in this issue
Autodesk Rejigs Operations for China Growth
You can't change China, so you have to change your
business, says Jack Gao, vice president of design
software maker Autodesk Inc. and former head of
Microsoft China.
There is a group of Chinese architects here in San
Franciso who would very much like to help Jack Gao
understand the Chinese market. Since they are
working on projects in China, they want to teach their
Chinese counterparts how to use Autodesk software
properly, including how to apply CAD standards and
control drawing releases.
These architects have formed their own private
association. Their membership is over 100 working
Chinese-speaking architects, drafters and designers
who all do business in the Chinese market. At their
meetings, they discuss very specific topics, such as
how to deal with Chinese characters in their AutoCAD
drawings.
You are welcome to join their group even if you are not
Chinese or Chinese-speaking (they all speak English
fluently!), but you have to be doing business in the
Asian markets.
Read the entire article about Autodesk's Jack Gao...
Quick Links...
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Greetings!
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Understanding the File Status Notations in Inventor
If you are working in a shared environment in Inventor,
you want to use the File Check-In/Check-Out tools.
To access these tools, simply select the down arrow
next to Model in the Browser.
But, you may get confused by some of the symbols you
see in the browser (and Inventor Help is NO help at
all)...so here is the scoop:
- A white check mark rectangle indicates that the file
is checked out to you and you are cleared to work on it.
- No check mark indicates the file is not checked out.
- A red X indicates the file is checked out by
someone else.
- An asterisk next to the file name indicates you
currently have the file open.
You can always steal a checkout from a colleague...do
this when Inventor doesn't recognize that they have
closed the file and walked away...I am constantly
stealing files from myself. To steal a checkout,
highlight the file in the browser, right click and select
Resolve. You can use the More >> button to check to
see who checked the file out. This is a good idea
before you actually steal the file to make sure that you
aren't stepping on anybody's toes. You can then
select Steal Checkout to check out the file for yourself
to work on or Cancel Checkout to make the file
available to someone else for checkout.
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Upgrading from Viz 4 to Viz 2005
Imagine my annoyance when I find out that Viz 2005
has a third of the maps, textures, and materials that
Viz 4 has? Usually when you upgrade you get MORE
features, not less. So, if you plan to upgrade to Viz
2005, don't uninstall Viz 4 (or at the very least, copy
your
matlibs and map directories to another location), so you
can use those files.
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Using the Asset Browser in Viz 2005
Autodesk has added an annoying dialog to Viz 2005. As
near as I can figure, this dialog will pop up the first time
you activate the Asset Browser in any drawing.
The dialog basically advises that any content you use
may have copyright issues. Now, I use my Asset
Browser to locate files on my hard drive...usually files
that I have created myself. There are no
copyright issues.
This dialog is insulting to the user in so many ways...I
can't list them all. The assumption being that if you
are using Viz or using the Asset Browser, you must be
purposely doing something illegal. And that the dialog
comes up everytime you activate the Asset Browser in
a new drawing! indicates that they really want to put
the fear of the law in you.
Isn't it bad enough that we are practically strip-
searched when we go on a plane, into a sporting event,
have our packages inspected as we leave certain
shops, etc.? Now, we are effectively being accosted
when we are using legal software.
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Creating Custom Tools on Your Palette
The ability to create a tool that activates a custom
command is only available in AutoCAD2005...same with
the ability to create dimension style tools, so if you
haven't upgraded to 2005...and you are starting to get
hooked on palettes...this is one more reason for you to
upgrade.
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