GEN9638: Forensic CADology: When Good DWG Files Go Bad

Transcription

1 GEN9638: Forensic CADology: When Good DWG Files Go Bad David Park CAD/BIM Coordinator Steven Litzau, P.E. Manager of Design Technology Join the conversation

2 Class summary An Intermediate to Advanced Level class. Learn a workflow to repair corrupt.dwg files, find the most current backup file if needed, and best practices to avoid corruption.

3 Key learning objectives At the end of this class, you will be able to: Find (use) the most current backup file Diagnose the cause of a corrupt DWG file Repair a corrupt DWG file Identify best practices to avoid file corruption

4 Introduction

5 Introduction ~ Steven Litzau 14 years in the AEC Industry Autodesk Civil 3D 2015 Certified Professional Road and Site Designer Passion for workflow and process better TranSystems 900 staff in 30 offices Transportation consulting for all modes Road, Rail, and Bridge

6 Introduction ~ David Park 15 years in the AEC Industry Autodesk Vault for AEC Expert Adept at Implementing CAD Standards & Processes Deep background as a technician SRF Consulting Group 330 staff in 8 offices Road, Highway, & Bridge Design (incl. drainage & signaling) Transportation Planning Services

7 Introduction The IT department is your new best friend! Recover files from IT backups if necessary Be Patient - IT staff want to help you, but are probably very busy. Thank IT staff once in a while Set System Variables Use the SYSVDLG command to discover more about variables Saved in Registry VS Saved in.dwg file A crash can cause some variables to reset or disable (i.e. FileDIA) Best to do every time AutoCAD starts (via Lisp/Scr)

8 Introduction System Variables: 1 = BACKGROUNDPLOT 0 = SSMAUTOOPEN (& the other SS(M) variables in the handout) 1 = LARGEOBJECTSUPPORT 100 = RASTERPERCENT 100 = RASTERTHRESHOLD 3 = INDEXCTL 2 = XLOADCTL 0 = OPENPARTIAL 0 = ISAVEPERCENT 15 = SAVETIME (or an interval you are comfortable autosaving)

9 The Troubleshooting Methodology

10 The Troubleshooting Methodology

11 The Troubleshooting Methodology This session will walk thru the more complicated steps Notes: Handout gives detailed instructions There is a tip or two for Civil 3D users Be Patient with AutoCAD (if you let it run, it may come back) The Command line is how AutoCAD communicates with you I recommend showing at least 4 lines of command line history

12 RECOVER Learn How to Find (& Use) the Most Current Backup File

13 RECOVER: Learn How to Find (& Use) the Most Current Backup File.BAK file in the same folder as the original.dwg file if needed A new.bak is created every time the.dwg is saved ISAVEPERCENT variable controls how much change is saved.sv$ and/or.bak file in Windows Temp Directory (%TEMP%) If AutoCAD is hung, check for these files before ending the session Saved every XX minutes based on SAVETIME variable

14 RECOVER: Learn How to Find (& Use) the Most Current Backup File Windows Previous Version If enabled, Windows will take a snapshot on a schedule At SRF, a snapshot is taken at 10am and 2pm Right-click file (or sometimes the folder containing it) Make a copy of all backup files you find and put them in one folder Leave these files in the folder and copy a file before working with it Keep track of which files you have tried and the file you were able to recover from (to help you know what might need to get redone)

15 RESEARCH Learn how to diagnose the cause of a corrupt DWG file

16 RESEARCH: Learn how to diagnose the cause of a corrupt DWG file Delete.DWL files (in the same folder) with matching names These are lock files which will keep you from being able to change the original file because AutoCAD thinks someone has the.dwg open AutoCAD normally deletes these DWL files on exit, but won t if Windows Task Manager is used to close the session Run the RECOVER command on the original file after deleting the.dwls If the file doesn t open, continue on to 2) Breaking the Path to X-REFS & Data Shortcuts (D-REFS)

17 RESEARCH: Learn how to diagnose the cause of a corrupt DWG file First Determine if it s the file or a reference Find & Write down the UNC Path of the shared network folder Copy the file to a local folder Disconnect the Network Folder s Drive Letter in Windows Explorer If x-references have a UNC path instead of a drive letter, temporarily disconnect the network cable from your workstation (path would start with \\servername) Run the RECOVER command on the file Unload all x-references (assuming the file opens) Reconnect the shared network folder Copy the file back to its original location If the file opens, the issue resides with one of the references

18 RESEARCH: Learn how to diagnose the cause of a corrupt DWG file If the file opens Civil 3D users only - check the data shortcuts (d-refs) per handout Reload x-references one at a time Save the file after each successful reload Make note of any reference that throws an error, but still loads. It s recommended to run the RECOVER command on those files too If an x-reference causes AutoCAD to crash, run the RECOVER command on that file The tree view in the x-reference palette will show any nested x-refs If a reference file can t be fixed, temporarily leave it unloaded.

19 RESEARCH: Learn how to diagnose the cause of a corrupt DWG file If file still doesn t open (after unloading all the x-references) Insert the.dwg file as a block into a new drawing (if possible - from the same template) Insert the block at 0,0,0 & explode it Save the File Layout (Paperspace) tabs will be lost in this step! Layout Tabs can be recovered

20 RESEARCH: Learn how to diagnose the cause of a corrupt DWG file If the new file is able to be saved after inserting the corrupt file Create & Export a Layer State Turn on, Thaw, & Unlock all layers Wblock file contents out to a new file (select all objects, leave insertion 0,0,0) Include x-references Open file created by wblock command Import & Apply the previously created Layer State

21 RESEARCH: Learn how to diagnose the cause of a corrupt DWG file Use the Design Center (DC) to re-create layout tabs from most recent backup file that works Use DC at the command line or the DC Tool palette button to open Design Center Browse to & Select the file containing the desired layout tabs Click on the Layout Tab item Left-click & Hold on the desired layout tab, then drag the tab anywhere into the open drawing

22 REPAIR Learn how to repair a corrupt DWG file

23 REPAIR: Learn how to repair a corrupt DWG file Run the AUDIT and/or RECOVER commands If the file is open, save it and run the AUDIT command Then save and close the file. Run the RECOVER command If the file will not open, run the RECOVER command Run the Purge command with R(egApps) option Type Purge into the command line Type R when prompted for options Type * for all objects Type N for confirmation

24 REPAIR: Learn how to repair a corrupt DWG file Run the DGNPURGE (v ) command Requires the AutoCAD_2013_2014_DGN_Hotfix Type NETLOAD, browse to and select DgnLsPurge.dll in Program Files C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 201x C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 Run the DGNPURGE command Run the PURGE command with O(rphaned Data) option (v2015-later) Type Purge into the command line Type O when prompted for options

25 REPAIR: Learn how to repair a corrupt DWG file Run the SCALELISTEDIT command May need to Click the scale list first and check Xref scales Click RESET If the RESET button produces undesirable results, DELETE all the unused _XREF scales instead Run the OVERKILL command See Handout for optimized settings Run the FILTERS command Delete all Filters

26 REPAIR: Learn how to repair a corrupt DWG file Run the AUDIT command Type Y to fix errors Run PURGE with all checkboxes selected Run the AUDIT command Type Y to fix errors Save and Close the file

27 Learn best practices to avoid file corruption

28 Learn best practices to avoid file corruption Follow Corporate CAD Standards (please!) Keep File names as short as possible (path length still matters!) Do not Attach DGN files (like, ever!) Do not use the Edit X-ref in-place option Avoid copying linework, etc. from an X-ref into the host file if possible (the NCOPY command) Avoid copying and pasting Civil 3D objects Create a layer for each X-reference before attaching it (& make that layer current before inserting it)

29 Learn best practices to avoid file corruption Lock the layer an X-reference is placed onto (be careful with dwgs containing civil 3d objects). Layer Management: Use On/Off as temporary (turn all layers on before closing) Layer Management: Use Freeze/Thaw as permanent (i.e. you never want the layer to print) AutoCAD performs better when a layer is frozen vs turned off Close the Layer Palette when it s not in use. Speak nicely to AutoCAD!

30 Questions?

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