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Greetings!
Make the right thing easy
As some of you know, I have been spending the past
six months training an 8-year old gelding. As a novice
equestrian, I learn as much from my horse as he learns
from me. Pat Parelli, a noted horse trainer, teaches
that the best way to teach a horse is to "make the
wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy".
This means that when your horse does something you
don't like, you make it very difficult for him to do it.
For example, today I worked with my horse on going
down a trail. He didn't want to go down the trail and
kept rearing on me. So instead of fighting him on it, I
turned him around and started backing him down the
trail. Now, you can imagine it is very hard work for a
horse to move backwards and it is not their most
favorite way to go. Every time he balked, we would
turn around and back down the trail. In the end, it was
easier to go down the trail with his head forward than
backwards. When he realized that every balk meant
walking backwards, he gave a snort and a sigh and
resigned to doing things the easy way.
As we headed back to the barn, I reflected on my days
as a CAD Manager and how difficult it was sometimes
to get my staff to adhere to CAD Standards. They
would often take shortcuts that would later come back
to bite all of us. I wasn't able to get them to do things
the right way until I created templates, set up tools
and menus and made it easy for them to adhere to the
standards.
As a CAD Manager, you can't just lead your team down
a path and expect them to follow you without some
amount of balking. So, you need to make using the
right layers, title blocks, forms, etc. as easy as
possible. Your first step should be to set up a template
that everyone in the department can use with all your
layers, titleblock, dimension styles, etc. pre-set. Even
better, AutoCAD 2004 provides you with the ability to
assign a template to the QNEW button. Create your
template. Then go to Options. Select the File tab and
under Templates, set the default template you want
your team to use.
Download an article on how to create a template in 2004
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AutoCAD - Offset a line at an angle? |
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From an AutoCAD user:
I would like to "on the fly" be able to specify the next
point of the line command as an angle offset of an
existing line. I haven't been able to get it to work.
Create your first line and exit the line
command. Start the line command and when prompted for the
first point, use the FROM OSNAP. Select the end point
of the first line and type @5,0 (this assumes an offset
of 5 units in the x direction and 0 units in the y direction
- you can use a different value depending on what
offset you
want). Then for the second point for the line type@5<45 (or
better yet, turn your polar snap on, locate the desired
angle and enter in the distance value.)
This is just one solution. You could also use Copy-
Rotate. The joy of AutoCAD is that there is more than
one way to tackle any problem.
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Your Success could Earn a Free PDA! |
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SolidWorks Corporation is pleased to announce the
SolidWorks Manufacturing Network Success Story
Contest. This is your chance to share a recent
success you have had using the SolidWorks
Manufacturing Network, or using SolidWorks native data
to communicate. Explain how you used SolidWorks
successfully to save time and cut costs or eliminate
errors during a design or manufacturing services
contract.
Selected success stories will be featured prominently
on the SolidWorks Manufacturing Network. The authors
of the winning entry, both the customer and the
services provider, will receive a Sony CLIE Personal
Digital Assistant (PDA). Entries will be scored based on
actual measured results and the quality of supporting
images and data. Please note that the customer in the
success story must be a SolidWorks customer, and the
services provider must be a member of the SolidWorks
Manufacturing Network.
Submission Deadline:
Stories must be submitted no later than June 27, 2003.
Submit your success story »
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Jobs Available |
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Land Development Civil Engineer (6/11/03)
LFR Levine-Fricke is looking for a Land Development
Civil Engineer with
5+ years experience in the preparation of subdivision,
site development,
and public works improvement plans. Additional
experience in
infrastructure master planning is helpful. Experience
with AutoCAD and
LDD in the preparation of construction documents
required.
Successful candidate will also have experience in
hydrology and
hydraulic analysis supporting design of water, sanitary
sewer and storm
drainage utility systems. Position is in the LFR Mare
Island office in
Vallejo. Please fax resumes to 707-562-7177 or e-mail
to emv.hr@lfr.com
John L. Wallace & Associates is a civil engineering,
surveying, planning and landscape firm located in San
Luis Obispo. We provide services to clients in both the
public and private sectors. In additional general
civil engineering, we also provide services in water and
wastewater engineering. Our land development
projects include residential, commercial, industrial and
institutional assignments. JLWA is currently looking for
an AutoCAD
Designer/Drafter with an emphasis in civil engineering.
Candidates should have 3 years of experience in
AutoCAD and Land Development Desktop. JLWA is
currently using AutoCAD 2002 and LD3. Resumes may
be sent to:
John L. Wallace & Associates
jlwacorp@jlwa.com
4115 Broad Street, Suite B-5
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
805-544-4011
Office Pavillion is a contract furnishings firm in Honolulu,
Hawaii and we have an immediate need for a Designer
(degree in Interior or Architectural Design) with strong
AutoCAD 2000 or 2002 experience. Relocation charges
from the bay area are negotiable.
eileen@op-hawaii.com
For more info on OFFICE PAVILION "A Herman Miller Dealer" »
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Reader Responds to the ABI Mouse Article |
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One note about ABI mouse: It appears to sap
resources, and while it touts itself as Soft Engine-like,
it's still missing the crucial left (pick) mouse button
functionality. IE the pick button needs another key
pressed; SE worked just with a long press, for example.
ABI's a great idea, but needs further work, I think.
Hey, check out DocBar from www.cadwerx.net - it's
pretty nifty freeware.
Skyler Mills
Providence, RI
Ed- CADwerx is a great resource for utilities and alot of
their stuff is free!
Cadwerx »
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Treasure Chest of Utilities Available |
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Custom CAD Solutions is a company offering software &
services to surveyors and others in the A/E/C field.
Their site contains over 200 programs for surveyors. I
have listed several of their more popular packages
below, with links. The bad news is nothing is free, but
if it saves you time and grief, they may be worth the
cost.
LegalWriter creates legal descriptions to your
specifications
(http://www.customcadsolutions.com/products/legalwrit
er)
Topomatic is our field-to-finish package
(http://www.customcadsolutions.com/products/topomat
ic)
LabelPro is a collection of map annotation utilities
(http://www.customcadsolutions.com/products/labelpro.
htm)
For more info on Custom CAD Solutions »
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Autodesk searching for Sample Files |
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The AutoCAD marketing team is always looking for
customer drawings and we're hoping you can help us
out.
As you probably know, we use customer drawings in a
variety of ways including sample files, demos,
brochures, interactive overviews, and the new Design
Gallery.
We are always happy to get any drawings from
customers but we're especially interested in finding a
set of drawings from both the AEC and manufacturing
industries. Although the drawing sets don't have to be
complete, we would like them to include some of the
main components of a project. For example, an AEC set
might include the title sheet, plans (lighting, electrical,
hvac), elevations, details, schedules, notes (Excel or
Word docs would be fine). And the same idea for a
manufacturing set.
The drawings should be created with AutoCAD or
AutoCAD LT and not require any other applications in
order to display properly in vanilla AutoCAD.
The owner of the drawings would have to accept our
legal agreement allowing us to use the drawings. They
can accept the agreement and post the drawings
online.
To submit your sample files »
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Inventor Tips |
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To access the Fastener Library in Inventor R7, open an
assembly file. Select the drop-down arrow next to
Model and select Library.
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Next SFAUG Customization Forum Event- June 19 |
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Intro: Object Thinking
Demo: VB Stair App - Arthur Shao - CADPoint
Main Speaker: VBA, AutoCAD and Robotics - Mario
Guttman
For more information »
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