Autodesk released a hotfix for problems that crop up “during the side-by-side installation of two different licensing products.” That is, when you install an AutoCAD 2010 product with a stand-alone license on a system that already has a 2010 product installed through a network license, you will see the following error message:

1.5 2: Failed to load FNP_ACT_Installer.dll 3: 126

The installation of the stand-alone product will fail. Make sure you have Windows administrative privileges before you install the hotfix. Also make sure that you do indeed have network licensed products on your system.

Download the hotfix here.

Autodesk reports issues between AutoCAD and the recently released NVIDIA Quadro FX 191.00 driver. AutoCAD crashes after any of the following takes place:

• The system’s screen saver goes on.
• You lock the system.
• The system goes into hibernation.

The crash occurs when you start working on the system again. The problem appears limited to 32- and 64-bit versions of Vista and Windows 7. The workaround is to switch to a different driver, or work feverishly so your system doesn’t go to hibernation or screen saver mode.

Once you create a dynamic block, you may want to adjust the order in which you cycle through the various grips, especially in cases where the block has a number of dynamic parameters. You can do this via the Properties palette, but an easier method is to use the Bcycleorder command. Type Bcycleorder at the command line when you are in the Block Editor. The Insertion Cycling Order dialog box will appear, listing all of the parameters in the block along with their type and location.

Caption: The Bcycleorder command displays this dialog box.

Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to change the order in which you cycle through the grips when you insert the dynamic block. The Cycling button adds or removes grips from the cycle. A check in the Cycling column at far left indicates that the parameter grip will be included in the selection cycle.

We’ve mentioned previously that inserting a dynamic block at a nonuniform scale (different values for the x, y, or z scale) will disable its dynamic functions. You will not be able to see or use the grips that are ordinarily used to adjust its dynamic properties. There are a few other things that can make a dynamic block lose its grips:

• Nesting a dynamic block inside another block or xref
• Editing or manipulating the block with an add-on or non-AutoCAD application that doesn’t support dynamic blocks
• Saving the drawing to an old DWG or DXF format
• If a block’s coordinate values are very large, rounding errors may occur when the block is rotated or otherwise manipulated

You may think that the Multiple Copy (Copym) Express Tool became obsolete when the plain old Copy command was updated to use Multiple as its default (AutoCAD 2005). Don’t be so quick to write off the Copym command, though—it includes a few options that haven’t yet made their way into the Copy command.

The Copym Express Tool lets you copy multiple objects (multiple times, if you like) with additional options to Array, Divide, and Measure. To start the command, type Copym at the command line. You are first prompted to Select the objects to be copied. You then specify a base point. The next prompt asks for a second point or an option such as Repeat, Divide, Measure, or Array. Here’s what each option does:

Repeat: Repeats the last copy, using the same offset distance.

Divide: When you select this option, you are prompted for an additional point and the number of copies to make. It will make evenly spaced copies of the selected objects between the base point and the second selected point.

Measure: Asks you to select an additional point and the distance between copies. It then makes evenly spaced copies at the specified distance between the base point and the second point.

Array: Displays the options presented by the Array command: Pick (dynamic)/Measure/Divide.

Pick lets you specify the array elements dynamically. This option prompts for an angle and then for a point to specify row and column offset distances. The cursor then snaps to regular intervals at the specified offsets so you can place copies individually.

Caption: The Pick option lets you place copied objects individually.

Measure lets you specify a box to fill with copies of the selected objects. You specify an angle, a point to establish row or column offsets and an additional box corner point. The base point is the first corner of the box.

Like Measure, Divide lets you specify a box to fill with copies of the selected objects. You specify an angle, then a corner point for the box (the base point is the first point). Finally, AutoCAD asks for the number of rows and columns.

Caption: With both the Array Measure and Array Divide options, you specify a box to define your array.

There are a few other differences between Copy and Copym that you should be aware of. Copy retains its base point from the location of the original object, so the cursor tracking rubberband is always from one location. Copym moves the cursor tracking start point to the base point of each newly created object, so the rubberband jumps around as you copy.

Caption: The cursor rubberband moves from base point to base point as you make copies.

When using Copym, make sure you turn Osnap and Ortho off after you select the base point. Otherwise, the objects you copy may snap to other objects in the drawing, which may reduce the accuracy of your Divide or Measure operation.