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AutoCAD Release 10
README.DOC for IBM PC/XT/AT and PS/2
October 26, 1988
This file highlights some important changes in AutoCAD Release 10 and includes
last-minute information that missed the deadline for the printed manuals.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Compatibility with Application Programs - FLATLAND 2
Extended AutoLISP Restrictions 3
AutoShade / AutoFlix Updates 3
AutoCAD AEC Architectural Updates 4
Performance 5
Multiple Viewports and ADI Display Drivers 5
Perspective Views 6
Miscellaneous Changes and Corrections 7
The DOS "SHARE" Utility 9
DOS 4.0 Notes 9
Known Problems 10
TDIBMRD4.3 Page 1 of 10
COMPATIBILITY WITH APPLICATION PROGRAMS - FLATLAND
* Some functions, including entity selection and object snap, have changed
subtly in Release 10 to accommodate 3D, viewports, and perspective views.
These changes have little effect when you're using AutoCAD interactively.
However, programs that generate AutoCAD command sequences may get
unexpected results. Therefore, the FLATLAND system variable is provided to
let you maintain compatibility with programs that have not yet been updated
to recognize and take advantage of Release 10's new capabilities.
When FLATLAND is zero, Release 10's 3D features are fully enabled. When
FLATLAND is nonzero, compatibility with previous versions is maintained.
The initial FLATLAND setting for a drawing is shown in the following table.
Condition | Initial setting
--------------------------------------- | ------------------------
Editing an old drawing (produced by | FLATLAND = 1
AutoCAD Release 9 or earlier) |
|
Editing a drawing created or previously | As saved with the drawing
edited with AutoCAD Release 10 |
|
Creating a new drawing (with "name=") | FLATLAND = 0
|
Creating a new drawing (without "=", | Set by prototype drawing -- in
or with "name=prototype") | the standard ACAD.DWG prototype,
| FLATLAND is zero.
If you're using AutoCAD AEC Architectural or a third-party application that
has not yet been updated to take advantage of Release 10's new features,
you may experience problems with entity selection or object snap if you set
FLATLAND to zero. In such cases, we recommend that you keep FLATLAND set
to 1 (set this in the prototype drawing, if necessary) and use only the
World Coordinate System when editing with AutoCAD Release 10.
NOTE: The FLATLAND system variable is a temporary conversion aid, and will
be removed in the next major update of AutoCAD. If you've written
your own application and it fails to work properly with FLATLAND set
to zero, run with FLATLAND set to 1 if necessary, but UPDATE YOUR
APPLICATION AS SOON AS IS PRACTICAL, because future versions of
AutoCAD will always operate as though FLATLAND was zero.
See the Release 10 Reference Manual (Appendix D) for further details.
* In previous versions, DXF files and the AutoLISP (entget) function supplied
a 38 group containing an entity's elevation. Release 10 continues to
supply this field if FLATLAND is set to 1 and the entity lies in the World
Coordinate System's XY plane. Otherwise, the 38 group is omitted and the
elevation is supplied as the Z coordinate of the object's 3D points.
This poses a small problem for Polylines, since the 38 group was supplied
with the POLYLINE (header) entity, but that entity has no associated point.
Therefore, if FLATLAND is zero or the Polyline doesn't lie in the XY plane
of the WCS, a "dummy" 3D point (10 group) is supplied with the POLYLINE
header entity, with its Z coordinate being the only item of interest.
TDIBMRD4.3 Page 2 of 10
EXTENDED AUTOLISP RESTRICTIONS
* In addition to the regular version of AutoLISP, a new Extended AutoLISP
(EXTLISP) program is supplied with Release 10. Extended AutoLISP utilizes
IBM AT-style Extended memory (available on 80286 and 80386 machines only)
to allow larger AutoLISP programs while freeing up some regular memory.
The initial version of Extended AutoLISP cannot run in certain
environments, including:
* environments that run the 80286 or 80386 in "virtual-8086" mode. This
includes COMPAQ's CEMM and Quarterdeck's QEMM.
* the Intel Inboard.
* certain NEC computers made for the Japanese market.
In these environments, regular AutoLISP must be used instead of Extended
AutoLISP.
An updated version of Extended AutoLISP that runs with most Intel Inboards
and with Quarterdeck's QEMM soon will be made available to all registered
AutoCAD Release 10 users who request it from their dealer. Dealers will
be notified when the new version is available. (In order for Extended
AutoLISP to work with COMPAQ's CEMM, COMPAQ will need to make certain
program changes. Some early Intel Inboards have hardware bugs that will
prevent Extended AutoLISP from ever working with them.)
AUTOSHADE / AUTOFLIX UPDATES
* If you use AutoShade 1.0 in conjunction with AutoCAD, we recommend that you
upgrade to AutoShade version 1.1 (to be released shortly). Very large 3D
meshes created in AutoCAD Release 10 may cause AutoShade 1.0 to abort with
the message "Heapmgmt - heap error. Cheap stack dump".
The problem can occur with drawings created by AutoCAD Release 9, but is
much more likely to occur with Release 10 due to the ease with which large
meshes can be constructed in Release 10.
AutoShade 1.0 can read meshes up to about 73 x 73. To be precise, M x N
must be less than 5420, where M and N are the sizes of the polygon mesh
(usually SURFTAB1 and SURFTAB2). Smaller meshes are handled without
difficulty. To use large meshes with AutoShade 1.0, EXPLODE them (forming
individual 3D Faces) before performing the FILMROLL command. This
limitation is removed in AutoShade 1.1. Registered AutoShade 1.0 users
will be sent a letter explaining how to update to version 1.1 for free.
* An updated version of the ASHADE.LSP file for use with AutoShade is
provided with AutoCAD Release 10. See Appendix A of the AutoLISP
Programmer's Reference for more information. (The AutoLISP manual states
that you must turn perspective viewing off after using ASHADE.LSP's new
CAMVIEW command, but this is no longer necessary.)
* Updated versions of the AutoFlix files AFLIX.LSP, AFWALK.LSP, and
AFKINET.LSP are provided with AutoCAD Release 10. See Appendix A of the
AutoLISP Programmer's Reference for more information.
TDIBMRD4.3 Page 3 of 10
AUTOCAD AEC ARCHITECTURAL UPDATES
* If you're an AutoCAD AEC Architectural 1.5/2.5 customer, we recommend that
you upgrade to the latest version of AEC Architectural (2.01/9.0 as of
this writing).
* If you have AEC Architectural 2.0/9.0 but have not sent in your
registration card, we recommend that you do so. An update (to 2.01/9.0)
has been sent to all registered 2.0/9.0 users.
* AEC Architectural 2.01/9.0 is the proper version to use with AutoCAD
Release 10, but has a problem with Attribute prompts when running with
Release 10; if you insert Blocks with Attributes, you'll get unreadable
Attribute prompts. The problem is due to incorrect usage of the string
"\r" in some of the AEC Architectural .LSP files. A patch program to fix
this (AECPATCH) is provided with AutoCAD Release 10. The patch, which
works only with AEC Architectural version 2.01/9.0, changes the version to
2.02/9.0. This problem will be corrected in a future release of AEC
Architectural, and the patch program will no longer be needed.
To run the AECPATCH program, perform these steps in this order:
1. Install AutoCAD Release 10 as outlined in the Installation and
Performance Guide.
2. Install AEC Architectural 2.01/9.0. If you're already using 2.01/9.0
with AutoCAD Release 9, simply run the RELOAD.BAT procedure as outlined
in Appendix A of the AEC Architectural User Guide, entitled "Installing
AutoCAD a Second Time", to ensure that the correct ACAD.LIN and
ACAD.PAT files are available to AEC Architectural.
AECPATCH uses the ACAD environment variable (SET ACAD=<drive>:\aec\a\d)
to locate the AEC LISP files. If you've placed this SET statement in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, reboot DOS to ensure that it has taken effect.
3. If you intend to use AEC Architectural's AUI, install it (if you
weren't already using it with AutoCAD Release 9).
4. If you intend to use AEC Architectural's Schedule Manager, check the
ACAD.PGP file in your AutoCAD directory. If it doesn't contain the
line:
dbSCHED,sched,350000,,4
then edit the ACAD.PGP file and add this line to it.
5. Now you're ready to run the AECPATCH program. The patch program is
supplied on an AutoCAD release disk; the following table indicates the
disk used for each of the AutoCAD release formats.
360KB 5.25" Format - Driver Disk 2 Disk 11 of 11
720KB 3.5" Format - Driver Disk Disk 6 of 6
1.2MB 5.25" Format - Executable/Driver Disk Disk 2 of 4
TDIBMRD4.3 Page 4 of 10
To apply the patch, place the indicated disk in a compatible drive and
type the following at the DOS prompt:
<drive>: (to make the drive containing the patch disk current)
CD \AEC (to make the patch directory current)
AECPATCH (to run the patch program)
NOTE: The message "ACAD environment variable not found. Aborting..."
will appear if you haven't "SET ACAD=<drive>:\aec\a\d". See step 2.
6. If you reinstall AEC Architectural's AUI after running AECPATCH, you'll
need to run AECPATCH (step 5) again.
The AECPATCH program
- copies corrected versions of the files AA23A.LSP, AE081.LSP, and
AH18A.LSP into your \AEC\A\L directory, and
- searches for the 2.01/9.0 ACAD.LSP file in your \AEC\A\D directory,
deletes all occurences of the string "\r" from it, and changes the
version number to 2.02/9.0. (The version number is displayed each time
the ACAD.LSP file is loaded.) Note that AECPATCH does not update the
version number displayed on the AEC screen menu.
PERFORMANCE
* Release 10 makes heavier use of overlays than did previous versions of
AutoCAD. To improve performance (particularly when running scripts, menus,
or AutoLISP programs that draw many new entities), we recommend use of a
RAM disk for AutoCAD's .OVL files. See Chapter 4 of your AutoCAD
Installation and Performance Guide for more information.
MULTIPLE VIEWPORTS AND ADI DISPLAY DRIVERS
* Release 10's new multiple-viewport feature works best with display drivers
that explicitly provide support for it. ADI display drivers written for
older versions of AutoCAD (ADI version 3.1 and earlier) should continue to
work with Release 10, with the following restrictions:
* Drivers that use display-list techniques will get very confused by
multiple viewports. Don't use multiple viewports with such drivers.
* Non-display-list drivers may clear viewports very slowly.
Release 10's ADI 4.0 has new features that allow drivers to clear viewports
quickly, and to make effective use of display-list techniques in
conjunction with multiple viewports. If you use an ADI display driver and
expect to use multiple viewports, contact the manufacturer of your driver
to see if an ADI 4.0 version of the driver is available.
TDIBMRD4.3 Page 5 of 10
PERSPECTIVE VIEWS
* During development of AutoCAD Release 10, we found it necessary to disable
many commands while a perspective view was active. The AutoCAD Tutorial
(page 67) reflects this, and the Release 10 Reference Manual (page 187)
states that the following prompt is issued if you attempt to use these
commands in a perspective view.
About to regen with perspective off -- proceed? <Y>
Most of the command restrictions have now been lifted. The only commands
now disallowed in perspective views are ZOOM, PAN, SKETCH, and transparent
'ZOOM and 'PAN. If you enter any of these commands from a viewport
containing a perspective projection, AutoCAD now displays the message:
This command may not be invoked in a perspective view.
and cancels the command. (The DVIEW command's Zoom and Pan options
function properly in perspective views.)
* Although most commands are now permitted in perspective views, use of a
pointing device to designate points is generally prohibited in such views.
You can type in coordinates using the keyboard, but if you use a pointing
device to enter points, AutoCAD displays the message:
Pointing in perspective view not allowed here.
Entity selection is the only activity that allows pointing device input in
perspective views. Even then, certain commands (BREAK, FILLET, CHAMFER,
TRIM, EXTEND, UCS Entity, and DIM by picking) use the pick point for
calculations and don't permit the point to be supplied by means of a
pointing device in a perspective view.
* On page 324, the Release 10 Reference Manual states that the "Window"
option for the PLOT and PRPLOT commands is not available for perspective
projections. This restriction has been lifted.
* If you use the PLOT/PRPLOT "Extents" option with a perspective view active,
and the CAMERA position is within the drawing extents, AutoCAD displays the
message:
PLOT and PRPLOT extents incalculable, using Display
and proceeds as though you had used "PLOT/PRPLOT Display".
* When plotting a perspective view, an explicit plot scale makes little
sense, so AutoCAD ignores it. If you specify a scale factor, AutoCAD
displays the message:
**Plot of perspective view has been scaled to fit available area.**
and proceeds as though you had responded to the "Specify scale" prompt
with "Fit". Use the paper size to control the overall size of the plot.
TDIBMRD4.3 Page 6 of 10
MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES AND CORRECTIONS
* The default setting for the WORLDVIEW system variable is now 1. This
variable affects the VPOINT and DVIEW commands, as described in Chapter 6
of the AutoCAD Reference Manual.
* The AutoLISP (entsel) function returns a list that includes the point by
which the entity was selected. This point is expressed in UCS coordinates.
* For some time, the AutoLISP Programmer's Reference has warned application
developers to avoid referencing the ATOMLIST symbol list when using the
(vmon) virtual function paging feature. Performance-related changes in
AutoLISP Release 10 make this more important than ever; the ATOMLIST
contents and the order of its items may change if (vmon) is enabled.
* It is now possible to OSNAP to the insertion point of an Attribute within a
Block. If you use "INSERTion" object snap and point to an Attribute within
a Block, the Attribute's insertion point is now chosen rather than that of
the Block. Note that if a Block consists entirely of Attributes, there is
now no way to object snap to the Block's insertion point.
* The FLIP SCREEN function key, all transparent commands, and several
AutoLISP functions are now disabled during certain commands, since some
displays must redraw when flipping from text mode to graphics mode, and a
redraw occurring at critical times could result in an incorrect image.
The commands affected are VPOINT, DVIEW, and ZOOM Dynamic. During these
commands, the FLIP SCREEN key and transparent commands are disabled, as are
the following AutoLISP functions:
(entdel) (getangle) (getpoint) (grtext)
(entmod) (getcorner) (graphscr) (redraw)
(entsel) (getdist) (grclear) (ssget)
(entupd) (getorient) (grdraw) (textscr)
* In previous versions, the HIDE command had trouble with non-planar 3D Faces
and entities that appeared as chevrons or bow-ties when viewed from
particular points in space. Sometimes they were hidden incorrectly, and
sometimes they were simply drawn as wire-frame images (not hidden). In
Release 10, such objects are hidden in a more consistent manner.
HIDE now detects anything that looks like a chevron or a bow-tie from the
current viewing point, and breaks it into two triangles (with an invisible
joining line) for the purpose of hidden-line removal. Any other non-planar
face is broken into two triangles along an arbitrarily chosen diagonal.
* The AutoCAD Reference Manual warns you not to delete AutoCAD's temporary
files while AutoCAD is running (by means of the FILES, SHELL, or SH
commands), and lists the temporary files as having file types of ".$a" or
".$ac". For Release 10, the file type ".ac$" should be added to this list.
* The examples in the middle of page 74 of the AutoLISP Programmer's
Reference are incorrect. They should read:
(setq p (cdr (assoc 10 ed))) would return (2.0 2.0 0.0)
(trans p e 0) would return (2.0 1.53209 1.28558)
TDIBMRD4.3 Page 7 of 10
* The AutoLISP Programmer's Reference states an incorrect range for the
values returned by ATAN. The actual range is -PI/2.0 to +PI/2.0.
* Polar arrays are handled differently in Release 10. In previous versions,
a "No" response to the "Rotate objects as they are copied?" prompt caused
each object to be replicated using its own reference point, as documented
in the AutoCAD Reference Manual. This resulted in the entities moving
independently, rather than retaining their relation to each other as they
would if you replied "Yes". (To visualize the effect, draw circles around
the array's center point and passing through one endpoint of each selected
line, through the center of each selected circle, and so on; then make
copies of each entity along the circumference of its own circle.)
In Release 10, all selected entities are replicated using the same
reference point, so they move as a rigid group, staying in the same
relation in all the copies. The reference point for all the entities is
that of the last entity in the selection-set. Therefore, if you pick the
entities one by one, the last one you pick provides the reference point for
all of them.
If you pick the entities by a Window or Crossing box, the last one in the
selection-set is arbitrary. You can, however, remove one entity from the
set and then add it back in, forcing it to be the last in the
selection-set.
The method recommended in the Reference Manual still works: make a Block of
the entities and create a polar array of the Block. This method gives
greater flexibility, since the reference point for making the array is the
Base (insertion) point of the Block, which can be any point you like. It
does, however, create an array of Block References, which must then be
exploded if you want the individual entities replicated.
* The following clarifies the purpose of the EXPERT system variable.
Some commands issue "are you sure?"-type (confirmation) prompts in odd
circumstances, such as when you use the LAYER command to turn off the
current layer. When you write scripts, menu macros, or AutoLISP programs
that issue command sequences, it is impractical to include responses to
these prompts, since they only appear in odd situations. Using the EXPERT
system variable, you can suppress these confirmation prompts and let the
script, macro, or AutoLISP program proceed with the operation unhindered.
If EXPERT is zero, all prompts are issued normally. Nonzero values
suppress successively more confirmation prompts; as new prompts are added
to AutoCAD, higher EXPERT values control those prompts as well as the older
prompts. In Release 10, an EXPERT value of 4 is sufficient to suppress all
special-situation confirmation prompts.
TDIBMRD4.3 Page 8 of 10
THE DOS "SHARE" UTILITY
* Although explicit network support is not provided, many customers use
AutoCAD on networks without difficulty. We have noticed some problems with
the DOS SHARE command, however.
In order to use AutoCAD Release 10 in conjunction with the DOS SHARE
command, a proper "FCBS=" statement must be present in the CONFIG.SYS file.
If your CONFIG.SYS file already contains an "FCBS=" statement, you should
increase the first value on the "FCBS=" statement (if necessary) until it
is at least 40 greater than the second value. If you have no "FCBS=" at
all, we recommend "FCBS=48,8". If you use AutoCAD's SHELL or "external
commands" feature to run applications that require FCBs, the requirements
of those applications should be added to the values you would otherwise
have used.
DOS 4.0 NOTES
* As of this date, IBM's PC-DOS 4.0 and 4.01 are the only versions of DOS 4.0
currently available, and they are not guaranteed to work on any computer
other than a true IBM PC/XT/AT or PS/2. Furthermore, Autodesk has not yet
certified that AutoCAD runs properly on these versions, even on IBM
computers. In particular, the "/X" option on the "BUFFERS=" and "FILES="
statements (in CONFIG.SYS), the FASTOPEN command, the "MODE CON LINES=43"
(or "=50") command, and IBM's expanded memory emulator may be incompatible
with AutoCAD or Extended AutoLISP.
* The memory reserve specified for external programs in ACAD.PGP (for the
SHELL and SH commands) must be higher for DOS 4.0, since the command
interpreter (COMMAND.COM) requires more memory than it did in previous
versions. For DOS 4.0, the minimum memory reserve is about 40K.
* If your system has hard disk partitions larger than 32 megabytes, DOS 4.0
automatically loads the SHARE program. Therefore, the SHARE notes above
apply to such a system.
TDIBMRD4.3 Page 9 of 10
KNOWN PROBLEMS
* In previous releases, if you set low values for LISPHEAP and LISPSTACK
(such as 5000 each), the memory not used by AutoLISP was made available to
AutoCAD as extra I/O page space, thereby improving AutoCAD's performance.
In Release 10, this is not the case. In fact, use of Extended AutoLISP
should make substantially more I/O page space available, but it does not.
An update to AutoLISP and Extended AutoLISP is planned soon, and will fix
these problems.
* In the initial version of Release 10, attempts to snap to the intersection
of two objects that didn't actually intersect sometimes placed illegal
values in the drawing file. Drawings that contain these illegal values
could cause ZOOM Dynamic and DVIEW to draw garbage on the screen, and
editing the offending entities could cause the system to freeze. This
problem has been fixed in the current version (Release 10 C2). To recover
drawings that were corrupted in this manner by the initial version of
Release 10, simply DXFOUT the drawing, begin a new drawing, and use DXFIN
to restore the corrupted drawing from the DXF file.
* Release 10's IGESIN command has a few known problems:
* Each composite curve is translated into an instance of an anonymous
Block. This accurately reflects the geometry of the composite curve,
but results in an entity that is difficult to edit. (To edit such
a curve, first EXPLODE the Block, forming individual segments.)
* Tabulated cylinders are translated as extrusions. The entity's
extrusion length and direction may be incorrect if it is not parallel
to the World Z axis.
* Dimensions and their defining points may be placed incorrectly if they
do not lie in the World XY plane.
* Early reports indicate that Release 10 may not work with some EGA-clone
display adapters that do not provide complete IBM EGA compatibility.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AutoCAD, AutoCAD AEC, and AutoLISP are U.S. registered trademarks of
Autodesk, Inc. ACAD, ADI, AutoFlix, AutoShade, and DXF are additional
trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.
COMPAQ is a registered trademark of COMPAQ Computer Corporation. IBM, AT,
PC-DOS, and PS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation. Inboard is a trademark and Intel is a registered trademark of
Intel Corporation.
TDIBMRD4.3 Page 10 of 10