Between the Lines

AutoCAD Comm. Center Survey Winner

Recently a survey went out through the AutoCAD Communication Center (US only). All participants who chose to be part of the Product Improvement Team were entered in a drawing for a Dell Precision Workstation. The winner has been selected and it is: Patrick Leo Devine Jr. of Illinois. Congratulations Patrick! Thank you to all who participated in the survey. Please look for future surveys in the AutoCAD Communication Center. If you have not completed the AutoCAD Hardware survey, please consider... Read more →

Beta Blocker Winners from the AutoCAD 2006 Beta Program

We held a fun Dynamic Blocks contest with prizes during the AutoCAD 2006 (codename AutoCAD Rio) beta program. The contest name was "Beta Blocker". We received some really cool and interesting submitted blocks during the beta. We have now announced the winners. Best Dynamic Block 1. Mark Douglas - "Post Tension" Prize: Olympus camera Mark's own explanation: This Dynamic Block is a Structural Post Tension Tendon Dynamic Block. A post tension tendon is a steel cable that is embedded in... Read more →

Updated AutoCAD Plot Utilities for AutoCAD 2006

Autodesk has created some unsupported free utilities that have been on the Autodesk support web pages for AutoCAD 2004. I have included below the updated AutoCAD 2006 versions of the tools. CTB and STB Printing "TablePrint" (AutoCAD 2006 version) This tool provides a way to export CTB and STB plot style tables to a comma delimited text file. The comma delimited text files can be imported into a spreadsheet program (e.g., Excel) and be printed or be compared with another.... Read more →

AutoCAD Productivity Study Recruitment for UK, Benelux and Nordic Countries

We are collecting the names of people in the UK, Benelux and Nordic countries who use either AutoCAD 2002 or AutoCAD 2006 and would like to participate in a productivity study. If you are interested please complete the form below. Our research partners will recruit 20 participants from this list. Sign up to be considered for this project at this LINK Read more →

New Autodesk DWF Viewer 6 and Autodesk DWF Composer 2 versions released

The free Autodesk DWF Viewer 6 was released last week to the web. It includes many performance improvements as well as some new features such as: * New support for 2D and 3D DWF files published out of next generation Autodesk applications * Print Preview - Now users can easily select paper sizes and preview the sheet or view to be printed before sending a DWF to the printer. For more information on the free Autodesk DWF Viewer http://www.autodesk.com/dwfviewer The... Read more →

AutoCAD 2006 Offset Command Enhancement

In AutoCAD 2006 you can now Offset to a current layer. In the Offset command prompt there is a new option to set the offset to be on the current layer rather than the same layer as the entity being offset. Command: OFFSET Current settings: Erase source=No Layer=Current OFFSETGAPTYPE=0 Specify offset distance or [Through/Erase/Layer] <1.0000>: An example of how this could be used. If you have one layer for interior walls and one for exterior walls. When you wanted to... Read more →

More Autodesk Viz 2006 Information

Alexander Bicalho details more of the new Viz 2006 features on his blog "Life of an Origamy". Link Read more →

Looking for AutoCAD customers in New Hampshire/Massachusetts for documentation discussions

We are looking for AutoCAD customers to participate in a development/documentation round table. The round table will be focused on the AutoCAD on-line help system and documentation. We’ll present who our organization is, a quick demo of our current on-line help system, and what our future plans are for documentation. Then we’ll open it up for a round table discussion which will entail a Q&A and any feedback on what works well for you currently and what improvements you’d like... Read more →

Autodesk Viz 2006 is shipping

Autodesk is now shipping the latest Autodesk Viz 2006. Some of the new features: * Tool Palettes * Improved Interoperability with Autodesk Design Software * Sweep Modifier * Content Browser * Scene State * Layer Manager * Schematic View * Radiosity Adaptive Subdivision * Rendering Presets * Autodesk 3D DWF Exporter * Array Tool Preview * Quick Align Get the Autodesk Viz Preview Guide Here Read more →

Congratulations to the top AutoCAD 2006 Beta Site

Customer Lee Ambrosius was the top AutoCAD 2006 customer beta site and was awarded a top of the line Dell desktop computer system. The award was based on the number of defects, severity of defects, quality of the defects, and his activity in the beta program and private discussion forums. The AutoCAD 2006 beta was comprised of almost 2000 customer beta sites from 64 countries. Lee was also the top beta site in the AutoCAD 2004 beta program and got... Read more →

AutoCAD 2006 Commands and System Variables

Lee Ambrosius has updated the AutoCAD Command and System Variable maps. These maps are great for finding what is new, deleted, or changed since AutoCAD Release 12 to AutoCAD 2006. Command Map AutoCAD R12 to 2006 System Variable Map AutoCAD R12 to 2006 Thank you Lee! Read more →

Looking for corrupted drawings

Autodesk has made great strides over the past few releases in the recovering and auditing of drawing files in AutoCAD, but we are looking for more research test cases. With more non-Autodesk DWG writing applications using reverse engineered libraries to write DWG files it has resulted in more problem drawings for our customers. There are also many other potential causes of these problem drawings such as network issues, hardware issues, customization, as well as editing and saving software applications defects.... Read more →

Yes I am in Florida and wore a tie

OK, I have been caught all dressed up with a tie and the proof posted. Lynn Allen posted a photo of me dressed up in a tie. She ran into me at a Autodesk training event for Autodesk resellers and training centers in Orlando Florida. She said she just had to get a photo of me dressed up. I am usually under dressed and wanted to be more formal but I ended up being about the only person in a... Read more →

Autodesk Subscription Webcasts on AutoCAD 2006

Autodesk Subscription customers can sign up for the following AutoCAD 2006 webcasts. These are a great way to learn the new AutoCAD release. Lynn Allen had a very successful webcast on Tuesday April 12th. April 19th 2005- Taking a tour of AutoCAD 2006 hosted by Heidi Hewett April 26th 2005- Migrating Menus and Customizing the AutoCAD User Interface hosted by Heidi Hewett May 3rd 2005- Creating Dynamic Blocks hosted by Heidi Hewet May 10th 2005- Working with Tables hosted by... Read more →

Nice surprises

I was traveling all last week in Eastern Canada. When I returned to my office today I found I had a big box of homemade cookies and a new thick AutoCAD 2006 Users Guide. Author Ellen Finkelstien has for the past 3 years sent me a box of cookies after the release of a new version of AutoCAD. This tradition has even caught on by others. I had a challenge for an AutoCAD solution last year and when I gave... Read more →

Want to join Autodesk?

Autodesk is looking for an expert in process plant design to fill the role of software product manager. The product manager will be in charge of the definition and delivery of software solutions to the process plant design market. He or she must have the ability to research and identify market opportunities, quantify them, develop business cases, conduct competitive analysis, create revenue and pricing models, set channel and sales strategy, write a business plan and execute against it. The ideal... Read more →

Autodesk "AOTC" Courseware Updated

I just got a heads up on some new AOTC training content coming out soon including the AutoCAD 2006 content. AOTC is the Autodesk training group that provides training content to trainers and customers. If you have received training from your local Autodesk resellers or Autodesk Training Center "ATC", chances are the training was based on AOTC training content. The training content is developed by experts in the products from within Autodesk as well as outside experts. AOTC bullet points:... Read more →

Satellite Image option from Google

I have been hooked on the http://maps.google.com/ since it was launched a few months ago. Now you even have the option to get satellite images in addition to the very nice maps. Google Map Google Map with satellite image showing my office as well as the famous Marin Civic Center by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. You can even pan and zoom satellite images from around the world. This technology was formerly by Keyhole Corp. and cost $29.95 but Google aquired... Read more →

New CAD Blog "In the Dynamic Interface"

Mark Douglas has just started a blog and is an AutoCAD customer. He has some initial posts dealing with examples of how to use the new AutoCAD 2006 Dynamic Blocks. Mark is also a huge DWF fan. http://mdouglas.blogs.com/in_the_dynamic_interface/ Cheers, Shaan Read more →

Printed Documentation With AutoCAD 2006

In addition to the included "AutoCAD 2006 Getting Started Guide" in the AutoCAD 2006 shipping product is a card. The card offers a selection of printed guide books where you can request one free for each license you purchased. The four offered books: AutoCAD Customization Guide AutoCAD Network Administration Guide AutoCAD ActiveX & VBA Developer's Guide AutoCAD User's Guide' You can also request the one printed guide per license on the web at http://www.autodeskbookrequest.com All the content from the guides... Read more →