I was editing an old AutoCAD drawing today to use as a training example. As I used the View Cube in AutoCAD 2012 to orient to a different viewing direction I kept getting an AutoCAD Alert dialog box with a note that said About to regen - - proceed? pressing the [Enter] key causes the dialog to go away and the view to re-orient itself.
What did AutoCAD do this? Back in the day (and for some of you perhaps even before you were born...), changing the viewing orientation of your drawing would trigger a regeneration of your drawing. This dialog served as a warning that if you wanted to proceed, the drawing would need to be regenerated. Depending upon your hardware you may not have wanted to regenerate the drawing as it could take a long time to do so.
Fast forward to present day... we really no longer need to worry much about regenerations of DWG files. The hardware we have today can handle some of the things we used to have to deal with... (extra long lunches while your DWG regenerated!). So why when you work on an old DWG might you get this alert message? There is an old AutoCAD variable called REGENAUTO. This value today is set to “ON” so that changes in viewing direction trigger an automatic regen of your drawing. On these old drawings, the variable was set to “OFF.”
I know it was a little frustrating getting this alert this morning, but I quickly remembered the variable, set it to “ON” and shared it with my younger colleagues! So I shared a piece of history with them and now with you.
Ron Palma AEC Solutions Application Specialist
Ron has 23+ years of experience in the AEC industry as a designer, lead project designer, trainer and CAD manager. His instructional background includes Autodesk Certified Instructor, trainer, support technician, educator at Portland Community College and Clackamas Community College, and a U.S. Army certified instructor. Follow Ron @RonPalmaAEC.
Get it. Know it. Use it.
