Lynn Allen's Blog

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on OVERKILL

Another one of my Cadalyst Tips and Tricks Tuesday videos is out - this one is focused on one of my favorite Express Tools called OVERKILL.  If you are plagued with duplicate or overlapping objects in your drawing files then you should really check out this video!

You'll find that you have control over many different options when it comes to OVERKILL. 

 

If you have duplicate objects but they reside on different layers you can tell OVERKILL to ignore those objects.  You can also tell AutoCAD to ignore duplicate or overlapping objects that have different linetypes, colors, etc.  Fuzz factor is really key here because you might have two objects that are .0001 apart and though not technically a perfect duplicate, close enough for all intents and purposes!  Check out my video get detailed information on the Lines, Arc, and Plines portion of the OVERKILL dialog box.

As I was recording, the hummingbirds kept fighting over their feeder - it wasn't pretty (and quite distracting).  Can't we all just get along?

And one last picture from China because it makes me smile.  The photographers were going crazy snapping pictures at the Imagine Tour event so I finally took a picture of one while he took a picture of me..he didn't speak any English but he laughed out loud when I whipped out my camera and fired back(me too)...pretty funny!

Enjoying the Summer...

I was supposed to be in Argentina right now, but due to the H1N1 virus they had to cancel the event.  Though I was looking forward to visiting our customers in Buenos Aires again, I am adjusting well to an extra two weeks at home!  Hopefully I'll have a chance to visit them in the future after we get this influenza under control.

When flying to China, we were warned repeatedly before boarding that anyone who exhibits any symptoms at all will be quarantined.  In fact, if you sat within 3 rows of someone who is quarantined - you get quarantined as well!  Scary...you really take a good look at those surrounding you on the plane.  One person sneezes...the entire plane turns to look.  Very surreal. 

After landing, we were instructed to stay on the plane as Chinese medical crews came on board and took everyone's temperature.  Wow!  One poor soul was removed from the plane.  After the medical crews gave the A-OK, we were finally allowed to deplane.  Just thought I'd share this story for those of you who think that all of this travel is glamorous.

I'm finally going to post a few pictures from Beijing.  This trip included a rare opportunity to see some of the sites thanks to the arrangements made by the local Autodesk office.  I thought this was a nice reward for going through the H1N1 hoops at the airport.

First up - a picture of the beautiful Bird's Nest Stadium - amazing site to behold!

The longest corridor in the world, filled with beautiful paintings.  This corridor is a very cool place to walk in the Summer Palace as it is can be very hot there.  It was built for the mother of one of the Emperors (what a good son!).

Fellow Autodesk Employee Carol Cui took me out to dinner for Peking Duck (one of my favorites!).  Could that menu be just a little bit bigger?

 

And the highlight, of course, the Great Wall of China!  Wow, wow, wow....that's all I can say.  Absolutely amazing. The Great Wall of China is longer than the width of the United States.  Did I say Wow? 

 

And here I am after climbing to the top...quite a climb! (and quite steep).

 

I truly enjoyed my time spent in Beijing...both with our customers and getting to play tourist. A big thank you to my very patient and adorable tour guide Jennifer (pictured below) and my Autodesk coworkers who really rolled out the red carpet for me in Beijing.  It was much appreciated!

Cadalyst Article on AutoCAD and PDF

Here's a quickie post on my latest Cadalyst article.  It's focused on the changes to the world of PDF in AutoCAD 2010.  Be sure to check it out so you know the ins and outs (literally) of working with PDF files. 

 

Of course one of the top AUGI wishes was granted - now you can bring a PDF file into AutoCAD!  You can snap to it, clip it, fade it, control the layers, etc.  Big improvements have also been made to taking AutoCAD files out to PDF as well.  Not only are the PDF files about half the size as they used to be (thank goodness!), but they are a higher resolution as well.  And the text from AutoCAD now goes across as actual text (no longer rasterized).  That means you can do a search for text inside of Adobe Reader as well. 

Note:  You can only search for text made from True Type fonts...not the standard AutoCAD text fonts (SHX).  Can we blame Adobe for not supporting that?

Be sure to check out the complete article for detailed information!

And fyi...I'll post a few China Touring pictures tomorrow...I realize you are all on the edge of your seats!  (said sarcastically of course).

Catching Up!

Well between my time in China for the AutoCAD 2010 Launch and a week of vacation I have been terribly neglectful of my blog.  I'll try to do a quick catch-up!

I must admit I really enjoyed Beijing and meeting the many customers at the AutoCAD 2010 Launch event.  I'll share a few pictures from the event...

Before the event actually started I had the opportunity to meet a very enthusiastic customer who assured me he was my biggest fan - very nice way for me to start the day!  Hello to Gary if you are reading my blog!

Adous Wong, the VP of Greater China started the general session with a warm welcome.

The customers were very enthusiastic and raised their hands as I asked them questions.

 

And there was a nice exhibit area as well.

 

The following day I spent a few hours in a much smaller presentation with some of Autodesk's key customers in China.  Here we were able to take more questions and make the session much more interactive.

I also was very fortunate to play tourist so I'll share some of those pics tomorrow!

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Super Speedy Dimensioning!

The Americas launch events are slowly winding down with with one last reseller event (Avatech) this week in Dallas.  Next week I move on to the Autodesk Imagine Tour in China where I'll get the opportunity to demo the new features in AutoCAD 2010 using the Chinese version of the software (wish me luck with that one!)

Last week I had the splendid opportunity to have dinner with fellow blogger Heidi Hewett and her super technical husband Nate Bartley while in Denver.  Definitely one of the highlights of my week for sure!  Below is a picture of fabulous Heidi and myself (she's just a tad taller than I am). When you travel all the time - a dinner with friends can make all the difference in the world and I appreciate them taking time out of their very busy schedules to have dinner wtih me!

 

Heidi is the one at Autodesk who trains me (and others) on the new release each year and she's never too busy to help me figure something out in AutoCAD.  I tell her constantly how I could never do my job without her (maybe some day she will actually believe me).  Be sure to check out her blog which is always filled with great infomation and AutoCAD tips.

Roger from TotalCAD also took me out to dinner while I was in Houston and that was much appreciated as well.  The Houston event had to be cut off at 220 registrations due to room constraints - really great event!  And hey - now I know my structural i-beam chart is incorrect (they are very detailed in Houston I'm told).

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Super Speedy dimensioning!

Many years ago the fantastic QDIM Express Tool entered the world of AutoCAD.  QDIM, for Quick Dimensioning, is absolutely amazing and can really help you out with a tight deadline.  Why dimension one at a time when you can knock out multiple dimensions at once?  I always promote being the lasiest AutoCAD operator ever and this is certainly one means of doing it!  You'll leave your coworkers in the dust if you can wrap your arms around the QDIM command. 

Be sure to chck out my latest Cadalyst video and give QDIM a try - you will wonder how you lived without it!

A Few AutoCAD Hip Tips on Dimensioning!

The Imagine tour is over..(insert sad face here) and now I'm on to do some reseller events.  While in Calgary last week I had the most charming, brilliant 12 year old in my presentation who already knows Inventor, AutoCAD and is working on AutoLISP - amazing!  Alex Puddifant (seen below) completely stole the show and it was a delight having this young genius in my AutoCAD 2010 presentation.  Keep up the good work Alex and you can have my job some day (If you want it of course).

Thursday of last week we had the final stop on the Autodesk Imagine Tour in San Jose.  The computer gods were not smiling kindly upon me as my hard drive chose to fail about 30 minutes before my presentation.  Thankfully I had several white Knights who rode up on their gallant horses to save the day!  A big thank you to Scott Davis and John Janzen of Autodesk who managed to transfer my data across to another hard drive...and to Jorge of Ketiv who was kind enough to let me use his laptop for my presentation - Thank you Jorge!  (pictured below).

Everyone really jumped in and saved the day (and it was GREATLY appreciated!).

If you haven't checked out my latest Cadalyst video on Dimensioning Tips...be sure to check it out!

You'll hear all about DIMBREAK, DIMJOGLINE and DIMSPACE!  Check it out...

I'm off to catch a flight to Kansas City...(delayed of course)

The Autodesk Assistance Program

 Only two stops to go on the Imagine Tour - Calgary, Canada and San Jose, California.  Then it's on to a week of reseller events in Kansas City, Houston, Denver and Dallas.  Check out my speaking schedule on the left and join me if you live nearby!

As I've been traveling around I am surprised to hear how few of you are familiar with the fantastic Autodesk Assistance Program!  If you are out of work and need a little extra help be sure to check it out!  You'll be able to download Autodesk software for 13 months, free of charge, take free e-learning classes and get discounted Certification.  Some of the Autodesk Training Centers are also offering discounted classes to help you expand your Autodesk software knowledge!  Here's your chance to work on those technical skills - maybe even learn a different Autodesk product.  And how great would it be to go into a job interview with a Certification that assures your potential employer that you are guaranteed to have a certain level of expertise?

 

I'm very excited about the Autodesk Assistance Program - definitely check it out!

I'm off to onpack and repack for the next step on the tour...maybe I'll see you there?

Let the Autodesk University Planning Begin!

This is the week of Autodesk University planning!  The proposals are in, the votes from the public have been tallied and its now time to nail down all the great classes we believe will make Autodesk University 2009 the best yet!  Joseph Wurcher and I will be working with all the various content leaders all week as we rifle through a record number of submissions. 

I wanted to post a couple of past pictures that I promised I'd include in my blog.  These were from my two weeks of presenting in Australia.  I had the good fortune to work with KarelCAD and Imaginit and below is a picture of Phillip Amato of Imaginit!

 

I had to wear my glasses (which I don't like) due to a scratched eye (do I look any smarter?).  The crowd in Adelaide was fantastic and below is a pic from that event as well.

 

I also love a newspaper article that Phillip sent me regarding a customer account, HMPS, who is using Autodesk Inventor to design their food and beverage machinery.  There is an embedded video which is interesting - I noticed that they mentioned they were using AutoCAD but they are quite clearly using Autodesk Inventor (fyi).

Click here to see the video

Well I'd better get back to working on Autodesk University (or else Joseph will let me have it!)

Be sure to Join Us for the Autodesk Imagine Virtual Event on May 19th!

The Autodesk Imagine Tour (launching the 2010 product line) only made 8 stops this year (as compared to over 20 one year!).  So the Virtual version of the Imagine Tour will be more important than ever.  Join us for this very green event on May 19th where you can watch the tour from the comfort of your own desk!  No traffic to fight (lucky you) and you can choose whichever presentations suit your needs.

 

There will be a virtual exhibit hall where you can visit various booth and meet up with Autodesk employees (get all your questions answered!, chat sessions, networking opportunities and a chance to win a 32mb ipod Touch! 

You'll also get a chance to attend all the great sessions we took on the road.  So visit the Autodesk Imagine Virtual Event and sign up today! 

I'll be presenting part of my AutoCAD 2010 Tips and Tricks session during the Virtual Tour and Heidi Hewett will be doing a session focusing completely on the new features in 3D AutoCAD.  I know I'm definitely going to be tuning in to Heidi's session to see if I can pick up any cool 3D tricks!

So don't miss this great opportunity - it's a day of learning and enlightenment! 

Tips and Tricks Tuesday - New AutoCAD Video Tip

It's Tuesday so it must be time for another AutoCAD Tip!  This week's video tip is focused on Layer Properties per Viewport.

Before AutoCAD 2008, if you wanted an object to display in two different colors in two different viewports you were in for many tedious steps to get that to happen.  You'd probably make a copy of that object - copy it to a different layer and then assign the second color to the object.  Flip the layers on and off in each viewport to get the correct colored object and Voila!  That's lots of work for such a simple task.

AutoCAD 2008 introducted the fabulous new VPCOLOR column in the Layer Manager (along with VPLinetype and VPLineweight).  This new column allowed you to assign colors per viewport and that was huge!  Watch this week's Cadalyst Tips and Tricks video to see it in action!