Design is a collaborative process. As such many AutoCAD users have reference files set up in World coordinates, but some of the files are set up by other project team members. Attaching files when in a different User Coordinate System (UCS) can result in the contents appearing at incorrect locations. Bummer. This month's ADN Plugin of the month can be used within AutoCAD to detect when reference files are being attached when the UCS is not "World." If it is not, the user is prompted whether he/she would like to temporarily set the UCS to World for the duration of the attach command.
Free Download of RefUcsSpy for AutoCAD ADN Plugin of the Month
This plugin was written by Glenn Ryan of TCG Software Services and edited by our own Kean Walmsley. As this is an ADN plugin, the source code is included. This plugin has been tested with AutoCAD 2009 and onwards. If you are an AutoCAD 2007 or 2008 user and would like to use the plugin, details are included as to how to modify the code to make it work for these prior releases. By all means put it through its paces and let us know what you think at [email protected].
Keeping track of which way is up is alive in the lab.