Sept/Oct 2003
Should you customize AutoCAD yourself or buy an add-on? Here are some of the alternatives, plus tips for getting management buy-in
•Rockin’ in the Civil/Survey World • Q&A: Autodesk Land Desktop •The CAD Manager: Pain-free CAD •AUGI Launches the Forums www.augi.com Your Mouse Needs Help!
Productivity
Discomfort
SpaceNavigator ™ Integrated Motion Controller Keyboard
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Oculus, Inc. does a last-minute redesign of a library facade and turns around a new set of bid documents by the original deadline. True story.
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Autodesk, the Autodesk logo, and Autodesk Revit are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. ©2002 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. TableContents of feature Editorial Managing Editor Marilyn Law [email protected]
Technical Editor/PaperSpace Editor John Clauson [email protected]
Contributing Editors Richard L. Binning Michael DeGraw Elise Moss Alireza Parsai Mel Persin Gary Rosen
Production Tim Varnau [email protected]
Circulation Scott McFarlane [email protected]
Advertising Dan Teeter [email protected]
Controller Larry Teeter [email protected]
Publisher Rich Uphus [email protected]
AUGI Board of Directors, 2003 John Clauson, President R.Yoshi Honda, Sr.Vice President David Kingsley, Secretary Marv Muston, Jr. Vice President Michael DeGraw 8 Beth Garrison Peter Jamtgaard Chris Lindner John Moran Should you customize Elise Moss Augiworld is a trademark of Autodesk User Group International AutoCAD yourself or buy an (AUGI) www.augi.com. Autodesk is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Augiworld is published by Solidvapor, Inc., add-on? Here are some of 19601 James Road, Noblesville, IN 46060. Canadian Publications Agreement # 40733013 BPA International membership applied for the alternatives, plus tips for August 2002. getting management buy-in © Copyright 2003 Solidvapor, Inc. All rights reserved.
2 www.augi.com Table of Contents 4 Cyber Support
The Forums, at www.AUGI.com, deliver easy-to-use, peer-to-peer support to AUGI 14 Ladies and Gentlemen - members. Here’s a look at how they work It’s Time to Rock 6 The CAD Manager A Look At The Civil/Survey World CAD 18 PaperSpace Shouldn’t • VBA Foundations Hurt • Digitally Publish It! • RPC and ADT 12 Autodesk Land • The Road Less Traveled Desktop 2004 • Autodesk Revit: Collaboration A conversation with Terry D. Bennett, Methods and Features Civil Industry Marketing, Autodesk 28 Back in the Day
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S ept/Oct 2003 3 Cyber Support
The Forums, at www.AUGI.com, deliver easy-to-use, peer-to-peer support to AUGI members. Here’s a look at how they work
By the time you read this, the complete- Categories and Forums The previous topic, “Moving posts,” was ly rebuilt www.AUGI.com should be open Only the AUGI Forum administrator started by Ed. It is shown “collapsed.” You for business. One of the major features of can create category and forum definitions. can expand and collapse topics by clicking AUGI’s new website is “Forums, ” AUGI’s Currently, there are more than 20 cate- on the plus or minus signs to the left of the new web-based, peer-to-peer support sys- gories and over 50 forums. Figure 1 shows topic name. tem. Unlike the AUGI Guilds, an email- a partial list. Architectural Desktop, based support service, it is not necessary to Architectural Studio, and AutoCAD are formally join forums. If you can log on to the categories. Below each of these are augi.com, you can read, write, and search forums within the category. Most any public forum. Autodesk products will have their own cat- Three different routes to egory. Within each product category there will be at least two forums, named X forums Support and X Wish List; some will have • Select Forums from the main menu more. There are also several “cross prod- bar and you will go to the main forum uct” categories, such as CAD Management page. Here you can select from a com- and Programming. Tip: If you click on the plete list of available forums. category link, it will simplify the display to Figure 2: The Forum Level • Select Product Channels from the show only that category. main menu bar, then select a product Topics and Threads in the left panel. This will display the Topics are created within forums by mem- various AUGI services for that product bers. Creating a new topic is how you present in the left panel. Select forums from a question to the forum members. When you that menu, and you will see a list of the use the “NewPost” button (Figure 2), you will forums supporting that product. create a new topic. The resulting “Post New • Select My AUGI and set your prefer- Thread” window looks and acts just like the ences for your chosen product. Select “Reply To Message” window (Figure 4). My Home Page and set it to “Product Before starting a new topic, please Forums.” Log out and log back in to search the forum to see if the topic already make the changes take effect. When Figure 1 exists. When you post a new topic, make you log in you will be taken directly to sure that the subject is concise, but catchy your chosen product forums. Follow the Forums and Topics and accurate—don’t just enter the word same procedure to undo this setting. In Figure 2, we have entered the AUGI “question.” We know you have a question, Moderators forum, which was not shown in that’s why you’re here! Forum Primer Figure 1. Two topics have been started here. When you have arrived at the forum of BigBopper started the “Welcome Threads and Messages your choice, the system requires you to Moderators” topic. Ed and Mike have Threads are created within topics by navigate through four levels. From top to replied, thus creating a “thread.” This thread members. When people reply to a topic, bottom they are Category, Forum, Topic, is “expanded” showing all replies to it. Notice that group of topic-related messages is and Message. that the newest topics appear at the top. called a thread.
4 www.augi.com You may use either flat or tree style to There are too many text formatting Subscribe to Forums or Threads read a thread. Figure 3 is an example options to go into here, but you should When you are at the forum level, in the of tree style, which displays thread entries know that the “code” button allows upper right area of the window you will see in chronological and hierarchical order. programming code to be placed in the the word “Subscribe” (Figures 2 and 3). You can see who replied to whom, message box without being corrupted by Click on this, and as a subscriber, every and in what order. The red text indicates format tags. Select the code portion of post made to that forum will be emailed to that this is the message shown in the box your message, then click “code.” the address you provided in your above. If you click on the line below the www.AUGI.com profile. The email will red one, it will become red and display its contain the text of the post as well as a link text in the message window, and so on to that point in the thread. If subscribing down the line. to an entire forum generates too much Flat style (click on Flat Style; see Figure email, you may focus your subscription on 3) displays a chronological list of messages. one or more select threads. To subscribe to a thread, check the box “Notify me via email when someone replies” when com- posing a reply. (Figure 4).
Forum Filters In the upper right of Figure 2 you will see a filter box. Here you can instruct the forum to display either all messages, Figure 4: Reply to a Message only FAQs, or only polls (we will discuss polls in a later article). You may use the box to the left of this to display messages of a Navigating the Forum certain age. Levels Search All Forums>> Figure 3: The Topic Level When at the forum level (Figure 2), at Getting into the forums is intuitive, the lower right you will see a search box. but most people don’t immediately see Type in the terms you are seeking, click Use care when replying how to back up. In Figures 2 and 3, look search, and all replies within that forum Figure 4 is what you will see when above and below the topic or message containing that term will be listed. you click reply (see Figure 3). It is best box where you see “All Forums>>”. This shows your current category and forum to reply directly to a topic whenever Forum Statistics possible. To make a direct reply, you location, and is also a navigational link that When at the category level (Figure 1), should see the post to which you are reply- you can use to move up the tree. Click on at the very bottom you will see the ing in the message window when you click the third link to go to the top of the Forum Statistics box (Figure 5). The Post Reply. Your reply will show up in hier- current forum. Click on the second link to fourth line offers some useful filters, most archical order when viewing the thread in go to the top of the current category. notably the “Today’s Posts” and “Posts tree style. You may also use the “Quote Click on “All Forums” to go to the forum Since Last Visit” link. This will show posts original” button, which places the text of main page. from all forums. the original post at the top of your reply (Figure 4). Jump To It is recommended that you avoid You can switch from one forum to asking a new question in a reply. If you do, it another with two clicks. In Figure 2 and 3, is less likely that people will see your ques- at the lower right, notice the “Jump To” tion, let alone respond. If people do box. Select a forum from the list and you Figure 5: Forum Statistics reply to your post, the resulting tree will end will jump directly to it. up many levels deep. If this happens, it Dive In! <
S ept/Oct 2003 5 The CadManager John Clauson
message caught my attention. In response to a thread involving the use of digitizing tablets with AutoCAD 2004, Dale Black wrote that he supervised a drafter who had shoulder pain and asked whether a tablet was ergonomically better. I wondered how many AUGI members suffered physical pain or serious discomfort at their worksta- tions, and what they might have done about it, so I asked Guild members for remarks that I could use in this column. Elizabeth Mitchell noted that she was in her sixth week of physical therapy on her “mousing” shoulder. To prove that using a mouse was not always the problem, Kirsten Larson said, “Two years into my career, I was the hotshot at my company. [I] worked through breaks, [had] lunches at the computer, stayed late, and missed vacations with my family. I used a tablet with puck at an average height table, but my chair was not adjustable and I had no footrest. I ended up with RSI (both fore- arms and under right shoulder blade) so bad I was 100 percent disabled for months, with a 17 percent permanent disability.” In It was a product demo for a large crowd, I tried mouse pads with gel supports, fact, as a partial response to Sarah Watts’ and my right hand got so numb that I had but found little relief with them. I experi- workman’s compensation claim, a physical to look at it to see which mouse button I mented with different pointing devices therapist recommended discarding the was pressing. The next 10 minutes seemed such as tablets, trackballs, and a variety of tablet because it required that she reach liked hours until the demo agenda moved hybrids with similar results: either no too far. Obviously there are there factors to another presenter. improvement or some mild relief. Please that contribute to RSI besides the choice I was in my eighth year as an application note that the benefits of such devices will between a tablet or mouse. engineer in the Autodesk dealer channel vary among individuals, as we will see fur- Before looking at some of the solutions to and I was getting worried. Both hands ther along in this article. RSI from our Guild members, I should men- would get quite numb more and more Always one to practice self diagnosis, I tion that Richard Binning, author of the fab- often, with that tingly feeling often pored over an endless supply of Internet ulous VBA for beginners series described as the hand or foot “going to documents on Repetitive Stress Injury that concludes in the PaperSpace section of sleep.” I was shaking my hands almost con- (RSI), also known as Cumulative Trauma this issue, has done some research in this stantly to reclaim some feeling. My left Disorders. I read James Coates’ account of area for his company. Richard directed me to pinky finger was frequently so numb that I his disastrous experiences with RSI, which http://ergo.human.cornell.edu, the Cornell didn’t even know it was there. I was afraid nearly left him an invalid. A long-time University Ergonomics Web (CUErgo). I could damage it badly and never know Chicago Tribune computer columnist, his Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is prob- unless I saw blood or something worse. nerve damage is so severe that he had spinal ably the most widely known of the RSI Guys don’t see doctors, right? So I surgery and now writes his popular column group. Dan Ulrich explained to the Guild scoured drug stores in search of wrist sup- with speech recognition software. All too that he “had carpal tunnel surgery done ports designed for sufferers of carpal tun- often I found stories of carpal tunnel sur- about ten years ago because of repetitive nel syndrome. I found some that seemed geries that were ineffective or worse. stress. It’s a buildup of scar tissue under to help, especially if I wore them all Needless to say, I was scared and confused. the tendon at the base of the palm that was night. They were clumsy, but were better Knowing all that, you won’t be surprised pinching the nerve,” which Dan said was than nothing. to hear that a CAD Manager’s AUGI Guild squeezed down to almost half its normal
6 www.augi.com size in his case. Dan says he wears a brace when in a rush, I tend to tuck legs and After describing my symptoms to the HR to keep the condition from returning. hunch over, and suffer because of it.” director at my current company, she filed a One noteworthy statement in a CUErgo Kirsten notes the CAD operators, much workmen’s compensation claim for me and study says not to use a wrist rest because it like athletes, must take better care of their I went to see an orthopedic surgeon that doubles the pressure on the carpal tunnel. bodies because they are so important to our insurance company recommended as That is one of the Ten Tips for Using a their livelihoods. “They need to learn to being very skilled in RSI cases. With the Computer Mouse, found at http://ergo. treat their bodies with the respect that a results of a CAT scan and a neurological human.cornell.edu/cumousetips.html. I priceless tool deserves. Above all,” she exam, my doctor recommended carpal recommend that any CAD or IT manager says, “remember that jobs and careers tunnel surgery on both hands and an ulnar spend some time exploring that site. It nerve release in my left elbow. Three years may save your employees and you after those surgeries, I am 100 percent some pain, and perhaps avoid awkward symptom-free. I hope that my experience legal situations. will encourage others to take serious action Other common forms of RSI occur in before it is too late. the elbows, neck, and shoulders. To find This article was not intended to be an out about those conditions, check CUErgo exhaustive study of Repetitive Stress and listen to Elizabeth Mitchell. She made Injuries. Rather, it was meant to get you the following suggestions. thinking about them, and to stimulate you • Ensure that your drafters work at sta- to take action whenever they occur. Please tions where the weight of their arms join me in thanking the following CAD rests on the work surface. Manager Guild members who con- • Make sure they are using the mouse change, but you will live with the conse- tributed: Richard Binning, Colin Cookney, efficiently. A combination of mouse and quences of your neglect possibly forever. Bill Goetz, Bill Hunt, Diane Lanthier, keystrokes can be the most efficient The sooner you see a doctor after the start Kirsten Larsen, Elizabeth Mitchell, method of operation. of pain, the easier and faster your recovery Michael Partenheimer, Gary Sarver, Dan • Check that their mouse tracking is at a will be. One of the reasons my recovery Ulrich, Sarah Watts, and Matt Womeldorf. proportion that allows minimal hand was so long was that I waited until the pain motion for the size of the display. If the was waking me at night.” John Clauson is CAD Manager at Indak tracking is too slow, they’ll have exces- What did I do about the numbness I Manufacturing Corporation and President sive arm motion. described at the beginning of this article? of AUGI. •Work on stress issues. Most people carry stress in the shoulders and this is com- plicated by the use of the hands for ™ detailed tasks. One sign of this is cold or Manage Your Files with AutoEDMS tingly fingers. • Encourage the use of therapeutic devices, such as a warm wheat bag/heat- ed pack across the shoulder intermit- tently during the day. This helps relax Simplify Teamwork and alleviate stress as well. Stretching ...... When it’s mission-critical, you need helps as well. Once or twice an hour all the pieces to come together should make a big difference. perfectly, and fast! AutoEDMS offers CUErgo emphasizes regular rest and stretching periods as an effective treat- automated revision control, redlining ment for muscular stress. Guild member and custom workflow routing for file Bill Goetz uses Break Reminder editing, checking and approval of (http://cheqsoft.com/break.html) and your AutoCAD® drawings at a Bill Hunt uses RSIGuard (http:// streamlined pace. As the deadlines http://www.RSIguard.com) to help them pay attention to those rest breaks. become shorter, it allows your team Kirsten Larsen took several positive to work at their top speed. In a world steps and has some good advice for us, too. of higher and faster demands, “With changes to my workstation, includ- AutoEDMS will be at your fingertips ing a chair with adjustable arm rests, a foot and growing along with you. rest, and a keyboard tray with room for mouse, as well as physical therapy that taught me many ways to maintain good tendon and muscular health, I have now Call us at 800-325-0425 Fax: 310-325-3059 been in this business for 12 years. I still 25825 Eshelman Avenue, Lomita, CA 90717-3220 USA have occasional pain, but am careful about Email: [email protected] Web: acssoftware.com stretching and varying my tasks as much as © 2002 ACS Software, Inc. All rights reserved. AutoEDMS is a trademark of ACS Software, Inc. AutoCAD® is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc. possible. Posture makes a big difference;
S ept/Oct 2003 7 Users seeking a customized, AutoCAD-based solution have a number of options. The Many Some users opt for the home-grown approach; others buy an application from a third-party developer. Here are a few tips for determining which option woAutoCADrks best for you, and how2004 to sell add-ons your decision toturn management “plain v anilla” AutoCAD into a specialized smorgasbord
Some 16 years ago, Autodesk formalized favorite Menu, LISP, VBA (Virtual Basic adding to it as time goes on, you may be its developer partner program, called the Application), or ObjectARX shortcut, says able to handle it in-house,” Clauson says. ADN (Autodesk Developer Network) pro- Peter Jamtgaard, AUGI board member. If your needs are so specialized that a gram. Before that organized effort was The AUGI Exchange service at third-party application isn’t practical, yet born, however, end users were already www.AUGI.com also invites members to you lack the in-house programming talent “tinkering” with AutoCAD. “There is defi- post self-written programs and routines to needed to write a custom application, nitely a grass-roots aspect to the develop- share with others. another solution is to hire the work done ment of the ADN program,” says Amanda If you’re thinking of taking on the job of by a custom programming firm. Many con- Welch, marketing manager for the customizing AutoCAD yourself, consider sultants with close ties to Autodesk per- Autodesk Developer Network. “For many this from John Clauson, AUGI president. form custom programming for clients. It’s years, people have used the available cus- “Many people make the mistake of overes- an option worth considering. tomization tools to enhance and extend timating their programming skill and AutoCAD to perform specialized tasks.” underestimating the scope of work they Determining ROI There are many reasons users choose to must do to create effective and robust cus- Let’s say you have reached the decision customize AutoCAD themselves or find an tomized code. Realistic appraisals of those that embarking on a full-blown, in-house add-on solution from an Autodesk partner. factors should make the choice more obvi- AutoCAD customization project might not Some do it out of necessity, such as those who ous than it seemed at first glance. Internal be in your, or your company’s, best inter- work in vertical industries or those working in programming projects too often wind up ests. Now you need to sell management on countries which have specific requirements being more expensive than purchased the idea of spending more money, above that AutoCAD by itself can’t address. For code and squander company resources the purchase of AutoCAD, on additional these users, obtaining some form of cus- that should be applied to making money. software from an outside source such as an tomized solution is a must. And then there There may also be accounting benefits Autodesk third-party developer partner. are those who simply love to program, who from purchasing software instead of paying There are a number of ways to approach never met a core software product they didn’t your own people to create it.” this. Begging and/or pleading with your want to make uniquely their own. There is another option here, a sort of company’s management might work, but hybrid approach using both in-house cus- talking dollars and cents versus productivi- Do It Yourself or Buy It? tomization and a purchased solution. “If ty gains is a more likely winner. Informal Autodesk surveys indicate that your customization needs are considerable Determining ROI is a fairly simple exer- as many as 70 percent of AutoCAD users and you do not have the equivalent of a cise, at least in theory. John Clauson, use third-party applications and services to nearly full time programmer, consider AUGI president and a CAD manager, says, some extent. And AUGI reports that many third-party programs and figure on tweak- “CAD managers try to estimate the aver- of its members do programming on their ing them rather than reinventing the age number of hours per week or month own. There are four dedicated AUGI wheel. Conversely, if you can start off with that the application will save and then cal- Guilds on which members can share their some mild customization and plan on culate how soon the investment would be
8 www.augi.com returned based on the hourly costs of the hours. Then you figure the saved hours Try Before You Buy particular company.” times the hourly salary rate. The system Item number one on the accompanying Clauson recommends talking to current shows payback quickly.” “Tips for Buying Third-Party Applications” users of an application to come up with the Robert Steltman, owner of Steltman advises users to try products before initial estimate of time saved by using it. Software Solutions, also helps potential they make the purchase decision. To help Any respectable application developer will customers determine ROI and how to sell you down this path, we’ve included a chart provide user references—obtain users management on a software purchase. of several AutoCAD 2004-compatible names and then follow up. Referring to a recent survey his company products from third-party developers. Developers also can help determine conducted among customers, Steltman The developers in this chart have made ROI. Cynics will scoff at this notion says, “We found that not only do users look available a demo or trial of their product because, after all, developers are in busi- at it on an emotional level—how it makes for AUGI members. To access the ness to sell a product and obviously will put their lives better because it saves time— links to these developer sites, go to the best possible spin on the efficiencies but they also need to stress to their CAD http://www.augiworld.com/autocad2004/. produced by it. But look at it this way— managers the decrease in the amount of professional developers with solid reputa- errors that can occur as a result of Do Your Homework tions didn’t get where they are in this busi- automation. If you get something automat- An honest assessment of your company, ness by misleading customers. ed, it takes out the person who can its talent pool, and the packaged solutions ACS Software often sits down with generate errors.” available for your industry niche will make potential customers for an in-depth discus- While time savings and fewer errors are the decision about how to obtain a cus- sion about the customers’ business both good things that will intrigue virtually tomized AutoCAD-based solution easier. processes, then help them determine how, any company’s management team, better If your decision is to buy, there are a or indeed if, ACS’s AutoEDMS document designs are perhaps an unexpected benefit. wealth of solutions available to you, both in management solution can help, says Todd Steltman says, “One of my clients told me the chart accompanying this article and at Hays of ACS. One of the most basic tasks that the work gets done a lot faster, but the Autodesk Partner Products and that document management systems per- they’re actually taking just as much time [as Services website, described in “Vertical form is document retrieval. Says Hays, “If before] because now they’re looking at more Markets and More.” 20 people will use the system and each one iterations. Their final design will be a much will save an average of a half-hour a day better design than it was before, because it’s Marilyn Law is managing editor of looking for documents, that’s 10 [saved] not as much of a pain to look at alternatives.” Augiworld.
S ept/Oct 2003 9 AutoCAD Third-Party Developers Links to demos and trials available at http://www.augiworld.com/autocad2004 Company Description Web Geo. Location BUILDING DESIGN ACERI Soft, Inc. Electrical engineering design www.aceri.com USA Albacore Research, Ltd. ShipConstructor, a modeling tool for ships and offshore structures www.shipconstructor.com Canada Archibus, Inc. Facilities management solutions www.archibus.com USA Architectural Details, Inc. Organizes, retrieves drawings www.details-details.com USA Asuni CAD Pipe design, architectural symbols, utilities www.asuni.com Spain ASVIC Engineering & Software Piping, structural detail, mechanical, material, and more. www.asvic.com.au Australia Autograph Technical Services Productivity enhancing AutoCAD reference tool www.cadcard.com USA Bluebeam Software, Inc. Easily produces PDFs from AutoCAD www.bluebeam.com USA Cimmetry Systems Inc. Viewing, markup and collaboration www.cimmetry.com USA COADE, Inc. Analysis and design; plant design www.coade.com USA Consistent Software Raster editing and conversion; architectural software www.csoft.com Russian Federation Design Master Software, Inc. Calculations, automation, and drafting within AutoCAD www.designmaster.biz USA faciliCAD LLC Facility management software www.facilicad.com USA GTX Corporation “Intelligent Paper to CAD” solutions; digital imaging www.gtx.com USA IDEAL.com Converts 2D drawings into intelligent models www.ideal.com USA LiftPlanner Software Diagrams crane lifts; intelligent 3D cranes www.liftplanner.net USA Motive Systems Add translucent and gradient fills and bitmap texturing www.motivesys.com Finland NavisWorks Ltd. 3D design review solutions www.navisworks.com United Kingdom Oasys Limited Civil and structural engineering; document management www.oasys-software.com United Kingdom Orange Technologies, Inc. Process/plant design, plumbing, HVAC www.cadpipe.com USA R. A. Rezzelle, Inc. Process and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) www.rarezzelle.com USA Robert McNeel & Associates Photorealistic imaging, rendering; 3D architectural modeling www.mcneel.com USA Softco Engineering Systems Inc. Enhanced drawing production, CAD management, more www.softcosys.com Canada Trace Software SA Electrical schematic design www.trace-software.com France Transoft Solutions Turn simulation software; roadway sign design www.transoftsolutions.com Canada VIA Development Corp. Generates electrical schematics www.viadevelopment.com USA HARDWARE 3Dconnexion, Inc. Advanced input devices for AutoCAD designers. www.3dconnexion.com USA IDEAL.com Distributor of Context large-format scanners www.ideal.com USA Oce-USA, Inc. Large-format printing systems www.oceusa.com USA PNY Technologies, Inc. Graphics boards for CAD, CAE, DCC, visualization www.pny.com USA INFRASTRUCTURE Robert Steltman Inc. Tools for civil engineers, land planners and surveyors www.rsteltman.com USA RZI Software GmbH Civil engineering applications www.rzi.de Germany TCI Software Tools and services for mapping www.tcicorp.com USA Transoft Solutions Turn simulation software; roadway sign design www.transoftsolutions.com Canada Verticals Markets and More Autodesk’s Partner Products website is packed with third-party product information
If you’ve decided to seek a software solu- solutions by category: Building Design, search by keyword, then select the tion from an Autodesk third-party develop- Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Productivity Autodesk product for which the solution is er partner, you’ll need a good information Tools, Learning Tools, Professional Services, compatible and the product’s language. source to start your search. These days, and Hardware. Other links reveal third-party Once you’ve found products that appear that means go to the Internet and start products compatible with particular to fit your particular requirements, a click browsing. If you begin at Autodesk’s Autodesk products such as AutoCAD 2004, on any product title provides more detail, Partner Products and Services site Autodesk Inventor, and others. including developer name and link to the (http://partnerproducts.autodesk.com), you Search options include Partner Index, developer’s website. You’re on your own may not need to look further. which lets you find developers alphabeti- from that point on, of course, but the The Autodesk Partner Products and cally by name or via keyword; Product Autodesk Partner Products and Services Services site offers a wealth of detailed Index allows you to search by product site gives you a jump start on creating your product information from Autodesk third- name, either alphabetically or via keyword. list of software candidates. party developer partners. You can see all A site-wide search engine allows you to
10 www.augi.com AutoCAD Third-Party Developers Links to demos and trials available at http://www.augiworld.com/autocad2004 Company Description Web Geo. Location LEARNING 4D Design Solutions, LLC CD- and computer-based training for Autodesk products. www.dtitech.com USA ASCENT, a division of Rand Courseware development, web-based learning www.ASCENTed.com USA Technologies of MI Autograph Technical Services Developer of a reference tool for AutoCAD www.cadcard.com USA Caddex Inc. Modular courseware for AutoCAD and Inventor www.caddex.com USA Landnut Video Training Video- and CD-based learning for LDT and Civil Design www.landnut.com USA New Vision Software, Inc. CD-based instruction for AutoCAD 2004 www.nvsi.com USA Softco Engineering Systems Inc. CAD standards and management tools www.softcosys.com Canada Thalheim Consultants Inc. Training documentation for VBA, AutoLISP/Visual LISP www.thalheim.ca Canada MANUFACTURING ASVIC Engineering & Software Piping, structural detail, mechanical, material, and more. www.asvic.com.au Australia AutoSolids, Inc. Enhances solid modeling, UCS, viewing, visualization www.autosolids.com USA Consistent Software Intelligent assembler for mechanical engineers www.csoft.com Russian Federation Data M Software GmbH Sheet metal bending and roll forming applications www.datem.de Germany NavisWorks Ltd. 3D design review solutions www.navisworks.com United Kingdom Robert McNeel & Associates 3D conceptual design and modeling www.mcneel.com USA Striker Systems, Inc.Sheet metal fabrication including part design and unfolding www.striker-systems.com USA
PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS ACS Software, Inc. Document management and workflow solutions www.acssoftware.com USA ASVIC Engineering & Software Bills of materials utilities www.asvic.com.au Australia CADwerx General drafting utilities for AutoCAD www.cadwerx.net USA Consistent Software Raster editing and conversion www.csoft.com Russian Federation Cyco Software BV Document management solutions www.cyco.com Netherlands Dotsoft A variety of productivity enhancements for AutoCAD users www.dotsoft.com USA Furix Software to enhance drafting productivity www.furix.com The Netherlands GTX Europe Ltd. Raster and hybrid editing www.gtx.com United Kingdom Hitachi Software Global Technology Image editing; line tracing; text, line and symbol recognition www.hsgt.com USA IDEAL.com Converts scanned raster to DXF www.ideal.com USA Motive Systems Add translucent and gradient fills and bitmap texturing www.motivesys.com Finland Oce-USA, Inc. Engineering document printing and DWG plotting www.oceusa.com USA PROCAD GmbH & Co. KG Product data and document management www.procad.de Germany Softco Engineering Systems Inc. Standards translation and more www.softcosys.com Canada Technesis Tracks, manages, and reports on printing and plotting www.technesis.com USA Tips for Buying Third-Party Applications Consider these items when shopping for an AutoCAD third-party application
• Features: Read all about your product of responsive and fluid in terms of upgrades ty. Talk to fellow user group members or choice. Search the Web for independent and enhancements that are user-driven.” post an inquiry on the AUGI Guilds, sug- product reviews and articles as well as the • Upgrades/bug fixes: Do new releases of gests AUGI President John Clauson. developers’ own websites. Carefully the third-party application closely follow • Price: When it comes to the cost of a third- examine product features, talk to other Autodesk’s new releases? Many Autodesk party application, there are a couple of users if possible, try the products out. developer partners get new releases of things to think about besides whether or Most developers provide a demo for trial AutoCAD and other Autodesk products not your budget can accommodate it. purposes. Take advantage of this offer. at least a couple of months before gener- Clauson notes, “Seemingly expensive soft- • Support: Buy only from companies that sup- al release to the public, giving them time ware quickly pays for itself if it increases port their products, preferably by telephone. to test their solutions and ensure compat- productivity and reduces the time it takes The good news is that third-party developers, ibility with Autodesk’s newest release. you to deliver a quality product or service.” in general, have a pretty good reputation for • Track record: Ask for and check refer- Elise Moss, AUGI board member, agrees. being attentive to customers’ needs, says ences from product users in your busi- “How much time will it save me versus David Harrington, AUGI member and ness. Research the company, looking for a how much it costs?” is a question users author. “Third-party developers tend to be proven record of performance and quali- should ask themselves, she says.
S ept/Oct 2003 11 Autodesk Land Desktop 2004 A conversation with Terry D. Bennett, P.L.S.-L.P.F. Senior Manager, Civil Industry Marketing, Autodesk, Inc.
〉〉 Autodesk Land Desktop 2004 unites key processes, streamlines data collaboration, and dramatically increases efficiency
AW: What are compelling reasons for Also compelling on a broader scale is important to Autodesk and on which we users to upgrade to Autodesk Land how this product fits into the bigger pic- spend a lot of time. As we move forward QDesktop 2004 from a previous version? ture. Autodesk Land Desktop 2004 is part with new products, we migrate the project of a product line we started six years ago to information from previous versions forward Bennett: One of the main reasons to bring together the distinct processes of civil so that customers who want to go forward upgrade is the platform change to engineering, GIS, and CAD. We brought don’t have to worry about their information AAutoCAD 2004, which has many great those processes together with this product. being left behind or tied to a version features. For Autodesk Land Desktop Now the industry finally caught up with because it’s proprietary to that release. We customers, the most important ones are where the product has been and I think have maintained almost 100 percent for- faster DWG opens, and the reduction in customers who have Autodesk Land ward capability for all our customer’s project file sizes because they’re optimized more Desktop 2004 are in a great position. It is a data and DWGs for many years. Saving cleanly. That’s important with regard to proven product with six years of experience project data back to the previous version of engineering because a lot of the drawings uniting those processes and in this post- Autodesk Land Desktop 2004 is possible but are very intensive depending on the scale 9/11 environment, having quick access to does require certain steps and we can pro- of the project. So the dexterity of being design information intelligence is now mis- vide a technical paper to explain that process able to open and close quickly and easily sion critical. The industry needs a product for those that require it. allows us to save time as we work through that operates in those 3 modes—civil engi- a project. Additionally, features like rollup neering, GIS and CAD—more so then ever. AW: What’s the benefit of running the dialogues and toolbars provide quick previous version alongside the new one, as access to commands but take minimal AW: Are there compatibility issues IQ understand a user can do? screen real estate. Other enhancements between older versions of the product and include more powerful XREF manage- thisQ release? Bennett: The transition period to ment and the ability to check a drawing migrate between versions is at the pace of and its compliance to preset drawing stan- Bennett: Ensuring data compatibility theA individual customer and not the result dards which is a huge timesaver for for customer’s project information between of software limitations. The ability for cus- CAD managers. productA releases is something that is very tomers to run both versions of the product 12 www.augi.com at the same time provides for a rapid are not sure if the plan is viable and costs ment tools. The goal here is not to replace ramp-up time and transition time that are tight. Envision allows you to communi- what firms do internally, but to provide a minimizes impact on work they are doing cate and show the plan and let people sug- nice secure connection outside any one for their clients. In other words, it allows gest changes and collaborate to buy into company’s firewall where team members our customers to work the new release into the concept. can post the most current construction their production cycle within the organiza- information. With every new project you tion at a time that makes sense. AW: Describe the other products in the have new team members, so to continu- Autodesk Civil Engineering Solution and ously grant new people permission to AW: Talk about the collaboration howQ they fit into the collaboration process. every other company’s sites can get very process. Who communicates with whom in expensive and time-consuming. Autodesk Qthe process and how is it done? Bennett: The next step in the collabo- Buzzsaw provides one secure location and ration process is the surveying/data cap- grants new team members permission to Bennett: Surveyors, engineers, plan- ture.A At this point, surveyors are gathering access important project information. ners, and architects have been collaborating the “on the ground” precision information Once the project has been constructed, Afor centuries on design projects. Today, of the area the user is considering for the Autodesk MapGuide, a Web- and desktop- when we say collaboration, we mean data project. Autodesk Survey allows you to based GIS application for asset manage- collaboration—the ability to plug and play download everything from the convention- ment and analysis, assists in the information between different programs in al survey equipment, GPS, and all the lat- operate/manage part of the project lifecycle. different phases of a project. Autodesk est in the data collectors and puts it in a The Autodesk website Land Desktop, along with the rest of the digital representation of existing condi- (http://www.autodesk.com) provides great products that make up our Engineering and tions that integrates with Autodesk Land detail on all of the products as well as a demo of Construction solution, integrate and share Desktop. Once you get all the information how they all work together in a project lifecycle. the same information between each appli- on the location of sewers, pipes, and utili- cation. Our solutions provide our cus- ties, you can pass it over to engineering for AW: And this process is actually in use tomers with the tools needed to collaborate the design phase where we have Autodesk today? with everyone along a project’s lifecycle, as Civil Design. Like Autodesk Survey, it is Q well as produce the needed information in an add-on to Autodesk Land Desktop, and Bennett: Yes, absolutely. One example is customizable form depending on the deliv- with it you can design sites, roads, subdivi- the City of Seattle. The City of Seattle is inte- erable and the clients’ needs. sions, sewer and water projects, grading, gratingA many of its departments, which tradi- For example, in the land development hydrology, and more. tionally have been silos where GIS was one process, there are six general Autodesk Land Desktop holds all the group, survey was one group, and engineer- phases on most projects: planning/analysis, crucial project information. The project ing was one group. Even though the depart- surveying/data capture, design, documen- information can be shared real time with ments were individually very efficient, when tation/drafting, construction, and manage- all the other professionals on the project they had to pass information from one ment/operation. Within each phase there is team. The same information that went into department to another, it was another story. a need to view information in a unique way Autodesk Survey, then Autodesk Land They spent more time doing data conversion by each contributor in that phase—a way Desktop, and onto Autodesk Envision, is than they spent on design work. he/she understands and that is focused on the same information that was entered By having software tools for each phase his/her particular area of expertise. These by the surveyor. The user only needs to of the project lifecycle, with the ability for contributors work as a team and Autodesk input data once and can use it multiple each to work off the same information believes software that supports them must times. Everyone on the project team is from any source, you can link in all the var- follow that same thought process. working off the same accurate data, as ious players on a project, creating a more Part of our civil engineering solution is a the data maintains integrity. The more efficient way to get the project done. It product called Autodesk Envision 8, which times information needs to be re-entered allows you to get the right data to the right allows the user to present land develop- it increases the chance of errors and people at the right time, resulting in a bet- ment plans to clients and reviewers in omissions being introduced. ter and more predictable delivery schedule terms they understand. Autodesk Envision In the documentation and drafting phas- and a better bottom line. And in the end allows the planner to bring in all the dif- es we offer AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT what you get is a very happy client—all ferent data types from CAD to engineer- for those who want to do plan detailing or because more time was spent with them ing data to GIS information to imagery and construction details and standards, but and their design than on converting data. put it into one solid model, what I call a 3D don’t want to tie up or use an engineering model of existing conditions. You can take application. During the construction Terry D. Bennett, P.L.S.-L.P.F. the imagery, for example, and drape it over phase if you wanted to pass a DWG or is Senior Manager of Civil the terrain model; you can bring in some DWF to a contractor who doesn’t neces- Industry Marketing for preliminary design information—from sarily want to learn how run a design or Autodesk’s Infrastructure roads to houses to parcels—and display it. CAD application, Autodesk Express Solutions Division. He You can show the model from any per- Viewer allows them to read and redline is responsible for the spective to show people what it will look DWG/DWF without the worry of chang- strategic management like from their view, not just yours. You get ing the engineer’s design. Autodesk of the company’s industry solutions an engineering accurate model but have Buzzsaw allows for project file and con- for Land/Environmental Planning, not wasted hours and hours to do it. Time struction documents to be hosted for all to Land Surveying, Civil Engineering at this point in the project is critical as you access and provides document manage- and Construction.
S ept/Oct 2003 13 Ladies and gentlemen of the civil/survey world…
〉〉 A veteran user turned trainer and consultant writes about the state of the civil/survey industry and offers solutions to some common problems
Consider this question: “What is it that from those people, producing either… Survey Issues makes a civil engineering or survey compa- 5. good service to clients and profit, for the Let’s start with survey, since it has long ny/organization successful?” for-profit firms, or… been the case that civil design projects typ- 6. good service and fiscal responsibility to ically begin with a survey of the existing I would open the bidding with: the public for the public civil/survey conditions. That survey needs to produce 1. A good bunch of people that look organizations. two key products: a 2D base plan and a 3D forward to coming to work because digital terrain model of the site. there is… The million dollar question, literally, is 2. a positive environment for them to “What part does a truly empowered come to work to and… CADD implementation play in achieving Field survey personnel need to 3. good, challenging, interesting projects that positive end result?” I believe that the 1understand the digital terrain model- to which they can apply their talents. role that CADD plays is significant. If a ing (DTM) process. In some rare civil/survey organization also believes that, instances, the people that collect the data This environment can result in: top down to bottom up, and acts on it, the in the field are actually the people that 4. Good designs for those projects coming effect can be extraordinary. develop the DTM, but in most cases, they
14 www.augi.com are not. In this majority of cases, it is and in what form. Are you going to send just extraordinarily helpful to have the field .dwgs, or are you going to send the entire Send them to Autodesk University personnel aware of how their work is trans- Autodesk Land Desktop Project dataset? If 7each year. formed into a DTM. If the field crew can you send part of the Project, which parts? visualize the surface that will be built from The point database? The TIN folders? Utilize CADD talent appropriately. If their work as they are collecting the data, We now widen the discussion out to all 8someone rises above the average they are guaranteed to collect the data civil design and survey organizations. CADD ability level through his or her own more efficiently, thereby expediting the efforts and natural affinity for CADD, don’t creation of an accurate DTM. waste this person’s time with mindless cor- Figure out who your CADD gurus rections and redlines. So many times I have Field work should be closely tied to 5are. These are the people that really seen CADD-illiterate management assign 2the use of description keys. They are understand this thing—eat, sleep, and this type of work to the wrong people easy to implement and are a significant breathe it; those who keep current with because they don’t understand the process enhancement to the process. Description the technology. They are not necessarily at all and see anyone who can use CADD as keys enable the automated placement and your IT people, and in fact often are not a “warm body” to get their work done. This sizing of symbols, layering of points, and the computer hardware and networking usually leads to one end result: the talented generation of full descriptions. systems gurus. Make one or two of these people burn out and leave. people key players in the organization. For Implement some form of automated every project your company is working on, Have regular meetings to discuss 3linework. There are several options have one of these people at the kick-off meetings for the sole purpose of steering 9CADD issues—at least one hour available today to get 2D and 3D linework once a month, more if possible. I’m not drawn for you. Utilize one of them. the CADD effort to make sure it is done talking about what color layer “X-EOP” Automated linework generation aids great- with the highest level of efficiency possi- should be. Let’s get real here. It doesn’t ly in the creation of the 2D base plan and ble. Have them keep an eye on the CADD matter what color layer “X-EOP” should the 3D DTM. process as the project proceeds. be. Pick one and get on with it. I’m talking about CADD methodology such as how Establish what data is to be passed on If you don’t have CADD gurus, hire you are going to use x-refs, or North 4to the design department, or client, 6at least one. Rotation. Important stuff.
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S ept/Oct 2003 15 the design team needs to be As, but Bs are how to accomplish it. Then that person’s Document your standards, a real problem. work needs to be checked on a regular basis 10methods, and CADD policies to make sure it is done correctly. on an internal intranet site. Make sure all CADD Literacy new employees read it thoroughly. I know this one is controversial, but it Stranger Than Fiction needs to be recognized. We are at a point Please indulge me while I share a few in history in the civil engineering industry short anecdotes. As Dave Barry says, I’m And while we’re on the subject where many of the individuals that have not making this up. 11of new employees, if you are risen to the role of project manager are •A new CADD technician is hired, given hiring someone who is expected to do CADD illiterate. They are usually a set of plans that need to be changed CADD work, make sure they actually know extremely knowledgeable people in all from one scale to another, and left to his how to do CADD, using the software you other aspects of the business and are in own devices. A week later, progress is use, before you hire them. Give them a their current roles due to many years of checked, and to the assigner’s disap- test. We used to give secretaries typing hard work, but their lack of understanding pointment, the progress has been tests and while I realize we live in a new of the CADD process is often crippling to extremely slow. The technician has been world of political correctness and equal a project’s overall success. Project man- using an AutoCAD SCALE command, opportunity, it is ridiculous to hire someone agers are the generals in the civil engineer- one piece of text at a time, to painfully to do CADD that can’t, and expect them to ing world, but so many of them have and tediously redo the plans. Nobody learn on the job. All that does is burden the absolutely no idea how to use the tool to showed him any of the various shortcuts staff that actually knows. It is great to hire that could have been used at the outset. people who want to learn CADD on the • Another project manager needs some job, on your clock, but you had better know profiles drawn. A brief explanation of that going into it, not after the fact. Start what is needed is relayed to the techni- them out doing simple redline edits and cian assigned the task, and again, he is simpler tasks to free up your more experi- left to his own devices. The technician, enced CADD users to do more complex unfamiliar with how to accomplish this work. It’s all about who does what. with Autodesk Land Desktop, proceeds to draw the profiles by hand with The concept of CADD literacy AutoCAD commands. 12is itself greatly misunderstood. •A set of sewer plans needs to be devel- The general concept today remains that oped. Unfamiliar with how to use Pipes in either: Civil Design, the technician draws the a) You do CADD all the time, know what pipes and all of the annotation on the pro- commands to do, in which order, eat files, by hand, with AutoCAD commands. drink and breathe the stuff, are a classic •A redesign of a subdivision is required. CADD jockey (aka a weirdo), or Somewhat familiar with AutoCAD, but b) You never touch the stuff...you don’t unfamiliar with the use of the Vertical know anything about it, you don’t want Alignment editor in Civil Design, the to know, and you truly believe that you get their jobs done. They once knew, when project engineer redesigns the entire don’t need to know. People sometimes it was done by hand. They knew how long subdivision roadway design by hand, tend to think of things the way they were things should take; they knew the and then hands it to a technician to “put when the first heard of them—kind of sequence in which things should be done; into CADD.” like thinking of people the way they they understood the process intimately. Are you cringing yet? I hope so. This is were when you last saw them. When But today, many of them have lost touch simply not acceptable. The solution is not AutoCAD hit the streets in 1982, it was with the process; it is a mystery to them, unachievable. The first step is to admit you introduced as “Drafting on a and a source of great frustration. have a problem. Computer,” and that’s actually pretty Thankfully, the solution is not a difficult much what it was. There are many peo- one. First, project managers need to get System Misuse ple in this group that first heard about it enough training to understand the CADD When I started in this business in 1979, as such and still basically think of it in process, even if they will never actually do it there were engineers and there were those terms. themselves. They must be able to at least drafters. The engineers developed a design speak the language and understand the on paper, and the drafters drew the plans There is another possibility that many basic principles. After that, they must con- with ink on mylar. CADD is computer overlook: sciously defer the overseeing of the CADD aided design and drafting. As you read this, c) You don’t actually use the software to do implementation to a qualified individual. A hear Jim Morrison of The Doors scream- design yourself, but you understand what project manager cannot just drop a set of ing, “CADD IS NOT DRAFTING ON A it is, how it works, you speak the lan- plans on a technician’s desk, quickly explain COMPUTER!!!” guage, you understand the process, and what they need done, and then walk away If your organization has senior design- you make sure that it is engaged to the and hope for the best. Someone has to eval- ers/project engineers/project managers fullest potential on all of the projects for uate the task at hand, develop a strategy for developing designs on paper and then which you are responsible. the most efficient solution, and make sure handing those paper plans over to a The key today is this: not everyone on the individual assigned the task understands CADD technician/designer to trace, you
16 www.augi.com are using your systems as $10,000 Etch-a- Sketches. If instead, the senior design- Learn Autodesk Map. You paid Full CAD Classes ers/project engineers/project managers 18for it, it’s inside of Land indicated their design ideas and parame- Desktop, and it is an extraordinarily pow- ters to the CADD technicians/designers to erful program. Learn what it can do and for only $49 develop with the software, a very different how it can be applied to the work done in dynamic is in place. your organization. For instance, do you Same Lessons & Examples Try “For this roadway into the subdivi- ever need to determine what percentage As Our Classroom Sessions! sion, we’re going to run a 2 percent grade of each proposed lot is which soil type? Try from the existing edge of pavement all the using a Map overlay analysis of two poly- 4D Technologies has created a suite of way to the cul-de-sac. For the cul-de-sac gon topologies. Computer Based Training (CBT) CDs we’ll use a 1 percent grade in, halfway featuring the same topics and techniques around, and a –1 percent grade the other Use 3D. All of the data in a covered in our classroom sessions. half way back out. Work up the profile for Industry experts walk you step-by-step 19project is three-dimensional, through onscreen examples and provide that for me.” It works great to have the unless you are designing helicopter land- lead designer sit with the CADD designer tips & options not available in other self- ing pads on the Bonneville Salt Flats. paced training. to try out scenarios. The engineer is learn- Use Autodesk Land Desktop to view your ing about CADD, and the CADD design- projects in 3D and to show your projects to Our CBTs are the most cost-effective and er is learning about design. They are both the design team, the Planning and Tech convenient way for you to improve your becoming more valuable to themselves Review Boards, and the public. They will design software skills. and to the organization. appreciate it. Autodesk Land Desktop Tips Now back to the list. How about Use drawing viewer software Autodesk Land Desktop specifically? Here 20throughout the organization. are a few guidelines. Designers, project managers, and princi- pals should be keeping tabs on works in CBT Classes For $49* Each: Don’t let anyone near it that progress with a viewer, not a million time- wasting paper prints, even if they still go to 13hasn’t had at least some - Architectural Desktop - Basics fundamental quality training. They can use paper to do redline markups. - ADT - Creating Working Drawings viewers, AutoCAD LT, or even AutoCAD - ADT - Curtain Walls/Struct. Members - ADT - Slabs, Stairs, Rails, Roofs itself, but keep them away from Autodesk Slow down a little. It is amazing - ADT - Conceptual Design Tools Land Desktop. 21how many people I have trained drive the software a little too fast, - Land Desktop - Projects, Settings Make sure the people using resulting in a lot a needless repetition of - Land Desktop - Alignments, Parcels... 14Autodesk Land Desktop con- work or avoidable dead ends. Read each - Land Desktop - Linework, Labeling... tinue to receive regular quality training. dialog box and command line dialog care- fully, don’t just blast through them. - Autodesk Civil - Hydrology Learn how to do roadway design. Learn - Autodesk Civil - Highways how to do site design. Learn how to use - Autodesk Civil - Grading Pipes. Let me put it another way: Training, Autodesk has successfully created an - Autodesk Survey - Basics Training, Training… enormous installed base of this software. It - Autodesk Map - Intro. is high time we seriously put it to the task. - Autodesk Map - Advanced
Utilize Land Desktop projects Gary Rosen, aka Professor * Buy as a Series and save even more! 15to work efficiently. Don’t carry Landnut,began working on everything around in drawing files that a survey crew in 1979, went could be accessed in Projects instead, like from there to board draft- Request a free Demo CD with Points and TINs. ing for seven years, and over 60 sample lessons! began using AutoCAD and 888-816-4959 Use Land Desktop prototypes the DCA Civil Application 16to store LDT settings to be software in 1987.Today,Gary owns and oper- used on all drawings. ates Electric Pelican Ink CADD Consulting 4D Technologies offers training for Services, Salisbury, New Hampshire, the com- AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, Architectural pany he founded in 1991. His training videos, Desktop, Land Desktop, Civil, Survey, Map, Make sure the Land Desktop Autodesk Land Desktop in a Nutshell, the Inventor and more. See a list of titles at: 17“Data” folder is on the network, Movie, and Autodesk Civil Design in a http://www.4dtechnologies.net. and being shared by all users in the Nutshell, the Movie,were reviewed in the organization. This way they will at least be May/June 2003 issue of Augiworld.Visit using the same Contour Styles, Label http://www.landnut.com for more informa- Styles, Drawing Setups, Menu Palettes, tion about these training materials and visit Roadway Templates, and of course, again, http://www.electricpelicanink.com for more Project Prototypes. information about his company. S ept/Oct 2003 17 PaperSpace
VBA Foundations Final installment in this series “As quickly as you can...take the pebble some of the key concepts of the interface. and finish by returning to that original Bill from my hand,” he had said as he extend- The fourth and fifth articles actually con- Gates quote. The stated goal of a common ed his hand toward you. You tried, but you tained some example code utilizing the macro language has been realized in the opened your hand only to find that it was command line interface and intrinsic VBA language. This commonality pro- still empty. Looking down at your hand you objects. It was in the fourth article that our motes code that can work both inside and hear, “When you can take the pebble from first macro was written. The fifth article outside of AutoCAD as well as many other my hand, it will be time for you to leave.” explored common programming con- VBA-enabled applications. Note that there (Master Kahn, Kung Fu) Upon completion structs such as loops, variables, functions, are now hundreds of applications that can of this last lesson—the twelfth in the VBA for Beginners series—you will have all the tools necessary to snatch that pebble and much more. But before we proceed with this lesson, let’s review all that we have accomplished thus far. Remember the quote from Part One? “My vision for the future is that PC sys- tems will evolve to the point where the user is not even aware that different applica- tions are being invoked to produce a docu- ment. One essential element in this vision is a common macro language. A common macro language will have several advan- tages for users. First, it will be easy to use. Second, it will be the same in a variety of applications. Finally, by using agents—a graphical interface “operative” that can cross applications boundaries—users can work in one application and call parts of etc. By the midpoint of this series we were be programmed in this way. The key to other applications into play as needed, or deeply exploring the built-in functions controlling this type of automation applica- they can start from outside any application provided in the VBA language itself. Part tion is to have a firm understanding of the and tie them together in various ways...” seven began the exploration of the “Visual” application’s object model. Be aware that —Bill Gates, Chief Software Architect, portion of our studies by looking at each application’s object model is different Microsoft, Inc., Guest Editorial, BasicPro Userforms, objects, controls, and demon- and is programmable to varying degrees. Magazine, 1991 strated the usage of some of the implied Where some object models are well objects like “Me,” which make program- developed and allow access to virtually Ponder that quote while I reassemble ming in VBA so much easier. Parts eight every interface and function, others only the pieces of our VBA puzzle. I began this and nine were devoted to error trapping, allow minimal interaction. Remember, too, series with that quote as a means of debugging, and demonstrating how to best that once you become familiar with an demonstrating both the philosophy and make use of the editor for these purposes. object model or two, the rest will fall into enthusiasm behind the Visual Basic phe- In part ten, we returned to the core con- place quite easily and rapidly with but a nomenon. That introductory article paved cepts of the VBA language, explored the little exploration. the way for our further learning by review- Object Model and the tools used to expose Can you picture that pebble in your ing the history of Visual Basic and intro- it, and broached the concept of events. hand yet? Let’s take a look at the refer- ducing and explaining some common The eleventh article explored events—the ences from a few different VBA-enabled terms. The second article continued our very heart and soul of VBA which hold its applications to get familiar with the default exploration of this graphically rich and true power. object models and type libraries. The easy-to-learn software development envi- Of course this series is merely an intro- default object model or type library for ronment by introducing the key compo- duction to VBA and as such cannot be con- each application is automatically included nents of the editor. The third article sidered a complete and thorough treat- in any new project at creation. Let’s verify jumped back into the editor and continued ment of the subject, but to be thorough in this by looking at the default libraries that our exploration while further explaining this introduction I must honor my promise get referenced by default when we create
18 www.augi.com PaperSpace a new VBA project inside of AutoCAD. We tion, we create an object to hold an using these concepts. In the long version I can do that by creating a new project, instance of the application and link to that will also introduce the object model for opening the VBA editor, and left clicking object in the following fashion. some of the vertical products and provide on “Tools —> References” (See Figure 12- Dim oApp as Excel.Application an extensive resource list as well. 1) or by simply opening the Object Set oApp = New Excel.Application Look at your hand now. Slowly open it Browser and reviewing the available and turn it so that your palm is facing the libraries. Do you see the available refer- The “Dim” keyword creates the memo- sky. Isn’t that the pebble you were reach- ences? Now try the same activity in anoth- ry space for the application object. The ing for? It must be time for you to leave, er application’s VBA editor such as new instance of Excel is actually created Grasshopper. Thank you for following this Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word. when the “New” keyword is acted upon in series. I have enjoyed writing it. Notice the similarities? Each editor has a the “Set” statement. See you in the AUGI Guilds. type/object library automatically refer- Note: This is the preferred method of enced for use with that application’s object creating an instance of an automation serv- Richard L. Binning is the model. (Note: As far as we are concerned, er because it gives you the greatest amount CADD Coordinator for the a Type Library is a term that is inter- of control over when the instance is actual- Haskell Company in changeable with object library.) ly created. Jacksonville,Florida,where “How then do we access other applica- Now you can begin using your instance he acts as a liaison tions?” you ask. “Simple,” I respond. “We of Excel from within AutoCAD just like between the Information add a reference to the chosen application’s you were working in Excel itself. The Technology Department object model or type library.” For example, method for creating an instance of other user groups and functional departments, to create a reference to Microsoft automation servers is similar. and Upper Management. Richard also coor- Excel, select the check box next to As always, use the online help and the dinates and conducts in-house training and “Microsoft Excel #.0 Object Library.” additional resources presented in this arti- manages large-scale, offsite training for Note: replace the pound symbol in the cle to further explore these concepts as nec- CADD users. He oversees the automation previous example with the number corre- essary. Be sure to download the longer ver- and customization of AutoCAD for 120 sponding to your version of Excel. (8 = sion of this article from the AUGI website CADD users at Haskell,and is also an adjunct Excel 97, 9 = Excel 2000, 10 = Excel 2002, at www.AUGI.com to get a more in-depth faculty member at the Technology Institute and so on). Now to control that applica- treatment and many “hands-on” examples of the South, his local ATC. ® Customizing & 3D Modeling Maximizing AutoCAD utoCAD http://www.autocadseminars.com A Seminars DAY 1 DAY DAY 2 DAY 2 authorized author 2 Coming to a city near you soon Coming to a city near you Presented by an Presented by C Dtech Seminars 1.800.454.4054 http://www.autocadseminars.com
May/Jun 2003 19 PaperSpace Digitally Publish It! If you want to build a presentation of select another page setup to plot the sheet Tutorial your drawings, AutoCAD 2004 has made it (figure 3). This feature uses the saved In this tutorial you will create a pass- easy for you. The new Design Publisher page setups. word-protected multisheet DWF file creates multisheet DWF files. With the based on some sample drawing files. power of DWF you can change the zoom 1. Download the following drawing files factor of the image, control layer visibility, from the from the AUGI website change the view settings, and so forth. In (www.AUGI.com). The drawings are this article and accompanying tutorial you in AutoCAD 2004 format. will learn how to use this fantastic feature. – 2D House.dwg To enable digital publishing, click the – 3D House.dwg Design Publisher icon on the Standard – Chair.dwg toolbar or select Publish from File menu. – Queen Size Bed.dwg If the current file is not saved, a message 2. Start AutoCAD. prompts you to save it. Otherwise the 3. From File menu select Plotter Publish Drawing Sheets dialog box will Manager. A list of available plotter Figure 3 appear (figure 1). drivers appears. Click Save List to save the list as a DSD 4. Double-click DWF6 ePlot.pc3. file (figure 4). Such files can be loaded to 5. In the Plotter Configuration dialog box the list area with Load List button. select Device and Document Settings There are two options available for out- tab (figure 6).
Figure 1 The available sheets of the current drawing (i.e., the model tab and all layouts) appear on the list. You may use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to arrange Figure 4 the items on the list. Select one or more Figure 6 items on the list and then click Remove to put: Multisheet DWF file and plot files. 6. On the list select Custom Properties remove them from the list. The removal The first option uses the DWF6 ePlot.pc3 and then click the Custom Properties will not affect the drawing file. If you want plotter to create a multisheet DWF file. You button. to add more items to the list, click Add also have the chance to protect the DWF 7. Make sure that Include Layer Sheets. The Select Drawings dialog box file with a password. The second option cre- Information is selected (figure 7). will appear (figure 2). You may add sheets ates some plot files based on the page setup 8. Click OK on settings of the drawing files. All plot files both dialog will be created on the same folder. boxes. By clicking the Publish button, 9. In AutoCAD AutoCAD opens the drawing files one by invoke one and creates the DWF sheet or the plot PUBLISH. files. At the end of the publish session, a 10. Click Add message a message prompts you to save Sheets. Add the log file, view the DWF file, or close the all down- dialog box (figure 5). loaded drawings. 11.Remove Figure 7 Model Figure 2 sheets from from as many drawing files as you wish. the list. If you double click a sheet you may 12. In DWF file name box enter DEMO. Figure 5
20 www.augi.com PaperSpace
Alireza Parsai is the founder of cadpanel.com. He is a mechanical engi- neer with more than 12 years experience with AutoCAD. Alireza is an Autodesk Authorized Author, the AutoCAD consultant for Al Khawarizmi Institute, a contributing editor for Augiworld magazine, a writer for CAD Figure 8 Figure 9 Digest, an instructor for AUGI Training Program, and was selected as a speaker for 13. Enter a password for the DWF file 16. In Windows Explorer locate and dou- Autodesk University 2002. He has written (e.g., test). ble-click the DWF file. You will be seven books in Farsi, three booklets in 14. Click Publish. You need to reenter the prompted to enter the password. English, and more than 100 articles for dif- password (figure 8). 17. Enter the password and view the mul- ferent magazines, newsletters, and websites. 15. When publishing is finished, close dialog tisheet DWF file (figure 9). You can reach him at [email protected] or boxes. You may save the list for later use. visit his website at http://www.cadpanel.com. RPC and ADT Rendering is often an afterthought for between some plants, some people, and then press OK. many architects, but a good even an automobile. This launches a version of VIZ specific rendering can help sell a project to a client Currently, ArchVision sells the content to ADT. This is a new add-on available only or a planning commission. While Autodesk grouped in categories, such as plants, people, in Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2004. Revit has Accurender, the newest version vehicles, and so on. Additionally, the content Before you can use the content, you need of Autodesk Architectural Desktop has subcategories for geographical regions or to configure the path (figure 1). has VIZ Render, a version of Autodesk building types. So, if you are an architect in In the VIZ Render window, go to VIZ. With VIZ Render, you can create Phoenix, you can purchase a pack of plant photorealistic renderings and animations. content that is specific to the Arizona area. Additionally, Architectural Desktop Or, if you are designing a school, you can 2004 now supports RPC (rich photorealis- purchase people who look like students and tic content). The big advantage when faculty or furniture for a campus. using RPC is the ability to create views Sometime in the third quarter of 2003, from any angle without having to reposi- ArchVision plans to introduce some sampler Figure 1 tion the content. One of the cool things packs. These packs will be a mixture of peo- about RPC is its portability. You can use ple, plants, and vehicles. AUGI members Customize->Configure Paths. Select the the same content in Revit, Architectural will get a special deal on this new product. Bitmaps tab. Then select Add and browse to Desktop, VIZ, Photoshop, Microstation, Although the content is not posable, the folder where you have stored the free and Accurender, and the list continues to ArchVision does have a selection of Moving RPC files you downloaded (figure 2). grow. This allows you to leverage your People that can walk along a designated path favorite content. ArchVision, the maker of during an animation. You can download In the lower left RPC, has worked with Autodesk so that some sample people, such as Penny, at no corner, you can their content now works with the VIZ cost to try out this new ability. browse through engine as well as Accurender. ArchVision also has some free tutorials your RPC content To check this out, go to http://www.rpc- on its site to help you get started. Lessons and preview the file net.com/adt/adt_new.cfm. First, you need include how to work with moving people, before you place it to download the free plug-in that allows populating a parking lot, and how to use in your model. you to open and read the content in RPC content to create a horizon line. Architectural Autodesk VIZ. The download is a little In order to use the RPC, you need to Desktop comes with over 2 MB and takes only a few minutes, launch VIZ Render. Type vizrender at the a pdf guide on how especially with a high-speed connection. command line in an open session of ADT. to use VIZ Render. Be sure ADT is closed during the installa- If you have an open drawing, the active tion so that it installs properly. The Quick Start drawing will automatically be imported Once you have installed the plug-in, you Guide is located in into Autodesk VIZ, along with any assigned can download some free sample content the Help folder. materials. Select the Software option and Figure 2 from the ArchVision site. You can choose (continued on page 22)
S ept/Oct 2003 21 PaperSpace (continued from page 21) Setting up your rendering is not a trivial Select the Environment tab. Because the RPC people are not pos- task. You need to set up the materials and Set the background color to a lighter able, they are not useful for factory floor lighting. If you installed the tutorial files grey color. ergonomic layouts. The RPC files are used with Architectural Desktop, you will have a Set the ambient more to provide scale and help sell an few practice files available in the VIZ color to a lighter color architectural design. Render folder under Tutorials. To try it (figure 6). ArchVision is not the only source for 3D out, you can open the \tutorial\vizrender\ Switch back to the content for use in rendering. For example, library\library_rendering_intro.drf. Radiosity tab. http://www.autocadlibrary.com/3dindex.htm Download one of the RPC sample peo- Figure 6 On the Radiosity is a source for 3D people who are fully pos- ple from ArchVision’s website. Processing Parameters rollout, click Start. able as well as assorted 3D objects. The prod- Select RPC from the menu. Click the Render tool. Your scene will be ucts are for sale and there are no free down- Locate the person rendered in a separate window (figure 7). loads available on this site. Another source for you downloaded and 3D people can be found at http://www.peo- place in the scene (fig- pleforpeople.com. The products are for sale ure 3). and there are no free downloads available on If you right-click on this site. Charles Bliss has 3D people avail- the display title in the able on his site at http://www.cbliss.com for viewport, you can set use in Autodesk Inventor assembly files. the display to Smooth Some of these models are posable and work + Highlights (figure 4). well for factory floor layouts. Select the Render Figure 3 Scene tool Elise Moss has worked for the (figure 5). past 20 years as a mechanical On the designer in Silicon Valley, pri- Radiosity Figure 7 marily creating sheet metal Meshing designs.She has written articles Parameters This rendering is pretty rough. To make for Autodesk’s Toplines maga- Figure 4 rollout, click to make Global it better, you could tweak the materials and zine, AUGI’s PaperSpace, DigitalCAD.com, Subdivision Settings Enabled. the lighting. Rendering can be a pretty Tenlinks.com, and Augiworld. She is President This simply ensures that all time-consuming task, so I’ll leave it to the of Moss Designs, creating custom applications Figure 5 objects are treated in the same reader to continue the exercise. and designs for corporate clients. She has way when the solution is generated, unless Autodesk Revit comes with a small sam- taught CAD classes at DeAnza College, Silicon an object has settings specific to itself. ple of RPC files, but Autodesk Valley College,Evergreen Valley College and for On the Rendering Parameters rollout, Architectural Desktop requires that you go Autodesk resellers.Autodesk has named her as make sure Re-Use Direct Illumination to the ArchVision site and either download a Faculty of Distinction for the curriculum she From Radiosity Solution is chosen. This the free sample files or purchase a collec- has developed for Autodesk products. She can option will speed up rendering. tion. ArchVision posts new free samples on be contacted via email at elise_moss@moss- On the Radiosity Processing Parameters a regular basis, so if you find RPC files use- designs.com. More information about the rollout, set Initial Quality to 60.0 per cent. This ful, you may want to bookmark the website author and her work can be found on her web- helps limit the time to generate the solution. and visit every month or so. site at http://www.mossdesigns.com. The Road Less Traveled In years past I frequently traveled by car friend of mine suggested I try a different way existed only a few miles away. I liked to Seattle. It was a nice, four-hour ride, I route, a less-traveled road, but nonetheless the trip so much I would consider going no knew the way and was comfortable with a viable route that would take in some new other way. The trip was very pleasing for the trip and considered myself a veteran of scenery. I would be pleasantly surprised, me the many years I traveled it. The point the freeway. While traveling I would get said my friend. is, there probably are many “less-traveled caught up in the hustle and bustle of free- I took the advice and made the trip. commands” in AutoCAD that can provide way traffic, changing weather, and, some- Wow…what a view of Mt. Rainier—a view similar solutions to problems, but we’ve times, hazardous road conditions. I consid- not available from the freeway—and what not yet “taken the trip” on that road. Here ered the trip routine and, after several a drive through much different country- are a few roads to explore. years, downright boring. Then one day a side! One wouldn’t even know that a free- The Scale command asks you to select
22 www.augi.com PaperSpace an entity to be scaled. Next, a base point is larger. Both the scale factor and actual reference option. Rather that typing in a required. The base point is the stationary final size are unknown to us. We know only reference length at the command line, dig- point on which the scaling will be focused. that it needs to be scaled so that the final itize Pt 1 and Pt 2 using the “endpoint” For example, if you’re scaling a circle and size is right at the end of some other OSNAP. This allows you to enter an select the center of the circle for a base geometry on the screen. See Figure 1. unknown reference length. When prompt- point, the scaling will be focused on the The object on the left needs to be scaled ed to enter the “new length,” digitize Pt 3 center and will either increase or decrease such that its point is extended to the verti- using an “endpoint” OSNAP and the in diameter depending on how you move cal line. The scale factor is unknown and whole part is scaled to the proper size, as the mouse. Moving the mouse is one way the actual size is unknown. This could rep- seen in Figure 3. to specify the “scale factor,” which is the resent any complex 2D or 3D part. The next requirement. The scale factor is a procedure would be to extend the upper value that can be typed in at the command line of the part to the vertical line, as seen line or dynamically selected with the in Figure 2. mouse. If the entity is required to be twice as large, the scale factor would be 2; if the entity is to be half the size, the scale factor would be .5, and so on. The less-traveled road here would be the option that shows up during the scale factor prompt at the command line. It looks like this: Specify scale factor or [Reference]: Figure 3
Let’s venture down the road of The scale command is much more than [Reference]. If you type in “r” or “R” just making something bigger or smaller at the command prompt at this point you based on a scale factor or “eyeballing” a Figure 2 will be asked: scale while moving the mouse. Once you Specify reference length <1>: Then with the scale command select Pt travel this road, you’ll find reasons to trav- 1 as the base point, and enter “r” to use the el it more often. The default is <1>. A simple example of (continued on page 24) how to use this option is a circle with a radius of 8 units that needs to be increased to 15 units. What’s the scale factor? I don’t Do You Need To know off hand; I would have to figure it Clean, Edit, And out. But I do know the reference radius is 8 and the new radius needs to be 15. So in Convert Your Legacy this case I would type in 8 at the “Specify Paper Documents? reference length” command. The next GTX Corporation offers the most efficient, prompt is: professional, and advanced imaging Specify new length: technology available today. This would be 15. The circle is now the Use: size we need. • GTXScanClean™ for Office, designed for automatic Sometimes we need to stretch our imag- cleanup of scanned or copied office documents. • GTXScanClean™ for Engineering, a revolutionary soft- inations when using this command. For ware that cleans and straightens scanned or copied example, say we have drawing with an enti- engineering drawings with the single click of button. ty that is too small and needs to be scaled • GTXImage CAD™ PLUS 2000, a stand-alone software to expand your CAD (computer-aided design) environment. It includes raster editing with superior raster selection tools. • GTXRaster CAD® Series, for your AutoCAD® 2000, 2000i, 2002, and 2004 environments. It includes superior raster editing and raster conversion tools. Don’t delay your projects any longer! Visit our Web site at http://www.gtx.com or call (800)879-8284 for a FREE demonstration CD!
Figure 1 S ept/Oct 2003 23 PaperSpace
(continued from page 23) Another “road” we’ll explore are some of with the angle. Then the options: to “Angle,” the chamfer will be made using the options and methodologies associated “Polyline” – allows you to chamfer all the chamfer distance on the first line with the “Chamfer” command. For exam- corners of a Pline at once by just selecting selected and then will use the angle from ple, how many times have you used the the Pline. Knowing this may influence the first line to second line. “Chamfer” command to square an edge whether you use a line or a Pline in your Don’t think of the Chamfer command as rather than chamfer it, or to connect and construction of an object. just a chamfering tool. Using these options trim two lines that are not connected? If in a combination of TRIM = on, Distance “Distance” – sets the chamfer distance. you set the chamfer length and angle to 0 = 0, Method = Distance, turns this com- Remembering that this value can be 0 is and select two lines, it will square them off mand into a powerful connection tool for very important. rather than chamfer them. In addition, if lines and Plines as it will connect the lines you set the trim mode to “Trim,” you can “Angle” – sets the chamfer angle if the and trim at the same time. connect and trim two lines by selecting “Method” option has been set to “Angle.” There are many less-traveled roads them with the chamfer command. When “Trim” – determines the trim mode in AutoCAD that, once traveled, you type in the command, it will echo as when performing the chamfer function. make a lot of sense and provide an increase follows: This is very helpful when the two lines in productivity. It further fills our toolbag (TRIM mode) Current chamfer Length = being chamfered are not connected or with some specialized tools that “do 0’-0”,Angle = 0.0 cross each other. the trick” when any other way was just a lot Select first line or [Polyline/Distance/ “Method” – when set to “Distance,” the of work. Angle/Trim/Method]: chamfer will be made according to the Distance setting. Each line selected will Michael DeGraw is director of CAD software The (TRIM mode) tells you what trim reflect the distance according to the first development for The Freeman Companies mode you are in. It can be either (TRIM and second distance set with the Distance and serves on the AUGI Board of Directors as mode) or (NOTRIM mode). The current option. To make a 45-degree chamfer, set a member-at-large. He can be reached at chamfer length will tell you just that, along distance 1 and distance 2 equal. When set [email protected]. Autodesk Revit: Collaboration Methods and Features Autodesk Revit’s collaboration methods Shared Coordinate Systems, adding another image (jpg and bmp) files into Autodesk and features enable your AEC team to Collaboration method feature with tools for Revit and exporting Autodesk Revit be more effective and efficient during a managing large projects which incorporate views to DWG/DXF, DGN, and image project’s design and production of drawings. multiple buildings on a site and enhancing formats, as well as AVI and ODBC- Autodesk Revit manages all of the project team coordination. Other improvements compliant formats. information in what has been termed a enhance project performance, component This article looks at the first of two collab- Building Information Model (BIM). The development, element customization, and oration features that Autodesk Revit has for single-file BIM provides the essential devel- visualization, viewing, and animation tools. coordinating team projects and focus on the opment of building components and ele- Autodesk Revit’s collaboration features Model Linking method. Another method ments (e.g., walls, floors, roofs, doors, win- can be divided into two main categories: that allows multiple team members to work dows, and so on) to construct the building Project Team Sharing (PTS) and Project on portions of the BIM concurrently is model, display graphical views (e.g., eleva- Team Interoperability (PTI). Worksets, which will be examined in a tions, sections, details, etc.) and the annota- • PTS allows multiple team members to future article. tion of the building model’s graphical com- work on portions of the BIM concurrently The tools and options for Model Linking ponents with symbols and text, and the coor- and update the central BIM file for other provide team members an effective method dination of schedules for a project. A project team members to view. This enables the for managing large projects involving multi- can be one building or multiple buildings on project team to complete the project ple buildings or structures on a single site. the same site. Autodesk Revit provides col- design and documentation in a shorter Since Autodesk Revit develops the entire laboration tools to manage small and large time span. The primary tools in Autodesk building model in a single BIM file, devel- projects alike. Revit are File Linking and Worksets. oping a site with multiple buildings or struc- The release of Autodesk Revit 5.0 in • PTI is the exchange of data between tures would make the project file very large December 2002 made this program official- software programs with different for- and adversely affect the performance of ly part of the Autodesk AEC product group. mats and file structures. These primary most CAD workstations. Thus, developing In March of this year, the Autodesk Revit tools in Autodesk Revit are located each individual building model in a separate team issued release 5.1—its first update under the Import and Export com- project file and then linking each into a host with a number of enhancements. Two of mands. This includes importing site file would improve CAD workstation these features are Model Linking and AutoCAD, Microstation drawings, and performance and provide members of the
24 www.augi.com PaperSpace project team access to each of the building imate origin of the Revit project. Visibility for Linked RVT files. During a building project’s develop- • By shared coordinates: Revit places the Files ment, each discipline contributes its infor- imported geometry according to its loca- The visibility and appearance of linked mation in an orderly process. Often, tion with respect to the shared coordi- RVT files are grouped into their own tab. however, building revisions in one discipline nates between the two files. If there is From the Visibility column, you can cause changes in other disciplines, disrupt- no current shared coordinate system control the visibility of the linked model, ing the flow of the project. With each BIM between the files, Revit notifies you, and or categories within that file. in a separate file and linked to the master uses center-to-center positioning. From the Halftone column, you can site plan file, the design and development • Manual placement: You place the select a linked file to be drawn half-toned. of each building can proceed at its most imported document using the cursor. You cannot have individual categories be efficient pace. • Cursor at origin: The imported docu- drawn half-toned. Model Linking in Autodesk Revit is simi- ment’s origin is centered on the cursor. lar to External References in AutoCAD or • Cursor at base point: The imported doc- Autodesk Architectural Desktop, but it is ument’s base point is centered on the enhanced with features not available in cursor. You should use this option only in AutoCAD or ADT. AutoCAD files that have a base point set. • Cursor at center: Sets the cursor at the Importing/Linking RVT Files center of the imported geometry. You Linking files in Autodesk Revit involves can drag the imported geometry to its a Host file and a Linked file. location. 1. From the File menu, choose 5. Click Open. Import/Link, RVT. You can use the move, copy, rotate, mir- 2. From the Add Link dialog box, navigate ror commands on linked files to position to the directory containing the .RVT and create additional instances of the model to link. linked model. 3. Select the model. You can use the align command to adjust Visibility 4. Set the desired positioning options. See the linked model in any view and set From the Detail Level column, you can Positioning for more information. dimensions between elements in the set a detail level for a linked file or cate- • Automatic placement: Revit automati- linked model and the host model. cally places the imported geometry. gories within that file. Choosing By View Some Tips on Linking Revit for a linked file means that the detail level Models of the target view will be used. From the Display Settings column, click • Linked RVT models store file data in the button under the column to open the memory. Display Settings dialog box. In this dialog • Linking models was intended for multi- box, you can set the linked instance to use ple buildings on a single site, not for the view range, phase, and phase filter managing multiple building levels and from the linked file. This is another way to hosting them in a master building work with levels in plan views. model file. Note: If you set a phase, you must also •You can link and manipulate the RVT set a phase filter. If the phase filter is set to model with many toolbar commands
(continued from page 25) to have shared coordinates (i.e., Location 1) the Change button needs to be selected under the Loaded column. It is necessary and the existing location renamed. Then to reload a linked model to update any the Shared Coordinates for this instance of changes that have been made to it. the model file can be Published or Locations Not Saved column is only Acquired. relevant for links whose coordinates are One of the benefits of Acquiring or shared with the active project. Publishing shared coordinate locations is Linked File Paths can be by Relative under the Tools any attempt to reposition the linked model Path or Absolute Path. A Relative Path is pull-down menu. will produce a warning message and the preferred over an Absolute Path, because When you relationship of multiple linked models or if you move the project and the link mod- acquire coordi- instances in the host can have their posi- els together to a new directory, the link is nates, you are tions established back in each linked file. intact. If the link is an Absolute Path then acquiring the the links will be lost if the project is moved Reporting Shared Coordinates coordinates to a new directory. This feature allows you to determine the from a linked In many respects, linking a model to the location of elements and points in the model to a host active host is identical to AutoCAD’s exter- model with respect to the shared coordi- model. Any pre- nal reference command. Both need to Locations/Coordinates nate origin. This tool is similar to vious shared have their respective linked models or AutoCAD’s ID command. coordinates inside the host model are external references files reloaded to see overwritten. updates and both automatically reload Tutorial When you publish coordinates, you are all linked models or external references Autodesk Revit has an excellent tutorial publishing the coordinates of a host model files on opening the host file. In on Linking Models, Shared Coordinates in to any linked models inside it. Any previ- addition, they both support relative and the located on the Autodesk Revit CD or ous shared coordinates inside those linked absolute paths. But this is where you can download it from the Autodesk models are overwritten. Autodesk Revit goes beyond AutoCAD Revit website. Go to http://usa.autodesk. The Select Location dialog box with Shared Coordinates. com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112& opens and provides the name “Location 1” id=3106396&linkID=2749457 and select Sharing Coordinates for the first instance of the linked model Download Revit. At the Autodesk Revit (Shared Positioning) file. The linked model location name can 5.1 Download Center, select “Other 5.1 be changed. An Autodesk Revit project has internal Documents and White Papers” and scroll Choose Modify from any tab on the coordinates for all of the elements that com- down to the Autodesk Revit 5.1 Design Bar to exit out of the Acquire pose the model in a project. These coordi- Documentation section. From that sec- or Publish Coordinates tool. Autodesk nates are known only in this project. This is tion, select “5.1 Update Tutorial Files - Revit does not exit from these tools auto- acceptable if you have a standalone model Imperial - Letter - PDF.” matically, but waits for additional links to whose position is not relevant to other mod- The associated tutorial files can also be be selected. els or to a site, but if you want the position of installed from the Autodesk Revit CD or Location 1 now shares coordinates with this model to be known to other linked mod- from the Web. Follow the directions above the Host file. els, you need to share coordinates. to reach the Autodesk Revit 5.1 Download Shared coordinates are used for remem- Acquiring or Publishing Through Center, scroll down to the Optional Extras bering the mutual positions of multiple Linked Instance Properties section, and select Autodesk Revit 5.1 interlinked files. Those interlinked files This procedure assumes that you have a Content Libraries, Templates and Training can be all .RVT files, or a combination of linked model instance in the host model, Files. Once there, scroll down to .RVT and DWG and DXF files. and its coordinates are not currently Download Training Content Files and shared with those of the host model. You select Training Files Common. Recommended Uses for Shared select Acquire or Publish Coordinates and Positioning then select a linked model in the active If the significant coordinates for a proj- host model. Mel Persin is a licensed ect are in a linked model, such as a build- When there are multiple instances of architect who has worked ing model with a linked site, acquire the the same linked model, you need to estab- in the industry for more coordinates from the linked model. lish shared coordinate locations for each. than 35 years.Mel is an 18- If the significant coordinates for a proj- This is accomplished by selecting one of year AutoCAD veteran who ect are in the host model, such as a site the multiple instances and selecting its has taught all levels of with linked building models, publish coor- Properties button. The Properties dialog AutoCAD and related third-party AEC soft- dinates from the host to the linked models. box will show it is
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S ept/Oct 2003 27 Back TInhe Day David Kingsley
Then and Now time, Boulder was one of the first few Internet Purists, who thought the Internet In this column we’re going to look back- nodes on the network. should never be used for commercial pur- ward and forward. After all, historical A lot of people think that instant mes- poses. Anything that leaned away from aca- knowledge is of little value unless we use it saging is a relatively new development, but demic or scientific purposes was consid- to predict what could happen in the future it’s not. The giggling guy was doing “IRC” ered spam. The term spam is also an old based on a current set of circumstances. (Internet Relay Chat), which to this day is term, again dating back to the early ’80s. The first time I saw the Internet in the backbone of instant messaging tech- Compuserve was considered by some peo- action was in the early ’80s. I was working nology. The advent of MS Windows ple to be the tool of the devil because it had at an aerospace company in enabled Yahoo and AOL to put a pretty the audacity to charge people for Internet Boulder, Colorado, and I noticed a access and then display advertis- guy on our project sitting in front ing to them. of a computer terminal typing, In the following years, email pausing, and giggling. Granted, rose to be one of the modern there were a lot of creative rocket wonders of the world, to what I scientist types around there, but now believe is its slow decline sitting alone and laughing at a into one of the banes of our exis- computer screen was pretty tence. I regularly get 60-100 strange back then. Now that we all spams a day. It has gotten to the know what instant messaging is, it’s point where I can’t sort the good not so strange. from the bad. More and more The Internet’s name at birth was often I am deleting valid mes- “ARPAnet” (Advanced Research sages while trying to delete all Projects Administration). The ini- the spam. I have done what I can tial configuration included trunk to filter and sort and route into lines linking a few major govern- folders. Everything I read says ment laboratories. How does little there is no solution in sight. I Boulder fit in there, you ask? Well, find it very difficult to partici- President Eisenhower married a pate in the AUGI Guilds gal named Mamie, who was born because of the additional deluge and raised in Denver. Ike and of email it entails. Mamie spent their honeymoon in Over the last couple years, a little place about 10 miles south other support groups I belong to of Boulder. Call it pork barrel pol- have begun using “forum” soft- itics if you like, but the ware. For many reasons, I find it Eisenhower administration placed to be far more practical than several major government labs in email. For years now, I have been the Denver/Boulder area. a proponent of applying it to the In Boulder, we have the AUGI Guilds. AUGI Forums, a National Bureau of Standards, the web-based peer-to-peer support National Oceanic and service, has now been intro- Atmospheric Administration. duced. A primer on how to use Within fifty miles we have the Air Force the new Forums appears in this Academy, Rocky Flats was the largest man- graphical interface on it and make it avail- issue of Augiworld and the reasons behind ufacturer of nuclear bomb triggers, and able to the masses. the migration will appear in this space in the The Federal Center west of Denver was Compuserve was the first commercial next issue. the largest concentration of government Internet service I ever signed up for, and employees outside of Washington DC. was my very first email account. I have had David Kingsley is the creator of CADPlayer There was also some cold war logic a subscription since 1984 and I still remem- Streamed On Demand CAD Courseware applied, which stated that the geographical ber my Compuserve ID, 70274,3434. I’m (http://www.cadplayer.com) and currently center of the country was safer than the pretty sure that ID is defunct now. You serves as Secretary on the AUGI Board edges. All of this leads to the fact that have to maintain some really old software of Directors. He can be reached at when ARPAnet was fired up for the first to use it. Those were the days of the [email protected].
28 www.augi.com
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You must produce or perish. That’s why ITAC developed the evolution MOUSE-TRAK. It’s made for power users like you. People who use a mouse for 8 or more hours at a time and require a device which eliminates the complex motions caused by “double-click” and “click and drag” applications. evolutio n’s button design saves steps and reduces physical stress. It’s simple to install, doesn’t need special drivers for operation, and its rugged mechanical components assure a long life. Our theory is simple, only the productive survive. Order today. Visit our web site today to learn more and to enter our Notebook PC Contest.
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© Copyright 2003 ITAC Systems, Inc. 3113 Benton Street, Garland, Texas 75042