IN AUTOCAD WE USE MOSTLY ALL CAPS (UPPERCASE) FOR TEXT FOR READABILITY AND NOT THAT WE ARE YELLING OR SHOUTING IN TEXT. WE SIMPLY FORGET TO CHANGE OUR KEYBOARD CAPLOCK. "Shaan, please stop yelling in uppercase text in email..." Oh sorry about that. See that is the problem that I will show you how to prevent. Sometimes when you exit AutoCAD you still have the CAPS lock on and then go to your email or instant messaging and appear to be shouting, when you are not. Uppercase text typically in email is considered the equivalent of shouting or yelling. You might think that people would notice their uppercase still on, but after hours of working in AutoCAD I think you are honestly text case blind or in a trance. So, how do I turn on Uppercase text in AutoCAD? I want to type in all caps in AutoCAD only. There is an "AutoCAPS" option in the Ribbon Text Editor, in the Tools panel. Start the text command or double click some text to edit, and expand the Tools panel to expose the AutoCAPS option. adskbhsverall Read more →

I am so happy to announce that Autodesk FormIt is now available for Android tablets in the Google Play store, and free. It was back on July 12th, 2013 when I let everyone who had been asking "when would Autodesk FormIt would be coming to the Android tablet platform" that the team was hard at work on it. Install Autodesk FormIt from Google Play Autodesk FormIt on Android Tablet Autodesk FormIt for those that have been under a digital rock and never heard of it, is a simple tablet (iPad and Android now) based 3D modeling tool for you to conceptually model architectural designs (not limited to architecture you can do anything), building massing models, or a conceptual master plan. Formit is a very intuitive 3D tool where you use your fingers to create the designs. When you have the conceptual design you want you can then move it to the accurate design phase by logging into your Autodesk 360 account to get the Revit .rvt file that is placed along with the Autodesk Formit .axm file. It allows you to start your BIM project from your tablet. Read more →

These are the customers that help their fellow community members in the discussion forums and are experts at Autodesk products. I know their title is like a double pageant crown, or like being an expert PhD being both Expert & Elite but they earned that special title and the respect of their peers. The ~130 Expert Elite are nominated not by some shadow panel, but by their peers on the Autodesk Expert Elite Nomination Form. Join Autodesk and the Expert Elites at Autodesk University 2013 in Las Vegas on Dec 3rd-5th. Come visit us in the Community Pavilion, where you can sit and relax or enjoy our daily events. It’s an opportunity for all to meet and share best practices with our Expert Elite members and connect with others in product industries. Read more →

We are rapidly approaching the big pre-release alpha and beta season for Autodesk. There are already a couple Autodesk products in testing now and you can sign up to participate by registering at http://beta.autodesk.com. By joining almost 70,000 Autodesk customer that participate in hundreds of pre-release feedback projects every year you will improve the quality of the products and you become a vital extended member of the product teams and help us shape the direction of the products you use, or future products and solutions you may need. Read more →

Is there a way to tell just by looking at the dimension when "Dimension Override" is used in AutoCAD? Yes there is! Read more →

April 8, 2014 is the official Microsoft End of Life date for what has been a very good Operating System (OS)Windows XP . Windows XP was launched on August 21, 2001 and after 12 years it will be unsupported by Microsoft and many others. This means official support will end and it would be a good idea to consider upgrading, if you have not already, or at least just knowing of this XP retirement so you can plan accordingly. Most current software from Autodesk as well as most other software vendors has already been, or will be discontinuing official support for Windows XP as it is extremely difficult to program software to work on current OS and APIs and shoehorn in fixes or hack ways for new software and features to run on OS that did not have certain APIs and features. The support of older OS for software is a real cost of resources for software companies and the further they must support back the less they can implement new features. The other HUGE consideration is that OS security updates that will be stopping. As much as I loved Windows XP, it is no longer being updated or has the same amount of security built in for todays computer security threats and vulnerabilities. Windows 7 is a great OS choice and the OS I use on my Windows PCs currently. If you can adapt to changes or your computer manufacturer only supplies the very latest release of Windows OS then Windows 8 and better yet Windows 8.1 may be your best option to enter the modern day of Windows OS. You can also look around at other OS flavors like Apple OSX, Linux, or Chrome OS and see if they meet your needs and the hardware and software you use. Will the world end and your computer running Windows XP stop on April 8th, 2014, no but it will be much more difficult. In any case not upgrading your OS is tempting fate with all official updates, software support, and hardware and drivers making your computing life very difficult. It is every important you have the hardware and software current for what you so. I cant tell you how many times I get an email asking why a person cannot run their 1996 software on their year 2013 hardware or their 1996 hardware run their 2013 software. Both hardware and software need upgrading when you make the decision, not just one. Read more →

Summer is basically over for those of us in the Northern hemisphere as the temperatures start to change and at least in Utah where I live, the leaves are already changing colors for the Fall. My GCC 2013 TrophiesOver the course of the Summer of 2013 and the past 112 days Autodesk participated in the Global Corporate Challenge. This was my second year participating in the challenge. Within Autodesk there were 523 teams comprised of seven Autodesk employees that competed based on steps taken as well as miles biked and yards they swam which were also converted to steps using some magical conversion rate. In the entire GCC there were over 262,000 participants around the world representing thousands of companies. I was a member of the Team OCTO-Pi made up members from the Autodesk CTO office and Autodesk Research. The seven of us including Autodesk Chief Technology Officer Jeff Kowalski ranked a proud 36th out of 520+ teams in Autodesk! We logged a total of 11,318,299 steps or 4,501 miles. All Autodesk teams combined logged 3,508,807,452 steps or 1.4 million miles. Participation in the GCC is a really fun way to motivate people to be more active and healthy. The fun competition among teams as well as within teams was a blast. I remember on a visit to the Autodesk Toronto office seeing a team that was in the top 3 at the time having a wall of shame and members that were the lowest in daily step counts were highlighted to motivate them. It was all in good fun, and healthy employees make productive and happy employees. Read more →

In only 82 days Autodesk University 2013 will be happening in Las Vegas, but you can register and select your classes starting today. Autodesk University is the premier Autodesk event and I would easily argue the best concentration of design and visualization professionals anywhere, at one time. This is an event that you will never forget what you learned, who you met, and what you saw. Don't leave what you learned in Vegas bring it back to the home office and share the knowledge and new contacts in your industry. Read more →

Announced today and now available in the 123D Sandbox you can design circuit board designs using the new 123D Circuits (http://123d.circuits.io/). Now you can not only design your 3D robot using 123D Design, but also what powers the robot and that is the electronic circuits that interface with perhaps an Arduino. But you say “Shaan I don’t have the ability to produce the physical board I design for my robot,” no problem as you can get your design manufactured and shipped to you. Read more →

AutodeskSan Francisco Bay Bridge New Span Completed – Experience the Time Lapse has offices all around the world but the crown jewel is the One Market in San Francisco with a beautiful view of the Ferry Terminal, embarcadero as well as the Bay Bridge. For 5 years and at a cost of around 6.5 billion US dollars the new span has just been completed to replace the aged old span that was prone to potential failures during earthquakes something the Bay Area is known to experience. Experience the over 42,000 hours of construction of the 2.2 mile span in under four minutes. http://youtu.be/GDUIYZKlknk In many cases architecture, design, engineering, and construction are art! Check out more examples including a behind the scenes exhibit on the Bay Bridge at Autodesk Gallery at One Market (http://usa.autodesk.com/gallery/) that is open to the public every Wednesday and Friday. Read more →

Have you ever had to train someone else on how to do something in software using text, images, or even video? I bet the majority of you have, and while videos with narrations are a great way to train someone especially over the web the actual details and technical steps of what you are doing are sometimes not included in the narration or clear enough in the video or text instructions. With Autodesk Project Chronicle currently on Autodesk Labs you get the best of all worlds with an interactive video, narration and the actual indexed steps from the actual Autodesk product Project Chronicle helps you create & share your own free interactive video training materials for AutoCAD, Revit, and Inventor. You can choose to make them private for internal training or share with the world. Check out Project Chronicle and capture, share or learn some knowledge: http://autode.sk/17CdN1X Read more →

AutoCAD 360 mobile Version 2.1 was just released in the past few days for iOS users and offers a better user experience than ever. It has been released for iOS first with the Android version being readied for release in... Read more →

W e know the excitement in receiving a big box of LEGOs, but few are excited to pour over a 50 page booklet to begin building. To help you out, Autodesk and LEGO have collaborated in developing the newly released... Read more →