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July 8, 2005 CADzette- Volume III Issue 8
CAD News Large and Small
My horse, Laertes, is back at home in his stall, next to his buddy, Oberon. The vet was astonished by his speedy recovery. In thirty years, he said more than half the horses he had treated with symptoms like Laertes had died and none had bounced back, like Laertes did.

I told the vet I credited all the prayers of my friends and colleagues. I think well over a hundred people all over the planet were praying for my little horse. I thank you profusely for those prayers because the vet called his recovery a "miracle". My husband credits the prayers and that this little horse has a big heart.

Embedding Images in DWGs
 
I have been working with an engineer in Indiana who is a pain in the behind, but in a good way. He was annoyed because when he downloaded AutoCAD files off the server remotely, he was unable to see the logo (image) file in the title block.

I explained that the reason he didn't see it was because I had inserted it using the Insert->Image method. This treats images as external references. A quick check confirmed my understanding that there is no way to bind images to AutoCAD drawings.

However, you can use the InsertObj tool to bind raster images (and any other external file) to your AutoCAD drawing. In this case, I opened the logo file in Paint. I then did Insert->OLE Object, Create New Bitmap Image. Paint opened up with a blank image. I did Select All, Copy from the open logo file. Then Paste in the New Image File. I used Image- >Attributes to resize the image. Then File->Update. I then used MOVE and SCALE to place the image. To confirm that the placed image is actually embedded, select the image, right click and select Properties. At the bottom of the dialog, the type field should state 'Embedded'.

Extra Help for Inventor Users
 
Inventor users will appreciate the extra tips posted on Autodesk's site. The Inventor team acknowledges that the Help file does have some holes and can be "unhelpful".

So, when a lot of users ask the same question the answers are posted on this website (and hopefully will be included in the next release of Inventor). Check back often for new additions.

Dissed by Autodesk University
 
For the third year in a row, my proposals to teach at AU have been turned down. Ah well, at least I am in good company, Beth Powell (who has taught at AUGI's CAD Camp to rave reviews) was also turned down.

I told Beth that we lack a certain part of the male anatomy to get accepted. Have you noticed the dearth of female instructors at AU? Gosh, you would think they would be clamoring for women to teach in the interest of parity.

Luckily, I have a good sense of humor and self- worth. For those who are curious, I had proposed to teach a class on how to automate plotting using Visual Basic and how to use the new Visual Studio module in Inventor to create catalog-ready renderings. Guess there is no demand for those types of classes.

If you have never been to AU, you should go...the lack of my presence not withstanding. You will get the maximum amount of training for the minimum amount of bucks, plus you will meet Autodesk programmers, users, and vendors from around the globe. AUGI members get a jump on the registration, so if you are not an AUGI member (membership is free) and you want to go to AU, you should join AUGI now to be first in the registration line. The classes fill up quickly.

Quick Links
 
Free AutoCAD Tools from Kosmos

Low Cost Add-Ons for ADT

Free Lisp Utilities from Autodesk

Apologies to readers who attempted to download my tutorial on customizing menus in AutoCAD 2006 only to be met by a broken link... the file is now uploaded and available for your use.