Gateway AUG Fall Announcements

Well, as usual, my messages are bouncing, so I'll copy this quarter's announcements here for those in whose spam bims I am forever lost. ;)

Dear GAUG Member,

I hope those who made it to our March meeting at Vatterott Technical College in Sunset Hills enjoyed the Overview of AutoCAD 2008 features, as well as the General Tips and Tricks Session.

http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com/2007/03/report-from-gateway-aug-tips-and-tricks.html

We also had some very stimulating conversation on BIM in June at the Masonry Institute on Big Bend. I know I normally attach meeting handouts on the following emailing, but, I was so caught up in the conversation that I didn’t really take very good notes. We discussed everything from who should pay for the model and who should have access to it after building, as well as ‘lowest common denominator’ file formats for archiving, how easy or hard it is to train and retain and upgrade and convert. Tomislav Zigo sort of led the group, and he showed a few slides roughly defining BIM, and listing different BIM software programs. ‘Thanks’ to him and Rudy Beuc for putting that gathering together. And ‘Thanks’ to Seiler Instrument, as always, for their financial support of our meeting refreshments. It is much appreciated.

This is one last reminder of the meeting we’ve all been looking forward to for the last 12 months… the pre-CAD Camp gathering!

http://gatewayaug.com/

http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com/2007/09/st-louis-meeting-on-17th-cad-camp-on.html

http://www.tenlinks.com/events/eventlist.asp

http://www.cadcamp.com/stlouis/default.asp

http://augi.typepad.com/augi_news/2007/09/st-louis-multi-.html

This is a free meeting, with food provided by the joint reseller sponsors (Seiler, Hagerman and D3) and presentations by the out of town instructors. As per our norm, we do not allow selling by presenters, but, you can pick up contact information from tables they’ll have set up. Anyone can show up, whether you’re a member of GAUG and SLAMSUG or not, so feel free to bring friends.

Remember that you can still register for CAD Camp, the one $179 day regional training event up until the 17^th (Monday), for a full day or a half day of classes on the 18^th (Tuesday). There were over 100 attendees last year, and I’ve heard we’ve far surpassed that for this year (fees are lower if you registered early).

Also remember that with that CAD Camp registration, you will receive a code entitling you to $150 of an Autodesk University registration. A week of training offered annually, allowing you to hand pick 13 advanced classes in your chosen field taught by the best instructors from around the world. www.autodesk.com/au

This year will see a repeat of the Local Chapter program, where, if we register at least 3 people from our group, we can be eligible to win a free AU Conference pass, which will be given away to a lucky member by an email drawing like last year.

http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com/2006/10/gateway-aug-drawing-winners.html

So, I’ve already registered, all I need is information from at least two other registrants to send in our request for a free pass. If you’re already signed up, please send me the following information, which I will use only for the request for this free pass: name, email address, phone number that you registered with.

Remember that AutoCAD has just come out with a Service Pack fixing some irritating bugs, so make sure you’re up to date!

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/index?siteID=123112&id=2334435&linkID=9240618

And don’t forget that October is AUGI Annual Salary Survey time! I hope that everyone enjoyed the improvements I made to last years magazine spread. I know that everyone loves to read the Salary Survey results to see how they stack up or which industries are paying the most these days, but, in order to provide this information, I need a lot of (totally anonymous to me) members to sign in and take a couple of minutes to participate in the survey. The survey is scheduled to be pushed live on October 1^st, so please take the time to take it and mention it to your coworkers. Results will be published in the first issue of the free AUGIWorld Magazine of 2008. http://www.augi.com/surveys/default.asp?page=51 (to check out the results from all past salary surveys, you must log in)

Our next quarterly meeting will be in March, as we all tend to be so busy during fall and winter months that we don’t get together. Please check my blog and the Gateway AUG website for details, announcements and tips (you can even add the rss feed to the InfoCenter in AutoCAD 2008).

I’ll be happy to answer any questions about Gateway AUG, AUGI, Service Packs, Autodesk University training, the Salary Survey, etc… BUT, I must warn you, the moment that CAD Camp is over, I’m on vacation for two weeks, so I won’t promise a response anytime in the next three weeks.

Thank you!

Melanie Perry

Gateway AUG - President
AUGI - Salary Survey Manager, ACAD Community Chair
AutoCAD and ACAD LT 2008 Bible - Contributing Writer
Applying AutoCAD 2008 - Technical Editor

Read More

St. Louis Meeting on the 17th, CAD Camp on the 18th

Joint Gateway AUG meeting with SLAMSUG on CAD Camp Eve.

Come one, come all... whether you're a member of the Mechanical User's Group, SLAMSUG, or the multi-disciplinary group, GAUG, or neither, come along for some free food, good presentations by world-renowned experts and fabulous networking opportunities with local designers.

The meeting will be held at the Orlando Gardens Banquet center Webster Groves location at 8352 Watson Rd. approximately one mile from Highway 44 and the Elm Ave. exit in General Grant Shopping Center.

Food and beverages will be provided by the meeting sponsors Seiler Instrument, Hagerman & D3.

Registration for the JOINT user group starts at 5:45 - 6:15

St. Louis Metro area User Group meeting starts at 6:15 pm

Timeline:

• AUGI Update: 10 minutes
• Each technical presentation will be 45 minutes
• Total run time: 100 minutes or 1 hr - 40 minutes (can vary slightly)

AUGI Update - Matt Murphy Learn about the new and existing programs and initiatives that AUGI is working on to support the user community.

AutoCAD 2008 Annotation Scaling: Intelligent Text -David Cohn Annotation Scaling lets you create text, dimensions, hatch patterns, blocks and other annotation objects that automatically change their size and placement to match the scale of the viewport. See how easy it is to apply annotation properties and create annotative styles. The new annotation scaling tools can save you hours of time previously spent calculating scale factors and creating, editing and managing drawing annotations at multiple scales.

AutoCAD 2008 Productivity Secrets Nobody Told You about Dynamic Blocks and Palettes - Matt Murphy Who has time to build all new Blocks? Can you really be more productive using Palettes? In this presentation you'll learn the "three-click" method to making your existing Blocks into Dynamic Blocks. You'll also learn the secrets to managing Dynamic Blocks as well as the untold techniques to control the roll-up display of all AutoCAD Palettes. Gain instant productivity with techniques you can apply immediately to your AutoCAD projects.

Read More

Women in Design at Lewis and Clark

I've been chatting recently with an instructor at Lewis and Clark Community college over in Illinois. Joel Hall is a member of my Autodesk User Group, and is starting a networking group for Women in Design in the Drafting program at his facility.

Last Thursday was the first meeting, and Joel invited me along to introduce me to some of the female students and women in industry (previous graduates from L&C), and have me say a few words about the Gateway AUG and AUGI and the value of networking.

It was quite the drive (during rush hour) from Jefferson County, Missouri, but, I wouldn't have missed the chance meet up with other 'minority' techies to let them know that they're certainly not the only ones out there.

So, as both a speaker, attendee and networker, this was a GREAT time. I enjoyed the other speakers and really loved meeting the super-talented ladies this program has produced.

I hope to add a photo to this posting at some point, but, for now, I'll just go over the agenda.

Joel and his lovely wife welcomed everyone, there were nice snacks and drinks, and some door prizes to give away.

Mary Hales spoke about additional programs and classes that L&C has available to continue growth in the workplace, such as a business management certificate program, which prepares students for supervisory roles.

Previous graduate, Keturah Jordan, read a poem about how it feels to walk into class being the only girl and how things changed over time. It definitely expressed feelings all of us could identify with.

Shane Callahan's presentation was not quite what I expected, but, it certainly added a lot to the presentation. He spoke about fitness for professionals.
Excellent.
Obviously this is important with rising obesity rates in this country for women going into mostly sedentary design jobs. He touched on many things: ideal weight (body composition), law of energy balance, the fact that strength training can guard against osteoporosis. It was a great topic and provoked some discussion on how different disorders can affect your diet and exercise regime.
Two of the door prizes were fitness consultations with Shane.

And, I could kick myself for this, but... I didn't catch the name of the next person. One of the women in industry was asked to come up and give a Revit Architecture demo while Joel Hall was discussing BIM. Evidently they'll be getting Revit MEP soon, and will begin to instruct on that. Joel says he can't keep up with demand for Revit-product-trained students from the local design community.

That's awesome.

And, the best part of these learning events is always the networking afterwards. You can stay around all night trading favorite resources, lecturing the instructor about not having his FREE subscription to AUGIWorld magazine, trading workplaces experiences and reactions, etc.

It was almost midnight before I got home after my long drive back, but, it was worth a little lost sleep.

Why not chat with some of your college (and high school) drafting and design instructors and see how you can become involved in speaking to, networking with, educating and/or mentoring up and coming technical students?


Oh, and don't forget about the upcoming Gateway AUG/SLAMSUG User Group meeting the night before the St. Louis AUGI CAD Camp (that's only two weeks away!). I'll be sending out an email to the group sometime soon reminding them about registration and the AU discount if you do attend CAD Camp.
If you can't make it, pass it on to a friend anyway. Everyone is welcome to the User Group meeting whether they're members of either group or not.

Read More

Last post from the apartment-dweller

Well, the past... I don't know, couple of years and then some... I've been living the relatively anchor-free life of an apartment-dweller.

It's had it's ups and downs, believe me. Prior to my last move, I'd thought about buying a small house within the city limits (near where I am right now), so that all of these monthly payments wouldn't be 'wasted'.

But, I'm glad that I didn't. The housing market today is quite a bit less... robust than it was 2 1/2 - 3 years ago when I was looking.

Life in this apartment has been relatively quiet... lots of older couples on our street, with a church to one side of us.

But, no painting walls... no aerobics on the thin, wooden floors, no counterspace or enough electrical outlets in the kitchen. ~shrug~

Tomorrow, we move from our spacious one-bedroom (two, if you count the living room, where the little guy has his bedroom) apartment, to a slightly-smaller-roomed 3 bedroom house out in the county.

I do love the huge high-ceilings and very large rooms with gorgeous old 120 year old wood trim everywhere! THIS is what St. Louis is all about in these lovely older brick homes...

But, I will certainly enjoy our home in the burbs. Ty will be starting school soon, and I've been planning since before he was born to flee the troubled school districts of the city. While I love St. Louis, I can't make my son live that loyalty, I am happy that we can provide him better alternatives for education.

We met one of our neighbors today, and she was super-nice. The family who sold us our home left us a lovely notecard saying what a great neighborhood this is and how they hope that we'll be as happy there as they were. Very sweet. (They're moving out of state for the husband's job)

So, this will be the last blog post from me here in our apartment... as I sit here at the kitchen table with my laptop, I think how nice it will be to have some proper office space that doesn't interfere with eating.

I'll have to get on DH to get him to put our (matching... awww) desks together as soon as possible.

Oh yes, and I believe we financed an entire year's operating budget for our new local Lowe's store. :-) ~crying at burned hole in pocket~

I'm excited to be out in the burbs, even though I'll miss the city a little. Of course, since I still work in the city (until I find a way to let my boss allow me to telecommute 4 days a week ~shifty~ ~not holding my breath~), I suppose the missing won't be too painful.

We'll even be downtown celebrating my sister's 29th birthday this week, as is our custom.

So, we've had our confirmations from the utility companies, the appliance deliveries, the moving company and one of the furniture deliveries. So, we'll see if the last furniture company will get off their tushie and call us first thing in the morning to let us know when they'll be delivering our bedroom set and kitchen table.

It promises to be a loooooong weekend.

I will be logging back on soon from our new home. I might take a photo of my new workspace and post it, just to brag about my spacious desk and built-in bookshelves. ;)

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend as much as I'll be enjoying mine.

Read More

Register for St. Louis CAD Camp Now, Save on AU costs!

Alright, Gateway AUG members, and any other CAD Geeks in the area looking for some good training and networking:
Registration is open and courses are listed for the St. Louis AUGI CAD Camp!

And, as you can see, AUGI and Autodesk are working together to again offer the $150 discount to Autodesk University if you attend a CAD Camp.
While at CAD Camp this year, you will be given a card with a passcode on it to enter in when you register for AU.

So, who is going to be St. Louis's best drafter? Long-time Gateway AUG member, Mark Mosby took the honor last year and showed us all up! You'll notice other Gateway AUG members up there, too.

By the way, remember that AUGI members get to start registering for AU a week before the rest of the CAD world, so, remember your login details.

AND! AUGI and Autodesk are again working together to do a repeat of last year's special program... user groups who send at least three members to AU will get one free pass to give away. When you register for AU, put in "Gateway AUG" as your user group and send me an email letting me know you've done it, once I've sent off those three names to our contact, I will be given a special code and do an email drawing like we did last year.

Tim Roberts of KPFF Consulting won the free conference pass last in last year's drawing, and Marianna Tripp and Mike Kindle won consolation prizes.

Please, members, look for my mailing sometime this fall, once I've gotten those three registrations confirmed. If you're not getting mail from me, add mstone@gatewayaug.com (alias for mstonegatewayaug@yahoo.com) to your 'safe list' or update your email address with me.

I hope to see many of you at CAD Camp and AU.

Read More

AU Courses / Design Tool / St. Louis CAD Camp

Looks like Joseph Wurcher has his blog up and is telling us what we've got in store course-wise for this year's AU.
I'm particularly interested in the 13 Facilities Management classes and the 23 MEP design classes. Oh, if only I could attend them all.

Looking back, you can see which courses had the highest rated speakers last year. Very cool.

Thanks to Shaan Hurley for keeping us up to date.

We've also got a peek at Autodesk Project Showroom from his site.

Check out the sample project here.
'DWF-guy' Scott Sheppard now blogs over on 'It's Alive at the Labs!' For those who aren't familiar with the newish Autodesk Labs, it's a place for Autodesk's test projects to be played around with by... us! So, go take a peek at the newest geek-pleaser.

Don't forget, there's also a discussion group for the labs, to chat over what you've seen.


Oh, and a reminder to the St. Louis folks. Don't forget the upcoming CAD Camp on September 18th. We're also planning a user group meeting the evening beforehand, a joint session with GAUG and SLAMSUG (the local mechanical users group headed up by Mark Roberts, who previously served on the board of the Gateway AUG).

Looks like the location will be the Orlando Gardens Banquet Center, not SLU as reported on the Autodesk website.

Looks like the fee for the one day training is $149 for AUGI members and non-members $159 and students $89 (with valid student ID). You'll have five classes throughout the day, lunch is provided.

I don't know about you, but, I need to get off my tushie and request some class fees the day off work (registration is NOT open yet, and classes are NOT posted yet, but, still, make your request now, so you are prepared).

Read More

Melanie Simpson

Alright, Scott and Robin have started a little Simpson's love and created their virtual Springfield selves (and Scott also did one for Shaan).

You can go to the Simpson's movie website and create your own.

And my DH says that his personal heroes are Homer Simpson and Al Bundy, so, of course, I've got to jump in on the action here.

Read More