Appending or Merging Service Packs with Civil 3D 2011

When you create a network deployment, one of the interesting options I always found was the option to Append or Merge available Service Packs resp. onto the deployment or into the Administrative image msi file.

But what is the difference between Appending or Merging a service pack?

The difference is exactly as the option tell you:

Appending will append the supplied Service Packs onto the deployment, forcing the msi installation to re-run the installation process replacing files of the installed deployment with the ones delivered with the service pack

While merging will integrate the supplied Service Packs into the Administrative Image msi file. It will in fact do the same as above but only once, letting the installation to run on the client only once.

Depending on what you want to achieve with your deployment you choose one of the techniques. I prefer the Merge option so deployments only occur once on the client system.
Unfortunately due to a fault in the Setup of Civil 3D 2011, creating the network deployment of Civil 3D 2011 will not let you merge the service pack into the Administrative Image msi file.

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 5,100 times in 2010. That’s about 12 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 17 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 88 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 3mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was October 27th with 69 views. The most popular post that day was Using Backburner with x64 based render farm.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were google.com, twitter.com, linkedin.com, cad-notes.com, and caddmanager.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for msi cleanup, surface point data from autocad drawing objects, landxml civil 3d feature lines, genio import/export extension, and 3ds max rendering using backburner.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Using Backburner with x64 based render farm July 2010

2

Importing AutoCAD Objects as Surface data points April 2010
1 comment

3

The new GENIO import/export extension tool for Civil 3D 2011 May 2010

4

Converting Civil 3D objects from Imperial to Metric (and vice versa) March 2010
1 comment

5

Get those Earthwork Volumes of a layout Pipe Network May 2010
7 comments

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 performance test

According to the system requirements, Windows 7 x64 should be the best Windows OS platform to run AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011.

During the Civil 3D Benelux User Group meeting this year, they presented to me that significant performance with Civil 3D 2011 was gained with old hardware when Windows 7 x64 is installed on old dated hardware. But they didn’t had any results that they could share with us at that moment.

So what they did, they made test data online available for download and a spreadsheet with tests results of their hardware asking if anyone would do the test theirselves to add their results.

But the list of hardware were only tested with Windows 7 x64. And if any ‘old’ hardware was listed it was also only tested on Windows 7 x64 only.
So this way I could not distinguish the performances of system hardware on different Windows platforms.
And that is what should make this test interesting and valuable to convince management to invest in Windows 7 x64 only but without renewing current hardware.

So I’ve setup several kind of hardware configurations with different Windows platforms and even with different memory configurations.

Take a look at below table which is an extraction of the Civil 3D Benelux User Group table for the different hardware system configurations on divers Windows platforms I’ve tested Civil 3D 2011.

Consolidating above results into conclusions:

• Civil 3D 2011 on Windows XP x86 performs better then Civil 3D 2011 on Windows 7 x64 on exactly the same machine. See all timing results between system 4a and 4b. The green highlighted fields have better results.
• The stability on Windows 7 x64 though is much better then with Windows XP x86. After the big surface was created on Windows XP x86, trying to change the display properties in the same session crashes Civil 3D 2011. 
• Increasing internal memory (from 2GB to 4GB) on a Windows XP x86 system will boost performance. See the timing results for creating the Surface between system 4b and 4c. And also between system 3a and 3b. It almost cuts the timings in halve. The green highlighted fields have better results.
  One remark: all systems 4 are apllied with C3D 2011 SP2. While all systems 3 do not have SP2 applied.
  Perhaps that’s why the performance differences with SP2 applied are less to zero then without SP2 applied.
• Civil 3D 2011 performs much better on a system equiped with a powerful processor with a clock frequency as high as possible you can afford. See timing results between system 1 (or 2) and 4a.

I hope these conclusions will help or guide you to make the right choice what to do with old hardware. Expanding internal memory will definitely help, but bear in mind that Windows XP x86 will only use 3,2 GB of internal memory at its max when more then 4 GB is provided.
Last but not least: if available always apply the latest Service Pack or Hotfixes

Real time collaboration with AutoCAD WS

When AutoCAD WS was announced, everyone was speculating what WS would stand for. There’s even a poll on the Internet to be found here.
But it was clear that this is another way to make use of Project Butterfly – sharing DWGs online, but now also accessible for mobile devices like the iOS devices of Apple.
Now that it is officially released on the 30th of September 2010 it lacks most of the possibilities Butterfly has today. But enhancements and improvements are already announced and are on their way.

To my opinion AutoCAD WS stand for Web Share or Work Share. If so, then it’s mend to be a collaborative tool for designing to get mutual understanding and agreement of the design.

Well my friend Bas Siebers (@BasSiebers) and I both of us have an iOS device and we wanted to test this real time collaboration behavior of AutoCAD WS. So we did. And we came up with some conclusions:

• there is no communication tool, chat board or something else where you can discuss your design with each other.
  Instead we’ve placed text objects and changed it’s contents if needed.
• you can not see where in your design your invited partner is active. Within Butterfly you could see at least a mouse cursor moving across the screen. Yeah I know, this seems more difficult to implement then it is. What about a sort of colored cursor or dot to start with and as soon as you tab your finger on the drawing your cursor will move to that location.

So assigning colors to invites would definitively make a difference. Now you have to assign your own color where it is mend to be used for drafting purposes.

Other stuff we ran into had to do with the use of AutoCAD WS. Autodesk has to take a look at the GUI of iOS apps:

• text edits; the cursor under your finger can’t be seen, so Apple invented a magnifier glass. This should also be implemented when snapping to objects.
  
• copy and paste/replace; when you’ve selected a text a context sensitive menu appear above the text. This should also be implemented when you select an object, and of course depending the type of object, the menu options changes what you can do with it, copy, rotate, scale, etc.
  

Further more there should be a distinct difference in usage between redlining and editing objects to clarify comments for changes and real edit work. The time line function of Butterfly should be implemented this way too. So you can see after delivering comments for changes if edit work has been done correctly.

But I know, this product is just released and will be enhanced and improved in the near future.
Overall a good concept and product. So let’s wait what the future will bring.

Me and my friend ended this real time collaborative session in a Tic – Tac – Toe game. And of course I won (by cheating)

Distributed network license setup

Quick tip

Ever wanted to combine the licenses of Autodesk products of two license servers without merging the license files into one license file? But you want users to grab a license when the maximum license count is reached on one of the two license servers but the maximum of the total licenses of the two license servers is not yet reached?

Here’s how you can achieve this easily.

As a system admin create a system environment variable on each client PC with the name ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE and assign the 2 or even more license server host names to it’s value like this: @server_host_name1;@server_host_name2

Now when the licenses from server1 reach it’s maximum, the licenses from server2 will be available.
In other words: when no licenses from server1 are left, the client goes to the second server in line to grab a license there, if any available. And so on if you have more server host names assigned with the adskflex_license_file environment variable.

In Flexlm network license terms this is called “Distributed” license setup.
Other license setups can be Single or Redundant.

In practice: For separate setup of those license servers each residing on a different graphical location for example, you could point clients at location A to server1 and server2 as a backup. Clients residing at location B point to server2 and server1 as a backup. This way all the clients get their allocated licenses first before they go outside to their 2nd backup server.

Exploit your PCs as a render farm

The occasion: The Civil Visualization Extension.

With the Civil Visualization Extension (formaly known as Dynamite VSP from 3AM Solutions) made available to Civil 3D and 3ds Max Design subscription holders, the expectation is that visualization will expand in the near future used by Civil 3D users. The Civil Visualization Extension is a plugin for 3ds Max Design and will help Civil 3D users to streamline and ease the process for creating high quality renderings or animations.
While Civil 3D users are focused to learn this new extension, they definitely step into another world. This step may need extra attention and learning of 3ds Max Design but the plugin will certainly help to bridge the gap. Read the white paper of Civil Visualization Extension here.
As soon as these users are accustomed with these tools, they will soon enough experience a lot of time is needed for creating these visualizations.

Accumulate render power.

With 3ds Max (Design) you can create high resolution images or animations (a series of images) mainly meant for presentations.
Until version 2010 this rendering process has always been a CPU consuming event and when render models become complex it takes a lot of time to finish the complete rendering. And of course depending of the way you wanted the result to be, finishing will take more time if you wanted the result look like as natural as can be.
With the 2011 product 3ds Max Design introduces the ‘Quick Silver’ render method. Which is in fact a render engine based on calculations used by graphics processing units (GPU) instead of central processing units (CPU). The newly method via GPUs is much more faster then its ‘old’ CPU (and core) demanding process.
I’m not going into this subject in this post and perhaps I should do in another one.

For getting your results as soon as possible, you need to reduce render timings. You could do this with lower pixel resolutions but that’s only an option for making quick renderings for visual checks. For high quality pixel resolutions you have the following options:

1. use a workstation with lots of CPUs and cores with lots of CPU power.
2. use several workstations (mostly single or dual cores) in a network to form a so called render farm.
3. use a combination of (best of) both 1. and 2.

You should decide how you want to setup this render farm in your business: Do you want it to be dedicated or non-dedicated. And do you use in use PCs or the PCs in surplus stock.

• Dedicated
  Do I need to purchase extra machines or do I have machines available (left over) which can do this task 24/7?
• Non-dedicated
  Can I use machines used by colleagues during the day? Or should I setup a schedule for rendering during the night.

So there are some drawbacks with rendering over a network to take in consideration for both dedicated or non-dedicated setup of the render farm.

• First of all, all machines need to be hardware configuration identical as much as it can be. I.e. same amount of memory, same graphics card with same amount of graphics memory, same type of CPU (if you can).
• Another thing is the setup up of material libraries on the network which will be used by the machines in the render farm for rendering the finished result.
• Apply an network (domain) account which needs to have access to all render project shares on the network and the material library. You’ll use this account to setup and configure the Backburner on the Render Node as a service, so no log in is required.
• The availability of the machines. Do I want to render over the day? No, you don’t want that. Because of the CPU consuming process machines have no resources available more for other tasks. So schedule them after the normal working hours.
• The availability of network resources. If you want tot render during evening and night time, check if there aren’t any IT network maintenance scheduled. Your render result will be corrupted if network is lost during render time.
• After initially setup all the machines, changing/swapping or replacing hardware of one of those machines due to maintenance will result in loss of render ‘power’. If you don’t keep up with maintenance of those machines in your render farm you’ll end up with no serious and no continuous render power. So this need a strict setup of your hardware replacement processes in your business involving the setup of the render node.
• UNC paths for libraries need to setup as high as possible in your network tree. This can be a big drawback when setup is sensitive or lead by organisational moves or IT changes to the network tree.

But if all is in place, you definitely have some serious render power to your benefit.

Bentley’s SELECTseries 1 reading Civil 3D DWG

Another ‘strange’ topic for this blog.
But, hey, I’ve my education roots with Civil Engineering and if there’s something interesting about the software tools used in this branche I will let you know. But to let you know, my hart is with Civil 3D (and especially road design).

Yesterday I’ve read in Twitter (via @EnvisionCAD) that Inroads, one of Bentley’s road design products can be used with both Microstation and AutoCAD products since 1999.
Today I’ve read an article (in Dutch) that Bentley’s SELECTseries 1 (and 2) can read DWG and even can read objects from Civil 3D through the installation of the Autodesk Object Enablers.
Beside the DWG and Object Enablers, Microstation also will read Revit files through the Autodesk FBX file format used for exchanging 3D information between several Autodesk products. 
Now that’s interesting information and well done by Bentley.

Other new features of the Bentley SELECTseries 1 can be read here.

Using Backburner with x64 based render farm

This topic is about the problem I ran into when I’ve tried to install and setup Backburner on Windows Vista Business x64: Backburner will not work properly as a x64 based render node in a render farm.
I figured out a workaround because I couldn’t find any solution or explaination on the web to solve this problem. Or it could be that there is a total other way how to setup a render farm with Backburner which I’ve overlooked. If so, please let me know.

I’m not going to explain how to setup Backburner here, because there is lots of documentation to find on the internet.
For more explaination and in-depth detail about installing and configurating Backburner to setup a render farm use the Autodesk documentation found here.

Some Backburner terms you need to know to understand this blog:

• Render Node = the host, PC or workstation that will be used for rendering a portion or a part of the complete render image or animation.
• Backburner Server = the Backburner application running on the Render Node.
• Backburner Manager = the host which runs the Render Manager application for managing all the render nodes which are linked to this host.
• Backburner Monitor = the host which runs the Monitor application for scheduling the render nodes which together do the actual render job.

Problem:
When installing 3ds Max Design 2010/2011 on a Windows x64 platform and configurating the associated Backburner Server as a service for rendering in a render farm purpose, this render node will not be recognized by the Render Manager application.

Cause:

When configurating the Backburner server (server.exe) from the C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Backburner\ folder, it will create and place a configuration file, the Backburner.xml file, in the User’s local AppData folder.
With this configuration file you setup a Render Manager host name, so this Backburner Server will be recognized by the Render Manager application running on that host. This Render Manager application will be installed in most cases on to another machine that isn’t configured as a Render Node.

But setting up the Backburner server as a service (serversvc.exe) and running this service as a particulary domain user or Local System account, it will not be recognized by the Render Manager.

It appears that the Backburner server (serversvc.exe) expects the configuration (backburner.xml) file to be in the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Backburner\Network\ folder!

This is strange, because the installation forces the Backburner folder to the C:\Program Files (86)\Autodesk\Backburner\ folder. This is because the Backburner application is a 32 bit (x86) application and must therefor reside in the C:\Program Files (x86)\ folder.

Resolution:

To prevent the Backburner.xml configuration file to be installed in the User’s folder, use the Backburner version (2008.1.0) delivered with 3ds Max Design 2009. After you’ve setup the Backburner server, this version will place the Backburner.xml file in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Backburner\Network\ folder. This is better then when setup places the file in the User’s folder. But unfortunately the Backburner server service (serversvc.exe) will not look for this file in this location. It will look though for this file in the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Backburner\Network\ folder which does not exist or is not created right now.

So here’s what you need to do to have the right Backburner version installed:

1. If installed, use the Backburner version (2008.1.0) which comes with 3ds Max Design 2009.
   You can not install the Backburner client from the standard wizard setup without installing 3ds Max Design 2009.
   You can though install it from a created network deployment Admin image of 3ds Max Design 2009: \\server\share\AdminImage\support\backburner\
2. When installed, copy the Backburner folders and files from the C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\ folder to the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ folder.
3. Configure the Backburner server (server.exe) with a corresponding Render Manager. Then shut it down. This will create the Backburner.xml configuration file in the Network sub folder.
4. Configure the Backburner server as a service (serversvc.exe) and apply a (domain) user as a logon account for running this service with sufficient and proper rights on the network shares.
5. Start this service from the Control Panel, Administration Tools, Services window.

You could also do the following:

1. If installed, use the Backburner version (2008.1.0) which comes with 3ds Max Design 2009.
   Go to step 5.
2. If 3ds Max Design 2009 with Backburner 2008.1.0 is not installed, but 3ds Max Design 2010/2011 is installed, remove any 3ds Max Design 2010/2011 x64 installation first.
3. Install 3ds Max Design 2009 with Backburner 2008.1.0.
   Make sure to install both 32bit (x86) and 64bit (x64) versions.
4. Install 3ds Max Design 2010/2011 without Backburner 2008.1.1.
5. Configure Backburner 2008.1.0 on the Render Node as above following steps 2. till 5.

If you have any questions about this topic please leave a comment and I’ll get back to you a.s.a.p.

Update:

I’ve found a resolution how I can integrate the Backburner Server application of the 2009 deployment to be deployed with 3ds Max Design 2010:

1. Create a deployment of 3ds Max Design 2009.
2. Create a deployment of 3ds Max Design 2010.
3. Go to the AdminImage folder of the 2010 deployment and go to the sub folder ..\x86(/x64)\Support\
4. Replace the 2010 Backburner folder with the one from the 2009 deployment. For back up reasons I’ve renamed the folder to “Backburner2010″.
5. Open the created ‘Admin image’ ini file in the AdminImage folder of the 2010 deployment and find the following text part:
   • [Backburner]
6. Now open the created ‘Admin image’ ini file in the AdminImage folder of the 2009 deployment and find the same text part:
   • [Backburner]
7. Replace the text part from the 2010 deployment with the text part from the 2009 deployment.
8. Now install the altered 3ds Max Design 2010 deployment on to a PC (Render Node) and you’ll get the right Backburner installation.
9. Follow the above steps 2. till 5. where you have to make a copy of the Backburner folder to the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ folder.

How to deploy Inventor 2010 with SAP and SP3

The reason
This blog is a bit off topic from Civil 3D in general, but I ran into it doing my job as a CAD application administrator and I want to share this with you.

There is lots of information to find on internet of how to deploy Inventor. Here’s one:

By the several hotfixes and service packs released during the year, it’s a bit hard to get all this stuff in place for creating a working deployment. At least it happened to me.
The documentation from the Autodesk support web pages are very expanded and may get you far. But they can be overwhelming.
Digging into these pages and reading lot of readme files and with help of Autodesk Subscription web support got me writing a more suitable and overall perspective.
So I hope this will help you to better understand the pages from Autodesk support website. If not, please leave a comment to make this page better.

The Source
There are two sources from where you can start to make deployments:

• The shipped media source will let you create deployments for all types of Inventor products. From Inventor Suite to Professional.
  If you’ve created one deployment for example Inventor Suite, the wizard from the Tools folder will easily let you create a new deployment for another Inventor product by copying an existing deployment. Of course you need a corresponding serial number and product key to get any further.
• The download source from the Subscription website isn’t product specific anymore. All Inventor products, like the standard Suite, Routed Systems, Simulation or Professional uses the same and only one installation source. Like the shipped media you can create a deployment by copying from another deployment by applying the corresponding serial number and product key.

The benefits of the download source is that you don’t have to switch media when installing the software or deployment, it runs the installation faster then the shipped media, and further more, I’ve discovered that this source may be more up to date then the shipped media. At least with Civil 3D 2010 and the Content Libraries it is.

The Deployment parts.
You can create a deployment with Hot Fixes and Service Packs with or without Subscription Advantage Pack (SAP). See also picture below:

• the standard deployment (1) including hot fixes en service packs (2a).
• the deployment (1) with SAP including hot fixes en service packs (2b).

With Inventor Suite, you also get AutoCAD Mechanical included. AutoCAD Mechanical also has service packs and can be included in the standard deployment.

The included Service Packs and Hot Fixes.
In above picture explained the 4 steps to take, to complete the installation.

1. The Basic deployment with Inventor SP1 (Service Pack 1) and with AutoCAD Mechanical SP2.
   Both service packs are not required for the basic deployment but you need to include them for other service packs.
2. a. The deployment with hot fixes and service packs 2 and 3.
   b. The deployment with Inventor SAP and with hot fixes and service packs 2 and 3.
3. The actual deployment installation.
4. The AutoCAD (Mechanical) SAP installed separately after the deployment installation.

The Deployment creation.
There are two ways to add the additional Service Packs and Hot Fixes to the installation:

1. After the installation of the deployment on a workstation as additional and separate installations.
2. Integrated into the existing deployment using the Deployment Wizard.

Of course with large companies and/or with complex IT infrastructure using the integrated way with the Deployment Wizard is preferable. But integrating the Subscription Advantage Pack (SAP) can’t be done with the Deployment Wizard.

You can though integrate the SAP by altering the Admin image of the deployment.

So here are the actual steps to take to create a deployment with Subscription Advantage Pack (path 1 and 2b). Most of below lines are taken over from the Readme file from Autodesk Knowledge Base:

1. Create the basic deployment with Inventor SP1 and AutoCAD Mechanical SP2.
2. Download Subscription Advantage Pack and extract it.
   Copy the Inventor2010_SR.exe, TS1109427.msp and TS1109487.msp file to the deployment folder …\your_deployment_name\AdminImage\x86(x64)\Inventor\…
3. Download Inventor SP2 here and extract it.
   Copy the Inventor2010_SR2.msp to the deployment folder …\your_deployment_name\AdminImage\x86(x64)\Inventor\…
4. Download Inventor SP3 here and extract it.
   Copy the Inventor2010_SR3.msp to the deployment folder …\your_deployment_name\AdminImage\x86(x64)\Inventor\…
5. Carefully read the installation instruction part of the Readme file here.
   In a nutshell: Change this deployment by altering the Admin ini file:
   1. Go to the [Inventor] part and add the following line to it:
      POSTREQUISITE=HOTFIX;HSR;HSRAIHOTFIX;HSRSP2;HSRSP3 as follows:
      [Inventor]
      PREREQUISITE=OS;WUP;VCREDIST2005x86;VCREDISTx86;DOTNET;VBA;DIRECTX;MSXML;DWGTRUEVIEW;WMF90;WSE30;IE POSTREQUISITE=HOTFIX;HSR;HSRAIHOTFIX;HSRSP2;HSRSP3
   2. Go to the end of the ini file and add the following lines to it:
      [HSRAIHOTFIX]
      PRODUCT_NAME=TS1109487 hotfix
      EXE_PATH=Inventor\TS1109487.msp
      ACTION=INSTALL
      [HOTFIX]
      PRODUCT_NAME=TS1109427 hotfix
      EXE_PATH=Inventor\TS1109427.msp
      ACTION=INSTALL
      [HSR]
      PRODUCT_NAME=Subscription Advantage Pack for Autodesk Inventor 2010
      EXE_PATH=Inventor\Inventor2010_SR.exe
      EXE_PARAM=/q
      ACTION=INSTALL
      [HSRSP2]
      PRODUCT_NAME=HSR SP2
      EXE_PATH=Inventor\Inventor2010_SR2.msp
      ACTION=INSTALL
      [HSRSP3]
      PRODUCT_NAME=HSR SP3
      EXE_PATH=Inventor\Inventor2010_SR3.msp
      ACTION=INSTALL

Make sure that you use the names of the service packs and hot fixes files in your ini file according to the actual file names.

When to use the Layer & Spatial Index

I was triggered to write this blog when I read an article about External References also known as XREFs, tweeted by Edwin Prakoso. I was doing the preparation of an AutoCAD course a while ago when I was looking for some answers to cover this topic. 
There are good articles to find on the internet how to use eXternal References in AutoCAD products. But what I’m interested in is, how the Layer & Spatial Index will work for you or benefit you when using with Xrefs.
To understand this topic you first need to understand how Xrefs works. Herefor I refer to an article from CAD-Notes: Using XREF, Attachment or Overlay.

What is the Layer & Spatial Index?
An index is a typical term used with databases for finding records as fast as possible. You could see an index like a rolodex which you use for fast and easy access of the addresses and telephone numbers of all your contacts. The index used this way is typically alfabetically ordered from A to Z.

Using an index will keep track of the objects so they can be found fast in a drawing.
There are two types of indices:

1. Layer Index, is used to gain optimized access of objects on a layer.
   Actually it is a list showing which objects are on which layer.
2. Spatial Index is used to gain optimized access of the geometric location of objects in space.

Using an index will make the drawing slightly bigger in file size. This has to do with storing the index information with the drawing.

When to use
There are two ways when you can use the Layer & Spatial Index.

1. Xref clipping
2. Partial Open/Load 

Xref clipping
When used with Xrefs, loading of related drawing information will go faster then without. I’ve used the word ‘related’, because it works great with clipped Xrefs.
But remember: the use of the Layer & Spatial Index for Xrefs only works best when Demand Loading for Xrefs is turned on. Demand loading is a feature to load only xref data that’s necessary to regenerate the drawing. It works great with large drawings or many objects on frozen layers in Xrefs.
You can find these settings in the Options, the Open and Save tab, under External References (Xrefs).

Or you can also use and set the AutoCAD drawing variable XLOADCTL to 2.
With this value set, demand loading is turned on and a copy of the Xref will be used for attaching the drawing leaving the original in place for editing purposes by another session.

Partial Open/Load
Another method of using the Layer & Spatial Index is when opening, mostly large or big, drawings. And you want only a portion or part of that drawing being loaded for editing purposes. This will result in faster loading of the drawing with the pre-selected objects.
For partial opening a drawing you do the following: when opening a drawing, you can click on the down arrow on the right of the Open button and click Partial Open:

You can partially open drawings by loading objects within a Window (which will benefit when using the Spatial Index) and/or loading objects from selected layers (which will benefit when using the Layer Index). 

Later you can partially load additional data to this partial opened drawing by using the PARTIALOAD command.  This will open a window like above where you can select additional layers from where to load the objects.

Activating the Layer & Spatial Indices
You can use the Layer & Spatial Index by saving it with your drawing. You can do this two ways:

1. by going to the Saveas command, Tools (upper right corner) and click on Options.This opens a window where you can activate the Layer and/or Spatial Index.
2. or you can also use and set the AutoCAD drawing variable INDEXCTL to 3.

So why not always use this index turned on with all drawings?
Well not every user works with large drawings or uses Xrefs. Not using the Layer & Spatial Index will save you disk storage space.

If you have any questions or comment on this topic, please do so to make this topic valuable for everyone.