Lynn Allen's Blog

Back in the Saddle Again...

After a wonderful relaxing long weekend in Hawaii I must have spent half the day catching up on emails!  I couldn't resist the $118 each way to Hawaii on Aloha Air so I snuck in this little getaway before the traveling madness begins for me again! If you have an inkling to visit Hawaii, do yourself a favor and get on their mailing list - they'll send you emails with their great specials.  The airline is efficient, you can get assigned seats, and the price was definitely right!  I kept searching for a "catch" with a price like that, but there isn't any (although the airplane food was pretty bad - but that's usually a given anyway!).  Hey - I sound like I'm in sales for Aloha Air!

We used hotel points to stay in a beautiful ocean front room at the Sheraton in Kaanapoli.  Although we had a great view, we were on the ground floor - which at first we thought was a great advantage - we could walk right out onto our own little patio and grass - overlooking a cliff...but then I remembered that where there is the beach - there are bugs...and we had a few of those in our room - Yikes!!! I will spare you the ugly bug stories...(although I did have quite a wrestling match with a cockroach in the bathroom - he eventually lost).  Ok...so I can tell I'm not selling the Sheraton to any of you...

If you do end up visiting Maui, on the Northwest side of the island - I'm happy to provide you with some dining info (sans bugs - I promise)...

We went whale watching and did manage to get one decent picture (out of about 20 - no future in nature photography for us!)  So here you go...

The whales are so beautiful and amazing...we could even see them from our room!  (and so could the bugs).  And here was our last shot of the trip (in the Maui airport).  I admit to being a vacation loser to post an airport shot...what can I say?  Craig is sitting much closer to the camera...he looks like Gargantuan Man (hey - the airport waitress took the shot...what do you want?)

On to an AutoCAD Hip Tip on saving your Workspace via a Startup Switch:

My good friend and previous AUGI Board member (one of my favorites) - Robert Bell sent me an email with his FAV startup switch that was introduced in AutoCAD 2007 - it saves a specific workspace.  Refer to my earlier posting to see how to set up startup switches...

/w              Designates which workspace in the loaded CUI files should be restored on startup.

and some others to whet your appetite!

/p               Loads a specific profile

/v               Opens the selected drawing file and zooms to a specific view

/ld              Load the specified ARX or DBX app.  (be sure to include the complete path info)

I'm off to Portland tomorrow to meet with the Autodesk Manufacturing folks...I can hardly wait!

A Day of Training for Me!

Last night, as mentioned yesterday, I was fortunate to have the wonderful Heidi Hewett and Matt Murphy over for a nice dinner.  I believe a good time was had by all (Matt did have a serving of Tiramisu AND 4 scoops of ice-cream!).  We finished off the evening by enjoying some of the "Stickies" that Bill left behind from Down Under.  We're even drinking them out of our Australian "Port Sippers"...funky port glasses with built in straws for sipping.

(ok - I admit it kind of looks like we are smoking something.- but we aren't!)  Heidi was such a sport coming over for dinner right before a big day of training (and she did a fabulous job teaching all of us derelicts today).

Today was the day that the Patriot loving Matt Murphy had to live up to his end of a bet and wear a Colts hat all day...let me say that it wasn't pretty!  I, of course, thoroughly enjoyed it!  Notice that Matt still had his Patriots hat in front of his monitor...poor Matt!

So sorry Matt...(not really...)

I'm off on vacation until Tuesday and have promised the hubby I'll leave my laptop behind so no blogging until I return...so sorry!  I'll try to come up with some great AutoCAD tips for you then though...ok? 

Have a fabulous weekend!  I'm off to finish packing...

Some Quickie Attribute Tips

A million thanks for ALL those emails about the Colts!  You are all much too kind.  I'm sure you international folks are shaking your heads over my last post...football (as we Americans know it) just isn't very popular any where else. 

Tonight I have two great people coming over for dinner!  Heidi Hewett , also a fellow blogger and the Sheet Set Queen, and Matt Murphy, one of our top speakers at AU and the AUGI CAD Camp King! Be sure to check out the AUGI CAD Camp schedule to see if there is one coming to your neighborhood...you won't want to miss out on that! Heidi is the one who does our internal AutoCAD training whenever another release of AutoCAD is coming out so it's always very educational hanging out with her...(and fun as well)...

On to an AutoCAD Hip Tip on Attributes:

There a couple of system variables that control what happens when we are using attributes.  These tools are easily overlooked and yet can make a huge difference in our leveryday drawing ives...

ATTREQ:  this system variable controls whether or not attribute values are requested (ON by default).  If you are in a rush and need to get a drawing out the door quickly with no time to input those attribute values you can turn this off.  Or if you know you are just going to use the defaults for some of your insertions then save yourself some extra steps! Be sure to turn them back ON for the next guy or you might find him pounding his head against the wall (and we don't want that now do we?).

ATTDIA:  By default, AutoCAD will prompt for attribute values at the command prompt.  This is fine if you are new to the 21st century, but many of us would prefer to step it up and use a dialog box.  setting ATTDIA to 1 (for ON) will force a friendly dialog box. 

Note:  You will only get a dialog box if you insert your blocks from the INSERT command.  If you drag them from DesignCenter (or another drawing) you still get the prompts at the command prompt (what's up with that?). 

You'll also notice that ATTDIA is off by default...too funny!

And a friendly reminder that the Express Tool BURST will allow you to explode a block with attributes and keep those attribute values you've worked so hard to assign...

And one more picture of the fabulous AUGI Board...here we all are at my house for dinner...(Thanks so much for all the great wine Bill!  Especially the Stickies!).  Melanie, Mistress of the Dorkness also joined us (she also happen's to be Mike Perry's wife). We had so much fun wrapping up their 3 day meeting at our little shindig.

The Colts are Super Bowl Bound!!!

OMG!!!  I can't believe it...I have been screaming for the last half hour!!!  I was afraid to post on Friday for fear I would jinx them...how exciting!  I was wearing my Manning jersey for the game - along with my Colts necklace and I just can't believe it!!!

OK...back to earth...

The wonderful AUGI Board was in town last week (another reason for the belated posting!).  Below is their latest picture of the fabulous, very hard working group, who spent 3 days in San Rafael, at Autodesk headquarters working dilligently on behalf of all things AUGI.

In order (from the back left corner) we have Richard Binning (president), Mark Kiker, Christ Lindner, Mike Perry,  (back to the front row) Donnia Tabor-Hansen (Treasurer), Steve Stafford and the wonderful Bill (Secretary) from Down Under...

Last night I had the AUGI Board over for dinner and Bill was kind enough to post info and pictures of the gang and Tiffany (but of course) on his Blog.  Bill brought us some fabulous Australian wines (yummy, yummy) and a little present for Tiffany (her new boyfriend - a stuffed Koala bear toy)...check out his South Australian Revit Users Group blog for more info...

So as we start this next week...be sure to go to AUGI and sign up to be a member if you aren't already...there are so many great benefits you will be delighted you did!  (and it's free...we can all afford free!).

I'm off to celebrate the Colts win!  Thanks to all of you who were so kind to send me emails!!!  What would I ever do without you?

And for you...Matt Murphy...you are eating some serious humble pie (wicked even)...I can't wait to see you in a Colts Hat! 

Go Colts!!!

AutoCAD LT Webcast

If you're on AutoCAD LT and you'd like to see a technical presentation on the differences between LT and full fledged AutoCAD - feel free to view my free webcast that covers the key differences.  If you've already made the switch and want a nice primer to catch you up or if you're trying to decide if moving to AutoCAD is right for you - this presentation should help you out!  I tried to keep it from being too salesy and just stuck to the facts...it covers both the 3D and 2D features...

I recorded this webcast in my office...the Friday afternoon before Christmas and believe me - I was just about the only one in the Autodesk office!  (you could hear crickets...).  There is a big promotion going on right now that saves you quite a  bit of money if you choose to upgrade (2K I believe) and that's why they asked me to do this webcast.  It was very interesting researching the differences - of course I could never live without the Express Tools and that's always been a big selling point for me!  This webcast doesn't talk about the promotion in any way, it's strictly technical - so if you are interested you'll need to contact your dealer.

It's about 30 minutes long and you can listen to it at your leisure...as you do I want you to picture me all alone in that big office building...while everyone else was out shopping!  : )  A big thanks to Lynn Wuthnow (another Lynn) who stuck it out with me during the recording (it took us about 3 tries to get it right...poor Lynn).  Click below to watch it...

The Differences between AutoCAD and LT webcast...

So will the Colts win tomorrow?  I'm afraid to even think about it!!!  Good luck to all of you who are rooting for a team this weekend during the second week of NFL playoffs (except for you Baltimore fans).  Baltimore is favored to win over my dear Colts by 4 points so I'm going to need to wear an extra strand of garlic, find a four-leaf clover and shake some chicken bones around for good luck!  I wish you all a great weekend!

If you click on "About Lynn" in the upper corner you'll see my new picture (I can't figure out how to get it on the main page...)...what do you guys think?  Better or worse... The current picture is a few years old so I thought it was about time to upgrade it...

AutoCAD Hip Tips on more Startup Switches

I've received all kinds of emails asking me about other startup switches...so I thought I'd cover a few more today (and a few more the next time). 

AutoCAD Hip Tip for Adding More Startup Switches:

As mentioned in my last blog - these switches are added into the shortcut you use to launch AutoCAD.  Simply right-click on the your AutoCAD shortcut and select Properties from the startup menu.  The switch (or switches) you use are always added to the end of the information in the Target box as seen below:

Here are a couple of great switches you can use:

/nologo       If you are a speed demon and have no patience upon startup to wait for the AutoCAD splash screen to appear then this switch is for you.  This switch tells AutoCAD to fore-go the splash screen and lets you get on with your AutoCAD life.

/b                Would you like a script file to run after launching AutoCAD?  Follow this startup switch with a space and the name of the script file.

/t                  After launching AutoCAD, a new drawing will be started with the template file indicated.  If you have a couple of projects going on each using a different template file you could make an AutoCAD shortcut for each project for maximum efficiency.  AutoCAD assumes a template file with an extension of .DWT (so you don't need to include that info)  Put a space after the startup switch and the name of the template file.

That's good for today...now back to work for me!

For those of you who bought my latest book - more of this information is on page 13 in the Tweaking Windows chapter.  And, incidentally, today someone told me it's available at Walmart too - how cool is that???  My mom will be so proud...

AutoCAD Hip Tip for Suppressing the Sheet Set Manager

I trust week #2 of the New Year is going well for everyone.  The parking spaces are beginning to fill back up here at Autodesk and everything seems to be running full speed ahead.  Everyone is working feverishly on the the next set of releases and I can hardly wait to find out about all the new features in the next version of AutoCAD.

For those of you who have yet to embrace the Sheet Set Manager (which is many of you) I thought I'd show you an easy means to suppress the SSM upon entering AutoCAD (in case it is bothering you).  With the advent of Workspaces it isn't as much of a problem - but for those of you in previous releases you might find this tip comes in handy.

AutoCAD Hip Tip for Suppressing the Sheet Set Manager:

1.  Go to your desktop - Right click on the AutoCAD startup and select Properties.

2.  Place the cursor at the end of the text in the Target text box and type /nossm.

3.  Apply the changes.

The next time you launch AutoCAD (using this shortcut) you can be assured the SSM will be banished - only to return if you call to it!

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Finding Lost Windows!

First of all...Hoorah for the Colts!  I'm not wearing black today...  : )  On to the techie stuff:

I change my screen resolution around quite often due to the numerous presentations I do.  One projector supports one resolution, the next supports something completely different.  I'll never forget being in Denmark and completely losing my Tool palette window due to a change in resolution.  Being in front of nearly 200 people (in a foreign country to boot) I drew a complete blank and couldn't figure out how to get it back.  Since a good portion of my presentation was on the Tool Palette it was imperative I find it!  Thank heavens for a very nice soul in the audience who sorted me out and I was able to get back on track (eventually, though I was terribly embarrassed).  Hence today's Hip Tip!  This is nearly right out of my new book - AutoCAD Professional Tips and Techniques (notice the gratuitous plug here).

AutoCAD Hip tip to recover a lost Window:

The lost windows I am referring to are those dockable windows like that ever-valuable Command prompt (that I still can't live without), tool palette, the Sheet Set Manager (for the five of you out there who use it), Properties, etc.  Those of you who are using dual monitors in extended desktop mode may have run into this when you take your notebook with you on the road.  AutoCAD remembers the position of your floating window but isn't smart enough to know that you can't see it because it's off the screen!  And then there's the mysterious case where your dockable windows might disappear for absolutely no reason at all...(which would be a bad day to bet at the races or walk under a ladder).

Here's the solution - we'll enlist the CUI command here to help us out. 

1)  After executing the CUI command, expand the Workspaces section in the upper left corner and select the active workspace.

2)  Expand the Dockable Windows in the Workspace Contents pane (upper right)

3)  Select the missing item from the list

4)  Underneath Properties you'll see an Orientation option.  Change it to anything other than "Do Not Change"  (for obvious reasons).

 

After existing the CUI command (since the CUI command is so huge you can't see anything on the screen when it's open)  you should see your poor lost window and can reposition it to suit your needs!

So there you go!  You'll never be lost again (at least your dockable windows won't be!)

A Great Football weekend...

Well the Colts are playing tomorrow in the first week of playoffs...Good luck to all of you who have teams you are rooting for this weekend!  Though Indianapolis is favored by 7 points I'm still crossing my fingers and toes!  Have a great weekend!

An Inventor Tip to Turn Back the Hands of Time!

Happy New Year (again...for those who are just joining me).  Isn't it hard to get up and running after the holiday season?  It's a little like everyone is in super slow mode...ramping up ever so slowly.  Later this month the dedicated and awesome AUGI Board will be coming to Autodesk Headquarters for their first meeting of the new year and I am SO looking forward to that.  If you haven't visited the AUGI site lately be sure to do so as there are always great things going on up there.  And if you aren't an AUGI member yet - run, don't walk to the site and sign up today!  (it's free...we can all afford free!).

Inventor Hip Tip on Turning Back the Hands of Time:

Well the tip certainly sounds intriguing - doesn't it?  No, you won't be able to reverse time to undo any comment that accidentally slipped out of your mouth but you will be able to go back in time to add in a feature that you forgot along the way.  For example, let's say you are creating this great shelled part and you accidentally shelled the part before you added your fillets.  Now you realize that your shell should include those fillets but it is too late!  No fear, because Autodesk Inventor lets you turn back the hands of time and add in that fillet before the shell.  Here's how:

Below you can see the browser view of a part.  I want to insert a couple of Fillets after the Chamfer and before the Shell.

Simply drag that End of Part marker up before the Shell as seen below! 

Now add your fillets and then drag your End of Part marker back to the end of the list - it's that simple!

Voila!  You have now officially turned back the hands of time...(in Inventor years)