations, sections, reflected ceiling plans, construction details, and drawing sets. AutoCAD can support early design studies, documentation, coordination, and revisions throughout an architecture project. Is AutoCAD used for 2D or 3D design? AutoCAD is used for both 2D and 3D design workflows. Many professionals use AutoCAD for precise 2D drafting and documentation, while others use its 3D capabilities to model objects, study design options, visualize forms, and support coordination. What professionals use AutoCAD? Many professionals use AutoCAD, including architects, engineers, drafters, designers, contractors, construction professionals, product designers, manufacturing teams, CAD managers, and educators, as well as students and hobbyists. They rely on it for drafting, design, documentation, planning, review, and collaboration. Is AutoCAD used in manufacturing? Yes. AutoCAD is used in manufacturing for part drawings, assembly layouts, tooling plans, fixture drawings, fabrication details, equipment layouts, and production documentation. Product and manufacturing teams can use AutoCAD to communicate dimensions, revisions, and handoff details. Can AutoCAD be used for interior design? Yes. AutoCAD can be used for interior design and space planning. Designers use it to create floor plans, furniture layouts, reflected ceiling plans, interior elevations, millwork details, finish plans, and client-facing drawing sets. The post What Is AutoCAD Used For? appeared first on AutoCAD Blog. 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Really appreciate you letting me share it here!!

Hello everyone, I am an AutoLISP developer, and I am developing several AutoCAD MEP applications that I plan to sell commercially. My applications include: Drainage Piping System Chilled Water Piping System fire fighting Piping System Water Supply System Other MEP automation tools I want to protect my software professionally before distributing it to customers. I already understand that compiling LISP into FAS/VLX provides some source-code protection, but I am looking for a much stronger commercial security solution. My requirements: Strong source-code protection against reverse engineering and decompilation. Secure software licensing with unique activation keys for each customer. Online/cloud-based license verification. Trial management (7-day or 14-day trial). License expiration and renewal management. Ability to deactivate or revoke a license remotely. Hardware or machine-based activation to prevent unauthorized sharing. Protection against system date manipulation and trial resetting. Offline usage with a secure grace period when there is no internet connection. Protection against users copying the application to another computer or sharing it with others. My questions: What is the strongest protection method currently available for commercial AutoLISP applications? Is FAS/VLX compilation sufficient, or should I use a combination of AutoLISP, .NET DLL and an external licensing system? Is cloud-based licensing more secure than local license verification? Are there any professional commercial protection tools or DRM solutions specifically suitable for AutoCAD plugins? How do experienced AutoLISP developers protect and distribute their commercial applications? I am looking for a professional, reliable and commercially suitable solution, not just basic password protection or simple computer-name checking. I would really appreciate advice and recommendations from experienced developers who have successfully sold commercial AutoCAD applications. Thank you!

I was checking a mechanical part using MASSPROP before and after removing a small amount of material. The volume change seemed reasonable, but the centroid shifted more than I expected. My first thought was that the cut might have removed material farther from the main body than I had realized. Since the centroid depends on how the volume is distributed, even a relatively small cut can have a noticeable effect depending on its location. In this situation, I would compare the original and modified volumes first, then check the centroid coordinates and inspect the cut geometry. When you encounter an unexpected centroid shift after a Boolean subtraction, how do you verify whether it is a legitimate geometric result or an unintended modification to the solid?

@BIGAL You are amazing. Based on the results, you have already systematically customized for design needs such as rapid design + 3D browsing in your early years, and developed a set of such toolkits. This is indeed what is needed for architectural design, and you have achieved this in the CAD system that is least suitable for 3D work. Obtaining walls from the floor line is a smart move, and achieving parametric design capabilities similar to BIM through DCL parameters is also the optimal solution verified by software such as AC (instead of directly modeling in 3D space). Relatively speaking, when we start a project, we even don't reach the level of detail for doors and windows, but rather need quick selection of spatial layouts such as massing, and calculating the area is the main design purpose. By using 2D outlines and stretching them into masses, we can quickly obtain the building area, total area, and area ratios, and other main economic indicators, and perform multi-angle spatial relationship and layout verification. Do there also exist corresponding toolsets for quick area calculation?

Again no problems drawing what you want can be multiple panels with options but will be p/line objects, some blocks, dimensions and so on, just not one complete block. Can embed details of the panels as say Xdata can then extract that data into a BOQ. The only real limit in number of panel details is the size of the pc screen, it limits to about 20 lines. Can just auto fill a panel details and for each new panel just change say required values. So say witdth would be the same every time auto filled. Could do a Equal option for number of panels so only fill in one panel sizes. Did notice the little side line work yes can be included. Did you look at movie ?

@VicoWang To answer your questions the code was developed say 30+ years ago. At that time there was no Architecture or Revit. Seem to remember the only package at that time was Archicad on a MAC. No its not BIM It is 3d sort of, what I call 2.5D, a little known trick is to use Thicknes to give the virtual 3d Modelling. The windows and doors are cut into the walls. The windows take advantage of drawing in a vertical ucs, so they have no thickness only line work. There is 3d roofs as well. There is no "SET of" rather it uses dcl input for sizes, number of panels etc. It was put together as a simple house design package, because its drawn as a quasi 3d then out side elevations can be viewed. There is a lot more functions some foundation stuff, balustrading and so on. It was designed for the user who uses purely basic CAD. It has some smart functions like floor planner that allows for the conversion of room layouts to walls. It intent was to save time not be a full blown Architecture package and was reflected in the price.

@SLW210 I think that's precisely why MS is not just stopping support of it but wants to completely wipe it out of existence...

VBScript does function here at work. After I need a manual activation, it probably will not be available. Interestingly, it is being deprecated due to Security issues, goes to show how useless and incompetent IT departments are. I might see if I can bypass the Word requirement on the home computer and use LibreOffice. As per advice from Microsoft, PowerShell or JavaScript is to be the replacement. A quick test shows a JavaScript will run, but not sure if it would be locked at some point until I actually try it as a replacement for VBScript. Here is the supposed timeline. VBScript deprecation: Timelines and next steps | Windows IT Pro Blog

Made parametric sketches and blocks for 1, 2, 3 face panels. Parametric definitions appear as block properties and could be set there along with label tags (detail name and pieces). I spent the whole morning (setting the correct order of constraints) and I didnt come to a clear order how to do that. Autoconstrain does not take into account the constraintsettings dialog. - f.ex. I started mass applying 'coincident'. It applied a lot of other constraints, then I deleted them. - second (if I remember properly) I applied the 45 degree miter locks - then I started moving the inner most flanges (along the miters) with a strech command to see what is going on. - then I applied collinear to all simultaneously moving vertical lines. - then I applied parallel to lock them parallel - added here and there some perpendicular - finally I added horizontal constraint to the bottom horizontal line (now I have to make a new sketch/ block for the same panels if they are rotated 90 degree) - finally finnaly some extra constraints here and there after testing.... I HOPE IT WONT BREAK, but I am gonna need another free half a day to make 4, 5 face and corner templates.... PARAMETRIC.dwg

When generating 2D profiles from a 3D assembly using SOLPROF, the resulting geometry can become difficult to manage when several components overlap in the viewing direction. Separating visible and hidden profiles is useful, but the number of generated entities can make subsequent editing and drawing cleanup cumbersome. For assemblies that undergo frequent design revisions, this raises a practical question about how to keep the projected drawing maintainable. How do you organize and update SOLPROF-generated geometry when the underlying 3D assembly changes? Do you regenerate the profiles after every revision, or use a workflow that minimizes manual cleanup?

I was considering a situation where existing edges from one part of a 3D model need to be projected onto an inclined face of another part. The difficulty is choosing the correct projection direction so that the resulting geometry lands exactly where intended. With angled faces, projecting along the wrong direction can produce a result that looks reasonable in the current view but does not match the intended geometry. For those who use PROJECTGEOMETRY, how do you control the projection direction when working with inclined faces? Do you normally project perpendicular to the target face, use a specified direction, or choose another method?