How Much Money Do CAD People Make?

Well, well... it's that time again! The AUGI Annual Salary Survey runs through the end of October. Please, take 5 minutes of your time to volunteer your answers for this anonymous survey. Please, take a look at last year's survey results... the FAQ document provides answers to those frequently asked questions, as well as a list of the questions asked during the survey. Due to augi member feedback, we've added Landscape Architecture as a Discipline. Also note that the site is finally compatible with browsers other than IE. I filled out my information using Firefox and it worked just fine.

I hope you enjoyed the information provided last year on top of the AUGIworld spread! If you didn't read that note in the magazine about looking on the website for additional information, you really missed out!

Remember that the more people who participate, the more accurate the numbers will be.

Salary.com posts salarys for narrow job titles based on what?
Indeed.com posts salaries for many job titles based on current want ads for CAD employees?

But, does any other place give you results based on what all types of people are currently making?
(erm, no offense to the CAD Manager's survey by Robert Green, I believe his does this, but, only with CAD Manglers)

If you have comments/thoughts/suggestions please feel free to drop me a line. I will be adding a few more bits of information (pay based on education!) due to a couple of really good suggestions from AUGI members.

Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to this valuable resource! salarysurvey@augi.com

HURRY! The Survey ends October 31st!!!

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Quick Report - Gateway AUG Meeting

We had a good meeting tonight, just under 30 attendees. Exchanged some great tips and exposed those present to some products/procedures in some projects. Mike Perry presented on AutoCAD Tips and Tricks using AutoCAD 2005, and Brian Myers walked through a project sharing information between AutoCAD, Revit, ADT, ABS and Design Review.

Expect a post later this week going into detail on the Tips and Tricks Mike went over during his part of the presentation, he'll be helping me flesh out my notes so that you can easily follow along.

We did give away two seats of Autodesk Software to a couple of lucky winners... and to the less lucky, we handed out half a dozen red swingline staplers.
(if you don't think that's hilarious, you've got a movie to rent)

GAUG member Mike M will soon be using Autodesk Raster Design and Nikki S will be using Architectural Desktop 2007.

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Gateway AUG Meeting in St. Louis on Oct 3rd

Alright, y'all! Meeting of the Gateway AUG Tuesday night at Vatterott College in Sunset Hills. (12970 Maurer Industrial Drive St. Louis, MO 63127) We will be providing pizza and soda/water for attendees. We'll begin arriving at 6, but, don't worry if traffic will keep you, come along anyway, you'll still be welcome!

The meeting focus will simply be AutoCAD Tips and Tricks!

We'll have two presenters, one from Seiler Instruments, the other... ~drumroll please~ none other than AUGI Board Member, Mike Perry! Walking cadcylopaedia and researcher extraordinaire! ;) If an answer exists, this boy WILL find it.

Where would you rather be? At home baking in the unseasonable heat? or with your fellow CAD techs, learning some ultra-cool info?

Come out for the pizza and great company, stay for some hints and nifty tricks. We'll have some handouts for you to take back to the office with a few juicy tidbits geared to many versions of AutoCAD (not just the newest one).

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Crikey! A LUG Meeting Down Under

Looks like the Victorian AutoCAD User's Group is about to have a meeting on Monday, October the 2nd. If you happen to be in their hemisphere, drop by for their meeting at 6:30. Catch up by reading their blog.


For those on this side of the world, don't forget that the Gateway AUG, serving the St. Louis and Metro areas, are scheduled to have our meeting on Tuesday October the 3rd.

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How Do I Search for Wildcard Characters? #@.*?~[]'

How Do I Do a Find and Replace for Wildcard Characters? #@.*?~[]'

I've seen this question come up a couple of times on the augi and autodesk forums, so...

Most of us know at least a little bit about using wildcard characters to find something within a range. This works in most programs, handiest in databases, but, very useful in AutoCAD as well.

BUT! What do you do when you want to find one of those 'special' characters?

Well, you just precede the character with an apostrophe... like '*

see also autodesk knowledgebase entry ID: TS1051672

Edit: Due to the site redesign, most URL's pointing to Autodesk's website are broken. Here's an updated link.

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Overview of Install: Revit Systems Series (with ABS) 2007

Installing MAP 3D on my computer always tend to be a bit of a noteworthy event (one I have not yet taken on this release cycle, maybe next year, but, too many harried users in the discussion groups)...

So, I started to take notes during the install of Revit Systems Series... assuming it would be a noteable event. ;)

I open up my DVD case (yes, I have a DVD drive... although there is a card in the case which points you to a media request site to ask for CD's if you can't do the DVD thing.

There is one DVD for RSys and one for ABS. I'm pondering whether one should be installed before the other? ~shrug~ I choose to install RSys first.

While I have installed Revit products before, those who haven't will notice that you don't get exactly the same little install and information dialog as you will with AutoCAD-based verticals.

I take a little wry note of amusement in that the RSys 'Getting Started' booklet did not include a section on installation, where the ABS 'Getting Started' booklet did.

I started my install, and about five minutes later, I was finished.

On to ABS... ah, there's that familiar screen... take a second to find the 'install button'... I choose not to go the 'Typical Install' route and choose 'Custom' instead...

For the curious, I manually included the following options which were NOT selected by default:
Viz Render
Express Tools
Visual Lisp Samples
Viz Render Tutorials
Visual Lisp Tutorials

When nearing the end of the install options you'll see the 'Create Shortcuts' section.
The first option is checked by default, I chose to include the second option:
Create Building Systems and Viz Render shortcuts on desktop
Create AutoCAD 2007 (plain) shortcut on desktop

you can make those shortcuts yourself with profile switches yourself, of course... for the curious, here is what the path to the vanilla Acad setup is...
"C:\Program Files\Autodesk Building Systems 2007\acad.exe" /p "AutoCAD"

It might be worth mentioning that the install of ABS took 33 minutes.

Don't forget, if you need a manual in your hand instead of all electronic documentation, go to the request site with your serial number and part number and order the accompanying documentation at no charge.

So, here I am, set up and ready to go... I've got my shortcuts to the discussion groups and augi forums at the ready.

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An Engine with NO Moving Parts?

Alright, I just read on New Scientist about a 'relativity Drive'.

It links to a theoretical paper by a guy named Roger Shawyer.

From the article:

Of course, any crackpot can rough out plans for a warp drive. What they never show you is evidence that it works. Shawyer is different. He has built a working prototype to test his ideas, and as a respected spacecraft engineer he has persuaded the British government to fund his work. Now organisations from other parts of the world, including the US air force and the Chinese government, are beating a path to his tiny company.
...
The device that has sparked their interest is an engine that generates thrust purely from electromagnetic radiation - microwaves to be precise - by exploiting the strange properties of relativity. It has no moving parts, and releases no exhaust or noxious emissions. Potentially, it could pack the punch of a rocket in a box the size of a suitcase.
...
Hang on a minute, though. If the cavity is to move, it must be pushed by something. A rocket engine, for example, is propelled by hot exhaust gases pushing on the rear of the rocket. How can photons confined inside a cavity make the cavity move? This is where relativity and the strange nature of light come in. Since the microwave photons in the waveguide are travelling close to the speed of light, any attempt to resolve the forces they generate must take account of Einstein's special theory of relativity. This says that the microwaves move in their own frame of reference. In other words they move independently of the cavity - as if they are outside it. As a result, the microwaves themselves exert a push on the cavity.
...
Shawyer's electromagnetic drive - emdrive for short - consists in essence of a microwave generator attached to what looks like a large copper cake tin. It needs a power supply for the magnetron, but there are no moving parts and no fuel - just a cord to plug it into the mains. Various pipes add complexity, but they are just there to keep the chamber cool. And the device seems to work: by mounting it on a sensitive balance, he has shown that it generates about 16 millinewtons of thrust, using 1 kilowatt of electrical power. Shawyer calculated that his first prototype had a Q of 5900. With his second thruster, he managed to raise the Q to 50,000 allowing it to generate a force of about 300 millinewtons - 100 times what Cosmos 1 could achieve. It's not enough for Earth-based use, but it's revolutionary for spacecraft.

Hmm. Makes a body curious, that's for sure. I encourage you to take a read of the entire article... the above is just a little snippet with my favorite bits.

What do you think? Is this feasible? If you believe, how soon before something like this could replace the internal combustion engine?

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