Between the Lines

Wasatch Front Revit Users Group Re-Launch

I wanted to pass along some exciting information for Revit users located in the Intermountain West. The Wasatch Front Revit Users Group (WFRUG) will be re-launching and the first meeting will be January 20th, 2010 in Salt Lake City Utah. I hope to be in attendance but I will unfortunately be ineligible to win the PS3 that will be given away at the WFRUG meeting.

The first meeting of the year for the Salt City Autodesk Users Group will also be coming up in the new year and will be affiliated and supporting local user groups like WFRUG. The Salt City Autodesk Users Group is a group of Autodesk product users holding meetups to show what they are doing, network, share multi-discipline tips and tricks, and to encourage participation in product and discipline specific local user groups such as WFRUG and the Wasatch Area Users Group for Civil 3D (WAUG) (http://waugblog.blogspot.com/) which are holding a meeting January 12, 2010 .

There will be more groups re-launching such as the rumored Autodesk Inventor local user group among others.

Spread the word and get involved!

Cheers,
Shaan

 

Join Us For The Official WFRUG Re-Launch Meeting
We will be discussing Revit Project Coordination Issues Across Disciplines
This is your chance to voice all those complaints you’ve been building up.  (you know the ones we’re talking about!)

Date: - Jan. 20th
Time: - 6:00pm-7:30
Place: - Spectrum Engineers (324 S State Street, Suite 400)

Agenda:
  5:45 - Food/ Networking (Thanks to IMAGINiT for providing food)
6:00 - Welcome/ Leadership Introductions
6:15 - Revit Project Coordination Issues Across Disciplines
                 - List/ Describe/ Show effects of known Coordination Issues
                 - Discuss solutions to avoid these issues in the future
7:15 - Preview of Boast or Beef for future meetings/ Thanks/ Wrap up
7:30 - End Meeting

We would like to structure the WFRUG, and especially our users meetings, in a way that meets YOUR needs and wants. Please help us to identify those needs and wants by taking the survey we have set up at:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N8HYD6F

Our thanks to Spectrum Engineers, who have graciously offered to host our official re-launch meeting at their offices.  Parking is available in the attached parking garage which can be accessed from State St. or Exchange Place.  Attendees will be responsible for their own parking fees.  The owner has asked that all WFRUG attendees refrain from walking around their office.  And we would very much appreciate everyone being respectful of their property, both physical and intellectual.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, complaints, advice, grievances, condolences, kudos, or other pertinent information to pass along to the leadership of the Wasatch Front Revit Users Group, please send it to:

Gabe Cottam
WFRUG Leadership Committee Chairman
WFRUG.gabe@gmail.com

*  Enter to win a Play Station 3 along with Guitar Hero and an extra Guitar.  This package was won by the WFRUG at Autodesk University this year.  It was set up and played by attendees during the duration of the conference.  We will give it away at the May users group meeting.  Enter once each month for a chance to win.  Must be present at time of drawing to win.  Leadership committee members and software reseller employees are not eligible to win.

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE WFRUG ONLINE
On Blogger                       HTTP://WFRUG.BLOGSPOT.COM/
And On Facebook             HTTP://TINYURL.COM/WFRUG

AVATAR was AWESOME!!!

I was one of  the people in the long lines lastnight to see the first public showing of the new 3 hour James Cameron file AVATAR. This is the first movie I have ever waited for the midnight premier in my life but it was well worth the effort. I had seen parts of the movie from 5 years ago in a Special FX studio to the 23 minute mind blowing preview Autodesk University attendees were treated to just weeks ago in Las Vegas where Producer Jon Landau was there talking about the making of the movie.

James Cameron used cutting edge 3D motion capture technology from Autodesk such as Autodesk  MotionBuilder to enable real actors to control digital characters in a virtual set in real-time. Jon Landau said “We could not have made this movie without Autodesk”.

I want to congratulate everyone involved in bringing this eye-popping mind-blowing technology changing movie to the screen  Director James Cameron, Producer Jon Landau, Lightstorm Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Weta Digital (an Autodesk Maya using Sfx house in New Zealand), Stan Winston, the great cast actors like Sam Worthington who plays lead character Jake Sully, and many many more that brought this visual and auditory masterpiece to life.

I sincerely enjoyed the file from the first minute to the last. The opening 5 minutes was not to be missed in setting up the storyline as well as being really cool in 3D. The only issue was with so much  action and vibrant colors for 3 hours, I had remember when to blink and swallow or risk my eyes being dried out and my mouth dried wide open. This movie is not all about freaking out an audience with 3D screen gimmicks but actually brings you into the immersive 3D world of Pandora. It was like a good 70’s flashback with the colors and some of the freaky creatures.

I could not help recognize the undertones of man destroying their own planet and the need to go get resources from another planet which was in pristine condition. The Na’vis are the interesting blue colored humanoids (definitely not smurfs) natives with a “special” tail that are being attacked by the mean and greedy Sky People in their search for minerals. I would love to visit a planet like Pandora, but for now I can only experience it on the big screen or in vibrant dreams.

I would strongly suggest seeing the movie the way it was intended in 3D at an IMAX 3D theater if possible.

This was indeed an E-Ticket visual ride!

With only 3 hours of sleep last night, and vivid blue dreams, I will see how much I can get done today before heading for 2 weeks of vacation with many of my Autodesk coworkers.

Shaan

Bloggers Social Video & AutoCAD Design Slam at Autodesk University 2009

A video has been posted to YouTube showing some highlights of the second annual Bloggers Social at Autodesk University. The event gets bigger and better each year and is our simple way to say thank you to all the great bloggers out there.

There was also a great series of Design Slam competitions including one night features "Extreme Free Form" AutoCAD Design Slam in which 3 power AutoCAD users went head to head. Congratulations to Rodrigo Ramos of Monterrey Mexico. I hope to get to Monterrey Mexico this Spring for photography, hiking and tequila tastings with Rodrigo around the Parque Nacional Cumbres de Monterrey.

 Rodrigo Ramos en DesignSlam AU2009

Cheers,
Shaan

SnagIt for the Apple Mac! Come and Get It!

One of my day to day software tools I could not live without and have used over 12 years is SnagIt from Techsmith in Michigan. Now they have a Mac version of Snagit in beta and available to all.

Snagit Mac Page

Recently they released Camtasia on the Mac a native application for recording screen and and application recording of video content.

Now I can use either my Macbook or Windows PC and have both of my favorite tools on both.

Camtasia Go is available for purchase now from www.techsmith.com/camtasia

Snagit for Mac beta is ready now! Download Here

I can even screen capture my AutoCAD 2010 in a VMWare on my Macbook desktop in crystal view..

I have become friends with the team over the years and absolutely love their products as it allows me to capture images for documentation, CAD Standards, Tech Support, Blogging and more as a picture tells a thousand words and crosses language barriers. I also wanted to congratulate the Techsmith team on their 10 year anniversary with Camtasia. We gave some Camtasia seats away recently at Autodesk University 2009 in Hide & Geek fun events over Twitter.

Cheers
Shaan

Join the AutoCAD Customer Council

We have started inviting AutoCAD customers to join the Autodesk AutoCAD Customer Council.

The Autodesk AutoCAD Customer Council (AACC) is a group of AutoCAD customers who agree to participate in our user research program. The AACC provides customers the opportunity to offer specific feedback about a variety of topics to the AutoCAD management and development teams. You must be a member of the Customer Council to participate in these studies. Membership and access to the Customer Council user research studies are free of charge.

Here are some of the benefits of the AACC membership:

• Membership in an exclusive group of customers who will have more communication with the AutoCAD team.

• The opportunity to provide direct feedback about AutoCAD to the product team and help us deliver a higher quality product that is more relevant to your needs.

• Have exclusive access to survey results that will enable you to see how other professionals from around the world are using AutoCAD.

Join Today

AutoCAD Tip: Where's My Double Click Extents & Other Mouse Settings

I wanted to provide a tip for anyone else experiencing a problem with a new mouse and it not behaving as you would expect.

I recently purchased a new Microsoft Mobile Mouse 6000. This is a great mouse and due to the blue optical sensor will work on almost any surface from the shiny marble counter to the matted hair head of your pet dog. What I found is the default Windows system driver prevented me from using one of the mot important AutoCAD features developed in AutoCAD 2000, and that is the double-click mouse wheel to zoom to the drawing extents. I don't know how I could live without that feature which ranks up there with UNDO for me.

After being frustrated at the lack of double-click extents, I found the solution. I had to install the latest mouse driver in this case the new IntelliPoint software driver. 

I then set the mouse-wheel for double click instead of the new default “Flip” function and all was again well with my double-click wheel to drawing extents.

Don't forget the other mouse tips I posted awhile back on the mouse wheel scroll direction or the Zoom speed.

• Between the Lines: Change the Direction of the Middle Mouse Wheel ...

Perhaps you use AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor and prefer the direction Inventor uses for the mouse middle wheel transparent zooms.

You can change AutoCAD to match the direction Autodesk Inventor uses by changing the AutoCAD System Variable ZOOMWHEEL at the AutoCAD Command line.

AutoCAD by default when moving the wheel forward zooms in on an object while Autodesk Inventor zooms out when moving the mouse wheel forward.

Setting ZOOMWHEEL to 0
Moves wheel forward zooms in; moving wheel backwards zooms out.(Default)

Setting ZOOMWHEEL to 1
Move wheel forward zooms out; moving wheel backwards zooms in. (Like Inventor)

• Between the Lines: Change the AutoCAD Zoom Speed with ZOOMFACTOR

Have you ever felt like the middle mouse wheel zoom is too fast or too slow in AutoCAD?
It can depend on the scale of the drawing and objects you are working on, or perhaps even your mood. This speed of the zoom in and out is controlled by a system variable named ZOOMFACTOR. The default of the system variable ZOOMFACTOR is 60. You type ZOOMFACTOR at the AutoCAD command line and then changing the value. My preference is 40 so that I am not zooming in too fast of increments.

This is another one of those little settings that allow you to make AutoCAD more tailored to your use whether you like warp speed zooms or turtle slow zooming with the mouse wheel.

You can also set someone else's ZOOMFACTOR to 3 just for fun or torment but be sure after watching them struggle to set it back. More Office AutoCAD Pranks.

Cheers,
Shaan

AutoCAD Exchange Expert of the Week ~ Robert Stein

Do you have an AutoCAD question? Robert Stein is the AutoCAD Expert of the Week on the AutoCAD Exchange, so go ask your questions. Robert is a 13 year AutoCAD veteran in the mechanical discipline with experience in customization, programming and AutoCAD support.

Ask the AutoCAD Expert of the Week.

AutoCAD Exchange is a free portal of AutoCAD related tips & tricks, user galleries, humor, and Ask the AutoCAD Expert of the Week. There is also a link to become the AutoCAD Expert of the Week as well a join the Autodesk AutoCAD Customer Council.

Cheers,
Shaan

Autodesk University 2009 Sessions Online Now

There were over 400 sessions recorded at Autodesk University 2009 last week and now available online. These recorded sessions and content are available to all Autodesk University 2009 attendees, AUv Premier & Subscription Customers. Get your IPod loaded with a ton of sessions to increase your Autodesk product knowledge by learning from some of the best in the industry. I would also recommend having a lunch and learn session with your team so everyone benefits from all of the tips and tricks to being more productive and joining the ranks of Super Hero and Power Users.

http://au.autodesk.com/

Happy Friday everyone (Happy Saturday to those located over the Intl. Date Line)
Shaan

AutoCAD Plugin of the Month December ~ Layer Reporter for AutoCAD

This months AutoCAD plugin of the month from the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) is the Layer Reporter which includes the plugin as well as the source code. You can export the report of layer properties to a web page, MHT and more.

This Layer Reporter plugin works with AutoCAD 2007 and later based applications .

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/ADN_plugins/

 Layer Reporter for AutoCAD
This plugin can be used to generate a report of the layers used within an AutoCAD drawing. Make sure to review the ReadMe.txt file for details on how to install and use the plugin.

This Layer Reporter plugin was written by ADN  member Terry Dotson, from DotSoft  (http://www.dotsoft.com).

Check out the updated Screenshot “Plugin of the Month”.from last month as was from Kean Walmsley. If you are interested in getting into the nuts and bolts of programming AutoCAD check out Kean’s Through the Interface Blog.

Cheers,
Shaan.

Elvis is More Fun to Watch than Lawyers

I posted the video I had captured of Elvis singing the legal disclaimer at Autodesk University last week. What a creative and memorable way to present the legal disclaimer for a publicly traded company like Autodesk.

Cheers,
Shaan

Autodesk University is a Wrap, See You Next Year

Autodesk University 2009 is over and so is the Shutterbug Tour this year.

I am going through the hundreds of photos to prepare to post them over the next few days. I am now leaving my hair in Las Vegas after having my head shaved for the Susan G Komen Foundation after many donated to the charity.

Thousands of Autodesk University attendees also took their Autodesk Certification tests for free while attending.

And no AU would be complete without an AU Party which was held in a large arena and we also had free admission to the Shark Reef Aquarium.

 

 

 

The photos for AU 2009 will be at the public Flickr group for AU2009 (http://www.flickr.com/groups/au2009/).

I hope you have safe travels back home and have taken many photos and memories with you. I know I have many great memories and left my hair in Las Vegas for a great cause.

Stay Hydrated my friends,
Shaan

Autodesk University Day 2 <Shaan Missing in Action>

For the first time in 12 years I had to miss a day of AU and sessions, the AUGI meeting, a team dinner, photos, and of course the AUGI Beer Bust event. I awoke yesterday morning with a a bloody nose & ear, dizzy, and massive migraine. I was at the doctors for much of the day as I was diagnosed with dehydration and a bad sinus infection. I spent yesterday after returning from the doctor in bed on prescription antibiotics and headache medicine. I would have preferred to be at AU.

Below is a photo from Tuesday evening taken of the audience preparing to watch the private screening of the movie “Avatar” all decked out in 3D Glasses. I was blown away by the is movie in 3D as were most attendees. It was a serious 3D visual experience! I cannot wait until the movie is released publicly on December 16th. My jaw was literally dropped for the entire time and perhaps that is how I got so dehydrated.

I will be at the AutoCAD booth half of today and giving away goodies and playing “Hide & Geek”. At 5PM I will get my head shaved as promised for charity. Then the evening concludes with the Autodesk University 2009 party. I want to thank everyone who donated goodies to give away such as Techsmith with 10 seats of Camtasia which shares the common bind with AutoCAD as both products were launched in Las Vegas at Comdex events just different years as Camtasia just turned 10 and AutoCAD turned 27.

I want to sincerely thank my guardian angel Heidi for teaching my class at 5PM last night. All she asked for was my handout and PowerPoint and she did it. I guess this was karma and payback for when I taught an AU class back in 2000 in San Francisco with 5 minutes notice due to a sick presenter.

I have created a public Flickr group for AU2009 for sharing photos.(http://www.flickr.com/groups/au2009/) just like the previous public groups for AU 2008 and  AU 2007. Flickr is free. Anyone is welcome to add AU2009 photos to the Flickr group as long as they are AU 2009 related and G rated only. You can get a free Flickr account if you wish to share photos with others or even keep them private if you prefer. It is even better if you can geotag your photos with their locations which Flickr allows you to do or if you have a GPS software to do this. Also I have my own Flick Photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/btl/.

At the AUGI Annual Meeting the AutoCAD Top Ten Wish List was given from AUGI President Mark Kiker to Guri Stark VP, AutoCAD & Platform Solutions.

Do AUGI AutoCAD Wishes Come True? Video

 

Here is the list for the new AUGI AutoCAD Top Ten Wishes for November 2009!

1. Join Individual Hatch Areas
The ability to join individually created hatch areas into a single hatch object.
Submitted By:  Luke Watts

2. Toolpalettes in CUI
Add toolpalettes to the CUI so they can be easily imported/transferred.
Submitted By:  Diethelm Loerke

3. Window and Crossing Selection box Aligned with Crosshairs
When crosshairs are rotated, the window and crossing selection box should align with crosshairs.
Submitted By:  Don Foltz

4. Graphically create or change hatch patterns
The ability to graphically create or change hatch patterns.
Submitted By:  Florian Stuckenberg

5. Fillet 3D Polylines
The ability to fillet 3D Polylines
Submitted By:  Thien Nguyen

6. Control Mirroring of Text in Blocks
Ability to control whether text/attributes are mirrored in blocks when the block is mirrored.
Submitted By:  Florian Stuckenberg

7. Create and Zip Complete Drawing Package
The ability to create and zip a drawing package that includes multiple formats of same drawing (PDF, DWF) using eTransmit
Submitted By:  Neil Foden

8. Dialog for Complex Linetypes
An editor for creation of complex linetypes.
Submitted By:  HUASCAR FERNANDEZ

9. Attributes Always Horizontal
The ability to set an attribute relative to UCS regardless of the rotation of the block.
Submitted By:  Gunnar Jansson

10. Enable Renaming of Anonymous Blocks
The ability to rename anonymous blocks in the properties dialog or quick properties dialog.
Submitted By:  David Henry

Keep hydrated my friends,
Shaan

Autodesk University 2009 Day 1

On the first general day of Autodesk University it has been active with thousands of attendees here attending in person and thousands online with the Autodesk University Virtual sessions.

My day has been a colorful blur of activity, but I am surviving. I started early in the morning then assisted in a lab session with Michael Beal “AutoCAD Toolbelt”.

After the lab I got access to the skybox in the general welcome keynote. I had some fun seating up high which was a great view for crowd photos but not so much for close up photos of the speakers.

Lynn Allen welcomed everyone to the the 17th AU.

We had Elvis sing the Legal Disclaimers for the event. It is more fun to hear Elvis sing the disclaimers, than a lawyer on stage. :-)

Autodesk CEO Carl Bass spoke to the attendees about design and what Autodesk and Autodesk customers like Intel doing these days.

 

We had guest speakers such as Amory Lovins cofounder and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute and Movie Producer Jon Landau.

  

We then had Autodesk CTO Jeff Kowalski show us some of the things that occurred in technology by Autodesk since some were previewed at the last Autodesk University 2008 as many of the technology previewed became reality.

It was a great general session and I was excited by the amount of Twitter Tweet traffic about the event. It was a mix from those here and from all over the world such as Jimmy Bergmark in Sweden. Use the hashtag #AU2009 when referring to Autodesk University 2009.

Following up the excitement of the general session keynote we had lunch with around 6000 people.

For those who missed this keynote session, it will be available  under On Demand tab of AU Virtual Player in Autodesk University Virtual AUv.

Now back to running around and getting ready for the big AutoCAD / M&E Keynote and sneak peak at the movie Avatar then the exhibit hall opening where I will be in the AutoCAD booth.

Avatar Sneak Peek at AutoCAD & M&E Keynote Today

Twitter Tweeps, don't forget to meet at the AUGI booth in the exhibit hall at 7PM for a TweetUp.

Cheers,
Shaan

Avatar Sneak Peek at AutoCAD & M&E Keynote Today

What happens in the AutoCAD / M&E Keynote at 5PM today, stays at the Keynote.

There is a very special combined AutoCAD / M&E (Media & Entertainment division 3ds max & Maya) keynote today. Only 1500 can attend and there will be special 3D glasses. Why will there be special 3D Glasses, well we will be getting a sneak preview of the new James Cameron movie “Avatar”.

During today's Autodesk University 2009 general session producer Jon Landau announced we will be showing a very special sneak preview of the upcoming movie Avatar. Avatar used cutting edge 3D motion capture technology and Autodesk products to enable real actors to control digital characters in a virtual set in real-time. Jon Landau said “We could not have made this movie without Autodesk”.

This should be awesome, but be sure to be early. Please do not take any photos or videos of the movie preview shown at the event. There are over 20  (big muscled)security from the movie company 20th Century Fox that will enforce a zero photo of the movie policy. Even what may seem to you as a harmless camera phone snap could get you escorted out and the images deleted. You can understand the concern since this will be the first showing of the movie that has not been released yet. I already had an encounter with the security when I was shooting photos from the balcony at the events center. These big plain clothed guys mean business, and did not even smile or laugh at my jokes.

So please enjoy the sneak preview and only take a mental memory of the preview with you when you leave. You don't want to get yourself embarrassed and humiliated in front of everyone being escorted out of the event and having cameras potentially confiscated.

Hope to see you there. This will be one time I will not be shooting photos except before and after the preview at the event. Following the event is a special AutoCAD Team mixer event. I am becoming overwhelmed by the amount of events and locations I need to be at the same time. I need a digital actor/ clone.

Avatar will be released in theaters on December 18th 2009.

Cheers,
Shaan

Autodesk University 2009

The fist day of Autodesk University was Monday and a whirlwind of activity as the ADN developers conference was held along with many other events like the Design Computation Symposium. The Bloggers Social was a great event which seen over 150 attendees including many Autodesk product managers and executives meeting with bloggers to socialize in a relaxed social environment..

Today the main kick off of Autodesk University happens.

AU 2009 By the Numbers

• Total # Attendees: More than 5,500 | 20,000 virtual attendees (est)
• Total # Attendee Countries: 109 (incl. virtual)
• Total # Classes: 500, plus 150 virtual sessions
• Total # Exhibitors: 120
• Number of Years AU has taken place: 17

I gave away a license of Techsmith’s Camtasia yesterday in a “Hide & Geek” event where I hid a card with a clue posted in my Twitter feed. A Twitter follower of mine @mflayler  found the card. Think of this like Geocaching or Tweetcaching.  Follow me on Twitter @mrcadman

I will post more later but I have a lab to assist in AU104-2L with Michael Beall this morning bright and early then the main keynote. Later today will be the AutoCAD / Media & Entertainment Keynote where only 1500 people will be able to attend and see 30 a preview of the upcoming movie release from director James Cameron “Avatar” in full 3D. There will also be the opening of the exhibit hall and I will be at the AutoCAD booth.

There is a Tweetup (gathering) for users of Twitter who will be attending Autodesk University 2009. The event is tentatively planned to be held Tuesday night at the AUGI booth at 7PM.

• Follow AU on Twitter:
  • Me @mrcadman
  • @lynn_allen
  • @au_online
  • @AUGIatAU

I am uploading many photos to the Autodesk University 2009 photo pool. I just wish the lighting of rooms at the Mandalay Bay was a little brighter.

Autodesk University 2009 Photo Pool http://www.flickr.com/groups/au2009/

Cheers,
Shaan