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« July 2007 | Main | September 2007 »
And preferably with a digitizer. Why, well I am planning on setting this up at Autodesk University for people to run early versions of AutoCAD and see what it was like and how far it has came in 25 years. If you have a old 286/386 with DOS and works please contact me to discuss at shaan@autodesk.com. One of those old 386 laptops would be great as well but it would have to allow a 5 1/2" floppy. :-)
The Aurigid shower will last only an hour and a half, with a bright Moon in the sky. It will be brilliant to those located in the Western United States and have some bright shooting starts to see.
http://www.space.com/searchforlife/070809_seti_aurigids.html
"We predict that the shower will be visible by the naked eye from the western United States, especially in California, Hawaii, Alaska, other western states and from Mexico and the western provinces of Canada. Prime viewing time will be on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007, a half hour on either side of 4:36 a.m. PDT. The whole event will last no longer than one-and-a-half hours. Twenty-five minutes long rates will be above half the peak rate."
James Wedding has announced the annual golf event that occurs right before the start of Autodesk University. Talent and skill are not a requirement but having fun, enjoy the sun, and perhaps a working liver might be. This would be the sixth annual duffers event for those keeping track.
Here is a photo of the 4th annual Duffers Open
In a continuing effort to improve customer experience and product quality we are working on a Service Pack update for AutoCAD 2008. 
The live update notifications in the AutoCAD 2008 Communication Center and Product Support product updates downloads should be available in the next few hours.
We wish to sincerely thank the many customer beta testers that provided feedback during the 4 beta cycles of this Service Pack. Their feedback and CER reports are critical to shipping the best product quality we can.
AutoCAD LT Updates
http://www.autodesk.com/autocadlt-updates
AutoCAD Updates
http://www.autodesk.com/autocad-updates
You can also subscribe to these Product Support updates by RSS
Product Support, Updates & Service Packs
Who Should Install the Service Pack?
1 Apply the patch only if the installation includes AutoCAD 2008.
I saw this funny image (via Karin Meier) the other day and it is truly priceless.
It's not a bug, it's a feature.
Continue reading "AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1 Officially Released Today" »
Jimmy Bergmark is definitely an AutoCAD Guru. When I first met Jimmy online years ago I often wondered if he slept as I could email him at any time of the day and he would reply in about 30 minutes from Sweden. I envisioned he had some sort of email alarm that would awaken him.
I love one his quotes "if AutoCAD hadn’t evolving in this good way I don’t think I still used it as much as I do"
Thanks for mentioning the http://myfeedback.autodesk.com where others can help shape the future of Autodesk products. It wont be much longer and we will be launching the MyFeedback Community 2.0.
Read the good interview of Jimmy by Franco Folini of NOVEDGE.
An Interview with Jimmy Bergmark, AutoCAD Guru
Cheers,
Shaan
Come test drive some new features in AutoCAD and impact future releases on September 5, 2007 in San Rafael, California.
The AutoCAD Product Design & Usability team would like to invite you to join us for a sneak peek and test drive of a future version of AutoCAD, focusing on changes to the use interface and productivity enhancements. Members of the AutoCAD team will be there to introduce you to new and enhanced AutoCAD features.
In a casual focus group style, we want to share with you our design-ideas-in-progress and ask for your input as we solidify our ideas for an upcoming release. We'll include time at the end of the session for general feedback. We are happy to discuss any issues, future directions, or wish list items with you at that time. Your input is critical in shaping the future of AutoCAD. We depend on and value your ideas. After this session we will make key decisions based on your input.
Plan on spending the day (9am to 5pm) to meet the team and do some hands on sessions with the next release. Snacks and lunch will be provided. 
Interested in attending the event? Here’s what we are looking for:
Seats are limited so please contact Shari Nemerovski to register for this exciting event where you can help shape the future of AutoCAD.
Shari Nemerovski
shari.nemerovski@autodesk.com
Customer Research and Events Coordinator
I received an email in response to my blog post about An AutoCAD LT Blog is Born that there are more AutoCAD LT friendly blog sites out there with tips and tricks. Kate's office at Robert Silman Associates a structural Engineering firm in Washington DC are almost entirely made up of AutoCAD LT users.
Thank you Kate and welcome to CADBlogging although it appears you have been doing it for sometime and have quite a few helpful tips posted.
Cheers,
Shaan
In this year that is the 25th year of AutoCAD and Autodesk, New Zealand based Jon Benstead posted on his http://www.cadit.net blog a about AutoCAD history from a 20+ year AutoCAD veteran/legend/survivor. The story and photos are priceless to those wishing to see and understand the evolution of CAD and AutoCAD. The lettering machine will most likely make many shake with flashbacks or scratch their heads wondering what it is.
Thank you for sharing John.
Can I please share your images in my AutoCAD History images on Flickr or if you have a Flickr account (free btw) you can tag them with AutoCAD History and I will then add them to the group collection links.
What is the connection? Well AutoCAD user Ralph Sanchez shared his and a team "Superman's "CRIP"Tonight" made first and last flight of their "GimpMobile" for the Red Bull Flugtag event last Saturday night held in on of my favorite places, Austin Texas. AutoCAD was used early in the conceptual design of this interesting aircraft piloted by Mark Zupan who has a history of flying projectiles for fun. 
They took 2nd place in the event. For Flugtag trivia fans the Austin event of Flugtag was the first time the event was held at night. I like the night views of the contestants. Of course this event is all for fun and flying is not really the main goal as having a great time and getting wet is.
Congratulations Team!
I received an email from a person who was upset that each time he pasted his Microsoft Excel spreadsheet into an AutoCAD drawing and after he rotated the drawing and plotted (printed) it out, the spreadsheet in the drawing would plot out upside down. I called the person to get all the details and then provided the solutions to his problems and told him I would post something on the blog. This is just one of the pains of using Windows OLE object pasting. This is not just limited to causing pain for AutoCAD users but many other applications that use OLE objects although they have got better over the years there is still pain and much better methods.
Here are a few AutoCAD knowledge base solutions explaining OLE.
Most know or should know that you should only use the OLE when absolutely nothing else is available to accomplish it. For example never paste an image into a drawing, instead use IMAGE>INSERT. For Excel for a few AutoCAD releases you could always copy the Excel spreadsheet data, then in AutoCAD use Paste Special>as AutoCAD Object which results in a native AutoCAD Table object being created in the drawing and not the OLE. The Paste Special as AutoCAD Object even creates the Excel formulas for the cells and preserves most of the formatting. Now in AutoCAD 2008 the data linking is bi-directional so you can update whether the data in the AutoCAD Table and the Excel spreadsheet will update or when the Excel Spreadsheet is updated you will get a notification that the Tables needs to be updated and then it will do it for you.
Imagine having a complicated spreadsheet you use for design such as calculating the thickness of parts or pounds of material required and calculated live in the drawing. You could even place an AutoCAD Field object in the Table cell which would allow you to link the Table cell data value to objects in the drawing and having that linked with a spreadsheet for others to use and all updated. You could total data based on objects in the drawing or perform design calculations. Pretty cool and useful stuff we used to manage manually and take a lot more time and cause more possibility for errors.
I was going to write a tutorial on this but found there are many excellent examples out there by fellow bloggers so I will just provide the links to those.
Give it a try and spread the knowledge to others.
After being a longtime reader of Robert Scoble Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger back from his transparent blog postings as a Microsoft employee and later a pod caster, I am unsubscribing to his RSS feeds. He has been a great read but in recent times since leaving Microsoft his feed has now become a feed of mainly where he is today, who he knows, what he got as a gadget, and what CEO his son met. I miss the old technology topic debates and insights of his old style. He encouraged and motivated me as a early corporate employee blogging and trying to lift the veil of a large company and place a face on it and for that I sincerely thank him. Wh9o knows perhaps he will start to go back to his techie roots and topics and I will once again jump back on his RSS feed readers but I only have so many feeds I can read and need to tune out some when they become white noise or not interesting to me personally or perhaps I am just jealous of all the people and locations visited and gadgets he gets <g>.
January 2004 I met Robert Scoble and his son Patrick along with Dori Smith, Bill Humphries, and Dan Lyke. It was a great geek Geek Lunch chat in the beautiful Northern California wine town of Healdsburg. We had an Apple employee and Microsoft employee together and was a great deal of fun and education for all. I even got photo of me and a nice Apple notebook.
Blog Note/Suggestion to Anthony, when an Autodesk employee you are always an Autodesk employee 24/7 even on a separate blog. There is no taking off our hat unfortunately, even when we do this on our own time. Cutting loose with anything we want to post has to be considered although there is no censorship. The having to wear the corporate hat all the time like a tattoo does make you consider what rating the image or post is and the limit on colorful language you can use or political issues and controversial topics you can post about. :-/
Of course theoretically speaking one could could start an anonymous blog with no ties to your name or topic and then get away with expressing yourself in anyway you wish but there is always a risk. ;-)
A little fun video diversion for this Second Guess Thursday LINK
In a continuing effort to improve customer experience and product quality we are working on a Service Pack update for AutoCAD 2008. The AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1 has been in beta testing with customers registered in the Autodesk MyFeedback Community http://myfeedback.autodesk.com. Today we expect to post the last beta number 4 and then hopefully release it to all customers shortly thereafter. This Service Pack is developed to address customer issues report to us as well as in the Customer Error Reporting CER feature in AutoCAD which reports crash details which the user has the option to send in (please send them in every single time as we do read each one) .
Here is an overview of the AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1 subject to change as it is still a pre-release undergoing beta testing by customers.
The Service Pack is for:
Continue reading "AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1 Nearing General Release" »
There will be a cool event to test and provide feedback on possible future AutoCAD features in Denver. Read more details on Heidi's blog announcement Request for participants in Denver!
I waited and waited and waited for an upgrade to my well worn Canon Digital Rebel XT 350 Digital SLR Camera for the updated release to the 18 month old Canon EOS 30D as I wanted to step up from an entry level Digital SLR to a more pro model like the EOS 30D or better as I continue to take my photography hobby to higher levels. I asked resellers, 2 Canon contacts, and some photography people in the know and read many many blogs looking for any hints or info before spending my hard earned money. When I was told there would be no Canon EOS 40D successor to the Canon EOS 30D this year I finally made the jump this summer to the 30D. Well as luck would have it the 40D will not be available on September 22, 2007 for the same price I paid for the 30D, but the 40D has the DIGIC III processing,sRAW, Live View, integrated dust reduction built in since I am shooting mostly in the desert, a built in thirds grid, and other features I wanted and needed.
Press Release: August 20, 2007 - Canon's Highly Anticipated EOS 40D Digital
dpreview.com review Canon EOS 40D, previewed
That's just my luck but it sure makes you feel like someone knew and wanted to get rid of 30D stock.
I have a been a very loyal Canon camera user for over 10 years and recommend it all the time as I love the build quality and the warm colors produced by Canon cameras. I would gladly get a Canon logo or Phil Askey's dpreview.com tattoo on me or wear a Canon sponsor jacket when out shooting around the world for the new Canon 40D or the 5D full frame. :-)
Cheers,
Shaan
My Photo Gallery http://www.flickr.com/photos/btl/
One sample Navigating The Wave
Photo walking through the North Coyote Butte Navajo sandstone feature named The Wave.
AutoCAD LT product user Erik Deyo has now started a blog dealing with AutoCAD LT.
Welcome to CADBlogging Erik!
The courseware team is having their annual “Back to School” courseware sale at the Autodesk eStore. (http://www.autodesk.com/estore). The Autodesk eStore is now able to sell and ship worldwide.
There’s 15% off on our 2008 titles now through October 15.
Here are some example titles for AutoCAD 2008 training:
And to celebrate you will soon start to see activities and celebrations. launching today is a fun site about the Autodesk AutoCAD 25 years with some information like trivia, timeline, and profiles and comments from some longtime Autodesk customers.
I love the "Legends of AutoCAD" and recognize the names and faces. I swear Rusty Gesner has not aged in the many years I have known him. It is also very nice to see Lucio on the front page. Also shown Jack Foster, Paul Laycock "G'Day Mate", and Carole Hibbard. Each has a podcast file you can play.
I know some of the trivia is fairly simple as I got 15 out of 15 my first try in less than 1 minute. :-)
I am trying to get a 386 with DOS 5.0 perhaps one of those sweet 45 pound laptops from the 1980's to run AutoCAD release 1 or 2 on at Autodesk University this year in celebration of the anniversary.
I started using AutoCAD in R11, when did you start?
Cheers,
Shaan
Autodesk employees and AUGI members are getting early registration starting today for Autodesk University 2007. AUGI Membership is FREE and you get a $500 discount for Autodesk University as well as Early Registration.
What can you expect at Autodesk University 2007?
• AUGI Annual Meeting and exciting contests and activities in the AUGI booth
• 575 classes to choose from, including PowerTracks, hands-on-labs, and more
• Exhibits and demos of leading-edge solutions from Autodesk and its software partners
• Great ways to make valuable connections with peers and industry leaders
• Opportunities to talk directly with AutoCAD product managers
Where and when?
Let the Autodesk University 2007 countdown begin!
<note> I am noticing that due to the high demand the AU website and the BLUAG are not doing so well and timing out some of the time.
Ken Pimentel the Autodesk 3ds Max Product Manager posted a nice link to a learning resource for 3ds Max users in his post New Learning Path! on his Maxed Out blog. The Learning path for 3ds Max contains free helpful resources such as Interface Overview, Tutorials, Essential Skills, Commands, Support, and more. There is also a RSS feed to subscribe to that page for updates.
From a recent real submission to the AutoCAD Product Feedback web form and responded with a solution by Misha of the AutoCAD Team. It is a fairly common problem when a registry cleaning tool goes overboard and removes required data for a program.
Problem: "There are not properties listed in my "properties" dialogue box when I click on an item."
Solution: Usually this is caused a external application that cleans Windows registry settings and data. To restore AutoCAD behavior you will have to reinstall the program or repair its registry. No need to uninstall and install again. Just choosing Reinstall or Repair option in the Windows > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs >AutoCAD should do the trick.
That's right I said "sexy curves and surfaces" as that is exactly what Autodesk AliasStudio can create by allowing designers to design hot looking and innovative products. Some of the well known items designed using AliasStudio are Wild West Motor Company, RKS Guitars, Honda, Land Rover, Nissan, Toyota, Jaguar, Apple products, Callaway Golf products, many well known bike designs, and many auto designs of most companies as the leading auto design software. AliasStudio integrates 2D sketching with 3D modeling for conceptual or industrial design.
Autodesk AliasStudio Personal Learning Edition (free Trial)
Tutorial on AliasStudio 2008 from Melissa Thomas on her blog Engineering Education for the Non-Civil Minded.
Nice article on AliasStudio 2008 PLE from Desktop Engineering LINK
I was hoping to be at SIGGRAPH 2007 in San Diego this week but time was not on my side and I leave for Dallas tomorrow.
I spent the weekend in the Moab Utah and San Rafael Swell area and added a few stories to my list including being stuck in sand, seeing a bobcat on a leash, ancient petroglyphs, meeting an excellent canyon climber, and being caught in a flash flood.
You can see the images in my Flickr Utah collection. Below are a couple.
Did you know that Fruita Colorado is famous for Mike the headless chicken, and even erected a statue and hosts a festival for him?
www.miketheheadlesschicken.org
Mike the Headless Chicken - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ursula provides the details on the new release of the AutoCAD P&ID product.
Released: AutoCAD P&ID 2008
Product Page: AutoCAD P&ID (http://www.autodesk.com/autocadpid)
"Create, modify, and manage piping and instrumentation diagrams"
BUDWEISER DWG file compatibility benchmark (http://www.xanadu.cz/en/budweiser.asp)
Named for the city in Czechoslovakia where the real genuine Budweiser beer known as Budvar was created.
This drawing created by Xanadu (former CAD Studio) has been used for years to perform a quick check of DWG file reading software's ability read the entities properly. The latest version has been updated for AutoCAD 2007 DWG file format entities of AutoCAD 2007 and AutoCAD 2008. The download is titled "BUDWEISER2008.DWG".
Swedish technical guru Jimmy Bergmark posted a nice overview of some of the changes in the free Autodesk Freewheel project from Autodesk Labs. Note to Jimmy, lookout some have an issue with the "Collaboration" word but what other word would you use to describe it, perhaps "working-together mode"? :-)
Jimmy showed some examples of the sketching, Impression styles, navigation, and callouts. Pretty cool stuff for both 2D and 3D design data.
Cheers,
Shaan
There are a couple of people that are AutoCAD Product Managers and there is a current opening for another person that was posted yesterday. The job is located in sunny San Rafael California.
I got a request to speak in a podcast and finally synced up schedules with the CADTIMES crew Michael and Peter. We talked at length tonight on many different subjects. I expect the podcast to be posted in the very near future, but they may have to edit a bit since we talked for about 90 minutes. :-)
I realized tonight it might be easier to podcast than blog, nobody knows you have a typo or an out of place comma in an audio only podcast. I can most certainly speak faster than I can type. :-)
UPDATE: Podcast is now live http://www.cadtimes.com/blog/?p=18
This week we are joined by Shaan Hurley from Autodesk. He’s the author of Between the Lines (his blog), and runs the MyFeedback Portal (Autodesk Beta Testing). Please check out his blog if you’ve never been there before. It’s updated frequently and has lots of great information. Also, sign up for the beta testing. You get to see some of the new features before anyone else, and you can also give your input on the product.
This week we discuss Shaan’s role at Autodesk, his blog, beta testing, and various other items.
Direct Download: Episode008
iTunes: Episode008
The tragic collapse of the bridge and the loss of life leaves me saddened. My heart and sincere sympathies goes out to all those affected. The early reports are that the bridge collapse was due to mechanical failure but official determinations wont be available for many weeks to possibly months and years. Having been a in the bridge construction business and a certified AWS D1.5 qualified inspector many years back, it hits me especially hard. Before my Autodesk life I used to be involved in the most critical of bridge projects with components specified as fracture critical which means that the components failure could cause the complete failure of the structure. Not many companies are certified and do this critical D1.5 fracture critical bridge component work as it takes a great deal of testing, overhead, training, and standards. I got to work on parts of the Golden Gate Bridge for the seismic retrofit of the North and South towers in the nineties, the worlds second largest double leaf bascule in Seattle, and many other large bridges around the United States but none in Minnesota.
I often wonder about the age of our infrastructure in the US as a great deal of our infrastructure like bridges, freeways, and utilities were built over 40 years ago and in need of review, repair, regular maintenance, or rebuilding. The costs are large but consider over 35% of all US bridges are over 50 years old. I worked with an Engineer almost 20 years ago involved in doing bridge reviews and back then many bridges were in poor health due to age and corrosion. I personally think that infrastructure investment should be in the top 5 priorities of state and federal budgets. We are fast at building new stadiums and other large public projects but must not forget about the existing and aging infrastructure.
-Shaan
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