in this issue
A Birthday Tale
Last week was my mother's birthday....dutiful daughter
that I am, I phoned her on her birthday to wish her
good cheer. I asked her if my father had also wished
her happy birthday that day.
"No," she sighed, "He wished me happy birthday
yesterday." Have I gotten the day wrong? I
asked..."No," she said, "He has wished me happy
birthday one day early every year. He thinks my
birthday is one day earlier and I have never been able
to convince him that he is wrong."
Now, my parents have been married more than fifty
years. But, to make it even a little more interesting,
they grew up on the same block. My parents have
literally known each other since they were in diapers.
Yet, my father, who definitely has a stubborn streak, at
some point decided when my mother was born and that
is her birthday, as far as he is concerned.
My mother no longer cares what day he wishes her
happy birthday...she is happy he continues to be there,
wishing her happy birthday one day early. "It's not
that big a deal," she explains. "There are a lot more
important things to get upset about."
Quick Links...
|
|
Greetings!
|
Playing CAD Manager for an Inventor Class or Team
A common headache for instructors and CAD Managers
is getting all their users on the same page. Here is the
problem:
I have deployed Inventor Professionall 10 in a computer
lab. I installed as local administrator on windows XP.
When the regular student accounts logon and run
inventor they are prompted with an error stating that
the Undo directory is unavailable. This is because
Inventor is using the administrators local profile temp
directory (which a regular account would have no
access to). This is also happening for the "Default
Content Center Files" They are pointing to
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My
Documents\Inventor\etc...
Is there a way to change these default paths and avoid
the error message for the multiple users that will be
using these machines?
By using a log-on script, the instructor was able to get
everyone working properly. Here is the script he used:
;Auto Desk Inventor Temp Directory Setting...
$regPath="HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Inv
entor\RegistryVersion10.0\Syst
em\Preferences\Transactions"
if existkey( $regPath ) <> "0"
if addkey( $regPath ) = 0
endif
endif
$reg=writevalue( $regPath , "C:\Program
Files\Autodesk\Inventor 10
\Bin\Inventor.exe:ScratchDir" , "C:\Documents and
Settings\@USERID\Local Settings\Temp" , "REG_SZ" )
;Transaction Directory...
$regPath="HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Inv
entor\RegistryVersion10.0\Syst
em\Preferences\Transcript"
if existkey( $regPath ) <> "0"
if addkey( $regPath ) = 0
endif
endif
$reg=writevalue( $regPath , "C:\Program
Files\Autodesk\Inventor 10
\Bin\Inventor.exe:TransDir" , "C:\Documents and
Settings\@USERID\Local Settings\Temp" , "REG_SZ" )
$regPath="HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Inv
entor\RegistryVersion10.0\Syst em\Preferences\File"
if existkey( $regPath ) <> "0"
if addkey( $regPath ) = 0
endif
endif
;Content Center
$reg=writevalue( $regPath , "C:\Program
Files\Autodesk\Inventor 10
\Bin\Inventor.exe:ContentCenterDir" , "C:\Documents
and Settings\All Users\All
Users\Inventor\Inventor\Content Center
Files\R10" , "REG_SZ" )
if ingroup("staff")
if exist("P:\Inventor")
;Do nothing
else
md ("p:\Inventor")
endif
$reg=writevalue( $regPath , "C:\Program
Files\Autodesk\Inventor 10
\Bin\Inventor.exe:ProjectDir" , "P:" , "REG_SZ" )
endif
if ingroup("students")
if exist("U:\Inventor")
;Do nothing
else
md ("u:\Inventor")
endif
$reg=writevalue( $regPath , "C:\Program
Files\Autodesk\Inventor 10
\Bin\Inventor.exe:ProjectDir" , "U:" , "REG_SZ" )
endif
;COM Debugging...
$regPath="HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Inv
entor\RegistryVersion10.0\Syst em\Preferences\COM
Debugging"
if existkey( $regPath ) <> "0"
if addkey( $regPath ) = 0
endif
endif
$reg=writevalue( $regPath , "COM Trace Output
Directory" , "C:\Documents and
Settings\@USERID\Local Settings\Temp" , "REG_SZ" )
|
|
Modifying Dimensions on the Fly
So, one of my drafters asks me how he can turn off the
extension lines on a couple of dimensions he has applied
to a floor plan.
Easy, I say, select the Dimensions, right click and
select Properties, go the Lines and Arrows section and
expand it. Then turn the Extension Lines off using the
down arrows.
|
|
Reving a Titleblock the Easy Way
So, I have a titleblock...in the title block I have the
revision noted in three different places. I want to roll
the revision.
Here's how I do it....
Select the titleblock, right click and select 'Find'. Type
in the current revision in the top field. Type in the new
revision in the bottom field. Press 'Replace All'.
Mission accomplished.
|
|
Searching for Donuts
AutoCAD currently does not have a quick and easy way
to select donuts. Robert Bell, AUGI Board member,
suggests that you create a donut block and then use
QSELECT to select the block, but frankly I consider
that a bit tedious, because it means you have to
remember to use the block command whenever you
want to insert a donut.
I can think of a few alternative methods to deal with
donuts. One method would be to create a group and
simply add all the donuts to that group. The nice thing
about this method is you can toggle the group select
off and on, so that you can select one donut, some
donuts, or all of the donuts. Simply type 'group' on the
command line to bring up the group dialog box and go
from there.
Another method would be to create a layer for donuts.
Simply place all the donuts on that layer. You can then
use QSELECT to select all items on the donut layer and
you are good to go.
A third method would be to assign your donuts a unique
width (OD-ID), you can then use QSELECT, polyline,
width = your value.
Whichever method you choose, there is more than one
way to skin a cat or select a donut.
|
|
