In this issue:

• ALACAD Is Excited to Announce Our 20th Anniversary!
• Autodesk 2009 Experience It Before It's Real Tour
• ALACAD Is Now an Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya, VIZ and Mental Ray Reseller
• For AutoCAD® Architecture Users: AutoCAD® Architecture 2009
• For AutoCAD® Map 3D Users: Map 3D 2009 Is On the Way
• New Features Now Available Exclusively for Autodesk Subscription Customers
• For AutoCAD® P&ID® Users: Scott Hallmark's New P&ID Blog - "Finally...AutoCAD P&ID", Featuring "Standards? I Want My OWN Symbols"
• For Autodesk® Inventor™ Users: Hotfix - End of Evaluation Period Error During DWGIN
• For All Autodesk® Users: Policy Error During Install Fix
• For Autodesk® Inventor™ Users: Jon Selzer's New Inventor Blog - "Mission Inventor", Featuring "Where's My MDT?"
• 3Dconnexion Announces a New Addition to Their Product Line: Space Navigator for Notebooks

ALACAD Is Excited to Announce Our 20th Anniversary!

In April 1988, Kirk Newell opened Alabama CAD/ CAM, Inc. (later to become ALACAD) with the goal of becoming the leading AutoCAD reseller in Alabama. Since that time a number of CAD/ CAM software packages and resellers have come and gone, but ALACAD has become one of the leading Autodesk Authorized Value Added Resellers and Authorized Training Centers in the Southeastern United States. We are proud of the reputation we have earned for being the most customer-oriented CAD/ CAM reseller and training center in the Southeast, and we will never forget that it is you, our customer, that has made us what we are today and we look forward to serving you for another 20 years. Thank you for your patronage.

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Autodesk 2009 Experience It Before It's Real Tour

Each new project brings competitive pressures and increasingly difficult challenges. That’s why simply seeing your design isn’t good enough. You need to experience it before it’s real. Find out how at one of our FREE events.

See how Autodesk visualization and simulation technology can help you gain a competitive advantage by allowing you to experience your next project in a 3D digital modeling environment. Then, analyze your design’s real-world performance to save time, money, and resources. Click here to register today.

Locations:

Schedule:

To reserve your seat at one of these FREE events, click here.

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ALACAD Is Now an Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya, VIZ and Mental Ray Reseller

ALACAD is now authorized to sell Autodesk Design Visualization solutions. Create breath-taking, photorealistic 3D rendered models and virtual tours that allow your clients to "see" your finished project before it even leaves the virtual world. Call us at 888-442-3100 to ask for a free trial cd today!

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For Revit® Architecture Users: AutoCAD® Architecture 2009

AutoCAD Architecture 2009 has some cool new features. I believe users will be excited to see the new enhancements. Here are a few of my favorites.

Wall Endcaps

Now AutoCAD Architecture 2009 makes it easier to create custom wall endcaps. While previous releases had this ability, enhancements to key “grip-edit” functionality makes the process more intuitive and streamlined. Additionally, it’s easier than ever to modify endcaps using the “Auto-Calculate” feature and the integration of AEC Modify Tools. Because of this, it’s now possible to extend, trim, and even merge wall components with AutoCAD linework, allowing you to create the endcap condition that you want… in fewer steps!

Match Properties Update

Multiline Tags

Another feature around construction documentation is the ability to annotate with multi-line tags. Now you can have more control over the way text appears in your construction documents by specifying text wrapping, rotation, and alignment in its tags with intuitive grips. With these tools, you’ll find it easier to communicate your design intent clearly. These are just a few of the improvements. I believe the users will be happy with this release.

View all of Mike Massey’s articles at:
http://www.knowingwhatyoudontknow.blogspot.com

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For AutoCAD® Map 3D Users: Map 3D 2009 Is On the Way

So what’s new in AutoCAD Map 3D? I’m sure everyone has read or seen the blogs posting or news release on what’s new in AutoCAD 2009 but for the MAP 3D users what is new? Well there’s a couple new features that I think will make users happy. The first I’ll write about is the split and merge feature. For those that use the FDO, data connect, or what ever you want to call it these tools allow you to split a feature into two or more features and merge two or more features into one feature. An example would be a large parcel gets subdivided and you need to create th new parcels. The split feature can do it. Or say you have a group of small parcels that gets brought up by some bigger corporation and you need to merge all those small parcels into one big parcel, the merge feature can do it.

The commands are on the Modify menu in the Geospatial workspace by default, but you can also use the command line to call them up.

Here is a large parcel polygon that we need to split into two separate parcels. Select the feature to split then either use exiting lines or draw a new line to use as the cutting line.

The great thing about this tool is you can use the standard AutoCAD editing and creating tools to draw the dividing line with accuracy. No more guessing where the property line is at.

Once you create the dividing line the data table will add the new record(s) depending on the rules you set for the split. The Merge features works similar, select the features and the data table deletes the old records and adds a new one based on the rules you set for the merge. Here are some screen shots of the merge tool merging 3 parcels into one.

Notice the parcel address of 901, 933 and 991 and after the merge.

The rules I set for the merge allow me to use the attributes from the first parcel selected for the merged parcel. So where and how do I set the rules for the split and merge features? One way is in the Options on the data table for the feature layer, select the Set Split and Merge Rules.

This opens up the palette to set all the rules you need for the schema that goes with that feature layer.

So what else is new? Well one change is the automatic check out of a feature. What this does is checks out a feature when you select it. There’s no need to select a feature and then right click to select “Check out feature”. This is enabled as default but you can turn it off from the Edit menu in the Geospatial workspace.

Another new feature is the “New” Expression editor. If you ever tried to create an expression in prior versions you will like this. I’ll post about that later, so stop back again in a few days.

View all of James "Murph" Murphy’s articles at:
http://map3d.wordpress.com/

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New Features Now Available Exclusively for Autodesk Subscription Customers

Effective March 28, Autodesk® Subscription members holding contracts for qualifying products, as part of their benefits, can download the following new feature releases listed below. New feature releases include e-Learning and product downloads available exclusively for members.

• Autodesk® Impression 2 software and e-Learning lessons
• Autodesk® Vault 2009 software
• Autodesk® VIZ 2008 ProBooleans
• Drawing Compare for AutoCAD® Architecture 2009 or AutoCAD® MEP 2009 software
• Land Desktop Companion Extension for AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008 software

To visit Autodesk Subscription Center, click here. If you would like more information on the Autodesk Subscription Program, call us at 888-442-3100.

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For AutoCAD® P&ID® Users: Scott Hallmark's New P&ID Blog - "Finally...AutoCAD P&ID", Featuring "Standards? I Want My OWN Symbols"

So you want your own symbols, but you need them to be P&ID objects so the Data Manager can manage all the items in your project. AutoCAD P&ID 2008 almost makes it too simple. Here are the steps: 1. Create your symbol, or insert it as a block from another existing P&ID.

2. Select the geometry with a window or crossing, right-click and select "Convert to P&ID Object..."

3. Select the type of P&ID object you want it to be, such as a vessel, then select OK

4. You are then prompted for an insertion point for the new P&ID object. For this vessel, I will select the lower left corner.

5. You now have a new vessel in your Data Manager for this project and all you have to do is go fill out the information for the vessel.

And an added tip...

Select the vessel, drag it to your tool palette where your tanks and vessels are located and then it is a simple pick-n-place object just like the rest of your symbols.

View all of Scott Hallmark’s articles at:
http://hallmarkblogautocadpid.blogspot.com/

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For Inventor™ Users: Hotfix - End of Evaluation Period Error During DWGIN

Autodesk has released Hotfix TS1071050, which addresses an issue in which the DWG Import wizard becomes unstable or ceases to function, and a dialog box stating "End of Evaluation Period" is displayed. To solve this problem, you can download Hotfix TS1071050 from the following website: http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=DL9741651

Note: Be sure to read the “Readme” file included in the ZIP file. It has specific instructions on loading this hotfix. The key is that you have to uninstall AOEMview 2008 prior to running the hotfix because this hotfix essentially reloads AOEMview 2008.

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For All Autodesk® Users: Policy Error During Install Fix

Sometimes you will get a policy error during the installation of an Autodesk product, indicating that msxml6 cannot be loaded. The fix for this is to copy your dvd to a folder on the drive. Then, edit the setup.ini file and remove the following selections in the file [MSXML]:

PRODUCT_NAME=MSXML 6
EXE_PATH=support\msxml\msxml6.msi
EXE64_PATH=support\msxml\msxml6_x64.msi
IGNORE_FAILURE=YES

Then run your setup from your drive.

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For Autodesk® Inventor™ Users: Jon Selzer's New Inventor Blog - "Mission Inventor", Featuring "Where's My MDT?"

So you have your shiny new Inventor 2009 DVD's and you are looking for Mechanical Desktop 2009, but it's not there. Where is it?

A clue is one of the cards in the DVD case (see below):

That's right it's not there.... you have to download it? Why?

The first question should be .... do you need it?

Most people.. probably not, you have Inventor! But if you have to import Mechanical Desktop files into Inventor, then Yes you will need to download and install it.

That's it. Start using your new software and Happy Modeling.

View all of Jon Selzer’s articles at:
http://missioninventor.blogspot.com/

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3Dconnexion Announces a New Addition to Their Product Line: Space Navigator for Notebooks

3Dconnexion is pleased to announce the latest addition to our 3D product family - the SpaceNavigator for Notebooks - and the special offer that goes with it! Designed for on-the-go design professionals or 3D enthusiasts, the SpaceNavigator for Notebooks provides a high precision, rich 3D experience in a compact, portable 3D mouse that's only half the weight of its desktop counterpart. With its new, small footprint and attractive travel case, it's easy to slip into a laptop bag for effortless transport. And it works with all 3Dconnexion-supported applications.

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