Lynn Allen's Blog

The AUGI CAD Camp was Great! (and an AutoCAD Hip Tip)

One of the things I enjoy most about the AUGI CAD Camps is that I get to sit in on classes as well!  I REALLY enjoyed dave espinosa-aguilar's (yes - he uses lower case) class on Fields today...I definitely need to spend more time exploring the amazingly powerful world of Fields in AutoCAD!  Today I did my "75 AutoCAD Tips in 75 Minutes" class - it definitely still needs a little fine-tuning before I hit Autodesk University.  US CAD and AUGI did a great job with this event - all very professionally done and the audience was fantastic!

So here is a quicky AutoCAD Hip Tip as the CAD Camp gang are wanting to go to dinner shortly...(and I'm hungry!)

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Snapping to 3D Objects:

When using object snaps on 3D Objects, AutoCAD grabs the X, Y, and Z coordinate. Sometimes, we'd like AutoCAD to grab the X and Y coordinate of a point but use the current elevation for the Z. The system variable OSNAPZ lets you do exactly that! Set OSNAPZ to 1 and you'll find that your object snaps will replace the Z Value with the current elevation. Voila!

Aloha!

A VERY delayed flight and an AutoCAD Hip Tip

Well my flight has been delayed by nearly two hours and we're still awaiting a decision as to whether or not the flight will take off...I say just duct tape the plane and lets get going!  So while I wait I thought "what better time to blog?"

This week I am back out again on the Education Tour (well...that is...if my plane actually takes off!) and then on to an AUGI CAD Camp in Honolulu.  Now I suspect I am going to get ZERO sympathy for going to Hawaii - but we do have users in Hawaii who want to hear about Tips and Tricks too!  We have nearly 200 attendees attending AUGI CAD Camp and I am so looking forward to it!

I spent all last weekend working on my handout for the AUGI CAD Camp (just so we are clear...I realize I still get no sympathy from you!). I am doing what I think will be a very cool presentation called "75 AutoCAD Tips in 75 Minutes". So basically...I have to churn out a tip a minute during my presentation! I thought I would share one of the tips I was working on with you today...(still no sympathy at all?)

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Polylines and Linetypes:

One of the interesting things about linetypes and polylines is that they choose to treat each polyline segment as an individual line. Sometimes we want the linetype pattern to display continuously across all the vertices! That's where the PLINEGEN system variable comes into play.

If you set PLINEGEN to 0 (the default) - the linetype is negotiated between the vertices - and it starts and ends with a dash at each vertex.

If you set PLINEGEN to 1 - the linetype will traverse the vertices and treat the entire polyline as one continuous object (as it probably should!).  The odd deal with this is that you might not have a segment at a vertex (as seen below).

So there is your Hip Tip to start the week. I am still waiting for the airplane mechanic to get the duct tape out! (or perhaps some chewing gum?)

The Autodesk University Courses are Online!

Hot off the Press...the Autodesk University Courses are posted for your viewing pleasure.  It's not quite time to register yet - but surely you can whet your appetite over this year's slate of classes!  Visit the Autodesk University BLAUG to peruse the class list...

This week I continue the Autodesk Education Tour with presentations to teachers in Chicago, Toronto and Dallas.  It has been fantastic working with the instructors from middle school, high school, colleges and universities. 

Last week I had the privilege to speak to the Philadelphia AutoCAD User Group as they celebrated 25 years as a user group.  Can you believe that?  25 years!  I was so thrilled to spend time with them that evening as they recollected multiple memories of the 25 years they have spent together...so inspirational!  Below is PAUG founder Professor Howard Fulmer cutting their 25th anniversary cake  (he must have started the user group when he was 10 years old!).  Some of you might remember him from his popular AutoCAD books - Inside AutoCAD and AutoCAD 14 Fundamentals.

The crowd that was there that evening was kind enough to wave for me as I took their picture (below).

About 150 or so people attended the festivities.  And finally - a picture of the PAUG officers over the years...along with a special tribute to Roland Strauss who passed away a few years ago but was instrumental in the success of the group.  All the comments were very touching.

A huge congratulations to PAUG for their 25 years as an outstanding user group!

The Summer Education Tour continues...and an AutoCAD Hip Tip from NYC

Two cities down on the Education Tour...I'm on to another event in Philly tomorrow.  Tomorrow night I am presenting to the Philadelphia AutoCAD User Group  (PAUG) and believe it or not it is their 25th anniversary celebration! Can you believe that? It takes a tremendous amount of effort to keep a user group going  - and 25 years must truly be a record! A huge congratulations to everyone who has kept the user group going after all these years!  If you are living near Philly be sure to join us tomorrow night for the extravaganza!

I'm really enjoying the Education tour - but it is a very busy schedule!  It is wonderful working with the teachers (especially since I used to be one myself in another life). 

I accidentally left my power supply at the event today (bad Lynn) so I'll make this short and sweet.

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on minimizing the new Ribbon in AutoCAD 2009:

One of the complaints about the Ribbon in AutoCAD 2009 is that it takes up too much screen real estate.  Once you relearn where all the tools are in the new task-based ribbon you might find yourself wanting to minimize it.  That can easily be done with the magical arrow to the right of the tabs.

Hit the arrow once and the ribbon will minimize down to tabs and panels:

Hit it one more time and you are down to just the tabs (and plenty more space).

You'd better REALLY know your ribbon before selecting the last option! 

So there is your AutoCAD Hip Tip from NYC on minimizing the Ribbon!

An Education Tour and a Starbucks Visit

I'm about to go on the road yet again - this time I'll be speaking to educators (my favorite of course!).  I'll be addressing education and industry trends along with my usual AutoCAD Tips and Tricks.  If you are in the neighborhood and happen to be an educator be sure to join me for the AutoCAD Education Tour.

Autodesk went on a week long break last week and consequently it's probably been very quiet in the Autodesk Blog Land.  Right before the break I had a chance to meet with one of our new customers - Starbucks!  (something near and dear to my heart).  While I was in Seattle I met up with Stephen Bardin (in a Starbucks of course!) and we had a delightful conversation.  Thank you so much for the latte Stephen and good luck as you continue to get your designers excited about their new software!  Stephen was nice enough to let me snap a picture of him (below).

I am off an running (need to put the finishing touches on my presentation for Thursday)...it's 105 here in Novato today and that just makes it really tough to work (doesn't it?).

Did you listen to my Cadalyst Tip this week?  Both last week and this week I talked about customizing the tool palette with hatch patterns and blocks.  Definitely take a look and you'll find how easy it is to put your Hatch Patterns on your palette.  The advantage of doing this is that it knows the layer to land on, the scale factor, rotation angle etc!  Take a glimpse at my Cadalyst Tips and Tricks video for detailed information.

Try to stay cool!