SubscribeAhhhh those Pesky Steelers! Well half of my family is thrilled (the other half including me wanted to see Kurt Warner win!). Even my dog was a Steelers fan yesterday (no wonder they won!). Is there no loyalty anywhere?
Yesterday we had a great Super Bowl shindig with Pittsburgh Chip-Chop Ham and Cardinal's Wings (my attempt to be properly festive). There was quite a bit of jumping up and down and screaming at the TV as though our enthusiasm could really alter the course of the game. Of course I am wondering why that "fumble" wasn't reviewed during the last minute of the game (hello...why does the Tuck rule only work for those Patriots?). Am I sounding like a poor loser?
Back to the world of AutoCAD...
After eating all of that horribly fattening Super Bowl food I think it's time for an AutoCAD Hip Tip on slimming down your drawings! Ironically - the PURGE command is involved!
An AutoCAD Hip Tip for Losing Excess AutoCAD Poundage:
Have you ever had an AutoCAD drawing that magically became overbloated for no obvious reason? It's not filled with millions of objects, there's no excuse for it going so slow or being so large! You need to put your drawing on a diet to slim down those extra bytes!
So here is the deal...from time to time you may find that external data gets inadvertently added to your drawing. This XDATA can really clog up a drawings arteries (see...the painful analogies just continue on and on). This data from registered applications (or REGAPPS if you want to appear cool and in the know) can be added without your knowledge - and even if you delete an object that has this XDATA attached it doesn't delete the REGAPP that goes along with it - Yikes! These evil REGAPPS often come to us from XREFs without our knowledge.
So how do you get rid of these extra pounds and speed up your drawing file? It's super easy. First we'll look at the standard AutoCAD means of doing it - and then I'll point you to a routine that former Express Tool programmer Tom Stoeckel wrote.
You will need to go into the PURGE command...but not the dialog box - you'll have to force the command prompt version by placing a dash in front of the command. Then you'll key in "R" for Regapps.
Note: Don't bother selecting "A" for All thinking this will include your REGAPPS...it won't!
Command: -PURGE
Enter type of unused objects to purge
[Blocks/Dimstyles/LAyers/LTypes/MAterials/MUltileaderstyles/Plotstyles/SHapes/te
xtSTyles/Mlinestyles/Tablestyles/Visualstyles/Regapps/All]: R
Enter name(s) to purge <*>:
Verify each name to be purged? [Yes/No] <Y>: N
Deleting registered application "ACAD_DIMASSOC_CALC_DIMLFAC".
Deleting registered application "ACAD_DIMASSOC_DIMLFAC".
Deleting registered application "ACAD_DIMASSOC_OVERRIDDEN_DIMLFAC".
Deleting registered application "ACAD_DSTYLE_DIM_EXT1_LINETYPE".
Deleting registered application "ACAD_DSTYLE_DIM_EXT2_LINETYPE".
Deleting registered application "ACAD_DSTYLE_DIM_LINETYPE".
Deleting registered application "ACAD_DSTYLE_DIMARC_LENGTH_SYMBOL".
Deleting registered application "ACAD_DSTYLE_DIMEXT_ENABLED".
Deleting registered application "ACAD_DSTYLE_DIMEXT_LENGTH".
9 registered applications deleted.
And Voila! my drawing is instantly slimmer (and faster!). If only losing weight were this simple!
Now if you want a snappy REGAPP utility simply pick HERE:
Note: This utility only works on AutoCAD 2008 and 2009.