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areforum
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Posted: Fri Jul 25th, 2008 03:00 pm |
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This posting was deleted by accident while deleting spam. This is the original post by Ironwarrior. - ARE Forum
How Do I Use the alts with Graphics Software?
(NOTE: I am posting this here since most newbies check this forum out first and this is applicable for all the vignettes).
Since many people aren't computer geeks like me, I've been meaning to post a step-by-step method for using the alts with the NCARB software (this was originally for archigator, who gave me permission to post this since our conversation was through PM--please thank her). Also, give a big thanks to *** for making alts--he is the alt making god.
First download the 4.0 software, whether or not you are doing the 3.1 tests. The 4.0 software has been tweaked to run on Vista x86 (32-bit) version and a few other bugs resolved. Whether you are taking 3.1 or 4.0 is irrelevant since the graphic vignettes are the same in overall context, and you'll want to use the alts.
First, to help alleviate problems when viewing the files:
1) Open your Windows Explorer. When you look at the files, do you see an extension for all the file names? The extension is a dot (.) followed by 3 letters.
2) If not, you probably have the file view set for icons or something else. You want to be able to see the extension under Type in the Explorer menu.
Do this:
1) In Windows Explorer from the My Computer, look at top and you'll see Tools. Click on that and choose Folder Options
2) A menu will pop up. In that menu choose View.
3) You'll see a list with several boxes checked.
4) Scroll down to Hide Extensions for Known File Types. UNCHECK that box.
5) Next choose Apply to All Folders. A message will pop up. Just ignore it and click OK and then click OK to get out of the View menu.
6) Go to any file folder.
7) Now you should see the filename and the . and an extension.
9) Now when you click on Type, the sort will be helpful, particularly when loading the alts.
(These directions are for Windows XP, but Vista is similar).
Now to the software!
Download the 4.0 software and install it. Very simple. You can run the particular graphic vignette you've loaded or any of the other ones.
Step-by-step Directions for Using the Alt files
1) Go to your C: drive in My Computer, chose the Program Files folder, and you'll see a folder called NCARB where the NCARB practice software was loaded. Open up that folder. In that folder, you'll see a folder or folders listing the graphic vignettes you've loaded (eg: C: \ Program Files \ NCARB \ Site Planning and Design).
2) Pick the one that you are planning to use with the alternate vignettes. When you are looking around in that folder, you will see files ending in .AUT and .DWG. The .AUT files are the program information and .DWG files are the templates for the practice vignettes. This is the important stuff.
3) Since you are in that folder, make a new folder called BACKUP. This is good policy so you don't corrupt your original files. Next, in the pane that lists the files, move to the sub-title bar information and click on Type. This sorts the files by their extension.
4) Select all the .AUT and .DWG files and Copy those. Click on your BACKUP folder and Paste those files into the BACKUP folder. Next, go back into your vignette folder.
5) Make a another folder called ALTS. This isn't absolute, but again, good policy. After that, head to the FTP site.
6) When you find the alternate(s) that you want to play with, Right-Click on the file(s) and choose the Save Link As (in Mozilla) or Save Target As (in IE). A window will pop-up showing your My Documents or another folder, but you want to Browse to the ALTS folder in your vignette folder. Save the .DWG file(s) and any .AUT file(s) that go with that particular alt. vignette (not all will have corresponding .AUT files). Also, save any .DOC files that explain the program directions for the alt. vignette.
7) The files will you are wanting to practice with have similar file names to the original vignettes. This is important, because you will have to make the alt. file have the same name as the original.
8) Go to your ALTS folder and Copy the .DWG (and .AUT file, if any). Click back into your vignette folder and Paste the files. Notice that you will have a file(s) with similar names to the original.
9) Using C#TUT#W1.DWG as an example, make note what the original exact file name is (best to write it down). Afterwards, delete the original file (no fear--remember, we backed the originals up in our BACKUP folder).
10) Now, Rename the alt. that you pasted into the vignette folder to have the exact same name as the original (the first 8 letters/numbers are all that changes). You have to change the .AUT file also (if the alt. had one), such as C#TUT#W1.AUT
11) Since the alt. files have .DOC files that explain the program directions for the alt. vignette, it is a good idea to print that out now.
12) Crank up the practice software! When you choose the vignette that you are wanting to practice, the software may give you an error that says the DWG has changed. Just ignore it and click OK.
13) Get to work!
14) After you are done, you'll probably want to post your solution for review. With the view zoomed out, hold down your CTRL key and hit the PRT SC (Print Screen) key (upper right-hand of the keyboard).
15) Go to your Start Menu, open it, click Accessories, and chose Paint. Go to the Edit Menu in Paint and click Paste. The image made by hitting CTRL & PRT SC will appear. If you want to touch it up a bit in Paint, go ahead.
16) Now you want to Save the file. If you want, just Save it to your My Documents folder since Windows defaults to that folder. IMPORTANT NOTE: When you Save the file, do not let it Save as a .BMP file. Those are too large and just Windows crap. Click on the extension pulldown menu that is below the filename. Choose .JPG. This is the standard for WWW viewing. You can name the file image file anything you like.
17) Head over the appropriate forum. When you make a thread or post in a thread, at the bottom of the message pane is a Browse button for attachments. Write a message and then use the Browse button to find the .JPG file of your vignette that you Saved. It generally defaults to the My Documents folder.
18) Click the file and let your browser do its business. Post just like a normal text reply or thread and if all goes well, you should see your .JPG image in the thread.
That's it!
As an aside, you may have looked at my graphics threads and seen links to my practice. Since I have my own servers, I use my own FTP system to upload the files to them. I use links instead of displaying the files directly so that anyone with dial-up to broadband speeds can skim my threads without lag. It's my own personal preference and not a mandatory thing.
If you have any questions, post here, and I or someone else will help out.
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ironwarrior
Architect
| Joined: | Thu May 25th, 2006 |
| Location: | Architect, LEED AP, Anime Freak, West Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 887 |
| Exams Taken: | PD, GS, LF, ME, BD/MM, CD, SP, BP, BT | | Exams Passed: | PD, GS, LF, ME, BD/MM, CD, SP, BP, BT | | Describes Me: | Overall Anime-nutcase with blue-hair and full-upper body tribal tattoo |
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Posted: Sun Aug 10th, 2008 09:06 pm |
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In November of 2007, *** asked me about the AUT files when making ALTS for the practice software. Below is some text from that post, and I'm adding it just to keep all this information compartmentalized.
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From this thread:
http://www.areforum.org/forums/forum8/33673.html
B9TUT.AUT
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Vignette B9 Site Design;
Background b9tut2w1.dwg;
EnglishDocuments b9tut2e.m13;
MetricDocuments b9tut2m.m13;
AuthorString "1.00";
BackupInterval 1;
NorthArrow 90;
Notification ;
RoadWidth 7200;
RoadSegmentLength 2500;
ExistingRoadWidth 9000;
WalkWidth 1800;
WalkSegmentLength 2500;
ExistingWalkWidth 1800;
RoadSnap 1500;
WalkSnap 1500;
PropertyLineBlock PROPERTYLINE;
Tags
{
Tag
{
Name "ConiferousTree";
}
Tag
{
Name "DeciduousTree";
}
Tag
{
Name "Tower";
}
Tag
{
Name "Restaurant";
}
}
PlacedOutdoorObjects
{
PlacedOutdoorObject
{
Tag Restaurant;
Parts
{
Part
{
Name "Service Entrance";
Type SE;
Block RESTAURANTSERVICEENTRANCE;
}
Part
{
Name "Main Entrance";
Type ME;
Block RESTAURANTMAINENTRANCE;
}
}
}
PlacedOutdoorObject
{
Tag Tower;
Parts
{
Part
{
Name "Main Entrance";
Type ME;
Block TOWERMAINENTRANCE;
}
}
}
}
DrawnOutdoorObjects
{
DrawnOutdoorObject
{
Name "Pedestrian Plaza";
TagAndAbbreviation PP;
Abbreviation PP;
Area 720000000;
AcceptableFootpath TRUE;
}
}
ConiferousTree
{
Name "Coniferous Tree";
Height 15000;
Block CONIFEROUSTREE;
Outline CONIFEROUSTREE;
File b9TUT2w1.dwg;
}
DeciduousTree
{
Name "Deciduous Tree";
Height 15000;
Block DECIDUOUSTREE;
Outline DECIDUOUSTREE;
File b9TUT2w1.dwg;
}
Tower
{
Name "Office Tower";
Height 18000;
Block TOWER;
Outline TOWEROUT;
Type Building;
File b9TUT2w1.dwg;
}
Restaurant
{
Name "Restaurant";
Height 5000;
Block RESTAURANT;
Outline RESTAURANTOUT;
Type Building;
File b9TUT2w1.dwg;
}
------------------------
First thing to understand is the units for height and element. You could go in b9tut2e.m13 or b9tut2m.m13, but I recommend avoiding that. A simple division shows 300 is the divisor for foot units (most commonly used). Keep that number in mind as that determines height and width of objects for feet and inches format.
Now the most important item: you must coordinate AUT Tags, Block, and Outline names with the appropriate CAD file. This is what the AUT script uses to parse the DWG information when the program is run.
Let's look at the b9TUT2w1.dwg file.
When you open the DWG file, you must turn in all the levels for the Objects. I'm sure you know this since you've made Alts. The important part is selecting an Object and opening the Properties dialog in ACAD. You'll see that the Object is assigned a name and that name is what is used in the AUT file. Building have two objects such as the restaurant:
Block RESTAURANT;
Outline RESTAURANTOUT;
The main Block is the Object itself and the Outline is the X-Y space enclosure, which defines TRUE or FALSE if the building overlaps another Object.
Given this, you can create about any reasonalble Alt DWG and alter the AUT format to provide the appropriate information as long as you assign Tags and reference them through the script when defining the Object parameters.
IMPORTANT: you must keep the script format exactly the same in structure or you may introduce read errors. You can add or delete Tags but the script structure, particularly the bracket format, should be the same for whatever you add (or remove). Here's sample data flow design procedure:
1) Create Objects in ACAD and assign Object names as necessary. Use an existing or unitless CAD template (R12 DWG recommended).
2) Define the Tags in the AUT file. (Use Wordpad or another simple text editor to open and edit the file--not Microsoft Word)
3) Edit PlacedOutdoorObjects to coincide with the Blocks you have created.
4) Define DrawnOutdoorObjects as needed.
5) Associate each tag name with Name, Height, Block, Outline, Type and File name.
Save it, place it in the program directory and run the mutha!
You could further edit the actual program text information, but that requires a bit more work, and more copying of files for end users.
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