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Congratulations Anne Marie Ellis! |
Congratulations to Anne Marie Ellis of Herrington Architects in Birmingham, AL, who won a brand-new Magellan Maestro 3200 by attending ALACAD's Autodesk 2009 Experience It Before It's Real Tour. Hope you enjoy the GPS unit, Anne!
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ALACAD's Autodesk 2009 Experience It Before It's Real Presentations |
Thanks to everyone for making ALACAD's Autodesk 2009 Experience It Before It's Real Tour events such a success. In response to your requests, we are providing all our presentations for you to download and view at your convenience. These presentations are in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format, so you will need to have Adobe Reader installed to view them. If you don't have Adobe Reader installed on your computer, you can go here to download it for free.
Click on the sessions below to view the presentations (all presentations are in pdf format):
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Free Field to Finish Hands-on Workshop for Surveyors in Birmingham, AL |
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8:00 am - 12:00 noon, June 19, 2008 Cahaba Grand Conference Center, Birmingham, AL
Spend the morning with ALACAD, an authorized AutoCAD Civil 3D reseller, and Earl Dudley Inc., an authorized Topcon Positioning dealer, for a fun and informative workshop presented by Autodesk Technical Expert Jerry Bartels that takes you from “Field to Finish” and demonstrates the new survey functionality in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009. You will be able to experience this for yourself by surveying a section of the conference center using a Topcon data collector and then bringing those points inside AutoCAD Civil 3D for modeling. For a true field to finish solution, Topcon with AutoCAD Civil 3D is the only choice. Certificates of completion will be provided at the end of this workshop for claiming professional education credits. Register here.
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Free Highway and Road Design Seminar in Huntsville, AL |
8:00 - 11:00 am, June 20, 2008 The Heritage Club, Huntsville, AL
Change is the only thing that is constant in Local Road design. Even the most minor design change can have a significant impact on the time you have to spend finishing a project. Valuable time that could be spent on better design is spent on costly re-work. Explore how you can save significant time and deliver higher quality designs with Autodesk Road Design solutions. Join your peers for a free Executive Breakfast and hear about what's happening in transportation design around the country and in the southeast. Tom Igou and Dave Fagerman of Autodesk's Government Division will share their industry knowledge and design backgrounds. Both bring more than 25 years to the highway & road design environment, including DOTs and local public works organizations. Register here.
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Free AutoCAD® P&ID® Seminar in Decatur, AL |
8:00 - 10:00 am, June 24, 2008 The Holiday Inn, Decatur, AL
Create, modify, and manage piping and instrumentation diagrams with AutoCAD P&ID software. Built on the popular AutoCAD platform, AutoCAD P&ID is easy to use and familiar to designers and engineers, so design teams can get started immediately with little or no training. Common tasks performed every day are streamlined to boost productivity, while component and line information is brought straight to drafters as they work. Join ALACAD at this FREE seminar to learn how AutoCAD P&ID, with simple reporting, editing, sharing, and tracking of design information, can help make your projects start easier, run better, and finish sooner. Register here.
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Revit® Architecture Advanced Class in Mobile, AL |
This course builds upon ASCENT’s Revit Architecture 2008 Fundamentals (formerly Level 1) and Revit Architecture 2008 Intermediate (formerly Level 2) textbooks. The Student Guide focuses on customizing and expanding tools that Revit® Architecture 2008 users work with on a daily basis including the Project Browser, schedules, and elevations. It includes advanced family processes for creating custom cornices and copings as well as stairs and railings. It exposes users to data exchange options with other design packages for energy analysis and massing studies and provides an in depth look at Worksets for effective project collaboration and data sharing within the Revit family of products. Students will also learn how to create and import site information into their models and add structural components.
This course is intended for students who have completed Revit Architecture Fundamentals and Intermediate training and are ready to explore more advanced features in the software. Knowledge of basic techniques is assumed such as creating walls, roofs, and other objects; copying and moving objects; creating and working with views.
Topics include:
• Customizing the Project Browser
• Creating Material Takeoff Schedules
• Creating and Modifying Interior Elevations
• Creating in-place families for copings and cornices
• Working with shared parameters
• Exporting to gbXML
• Working with SketchUp files
• Using worksets
• Structural tools and site planning
• Creating custom stairs and railings
Seating is limited. To sign up for this class, call Charisse Smith at 888-442-3100.
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For Revit® Users: Seek for Content |
There is a new Autodesk website available to search for Revit Content:
Go to http://seek.autodesk.com/. You can search by keyword, browse by CSI format, and filter it down by manufacturer. It appears to pull from multiple websites. It is a one stop shop for all your content searches.
There is also a built in search line inside of the Revit 2009 products that will launch this site:
View all of Mike Massey’s articles at:
http://www.knowingwhatyoudontknow.blogspot.com
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Autodesk® Inventor™ Hands-on Test Drive in Mobile, AL |
8:00 am - 12:00 noon July 30, 2008 Hampton Inn and Suites Mobile, AL
Worried about moving to 3D and losing all the time and energy you invested in becoming an AutoCAD expert? Don't be! This free hands-on workshop can help. Come join us and see how Autodesk Inventor lets you move faster and easier from concept to production. Seating is limited so register today!
Register here.
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For AutoCAD® 2009 Users: Pull Down Menus and Toolbars |
Q: I have installed AutoCAD 2009 (or 2009 AutoCAD based product) and I do not have any toolbars or pull down menus.
How do I get my Pull down menus and Toolbars to display?
A: In the Bottom Right corner of AutoCAD you will want to select the “Workspace Switching” icon (looks like a gear), by left-clicking on it.
You will then want to select the “AutoCAD Classic” option from the list.
After selecting “AutoCAD Classic” you will then see the toolbars and pull down menus.
To revert back to the Ribbon look for AutoCAD 2009 select “2D Drafting & Annotation” from the list.
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For Autodesk® Inventor™ Users: Sustainability, How Bad Are You? |
Well, Labs has an answer for that.
http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/sustainable_materials_assistant/
A new tool. Try it our and give the Guys at Labs some feedback.
It adds information to the materials and can poll that information to determine total Carbon footprint, among other things.
An interesting way to keep track of this information in a even Greening World. I know there are several companies that have add Carbon foot print information requirements to their specifications. So this can help them publish this information to their customers.
View all of Jon Selzer’s articles at:
http://missioninventor.blogspot.com/
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For AutoCAD® Map 3D Users: Label Those Lot Lines |
Do you ever have the need to label lot lines in Map3D? Civil3D users have the parcel labels but with just Map3D it was always the old text command. Try using the map annotation block features instead. Here’s how you can create an annotation template that makes it a little easier. First the lot or parcel lines need to be lines or single element plines. So if you need to use the drawing cleanup tool first to break those polygons or closed plines into single element plines.
We start with creating an annotation template then use the property value “Length” for the value for our length tag. But we need to add a few extras to make it look right. First thing, we don’t want all the labels to be 8 decimal places long, two is the standard most places, and second we need to add the FT (single quote) mark at the end.
So to accomplish this the value should look like this: (STRCAT (RTOS .LENGTH 2 2) “‘ ” )
The RTOS converts the real (Length) value to a string value with the first 2 being the units type as Decimal and the second 2 as the precision. The STRCAT and the “‘ ” (double quote, single quote, double quote) then takes that length value and adds the single quote mark at the end. If you work in Meters you can replace the single quote with Meters, just make sure you keep it inside the double quotes. For the text options use your text style you need and for the height use the value that will meets your standards. Keep the rotation at 0 but set the justification at Middle Center. Use you own standards on the object properties for layer,, color and lineweight.
When you click OK and are asked for ”Specify middle-center of text: ” go with 0, “your text height” this places the tag at it’s proper location with the justification at middle center.
Now for the bearings part of the annotation. Start a new annotation tag and for the value we use the angle property of the line but convert it to a string.
We do this because the angle property returns the angle in Radians not in degrees. So the value will be (ANGTOS .ANGLE 4 3).
The ANGTOS converts the radian value to a string and the 4 tells it what angle type to use in this case Surveyors and the 3 is the precision, taking it all the way down to seconds. Set the text options the same as for the length tag and the object options to your standards. This time when you are asked “Specify middle-center of text:” use 0, - “your text height”, to place it below the length tag.
Save your template and use the annotation tools in Map3D to label your lot lines. When you insert the annotation blocks is when you need to set the rotation value so use the expression .ANGLE to set it. Doing it here makes for cleaner labels and keeps the two lines aligned.
Now for a couple of disclaimers: The annotation angle will be in the direction that the line was created. Most surveys start at the POB and go around in one continuous path. The labels need to follow that rule, that’s the way I was taught years ago and that’s the way I taught for years. However if your drawing is from a source that doesn’t follow that rule or you used the drawing cleanup tools the line may not be drawn in the proper order and will need to be adjusted. Another thing is the text may be upside down or on some of them the length is on the inside with the bearing on the outside while others are vice versa. By setting grips enable for blocks and using the two tags instead of a multiline attribute tag allows you to move and adjust the placement as needed.
The finished project.
View all of Murph’s articles at:
http://map3d.wordpress.com/
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For AutoCAD® P&ID Users: Attn: Vanilla AutoCAD users... Time Saving Feature Ahead! |
I have given several demonstrations over the past few months for AutoCAD P&ID 2008. One thing I have noticed more than anything else is the designers' (that are trying to draw P&ID's with vanilla AutoCAD) reaction when they first see this software. They use terms like "no-brainer" and "I can't believe we have been drawing like we have for so many years" and "this is going to save us hundreds of hours." No joke! I am encouraged to see such a positive response from people seeing this software for the first time.
One of many time saving features is the built in ability to auto-trim and auto-heal lines that have been re-routed on the P&ID. Simple concept?... yes it is. But for those that do not have this, hours upon hours are being spent cleaning up drawings after re-routes are needed. Look for screenshots below.
Above you will see an existing line (blue) that I am going to move to down below the pumps. I have circled the lines that primary line crosses and are currently trimmed out, automatically.
In the screen shot above, I moved the primary line and you can see the 3 lines automatically healed upon moving. This is a 2 second operation. Select the line to move, select the "move" arrows and relocate. The trimming and healing take place automatically.
Again, a simple procedure and a simple concept, but a HUGE time saver over the traditional means of vanilla AutoCAD. Try it out!
View all of Scott Hallmark ’s articles at:
http://hallmarkblogautocadpid.blogspot.com/
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For Autodesk® Productstream/ Vault Users: Inventor/ADMS 2009 Custom Libraries |
After upgrading to Inventor 2009 and Productstream/Vault 2009, I cannot see my Custom Libraries that were created with Inventor 2008.
What do I need to do to make them work with Inventor 2009?
Open ADMS 2009 on the Server and make a COPY of your existing Library that was created in Inventor/ADMS 2008.
Right Click on your library "AI2008_My Library" and select COPY.
In the COPY LIBRARY dialog box make sure PARTITION is set to AUTODESK INVENTOR 2009, and then type the name of the new Database and then click OK.
After the copy finishes you should have a copy of the Library now in 2009 format. To be used with Inventor 2009.
Now in INVENTOR Project click "Configure Libraries" and then click the "ADD" button and you should see the one you just created.
Click OK to add it to the list of Libraries.
View all of Keith Waite’s articles at:
http://cad-dm-master.blogspot.com/
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Free AutoCAD® Civil 3D® Seminar in Mobile, AL |
8:00 - 10:00 am June 27, 2008 The Bienville Club, Mobile, AL
Join ALACAD for a grading demo using the features in Civil 3D. Presented by Daniel "Whit" McCormack, ALACAD's own AutoCAD Civil 3D Solution Specialist, we will begin by building an existing surface and overlaying a site layout on top of that surface to use as a guide for the heading plan. We will then incorporate alignments, profiles and grading objects into the design and wrap up with a Q&A session.
Register here.
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For AutoCAD® Civil 3D® Users: a New Blog: "Getting to the Dirt" |
ALACAD's AutoCAD Civil 3D Solution Specialist, Daniel "Whit" McCormack, has just created a new blog for AutoCAD Civil 3D users titled "Getting to the Dirt", filled with tips, hints and information on upcoming seminars. Visit it at: http://gettingtothedirt.blogspot.com/.
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For AutoCAD® LT Users: Upgrade to Almost Anything for $2495 |
From May 5 through July 18, 2008, AutoCAD LT 2006, 2007, 2008 or 2009 software owners can take advantage of the AutoCAD LT Crossgrade Promotion. For only $2,495, eligible AutoCAD LT software customers can trade up to AutoCAD 2009 software or move to a select industry-specific solution.
Qualified AutoCAD LT customers can crossgrade to any of the following products for $2,495:
- AutoCAD® 2009
- AutoCAD® P&ID 2009
- AutoCAD® Architecture 2009
- Revit® Architecture 2009
- AutoCAD® Revit Architecture Suite 2009
- Revit® Structure 2009
- AutoCAD® Revit® Structure Suite 2009
- AutoCAD® MEP 2009
- AutoCAD® Revit® MEP Suite 2009
- AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009
- Autodesk® Inventor® Professional 2009
- Autodesk® Inventor® Routed Systems Suite 2009
- Autodesk® Inventor® Simulation Suite 2009
- AutoCAD® Mechanical 2009
- AutoCAD® Electrical 2009
- AutoCAD® Map 3D 2009
Call us at 888-442-3100 to crossgrade today!
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