Date: Mon, 29 October 2018 12:00:00 -0500
From: DATACAD-TECH
Subject: TECH-DBUG Digest Monday, October 29 V2018 #017
Please remember to EDIT DOWN follow-up replies & Adjust Subject
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datacad-dbug-digest Monday, October 29 2018 Volume 2018:No 017
DBUG> Land CAD
DBUG> Next DBUG meeting on Nov. 7th at BSA Bldg.
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
DBUG› Blueprint. finally
DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
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Subject: DBUG› Land CAD
From: David Ramey
Date: Oct 23 2018
There used to be this program called Land CAD that was $30,000 back in the day. It had every plant you could think of and would show you how it would grow in a pot or in the ground.
Never bought it just looked at it a few times. Back then even AutoCAD was wide open. They didn't mind piracy to learn the program but did mind companies doing that although many did.
There is another very useful program that take elevations and determines the run off depending on ground cover but probably a little too much if you are not designing a strip mine or a 4 lane highway. The roads are very similar and some companies do both depending upon where they could make the most money.
I hope this helps but is probably no use whatsoever but it was a little piece of history.
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Subject: DBUG> Next DBUG meeting on Nov. 7th at BSA Bldg.
From: Evan H Shu, FAIA
Date: Oct 25 2018
To Boston Area DBUGers,
We have a great program agenda coming up for our next meeting on Nov. 7th at the BSA Building in downtown Boston.
Case Studies in Using DataCAD
You are invited to join DBUG in our year end meeting that will feature special presentations by DataCAD President & CEO Mark Madura. He will present two case studies for real projects (a new house on a harbor island near Seattle, WA & a house addition in Glastonbury, CT). In the process, he will highlight his own wishlist for new features in DataCAD, some of which will be incorporated into the next release of DataCAD 21. In addition, he will present his amazing detective work in tracking down his spouse's adoptive parents, using both the new DNA tools as well as good old fashioned gumshoe investigation.
Note: It will be in the Pearl Room (across hall from BSA offices on 2nd floor) so they won't kick us out early!
We will issue a formal agenda next week. But let me know if you plan to be there or have any questions.
Evan
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 23 2018
From: Malcolm Blier
Attached (if possible), a pdf which ultimately I'm trying to get to be white on blue like the old blueprints. Anyone have an idea how to convert/ x-ref the linework so it's white on blue? Thanks.
Mal Blier
--
Malcolm A. Blier
Architecture/Planning
246 Walnut Street, Suite 101
Newton MA 02460
Attachments (1)
BLUE.pdf
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 24 2018
From: Mark F. Madura
Hi Mal,
There's more than one way to go about this, but here's the method I would use.
- Start with the original bitmap (convert the PDF if necessary).
- Edit the bitmap in a paint program like Photoshop Elements.
Your image is two colors, so that makes it easier.
- Replace the line colors with white and the background color with 'blueprint' blue.
- Save the bitmap and insert it into a drawing.
- Use the Enlarge, Enlargement, Calibrate Distance menu and pick two points in the image you know the distance between. DataCAD will calculate the necessary enlargement factor. Right-click twice to get back to the Enlarge menu, then pick the bitmap to resize it.
If you need to rotate the image to correct the angle of horizontal and vertical lines, do that in the paint program. Or, you can XREF or Self-XREF the drawing that contains the inserted bitmap, then apply the rotation to the XREF entity.
MFM
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 24 2018
From: jimgoodman
Try printing with blue lines on white background, saving the PDF file as a png or jpg file and then inverting it using a negative filter in a bitmap editor.
James Goodman, AIA
James Goodman, Architecture
26901 Camino de Estrella, Suite A
Capistrano Beach, CA 92624
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 24 2018
From: David Bergman
Hi Malcolm,
Is this what you’re looking for? I was curious to see how hard or easy it would be to do. I brought it into Photoshop, selected the blue background (with a very high “tolerance), then “select similar.” Filled the selection with white. Then inverted the selection and filled that with blue.
Best,
David
David Bergman RA LEED AP CPHD
Please note new email address
architect | David Bergman Architect
author | Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide
blog | EcoOptimism.com
adjunct faculty | Parsons School of Design
Blier.pdf
113 KB View Download
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 24 2018
From: David Bergman
Just realized you were asking about the “real” style blueprint. How’s this?
David
David Bergman RA LEED AP CPHD
Blier2.pdf
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 24 2018
From: jdtaia
Send it to these people at Boston Reprographics and they will tell you if it can be done.
John Douglas Thomson, AIA
2535 W. 237th Street
Suite 120
Torrance, CA 90505
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 25 2018
From: Ted Blockley
Mal,
Is the PDF made from a Datacad drawing, or is it coming from some other source?
Ted Blockley
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 25 2018
From: Ted Blockley
Mal,
It looks like X-ref highlighting works only with the basic 256 colors, rather than the full gamut of custom colors.
To get around this, you can edit color 30 to be the “minus one” and save that palette (using the color palettes/ drawing palettes menu) for use with the “blueprint” file.
Ted
Sent from my iPad
I made that color, but I'm having problems getting the xref to be that color. Meanwhile, I selected color29 and that works for the random test lines I drew. Meanwhile, I can make the XREF be color 29 even though I have it set that way in the XR manager. What is the missing step here? I have the color, I just can't get the XR to be it.
Mal,
Color 30 is white - always prints Black. Instead, try this:
Define your own custom color Red = 254, Green = 255, Blue = 255. As close to white as you can get without it actually being true white.
That will turn your blacks to white and the fuzzy, in-between pixels in the print will be the right shade of blue-white rather than blue-black.
Ted
It's from a Datacad drawing, xref & self xref's brought in as color 30 which is white. The blue is a fill. Neil told me to use the DCADWIN pen table which he said prints to the pen color, but it's still plotting out black. So I'm prob. one setting away somewhere, bec. Mark responded and sent me white on blue. Altho he must have re-worked the pdf outside of DCAD, since I did not send a DCAD file.
Thanks for your help. It's a going to be a gift, so there's no project deadline.
Mal
--
Malcolm A. Blier
Architecture/Planning
246 Walnut Street, Suite 101
Newton MA 02460
<COLOR29_10-24.pdf>
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 25 2018
From: Nick Pyner
Paintshop Pro
1 Adjust, Hue % Sat,Hue Map Shift blueish 216 deg and 252 to 62 deg yellow
2. Adjust , Colour balance, Negative
3. Adjust, Colour Balance, maximise Blue
Nick Pyner
Dee Why NSW
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 25 2018
From: Robert Scott
Since the background color won't print blue to PDF and I doubt if you want to spend the "ink" to print the background in blue anyway:
Send your pdf to your print service and have them swap the line/geometry color to white and print on blue paper.
Robert
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 25 2018
From: Ted Blockley
Mal,
Color 30 is white - always prints Black. Instead, try this:
Define your own custom color Red = 254, Green = 255, Blue = 255. As close to white as you can get without it actually being true white.
That will turn your blacks to white and the fuzzy, in-between pixels in the print will be the right shade of blue-white rather than blue-black.
Ted
Sent from my iPad
It's from a Datacad drawing, xref & self xref's brought in as color 30 which is white. The blue is a fill. Neil told me to use the DCADWIN pen table which he said prints to the pen color, but it's still plotting out black. So I'm prob. one setting away somewhere, bec. Mark responded and sent me white on blue. Altho he must have re-worked the pdf outside of DCAD, since I did not send a DCAD file.
Thanks for your help. It's a going to be a gift, so there's no project deadline.
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 25 2018
From: Robert Scott
Change your DataCAD background to blue. Change your geometry and text to white.
Take a screenshot.
image.png
--
Robert Scott Residential Design
Battle Creek, MI
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 25 2018
From: James Horecka
The way I'd do it:
View the PDF at 200% (for hi-res).
Edit, Snapshot, select the desired chunk. This copies the data in raster form to the Clipboard.
Paste that into your favorite photo editor that will accept pasted input (I use a French freebie called PhotoFiltre, which is super simple, fast & useful.)
Once there:
Go Negative. Now you have white lines on a black background.
Then Replace Color.
But don't replace the black background with "blue." Old blueprints were NOT blue! They were a very dark deep purple! I still have a few around.
See attached, done by the above method. Still not the right color. But you get the idea.
Summary steps:
* Open PDF.
* 200%.
* Edit / Take a Snapshot.
* Select area (Copies to Clipboard).
* Alt-Tab to PhotoFiltre.
* RtClk; "Paste as New Image."
* Adjust / Negative.
* Adjust / Replace Color.
* Choose color.
* Preview / OK.
* SaveAs.
James Horecka, AIA
Architect
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Subject: DBUG› Blueprint. finally
From: Malcolm Blier
Date: Oct 25 2018
Sincerest thanks for all the help. After all the input, I finally went old school, pasted the orig, file linework into a new file and changed the color to color29, which will print close enough to white. The blue is a basic fill.
I printed a piece of it out on my desktop printer. It's not coming out well, but I'll ask my commercial printing co. to verify that it will reproduce as the pdf. shows. If not, back to the drawing board.
Again, as I told Mark Madura, the great thing about this board is no one ever says 'you're on your own, buster...'
Mal
--
Malcolm A. Blier
Architecture/Planning
246 Walnut Street, Suite 101
Newton MA 02460
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Subject: DBUG> Old "blueprint"??
Date: Oct 26 2018
From: wayne allen
Dead thread now but....
I would export to sketchup
Choose “blueprint” style under the default styles.
Gives a lovely “aged” look to the drawing.
-wayne allen
sydney, australia
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End of datacad-dbug-digest V2018 #017
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