AutoCAD 2005 for Dummies

before you proceed.

2. Choose File>eTransmit.

The Create Transmittal dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 16-1.

Figure 16-1: Rapid eTransmit.

3. On the Files Tree or Files Table tab, remove the check mark next to any file that you want ETRANMSIT not to copy with the main drawing.

  Unless you have assigned custom font mapping, you can omit the Acad.fmp file.

4. Select a transmittal setup from the list.

  Transmittal setups are new in AutoCAD 2005. They contain settings that control how ETRANSMIT processes the drawings and creates the transmittal package. Click the Transmittal Setups button to create new or modify existing setups. The default Standard transmittal setup works fine for many purposes, except that you probably want to turn on the Include Fonts setting, as described in the next paragraph. In any case, you should view the settings (click the Modify button) just to see what options you can change if you need to later.

  If you want AutoCAD to include SHX and TTF font files, including any custom fonts that you’re using, you must turn on the Include Fonts setting in the transmittal setup. (Click Transmittal Setups, click Modify, and check the Include Fonts box.) Note, however, that many SHX and TTF files are custom fonts, which work like licensed software. Sending them to others is just like sharing your AutoCAD program CD with others. No, I don’t mean that it’s easy and fun; I mean that it’s illegal and unethical. Before you send a custom font file to someone else, find out what the licensing restrictions are on the font and be prepared to work within them.

5. Click the View Report button.

You see a report listing the files that ETRANSMIT will copy, along with warnings about any files that it can’t locate. 

6. Review the report and make sure that ETRANSMIT was able to find all the files.

7. Click OK.

ETRANMSIT displays a file dialog box so that you can specify the name and location of the transmittal package (which is a ZIP file by default).

8. Click Save.

ETRANSMIT creates the transmittal package (which is a ZIP file by default).

  Although AutoCAD 2005 automatically compresses its DWG files, zipping files manages to compress them even further (about 20 percent more, in my experience). More importantly, zipping creates a single, tidy package of all your DWG, raster image, plot style table, and font files. No one likes to receive an e-mail message carrying an endless cargo of attached files. Do everyone a favor: be hip and zip.

The only downside to zipping is that creating a zipped file and extracting files from it require a separate zip/unzip program. Several good shareware utilities are available, including WinZip (www.winzip.com).

Transmitting multiple drawings

In many cases, you’ll want to send more than one drawing to a recipient. In this situation, you can open each drawing and run ETRANSMIT on each in turn. (In the transmittal setup, set Transmittal Package Type to Folder (set of files), specify the Transmittal File Folder to copy the files to, and use Transmittal Options to control whether the files are copied to one or more than one folder.) When you’ve processed all the drawings, use a program like WinZip to package the files into a single zipped file before sending it.

  AutoCAD 2005 provides a slicker way of transmitting multiple drawings, as long as you’re using the new sheet sets feature (described in Chapter 14). In the Sheet Set Manager palette, just right-click the sheet set name and choose eTransmit. The Create Transmittal dialog box then will include an additional Sheets tab, as shown in Figure 16-2. This tab lists all drawings in the sheet set and includes them in the transmittal by default.

Figure 16-2: eTransmit faster with sheet sets.

  AutoCAD 2005 includes a new ARCHIVE command, which functions identically to ETRANSMIT, but without the transmittal document and without saved setups. ARCHIVE works only with sheet sets. In the Sheet Set Manager palette, right-click the sheet set name and choose Archive. You use this command to save copies of a set of drawings at some milestone during a project — for example, at a design review or bid set submittal.

FTP for you and me

FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is a simple but robust protocol for copying files over the Internet. A computer that’s connected to the Internet can act as an FTP server, which means that part of its hard disk is accessible over the Internet. The person who configures the FTP server can place restrictions so that only people who enter a particular logon name and password can see and download files. FTP overcomes the file size limitations that often occur with e-mail.

Because of all these FTP benefits, it’s increasingly common for people at larger companies to place drawing files on their company’s FTP site and tell you to go get them. This approach relieves them of having to e-mail you the files, and relieves you of waiting for that 10MB e-mail download when you least expected it.

In most cases, the person making the files available to you via FTP will send you a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that looks like a Web page address, except that it starts with FTP:// instead of HTTP://. If you open your Web browser and enter the FTP URL into the address field, the browser should connect to the FTP site, ask you for a location and name to use for the file when it gets copied to your system, and begin downloading the file. If the FTP site uses password protection, you’ll have to enter a logon name and password first.

If you want fancier FTP download options, you can use an FTP utility program such as WS_FTP (www.ipswitch.com).

  Even if you work for a small company, you may be able to post files on your ISP’s FTP server in order to make them available to others. Check with your ISP to find out whether you can do it and, if so, what the procedures are.

  FTP transfers are more prone to user confusion problems than are e-mail files, especially if the recipient hasn’t used FTP before. For example, it’s common for the person posting the files to forget to tell the recipient the logon name and password, or for the recipient not to have an FTP program — or to not know how to use it. Check with your recipient the first couple of times you use FTP to transfer files to make sure they got the files successfully — and don’t be surprised if they ask you to use e-mail or overnight delivery instead.

Bad reception?

Other sections in this chapter focus on sending files to others. What happens when you’re on the receiving end? Not everyone will be as conscientious as you are about following the Golden Exchange Rule. You’ll receive drawings with missing dependent files and no information or support files for plotting.

When you receive an e-mail message or FTP download containing drawings (zipped, I hope!), copy the file to a new folder on your hard disk or a network disk and unzip the files.

  Check at least a few of the drawings in the package to make sure that all the xrefs, fonts, and raster image files were included. You can perform this check by opening each main drawing in that folder. After you open each file, press the F2 key to view the command line window, and look for missing font and xref error messages of the following sort:

Substituting [simplex.shx] for [helv.shx].
Resolve Xref 'GRID': C:HereThereNowheregrid.dwg
Can’t find C:HereThereNowheregrid.dwg

A Substituting… message indicates AutoCAD couldn’t find a font and is substituting a different font for it. A Can’t find… message indicates that AutoCAD couldn’t locate an xref. Any missing raster files appear as rectangular boxes with the names of the image files inside the rectangles.