Between the Lines

15 Years of Between the Lines Blog

15 years ago today I started this Between the Lines blog. I won’t be able to celebrate as epically as last years 14 year blog anniversary where there was a total solar eclipse, but this is a big one nonetheless. 15 years… The purpose of this blog was to provide a central place to answer Autodesk product questions and technology topics in easy to understand straight talk and be indexed in search engines so people could find the answers easily... Read more →

Calling All Autodesk Product Experts

Do you have a great tip or unique content that you would like to share with Autodesk product users around the world for fame and good karma? While on sabbatical starting Friday June 22nd, I would love to share your amazing content as guest posts for others to learn and benefit from so I can focus on the trails or road trips during my 6 week sabbatical and feel the need to blog less. Are you interested in sharing your... Read more →

Experimenting with the Banner

After several years of the same blog banner image, I am switching it up. There may be a couple iterations of my generative design themed banner image over the next few days. The Autodesk Corporate Strategy team is using this same image internally and externally, and since I am on that team it makes sense to follow suit. I kept my mugshot since many have told me they recognized me at events from reading my blog and seeing my mugshot... Read more →

Between the Lines Blog Turns 14 Years Old

Hard to believe, but this blog has been active for 14 years now. This blog was created August 21, 2003. What a long strange journey and amazing feeling of gratitude for all the readers over the years. 14 years = 168 months and over 14.5 million hits and 2.1 million unique visitors. Sincere Thank You, Shaan Read more →

Premiums Instructables for Teachers and Students

Students & teachers get free premium Instructables memberships! Take online classes & explore educational projects. Examples of Instructables for teachers and students: 100 STEAM Projects for Teachers Instructables for Young Engineers If you are not aware, Instructables is a gem for learning how to make almost anything. With step by step instructions called Instructables you lean how to do everything from science projects to building a boat and even to baking a rainbow layered cake or building a campfire or... Read more →

Blog Comments Temporarily Disabled

I have had to temporarily disabled the blog comments for a few days as I migrate back to the built in blog comment system. I am changing from Disqus as they plan to display ads in the comments starting Feb. 8, 2017 unless a blog owner pays a new monthly fee to remove the ads. I am working to get all prior comments migrated and then re-enable commenting. -Shaan Read more →

13 Years of Between the Lines

On this day 13 years ago, this Between the Lines blog was started as the first Autodesk employee blog and one of the first in the CAD industry. There have been thousands of posts and comments and millions of readers. Thank you so very much for reading and if you ever have any suggestions, please feel free to email me. Cheers, -Shaan Read more →

Check out the Autodesk Fusion 360 Design Differently Blog

There is an Autodesk Fusion 360 blog named Design Differently that has great tips, tricks, and info like what is in the latest monthly Fusion update. If you are a Fusion 360 beginner or a seasoned Fusion user looking for advanced techniques and inspiration this might be the perfect regular resource for you. http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/ There was a post this week detailing the latest Fusion update that was far more than just a new logo. April 13, 2016 Fusion Product Update... Read more →

Thank You

Thank you to all of you that attended the annual Blogger and Social Media Meetup, and those that could not attend Autodesk University 2015 but blog and participate in social media and forums about Autodesk products and technologies, The meetup wass a big succcess and have many of you attending as well ass VIPs like Roman Mars of the podcast 99% Invisible, Scott Pawlowski of the National Park Service with the 3D print of the USS Arizona, the Skycatch crew... Read more →

12 Year Blog Birthday

Yes, It seems like only yesterday but it has been millions of hits to thousands of pages of content and comments since this blog was started 12 years ago today. First blog post in August 2003: Getting the feel for this Blog I want to say a sincere thank you to everyone of the readers and my colleagues here at Autodesk! The feedback I receive is why I continue to blog here. I would also like to thank Autodesk management... Read more →

Congratulations to CAD Notes and All CAD Bloggers

Its been well over 12 years since CAD Blogs became kind of a big thing and grew as a valuable resource for people to share information and tips and tricks, as well as add real faces to the CAD community. Many friends and relationships have developed and Autodesk even holds a meetup as a way of saying a sincere thank you for all the great work they do for free and keeping us on our toes. So let me congratulate... Read more →

Happy 2015

Happy New Year! It will take another few months before I get used to writing and saying 2015, but it offers all of us another fresh start if only on the calendar. If you had a less than stellar year then this is your fresh year to make it a good one or complete your resolutions or goals. Last year 2014 was simply an amazing year for me and one of the best in recent memory overall with several Autodesk... Read more →

Autodesk University 2014 Blogger & Social Meetup Signup Details

This annual Blogger and Social meetup event will be held this year on Wednesday December 3rd in the evening at 8 PM. It is so very difficult to find a time that works and a venue during the action packed Autodesk University but this is what we settled on and have a restaurant space with a bar. This fun social event is for those that are active about Autodesk in blogs and social media as well as this year some... Read more →

11 Years of Between the Lines Blog

It was August 21st, 2003 when this blog went public with the sole purpose to help fellow Autodesk software users, have some fun, and add a personal voice to Autodesk. It was started to help people by sharing knowledge and information and have fun and was not part of my job, but something I really enjoyed and still do especially when I get a comment or email saying thank you for helping or that they enjoy reading the blog. Before... Read more →

Moving 11 Years of Blog Comments to Disqus Platform

I am migrating the current Typepad blog comments to the Disqus commenting system early this week. The Disqus system is much better for commenting on blog posts and if you experience any issues after the migration, please let me know. Blogger and Autodesk colleague Kean Walmsley of Through the Interface blog has migrated to Disqus and noticed some loss of the threading format of migrated comments. Cheers, Shaan Read more →

AutoCAD 2015 News

The word is out today on many new Autodesk new products including the new AutoCAD 2015! I spent the early part of this crazy busy week with several AutoCAD bloggers and Autodesk employees. The press release was just announced: New Autodesk 2015 Design Suites Drive Unsurpassed Value for Subscribers Check out what some of the bloggers had to say about AutoCAD 2015: What's new in AutoCAD 2015? AUGI Blog AutoCAD 2015 from the Dork Side Mistress of the Dorkness blog... Read more →

Autodesk University 2013 Blogger & Social Media Meetup Sign Up

For many years Autodesk has been holding a blogger reception the night prior to Autodesk University.The event will be a social meetup for 200 people made up of invited bloggers, social media, Autodesk discussion groups Expert Elite, some top Autodesk Beta and Autodesk Labs participants as well as some Autodesk employees. The main goal is to network and make connections to use throughout Autodesk University. As popular as the event had been we always had to limit the amount of attendees due to space and of course costs. This year we want to expand and allow more to socialize and network before AU begins. This meetup will be on Monday December 2nd at 8pm. We will have a larger space in the Venetian conference center area for a meetup to accommodate 200 people to network and meet others in real life before AU begins. It is also a small token of thanks from us for all you do year around in blogs, social media, Autodesk discussion forums, Autodesk Beta programs and Autodesk Labs. So how do I sign up for an invite? I was thinking of placing golden tickets in chocolate bars like Willy Wonka but that is just too much work and I don't have a chocolate factory, so I built an online survey. Sign up on this tasty chocolate flavored survey from now until November 15th. During the week of November 21st we will email everyone who signed up and let them know if they pulled one of the 200 golden tickets. AU Blogger, Social & Forums Meetup Survey http://svy.mk/HfczTv Looking forward to seeing you at AU2013! -Shaan Read more →

10 Years Between the Lines

It is hard to believe but this blog has just turned ten years old. I want to simply say thank you for all the millions of unique readers, thousands of commenters, several guest authors, fellow bloggers, and Autodesk employees that contributed to this blogs success and reaching this rare blogging milestone. I would especially like to thank Autodesk management for allowing and encouraging Autodesk employees to be engaged, transparent, and actively participate in social media like blogs (http://blogs.autodesk.com) and twitter. It takes a great deal of confidence for a company to place the trust in its employees to do the right thing and Autodesk has always has. I want to also thank the two Autodesk employees that opened my eyes to what a blog was and got me started back in 2003, thank you Bill Johnston and Eric Wright. Thank you Bill Adams for the annual birthday cakes, cup cakes, and this years digital birthday wishes to Between the Lines. http://blads.blogspot.com/2013/08/happy-birthday-between-lines.html Read more →

A Blog is Like Having a Baby

I have been blogging continuously for 10 years as of next week August 21st, 2013. I get asked by internal Autodesk employees as well as external people about starting a blog. I usually ask them what is motivating them to blog and what do they know about blogging. You really don’t want to start a blog on a whim or just to satisfy some short term goal as starting a blog is like having a baby. It really is as you have to give it life and feed it regularly even when you don’t feel like writing a blog post, and occasionally change its diapers. I have seen far too many blogs start and then go silent for multiple reasons and that is why I ask people to think long and hard about the long term goals and plans before launching a blog. Remember that if your blog goes silent it lives pretty much for ever on the Internet and people will see the stagnant blog and you will have some subscribers and regular readers that feel jilted. One suggestion is to guest author articles on existing blogs like this one (email me) and get your feet wet before jumping in with both feet for the long commitment. Read more →

Trying a New Blog Writing Software on the iPad

After relying years relied on Live Writer the free blog writing utility from Microsoft even after trying several other I am trying a new one for Tablets. Live Writer was so easy to draft blog posts with fie attachments, complex formatting and media, as well as options for keywords in SEO, but I am not always on my laptop running Windows. 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 →

Autodesk 2014 Product News From Around the Blogosphere

This list will be updated as I find and am sent more Autodesk 2014 product news posts from the blogosphere. Please feel free to Email Me or post your link in the comments and I will add them to the list. Read more →

Autodesk Help on Twitter

If you are on Twitter and looking for a product related question from Autodesk then you are in luck. For about a year or so there was a Twitter account by Autodesk Customer Service and Support team first at @autodeskcare which is now @AutodeskHelp. Read more →

Between the Lines Blog Still Growing After Almost 10 Years

I am honored and truly humbled to have been listed as the #1 CAD Blog of 2012 based on Alexa web rankings for global traffic and readers that was analyzed and posted by Brian Curran. It was also sweet to see my partner in Autodesk Labs crime Scott Sheppard also placed high at #4. While I am aware numbers are just that but Alexa are a good indicator of traffic to a web page. Read more →

Get Free Adobe Creative Suite 2 - Not

Apparently there are no strings are attached in this big free giveaway. You will just need to wait for their website to recover from the crash due to the massive traffic to download the Creative Suite. CReative Suite 2 “CS2” contains Photoshop, Illustrator, and nDesign. I am not sure Adobe did this just to be giving and charitable in the new year but perhaps down the road convert a percentage of those that download to upgrade or buy a new products. CS2 has plenty of of what people need when using Photoshop. The current version of Adobe Creative Suite is now CS6. In any case go get your free copy when their website recovers before they stop. Read more →