Between the Lines

Attention Autodesk and CAD Related Bloggers Attending Autodesk University 2008

CAD Bloggers!

It is very important to make sure to keep Wednesday night Tuesday, December 2, 4-5:30PM free and open as we are planning something. Make sure when signing up for Autodesk University to mention and list your blog.

We love bloggers, and also the industry journalist which get a separate more formal reception and agenda. This is just a way to show our appreciation for all of the excellent independent blogging by our product users and the time they spend and great information they provide as well as telling we at Autodesk what we are doing right and should continue and things we should rethink or stop.

More exciting details later!

Have a great weekend all,
Shaan

 

 

 

Stein's Spot: AutoCAD 2009 Cue Cards Online

AutoCAD Product Designer Matt Stein has posted about the AutoCAD 2009 Cue Cards on his blog which are a helpful bunch of tutorials or summaries of new features that can be used as Lunch and Learn sessions for your fellow AutoCAD users during upgrade training. Yes Matt, I found your blog http://steinsspot.blogspot.com/. Matt~ I will be in San Rafael next week, hope to see you.

I mentioned this as well back in June on this blog but twice is nice and it is worth repeating as they are helpful like a executive overview of some features in bite size nuggets.

AutoCAD 2009 Cue Cards

from: Stein's Spot: AutoCAD 2009 Cue Cards Online

Cheers,
Shaan

TweakGuides.com - Vista Annoyances Resolved

This is an excellent guide/article by a great website and you should bookmark TweakGuides.com. The multiple page guide/article details issues and tweaks to get the most of Vista as well as counter much of the rumor and anti-Microsoft crowd.

TweakGuides.com - Vista Annoyances Resolved

Even if you don’t agree with the guide, the site has many other great tips and tricks. Personally I am really not a OS zealot, I just use the one that runs my common applications native and does not come with a proprietary hardware, one that requires me to compile most everything or have limited applications, or has annoying fact stretching commercials. OK so I am bias to what currently works for me but if something better comes along, I am all for it.

I have yet to find the perfect flaw free OS or one without barbs and downsides so I have to ride with the largest majority for applications and compatibility.

Hey, I have been asking for years even to Apple employees, “just give me OSX on a PC (legally and officially)” and all vendors move to a common programming platform/architecture at least at the CPU instructions are basically the same.

Make everyone's lives easier and less stress and we can just choose on who does it best and run applications on a virtualization layer if need be. Imagine all the applications that could run across multiple OS platforms and the smiles regardless of the brand on your hardware.

Similar to cameras, CD players standardizing on a common formats but perhaps a wee bit more complex and disputed. Most all the OS’s right now can run on an Intel or compatible CPU except some do lock down the use and access to the CPU for perhaps control of their hardware and what runs on it.

Disclaimer: I work for a large software company that develops applications on multiple platforms such as Windows, Linux, and Mac closed source and opensource, the broad spectrum.

Just a Friday Pipedream
Shaan

I Did Not Make the US Presidential VeeP Nomination, but more Important Announcement

<spoiler> Republican presidential hopeful John McCain will announce Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate on Friday, according to U.S. media reports.</spoiler>

Now for the important announcement!

If you are looking for 1 or 2 excellent Autodesk product skilled people, that both have been publicly recognized by AUGI, as writers knowing their stuff, in addition to very nice and modest people, then I have two candidates that are in my top ten of Autodesk product users that are now available.

With some businesses adjusting or downsizing, there are also those that are growing and looking for the best quality people to make their business more productive and profitable and your opportunity to grab one of my top ten respected Autodesk and AutoCAD users is now and may not last long.

As I understand it in the past couple days since they became available they have both been getting interviews.

If you are interested, please email me and I will provide your contact information to them. Please send me an email.

Sincerely,
Shaan Hurley

22 August 2008 New Feature Releases for Autodesk Subscription Customers

I was traveling last week when the updates rolled out, but here is the belated notice and list.

On August 22nd 2008, Autodesk Subscription members, as part of their benefits, can download the following new feature releases:

• AutoCAD® 2009
  • Demo for AutoCAD® 2009 Bonus Pack
• AutoCAD LT® 2009
  • AutoCAD LT® 2009 – Advanced Techniques e-Learning
• AutoCAD® Civil 2009
  • Subassemblies for AutoCAD® Civil 2009
• AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009
  • HEC RAS Import/Export Extension for AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009
  • Stage Storage Extension for AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009
  • Subassemblies for AutoCAD Civil 3D® 2009
  • Exploring the AutoCAD® Civil 3D® Environment e-Learning
  • Transportation – Working with Sections and Quantities e-Learning
  • AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009: Essentials e-Learning (Russian)
• AutoCAD® Map 3D 2009
  • FDO Provider for GE® Smallworld
  • FDO Provider for Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008
  • Industry Toolkits for Water, Wastewater, and Electric Utilities (French, Italian, German, Spanish, UK English)
  • Surveying Tools (Korean, Japanese)

• AutoCAD® Revit® Architecture Suite 2009
  • AutoCAD® 2009 Subscription Bonus Pack (includes demo)
  • Revit® Architecture 2009: Essentials e-Learning  (Russian)

• AutoCAD® Revit® MEP Suite 2009
  • Revit® MEP 2009 software (Simplified Chinese)

• AutoCAD® Revit® Structure Suite 2009
  • AutoCAD® 2009 Subscription Bonus Pack (includes demo)
• Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2009
  • Creativity Extension for Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2009
  • Photo Simulators Toolkit Downloadable DVD
• Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design2009
  • Creativity Extension for Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2009
  • Photo Simulators Toolkit Downloadable DVD
• Autodesk® AliasStudio™ 2009
  • Advanced Modeling and Surfacing Techniques Downloadable DVD
• Autodesk MapGuide® Enterprise 2009
  • FDO Provider for GE® Smallworld
  • FDO Provider for Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008

• Autodesk® Maya®
  • Anaglyph Stereoscopy Techniques Downloadable DVD
  • API & Game Dev I Video Podcast
  • Arm Rigging II Video Podcast
  • The Creation Cannon Video Podcast
• Autodesk® MotionBuilder®
  • Advanced Facial Rigging Downloadable DVD
• Autodesk® Topobase™ Client 2009
  • FDO Provider for GE® Smallworld
• Autodesk® Topobase™ Web 2009
  • FDO Provider for GE® Smallworld

• Autodesk® Utility Design 2009
  • FDO Provider for GE® Smallworld
• Revit® Architecture 2009
  • Revit® Architecture 2009: Essentials e-Learning  (Russian)

You can download these releases via the Subscription Center.

Cheers,
Shaan

Students, Teachers, Get Your Free Autodesk Design Applications

It is that time of year for students to head back to the classroom and dorms. I just wanted to mention you can get many Autodesk design applications for free as a student from http://students.autodesk.com. From Autodesk Impression,  3D Viz, Revit, to Civil 3D in addition to some curriculum and a community.

 

Unfortunately the there are a couple products missing and I receive emails about, AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT the top of the design software food chain as general purpose design products. I am working to see if we can do something about this.

Happy studies,
Shaan

Reaching Out - Free Autodesk Product API Training

For the third year now you can sign up for free webcasts from top notch Autodesk DevTech Engineers.

API training schedule website

The webcasts vary in subject from overviews on the APIs available for Autodesk products, such as AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil 3D, or Revit API, to advanced topics such as AutoCAD: Using Jigs in .NET, or AutoCAD: Custom Objects Masterclass.

The sessions are free of charge and open to everyone to attend. It is not just for ADN members and authorized developers who tune in, but customers, resellers, and anyone who wishes to start or broaden their skill set in programming Autodesk products. Webcasts are offered in a number of languages, including English, Chinese and Japanese.

After a webcast has taken place, the recording of it is made available for downloading from the API training schedule website.

See AutoCAD X before it Ships, and Help Shape it

If you are located in the San Francisco Bay Area or the Boston Area, you have a rare opportunity to test drive some new features in AutoCAD and contribute your feedback to future releases. 

• We are not getting rid of LISP anymore than Bigfoot will begin anchoring the evening news.
• We are not getting rid of the Command Line
• We are adding much more features and changes based on customer feedback, now's your chance.

The AutoCAD Product Design and Usability team would like to invite you to join them for a sneak peek and test drive of a future version of AutoCAD, focusing on changes to the user 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, the design team wants to share with you their design-ideas-in-progress and ask for your input as they solidify their ideas for an upcoming release.  They’ll include time at the end of the session for general feedback and they’ll be 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 and the AutoCAD team depends on and values your ideas.  After this session the design team will make key decisions based on your input. 

Plan on spending the day (9am to 5pm) to meet the team and participate in hands-on sessions with a future release.  You will learn valuable tips and get step by step instructions. Snacks and lunch will be provided.

San Francisco Area (San Rafael) -- September 10, 2008
San Francisco (downtown SF) -- September 17 or 18, 2008
Boston Area (Waltham) -- September 17 or 18, 2008

Interested in attending the event?  Here’s what they are looking for:
•    Day to day users of AutoCAD or LT
•    Users of Dynamic Blocks
•    Users interested in or proficient in 3D modeling
•    All levels – beginning to advanced

Seats are limited so please take the below brief survey so we know your user profile.  Feel free to contact me, Shari Nemerovski (415-507-8217), with any questions about registration for this exciting event.

http://myfeedback.autodesk.com/adsksurvey/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=m402m86

Also if you are not a member of Autodesk MyFeedback http://myfeedback.autodesk.com, sign up as that is a large over 20,000 active Autodesk product users involved in many different types of projects from betas to research and discussions on all Autodesk products from AutoCAD, 3ds Max, to Mudbox and Maya.

Get involved and help shape the future of Autodesk products.

Cheers,
Shaan

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Unleashed for Public Download

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/default.aspx

Faster, More features, More secure, More standards compliant, and still free.

More Links:

Internet Explorer Team Blog

Internet Explorer site

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Release Notes

Fast and many more features.

Update 8-28-08: I love the stability, speed, features,rendering, Inprivate anonymous browsing, the developer tools (F12) are excellent.

See what Mary Jo Foley from All about Microsoft has to say: IE 8 Beta 2 ready for download

Autodesk University 2008 Las Vegas Half full

AU 2008 December 2 - 5, 2008. The Venetian Resort Hotel, Las Vegas, USA

http://au.autodesk.com/event/
http://au.autodesk.com/

If you were hoping to stay at the Venetian Hotel for Autodesk University 2008 your time is growing short and enrollment for the event that is expecting a bit above 10,000 attendees is already half full. This also means classes and labs are filling up.

There is still time but growing short. Don’t be stuck in another fine hotel down the Las Vegas strip forced to stumble or thumb a cab back to your hotel after the AUGI Beer Bust or AU events and then having to make a long trip by shuttle bus or walking to make the chilly early morning classes and presentations. Although the extra walking might be good exercise, it is no fun forgetting something in your room or wanting to drop things off in your room and having to trek a couple miles in which to do it.

See you at AU,
Shaan

 

Atlanta IWF 08 and Savannah Roadtrip

For the past couple days I have been in Atlanta attending IWF 08 and presenting a compressed session on AutoCAD 2009 in the Microvellum booth. Microvellum is a Autodesk ISV reseller as well as AutoCAD OEM developer which develops top notch cabinet, furniture and retail fixtures design products and just announced their new versions based on AutoCAD 2009. The Microvellum people were great and were excellent in their knowledge and expertise in their industry and had a very busy booth.

It was amazing to see the scale of the IWF 08 show as there was no sign of economic slowdown and miles of walking just to see the vendors from small wood carving products, design, material optimization, and CNC software, to massive industrial wood product processing or fabrication equipment.

I promised in my presentation to provide links to my posts on many of the customer requested features we like to call internally as Fit & Finish.

• AutoCAD 2009 Fit & Finish
• The 2009 Products Including AutoCAD 2009

After the event in the late afternoon I decided to celebrate the 5 year anniversary of this blog (thank you for the nice compliments and comments) and take the blog and the infamous Matt Murphy Clay Head Sculpture over to the Georgia coast in Savannah for dinner then back to Atlanta. It was more of a drive than I had expected and should have looked into the drive more closely rather than the spontaneous drive. It was a beautiful drive but along the coast it was remnants of hurricane Fay hammering the area with bands of high winds and rain that added to the experience. One of my favorite things was driving the backwoods roads in the swamps and taking a few photos and looking for a gator or some snakes. I did notice there are a huge amount of counties in Georgia and it seemed like a new one every 5 miles at time but even more numerous were the police hiding to catch fast drivers especially on I75 between Macon and Atlanta. After not being in Atlanta except the airport in over 20 years, it was extremely nice to see Georgia again as it is a very beautiful state especially along the backwoods off the beaten path. As usual with almost any place I visit, I just wish I had more time.

    

I have a quick meeting, tons of email to catch up on, and some general work to do here then I am departing back to my home base of Salt Lake City early this afternoon proudly wearing my favorite New Zealand All Blacks jersey.

Cheers and have a safe and good weekend,
Shaan

AutoCAD 2009 Fit & Finish

In my presentations this week here in Atlanta at IWF 08, I mentioned I would re-post a partial list of AutoCAD 2009 customer requested features we refer to as AutoCAD Fit and Finish or F3 and are not normally in the main marketing brochures.

• MTEXT in-place spell checking
• MTEXT runs from the ribbon bar
• eTransmit: Purge drawings before packing
• eTransmit: Option to save or not save drawing before packing
• Dynamically update Xclip frames
• Export layouts to model space
• Geographic location enabling
• Material mapping enhancements
• Find and replace text in blocks
• Find and replace text in xrefs
• Find and replace text using wildcards
• Pin most recently used (MRU) documents
• Sort MRU documents by type, date, or alphabetically
• Wblock enhancements
• Array now supports zoom and pan during preview
• Nonrectangular viewport support in Properties palette
• Missing plotters are now prefixed with “Missing”
• Purge now includes the shortcut key for Close
• DWFx format based on XML specification
• Enhanced tooltips
• Customizable dynamic help
• Show Me animations embedded in help file
• Enhanced task dialog boxes
• InfoCenter search bar searches knowledge base and forums
• Dynamic tooltips link directly to subject help
• Hover mouse over objects to list properties
• Windows Vista® logo certified
• Build 64- and 32-bit deployments from a single computer
• Customer Involvement Program enhancements
• Customer error reporting round-trip notification
• Performance enhancements
• Stability enhancements
• Prior version licensing support
• ShowMotion™ feature to create animated playback
• Improved 2D navigation tools
• DGN version 7 and 8 support
• DGN translation enhancements

And there is even more as all features begin with a customer request or research.

Cheers,
Shaan

Between the Lines Blog is now 5 Years Old!

On this day in 2003, this blog was born.

It is hard to believe I made it from the experimental and unofficial start of this blog to the five year mark, but I did. It has been a result of many fellow deskers, customers, and bloggers providing great blog content and feedback, my employer being blog tolerant and open, and also trying to be diversified in topics from product tips to the tips or announcements to photography and even how to catch a piranha while I was blogging from deep in the Amazon Jungle of Brazil with my TabletPC.

There have been ups and downs, but all in all it is well worth it for me.

I have never really been a formal writer or punctuation expert but that's the point of a blog, it is a non edited and raw me. In five years things have changed so very much. I remember being the first CAD “blog” when the word blog brought stares and questions from people as blogging was not well known a few years back. Over the years blogging and RSS feeds has taken off with a vengeance from industry press to CAD users blogging from around the world about tips and tricks. Now you can read literally hundreds of CAD and engineering related blogs with great information.

My simple blog recipe to keep tens of thousands of unique blog readers a day:

• One part good information on Autodesk and Autodesk products
• Using my own words not highly edited print copy or press release speak. If mentioning a press release, ad your own opinion or view on it, not just copy paste and post as that is like a television channel with only commercials and people unsubscribe.
• This blog is not a covert tool or a sales or marketing delivery channel it remains true to the beginning goals of spreading information and tips and tricks.
• Pointing out and crediting other blogger's great posts and using trackbacks and not deep linking to their content
• One huge part off topic subjects to keep it mixed up and varied, never predictable.
• One huge portion of dedication as you cannot just turn of a blog while you are on vacation or sabbatical and must plan to post regularly else like a television channel people will turn off and unsubscribe to your fed.
• One part warped humor
• One part photos as they cross all languages and allow people to see other places through your eyes, even AU.

I follow about RSS 800 feeds now like a morning newspaper by scanning for ones I want to read as like a newspaper you normally do not read every story and I can do this in under 30 minutes instead of surfing web pages looking for new topics for hours. I even enjoy reading and learning from other CAD software vendors and users except when some companies try to use a blog as an easy to up web page PR delivery method which blogging is not. Blogging should be a conversation in your words and people responding in comments, and beneficial to both parties and last but not least fun as most of us do not get paid for blogging nor is it our job. Give a blogger a hug as most blog out of a of need to share knowledge and their take on things.

I am currently in Atlanta Georgia attending the IWF 08 show with Autodesk ISV and OEM partner Microvellum and presenting again today in booth 5013 at noon. I will finalize this blogs stats for the past five years when I get back to my home base this weekend as there is just too much data to mine from many sources of hits and RSS feed tracking as well as listing most popular posts and highlights like meeting Autodesk John Walker last year in Switzerland..

Please join me in celebrating the 5 year mark as some said it and blogging in general would not last 1 year. Please don’t forget to add you comments on what I should continue to do, stop doing or ideas on topics and things to do.

Madonna is now 50, but this blog is turning 5!!!

What do you get a blog for it’s birthday,well because I am in Georgia maybe a cold beer or sweet tea and a nice helping of pralines and a cup of boiled raw peanuts?

In celebration of the this blogs birthday I may drive down the freeway to a local swamp and anger a mother Alligator and sacrifice the infamous Matt Murphy Clay Head Sculpture, just kidding. Although the clay sculpture is looking pretty beat up from the world traveling and has now ben 3D scanned, I intend to get it to AU 2008 and besides imagine the damage to the poor alligator’s stomach that swallowed it. I have not been outside the Atlanta airport here in Georgia since a short stint at Fort Benning Georgia many many years ago. The only downside is the Hurricane / Tropical Storm Fay who has ben menacing South of here and expected to turn up partially into Georgia but hopefully after I depart tomorrow afternoon. I have always heard the sunsets near a hurricane are very beautiful and if so I will be out photographing them perhaps a drive down to the Southeast  of Georgia area.

Going forward there are so many things I want to do like the localized language versions of this blogs by having guest bloggers translate my posts as well as post their own to spread the blog to far more readers. I am always looking for guest authors to post on topics readers of this blog would enjoy, so if you are interested, please email me.

Thank you everyone for reading and commenting as this is what keeps me doing this this blog.

Sincerely,
Shaan Hurley

My Travel in Planning

I will provide more details and confirmations as my travel and events are formally booked but so far here is my map. Looks to be another busy year in airports and plane seats and two Autodesk University events on in Las Vegas and one in Japan.

I would love to meet with large AutoCAD user group events or companies in Africa, Middle east, South and Central America or Russia.If you have a large user group meeting or office of AutoCAD users send me an email and perhaps I might attend and present on Autodesk’s platform products such as AutoCAD, Autodesk Impression, and many others as well as provide blurry glimpses into the possible future. I am not sales or marketing but connected to the product development teams.

All you have to do is ask by by sending me an email

Cheers,
Shaan @mrcadman on Twitter

This Blog is Turning 5 Tomorrow, and is potty trained, well mostly

Please join me in celebrating the 5 year mark as some said it and blogging in general would not last 1 year. Please don’t forget to add you comments on what I should continue to do, stop doing or ideas on topics and things to do.

Madonna is now 50, but this blog is turning 5!!!

I will be celebrating the 5 year blog birthday from here in hot Atlanta at IWF08 with the Matt Murphy Clay Head Sculpture! I wonder if I can get the Clay Head on CNN while here located next to the CNN world headquarters…..hrmmmm

Cheers,
Shaan

Autodesk Products - Hardware Certification Database is 17.2.0.4 Update

In case you have not seen the note in Communication Center, there is a new update for the Certified Hardware XML Database Update. This contains best product settings and tunings for certified hardware aka graphics cards.

 

You may need to download this file if:

• You have new graphics hardware.
• You have a new driver version for your graphics hardware in the graphics hardware list.
• The status of your graphics card has changed in the database. For example, The Status has changed from Supported to Certified.
• Autodesk or the graphics hardware vendor has resolved issues with your graphics hardware.

The current version of the Hardware Certification Database is 17.2.0.4. If the local version of your database is older than the current version, then your database should be updated.

Like always please review the ReadMe before downloading or installing.

LINK TO UPDATE

The Graphics Hardware List http://www.autodesk.com/autocad-graphicscard

Update Graphic Card Driver http://www.autodesk.com/autocad-graphicscardupdate

Changes from version 17.2.0.3

General Information

Click here to view the complete list of all cards available for this current database.

NVIDIA

• Adds support for the NVIDIA^® Quadro FX 570m 174.71 (7471) for Windows XP
• Adds support for the NVIDIA^® Quadro FX 570m 175.97 (7597) for Windows Vista
• Adds support for the NVIDIA^® GeForce driver version 175.16 (7516) for Windows XP64
  • The following Card has been added
    • NVIDIA^® GeForce 9600 GT
• Adds support for the NVIDIA^® GeForce driver version 175.19 (7519) for Windows XP, Vista , & Vista 64
  • The following Card has been added
    • NVIDIA^® GeForce 9600 GT

AMD

• Adds support for the ATI^® Mobility FireGL V5700 8.503 (6822) for Windows XP
• Adds support for the ATI^® FireGL unified driver version 8.453.1.3 (6758) for Windows XP & XP64
  • The following Card has been added
    • ATI^® FireGL V7700
• Adds support for the ATI^® FireGL unified driver version 8.453.1.3 (555) for Windows Vista & Vista64
  • The following Card has been added
    • ATI^® FireGL V7700
• Adds support for the ATI^® Radeon Catalyst Driver 8.6 (6822) for Windows XP & XP64
• Adds support for the ATI^® Radeon Catalyst Driver 8.6 (590) for Windows Vista & Vista64

NAVTEQ Street Data for AutoCAD and MapGuide Enterprise

I just read a pretty interesting press announcement for Autodesk users. You can purchase the Geospatial data from NAVTEQ for use in Autodesk products. NAVTEQ is very accurate and used in many of the auto and mobile GPS navigation solutions out there. This is not simple nor cheap Geospatial data of roads but detailed vector data for Geocoding and navigation centerlines.

http://www.adci.com/autodesk/

Twittering at AU ~ Tweet Tweet

Richard Binning posted about one way to keep up to date on what is occurring at AU this year by following a Twitter feed AUGIatAU.

What are you doing? Follow AUGI at AU using Twitter

I am on Twitter as well but I still don’t understand the hype unless at an event which it makes perfect sense otherwise Facebook solves all the networking and networking. I am still giving Twitter a fair shot and Richard’s post had a great YouTube linked video on Twitter.

Don’t forget the Facebook groups for AU as well. I will be organizing events and activities and meetups in Facebook and perhaps Twittering in between.

Autodesk University 2008 Facebook Group

Autodesk University Japan Event Group

Autodesk University 2008 Shutterbug Event

Cheers,
Shaan @mrcadman on Twitter

Madonna is now 50, but this blog is turning 5!!!

On the 21st of August 2008 this blog will turn 5 years old which in dog years is 35 years old or in the context of an average blog life is an eternity. I will be posting some stats of the traffic over the years of blogging which began as an unofficial fun geek’ish experiment to find a new channel to deliver tips and tricks and announcements as well as reduce the number of times I was responding with the same answer in the discussion groups. It has grown and spread to other CAD users and vendors.

From the “bloggergate” to “astroturf” claims this blog has survived the gauntlet and in its own small part changed many of the ways and speed in which CAD news was delivered from monthly or Tuesday morning newsletters to the now instantaneous RSS feeds of breaking news, or knowledge.

The first blog post was 21 August 2003 Getting the feel for this Blog

What I would like to know in the comment to this post is: what do you like and I should keep doing, you do not like and I should stop, or would like to see?

Cheers,
Shaan

I am in Atlanta Georgia 08.19.2008 to 08.21.2008

It must be an Olympics theme week for me. I am heading during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing which I have been watching intently from one Olympic town Salt Lake City (Winter Olympics 2002) to another Atlanta Georgia (Summer Olympics 1996).

I will be attending and speaking at the International Woodworking Fair http://www.iwfatlanta.com/ in Atlanta Georgia this week. I will be at booth #5013 of Autodesk partner Microvellum.  http://www.microvellum.com/

In keeping with my invitations to chat while traveling, If you are an AutoCAD user and interested in a discussion about AutoCAD with your team at your office or over a cup of coffee, please send me an email.

Cheers,
Shaan

Autodesk University 2008 Registration Open!

 

AU 2008 December 2 - 5, 2008. The Venetian Resort Hotel, Las Vegas, USA

Better hurry as there is just over 10,000 attendees planned for this year and if you are one of the last you have a slimmer selection of classes and labs as well as your hotel could be down the strip due to the main hotels booked solid. In past years we have filled up to 6 hotels from the event location down 2 miles from the location and having to utilize regular shuttle busses to get to AU.

Register for Autodesk University 2008

 

Facebook is a great (FREE) way of keeping in touch and up to date and organize gatherings and events and know who you are dealing with and network with them making the best use of your time.

• Autodesk University 2008 Facebook Group
• Autodesk University Japan Event Group
• Autodesk University 2008 Shutterbug Event

Autodesk University 2008 and Autodesk University Japan 2008 Flickr Photo Group has been setup, bookmark it as photos from participants will begin to show up when the events start. Flickr is FREE.

• Autodesk University 2008 Flickr photo set
• Autodesk University Japan 2008 Flickr photo set
• Autodesk University 2008 Shutterbug Event Flickr photo set

Hope to see you at AU!

Cheers,
Shaan

Robert Green’s CAD Manager Survey Time

Each year CAD Management guru, expert speaker, and Cadalyst Magazine writer releases a survey requesting CAD Managers to respond (anonymously).

This painless survey is very helpful for all in CAD Management to understand where they fit among fellow peers in benefits as well as identified frustrations, CAD Standards issues, and changes in the CAD Management. You could even use the survey results when released by Robert to discuss with your management team to better your position or help them understand CAD Management challenges as a whole and how to improve.

• www.cad-manager.com/survey

I would suggest if you are a CAD Manager to also subscribe to Robert’s newsletters and read his column in Cadalyst to keep up to date and tackle CAD Management related issues easily and with the least amount of pain, expense or the resorting to a long stick or electrical shocks in the chairs for CAD Management and CAD Standard enforcement.

• Cadalyst CAD Management Newsletter
• Cadalyst CAD Manager Column
• Cadalyst CAD Manager Q&A

I will be in Robert’s neck of the woods this week Georgia but knowing our schedules we wont even see each other but know in some distant CAD conference speaking engagement like AUGI CAD Camp or Autodesk University we will bump into each other again.

Cheers,
Shaan

Thursday Thought

How many times when you make a mistake have you heard people say “I would have done it the other way”.

But when you do something right, how many admit and say “they would have done it the other way…”

-Shaan

AutoCADの索引がまとまっておめでとう！

やっと使える

AutoCAD大事典 (Navigate AutoCAD)
”AutoCAD大事典 AutoCAD LT対応版―実務で役立つワザが満載! (単行本) Navigate AutoCAD AutoCAD LT version"

鈴木 裕二 (著), 伊藤 ゆみ (著)
Authors Yuuzi Suzuki and Yumi Itou

• http://www.adds.co.jp
• http://adds.blog.ocn.ne.jp/

Amazon Japanese
Amazon English

AutoCAD Commands and System Variables in Japanese

• コマンド名からページとタイトルを検索 (Commands & Index)
• システム変数名からページとタイトルを検索 (System Variables & Index)

敬具、
Shaan

AutoCAD UI ~ Best of Both Worlds is Flexible with Traditional Menus or New Ribbon +Plus+ AutoCAD UI Retro Mod’ing Fun

A recent question came into the Autodesk Product Feedback web form received from a Dallas based AutoCAD 2009 customer asking how they could get their traditional/classic menus in AutoCAD 2009 to look like a previous release.

It was a simple solution and answered by AutoCAD Senior Product Designer Yan Schober.

If you'd like to work with the traditional drop-down menus, you can type MENUBAR 1 at the command line, which will bring back the old menu structure, or you can click the "gear' icon in the lower right-hand corner of the screen and selected AutoCAD Classic from the menu.

 I would encourage you to explore the new ribbon interface before switching back to the traditional drop-down menus; we understand that it will take some time getting used to the changes, but believe that using the new ribbon interface will pay off in the long run.

If you’d like to understand more about the rationale behind the new ribbon interface, here is an article that you might find interesting:

• Between the Lines: Matt Stein (aka Ribbon Man) on the AutoCAD 2009 ...

 

 

Before                                            After
 

Now taking UI retro things much further…for the AutoCAD Geeks out there!

You can even revert your AutoCAD 2009 UI "(User Interface) back to a pseudo R14 look if you want but be warned you will lose quite a bit of functionality resulting in less productivity.

• Set the Crosshair size to 100% in Options>Display or CURSORSIZE 100
• Enable the Side Menu in Options>Display
• Set the Commandline background color to Blue and text to White ala R12
• Set both the 2D and 3D the Model background to black in Options>Display and disable grid (F7)
• Disable Showing Tabs, Panel, and Tiles
• Disable ViewCube in Options>3D Modeling
• Enable Model and Paperspace Tabs
• Disable ToolTips and rollover ToolTips
• Right-click on Object Snap icons and uncheck use icons to get the Text icons instead of graphical.
• Disable QuickAccess Toolbar commonly referred to as the QAT like Kitty QAT.
• Disable icons in Tray
• And more…

I’m sure I could document this better and even do more mods/tweaks but here was a quickie. I will share the profile and CUI later.

If you have questions or feedback for an Autodesk product team please use the Autodesk Product Feedback web form as this goes direct to the teams and I have seen proof of the team responding as well as listening. Make sure to tell them that Shaan told you to email them. The only thing I ask is provide details and be constructive as a frustrated or vague email or wish list item is hard to respond to.

OK back to work and also Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday appears to have been a Patch Wednesday for me with a ton of important updates for my Windows Vista and Office 2007.

Cheers,
Shaan