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Greetings!
AutoCAD2005 Requires a Lock
According to Ralph Grabowski's latest upFront ezine,
the next release of AutoCAD will require a
hardware lock. For those of you not familiar with this
annoying device, it is a small serial or parallel connector
that you place on your computer's serial or parallel
port. You then plug in the connector for your
plotter/printer on top of it.
The software requiring the lock will simply not function
if it does not detect the connector on the machine.
This is a major pain for, oh, so many reasons. It forces
you to use one and only machine for your AutoCAD
work. If that machine goes south, you're pretty much
dead in the water.
The biggest problem I had with the hardware lock issue
was when I was working in a computer lab and all the
CAD workstations were replaced by the IT guys. When
they took out the old machines, they took the
hardware locks with them. The machines had been
trashed in the dumpster and hauled by the time I
realized that the IT guys hadn't removed the locks and
saved them. Not their fault really, after all - not
something one would necessarily be looking for.
But then - going back to Autodesk and trying to
convince Customer Service that I wasn't trying to scam
new hardware locks. I faxed them copies of the PO,
the licenses, etc. to no avail. We ended up having to
purchase a whole new round of software seats. Guess
who took the heat for that expense?
It took a whole bunch of outrage from customers to
get Autodesk to stop requiring the locks. It seems like
2005 has some great new features, but since my last
ordeal I have refused to purchase any software that
requires a hardware lock. Any product that treats the
customer like a criminal does not rate my money.
Ralph thinks that today's users won't care about
the locks and will go forward with their upgrade. What
do you think?
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NDES Conference |
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CADCAMNet publisher Steve Wolfe led a unique panel
session "The future of 3D mechanical design: lifting the
software barrier to creative product design," on
Tuesday, February 24 from 10:00 to 11:00 am in room
401 of Chicago's McCormick Place.
The computer-aided design (CAD) industry has
simplified its software user interfaces to enable
engineers to create designs more quickly and efficiently
than ever before. But designing products in 3D CAD is
still harder than it should be, often forcing engineers to
spend more time manipulating the software than
exploring all of the creative possibilities. The next step
in the evolution of CAD is to transform the technology
from a complex set of tools to a transparent extension
of engineers' creative intents.
This panel featured five of the industry's top visionaries
talking about CAD/CAM technology, its current
development challenges, and where it is headed.
Panelists included: Charles Grindstaff, Vice President,
EDS PLM Solutions; Buzz Kross,Vice President,
Manufacturing Solutions Division, Autodesk, Inc.; James
Heppelmann, Chief Product Officer, Parametric
Technology Corporation; John McEleney, CEO,
SolidWorks Corp.; and Ken Hoadley, Vice President of
Engineering, Sensable Technologies.
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Solid Modeling Conference 2004, Birmingham, England |
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Take this opportunity to explore the most
comprehensive line up of product development and
manufacturing technology to be found anywhere in the
UK this year. You will meet all the major players and the
key technical personnel behind the brands. You will also
see a host of mid range vendors and innovators with
bright new answers to productivity black spots. Also
software developers with 'partner' products that add
powerful dedicated applications to popular 'core'
packages.
The seminar auditorium is now directly along side the
large single exhibition floor with free entry to talks
(without reducing content quality). This year's
programme will include 'classes' and 'hot topics'
sessions hosted by The RPMA, MCAD Magazine and
Prototype Magazine.
The event will take place March 31st and April 1st.
To register or for more information... »
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Are you up to the CosmosXpress Challenge? |
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Cosmos is inviting you to try your hand at the
CosmosXpress Challenge.
See if you can solve a series of basic analysis problems
using
CosmosXpress, the first-pass analysis tool inside
SolidWorks. If you
successfully complete the CosmosXpress Challenge, you
could win one of
12 prizes worth more than $5,000, including the grand
prize -- a
computer from HP.
Here's how it works: The CosmosXpress Challenge
consists of four
rounds.
Each successfully completed round earns you more
entries in the prize
drawing. There are different drawings for each round,
so even if you
only finish the first challenge, you could still be a
winner. Complete
all
four challenges to earn the maximum number of entries
and a chance to
win the
HP computer. Cosmos says everyone has an equal
chance of winning, from
first-time users to seasoned analysis veterans. Entry
deadline is March
31, 2004. SolidWorks employees and their families are
not eligible. No
purchase necessary to enter or win.
Are you up to the challenge? »
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New Version of Vault Now Available |
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Bringing substantial value to its Autodesk Inventor®
Series and Autodesk Inventor Professional subscription
customers, Autodesk, Inc. the world's leading design
software and digital content company, today
announced a new release of Autodesk Vault. The latest
version of Autodesk Vault extends the customers' data
management capabilities with new functionality that
delivers the ability to create, manage, and share
product designs more easily than ever before.
Autodesk Vault helps customers securely manage
engineering data, minimize version control errors, and
increase design reuse because the data management
capabilities are built right into the CAD solution. This
approach dramatically improves engineering productivity
and accelerates development cycles by synchronizing
the efforts of individual designers, across the
workgroup and throughout the value chain. Further,
Autodesk Vault eliminates complex deployments
because it is simple to install, minimizing the need for
costly IT engagements.
New features such as cross highlighting and drag and
drop help customers maximize their Autodesk Inventor
use and to associate their various CAD and non-CAD
design data together in one place. Users can better
manage data once it is in the Autodesk Vault and use
the Autodesk Vault for larger teams through the
assignment of global roles and permissions, and support
for non-uniquely named files. Additionally, Autodesk has
delivered new features to simplify the process of
sharing designs from the Autodesk Vault using
automated DWF publishing and upload to the
Autodesk Streamline collaboration service, allowing
users to share their designs instantly with suppliers and
partners around the world. Autodesk Streamline enables
customers to integrate their suppliers and partners into
their extended design teams, and provides online
project collaboration, visibility, and control.
Vault allows users to check in and out drawings and
control revisions to make it easier for you to control
your documentation.
Several users felt the first release of Vault fell short of
their needs, but hopefully this latest release will meet
their expectations.
You can download the new Vault if you are on
subscription otherwise you will have to wait for the
next release of Inventor.
To find out more about Autodesk subscription »
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Adding Power to Your Job Search |
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With so many other candidates sending in resumes
these days, how can I get mine noticed?"
Focus on the results of what happened when you did
your job well. Not the duties, not the responsibilities -
the specific results. To do this, look at how you did
your job and what good things resulted when you did it
well.
Here's a quick "before" and "after" example from one
resume that worked like a charm.
BEFORE
Cleaned up Microsoft Access database.
AFTER
Helped retain $20-million contract with top client after
working 16-hour days for four months to clean up
Access database and repair reporting problem using
Excel and Crystal Reports.
See the difference?
Understand that the purpose of the first line in your
resume is to make employers read the second. The
purpose of the second line is to...you get the idea.
NEVER assume hiring managers will wade through a
text-heavy magnum opus to discover on page 3 that
you cut costs by $35,000 last year. Not when they
have 200-300 other resumes to read. If it's critical
that readers know something about you that makes you
the ideal candidate, put it near the top of page one, or
at least mention it there, and go into detail later. One
way to do this is to have an objective or skills
paragraph towards the top of the resume that
summarizes what you have to offer.
To find out what the demand for certain jobs is, search
for openings at the top job websites. Experiment using
a variety of terms.
Examples: a search at www.monster.com
for "registered nurse" pulled up 2082 openings
nationwide, while a search for "art teacher" returned
71.
Keep in mind that employers are reposting the same
position over and over in order to keep their position at
the top of the list. It makes no sense to continue
applying for the same job.
Have more than one resume. Do not assume that
one resume will work for a general job search. You may
want to have three to five resumes to highlight
different talents and skills. For example, you may want
to have one version to highlight programming skills, one
for management skills, and one for design skills.
Before you write your cover letter, check out the
company's website. Then write your letter indicating
how and why you think you would be a good fit for that
company.
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The Batch Converter for 2004 |
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If you have a lot of drawings you want to migrate up to
2004 or down to R14, you should download the Batch
Drawing Converter from Autodesk's website. This is a
free download.
The Batch Converter is hardly perfect. There are
problems with the image preview, how it handles mtext,
and
If you install the Service Pack for 2004, you will have
additional SaveAs Options - including the ability to save
down to 2000. This may be worthwhile if you are
swapping drawings on a regular basis with a vendor
who hasn't upgraded yet. Another way to convert
down to 2000 is to use the Etransmit tool. Go to File-
>Etransmit. Then enable the Convert files to checkbox
and select the AutoCAD 2000 Drawing format.
Another option is to use ScriptPro....now ScriptPro is a
great tool that can be used for more than just batch
conversion. If you have several drawings where you
want to add layers, set up system variables, set up
sheets, etc. You can use the ScriptPro tool to do it.
And this tool comes FREE with AutoCAD2004.
Download here... »
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Using ScriptPro |
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Once you download and install ScriptPro. You can use
ScriptPro to perform any batch process, from plotting
to updating blocks to setting up your layers.
ScriptPro is a stand-alone application that runs
independently of AutoCAD, but AutoCAD 2000 or a later
version must be installed to run a ScriptPro project.
ScriptPro can be started in two ways:
- On the Start menu (Windows), click (All) Programs >
Autodesk > Migration Tools > ScriptPro.
- In AutoCAD, use the SCRIPTPRO command.
To create a ScriptPro project, select a script, create a
drawing list, make sure the options selected are the
way you want them, and then click Save Project
(CTRL+S) or Save Project As on the File menu.
ScriptPro comes with a set of sample files to help you
get started. The files are installed in the Program
Files\Autodesk\Migration Tools directory. These sample
scripts include sample-dwfout, sample-dxfout-2000,
sample-dxfout-2004, sample-dxfout-r12
, sample-saveas-2000, and sample-saveas-2004.
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Another ALIGN Routine |
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More than 50 subscribers downloaded the free ALIGN
lisp routine I provided in a previous CADzette and is
posted on my website in the FREE downloads area.
Allan Seidel wasn't satisfied with the routine I
provided. The one I wrote only works in the default
UCS and he often uses a different UCS.
So, he modified the routine to detect the current UCS
and align based on the current UCS.
Download Allan's routine »
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