Lynn Allen's Blog

The Weekend Movie Update!

Humorously, many of you have sent me emails asking my views on the most recent movies - I am beyond flattered! Since summer travels have lightened up somewhat I have been able to enjoy a few flicks...so here are my official reviews!  : )

BATMAN BEGINS: A-

Really enjoyed the information leading up to the evolution of our caped crusader - I thought Christian Bale made a fabulous Batman.  Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman provided a wonderful supporting cast and Gary Oldman was so good I didn't even realize it was Gary Oldman!  My only complaint were the fuzzy fight scenes - it was difficult to follow who was winning and who was losing which I found quite frustrating.  It's as though every fight scene had smoke, fire, fog, you name it covering up the actual action!  It was almost as though they couldn't afford a fight choreographer but they could afford more smoke! Other than that I found it to be an enjoyable movie definitely worth seeing.

The War of the Worlds:  A-

I remember watching the original War of the Worlds (reruns of course) with my Dad and being truly frightened...it was quite a scary movie for it's time.  This remake didn't exactly follow the script of the original but kept my attention never-the-less.  These aliens were much more violent than the ones I remember from the original, definitely not a movie to take children to (I certainly jumped a few times).  Tom Cruise did his usual excellent job portraying the action hero and Dakota Fanning did a marvelous impression of Faye Raye.  The Aliens did a fine job as well!  Although I must admit it's a little hard to believe those aliens had been buried all those years and no one ran into them accidentally while building a condo, drilling for oil  or something along those lines!

Dark Water: C+

Those of you who know me know that I am quite the scary movie fan - so I was eagerly anticipating the release of Dark Water.  Perhaps I set my expectation level too high - but I was definitely disappointed.  There were very few surprises awaiting us here although Jennifer Connelly did a great job with the script she had.  I heard the original Japanese version was quite good, and was looking for a movie at the same par as The Ring.  Not even close!  Great actors - bad script.

Must Love Dogs: B-

If you're looking for a low stress date movie with a few easy laughs, then this is the one for you.  I must admit it was really tipping the "chick-flick" meter but my date admitted he enjoyed it as well so it didn't completely tip the scale over.  I'm a fan of Diane Lane and enjoyed her performance.  John Cusack was great as usual...once again it's the script and direction that's to blame here.  i definitely felt this was a movie more suited for TV, with the exception of the star power.  The plot was quite contrived and no one is really shocked at the ending...although it's hard to believe that after only one official date these two could be so madly in love without each other - and miserable without each other...(am I just being too realistic here?). 

So there are the official Lynn Allen reviews - (per your request)...Don't worry - I won't quit my day job!

Single Line Text Tip for AutoCAD 2006

One of the nice things about AutoCAD 2006 is the ability to edit single line text in place(created with either TEXT or DTEXT).  You see the text exactly as it's going to appear, in the place it's going to appear (WYSIWYG).  Previous releases used the DDEDIT text editor instead...a separate little dialog box that displayed elsewhere on the screen as seen below. I much prefer the new means of editing.

That said - it's come to my attention that using the new means of editing turns off a nice feature I use all the time when creating single line TEXT.  You no longer have the  ability to move your input device around and reselect new start points in one single DTEXT command.  This feature allowed you to place many lines of text in your drawing very quickly, all in different locations.  Now you have to reenter the command to place subsequent text strings.

So if you are still following me - and you'd like to know how to get the functionality back into AutoCAD 2006 here's the hot ticket:

Set DTEXTED to 1

You'll get the old DDEDIT text editor, but you'll be able to select multiple insertion points for your single line text...so it's a definite trade-off.

One user wrote me that he preferred the old editor anyway.  He mentioned that with DDEDIT he didn't have to zoom into the text to see it...thus saving time.

So it's up to you...but I thought this might alleviate a little frustration some of you might have!

More AutoCAD Setvar Tips

So how about some more system variable tips?  (Are you getting tired of hearing about my travels?)

XEDIT –  If you’d like to disable the ability to perform in place-XREF editing, you can do so by turning XEDIT to off.

VISRETAIN – This very popular system variable allows you to keep your layer settings for attached xrefs in the current drawing.  If you’ve ever been frustrated when you return to a drawing with attached xrefs only to find the layers have snapped back to their original settings – this system variable will make your life much easier.

PSVPSCALE - Use to set the scale factor for all newly created viewports (handy if you plan on creating multiple vports with the same scale factor).  Setting PSVPSCALE to 0 will size the model to fit within the viewport (a mystery scale factor).

Top Secret Bonus variable you can only change in the system registry:

XNOTIFYTIME – I should have mentioned this variable earlier when I wrote about XREFNOTIFY (last week).  This obscure variable controls the number of minutes AutoCAD will go between checking for XREF updates.  You might want to modify this under certain conditions so I thought I’d throw it in.

FYI- the Fort Myers User Group meeting was fantastic - a good time was definitely had by all!  I was amazed at how many companies are hiring designers and CAD operators in the Fort Myers, Florida area...something for you to think about if you're looking for a job!

From Puerto Rico to Florida...

I was fortunate to spend most of the weekend in beautiful Puerto Rico - the highlight was kayaking through the (very very dark) canals to an amazing lagoon to see the bioluminescence.  For those of you (like myself) who have never heard of this amazing act of nature, these are microscopic organisms that glow when movement occurs in the water.  We paddled out to this lagoon filled with bioluminescence and then swam around the lagoon causing them to light us up as we swam...awe inspiring actually.  Apparenty there are only five places in the world where you can experience such a treat of nature.

Incidentally...this is a picture from the above link...(not me!)

Today I'm in Fort Myers, Florida with a user group on my agenda for this evening. I’ve been promising them I’d fly back and present for quite some time, it’s about time I held up my end of the bargain!  This is a great user group and I’m looking forward to spending some time with them again.  The leader of the user group, Tom Holmlund has had the patience of Job with me, kindly reminding me every now and then…This was a perfect opportunity as I try to combine multiple speaking engagements when I travel so far from home.

I'll leave you with a picture of a lizard that felt the need to hang out at the hotel pool in Puerto Rico over the weekend...much to the chagrin of many of the women.  Though it’s difficult for you to gauge how large he is by the picture – he’s a little over 2 feet in length – definitely large enough to get your attention when he walks by.  I’m a bit of a fan of all things reptile so he didn’t bother me – but it was certainly different!

More Helpful AutoCAD System Variables

First things first...here is a view from my hotel room in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  If I have to do work from my hotel room - I must admit it's nice to have a great view while I'm doing it!

So while you're gazing at this lovely picture of the PR coastline - how about a few setvar tips to help out your AutoCAD world?

ZOOMFACTOR - Would you like more control over the mouse wheel movement when it comes to Zooming?  Any number between 3 and 100 is valid - the higher the number, the more you'll notice a change when you scroll the wheel.

XREFNOTIFY - AutoCAD 2004 added the nice feature of XREF notification - letting you know when someone has updated an external reference you have attached to your current drawing.  XREFFNOTIFY let's you control this feature and let's you say a polite "no thanks" to this new feature.  Setting it to 0 turns off the notification altogether.  Setting it to 1 will disable the balloon but keep the icon notification on the status bar.  Setting it to 2 displays a balloon, icon notification and fireworks (ok - well not the fireworks).

XREFTYPE - If you prefer using overlayed XREFs to attached, you can change the setting for XREFTYPE to 1.  This will change the default setting to Overlay (you can still specify Attached of course).

OSNAPZ - if you're using 3D AutoCAD (which I assume means you're taking lots of aspirin) - you know that AutoCAD snaps to the elevation of the object selected when you use your object snaps.  If you'd prefer AutoCAD to substitute the current elevation instead you can set OSNAPZ to 1.

So there are a few system variables you might find useful - have a fabulous weekend!

Last stop on the Realize Your Ideas Tour!

I'm in beautiful Puerto Rico finishing off the last city of the Realize Your Ideas Tour.   This is my first trip to Puerto Rico so I wasn't quite sure what to expect...It took me forever to get here - I got up at 2:30am to make my very early flight out of San Francisco...after many hours of delay on the runway in Chicago I finally arrived in my Puerto Rico hotel room at 10:00pm...ah the glamorous life of travel! 

The room was packed this morning and the audience was fabulous! The long day of flying was definitely worth it. I had to talk slowly so the translator could keep up with me (I talk too fast anyway) but AutoCAD 2006 shined through it all and was well received.  As for me (and after writing this blog entry) I'm going to take a nap and try to recooperate from yesterday's adventures.

It's very beautiful here in Puerto Rico...The room I spoke in this morning was right on the water...(I sure hope they invite me back!)

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Are You Using DWF?

Let's face it - at some point in time you're going to need to send your designs to someone who doesn't have AutoCAD...so what is your preferred method of choice?  I'd say most of us choose one of the following three:

1)  Print the drawing out  and physically mail it (save the Rainforest!)

2)  Convert the drawing to PDF and email it (Ouch that filesize is so big!)

3)  Convert the drawing to DWF.

So I'm offering up my plug to select Door #3 here...DWF files are Smarter, Smaller and Simpler...and you don't have to purchase any extra software to create a DWF file like you do with that "other" file format.  It's easy to publish your design as a DWF out of any Autodesk design application.  Then tell your extended team members to simply download the free DWF viewer from the Autodesk website or you can get it right here:  Free DWF Viewer. 

Cadalyst magazine recently posted some  DWF images for multiple disciplines in the Cadalyst Gallery.  You'll also find a great article about the new Autodesk DWF Composer 2 that lets you easily mark up your DWF files and send the mark-ups back into AutoCAD for quick turn-around.    Visit Autodesk DWF Composer article for more info.

I definitely realize that PDF is the best format for many types of files, we use it all the time in my office.  But when it comes to your design information - DWF is a much better route to take.  You spend all that time working hard on your drawings - why would you risk sending them out in a second-rate format?  You want your drawings to shine!  You wouldn't print them out on a dot-matrix printer would you? 

Over 7 million of the DWF viewers have been downloaded from www.autodesk.com.  Go check out what all the fuss is about!

I'm off to the last step of the Realize Your Ideas Tour tomorrow in Puerto Rico - it's not going to be quite the same without Guy Kawasaki but we'll do our best to make it a fantastic event!

Can't Read the Text in MTEXT?

I've received several emails this past week on the same issue - so I thought I'd post the solution should any of you run into a similar scenario (save you from taking extra aspirin).

If you are using Windows XP, AutoCAD 2005 or earlier, you might find that the text inside of the MTEXT dialog is very light and quite difficult to see (even though it displays fine on the drawing)...so here's the solution:

(and incidentally, I'm going to blame this on Windows XP...it couldn't be an AutoCAD issue and it's NEVER pilot error - right?)

Solution

You're going to need to change the Windows® XP display setting for font display.

Right-click on the Windows XP desktop and click Properties on the shortcut menu.

1. In the Properties dialog box, click the Appearance tab.
2. Click Effects.
3. Clear the "Use the Following Method to Smooth the Edges of Screen Fonts" option.
4. Click Apply and Close.

That should do it!  (no more squinting...)

Cool AutoCAD System Variables

AutoCAD has dozens of system variables - so many, in fact, it's tough to keep track of them all.   I thought it might be useful to mention a few that might solve a problem or just make your everyday drawing life a little bit more pleasant.

MAXSORT:  Have you ever found that your layers were alphabetized one day - and not the next?  The system variable MAXSORT controls the maximum number of named objects AutoCAD will alphabetize.  Simply bump up the value and your named objects (including layers, blocks, views, etc) will now be sorted!

PLINEGEN - When you apply a linetype to a polyline would you like AutoCAD to instruct the linetype to traverse the entire polyline across vertices?  Simply set PLINEGEN to 1 and your dream will come true!  This will instruct AutoCAD to treat the polyline as one continuous object and not multiple segments when displaying linetypes!

FILEDIA - I just had someone today who needed this command.  If you are no longer getting the file dialog when you're issuing such commands as OPEN or SAVEAS - make sure this is set to 1.

COMPASS - controls whether or not the 3D Compass (UCSICON) is on/off in the current viewport.

DTEXTED - I love the new in-place text editor for single line text (TEXT/DTEXT).  If for some reason you prefer it the old way with the Text Edit dialog box you can get it back by setting DTEXTED to 1 (AutoCAD 2006 only).

and one more...hmmm...how about...

HIDETEXT - Controls whether or not text is hidden when you issue the HIDE command.  When set to 1, the text will be hidden and will also hide other objects.   

Just a few tips for a Friday...have a fabulous weekend!

2D to 3D Webcast

Are you ready for 3D?   (just tell yourself "yes"!).  Tomorrow I'm giving a free webcast for you 2D guys in the manufacturing industry who are curious about what it takes and what the advantages are for making the move.  My colleague Mike Jolicoeur (a huge AutoCAD fan) will be joining me and demonstrating one of the coolest products ever - Autodesk Inventor.

It's not too late to sign up - simply go to Making the Move to 3D Inventor and sign up today!  See you tomorrow...