July 18, 2003
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in this issue
-- Traveling DownUnder
-- SVAPU Meeting July 24
-- ADT 2004 Disappoints this User
-- Sean Dotson releases his iProperties Wizard
-- Tool Palette Bug
-- Viz Bug and Windows 2000 SP4
-- Point A Quietly Slinks Off into the Sunset....
-- Defining Materials in ADT
-- Have you visited Cadalog Lately?
-- Shaan Hurley's System Variables List for 2004
-- Latest book from Elise Moss now on sale!

Greetings!

Traveling DownUnder
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I leave for Australia the beginning of August and will spend the month traveling throughout that country. So far, I have scheduled a speaking engagement in Adelaide at the AutoCAD Users Group of South Australia.

I'll be speaking there on August 20.

AUGSA is the only active user group in the entire country. This doesn't mean there aren't a lot of Autodesk users DownUnder. But as a reseller in Hobart told me, people are so spread out, getting them together for a user's group meeting is nearly impossible.

I am trying to set up speaking engagements through some of the resellers, but no firm dates have been set.

In the meantime, my husband is becoming more than peeved as I gather goodies to distribute to worthy Aussie AutoCAD lovers. So far, Autodesk has kindly provided me with some free NFR software (Thanks to Julia Rettig!), CADopia has also given some of their latest software, and Adobe has promised to pony up some goodies as well. So far, I have half a suitcase designated just for giveaways.

So, if bribery is great way to get people to come out to meet you....

Learn more about the only user group in Australia...

SVAPU Meeting July 24
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I resigned as SVAPU president at the end of last year. Dean Villegas, the founder and past president of SVAPU, took back the reins in February. Dean had quit SVAPU to concentrate on making his fortune in the dot- com boom.

Now that the boom went bust, Dean is back in the industry, primarily doing facilities work. The July meeting will mark Dean's first time back as head cheerleader and it would be great if all the old SVAPU'ers were there in strength to cheer him on.

Lynn Allen will be there to demo the latest features in 2004. I have four seats of Inventor that Julia Rettig shipped me by mistake and Julia has given me the go-ahead to give them away to lucky SVAPU members. I also have an Autodesk coffee mug touched by the hands of the lovely Lynn Allen. It's brand new, so her fingerprints are the only DNA available on it. However, some lucky SVAPU guest will be able to drink their coffee from it and imagine they are drinking coffee with AUGI's sweetheart.

Hope to see you there.

For more info...

ADT 2004 Disappoints this User
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I don't know about you, but when I upgrade my software I expect it to get better. Here's the list of what I miss in ADT 2004...

Why did they get rid of the right-click menu that allowed you to access the Desktop, Design, Documentation, etc. tools?

Where did all the great toolbars with all the ADT tools go? Now, you have to recreate them on your own.

The tool palette has a Gee Whiz feel to it and then it is annoying. Having to create all the tools that were readily available in ADT 3.3 is annoying and you can't preset the parameters on some of the tools...like windows and doors. The Set Image From Selection doesn't work half the time. I vote for tool BARS not tool PALETTES. If I wanted to use palettes, I would be on a MAC and be in a different industry.

Also, I don't like the new display in ADT 2004. It takes up way too much memory and when I set to 3D wireframe, I don't want to see ANY shading.

So, what do I like?

It is clear that some of the commands have been made more efficient to save on prompts and entries.

The ability to assign materials is cool. Rendering has definitely improved.

The Display Manager is much better.

I am happy to lose all the pre-set layouts - some of which I needed, some of which I didn't. But the ability to import from my existing templates as needed certainly reduces my stress level.

So, how do you feel about ADT 2004? Did Autodesk mess with success and opt for sparkle over substance?

Sean Dotson releases his iProperties Wizard
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sDotson.com's iProperties Wizard is application that replaces Inventor's standard iProperties dialogue box. It takes this functionality further by allowing the user to define which properties they will be presented. Extraneous properties can be eliminated from the dialogue leaving only those that the user wants to see. sDotson.com's iProperties Wizard takes one more step by offering the user the chance to rename the properties by providing an alias for the property name. This allows the user to, for example, rename Web Link to something a bit more useful such as "Stock Room Location

To download Sean's Inventor iProperties Wizard

Tool Palette Bug
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You create a new palette. You close all active drawings. You then close 2004. Your tool palette will not be saved.

So, never close 2004 without an open drawing.

Autodesk will probably claim this is not a bug. I consider any event which is unanticipated or unwanted by the end user to be a bug. All those out there that consider this a bug, raise your hands.

Viz Bug and Windows 2000 SP4
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Installing the Win2k service pack 4 will render your VIZ files unusable when you try to re-open them.

Apparently Autodesk is working on a fix - hopefully they are working on a way to help recover those saved files as well......

More annoying is the lack of some announcment about this small inconvenience to users.

Point A Quietly Slinks Off into the Sunset....
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To provide you with a more unified web experience, Autodesk has merged autodesk.com and Point A into one site. The new autodesk.com is your single web destination for Autodesk information, design content, and product resources. Designed with your convenience in mind, in the new autodesk.com you'll find solution "centers" targeted to your specific industry as well as product-specific "centers" that contain all the information and links relevant to a specific product. The Subscription content and administrative tools found behind Point A login will be migrated to Subscription Centers that will be easy to find from the home page of all Autodesk.com country sites.

You can still access many of the most popular Point A services on autodesk.com.

Personally, whenever I am told by a company that something is being done for MY convenience, my gag reflex goes into effect.

Point A started out with the idea of being a stand- alone product, a CAD portal, for use by Autodesk users. The plan was to "mine" the data of users who came through the portal for marketing and sales while providing users with some great content and links. They were a competitor to tenlinks, cadnet, cadinfo, and other CAD portals.

They started out pretty badly, but within a couple of years, they had turned it around enough to rank getting a SVAPU Best of Best award, not an easy feat.

Sandy Lurins, who headed the Point A team, did a phenomenal job of building what became a wonderful resource that earned on a spot on my "Favorites" list on my Internet browser.
Defining Materials in ADT
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You can access Material Definition directly from the application menu: Format->Material Definitions...

Have you visited Cadalog Lately?
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The Cadalog website has definitely become a great resource...lots of free downloads, a job center, and some great software deals.

Check it out!

Shaan Hurley's System Variables List for 2004
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Shaan Hurley, Autodesk's CAD guru, does a superb job of mapping all the system variables and monitoring the history of all things AutoCAD.

This is a great resource for users and for coders. Kudos and Thanks, Shaan!

Download a pdf of the latest system variable matrix!

Latest book from Elise Moss now on sale!
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Schroff Development has finally released my Mechanical Drafting for Beginners text for AutoCAD 2004. This book is meant for high school and college students who are just entering the world of drafting and mechanical design.

This book has been completely revamped for 2004, and if you are feeling a little lost on how to set up your templates or customize 2004 for mechanical work - it probably is worth your time.

To order your copy...

Contact Information
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email: elise_moss@mossdesigns.com
voice: 408-395-0855
web: http://www.mossdesigns.com