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| CAD, CAM, CAE, design, technical drawing, drafting, delineation, visualization, manufacturing | ISSN 1442-2255 : 11/21/2009 - 9:39:04 PM |
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StanStamp & StanWeight - ReviewGeoff Harrod These two small utilities from Softco Engineering Systems, Inc (the producer of StanConvert, reviewed here recently) are for use with AutoCAD 2000 (not LT 2000). StanStamp places a text object on the drawing which details the date and time of placement, the drawing file-name and path, and optionally, the operator’s initials and a list of attached Xrefs. StanWeight is a tool for implementing the new Lineweight property in drawings that were created before R2000 or using the old plotted linewidth methods.
Both utilities consist of complied Visual Lisp program files, with associated toolbar files. The method of installation is the same as for most other add-ins with R2000. They are loaded from the Tools>Load Applications menu, or by the typed APPLOAD command. The toolbars are loaded by the Tools>Menu Customising menu. If loaded manually, the loading operation needs to be repeated for each new drawing opened. Alternatively, the programs can be added to the Auto-load list in the Appload dialog box, so that they will be loaded automatically for every drawing. There is also a batch operation facility for use when a large number of drawings needs to be processed. The two single-button toolbars are rather simplistic and a bit ambiguous, as can be seen from the screen image where the two buttons have been dragged to the right-hand end of the main toolbar. But once used they are obvious enough. One simply has ‘AWT’ in blue letters signifying presumably ‘Auto-WeighT’, and the other has ‘DS’ presumably meaning ‘Date Stamp’.
StanStampThis tool operates by updating an existing block definition. Therefore, the user needs to create the required block before it is used the first time. This is done easily enough, although one might expect it to have been automated. The advantage of having the block created manually is that the user can decide what text font and size to use and where to locate it. To do this you need to use the Text command to type any few characters of text, and then use the Block command to save that one line of text as a block named ‘DATE’. The block is then inserted somewhere. At that stage it will show whatever arbitrary text you entered. Of course, an office system could have this block already in the office’s standard drawing templates. When you click the ‘DS’ button, the StanStamp program asks you to type in your initials, if desired, and then asks if you want to include a list of attached Xrefs. The default is Y for Yes. The program then redefines the text in the block definition, so that the insertion of the block changes to show the new information. The drawing name is taken from the AutoCAD DWG file data and the date, time and file path from the Windows system.
The illustration shows an example of its use. Clearly, it is best to place the block at the left side of the drawing whether within or outside the border lines, so as to allow for the possibly quite lengthy string of text if Xrefs are included. The example uses the AutoCAD 2000 sample drawing ‘1st Floor’ which has several Xrefs. I used Arial Bold text at 3mm height. Softco suggest the use of ordinary single-line text (or ‘DTEXT’) because Multi-line text blocks can sometimes get truncated in some circumstances in this application. But individual users are very likely to find Multi-line text works reliably in their particular situations. By the nature of its function, this StanStamp facility would usually be run several times on the one drawing, typically whenever it was printed or issued. Each time it updates the text with the current data and time. You can also automate StanStamp to run concurrently with the AutoCAD 2000 Plot command. StanWeightThe makers describe this tool thus: "Applies the lineweight property independent from color once drawings are opened in AutoCAD 2000 by selecting the associated PCP or PC2 plot file previously used for plotting the drawing, or by selecting a user defined setup file. In seconds, you are free to change colors without affecting the plotted output. Lineweights are assigned according to the current settings of the color property whether it be set by layer or by entity, for all entities including text, attributes, and entities contained within blocks." The usefulness of this tool is that it facilitates the transition from the old AutoCAD system where object color controlled printed line-widths. The major problem with that system was that it was difficult to use color in plots at the same time as various line-widths. Now, with the widespread use of color inkjet plotters and the increasing realization of the value of color in plots, it is desirable to be able to control both properties separately, and AutoCAD 2000 at long last provides that facility. StanWeight uses the current object and layer colors and sets the Lineweight property of layers and objects, as appropriate, according to the color-to-line-width mapping currently or previously in use. Once that has been done by StanWeight, the users are then free to alter the colors of objects as desired, which would usually be to control color in the prints. StanWeight can use three possible sources for its color-to-weight mapping information, These can be seen in the pop-up dialog shown here.
If you have a PCP or PC2 file from a previous version of AutoCAD, then it can use that. Alternatively, you can set up a custom data file. For this review I set up a custom data file to control line widths according to the particular variant of the Rotring Pen color-band scheme that one of my associates uses. All that is needed is a series of text lines like those shown below, where the words such as ‘Color2’ (US spelling and no space) refer to the AutoCAD color number, and after the equals sign, a line width in millimeters. If the drawing contains any colors not listed in the data file, StanWeight uses the AutoCAD default Weight (which is usually excessively thin on modern inkjet printers). ;;WIDE-ROT.DAT Softco provide a sample data file with many comment lines that explain how to customize it, and I have deleted those from the above. Their sample is called WIDE-DEF.DAT and the idea is that you alter the width values as desired and save it as a name like WIDE????.DAT – WIDE-ROT.DAT in my case. The result of running StanWeight with the above DAT file on the ‘1st Floor’ R2000 sample drawing can be seen in the layers dialog shown here.
You can see how the various colors specified in the DAT file have caused the corresponding Lineweights to be added into the Layer Lineweight properties. If the drawing has any instances of ‘Color-by-Entity’ then StanWeight would have added Lineweight properties to those Entities also. SummaryI think StanWeight is a very valuable tool. I know a lot of die-hard AutoCAD users seem to be intent on ignoring the new Lineweight facility, but it is really a valuable option and this tool makes it very easy to make the transition with the minimum of disruption. In fact, it allows you to run for as long as you wish with both rationales in place! That would make the drawings suitable for users who adopt either method. Both tools are very recommendable.
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