Between the Lines

Autodesk Homestyler Mobile Now Available for Android

The free and awesome 3D home and room designing app and website Autodesk Homestyler is now available as a native Android app in addition to iOS Apple and the Autodesk Homestyler web based version. Now you can design and re-design your current home or a dream home from your Android device. Read more →

Google Glass Explorer Invitation

Google Glass Explorer Edition.jpegI just read that those who were originally Google blessed with a pair of Google Glasses in the Google Glass Explorer program might have received a special email to allow you to invite another person to spend $1500 on a pair of uber geek glasses. Google Opens Invites To Google Glass Explorer Program I wanted to make a case (beg & plea) for you contacting me with that one special invitation to share. I would really love to use these to explore ways to share experiences with other such as exploring ways they could be used in construction and design technologies and take all my readers with me on all the trails I hike every week and those crazy travel experiences like the time I got my butt kicked by a kangaroo. Google Glass would also be awesome when you meet as many people as I do and help you remember all their names. Wearable computing devices are only get more and more prevalent and advanced and open many new exciting possibilities. I know chances are better to hit the lottery as there is such a small number of Google Glass Explorers, but I had to at least ask. I would offer my first born child but he is now 22 years old and can be a bit cranky at times. So if you have one of those special Google Glass invites, lets talk. Read more →

AutoCAD Tip - Disable or Delay AutoComplete

I type too fast and the AutoCAD AutoComplete gets messed up. AutoCAD’s AutoComplete feature controls whether and how the program fills in the rest of the command or system variable name at the Command prompt. The solution is not to slow down your typing or drink less green tea or coffee, but this tip on disabling the AutoComplete or setting the delay time below should help. Read more →

Autodesk University 2013 Registration Opens September 12th

AU members can register for Autodesk University 2013 starting September 12, 2013. Not an AU member, then sign up for free at http://au.autodesk.com and get access to hundreds of past AU classes. I hope to see you in only 130 days at AU 2013! -Shaan Read more →

Autodesk Feedback Community Big Changes Coming and We Need Your Creative Talents

We are currently working on a major update of the Autodesk Feedback Community. The Autodesk Feedback Community is where most all pre-release testing of Autodesk product betas are managed and run as well as a bunch of research projects, gunslingers, and now some Autodesk Labs projects. There are 65,000+ members of this community of bleeding edge adopters that want to help shape the future of Autodesk products and technologies as well as be part of our vital extended product team members. We can have over 100 projects a year including desktop, mobile, and cloud hosted products. While many companies view beta and feedback projects as a project check list item to gather bugs or a marketing activity on ready to ship products, Autodesk sees the true value of beta and pre-release projects beyond just bug reporting and that is engagement of the participants as they are truly integral to the success of the product. A company or team will not learn how to best improve your products unless they actually talk with customers on how they use the product and the features that need work or the missing features to improve the product. It is a relationship between project participants and Autodesk. The participants are truly external members of the product teams. Some of the big changes coming: New look as we change from the black theme to a white themed community. A complete mobile version of the Autodesk Feedback Community so you can participate in the discussions or report a bug in a project from your desktop or tablet and phone both web based mobile schema and native apps. New platform update with many new enhancements including simplification of the system. Streamlined feedback and defect reporting including the social ability to allow fellow participants to vote and rank defect reports and feature requests. Better reporting and management of your reported items and their current status. Working on a better Autodesk single sign on experience to make it more transparent. We need your creativity genius: I was thinking that during our big change from black to white community themes and since we have some of the worlds most creative members, that we could crowd source a landing page image and an icon that convey “feedback and participation”. I might be able to not only give you some public recognition but possibly scrounge up some goodies. Read more →

10 Year Anniversary of the Between the Lines Blog Coming Up

On August 21st this blog will celebrate it’s tenth year of continuously blogging. Read more →

Friday Flashback - AutoCAD's First User Manual

The front page from the first published AutoCAD User Manual for AutoCAD v1.1 from May 1983. Notice the retro Autodesk logo. Read more →

Unhandled Access Violation Reading 0x0000 Exception at bcbdad73h

If you see this unplanned exit (crash) from your Autodesk software like AutoCAD, this issue and is not really related to the AutoCAD, but rather the external dependency on Microsoft’s .Net. The solution has been published in the Autodesk Support Solutions. Read more →

Beta for Autodesk Inventor HSM Express

A CAM solution for Autodesk Inventor users is coming soon. Get early access to Autodesk Inventor HSM Express and try it for free by signing up to participate in the Beta: http://autode.sk/12Dz7o4 Read more →

What Are You Doing This Summer

It is Summer for most of us in the Northern hemisphere which is time to for vacations, barbeques, and getting outdoors and doing things like hiking camping fishing etc. We have hit the mid-point of Summer and technically headed for the Fall next so every minute counts. I recognize some readers live in areas where the seasons are only “Hot and Hotter” or “Wet and Dry” instead of the four seasons. I do love having four seasons as each season has such unique things to enjoy, experience, and love. Are you making the most of your Summer, or doing anything amazing? How are you readers down under spending your Winter time and are you ready for your impending Spring? My last week’s activities in Utah included climbs totaling over 6000 vertical feet, tubing 16 miles of river, and sliding down natural granite waterfall slides. I don’t want to waste a minute of the warm (actually been very hot) Summer time. Read more →

Autodesk 3D Print Utility

Autodesk has just released the Autodesk 3D Printing Utility (A3DP) for free. You can use this free standalone utility when installing Autodesk’s 123D Design, 123D Make, or 123D Catch and selecting the option to install the standalone 3D Printing Utility or go to the 3D Print Utility download page: http://apps.123dapp.com/3dprint/install.html. Make sure to close all applications and save all files before installing the utility. I experienced an installer reboot problem that might have only happened to me, but I wanted to make sure if it wasn't that you were aware The utility optimizes the 3D printing of a model for best results and making it super easy to get a good 3D print by making sure the model is oriented the best way to print and support, healing the model of bad surfaces or holes as your model must be “watertight” closed to print in most cases, and also optimizing the material usage. You can print from within some of the 123D Apps, or use the stand alone 3D Print Utility to open a STL or OBJ and print them. In addition to the healing, the 3D Print Utility also allows you to change options like thicken thin regions or hollow the 3D print. It auto-magically adds support material so you to print more complex objects with overhangs like the Delicate Arch model of mine. Read more →

Autodesk FormIt is Coming to the Android Tablet

When we originally announced Autodesk FormIt for the iPad last December, the Android question came up. I responded telling people that this product was designed for a tablet so logically you would start on the largest tablet market device then move out from their based on customer feedback. The Android tablet request was one of the top (if not the top) request, and the team will satisfy that Android Tablet request as I mentioned they would. Read more →

AutoCAD Layer Translator Saves Time Converting Files to CAD Standard Layers

I get asked this frequently and was just asked again which caused me to think, “hey I should blog this.” I received a set of DWG files from a client and want to clean up the layers to my CAD standards, how do I do it and not take days or having to write code? The solution is actually quite simple, and powerful. Read more →

AutoCAD Tip: Command Line is Missing - How to Get It Back

If you have used AutoCAD you have most likely accidently done something like this since AutoCAD enabled the ability to turn off the Command Line aka Command Window. The Autodesk product teams receive several emails from the Autodesk Product Feedback Form. Your feedback goes to the products teams and they read them. In many cases team members respond if there is enough detail and time permitting but they can’t respond to every feedback submission, but do try to help when they can. This solution was by AutoCAD Test Development’s Cliff Young. Read more →

Ooooh Aaaaah Capturing Fireworks Photos

It is that time of the year again and fireworks are used for many events not just the US holiday Fourth of July. If you have a camera and have tried to photograph fireworks then you know how tricky and frustrating this can be. Here are some nice tutorials for capturing photos of fireworks. Read more →

View a DWG File

This is a very common request and need. People receive a DWG file and do not have AutoCAD to open the file. There are more DWG viewers out there than ants at a picnic, but there are only a two that are actually 100% DWG from Autodesk and totally free. Read more →