The H-Factor

Autodesk Announces New Update Pricing Scheme for 2010

According to Autodesk, starting next March you are going to be charged significantly more to upgrade your one, two or three year-old versions to the newest version. In the past, Autodesk charged a step by step price depending on how old the AutoCAD was. Not anymore. Now, upgrading the three most recent versions will cost 50% of the list price of a new version. Even a one-step upgrade like 2010 to 2011 (anticipated).

Here is their statement:

"Autodesk is introducing a new, streamlined upgrade pricing model on March 16, 2010. Under our current upgrade pricing model, the price of your upgrade depends on which product release you own. After March 15, 2010, your upgrade from any of the three previous software releases will cost 50 percent of the price of a new license, no matter which release you own."

On retired versions, such as AutoCAD 2007 and older, you will now have to pay full price to buy a new version. We do not know yet if this means the Legacy Program is gone forever.

The solution? Get on the Autodesk Subscription Program.

Is this to drive revenue for the rest of the year, only to have them back down at the last moment and go back to the old pricing levels? Time will tell.

More Here: Simplified Upgrade Pricing Begins March 16, 2010

Changing Attribute Color, Height, Style and Rotation

Unbeknownst to many, HydraCAD has a command (shortcut CAP) that will change many properties of attributes within a block. I have used it mostly for changing the text style used or the color (usually set be the background author) of attributes, but it does more than that.

This command is also available on the HydraTools->Modify->Attributes menu and the HydraTools toolbar

Controlling Xref Fading in AutoCAD 2010

In 2010, xref'd layers are shown faded by default. According to JTB World there is a new AutoCAD variable that controls that: XDWGFADECTL

Go to tools > options > display tab > and at the bottom right corner find FADE CONTROL. Under it is xref display.

Or, type it in, and set it as you desire (from AutoCAD sysvar reference):

XDWGFADECTL

Type:	Integer
Saved in:	Registry
Initial value:	70

Controls the dimming for all DWG xref objects.

The valid XDWGFADECTL system variable value is between -90 and 90. When XDWGFADECTL is set to a negative value, the Xref Fading feature is not turned on, but the setting is stored.

0	DWG xref objects are not faded.
>0	When the value is positive, controls the percent of fading up to 90 percent.
<0	When the value is negative, xref objects are not faded, but the value is saved for switching to that value by changing the sign.

This and a list of other new 2010 variables can be found at JTB World New 2010 Variables