Lynn Allen's Blog

Back on the Homefront!

After over 2 weeks in ASEAN countries I am glad to be back at home.  I was fortunate to spend 5 days in Vietnam (pictures to follow) and it was definitely a surreal experience!  The people were very friendly, the audience was so appreciative of my AutoCAD presentation (even though they had to listen to me through an interpreter) and many asked for pictures and autographs - really, really so sweet of them.  I was fortunate to have a technical interpreter who worked for a local reseller there (that helped tremendously). 

Before I get too far down the path of all things Vietnam - let's do a quick Hip Tip to start off the week.

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Data Linking:

AutoCAD 2007 provides the ability to bring an Excel spreadsheet into AutoCAD (as a Table) and have it fully linked.  That means you can edit the Excel spreadsheet and have it update the AutoCAD Table.  This also means you can edit the AutoCAD Table and have it update the Excel spreadsheet!  That is big news (and fabulous news).

You will find, however, that your linked table, by default, is locked internally.  This means that if you make changes inside of the AutoCAD table it will not update the external Excel file.   You will need to unlock it first!  The means to do so is not intuitive so I thought I'd pass that info on to you.

First - you'll need to go into the Data Link Manager - right click on the existing linked file and select Edit... from the shortcut menu. You can find the Data Link Manager in the Dashboard, under the Tools>Data links>Data Link Manager, or by keying in DATALINK.

In the Edit dialog that follows you will find an obsequious little arrow in the lower right corner as seen below.

This Top Secret arrow will expand this dialog to reveal the key to unlocking the table for writing to the source file as seen below.

Then you are on your way to bidirectional linking!  After making changes to your AutoCAD Table you'll still need to tell AutoCAD to write back to the source file.  Simply right click on the table and select Write data links to external source as seen below.

 

And there you have it!  Now a few pictures - more to follow...

Ho Chi Minh city is a very, very busy city.  It is filled with motor bikes galore - supposedly there is one motor bike for every two inhabitants (if you can imagine).  Not too many helmuts though (which makes me a little nervous for them)

The electrical cords at every corner and throughout the streets are amazing...how do they ever figure out what goes where?

We visited a beautiful temple of the Cao Dai religion.  This unique religion brings together many religions of different faiths under one roof.  What a clever idea!  And they all play nicely together...

(it looks as though I was a little crooked there taking the picture)  The inside of the temple was also beautiful - we were fortunate to visit during an actual prayer ceremony.

And here you'll see different colored robes representing a variety of different religions.

More food pictures - this is a fish we had for lunch.  This is an entire fish that has been fried from top to bottom!  So not low-fat...

I'll leave you with a picture of me feeding bamboo to an elephant at the Saigon Zoo (which was permitted).

And one of me going down a river in the Mekong Delta - what an adventure! I was a little concerned about a mosquito bite I encountered but they assured me Malaria wasn't a problem anymore (let's hope they are right!).

So unglamorous - but realize that it is VERY, VERY hot and humid...at some point all worries about how you look just goes out the window...

See you tomorrow!

On to Manila!

We moved on from the nice crowd in Jakarta to a super crowded house in Manila (1000+).  The users in Manila were sooooo nice to me - asking for pictures and autographs - it was such a nice welcome!  Here are a couple of pictures from the event this morning.  First off - the show started off with dancers (yes...dancers!) and "laser" lights (for you Austin Powers fans).  Very different from the U.S. tour I went on!

and then there's me...talking about AutoCAD.

and the crowd (hmmm...do they look thrilled?)

and I want to include some pictures of the entire wonderful team (we went to dinner in Jakarta together at an authentic Indonesian restaurant).  They just kept bringing out more food - after more food - lots of fish with heads on them (not my thing I'm afraid).  I prefer my food to already be "beheaded"...some assembly required...you get the idea...

And here's a great shot of someone who was REALLY into getting the most out of his shrimp (who shall remain nameless).  Yikes! 

I'm off to Vietnam next...one more week to go...

An AutoCAD Hip Tip from Jakarta

Well I've moved on to Jakarta, Indonesia after a lovely weekend in Singapore.  I was able to enjoy some of the Great Singapore Sale (although my credit card is still on fire).  The crowds definitely came out for this big time annual event - check it out below!

My good friends Paul and Serene took me out for dinner at the "No Signboard Seafood" restaurant (yes that's really the name).

We enjoyed an "interesting" feast of tiny fried squid that looked and crunched like bugs (not that I would know what a bug would crunch like) along with Shrimp (with their heads on) and Black Pepper crab. 

I must admit it was definitely delicious (although scary to look at).  After that we went to a wonderful chocolate restaurant - Max Brenner where we had hot chocolate we made ourself (with melted chocolate, cream and a little candle to melt the chocolate).

It just doesn't get any better than that!  Thank you so much for a great evening Paul and Serene!

And my blog wouldn't be complete unless I showed a picture of the Starbucks across the street from my hotel where I indulged in sugar free vanilla lattes...just like being at home.

So here's your AutoCAD Hip Tip from Jakarta!

AutoCAD Gurus use Layer States!

If you find yourself spending too much time in the inner sanctity of the Layer dialog box then you really need to take a look at Layer States.  What exactly is a layer state?  It's a saved snapshot of your layer settings.  You make layer states up front and then restore them whenever you need them!  This is much faster than manually switching the layers yourself.

You can get to the Layer State Manager from the Layer dialog box.

Here you'll simply select "New" to create a snapshot of your current layer settings.  Spend time up front creating Layer States and you'll save lots of time in the long run.  You can even Export your layer states out to a .LAS file. That means you can use the handy Import option to bring your incredibly cool layer states into any drawing!  (hey - share them with your friends!).

If you are using AutoCAD 2008 you can  assign a layer state to a specific viewport (without affecting the other viewports).  And you can get to the Layer State Manager directly from the Dashboard.

And even better than that (yes it gets better!) - there is a handy drop-down list on the Dashboard that lets you get to your saved layer states faster than you can say "Shrubbery!"  (for you Monty Python fans). 

Just a quick pick and then you are on your way!  No more wasting time in the layer dialog box when you have much better things to do...

Hmmm...I wonder if there are any Starbucks here in Indonesia!  I think I hear a sugar free Vanilla latte calling my name...

All's Well in Asia

Yesterday I participated in the Singapore Manufacturing Conference.  About 500 people attended the all day event as I shared the new features in AutoCAD 2008 (along with a few other tips and tricks).   Even though I arrived very late the evening before I felt great after a short night sleep.  And now I am starting a lovely weekend in Singapore.  Rumor has it I am here during the Great Singapore Sale - that could prove to be very deadly for my bank account!  I'd better stay in my room...

I chilled out in my room all of last night - watched a couple of movies (a luxury I rarely get to enjoy) and then crashed early...I guess the jet lag really caught up with me!

I'd like to take a moment to plug one of our top Autodesk University speakers - Robert Green.  He's been helping us plan a stellar CAD Management Track at AU and he's also written an outstanding new book:  Expert CAD Management:  The Complete Guide. 

If you are a CAD Manager - or looking into becoming one - you're sure to benefit from this book from one of industry's top pros.

And since I miss my dog this weekend (my husband too of course) - I'm adding in a picture of my dog playing tug of war with my mother's dog Misty, over a stuffed chicken.   Misty outweighs Tiffany by about 3X - but this picture makes me smile!

Have a fabulous weekend!  I'm off to Jakarta on Monday...

On my way to Singapore...

It's been a crazy week getting ready for my Asia road show.  I had to get two immunizations on Monday (can you say "ouch!"?)  and yesterday I started my Malaria medication (icky!) - my goodness!  All this so I can go out and share some tips and tricks about AutoCAD 2008?  My doctor also loaded me up with all types of random medications just in case I should need them - I feel like I'm toting a pharmacy around.  My horoscope in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle told me I shouldn't travel this week - not that I'm a big believer of such things - but Geez! See below:

I'm wondering if I should be ordering pizza!

Tiffany also begged me not to go (who would be there to dispense all of those fine dog treats?).

Well I'm in the airport now - on my way to stop #1 - Singapore for the Autodesk Manufacturing Conference on Friday.  I arrive around midnight the night before - and I present the next morning.  They are calling my flight number so I'd better run...I'll post when I land in Singapore (well - the next day anyway!).