Enter to win your free book by Friday

Just a reminder that you've still got time to submit a tip to be entered in a drawing to win a fabulous book.

The prizes are:

• Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 - by James Wedding, P.E. & Scott McEachron
• AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011 - by Ellen Finkelstein
• Mastering AutoCAD for the Mac - by George Omura & Richard (Rick) Graham

Submit a tip using the following for a guide:

Name: Melanie Perry
Email address: mistressofthedorkness@gmail.com
Book Preference:  AutoCAD Bible
*Attribution*: Melanie "Mistress of the Dorkness" Perry
*Product*: AutoCAD
*Tip*: Use the Express Tool "SYSVDLG" to access your system variables, and even save them as an SVF file to preserve or share your current settings. 

Use the comment area below or drop me an email. 
The tip can be for any Autodesk product. A process, a favorite command, a system variable... whatever you like. *Please, specify which of these three books you'd like to win. I'm doing one drawing for each book.*
The drawing for the winners will be chosen at random by my two-year-old this weekend.

Read More

Tips and Tricks Contest - Win a great book!

Thanks to the generosity of James Wedding, Ellen Finkelstein and Rick Graham, I have some very sweet prizes for three lucky readers!

• Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011
• AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011
• Mastering AutoCAD for the Mac

I've linked to the table of contents of each of these wonderful texts, check out everything these authors cover. I haven't read Mastering Civil 3D, as that's not my industry, and I don't own a Mac but, I'm sure those books are just as chock full of tasty tips and will serve as a handy reference just like the AutoCAD Bible (which I have read in the past and do highly recommend).


Contest Rules: 

1. Post a tip about any Autodesk product using the comments area below.
2. Tell me which book you'd like to win.
3. Provide your email, so I may contact you for your mailing address if you've been selected.
4. Contest is open until March 18th, 2011. 

The winner will be chosen at random by my two-year-old.

I apologize, but, the winner needs to be in the United States (these are pretty heavy books and I'll be footing the bill for shipping), unless you're willing to wait for a hand-delivery at Autodesk University 2011?

Since I now have moderated comments (due to having far more SPAM comments than real ones), I will be collecting the information posted there, but, will not be publishing the comments themselves.

The tips and tricks submitted by the contest entrants will be shared in a blog post the last week of March.

Use the following as a guide to submit your tip:

Name: Melanie Perry

Email address: mistressofthedorkness@gmail.com
Book Preference:  AutoCAD Bible
*Attribution*: Melanie "Mistress of the Dorkness" Perry

*Product*: AutoCAD

*Tip*: Use the Express Tool "SYSVDLG" to access your system variables, and even save them as an SVF file to preserve or share your current settings.

I'll only be posting those fields marked with an asterisk, and of course, I'll only be using the email address you provide to contact you if you're the winner.

I am asking that you share a tip with me, in exchange for your chance to win a free book, but, it does not have to be restricted to AutoCAD or Civil3D, if you have a great Revit or AutoCAD MEP tip etc, feel free to share it.

Read More

If Poe did CAD...

Recently I trotted out the old favorite poem "Abort, Retry, Ignore", based of course, upon the classic literary work, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (I find the rhythm of trochaic octameter quite engaging).

In response, a friend posted his own composition, and granted me permission to repost it here (although, you can find it on his own blog - http://antmansclone.wordpress.com/ )

Cad upon a midnight dreary, bloodshot eyes welled up and teary
Revising a project that had changed a thousand times before–
There I sat, not even blinking; into slumber I was sinking
Pots of coffee I was drinking, drinking to stay off the floor
“How long will this last?” I wondered, gazing at my office door–
Had been there since the night before

Though fuzzy now, I still remember the hour of which my comembers
Abandoned me to alone dismember these drawings — What an awful chore!
Against all hope to hold back sorrow, vainly trying time to borrow
To finish that job before the morrow, tomorrow when I would sleep once more
Bed with pillow, couch, chair or floor–
Tomorrow I would sleep once more

Where was my undo command? I thought I had them all at hand
I looked again, and there it was, where it had not been before
Decided then to abdicate some recent work, I undid eight
Aghast, I realized my fate — I only meant to undo four
Stupid mistakes like this I invariably deplore
Forced again to redraw more

To make that wall a little longer for to make the shearwall stronger
I had to change the roof slope and eliminate a door.
Architect would not allow for that, there for the moment I just sat
Waiting for him to come back with a design he could adore.
Nary a sound I heard as he entered, returning through my office door
Red ink upon the paper more

Upon my check plots peering, as I stood there, knowing, fearing,
Before he even gestured I knew he had changed the plan some more
Finally the silence broken, as he started to betoken
The words from his mouth hardly spoken uttered changes I knew to abhor.
“Flip the plan and change the elevation of the second floor.”
Merely this and nothing more

“Can’t you just a button press to make more sense out of this mess?”
I said OK to appease him and send him from my space once more
Back to my workstation turning, anger towards him stronger burning,
Sure my next paycheck I’d be earning not only just a little more–
This shock to my system must be worth not only just a little more–
Started coffee pot number four

Music streaming from my speakers, helping me from growing weaker
Screaming songs to match the feeling of the hairdo that I wore
Nodding off and half awake, suddenly a double take
I pinched myself for dreaming’s sake; what now do my eyes absorb?
Everything was in its place, it appeared I had to do no more
I stood and breathed; a pallid countenance I no longer wore
I felt as though on sunny shore

And as I felt it, a glint of light shone in to aid me from my plight
Dawn’s radiant hues had lifted my soul — I could feel it in my core
But to chagrin my heart’s elation {Unhandled Access Violation}
“NO!” I screamed, “Not my creation!” I paced around my office floor
In desperation tried to get my drawing back to where it was before
Audit or recover, ultimately my file I could not restore
My drawing file was no more

Though the morn was shining brilliant, and I thought myself to be resilient
My keyboard could not withstand the shock of my mouse hitting it with force
It was over, I conceded; by the deadline it was not completed
And I sat there, felling defeated, rejected and forlorn
I looked at my computer, letting sink in the horror of that wretched morn
I turned my back, went home to sleep; trudged out my office door
And there I pledged it, “Nevermore”

- Anthony Mason - 2002

Read More

AutoCAD 2011 - List of Hotfixes, Updates, Service Packs et al

autodesk.com/autocad

Under Support > Data & Downloads > Updates & Services packs, you can check to see if you need to make any updates to your production software.

Oh, and, of course, don't forget to check out the Read Me files for all of these prior to install, to see if it applies to your product, to see if it's been superseded my something more recent, and to see the various options available for install (standalone, imaging, network installs, etc).

• AutoCAD 2011 Update 1.1 
• Makes a few general fixes, also updates the CER
• AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Layer Manager Hotfix
• You don't need this if you've installed update 1.1, above. Resolves Layer Manager instability experienced during certain tasks.
• Certified Hardware XML Database Update
• Hardware certification database (driver info).
• SAMReport-lite for Windows 7
• Allows installation of SAMReport on Windows 7
• Autodesk InfoCenter Hot Fix
• From site: "searches in InfoCenter may encounter not getting any search results when searching for double-byte characters (Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean)."
• AutoCAD 2011 CHM-Based Help
• There are performance issues with the online Help files, so you can download this to keep locally. 
• Asian Character Command Line Input Hotfix For AutoCAD 2011
• Liveupdate HotFix for French/Italian/Spanish AutoCAD 2011 64-bit versions
• PublishToWeb HotFix for French/Italian/Spanish AutoCAD 2011 64-bit versions
• Autodesk Materials Library 2011 Update 1
• From site: "This update resolves an issue with some of the default materials in the Autodesk Materials Library not being usable in certain non-English products."

Read More

AutoCAD 2011 Launch - Part 4 (photos & videos)

Part 1 - Tweet archive posted from event

Part 2 - notes from the webcasts

Part 3 - notes from the webcasts (continued)

Finally, part 4, photographs and videos from the event (<- link points to photos shown in the picasa slideshow embedded below).

Read More

AutoCAD 2011 Launch - Part 3 (presentation notes cont'd)

Eddie Perlberg - design viz technical specialist

- viz helps win bids, improves communication, a smoother approval process, interoperability with adesk tools, advantages with BIM and digital prototyping

design - enhanced modeling

visualize-enhanced rendering, viewport feedback

share - leveraging design data, unified materials

--- working on interoperability - makes rendering a changing building design so much easier, prevents having to reassign every material on re-importing a changed model

-actually, it's more like a link than an import (from revit in example, will this work with AutoCAD too?)

materials are responding more 'real world'

rendering is the workhorse of 3ds max Design -

rendering with Mental Ray 1:18 to render on the CPU

rendering with quicksilver moves it to GPU and it only takes 0:18

Amar Hanspal - we've only covered 4 of 100 Autodesk products

more virtual events http://autodesk.com/seizetheopportunity

Andrew Mackles -- AutoCAD product family

understand key enhancements, challenge assumptions, receive questions

POWER

3d conceptual design, and productivity tools to accelerate projects from concept through completion

CHOICE

customize your autocad software or select an industry-specific version tailored to your business

CONNECTIVITY

data compatibility to help you share work and connect with other design professionals

explore

document

communicate

customize

Point Clouds can effectively workwith2billion points but they did test up to 40gb of point data (although they didn’t count the number of individual points during those tests)

key new components-

--- inferred constraints

-- pediting improvements

-- hatch editing improvements

-- create ore select similar objects

-- hide or isolate objects

windows 7 optimization - take advantage of UI, etc

AutoCAD LT - hatch editing and pline editing improvements

object and layer transparency as well as finally support for gradient hatches

Heidi Hewett

showing us some enhancements to everyday productivity

selectsimilar, hideobjects

selection cycling - lists overlapping object

hatch transparency on ribbon tab, but, transparency is also in the properties palette and can also do transparency by layer, transparency toggle on the status bar

- how does this plot? page setup dialog box - plot transparency checkbox, but, this will rasterize the output

- if we plot DWF with transparency on, we couldn't use object snap because it would be raster file - ouch

in auto constrain settings, there's an "=" constraint

inferred constraints

- rectangles are actually closed polylines, so it doesn't scale uniformly, so turn on inferred constraints

how many acad customers actually use constraints?  (more popular newer users, slower adoption among older users. Mfg users are using it more than AEC)

Guillermo Melantoni

surface associativity (nurbs surfaces)

starting with splines

Spline CV's (create them with control vertices) (spline knot is the old fit version), now spline freehand (suggesting use with tablet works well)

- multifunctional grips with splines - click and pick to create surfaces - AutoCAD understand the surface edge - continuity (guides, path, cross sections only, settings, continuity, bulge magnitude)

- can project into the surface, easily loft between... conceptual design of shapes really quickly

he showed of some dimensional constraint parameters in a very complex 3d block (pic) - this model is 190k (would be bigger as a solid model),

talking about introducing materials and renderings into an industry that doesn't 'know the language'

-we as designers need to understand and manipulate some things, but, not others

-natively supported, without driver install needed for 3dmouse

- point cloud

-- index point cloud - las file to index- fls, fws, xyb (why not leico? the other company worked with them?)

pcg file is created - showed stadium with 35 million points    (Mandalay bay was 1.5biln points)

insert cloud and snap to elements to create geometry (expecting API to close gap for 3d party vendors to step in and manipulate)

-can we export these files with clouds in, so that they can be used by other products? - they weren't quite sure, they're going to check with others (suggestion that the subscription advantage pack for c3d might help, debate on quality of file from contractor doing the scanning)

-- merging of features across products is becoming more and more obvious (Jeff Agla?)

Tatjana Dzambazova - Sr. product manager , creative 3d

digital concepts and emerging products

alias sketch and alias sketch for AutoCAD

-software is getting in the way of ability to explore ideas

- need to rely on too many packages to communicate and collaborate

- need basic image manipulations compositing and editing in AutoCAD

$500 for alias sketch, subs $70

mixed media workflows, color manipulation is powerful, dynamic transformation tools (vectors as well as images and fills) in a hybrid environment, embedded sketching, painting and image compositing

- instead of all of the customers taking things to Photoshop just to do cropping, add transparency and composite, the rest is overkill

vector layers, raster layers and canvas

sketching is vector, color fills are raster

shape recognition - you don’t have to sketch perfect circle, it sees

(Impression is 'in a holding pattern', for presentation only, not conceptual design

impression is still alive)

Kate Morrical - AutoCAD LT

top three beta site requests - best selling product

hide/isolate objects

transparency

gradient hatches

hatch background colors (effect of layering hatches) - can set hatch layer and forget about it

selectsimilar

spline enhancements

pline editing

join functionality

highlight xrefs

default scale list

ignore missing shx files

text in linetypes are always readable

quick dimension

layer previous

sketch

(no parametrics or 3dmodeling, customization (lsp,vba,.net) enterprise level features ?like network licenses?, express tools)

CANNOT*create* parametrics, but, CAN use them

web-based Help File (communities blogs etc) can use it without being online, no worries

only win 7 release not supported is home (home premium is supported)

recent files feature in win7

Jeff Agla - Sr. Business Manager - covering ACA2011

promote connectivity throughout features

workflow, usability, fit and finish

showing intelligent wall cleanup

constraints work on walls and use formulas (constraints on walls will also affect spaces without problem)

Renovation tools  (Manage > Renovation... magically adds 'new' 'existing' and 'demo')

can handle point clouds, but, no additional features

(revit can read an autocad drawing with a point cloud in its underlay, but, doesn't support them itself)

Adam Perry - Senior Business Manager - AutoCAD Mechanical

- they get all the AutoCAD features

fix , fit and finish (f3)

getting rid of the dialogs and give the canvas back to users - e.g. moved dim dialog into the ribbon and dims are updating live

- migration - 20,000 new mechanical users this year, they have legacy dwg data (smarter BOM tool introduced in 2010) - now balloons are imported and are associative

helps you clean up legacy drawings, easy excel list to help resolve conflicts (part numbers duplicated, etc)

Usability:

2010 gave us Part Publishing

standard content now smarter, you can drag on insert, custom content is easier now, can import standard sizes for parts from excel spreadsheets you already have

common saveas dialog

construction line *always* move to background

powerful international standards

Read More

AutoCAD 2011 Launch - Part 2 (presentation notes)

Guri Stark

Introduces the AutoCAD family of products

(Displayed Google trends which clearly show AutoCAD’s popularity)

Autodesk has the broadest set of applications (ALL engineering disciplines, plus media)

This is AutoCAD’s 25th release

Recent releases have had these specific feature focuses:

2007-basic 3d

2008-productivity

2009-usability

2010- 3d design "DESIGN", parametric drawing

2011-power & productivity (surface modeling, points clouds -up to 2bln points-, realistic materials, surface modeling, doc productivity, drafting productivity, parametric drawing tools, inferred constraints, hatch enhancements, object and layer transparency

76, 000 man-hours in testing, 6,000 code reviews, 2,000 commands tested, 4,600 beta testers

1.4 million lines of code removed!!!

AutoCAD LT

document, hatch enhancements, pediting improvements, transparency

Add on - Alias Sketch (freehand markup directly on top of AutoCAD geometry

artsy photo type stuff from within autocad)

Freestyle on Labs –

Who might use AutoCAD Freestyle?

Project managers, sales and marketing, fieldworkers, space planners, journeyman, small firms, DIY enthusiasts

Butterfly on Labs –

AutoCAD on the Cloud butterfly.autodesk.com

online meetings for collaboration

Carl bass (during webcast)

airmax initiative - consistent user interface across all products since many users handle multiple products, plus trying to make the interface more appealing visually

photorealistic models (used an example of semiconductor, used inventor preview instead of 120 hours of animation in only an hour)

data interoperability - customers move things from one product to another

Amar Hanspal - Sr. VP, platform solutions and emerging business

introducing the 2011 product line

AutoCAD’s flexibility and pervasive... um-ness

Heidi Hewett - technical marketing manager

associative surfaces, point clouds

unified materials

using parametrics for the surfaces

there's a full API for the point cloud functionality for 3d party developers

autodesk materials library - acad, revit, inventor 3ds max - the materials will port across platform (assign in AutoCAD, they'll show up when imported into the other products

pedits are much more intuitive, rather than a nested menu

same with hatching

transparency - hatches, and any other entity

project butterfly quick tour and a brief mention of freestyle

Rob Cohee, mfg technical evangelist on digital prototyping

alias design is in inventor

dynamic input while sketching

direct manipulation with part modeling - no context menu or menu item selections needed (hey, didn't we just see some of these in AutoCAD)

form creation

simulation guide

dramatically enhanced previews

new assembly command (select entity and it predicts relationships between components?)

can inventor handle complex forms? - alias design for inventor, can modify in a mirror,

manufacturing marketplace is quite competitive, rob says it's the best in class with inventor 2011

inventor publisher - takes 3d models and creates technical publication documents (flash, pdf, websites, etc)

same with material library as AutoCAD

now the renderings are the inventor program, no need for a 'studio' program or rendering operation

(Anwar says we're democratizing the ability to show these impressive models)

digital prototyping is beyond 3d modeling - frame analysis tool, apply load, determine gravity, analyze, get feedback right away - make more informed decisions during engineering design

Arnab Ganguly - Sr. technical marketing manager AEC

revit - interactive sunpath tool , large team workflow enhancements, surface rationalization tools (conceptual modeling) ,adaptive components

sun manipulation to see effects more easily (pic)

- discussing 'campus' design -

if architect is working on shell, interior design working on fitout - visibility filters across buildings (can control visibility across linked projects) - using a single file to manage multiple projects as a workset

door tagging is an example of something modified across linked files as well as host file

productivity - adaptive components (using curtain wall system as example - more fluid granular control

AutoCAD civil 3d 2011 - scalability and performance (more memory)

model-based design (corridor improvements, point clouds and station locking)

production - (automated cross section sheet creation)

summarize the BIM portfolio - focus is on the "I" - information

Read More