Lynn Allen's Blog

An AutoCAD Hip Tip from Down Under!

While the Manufacturing roadshow has been fun – it’s definitely been busy. I did manage to spend some time over the weekend touring around Sydney (pictures to follow at the end of the blog posting)…Sydney is a beautiful place – I absolutely love it here!  And Australians are so very friendly and helpful…

I would also like to insert a nice plug for a very cool service called Innovate3D.  Their whole focus will be making solid models and 3D part catalogs.  They are happy to make a solid model for you (one free per company) and rumor has it that if you mention that you saw it here in my blog you can get 3 free models!  (and don’t we all love free?)  Sounds like a great opportunity to me!  Rumor has it Autodesk is going to use them as well to create some cool 3D models…

An AutoCAD 2008 Hip Tip on Reversing Clipping!

So we all know how to clip an XREF and many of us have had to do it frequently.   Have you ever wished you could clip in the inside out (rather than the outside?).  Now it can easily be done with the new Invert Clip option in the XCLIP command.

After selecting the XREF, right click and select Clip Xref from the shortcut menu.  Here you will select the new Invert Clip option as seen below.

This will remove the data from the inside of the boundary rather than the outside as seen below.

That should do it!

And now on to some snaps from Down Under!

Yours Truly out on the Sydney Harbour...

Some beautiful kangaroos we saw in the wild.

And a scary Goanna - also in the wild...(but then I do like reptiles...). And this is NOT zoomed in!  Yikes!  It was about 4 feet long...I didn't find out until later that they can be aggresive...doh!

And a wombat...(yes...a wombat)

A Wallaby and an adorable Joey in her pouch (so glad the wallaby didn't attack me like the last time I was here!!!)

And me again...feeding an adorable kangaroo at a wildlife sanctuary...

 

And one last one at the Wildlife Park with a cuddly Koala...

Over and out...back to work!!! 

An Australian AutoCAD Hip Tip!

I had high hopes of writing to my blog before I left for Australia but I just plain ran out of time!  Packing for 2 ½ weeks, paying all those pesky bills, not to mention a fun birthday extravaganza for my son Joshua just took up too much time. Last week I also recorded the next screencast for AutoCAD 2008 which although it sucked up two days of my life – should be a great means of helping everyone get up to speed as quickly as possible- I can hardly wait!  The last screencast on AutoCAD 2007 had over 1000 downloads a day – and that includes weekends and holidays!  A huge success (and thank you for all the very nice emails about it!).

I’m off for quite a whirlwind tour of Australia and New Zealandpromoting the next release of AutoCAD and Inventor 2008!  Though the schedule is a big harried, my travel mates are top notch and make all the long days so much more enjoyable.  I’ll definitely be posting the Rod, Manoj and Lynn adventures as we go.  I’m sure it all sounds so glamorous flying to so many great destinations but realize that we mostly get to see airports and hotels due to the schedule…hardly a vacation!

On to a Hip Tip on converting to DGN:

I just finished a Cadalyst column that dives into the ins and outs of importing/exporting to DGN but I thought I’d throw out a high level view of the process here in my blog.  This will at least get some of you moving in the right direction, for more detailed information stay tuned to Cadalyst.

The DGNEXPORT command makes simple work of exporting your DWG design data to V8 DGN format.  You’ll need to clarify a few questions, such as seen below to ensure you get the best results possible.  You’ll need to determine whether you want all those XREFs to be converted to DGN files as well, or if you’d prefer them to be bound to your drawing file first and then the entire file be exported to one DGN file.  Or you can simply choose to ignore the Xrefs altogether.

Picking the proper seed file is the clincher here. Seed files are similar to AutoCAD Template files and they contain the proper default units and settings. This will definitely make or break the translation process.  If you already have a seed file that is exactly what you want, there is no need to use one of the four that come with AutoCAD.  And since Microstation treats 2D files differently from 3D files, you’ll need to pick the appropriate 2D or 3D seed file as well.

Last but not least you’ll need to determine if you want to match  the master units in AutoCAD to the same in Microstation (for example – 1 AutoCAD drawing unit = Feet or Meters )  or to sub units (1 AutoCAD drawing unit =inches or millimeters).  Obviously this will also have a bearing on whether or not your translation file exports to a respectable DGN file.

I’m in Brisbane  now – the first leg of the tour begins officially tomorrow!  Wish me luck!!! G’Day to you all…

More AutoCAD 2008 info - Annotative Scaling!

It was a long week in Vegas and I am delighted to be back on the home front!  It was great spending time with my colleagues and coworkers from around the world but the long days definitely took a toll on me.  I'm in town for an entire week before I venture off to Down Under for two weeks of presentations on AutoCAD 2008 and Inventor. 

I just had to share a picture with you from last week of the Autodesk Training Center (ATC) dinner (they kindly let me crash their dinner!).  Rolando Aguilera, on the Americas ATC team, is often "missing in action" and consequently we are wearing T-shirts to drive that point home.  Rolando is in the very front (but then you probably figured that out!).  If you can't read the T-shirts they say "Where's Rolando?"...I am pretty sure he got the point!  He was a great sport and we all love him for it!

I am a big fan of the Autodesk Training Center team and all the hard work they do on behalf of the ATCs.  When you need to take training - definitely make sure you are going somewhere that is a sanctioned member of the ATC network!  That will ensure you are in the best possible hands...

On to everyone's favorite topic nowadays...the next release of AutoCAD!

Annotative Scaling in AutoCAD 2008:

While much has been written about the new Annotative Scaling - it's really going to be one of those things you'll need to get your hands on before you truly figure it out.  I've provided a very high level view of the topic with more to come after the product ships (let's face it - it's hard to follow along if you don't have the product!).

If you’ve found getting the proper scale factors per viewport to be frustrating and confusing, then you’ll love the new annotative scaling!   No longer will you need to create multiple sets of text and dimensions on multiple layers.  Now you create one set of annotative objects  (such as text, dimensions, balloons, blocks, attributes and hatches), indicate the desired actual plotted size, and it will magically display at the correct size (and we all love Magic now don't we?).

Controlling Annotation Scale

A new annotative property can be assigned to objects such as text, dimensions, blocks and hatches.  You create the object at the actual size you want it to plot and indicate the intended scale factor(s).  Any object with an annotative property can have one or more scales assigned to it (such as ¼”=1’ or 1:50).   This makes it easy to display the same object in different viewports with varying scale factors.  For example, the same text object could appear in one viewport that is scaled 1/8” = 1’, and another viewport at 1”=1’.

You can change an existing object to annotative using the Properties command. 

Tip:  Redefining a style or definition to be annotative does not affect existing objects.  You'll want to use the new ANNOUPDATE command to update selected objects to match their style or definition (oh and by the way...ANNOUPDATE only works in model space).

How can you tell if an object is annotative just by looking at it?  Drag your cursor over the object to see the new annotative indicator.

Tip:  Set the annotative scale factor in model space to reflect the most prevalent scale factor in the drawing. 

For those objects that need to display at multiple scale factors, use Properties to add any additional scale factors.  You can also use the OBJECTSCALE command. 

Tip: It’s faster to use the OBJECTSCALE command when dealing with different object types.

Like I said - you'll need to see it and try it to "get it"... 

Over and out - off to get some pizza and catch up on American Idol from last week (God Bless Tivo!)

Viva Las Vegas and more of AutoCAD 2008

Well this conference has left me with barely any time to catch up on email or my blog!  Where does all the time go?  Yesterday we had former president Bill Clinton as our keynote speaker (forgot my camera so you don't get a picture - but lets face it, you know what he looks like!).  It appeared as though President Clinton had a cold so he was a little low on energy but a great speaker none-the-less.  There was very little politics in his presentation.  I get to go home tomorrow night - I can hardly wait!

On to more nuggets on AutoCAD 2008:

New CUI Features
The very cool Dashboard came out in AutoCAD 2007 with control panels focused on 3D.  As I mentioned in an earlier posting, the new Dashboard has plenty of cool 2D Control Panels as well.  Last release we could only look but not touch the Dashboard.  Now you can customize the Dashboard with all your favorite commands in the CUI command.  Customize the Dashboard by dragging commands to the new Dashboard node or to the new Panel representation in the upper right corner of the CUI. You can even create a new row of tools on the Dashboard by dragging a toolbar from the Toolbar node to the Dashboard node.

A new search tool in the CUI makes it so much easier to find commands.  You will also see that you start keying in the command you are after it jumps around to try and find it (so you don't burn so many calories). And much of the guesswork has been taken out of the various listed commands because now the macro associated with each command appears as a tool tip as you hover over the commands in the command list.

New Quick CUI

The QUICKCUI command displays a simplified state of the CUI for speedy customization.  This allows you to drag and drop commands to toolbars or palettes. 

And you'll find that the CUI in general loads faster than it did in previous releases (it used to take about an hour to load - right?)  :-)

I'm off to get ready for another day of my conference!  Have a great one...

Brrrrrrrrrrr...Back from Buffalo!

I had visions of keeping up my blog while I traveled this week to NYC, Buffalo and Rochester but - well - clearly that didn't happen!  I just finished a whirlwind tour where I did my first official presentations on AutoCAD 2008 (how exciting!).  The weather was nice to me and the snow was beautiful - and despite the 13 hours it took to get home it was a very enjoyable trip!  I spoke at a great user group meeting sponsored by Imaginit in Buffalo (at Dave and Busters!) with about 120 people in attendance.  After the UG meeting (and after playing a little Centipede and Space Invaders!) they took me to a very nice but very "different" restaurant in Buffalo called Salvatores. OMG!  The food was fabulous but the decor was borderline "creepy"...There were dozens of Barbies in the ladies restroom and life-like character mannequins everywhere throughout the restaurant.  I felt like like I was in a Stephen King novel!  I noticed the website doesn't really display any of these things (for good reason)...  How I wish I'd taken pictures to share with you!

Thursday morning we drove to Rochester and the wonderful Len Kalmer served as my driver (although he does have a tendency to get lost so it's always an adventure traveling with him!).  I did another AutoCAD 2007/2008 presentation to Bergmann Associates, a large AEC multi-discipline firm.  They were very hospitable and seemed like a great company (thanks for the tour!).

And then the attempt to get home from Rochester began...when I finally managed to board a flight home I found myself squished in a middle seat for over 6 hours (after waiting about 5 hours in airports due to all the weather delays).  Ahhh the glamour of it all.  I did hear that Britney Spears recently flew 5 hours back from Florida in the very back row of coach so I guess I can't complain.

: )

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!  I am flying to Vegas on Sunday for an Autodesk Sales Conference but will try to blog in when I can!

I leave you with another great rendering done in Inventor by the very cool Jurgen Galba who is always sending me great things to post.  This is hysterical - a Snowman Robbery (yes that is a hair-dryer).