Lynn Allen's Blog

I am back in the USA!

Though I had a fantastic time in Europe...it's wonderful being back home (well at least closer to home)...was hoping to get home to San Francisco for the weekend to see my dog (or my family) but I couldn't justify the expense (or the time) to fly to San Francisco and then turn right around and fly to Orlando Monday morning...sadly...my dog will have to wait just a few more days (I am sure it bothers me more than her).

I am sitting in the Washington Dulles airport waiting for my final flight of the day to Orlando...It's been a very long day of flying and switching planes.  Had a chance to watch Ocean's Twelve on the plane (good low-stress fun) and part of the not-so-great Electra.   I also managed to catch a much needed nap.  I am certainly glad there are no cameras around me now!  Tomorrow I will spend preparing for the start of the Realize Your Ideas Tour (are you going?)...I can hardly wait! 

The two events in Portugal had my new Tips and Tricks booklet for AutoCAD 2006 - already translated into Portuguese - how do they do it?  The people were fabulous, very complimentary and I left the event about 2 inches taller everyone was so nice to me!

Well I am off to find a good old US newspaper...see what's been going on around here.

The AutoCAD 2006 Tour in Oslo

I'm now in beautiful Lisbon, Portugal where the sun is shining and all is good!  Today I will attend the Autodesk Forum in Lisbon (attended the Autodesk Forum in Porto on Wednesday) where I will chat with the attendees promoting user groups and also present AutoCAD 2006 on the mainstage.  Portugal would be a great place for a vacation - I hope to come back someday for an official vacation where I can see all the great monuments, museums, quaint cities, beaches, etc.  And I've never had a bad meal in Lisbon (but you'd better like fish!).  Everyone is very friendly and helpful here in Portugal so it's easy to get around - and nearly everyone speaks English.

I promised some pictures from last week...below are some pictures from Oslo, my first AutoCAD 2006 presentation from the tour through the Nordics.

And a picture of the social gathering after all the presentations (great fun chatting with the users in Oslo).

The hotel I stayed in had a stuffed Musk Ox (yes a Musk Ox!) in the lobby...had to get a snapshot of that!

Tomorrow I fly back to the U.S...I will miss Europe - but it will be nice to get a little bit closer to home.  Have a fabulous weekend!

AutoCAD 2006 - Take a Tour through Options!

Whenever a new release of AutoCAD is released I highly recommend taking a tour through the Options dialog to ensure you're not missing out on some fantastic new system variable that could make your life a little easier...for the next few days I think I'll help you along with the tour - maybe point out a few of my 2005 favorites as well...

Do you ever use large toolbar buttons (especially those of you with very high res screens?).  Turning this feature on used to be in the Customize dialog (which is dramatically different in AutoCAD 2006).  Now you turn them on in the Options dialog.

In the User Preferences tab you can tell AutoCAD to combine your zooms and pans into one command so you can easily undo your zooms (instead of one painful step at a time!).  Especially useful for you wheelmouse addicts (count me in!).

AutoCAD 2006 Tips and Tricks booklet

The U.S. Realize Your Ideas tour is about to begin - are we coming to a city near you?  Be sure to sign up (see the link to the left) and you can get your hands on the new AutoCAD 2006 Tips and Tricks booklet (written by yours truly)...these were hot items last year - I'm hoping they will be just as popular this go around.

Here's an example of one of the tabs...

Not able to make it to one of the shows?  No worries...later on I plan on posting the PDF here on my website...

AutoCAD 2006 launch in the Nordics...

What a crazy insane schedule I have had this week...Fly...speak...pack up...fly...every day!  Would be delighted if I was in the same place long enough to just unpack my toothbrush!   (Would also be happy to get more than 6 straight hours of sleep!).  The upside is the many great users I get to meet along the way.  Take a look (pictures to follow later).

Sunday - arrive in Oslo.
Monday - presentation in Oslo...catch a flight to Sweden
Tuesday - presentation in Stockholm (one presentation in the morning - one in the afternoon)...catch a flight to Arhus, Denmark
Wednesday - presentation in Arhus...drive to Copenhagen
Thursday - presentation in Copenhagen (once in the morning, once in the afternoon)...catch a flight to Helsinki, Finland
Friday - presentation in Helsinki (once in the morning, once in the afternoon)...fly to Lisbon!

And just in case you think I get to actually see any of these great places- not a chance!  Although I have seen many airports...(my flight to Arhus had about 10 seats in the plane).

There is snow on the ground in Helsinki...very chilly (for a California girl)...

Life on the Road...

I love my job...love being able to travel around and meet so many fabulous people...but I must admit I really miss my dog...

Alex, a cocker spaniel, miraculously survived pancreatic cancer last year and I've learned to treasure every day I have with her.  A poster of her hangs in my vet's office as "The Miracle Pet"...a ray of hope for other pets in similar circumstances.  So pet your dog or cat for me today please!

Note:  Alex is laying on a Colts jersey (Peyton Manning!)...I am a huge Colts fan and when I visited one of our customers in Indianapolis for a presentation they ever so kindly gave this to me (and made my day!).  Alex wasn't impressed, however, and decided it would make a better pillow...

AutoCAD 2006 extras

I'm in Stockholm today, second stop on the AutoCAD 2006 launch tour through the Nordics (Oslo yesterday)...and so far so good!  It doesn't matter where you travel, users just love hearing what's new in the latest release of AutoCAD (I can relate!)

So here are a couple of tips to keep you going...

AutoCAD 2006 has the new rollover highlighting feature that highlights any object you move your cursor over.  This is great to quickly find out if an object is continuous or individual segments...also helps keep you from accidentally selecting the wrong object.  Well I love this new feature - but it sometimes drives me crazy when it comes to crosshatching.

You have complete control over which objects are affected by the rollover highlighting in the Selection tab of the Options Dialog box.  Simply select the Advanced options button to display the following dialog:

This setting is controlled by the PREVIEWFILTER system variable. 

Well I'm off to Denmark!  My presentation last year in Denmark was pretty pathetic (everything that could go wrong did...)so please wish me luck this time.  If I don't do better than I did last year,  I doubt I'll ever be able to return to Denmark again!  (which would be tragic)

AutoCAD 2006 - Trim/Extend tips

So my dog's vet told me that every time you spend 3 hours on a plane it is equivalent to taking one chest Xray due to the amount of radiation you get from the sun...hmmm...what do you guys think of that?  After flying 14+ hours to Norway - does that add up to 4 Xrays?  Yikes!!!

So here are a couple of extra cool additions to everyone's favorite commands - Trim and Extend!

If you're a TRIM/EXTEND officianado then you already know you can hit an enter to select all of the objects on the screen as cutting/boundary edges.  This top secret tip has been in AutoCAD for many many releases.  AutoCAD 2006 reveals this as an actual option by including a "Select all" default now within the command...so everyone can take advantage of this great timesaver.

Fence has also been in the command as an option to use while selecting objects to trim/extend (so much better than selecting those objects one by one!)...now this option is revealed at the command prompt so everyone is in on the secret.  A new addition to AutoCAD 2006 is the Crossing option for selecting objects to trim/extend (just be sure to draw your crossing window on the correct side of the objects or bad things could happen!)

Command: TRIM
Select cutting edges ...
Select objects or <select all>:

Select object to trim or shift-select to extend or
[Fence/Crossing/Project/Edge/eRase/Undo]:

Have you ever realized the TRIM command wouldn't work on an object because it really just needed to be erased!  You utter an expletive... leave the TRIM command...and begrudgingly enter the ERASE command to rid yourself of the offending object!  Well some clever programmer added an ERASE option to the TRIM command just in case such an incident should arise...Fabulous!!!

Wish me luck on my Nordic Tour...I can hardly wait to show off the new features!!!  Such a long flight...watched 3 movies on the plane:  The Forgotten (pretty good although farfetched), Alfie (bit depressing but entertaining), and National Treasure (extremely farfetched!).  Some of the lines in National Treasure were so syrupy it was a little hard to digest...but it made the time go by quickly!

AutoCAD Bloggers...

More Blog neglect has ensued this week...and I fear my upcoming European tour isn't going to help things any! I did a webcast for the Subscription members this week talking all about the new features in AutoCAD 2006 - got some great feedback (thank you!).  Next week I am off to the Nordics for numerous presentations on AutoCAD 2006 - I can hardly wait!  And I just finished my AutoCAD 2006 Tips and Tricks booklet so stay tuned for the PDF...(sometime next month).  I posted the powerpoint I have been using for you to peruse if you'd like a high level view of some of the new features (or perhaps to share with your family and friends for entertainment?)...just kidding...

This past week I was in Orlando fine-tuning my technical skills at Autodesk boot camp for resellers and ATCs...and had the good fortune of running into everyone's favorite Blogger - Shaan Hurley!  Now I have to say...in all of my years of working with Shaan...I have never seen him in a tie...so I insisted in a picture (doesn't he look like I forced him into it?  Well I did!).  Since this is a rare moment in time - I had to get it captured on film...sooo...(insert drumroll here)...The One...The Only...Shaan Hurley!!!

AUGI CAD Camp pictures!

The AUGI CAD Camps have been fantastic - I am however sad that I won't be able to join any more of them until mid-summer.  No worries though, they will continue on spectacularly with great classes and great speakers...here are a few miscellaneous pics from Dallas and Charlotte.

This is the registration desk for CAD Camp in Dallas at the American Airlines Conference Center...what you can't see is the body of an airplane in the front section of the building! (like i don't spend enough time around airplanes!).

Here is a picture of Matt Murphy and Rich Uphus opening up the day and briefing everyone on what to expect from CAD Camp.

Here's Donnia Tabor-Hanson (one of my favorite people in the world) presenting AUGI Tips and Tricks to a very studious crowd.  Her class was the same as mine so I never managed to see it!  (such a shame).

The day after CAD Camp I joined DC Cadd for their Open House in Dallas  (fabulous new offices and training center).  I did a presentation on AutoCAD 2006.

Above is a picture of Doug Wietbrock  (DC CADD) opening up my presentation for me...

And below are some of the Top Daug winners for CAD Camp in Charlotte. 

Be sure to sign up for CAD Camp if they are coming to your neighborhood - you won't want to miss it!  Visit AUGI CAD Camp today!