| Insert hyperlink | Add hyperlinks to objects in drawings | Of questionable use, except in specialized applications | “Hand-y objects” in this chapter |
| Password protection | Requires a password in order to open a drawing | Useful for limiting access to sensitive DWG or DWF files | “The Drawing Protection Racket” in this chapter |
| Digital signatures | Provide electronic confirmation that someone has approved a particular version of a particular drawing | Requires an account with a digital certificate provider; new technology, so look before you leap — and talk to your attorney first | “The Drawing Protection Racket” in this chapter |
Sending Strategies
E-mail and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) have largely replaced blueline prints, overnight delivery, floppies, and higher capacity disks as the standard means of exchanging drawings. Some companies even use specially designed Webbased services, such as Autodesk’s Buzzsaw, as a repository for project drawings from all the companies working on a particular project. Whether you’re exchanging drawings in order to reuse CAD objects or simply to make hardcopy plots of someone else’s drawings, you need to be comfortable sending and receiving drawings electronically.
Sending and receiving DWG files doesn’t differ much from sending and receiving other kinds of files, except for the following:
? DWG files tend to be bigger than word processing documents and spreadsheets. Consequently, you may need to invest in a faster Internet connection, as described earlier in this chapter.
? You can easily forget to include all the dependent files. I tell you in the next section how to make sure that you send all the necessary files — and how to pester the people who don’t send you all their necessary files.
? It’s often not completely obvious how to plot what you receive. Read Chapter 12 and the section, “Bad reception?” in this chapter to solve plotting puzzles.
Whenever you send DWG files together, follow the Golden Exchange Rule: “Send files unto others as you would have them sent unto you.” That means sending all the dependent files along with the main DWG files, sending plotting support files (CTB or STB files — see Chapter 12), and including a description of what you’re sending. And ask the recipient to try opening the drawings you send them right away, so you both have more time to respond if there’s any problem.
Many people naively assume that an AutoCAD drawing is always contained in a single DWG file, but that’s often not the case. Each drawing file created in AutoCAD can contain references to other kinds of files, the most important of which are described in the following table. Thus, before you start exchanging drawings via e-mail or FTP, you need a procedure for assembling the drawings with all their dependent files.
| Description | File Types | Consequences if Missing | Where the Use of These File Types is Explained |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom font files | SHX, TTF | AutoCAD substitutes another font | Chapter 9 |
| Other drawings (xrefs) | DWG | Stuff in the main drawing disappears | Chapter 13 |
| Raster graphics files | JPG, PCX, TIF, and so on | Stuff in the drawing disappears | Chapter 13 |
| Plot style tables | CTB, STB | Lineweights and other plotted effects won’t look right | Chapter 12 |
As you can see from the table, the consequences of not including a custom font aren’t that dire: The recipient still will see your text, but the font will be different. Of course, the new font may look odd or cause text spacing problems within the drawing. If, on the other hand, you forget to send xrefs or raster graphics that are attached to your main drawing, the objects contained on those attached files simply will be gone when the recipient opens your drawing. Not good!
Table 16-2 doesn’t exhaust the types of files that your DWG files might refer to. Custom plotter settings (such as custom paper sizes) may reside in PC3 or PMP files. If you use the new sheet sets feature, a DST file contains information about the sheet structure. An FMP file controls some aspects of font mapping. (Like so much else in AutoCAD, the tools and rules for mapping missing fonts are flexible but somewhat complicated. Look up the “FONTALT” and “FONTMAP” system variables in the AutoCAD online help system for detailed information.)
Fortunately, the AutoCAD ETRANSMIT command pulls together all the files that your main DWG file depends on. Follow these steps to assemble a drawing with all its dependent files with ETRANSMIT.
1. Open the drawing that you want to run ETRANSMIT on.
If the drawing is already open, save it. ETRANSMIT requires that any changes to the drawing be saved
