Between the Lines

AutoCAD 2006 Training Posted to Subscription Website

Autodesk Subscription customers who want to get up to speed quickly on AutoCAD 2006 will find these recently released courses of interest: Dynamic Input = Learn how to use Dynamic Input Interface for Heads-Up design Workspaces = Learn about workspaces and how to use them based on current tasks Customizing Toolbars and the Keyboard = Learn how to use, create and manage the customize user interface (CUI) command Dynamic Blocks = Learn about dynamic blocks, the block editor environment and... Read more →

AutoCAD Customer Hardware Research

The AutoCAD Team is researching what hardware is most commonly used. Please take a few minutes to add your hardware. This data will help the team gauge what hardware is used when researching future AutoCAD release plans. This data will also assist in making sure our hardware testing lab is covering the most common hardware configurations used by our customers. Survey Link Read more →

AutoCAD Survey

In case you did not notice, in the AutoCAD 2004/2005 Communication Center, there is a link to a survey to get your feedback to the AutoCAD Team. This data helps us as we plan and design future releases. There is also the option to get involved with future feedback projects. The survey will only be live until April 21st, 2005. Get involved and help shape the future of AutoCAD. You the customers are the ultimate designers of AutoCAD by providing... Read more →

AutoCAD 2006 Research Project in the Denver Area

AutoCAD 2006 Research Project in the Denver Area We are looking for AutoCAD users to participate in a research project for AutoCAD 2006. If you choose to participate in this research project, you will be asked to perform various tasks in AutoCAD while researchers observe and record your process for performing the tasks. The session will last about 90 minutes and you will be compensated $60. The sessions will take place either at the University of Colorado, Denver campus or... Read more →

AUGI AutoCAD Product Community

Autodesk User Group International AUGI has announced a new AutoCAD Product Community with tips and tricks, gallery, and links. AUGI has free training courses, tips and tricks, fellow product users to network with and learn from, great publications and so much more. So what are you waiting for, AUGI membership is free. Shaan Read more →

Check out the latest AUGI World Magazine for AutoCAD 2006 information

Lee Ambrosius pointed out in his blog posting that the latest AUGI World Magazine has a bunch of in-depth AutoCAD 2006 articles. "The latest issue of AUGI World is starting to hit the streets. This issue covers AutoCAD 2006 and some of the main features in the release. There are 4 articles in total that cover the new release. What's New in AutoCAD 2006? A Closer Look at the Custom User Interface (CUI) Dynamic Blocks, A New Tool in the... Read more →

Try out AutoCAD 2006 now on the web

The AutoCAD 2006 Streaming Trial is live! It streams AutoCAD 2006 (English) down to your machine where you can run it for 30 days. It will be slower in performance compared to a local machine installation from a CD. It is a good way to check out AutoCAD 2006 before many get their boxes of AutoCAD 2006 or to evaluate the new release. Link to Online Trial Streaming Trial Stream a trial version of AutoCAD® 2006 directly to your computer... Read more →

AutoCAD 2006 is now shipping to customers

Just a quick post to let everyone know that AutoCAD 2006 is now shipping to customers. This is for US English versions shipping in the Americas. Cheers, Shaan Read more →

Stability, Feedback and Listening is what it is all about

Just a few things about the AutoCAD 2006 beta program and helping to shape the future of AutoCAD. The beta program is where customers sign up at http://myfeedback.autodesk.com to test unreleased software. The beta projects typically have over 1000 customer sites involved in the testing from around the world. In fact in the AutoCAD 2006 beta program there were customers from 64 separate countries not including the press, resellers, or ADN members. The main goals are to listen to what... Read more →

.NET and AutoCAD 2006

Fernando Malard has posted an interview with AutoCAD developer Albert Szilvasy. The interviews topic is AutoCAD 2006 and the .NET API. The interview is posted on Fernando's blog ObjectARX for Dummies on his ObjectARX for Dummies blog. AutoCAD 2006 - Interview with Albert Szilvasy (Autodesk) Read more →

AutoCAD LT 2006 Packaging Behind the Scenes

The new Autodesk products will begin shipping soon. I was sent a behind the scenes video showing AutoCAD LT 2006 being packaged and shipped from the Fremont California operations. There are so many employees behind the scenes that are integral to the success of Autodesk products. I will start showing more of these behind the scenes in future posts. Credit goes to Tom Banks of the Fremont operations and the entire Autodesk US operations teams. Link to Video Cheers, -Shaan Read more →

DWF Team Scores with Jonathan Knowles

After several years at Adobe Systems as the Technology Strategist and Worldwide Evangelist for Adobe’s enterprise business unit, the organization responsible for PDF, Acrobat, and Adobe’s LiveCycle enterprise server solutions, Jonathan Knowles has accepted the position of Director of Worldwide Market Development for DWF at Autodesk. Jonathan returns to Autodesk having been in product management and evangelism here 5 years ago. I asked Jonathan what brought him back to Autodesk. “Creating, launching, and communicating Adobe’s Intelligent Document Platform was great.... Read more →

What's New in AutoCAD 2006 by Lee Ambrosius

Autodesk customer and AutoCAD guru Lee Ambrosius has published to the web his draft version of what's new in AutoCAD 2006. Definitely worth a look. Link to What's New in AutoCAD 2006 Lee has a blog as well: http://hyperpics.blogs.com/beyond_the_ui/ in addition to his web site http://www.hyperpics.com. Cheers, Shaan Read more →

Latest DWF Frequently Asked Questions "FAQ"

Scott Sheppard ([email protected]) a DWF Technical Evangelist for the Autodesk Collaboration Services division has updated the DWF FAQ. There is allot of great DWF information contained in this document. Some highlights of the 35 page DWF FAQ - Version 1.5 March 17th 2005: * What is Design Web Format (DWF)? * Is DWF an “open” file format? * Why is Autodesk investing in DWF? What is Autodesk’s strategy? Why free? * Who is using DWF? What are they doing with... Read more →

AutoCAD 2006 Tip: How to get the old Mtext fixed editor back

AutoCAD 2006 has a 100% WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Multiline Text "Mtext" editing. Just in case you need the older AutoCAD 2002 Mtext editor in AutoCAD 2006 for some specific reason, you can use the following: To get the old MTEXT editor in AutoCAD 2006 MTEXTED = OLDEDITOR MTEXTFIXED = 1 This being said the new Mtext Editor is really nice and there should be little to no need to revert back to the old Mtext... Read more →

AutoCAD 2006 Tip: None Osnap

Q: Need to toggle off OSNAP, POLAR & OTRACK to get the equivalent of the old "None" osnap override from R14 and earlier? A: In AutoCAD 2006, we've added a temporary override to disable all snapping and object tracking. Shift + D (or Shift + L for the left-handers). Read more →

AutoCAD 2006 Tip: Changes to coordinate entry in Dynamic Input

Q: In AutoCAD 2006 I used the Move command to relocate an object from the current location to the coordinate of 0,0 for the second point. It keeps coming back as @0,0 to the command line and the object is not moved. Is there something I am missing? A: This is because in AutoCAD 2006 Dynamic Input defaults to relative coordinates instead of absolute. The "@" is automatic now in AutoCAD 2006. So when entering Move 0,0 it is telling... Read more →

AutoCAD 2006 Tip: Dynamic Block

Q: What happens to the dynamic blocks if you have to save your work back to a previous version? A: If you save back to a prior release you will get the last current set view of the block in the prior release, but it will not be dynamic. The block will become an anonymous block and therefore you cannot use Refedit to edit it in the prior release. Read more →

New Discussion Groups for AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 2006

A few new discussion groups have opened for some of the upcomoing new products. The discussion groups are a great place to get peer to peer support on your products from fellow users. AutoCAD 2006 Web browser: http://discussion.autodesk.com/forum.jspa?forumID=149 Newsreader: news://discussion.autodesk.com/autodesk.autocad.2006 AutoCAD LT 2006 Web browser: http://discussion.autodesk.com/forum.jspa?forumID=150 Newsreader: news://discussion.autodesk.com/autodesk.autocadlt.2006 Read more →

Autodesk announces the new 2006 products

There is a flurry of press releases from Autodesk today. The new products are coming! Autodesk Releases Major Updates to Entire Product Portfolio PR Newswire "Autodesk Inc. today announced new versions of its software portfolio, including more than 25 products that help its customers create, manage and share digital assets most effectively, to compete and win. These products provide best-in-class solutions for 2D design, basic conceptual design to advanced 3D modeling, animation, visualization, data management and collaboration. With across-the-board focus... Read more →

What's New in AutoCAD 2006

What's New in AutoCAD 2006 Boost your everyday productivity with these new features: Dynamic blocks give you more drafting control and flexibility over your current blocks, allowing greater manipulation while dramatically reducing the size of block libraries. Improved annotation and composition features help streamline the creation, placement, and editing of textual and table information and greatly enhance hatching capabilities. The enhanced user interface puts the power of the command line at the graphics cursor, where you can enter dimensional and... Read more →

New Logo and autodesk.com look

Have a look at http://www.autodesk.com. The Autodesk logo is back to a capital "A". I showed the change initially last weekend in a blog post when the signs were changed "Signs of change". There is also a bunch of changes to the website including the addition of new products information. Cheers, Shaan Read more →

New banner image

Did you notice? I just updated my Between the Lines blog banner image. Nice to have a fresh banner once in awhile. The other Autodesk blogs are doing the same. Shaan Read more →

AutoCAD 2006 Poll

AutoCAD® 2006 will be released this month! Which feature do you think you'll use the most? Seamless migration Your customized toolbars and menus migrate automatically when you upgrade. Heads-up design Dynamic input and pointer input allows you to work without using the command line. Annotation Improved hatch area and positioning. Block data Automatically create tables from block attributes. Dynamic blocks Simplify block management and insertion with flexible in-process design. Complete the online poll to let us know. Link to Poll Read more →

ICC (International CAD Council)

ICC (International CAD Council) http://www.icclinks.com Formed by Brian Myers of the Gateway Autodesk User Group in St Louis, Missouri and Tom Sutton of the New Jersey Autodesk User Group. "We recruit outside CAD experts to share their ideas with the CAD using public by writing for our newsletter. We created ICCLinks ( http://www.icclinks.com/ ), a website with soon to be over 1,000 CAD and Design links to make information learning and exchange easier. We have plans for on-line learning/education as... Read more →