Through the Interface

Jigsawify.com: Creating custom jigsaw puzzles using AutoCAD I/O

After the last post, where we looked at the first couple of architecture iterations for Jigsawify.com, it’s time to summarise (and perhaps even wrap-up) this series… Here are the posts so far: Puzzling over laser cutters AutoCAD I/O and custom applications Finishing up our laser-cut jigsaw project Running custom .NET code in the cloud using AutoCAD I/O – Part 1 Running custom .NET code in the cloud using AutoCAD I/O – Part 2 Running custom .NET code in the cloud using AutoCAD I/O – Part 3 Running custom .NET code in the cloud using AutoCAD I/O – Part 4... Read more →

Architecting my first AutoCAD I/O application

As mentioned in this recent post, I’ve been working on my AutoCAD I/O-driven web-site on and off for the last few weeks. Lately I’ve had to think beyond certain assumptions I’d made about its architecture, and I thought it worth sharing those thoughts here. The intention of the site is that you upload an image and then see some edge detection get performed on it, generating an engraving layer for a custom jigsaw puzzle. AutoCAD I/O gets used to generate a drawing that can drive a laser cutter, creating your 100% unique jigsaw puzzle. Basically making the world a... Read more →

Getting the extents of an AutoCAD group using .NET

Here’s an interesting question that came in from Nick Gilbert via a blog comment: Is there a simple way to get the geometric extents of the group? As discussed in this previous post, the Group object in AutoCAD presents itself as a collection of geometric objects (or entities, in ObjectARX-parlance). But a Group, in itself, isn’t a geometric object: it’s an aggregator of objects that are. So there isn’t – as Nick is clearly aware – a simple GeometricExtents property of the Group object. But we can access the contents of the Group and combine their various GeometricExtents, returning... Read more →

Summer holidays

I’ve been trying hard to keep up my blogging rhythm, through the summer, but some weeks it’s just hard. I’m currently enjoying an extended staycation with the family – and the weather in Switzerland has been simply amazing, this year, thankfully – and this week I just haven’t found the time for my usual 3rd post. So here’s a quick photo of a local field of sunflowers. Happy summer, everyone! Read more →

Visualizing the AutoCAD I/O API

I’ve been working with AutoCAD I/O quite heavily over the last week or two – mainly spending time fleshing out my Jigsawify web application well in advance of AU2015 – and came across this helpful trick for visualizing an OData-based REST API graphically: you can copy and paste the XML schema for the AutoCAD I/O API into a file and then load it into the handy XOData tool. Here’s what was generated (after a little editing from my side for layout): I’m making pretty good progress using AutoCAD I/O from Node.js – which is interesting as I can now... Read more →

Testing whether a point is inside or above an AutoCAD solid using .NET

Today’s post resulted from an internal discussion: Miroslav Schonauer – with the help of Jan Liska – put together some code for a recent consulting engagement that they felt was important to share with the community. They wanted to test point containment for a particular 3D solid, but also to test whether the selected point – if outside the solid – was above it. They achieved this using AutoCAD’s Brep API. Here is the C# they put together (with some minor, cosmetic edits from my side): using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.BoundaryRepresentation; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime; using... Read more →

Adding a symbol overlay to an AutoCAD table cell using .NET

While my last post on tables was apparently interesting, it turns out it didn’t actually address the question that inspired it. Oh well. Here’s a recent comment that gave greater clarity on the requirement: Do you know those no smoking signs commonly seen in public places: a cigarette with a red cross struck through it. Can a similar thing be done programmatically in a table with the strike through happening through a number. A picture is worth a 1000 words: http://imgur.com/gallery/qPzEm... In other words, can a block be inserted into a particular cell which already contains a number value?... Read more →

Software development jobs at Autodesk… in Europe!

I’ve just received an email from one of our in-house recruiters listing a number of open software development positions. I thought it was a good time to share some of these with this blog’s readers, partly because people may be interested in applying, but also to shine a light on the fact Autodesk hires coders in lots of different locations. When people email or ask me about positions at Autodesk, I typically suggest they visit our careers page. This provides access to a handy tool listing the various positions open across the company: at the time of writing there... Read more →

The Truth Is Out There

Autodesk sponsors a great event, here in my home town: the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF). An old friend and colleague from the UK, Nick Manning, typically comes across to talk at the event, as well as to present the Imaging the Future award: 5,000 CHF for the international competition film with the best production design. The 2015 winner was a post-apocalyptic Ethiopian movie called Crumbs. This year’s festival – the 15th edition – closed its doors on Saturday. Over the years the NIFFF has really grown in stature, and regularly attracts impressive guest speakers from the film... Read more →

Adding a new column to an existing AutoCAD table using .NET

After the last post, where we saw some code that creates an AutoCAD table based on the blocks in a drawing, in this post we’re going to modify our table, adding a new, initial column that numbers the contents. Here’s what we want to create using our new MBT command: Here’s the way the command looks when it runs: And, finally, here’s the updated C# code with our new MBT command: using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime; namespace TableCreationAndModification { public class Commands { const double rowHeight = 3.0, colWidth = 5.0; const double textHeight = rowHeight... Read more →

Creating a table of AutoCAD blocks using .NET

This post – and the one to follow it – were inspired by a comment on this old post (which in many ways is quite similar to this one, just using an older syntax and starting with a static array of table data). We’re creating a table with information about the various blocks in the block table of the current drawing: in this post we create the basic table containing the table name and its thumbnail, while in the next post we’re going add some additional (and as-yet-to-be-determined) information. The basic point is to show how to manipulate an... Read more →

Chaos: The Software

It’s time for another trip down memory lane… From time to time, I hear people talking about Autodesk’s more “radical” R&D investments… whether in the consumer software space – much of which is being driven by the Maker movement – or related to the bio/nano research Andrew Hessel and team are performing at Pier 9. I can understand that to some this might seem as though Autodesk is departing from its core mission, in some way. I have a slightly different perspective on this… yes, we had perhaps 15 years of our history – largely during the Bartz era... Read more →

Autodesk Technical Summit 2015

Last week I was in Singapore for our annual, internal, two-day technical summit. Upwards of 500 members of Autodesk’s various engineering and technical teams gathered together at the iconic Marina Bay Sands for the event. The hotel was pretty amazing. Having been told my room number (4619), I first exited the elevator at the 4th floor. It’s only then that I realised the rooms on each floor were numbered in double digits, and so my room was on the 46th! While I didn’t end up making much use of the hotel’s facilities – aside from the conference centre, of... Read more →

Replacing AutoCAD blocks with Xrefs using .NET

I mentioned in a recent post about some code I put together to replace a drawing’s internal block structure with external references. The code determines the blocks used in the modelspace and then works through, saving each to a file via the wblock mechanism and then attaching them back in as Xrefs. The code was surprisingly easy to put together. It’s a bit on the destructive side – it rips out blocks and creates equivalent drawings in the temp folder – so I do suggest running this on a copy of your drawings. But as part of a process... Read more →