Lynn Allen's Blog

A Technical Evangelist in Paris

Bon Jour!  I am in Paris for a meeting and thought I'd take a few minutes for a quick posting for you!  I'd like to say that while I'm here I'll have time to see some of the sights - but it doesn't look like that's going to happen...another time...

With all the talk about 3D going on in the world I thought I'd mention one of my favorite Express Tools - RTUCS for Real Time UCS.  For those of you who are managing to survive 3D AutoCAD (which is currently quite painful) I'm hoping you've tried this robust tool.

AutoCAD Hip Tip on Dynamically moving the UCS in 3D:

We rely on the UCS to get our 3D work done - but moving from one UCS to another is such a tedious process.  How often I've wished I could just manually grab it and move it around on the screen...enter the awesome Express Tool  RTUCS!

RTUCS let's you grab the highlighted axis and rotate it around to your liking.  You can easily move from one axis to another by using the Tab key.  And of course you can move the origin easily as well - all done dynamically on your screen (so it's really clear where your UCS is).

Command: RTUCS

Press TAB key to change axis or
[Save/Restore/Delete/Cycle/Angle/Origin/View/World/Undo] <Drag to rotate>

Save:        you can save the current UCS with a name

Restore:   reset to a saved UCS

Delete:     deletes a saved UCS

Cycle:      cycles through the six standard orthographic UCS orientations (Top, Front, Right, Back, Legt and Bottom)

Angle:      sets the minimum rotation increment for the current axis.

Origin:      used ot move the UCS Origin

View:        rotates the UCS parallel to your current view.

World       sets the current UCS back to the WCS

Note:  Unlike regular AutoCAD commands, RTUCS doesn't require an enter after you input an option...this will drive you crazy - but it does save you from extra steps!

I'm off in search of some French wine and cheese!  A tout à l'heure !  (See you later)

The AUGI Board is in town!

The AUGI Board (Autodesk User Group International) is in town this week for their Board meeting.  We have two new additions to the Board this year - Bill Adams who came all the way from Adelaide, Australia and Glenn Pope from Austin, TX.  Bill surprised us all with "Stubbies" from Australia which are apparently used to put your Stubby bottles in (who knew?).  Below is a picture of all of us holding our Stubbies...

The AUGI Board members (or the AUGLETS as I like to call them) are as follows: (upper row - left to right):  Rich Uphus (from SolidVapor), Bill Adams, Mark Kiker, Chris Lindner, Richard Binning (President) and yours truly.  Bottom row:  Rick McNeil, Glenn Pope, Mike Perry and Robert Bell.  What a fabulous group to work with this year.

We all went to dinner last night at Boca - and had a great evening of discussion and good food.  Below is a pic from our fun dinner:

Bill also brought us some Australian wines to enjoy during dinner - they were fantastic!  What a treat for all of us...

Today the AUGI Board met with soon-to-be Autodesk CEO, Carl Bass and the VP of WorldWide Marketing, Tracey Stout during lunch.  AUGI laid out their plans for the following year (your AUGI membership is just going to get more and more valuable!).  Carl and Tracey were very supportive of AUGI's efforts (they always are).  If you haven't signed up for this fabulous (and so free) international user group organization you need to do so today!

Just go to:  AUGI!

Inventor of the Month

Tell me this isn't cool...a wave machine that you can actually go surfing on!  Autodesk recently announced their Inventor of the Month award has gone to Waveloch, the inventor of this amazing ride.  Waveloch used Autodesk Inventor 3D modeling software to design the FlowRider which combines surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding all in one ultra cool ride. According to the press release - the ride features scientifically engineered sluice gates which generate a thin sheet of water over a stationary, padded wave form. The resulting wave-like shape enables riders to slide down, carve turns and ride up simulated wave surfaces.  Check out the picture below (where do I sign up?).
 

As a California girl I can definitely appreciate this fine use of technology!  : )

An AutoCAD Tip on Dynamic Input

Over the weekend I referenced the fabulous e-Learning that's available for free as part of the Subscription Program...and yes...I do work for Autodesk so obviously I am biased -  but I have to tell you it's a great benefit of Subscription that I don't think enough of you are taking advantage of.  I, myself, am guilty of the charge!  So today's Hip Tip is a direct result of my taking one of the e-learning modules.

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Dynamic Input (AutoCAD 2006):

Many of you have fully embraced the new Dynamic Input in AutoCAD 2006.  For those of you who have - I thought this minor little detail could really help you out.  By default, AutoCAD will use relative input as you are drawing as seen below.  The distance and angle are relative to the last point.

But what if you would like to switch it over to absolute coordinates on the fly?  Simply enter the "#" number symbol and you'll see that the input automatically switches to absolute as seen below.

 

Here's hoping this Hip Tip will help you out!

Free e-Learning for Autodesk Products

Calling all you Subscription Members! Are you fully taking advantage of all the benefits of being a member?  Just recently I took a look at some of the very cool e-Learning lessons that are free to subscription members and I bet many of you haven't even given them a try.  Below is a listing of some of the e-Learning modules available for AutoCAD.

 

Notice how it lists a time and level for each module?  It even keeps track of the ones you've started and tells you your progress so it's easy to pick up where you left off.  Each module is very visual complete with user interaction questions and exercises...below is the start of an exercise for Dynamic Blocks.  The e-Learning modules take you through the steps to help you accomplish each exercise...very friendly and very helpful! And at the end of each module you can test your skills to make sure you comprehend the topic.

The nice thing about e-learning is that you can take the courses when it's convenient for you and they're available in easy to digest doses. They were very generous on the allocated times listed - most can be finished in a shorter length of time. I really enjoyed the courses I took - and I learned a couple of tips while I was perusing the courses myself! 

How do you get to the e-learning courses?  They are staring you right in the face in the Help menu.

 

Give these a try - you might just learn a few tips to help you get your projects done faster!  And besides - you should always be investing time in improving your skills (you're worth it!).

Super Speedy AutoCAD Layer Searching

I can't believe how many emails I've received regarding the Colts...I'm stunned...most of you offered up your condolences...(some of you were brutal but I'll forgive you).   I've even had a couple of you offer to send me a Terrible Towel to wave in support of the Steelers next week...Ouch!

I'm sitting in my room listening to the rain outside - quite pleasant I must admit.  I think today we need a Hip Tip about Layers (especially since we use them allllllllllll the time don't we?).

A Hip Tip on Speedy Layer searching:

Many of us work with just too many layers.  Keeping track of them inside of the layer dialog box can be frustrating.  Sure you can save a variety of predefined layer or group filters but there's a great option in AutoCAD 2006 that makes it super easy to grab a speedy layer listing on the fly.  I didn't even notice this option until a user recently pointed it out to me - so perhaps you overlooked it as well (it's almost too good to be true!).  Right there on the front page of the layer dialog box you'll find an option to do a layer search as seen below.

 

Simply use wild cards for a speedy search of the desired layers.  In the figure below I've asked AutoCAD to search for those layers that start with "CO"

It's that easy!  Happy AutoCADding...

Let the Mourning Begin...

Ahhhhhhhhh...the Colts have lost...and though I vowed to not blog all week if the unspeakable happened...all your many emails have convinced me to move on...push past it...there is always next year...(oh the pain of it all).

I'm on vacation today (Martin Luther King day for those of you who are not in the U.S.)...but tomorrow I'll be back with more Hip Tips.  In parting...I leave you with one last Colts picture for the year...this is my dog Misty wearing her Colts hat during the game on Sunday...it was supposed to bring good luck but...well...we all know how that went.

Trimming and Extending 3D Objects in AutoCAD

Ahhhhh...the playoff weekend continues...if the Colts don't beat the Steelers tomorrow there may be a very long blog silence (which is to be expected)...and all you Steeler fans must promise to take it easy on me.

now on to business...

AutoCAD Hip Tip on Trimming and Extending 3D Objects:

Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where we'd like to trim some objects that appear to intersect on our screen due to our view, but in reality, if we took a look at them in 3D they technically don't.   But we need to trim them anyway - what do we do?  We use the Project option in the Trim Command.

The Project option has three different settings - let's take a look.

None:  that's the default and the TRIM command will only work on objects that truly intersect.

UCS:  If the objects in question were projected onto the current UCS (or XY Plane) and an intersection occurred, the TRIM command will declare these legal and let you trim them.

View:  This is the option I use the most.  If the objects appear to intersect in the current view - the Trim command will work on them...plain and simple.

All of these options reside in the EXTEND command as well - give them a whirl - you'll find it much easier to get the results you want!

--------------------------------------------------------

and on another note:

Ode to Ruby...yesterday as I was leaving Starbucks I ran into the most adorable little girl...I'm going to say she was about 4 years old,  who was unable to walk on her own and was using a walker-type apparatus. I know her name was Ruby because she had a miniature license plate on her walker with her name on it.  Ruby captured everyone's attention.  She was all smiles and giggles as she negotiated through the door, around the corner and down a ramp to her Dad's car.   She just couldn't be happier...Ruby was loving life for all it had to offer, obstacles and all.

As I walked back to my car I just broke down and sobbed.  Last week in my blog  I was complaining about my bad morning, where one thing after another kept going wrong...I'm going to guess my bad morning wasn't 1/100th of what sweet Ruby faces every day. Shame on me!  A big thank you to Ruby for helping me put things in perspective - I'll definitely think twice before I complain about such trivial nonsense. 

An AutoCAD Trimming Tip...

Have you ever just had one of those days?  Today was one of those days for me.  I've been using a rental  while my car has been in the shop and needed to renew the rental car contract this morning (mechanic feels the need to take his time)...couldn't find my driver's license (hence I couldn't re-rent the car)...my son drove me to the office (thankfully) and then drove off with my computer in the trunk (not so thankfully)...the slow mechanic informed me it's going to cost 8K to fix my car (yikes!)...and I also broke a beloved frame with my grandmother's picture in it...all before 10am...some days it's just best to stay in bed...

So enough of the pity party (we know tomorrow is certain to be a new, much brighter day!)...let's take a look at a little TRIM tip that might come in handy for you.

Using cutting edges that don't intersect the objects to trim:

There are many different options that reside in the TRIM command, I find the EDGE option especially helpful.  Sometimes we have objects we'd like to use as cutting edges, they don't physically touch the objects to trim - but they would if the edge were extrapolated (big word).  In other words (for those who haven't had their caffeine yet) - if the edge were extended - it could be used as a valid cutting edge.  The EDGE option does exactly that - it uses an implied extension to trim.  Simply set the Edge option in the TRIM command to Extend (you can also set the systemvariable EDGEMODE to 1).

In the picture above...the vertical line could be used as a cutting edge if EDGEMODE were ON.

Note:  You probably don't want to use this setting when trimming hatch patterns...(or if you do - I can't be responsible for your result!)

Happy Wednesday to you all...

Faster AutoCAD Saves

Well the NFL playoffs are off and running...I, for one, am thrilled that the Colts don't have to face the NE Patriots quite yet...(enter flashbacks from the past playoff masacres between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady).  I hope everyone had a great weekend - it was nearly 70 degrees here in Northern California - absolutely stunning!

AutoCAD Hip Tip on Speedy Saves:

If you are working on extremely large drawing files, Saves can be a painfully long necessary evil.  While we certainly don't want to discourage you from saving your drawing file - we know you put it off as long as possible when timing is an issue (we all hate waiting for saves to process).  So here's a little tip for you that can speed up your saves - changing the ISAVEPERCENT system variable. 

ISAVEPERCENT controls how often AutoCAD performs a full save.  A full save takes longer than a partial save - plain and simple.  Both are just as effective, both will protect your data.  A full save picks up all of your data, cleans it off, reorganizes it and makes for a nice compact drawing file.  Partial saves take any changes you've made to the drawing and just tacks it onto the end of the existing dwg file (not as neat and compact).   I can definitely relate this to packing a suitcase. Basically - do you fold your clothes ever so neatly and compactly before placing them into your suitcase for a trip (which would take up less space) - or do you just throw everything in and sit on the suitcase to get it closed? Both secure your clothing - one takes up less room and is neater and more time consuming than the other.

The higher you set ISAVEPERCENT, the longer AutoCAD will go between full saves.  ISAVEPERCENT controls how much wasted space will be tolerated in a drawing file before AutoCAD will perform a full save.  Setting ISAVEPERCENT to 0 will force a full save every single time (for those of you who get paid by the hour or are neat-nics).  Setting ISAVEPERCENT to 100 will require a great deal of wasted space before that full save is performed (the clothes are just tossed randomly into the suitcase and the drawing file is larger).

The default for ISAVEPERCENT is 50...set it higher if you want to speed up your saves!  Incidentally - AutoCAD always performs a full save when exiting a drawing so your final DWG will be nice, neat and compact.  So there is your AutoCAD Hip Tip to start off your week.

And below - you'll find another holiday pet picture that was sent to me from Sal Dicembre.  Here is a picture of his adorable rottweiler Rottie.  (Rottie isn't quite sure why the humans find this so amusing).