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Greetings!
And the Controversy over Locks Continues....
From one reader-
If you are taking a poll, add me to the list of Acad
users who agree with you about hardware locks, and
more importantly about the attitude towards customers
that it suggests.
Avatech is sponsoring its third annual rendering
contest, with categories
for architecture, manufacturing/mechanical, and
civil/GIS. You can submit
as many images as you want, so long as they were
created using Autodesk
VIZ, 3ds max, Revit, Inventor, AutoCAD, or an AutoCAD-
based product.
Judging is based on technical skill required, degree of
difficulty, photo-
realism and aesthetics. Grand prize winner receives a
Carnival cruise line
certificate, and each category winner gets a $250
Amazon.com gift
certificate.
For contest details...
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A Converted Revit User Prostletizes |
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From a reader -
I have almost completely switched to Revit (still lots of
Acad projects and communication with others require
Acad). The customer support with Revit is a completely
different story GREAT tech support and real feedback
to developers. At AU, the Revit guys were saying that
they hope and expect that high standards will continue
through other applications.(paraphrase) Let's hope.
I absolutely agree. The Revit group has always kept a
higher level of customer support and a higher level of
quality in their software. Revit is much less buggy,
requires fewer software patches, has a nicer user
interface, etc.
There was a lot of concern among Revit users (and the
Revit team) when Autodesk bought Revit. Would this
mean that Revit's quality would start to suffer, etc?
Instead, the Revit team has continued to outshine their
big brother. The Revit product is a hidden gem in
Autodesk's treasure chest.
I especially like (no, love!) that if I have a question,
problem or issue, I can just email
revitsupport@autodesk.com. There is no charge and I
get an answer (a real answer!) within 1-2 days. This is
extremely different from the way it works with other
Autodesk products or even their ADN program. The
people on the Revit support team speak English (yes,
American English!) They are not working from a call
center in China or India (like we users can't tell) and
they understand the question the first time around-
always!
I am sure you are all wondering if Revit is the ONLY
Autodesk product where you can get that kind of
support. Well, if I had to choose, I would say the
AutoCAD Electrical team is pretty darn close in quality
and support. They are in a similar situation as the
Revit group as they started as a separate company
acquired by Autodesk. If you haven't checked out
AutoCAD Electrical, contact your reseller today for a
free demo.
Find out more about Revit... »
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Do You Use Windows XP? |
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Are you struggling with Windows XP? Personally, I
found XP so annoying that I took it off and immediately
went to Windows 2000 Pro. However, I get a lot of
tech calls from XP users, so I know you are out there.
Microsoft is hosting a FREE seminar on tips and tricks
for Windows XP users...one in San Francisco and one in
Mountain View. FREE TRAINING...how can you turn
that one down? If you are using XP, you should sign up
NOW.
They'll cover 90 tips in 90 minutes using Microsoft
Windows XP and Office 2003 products. In these lively
sessions they will demonstrate each tip and include a
handout listing the steps to repeat it. Improve your
productivity, accomplish new tasks, and learn how
much is now possible. Many attendees say this is the
best and fastest 90 minutes of their week!
3/16/2004 12:00 PM - 3/16/2004 2:00 PM
Welcome Time: 11:30 AM
Microsoft San Francisco Office
The Landmark@One Market, 2nd Floor
San Francisco California 94105
Or if you are in the South Bay
March 17th, Mountain View (Event Code: 1032243201)
3/17/2004 9:00 AM - 3/17/2004 11:00 AM
Welcome Time: 8:30 AM
Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus
1065 La Avenida, Bldg 1
Mountain View California 94043
Be sure you register for the correct event - use the
event code to register. The link below is to register for
the San Francisco event.
Register today... »
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Inventor Set to Explode with Power |
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Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), the world's leading
design software and digital content company,
announced today an agreement to acquire certain
assets of MechSoft, Inc., an Autodesk InventorŪ
Certified Applications Program partner and developer of
the award-winning MechSoft product. This move
advances Autodesk's goal of delivering engineering
capabilities to the design department to help customers
build products based on the concept of "functional
design." Functional design is a new, more direct way to
design in 3D. Autodesk plans to integrate key
components of MechSoft's technology into future
versions of Autodesk Inventor Series.
"By incorporating this proven technology into our design
tools, we are able to further extend the value of our
solutions and help our customers improve their
mechanical design process," said Robert Kross, vice
president of the Manufacturing Solutions Division at
Autodesk.
The MechSoft, Inc. asset acquisition, which is
expected to close in March 2004, is a major step in
Autodesk's efforts to build engineering functionality into
its market-leading 2D and 3D mechanical design
software. Although Autodesk did not disclose the terms
of the acquisition, MechSoft's technology will
significantly compliment Autodesk's solutions with many
tools that enable users to embed engineering
calculations into their designs based on how parts
function. Specifically, these tools include:
- More than 50 calculators and design wizards (e.g.
bolted joint, shaft generation, gear, cam and spring
wizards) that provide critical engineering information
during the product development process, resulting in
huge savings in manual calculations and lookups for
each and every component;
- A drag-and-drop content library consisting of more
than 1.5 million parts representing all prominent
international standards; and
- A built-in mechanical engineering handbook that
provides instant access to reference materials that
design engineers use daily.
Check it out »
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What's Happening with AUGI's ATP? |
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Many AUGI (Autodesk User Group International)
members have been complaining about the NEW and
IMPROVED ATP which launched in February.
The Autodesk Training Program is a free service
provided and organized by AUGI. Mike DeGraw, an AUGI
Director, is now in charge of the program. The program
had been run by the ever popular dave e-a. Several
problems arose with the ATP. Members complained
about the rules set down by dave e-a. dave set up
the system so you had to re-register two or three
times during the course of the semester in order to
access the class material. This was to ensure that
members didn't fill up classes and then not participate.
dave also was against creating a repository where
members could simply download class material and not
participate. The big fear was that the material would
be passed all over the Internet. Instructors would get
email inquiries from non-AUGI members years later for
material that was proprietary to them.
ATP instructors can choose between getting $300 for a
six week class or their choice of NFR software. Many
of dave e-a's instructors bailed when dave e-a stepped
down...not that unusual. However, what is unusual is
that I have heard that several ATP classes were
cancelled because one of the board members did not
approve of the class material.
Now, I am not sure what was objectionable in the
material. Frankly, unless it was critical of Autodesk or
extremely sub-par, I can't imagine any reason to put
the kabosh on the work of a volunteer. Keep in mind
these instructors are pretty much working for peanuts.
I am also concerned that this sort of censorship will
discourage anybody from volunteering as an instructor.
Wouldn't it be more prudent to let a class go forward,
allow the participants to score the instructor and
material, and then if the scores are low, not use that
instructor in the future?
If you were discouraged when you first checked out
the ATP program, you should go back and re-check.
the first time I went to the site I only saw three
classes, but it looks like the number of classes has
grown and more are being added every week. Be sure
to check it out.
Find out more about AUGI »
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Copying Styles to a Template |
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A reader from Ireland asked me to provide a "monkey
see-monkey do" explanation of how to copy a wall style
to a template, so the style is always available.
The tutorial provided covers a lot of different concepts,
including:
- How to create a bmp using BMPOUT (so you don't
have to go out and buy a screen capture program)
- How to set up Properties in your Tool Palette
- How to set up your QNEW button to use a specific
template
- How to copy and paste between drawings in your
Styles dialog
Download the free ADT tutorial... »
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Learning from Someone Else's Mistakes |
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I read an interesting article by a software entrepeneur
about mistakes he had made on his way to becoming a
millionaire. Some of his lessons certainly apply to all of
us, even if we work for a someone else.
Lesson learned: Be careful about fixed-bid projects.
How many times has your boss asked you how long
you think a project will take? What he is really asking
you is how much money it will cost. For those of us
who are independent, it is easy to fall into the trap of
bidding by the job and not by the hour. A fixed bid
gives the customer (and your boss) a feeling of
security. They know it won't cost more. The best way
to make this a win-win is to either add a contigency
clause where you can charge more time/money if
additional features or changes are added and whatever
your first instinct is to say - add 50%.
Lesson learned: Be careful about using bleeding-edge
technologies.
How many times have you started working on
something using a cool software app, like Viz or
Dreamweaver, and then later realized it would have
been cheaper, faster, and easier if you had used
Photoshop?
Sometimes it is easier to stick with the basics. This
is one reason why plain old vanilla AutoCAD is still well-
loved and well-used.
Lesson learned: Small ISVs should do software and stay
out of real estate.
How many of us have tried to "stretch" ourselves
and taken on projects where we had no clue and no
expertise? Gosh, I remember using a drill press once
when I had absolutely no business anywhere near that
machine. It ended up costing me time and money...I
saved nothing. Stick with what you know and delegate
the rest.
Lesson learned: Cash is supposed to flow from your
customers to you, never the other way around.
This is an important lesson. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER
do any work or invest any money on the promise of a
big payoff at some future date. If your customers
expect you to spend your time, your money and your
expertise on their problem, make it clear you expect to
be paid...regardless of whether they make any money
from your work.
Read more... »
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FREE WEB HOSTING FOR USER GROUPS & OTHER CADSTERS |
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Cadopolis.com launced CADcommunity.net to offer free
Web hosting to groups
and individuals that provide free CAD-related support
and information. The
server has a standard configuration for web sites, but
can be customized
to suit individual site requirements. A server-wide
search engine can
source individual sites as well as any site on the
server. CADcommunity
also plans on adding several other informative tools
such as news feeds
and a 'directory' structure to categorize the different
sites on the
server.
Find out More... »
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