Find Educational Version

[ehsantavassolian]

Is there a way with autolisp

to find out if the file is an educational version

 

for example if my file has Educational Stamp

(setq edu 1)

otherwise

(setq edu 0)

[BIGAL]

This type of question to me is about  trying to avoid buying real copies of Autocad. Could you explain more why check the dwg, itwill pop up with the message.

[ehsantavassolian]

16 hours ago, BIGAL said:

This type of question to me is about  trying to avoid buying real copies of Autocad. Could you explain more why check the dwg, itwill pop up with the message.

I have a real copies of Autocad.

But if I cope an object from a file with Educational Stamp, My file is also buggy.

And another file is also and also like The virus. 

 

[BIGAL]

That is really the answer that sub contractors are using educational versions to avoid paying for real software, there are alternatives much cheaper some even free.

 

I work in the world of licensed software, in the past I was an Autocad dealer and have had phone calls from Autodesk enquiring about a clients illegal use of software, Autodesk promotes dob in an illegal version user. So be wary, the one I am talking about came to light by a competing company on a big contract.

[nukecad]

20 hours ago, ehsantavassolian said:

I have a real copies of Autocad.

But if I cope an object from a file with Educational Stamp, My file is also buggy.

And another file is also and also like The virus. 

 

 

Yes it does that, it's meant to do that.

Otherwise anyone using an AutoCAD educational version for business could just make a block of the entire drawing to remove the stamp.

 

If you find a block or simiar that has the stamp then delete it and get a genuine one.

If you have any drawings that have been given the plotstsmp then delete those as well - you do have backups of a 'clean' version don't you?

Otherwise all your drawings are going to get the stamp.

 

For a number of years Autodesk did stop putting the Educational plot stamp on there, but it's back with 2019.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/FAQ-Reintroduction-of-education-watermark-for-AutoCAD-2019-and-AutoCAD-2019-vertical-products.html

I guess too many people were taking the pee.

 

There is one semi-legal way of removing it.

If you bought a stand alone of a certain AutoCAD version in the past, and haven't updated it, that will automatically remove it and not save it again.

I say semi-legal because although it does it automatically and you can't stop it, the end user agreement still bans the use of of educational content for commercial use.
I'll leave you to research which version.

 

Edited February 1, 2019 by nukecad

[ehsantavassolian]

2 hours ago, nukecad said:

If you find a block or simiar that has the stamp then delete it and get a genuine one.

If you have any drawings that have been given the plotstsmp then delete those as well - you do have backups of a 'clean' version don't you?

 

Thank you very much for your guide.

[nukecad]

The plotstamp works a bit like a virus.

So to get rid of it you've got to think as if you're clearing a virus from your computer.

 

Once you have it then it will spread about your drawings, unless you take steps to remove all affected (infected?) drawings, blocks, etc. completely from your system.
If you copy anything from an affected drawing then it takes the stamp with it, and affects all entities already in the drawing you put it into. If you then copy anything from that newly affected drawing ...

You have to get rid of everything that may have been affected by the plotstamp.

 

You should also put a system in place to check every drawing that comes from an outside source for the plotstamp before anyone starts using it.

The bigger problem is how to check blocks or other content that a user may download from the web. (Other than blocking/banning all downloads there is not much you can do about that).
Blocks from commercial sites should be OK, but there are plenty of 'hobby' sites out there where blocks may have been made in an edu.version.

 

It may seem harsh for AutoDesk to do it like that.
But it has to be that way or it would be too easy for commercial users to just 'clean up' a drawing with edu. content by copying/saving to new drawings a couple of times.

 

I've often wondered about the legality of this virus like behaviour, and maybe that's why they dropped it for a while?

It would seem less harsh to just flag the entities from the edu. drawing rather than affect everything in the drawing that receives it.
But I'm sure they can justify it as the only way to ensure compliance with the edu./commercial distinction.

 

It also poses an interesting technical question.
To work as it does then every entity, down to a single line, text, or even dot, in a drawing must have the plotstamp attached.
Is it attached to each entity all the time, or only if/when you invoke one of the copy or other output commands?

Because of the way it works I'm guessing the second, and that would also have to be built into the commercial versions to work as it does.

(It would also explain how that one particular Autocad version can 'ignore' it).

Edited February 2, 2019 by nukecad

[Roy_043]

Related discussion on the BricsCAD forum:

https://forum.bricsys.com/discussion/22905/autocad-educational-stamp-how-does-bricscad-handle-this

Edited February 2, 2019 by Roy_043

[nukecad]

It's an interesting point about 3rd party .dwg compatible CAD. Especially the free ones.

 

Should/do they have the right to remove AutoCAD's edu plotstamp?
That would make it too easy for someone to use an educational AutoCAD verison for commercial use and just clean it up with the freeware if/when sending it elsewhere.

 

But similarly should AutoDesk be 'virusing' competitors products (or even their own customers), and in some cases affecting the reputation of genuine commercial customers?

It's the spreading of the stamp to affect all the content of files that have been created with genuine commercial versions that is the problem here.
Import just one line from an edu version and the entire content of your drawing now gets stamped as being edu.
If it only affected the edu entities themselves then it would not be as much of a problem.

 

I've been sent drawing in the past from a trusted company that somehow had the edu stamp in them.
We are talking a company with 100+ seats of full Autocad, there is no reason for them to be using an educational version.
But it then took them hundreds (thousands) of hours to check their drawing library, never mind the cost of redrawing everything found to be affected.

[Roy_043]

Of course Autodesk has dedicated tools to detect and repair infected files. But maybe you need 500+ seats of buying power to get access to those...

[ronjonp]

If you have a legit version of AutoCAD and have accidentally gotten infected by the EDU stamp, THIS simple code will remove it. Bear in mind that if you use verticals like C3D etc .. it will trash your data.

[Roy_043]

The Wblock solution was also discussed in the linked BricsCAD forum topic.

Edited February 5, 2019 by Roy_043