Lynn Allen's Blog

Free AutoCAD Information for ALL!

Sadly I am still home sick (such a drag to waste away a weekend)...but that doesn't mean I can't blog!

I get emails all the time requesting additional information on a variety of AutoCAD topics.  While I don't really have the time to answer all of these emails (so sorry - but that would be a 24 hour a day job!) I do try to point people in the right direction. 

The Autodesk website is filled with all types of great technical information - the tricky part (of course) is finding it.  Let's take a look at a few valuable resources:

The AutoCAD White Papers:

Here you will find detailed PDFs on the following topics (and they are all FREE):

• AutoCAD Interoperability with Microsoft Vista
• Annotation Scaling Best Practices Series
• Dynamic Blocks Best Practices Series
• Sheet Set Manager Best Practices Series
• Customization & Migration
• Network Deployment
• Network Licensing
• Productivity Studies
• AutoCAD and Section 508

And I'm not talking about wimpy bits of information here - I'm talking about a series of PDFs for the various topics.  Look at the list of white papers for Dynamic Blocks!

	Part 1: Dynamic Block Overview and Quick-Start Tutorial (pdf - 378Kb)
	Part 2: Inventory of Block Editor, Commands, Parameters, Actions, and Parameter Sets (pdf - 566Kb)
	Part 3: Advanced Features of Dynamic Blocks (pdf - 652Kb) Do you prefer to watch videos to learn technical information?  Then take a look at the AU Screencasts. You can sample a few of the webcasts (the first 10 minutes) if you want at AU 2007 Screencast Previews.  If you are a member of the AU community then you can watch all of the screencasts that were shot at Autodesk University in 2006.  It doesn't cost anything to join the community so basically that means it is open to everyone.  To join the AU Community simply Click Here!  Definitely check this out. You can also listen to the screencasts from Autodesk University 2007 and download the handouts.   You just won't be able to see the video that goes with the screencast though (sorry). If you are a Subscription member, or if you attended Autodesk University 2007, you get to watch any of the screencasts from last year's AU.  There is about 1000 hours of information up there (that should certainly keep you busy!). So there is the deal.  The Handouts are great reference material as well.  Let's say you need information on Annotation Scaling.  You can listen to the great presentation Heidi Hewett did at AU and download her handout all for free...that will be VERY helpful if you're trying to figure out the world of Annotation Scaling - don't you think? Last but not least: If you don't mind paying for information there are some great training materials available online.  The Autodesk Official Training Courseware is the same materials you'd get if you took a course from an Autodesk Training Center.  Even I use these materials to keep myself sharp and in the know. Enjoy your week!

Clip it with AutoCAD 2009

My American Idol report is a little late as I managed to come down with a nasty cold yesterday and I had no oomph (no clue how to spell that) to blog.  No doubt this was a result of sweet Chikezie being eliminated. I loved Chikezie!  His smile just lit up the stage.  As a frequent traveler through the LA airport I  wonder if he might have been one of the nice TSA guys that helped me through security...who knows!  Well I'll think positive thoughts that he is going to have a singing career that keeps him from going back to his old job (not that there is anything wrong with that).  I'll definitely miss his cheery disposition next week...

Let's get back to business...

AutoCAD 2009 XCLIP Features:

One of my favorite features in AutoCAD 2009 is the ability to dynamically update clipped external references.  I love that you can select an XCLIP frame and use the grips to move it around dynamically and watch it update!  The new invert clip grips makes it even easier to flip the XCLIP so you are removing the content from the inside of the frame vs. the outside.  These are the type of features that speed our lives up and let us get on to the good stuff!

 

Tip:  If you select your clipped XREF and no frame appears you'll need to change the setting of XCLIPFRAME to 1.  You can't use this cool new feature if you can't see the frame!

I'm off to enjoy a little more chicken soup...hoping to feel better for Monday.  Have a fabulous weekend!

More AutoCAD 2009 Treats for MicroStation Users

OK...I confess...I'm an American Idol addict.  Surely there is a twelve step program to help people like myself but I SOO look forward to hearing these talented singers every week and I'm always sad when they are voted off (well nearly always).  Who will go tonight?  I think Brooke is absolutely adorable, David Archuleta is amazing (and most likely to win), Michael Johns was fabulous last night and David Cook always seems to shine.  I think Chikezie is just so amazingly likable (we always root for him to do a good job) - all I know is I end up calling in and voting for 3 or 4 idols each week (yes - I actually call in as well!).  Oh my...it just isn't pretty!  Who will leave us tonight?  (I can't bare to look...)  Tell me I'm not alone!  There must be some fellow idol worshipers out there somewhere among you CADDIES...

Let's move on to AutoCAD...shall we?

More AutoCAD 2009 Treats!

Now I realize that many of you are tasked with balancing two CAD systems, or at least working with drawings from more than one.  I've run into many an AutoCAD user who had to figure out how to deal with data from Microstation drawings.  If you can relate to this scenario than you're going to be glad to know that AutoCAD 2009 makes it even easier to play nicely with others!

AutoCAD 2008 opened the door to importing and exporting Bentley Microstation V8 files.  AutoCAD 2009 now supports V7 files as well.  The feature I'm going to focus on today, however, is key to helping you deal with that data once you've imported it.  For example,  Microstation doesn't have layers - it has numbered levels.  These levels rarely follow your CAD standards and consequently it's a laborious task to sort everything out.  The new DGNMAPPING command in AutoCAD 2009 to the rescue! (picture it riding up on a white horse to enjoy the full effect).  DGNMAPPING allows you to remap levels to layers, DGN-format linestyles to linetypes, lineweights and colors.

Of course there will be some upfront work needed to set up your mapping.  If you are working on mapping an incoming DGN file you'll find this dialog is automatically populated with the information from the DGN file (the left column).  You get to provide the information in the right column.  You do the hard work up front - save the mapping info and the next go round things will be MUCH easier.

And of course this goes the other way as well...should you need to export your AutoCAD DWG file to DGN this mapping tool will also come in handy.

Ultimately - you won't need to fuss quite so much when dealing with multiple CAD systems...unless you really want to!

It's Tips and Tricks Tuesday!

Be sure to listen to my latest Cadalyst Tips and Tricks recording to find out how you can get AutoCAD to check your Standards for you (and even fix a few of those minor discrepancies).  This short 3 minute video will certainly help make it easier for you to maintain your drawing standards.

Click HERE to view!  (hey why not - at least it will break up your day!).  Besides then you can take credit for knowing this AutoCAD tidbit when you share it with the rest of your team...know one needs to know you heard it from me!  It will be our little secret...  :-)

And they just announced the Autodesk Experience Tour!  I'm going to be hitting the road with my Autodesk peeps just waiting to show you all the cool new features in AutoCAD 2009.  Last year I was only able to do about half of the tour - this year I get to do the entire tour (and I am so thrilled).  Now all we need is a tour bus and a rock band and we're all set.

Check out the schedule to see if I'm going to a city near you - I'd love to see you there!

Calling All Ye Express Tool Fans (and more AutoCAD 2009)

Doesn't everyone love the AutoCAD Express Tools?  I always have been and always will be an AutoCAD Express Tool fan.  As more and more Express Tools make their way into the core product, more AutoCAD LT users get to take advantage of them as well!  Here is your chance to provide feedback on the future of the Express Tools (come on - we need you!) at Express Tool Survey.  If you are an ET fan then promise me you'll participate!

One more chance:  Take the Express Tool Survey

AutoCAD 2009 Improves on the FIND command:

Searching through your drawing for text has never been easier with the new updates to the FIND command. The FIND (and Replace) command now contains options to enable searching  blocks and Xrefs (and I'm not just talking about attribute values here!).  You'll also find a new option for searching with wildcards...you could use wildcards before but it wasn't intuitively obvious (in fact it was top secret!).

And FIND now zooms in on the found objects (so it’s no longer a mystery!).

Hoorah!

(did you take the Express Tools Survey yet?)

: -)

Too Early for Tulips in Holland...

I've been all over the map this week with little time to see anything!  Wales was first for a keynote at the fantastic  Engineering Education Scheme - Wales.  It was so exciting seeing the enthusiastic students and their clever projects.  Then I was wisked off to Antwerp, Belgium for an Autodesk Education day without even any time to taste that fantastic Belgium chocolate!  Our kind host was nice enough to send me off with a chocolate egg though (now I just have to try and save it for Easter).  Day four (today) is in the Netherlands where I managed to see much of their beautiful countryside as we drove back from Antwerp.  The presentation this morning was to an audience of Civil Engineers (a preview of AutoCAD 2009) at the reseller Itannex and tomorrow it's another Educational presentation.  I absolutely love working with the teachers (especially since I was one in a previous life.)  I know how hard these educators work and they are so appreciative when we spend time with them - it's just such a nice feeling to be able to help them out!  I have been so busy I haven't taken any pictures to share but I'll try to collect some to post later.

AutoCAD 2009 wants to help you save your Text!

Doesn't it drive you crazy when you hit Escape in MTEXT and you lose all of your text?  Well I am delighted to inform you that AutoCAD 2009 now supplies a warning message asking you if you really want to exit without saving your text.

You'll also see that you can set it up so it always saves the changes if you so desire (or it always exits without saving)...whatever works best for you!  If you select the box that says "Always perform my current choice" you can banish this message never to bug you again.

But I think it's certainly nice to be given the option...don't you?

So there is my AutoCAD 2009 preview tip today - I hope your week is going well!  As for me - it was snowing on our car on the way to the event today so I suspect those tulips won't be surfacing any time soon!  Too bad...I would have loved to see them!

A Quick Turnaround Weekend and New AutoCAD 2009 Features

It's a quick turnaround for me this weekend...I just got back from Las Vegas and am unpacking, repacking, petting the dog, grabbing some bills (ick) before I turn around to go to Europe. I'm off to Wales tomorrow to speak at the Welsh National Convention of Excellence in Engineering and Technology. Checking the weather I realize it certainly is a good thing I didn't jump the gun and put away my sweaters!  (brrrrrrrrrrr)

So time is short but I don't want to neglect my "blog duties" so let's chat a little more about AutoCAD 2009. 

AutoCAD 2009 changes to OPTIONS:

Whenever a new release of AutoCAD comes out I always recommend wandering through the OPTIONS dialog box to check out any new options that might have made their way into the program.  A new option can really make a dramatic difference to our drawing lives and solve an issue that's been bugging you so be sure and take that tour.  I'd like to share a couple of new Options that have been added into AutoCAD 2009.

The new Menu Browser allows you to list much more than 9 recently used drawings (hoorah!)...believe it or not you can set that value to as high as 50.  It still defaults to 9 so be sure to switch it up!

Have you ever turned off a hidden message only to realize that this was a serious commitment and you didn't intend to turn it off forever?  AutoCAD 2009 makes it easier than ever to bring these guys back!

This sends you to a listing of all the messages you've "dismissed" and lets you change your mind.

So no more worries if you have a fear of commitment! 

More AutoCAD 2009 Features from Vegas

This week I've been attending the Autodesk annual sales conference held in Las Vegas.  We've heard some very exciting customer stories this week of companies who have made the move to Autodesk 3D products and how it's really helped change their business.  Very cool I must admit...it is amazing what some users are doing out there!  But that's a topic for another day's blog...I'm trying to squeeze a blog entry in before another general session of more cool customer stories...so let's move on... :-)

A Cool New AutoCAD 2009 feature that will save you from spelling errors!

In-place Spell Checking

Sure we've had the SPELL command in AutoCAD - but wouldn't it be nice if you could catch those spelling errors as they are happening in MTEXT!  Now with AutoCAD 2009 you'll find that AutoCAD will underline those words that are not in the dictionary in red as you go.  The right click menu is happy to offer up some spelling suggestions (and some of those suggestions are truly entertaining!).  This is so much more efficient than using SPELL and should certainly help save you from those embarrassing spelling errors...

Now if TypePad could just get that I wouldn't have so many blog spelling errors!

Have a great rest of the week (hey...you are half way through it!)

Somebody tell me this isn't really Spring!

Ok...so I planted my assorted flowers this weekend and convinced myself we were truly into Spring.  I even planted some seeds. Meanwhile...I hear it's still really cold in so many places and we're an anomaly.   But next week we have to set our clocks forward...doesn't that make it official?  Did the Groundhog see his shadow?  I'm truly in denial (even though it reached the low 30's last night and my flowers are huddled together for warmth...building little mini bonfires for warmth).

Let's talk about some more cool new features in AutoCAD 2009!

New Quick Access Toolbar:

Found in the upper left corner of the screen lies the powerful new Quick Access toolbar.  Here you’ll find the frequently used New, Open, Save, Plot, Undo and Redo commands along with the ability to easily add your own favorites. 

Right click to select “Customize Quick Access Toolbar” and then drag and drop your favorite commands to personalize it for maximum productivity!  I grabbed my Sheet Set Manager over and dropped it onto the toolbar.

And since most of you will notice right off the bat that the menu bar is missing in AutoCAD 2009 (yes...it is!)...the Quick Access Toolbar holds the secret to getting it back.  Just right click and you'll see the option (no need to hyperventilate!)

I definitely recommend customizing this cool toolbar with your most frequently used commands!