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The premier CAD user conference with more of everything. I will be there as usual and also have some fun activities planned for those daring enough to venture out into Vegas until the wee hours of the morning. This is not only a place to have fun, but you also meet with fellow CAD users and peers and gain some great training with tips & tricks to take back with you. I will also have some exciting announcements and opportunities.... Read more →
Service Pack 1 is for the following Autodesk products running on all supported operating systems and languages: AutoCAD 2005 AutoCAD LT 2005 All you need to do is sign up. After you sign up, we will then approve your account and you will receive an email notice of the approval. Some projects will be by invitation and based upon the data you have entered into your profile when you signed up. You then log into http://myfeedback.autodesk.com using your username and... Read more →
The Building Solutions Team sure are a busy group. They have not only been busy with new product development, but also with investigating the new 3D DWF format to output an architectural model with all of the data in the model. This would indeed another great example of Building Information Modeling "BIM". This extends the building information model to those that do not have the designing application such as ADT, but they can view all of the data in the... Read more →
Improve the efficiency and speed of the entire design review process—review, markup, and revisions— with Autodesk® DWF™ Composer. Built around the DWF file format and developed specifically for engineering design data, Autodesk DWF Composer helps you reduce costs, errors, and cycle times by keeping the whole process digital. http://www.autodesk.com/dwfcomposer You can now get a free 30 day trial Click Here Cheers, -Shaan Read more →
I previously mentioned this updated free DWF Viewing product back on July 16th in this blog, but now there is more details and a generic download location for the viewer. Autodesk® DWF™ Viewer, a small, free, downloadable application, allows anyone to view and print DWF™ files – the compact format designed for sharing AutoCAD drawings. Autodesk DWF Viewer 5 adds 3D viewing of DWF files published from Autodesk Inventor. It also adds features for anyone who needs to view your... Read more →
After receiving many emails about a trip to the Amazon, I am considering putting together a group trip. I am looking into putting together a group of people to travel back to the love of my life the Amazon Jungle. My daughter thought I was on the moon last time I was down there due to how far away and remote it was. The preliminary plans are to fly to Sao Paulo Brazil then transferring to Rio for a few... Read more →
We will begin registration and beta testing of the AutoCAD 2005 and Architectural Desktop Service Pack 1 next week on the new "MyFeedback Portal". More details of these service packs and the changes will be announced soon as well as the new Feedback Portal. Cheers, -Shaan Read more →
This haunted house is in the town I live in. I went to check it out after hearing about it and noticing it along highway 101. The experience and being at the house definitely made my skin crawl. I stopped by tonight just to get photos of the place. While taking photos I heard someone yell "Hey Mister". I am not kidding. A person came out of a broken down burned out bus, just to the North of the property.... Read more →
It is nice to know I am not alone in thinking that a video of a drive is entertaining when the speed is increased. I noticed a trackback to my blog from a person in Australia that was inspired by my video of my commute in my post "Have I Snapped". CarCam v1.0 shows a drive around Sydney Australia by Mick Stanic. CarCam v1.0 Click Here I am heading up to the Sierra mountains by Truckee and just a few... Read more →
AutoCAD & Viz Power User and Autodesk customer visited while on vacation here in the Bay Area. We gave him the grand tour the behind the scenes of AutoCAD and Viz. Steven is from Jacksonville Florida and runs http://www.vizdepot.com/ as well as works for KBJ Architects, Inc. If anyone else is visiting the San Francisco Bay Area and wants a tour behind the scenes and meet some of the team responsible for AutoCAD and Viz, just email me. I posted... Read more →
Beau has written a nice simple article on his blog Rndr4Food about updating blocks in AutoCAD. "Do you use acad blocks? Do you use the same blocks in multiple drawings? Ever need to update the blocks? If you answered yes to any of the above questions then this posting is for you. I recently gave a refresher/updated materials course for a few AutoCAD users and part of this involved different methods of using blocks and redefining existing definitions in different... Read more →
TRACE (Toronto Regional AutoCAD Exchange) is a local AutoCAD user group in Toronto Canada. They will be discussing DWF Composer features and compare DWF versus PDF format. They will also have a Q&A session about new features in AutoCAD 2005. You may find the complete info regarding the meeting on http://www.trends.ca/~trace/. Read more →
If you want to provide your feedback on products direct to the teams responsible for them, there is a direct way via a feedback form. This feedback goes directly to the team members. I can speak for the AutoCAD Team as one of those on the feedback list, we reply to much of the incoming email as we possibly can and also take it into consideration the provided feedback for future solutions and development work. AutoCAD Team Feedback Form Click... Read more →
Here is a helpful link to a PCWorld artcile on making sure your system is in the best shape and performance as well as your data safe and backed up. Click Here Cheers, -Shaan Read more →
DWFs Retain Design Information A DWF may appear to be a simple image of the original drawing, but in fact it has retained background information about the drawing, including its point location line thickness snapping scaling measurements fonts hyperlinks layers (the DWF creator must select the include layer option) external reference information (known as "xrefs")DWF vs. PDF DWFs are much like Adobe® PDFs; however they are specifically designed to address the needs of design and engineering drawings. Unlike PDF, DWF... Read more →
If you purchase the new Autodesk DWF Composer to markup DWF files and more you will also get a DWG file viewer. It is based on AutoCAD. In addition to viewing, you can also Publish files to printers and DWF files and even use page setups and plot syles. The DWG viewer is a seprate application from the Autodesk DWF Composer. Thanks to Brian Roepke of the Autodesk Inventor Team for pointing out that you also get this DWG Viewer... Read more →
We have released a new Autodesk DWF Viewer 5 specifically for the new 3D DWF format but it also has many updates for regular 2D DWF files especially for raster and text. This version is currently under a limited beta release until August. Click Here Sincerely, Shaan Hurley Read more →
Cadalyst - Group Therapy Create groups in AutoCAD so you can work with multiple objects as a single unit within your drawings. July 15, 2004 By: Bill Fane Cadalyst Magazine What can I say, I really enjoy reading Bill Fane's articles. He has a very entertaining way of presenting technical subjects and mixes in some humor. This perfect mix is great for remembering the subject of the article and the tips and you also gain a few obscure non CAD... Read more →
There is an interesting tutorial on how to create sculptured log walls in Autodesk Revit on Revitcity.com. Also while at Revitcity, have a look at the gallery of what Revit users have created using Revit as some are quite impressive. Cheers, -Shaan Read more →
It is not only nice to be the leader in 2D drafting and design and have others chasing our tail wind, but it is even nicer when the competitor acknowledges some of the features. They have been mentioning things they will do in their V9 next year, but by then we will be even further down the road. Keith Bentley the Chief Technology Officer of Bentley Systems which produces MicroStation: From: May 2004 at the BE Conference in Orlando Florida... Read more →
Michael Beall published his July 2004 AutoCAD Tips and Tricks which are always a great resource to pickup a few good productivity enhancing tips. Michael also has a great publication that is another great resource named the AutoCAD Toolbelt in addition to the other books and training he does. DWF: Writing and Reading Convert Text to Mtext Mtext Property Edits Revision Clouds Click Here Cheers, -Shaan Read more →
Below are some links to information about the upcoming Windows XP Service Pack 2 which is expected in August. I have been running the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Release Candidate 2 on my machine and really like it. We at Autodesk have been testing our products with the Service Pack as Microsoft makes many changes to the way software can operate in order to close some APIs and vulnerabilities. All in all, this Service Pack is a very good... Read more →
Ryan Small has posted a nice tip article to his "The Autodesk Informer" blog. The tip is on how you can use the Object Propties Manager to access a list of nested objects in a selection set. A quick example would be to select a bunch of objects of various types in your drawing. With the items selected you can essentially sort and sub select based on entity type like all circles, lines or hatches. This is a quick way... Read more →
Below is a link to a helpful article by Michael Perry discussing the Autodesk online Knowledge Base and other helpful resources. Michael Perry is a member of AUGI and he works in the UK for FaberMaunsell (An AECOM Company) within its Bridges and Special Structures Division. Click Here for the article. Cheers, -Shaan Read more →
My coworker Eric Stover an AutoCAD Product Manager would like to speak with customers about 3D in AutoCAD. He would like to speak with customers that he has not spoken with recently and use AutoCAD. All you need to do is email Eric at [email protected] with the subject line of “3D and AutoCAD” and please include your contact details. In addition, a brief explanation of how you use AutoCAD and what release would be helpful. He will be contacting some... Read more →