As I conclude 6 of the most spectacular years of my professional life with Timmons Group, I shift my focus towards the next chapter of my professional career. I am currently seeking employment in CAD Management or as an Application Engineer with a reseller. I prefer to remain in the Richmond, VA area, but welcome opportunities telecommuting to areas outside of Richmond. You will find my resume attached to this blog post, and I invite you to download and share it with your friends.

DOWNLOAD MY RESUME

While I am only a few days into my job search, I am deeply humbled by the outpouring of support many of you have already given me. Thank you so much for your support! Words truly cannot express my appreciation for your kind words, glowing recommendations, and overall encouragement.

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ACE really seems like a centralized sales lead database for Autodesk & its many resellers. When you begin working with a reseller, they will enter your information into ACE as a new opportunity. Once they do that, Autodesk sends you an e-mail containing a simple Yes/No survey on your experiences so far. On the surface, such an e-mail seems rather innocent, but the post alleges this survey as the trigger for the variable pricing model.

The post states a seat of AutoCAD Inventor 2010 is $4,795 if you answer “Yes” or $5,295 if you answer “No” ($500 difference). Under this pretense, you are essentially paying $500 more for bad service, as the reseller gets the same profit margin regardless! Personally, that does not make a lot of sense to me.

Seeing that I work for neither Autodesk, nor a reseller, I really do not know if this post is fact or fiction. Additionally, its certainly possible that Autodesk uses backend incentives for their resellers, as I know such incentives are common in sales. For instance, car salesman usually receive part of their commission from the dealership, and another part from the manufacturer. If this $500 is a backend incentive, and it helps ensure I get great service from my reseller – I’m all for it! Do a good job; you get an extra incentive when you close the deal; do a bad job and you lose the incentive. Seems fair – right?

In other words, if you answer “Yes” the reseller (not you) gets a $500 backend incentive for doing a good job. On the other hand, if you answer “No” because the reseller is not doing a good job, they would get nothing (in the way of backend incentives). That seems like a more logical sales model to me. After all, I have a hard time believing Autodesk punishes the customer for receiving bad service from a reseller. You can read the full post to develop your own opinion on the alleged variable price model of Autodesk.

Have you had any experience with this model? Speak out in the comments of this post!

Autodesk does NOT want you to know this… [via engineering.com]

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Drawing Navigation

Drawing File Tools

AutoCAD Palettes & Palette Sets

Drawing Editing Tools

Drawing Aids

MTEXT Editor

On a side note, Microsoft has a KB article listing the standard keyboard shortcuts for Windows.

Edit (5/12/09): Corrected Ctrl + L listing from OSNAP to the correct ORTHO toggle. Added Ctrl + Enter to Mtext category.

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Looking to the old Express menu, the lesser known Command Alias Editor is tucked away under Express > Tools > Command Alias Editor. Users of AutoCAD 2010 do not have to look far at all as the Command Alias Editor is the biggest button on the Tools ribbon panel on the Express Tools ribbon tab. As you may have guessed, the Command Alias Editor is the secret to configuring your keyboard like an AutoCAD pro!

AutoCAD veterans are probably familiar with modifying the acad.pgp file.  For the uninitiated, the acad.pgp is really just a text file containing all of the command aliases used within AutoCAD.  For instance, there’s no L command inside AutoCAD, but you’ve probably used it to draw a line at one point or another. The entering L at the command line lets you draw a line is because the alias L is mapped to the LINE command. While AutoCAD ships with L mapped to the LINE command, with the help of the acad.pgp file you’re free to change it to anything you want.

Making things even easier (by putting a graphical interface on the acad.pgp file) is the Command Alias Editor Express Tool. With just a few clicks you can add, remove, or edit any of your command aliases.

To Edit an existing alias

Let’s say you want to remap the LA alias (LAYER command by default) to CLASSICLAYER.

1. Launch the Command Alias Editor from the Tools panel within the Express Tools ribbon tab.
   
2. Find the LA alias from the Command Alias Editor, and click the [Edit] button
   
3. From the Edit Command Alias dialog, enter CLASSICLAYER into the AutoCAD Command textbox, and press [Ok]
   
4. The following warning will display. Press [Yes] if you’re ok with the edit you just made.
   
5. The following dialog will display to confirm the change.
   

Add a new Alias

Let’s say you want to create an alias LLI to launch the LAYISO command.

1. Click the [Add] button to create a new alias.
2. From the New Command Alias dialog, enter LLI as your alias, and LAYISO as your AutoCAD command (see illustration)
   
3. After pressing [Ok], you will see the command listed inside the Command Alias Editor.
   

Save Command Aliases

Once you have made the desired changes within the Command Alias Editor…

1. Click the [Ok] button
   
2. You will be asked to confirm overwriting your current acad.pgp file.
   
3. A confirmation, letting you know the aliases you just modified have been saved, and made available to your current AutoCAD session.
   

And that’s it! With a little imagination you can quickly conjure up all sorts of two and three character shortcuts to your most common commands.

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Just over a week ago 3Dconnexion, subsidiary of Logitech, announced what is sure to be another incredibly popular 3D navigation device – the SpacePilot PRO. This latest version introduces a number of incredibly cool but more importantly useful features like the LCD workflow assistant, and increased comfort. Having used the original SpacePilot for some time now, 3Dconnexion was kind enough to send me its latest SpacePilot PRO to review for myself.

First Impression

Not to say looks are everything, but when a product is going to consume 9 in x 6 in of my desk; it better not be an eye sore. The SpacePilot PRO certainly doesn’t let one down on looks. Its curved profile & black color makes it anything but an eye sore on my desk. However, let’s face it, for a product as expensive as the SpacePilot PRO, it doesn’t only have to look good, but also have outstanding performance as well. I am happy to say it performs as wonderfully as it looks.

Comfort

Prior to receiving the SpacePilot PRO, the only 3D mouse I had used was the original SpacePilot. While I came to use the SpacePilot rather frequently, the device was a little too boxy for me. Holding the device never felt as natural as I always thought it could be, and I always wondered how the SpacePilot and SpaceExplorer compared with respect to comfort. Of course, then came the all-new SpacePilot PRO. Quite simply, the curved profile of the SpacePilot PRO fits my hand perfectly. By enlarge, using the device just feels natural.

Usability

The symmetrical nature of the SpacePilot PRO makes it an incredibly useful device. Overall, I found each of the buttons on the device to be placed in intelligent locations. There are a few caveats to that statement. For instance, I found the numbered function buttons placement to be a little unnatural. The function buttons seemed to fall perpendicular to my palm, and so pressing them with my pinky wasn’t as easy as pressing the function buttons on the original SpacePilot.

Before I received the physical device, 3Dconnexion did send me some photos of the new SpacePilot PRO. Like everyone, my eyes instantly focused on the color LCD screen (which holds a very prominent place on the device itself). I truly questioned if the color LCD screen was more a gimmick than a true value-adding feature. After having the chance to use the device for myself, I have truly gotten to appreciate the interoperability with Microsoft Outlook.

Out of the box, the SpacePilot PRO ships with a number of small applications that utilize its LCD screen. These include Outlook Mail, Outlook Calendar, Outlook Tasks, and RSS Feeds. 3Dconnexion has made an API available for the device, so with a little coding knowledge, you can really expand the functionality of this device. If programming isn’t your cup of tea, the SpacePilot PRO doubles as a Windows SideShow device. Microsoft has a gallery of these widget-like tools for you to choose from.

Compatibility

If you have read this blog for any time you know, my primary design platform is AutoCAD Civil 3D. Each of 3Dconnexion’s devices supports a number of CAD platforms, AutoCAD included. Currently 3Dconnexion’s devices DO NOT support the latest 2010 release of AutoCAD. Considering each of 3Dconnexion’s devices are aimed at 3D, not 2D design, it’s understandable their support for AutoCAD starts with the 2007 release. While the SpacePilot PRO will not work with the 2010 release yet, I’m sure a driver update is imminent.

Unlike applications like Inventor, which are all 3D all the time, AutoCAD can function as both 2D and a 3D design platform. How much mileage you get from a device like the SpacePilot PRO will truly hinge on how you use AutoCAD. In my experience, if you’re doing 3D design, a 3D navigation device is a no brainer (you want one). However, if you use AutoCAD primarily as a 2D drafting platform, the decision to purchase a 3D navigation device ventures into the grey area. Let me expand on that thought.

If you’re big into customizing AutoCAD, you may find the function keys to be incredibly helpful. For instance, you could configure the device to execute some command/customization with the press of a button. In other words, there’s value here, but how much really hinges on how you use AutoCAD. Something that may not seem incredibly obvious to some is while Civil 3D wears the 3D name plaque it primarily utilizes a 2D workspace. Translation, you’ll only see the full benefits of a 3D navigation device inside the 3DORBIT command, or a 3D workspace. While that’s not a big deal, one of my biggest disappointments was none of 3Dconnexion’s devices work with the AutoCAD Object Viewer.

Conclusion

The new SpacePilot PRO is an excellent addition to 3Dconnexion’s line of 3D navigation devices. For anyone who finds their self spending a lot of time in 3D applications like 3D Studio, Inventor, even Google SketchUp, a device like the SpacePilot PRO is a no brainer. On the other hand if you’re a casual 3D designer (Civil 3D), I wouldn’t call a device like the SpacePilot PRO a necessity. In my opinion, a better match for casual 3Ders would be the SpaceNavigator. Even then, the “need” really hinges on the way you use the product. For instance, if you never analyze your site in 3D, than you probably don’t need a 3D navigation device.

Whatever the case, the new SpacePilot PRO really does raise the bar once again. It builds upon the already impressive functionality of the SpacePilot, and packages it into one incredibly comfortable and easy-to-use device.

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Pressures mounting, I called some friends from both Autodesk and my reseller Avatech.  I really have to give it to the folks at Avatech and Autodesk Subscription Support.  Their combined insight and expertise made this a support ticket with a happy ending.  Just how did we end up solving this problem?

Ultimately we figured out the issue was with a number of Feature Lines that in some way overlapped.  In many cases, there were no visual cues to indicate we had overlapping objects to begin with.  Naturally, that made cleaning things up a little tough.  That was until I learned about a set of super secret commands that do wonders on problematic sites. Now I should mention you will only find these commands inside Civil 3D Update (service pack) 2.1, not to be confused with the earlier 2.0 update. In this particular case, the problem was with a number of the Feature Lines used to construct the FG surface. Thus, we used the following procedure to resolve the issues we were having with our Feature Lines.

1. Make backup of drawing
2. Run the undocumented AeccFindSiteOverlaps command
   This identified the area(s) with overlaps using a standard AutoCAD point on the _OVERLAPPING_SEGMENT_LOCATIONS layer.
3. AUDIT (fixing errors)
4. Run the undocumented AeccRemoveDupFeatureLines command
   This moved overlapping feature lines to their own, individual sites
5. AUDIT (fixing errors once again)
6. SAVE (and hopefully rejoice in newfound drawing stability)

Something else worth mentioning, even after running the above routine, our drawing still had errors. Digging a little deeper, we finally realized the problem was with the surface object itself.  In running the RECOVER command, Civil 3D apparently found some errors in the FG surface, and in fixing them created a snapshot. With that, a plausible solution would be to remove the snapshot and rebuild the surface.  Since things had become so unstable, rather than patching up the existing surface object, we opted to delete the surface object, and redefine it from scratch.  This did not end up being a big deal, as the FG surface, defined almost entirely with Feature Lines, was quite easy to rebuild.

In addition to the duplicate feature lines command, you can also find commands for alignments, and lots (parcels) as well.  Autodesk has an excellent knowledge base article outlining each of these commands and its usage; Undocumented commands to help resolve Site issues with overlapping objects (link updated). Once again, the folks at both Autodesk and Avatech really stepped up for this one, and I greatly appreciate their help!  There were a number of people involved, so rather than attempting to mention them all, I will simply say thank you to everyone who helped out on this case.

AM Update (4/21/09): I’ve been in touch with Autodesk this morning. It should be noted these commands are not a golden ticket to perfect and error free sites, the commands do however have the potential to fix lots of things.  Think of these commands as an AUDIT for Civil 3D Sites.

Nonetheless, I have been told that Autodesk is in the process of updating the knowledge base entry I had originally linked to.  Since some things regarding the usage of the command have changed, I have removed the link for now, and will replace with the updated link as soon as it’s made available.

PM Update (4/21/09): Jason Hickey over at the Being Civil blog (I personally reccomend following it if you don’t already) just posted a followup to this post titled “Undocumented Commands Can Make Your Drawing More Stable“. He goes into a little more detail about what is going on here, and also demonstrates things with a quick video.  In addition to that, the updated knowledge base post has been made, and I have updated the link above.

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Back in the office, I have just about gotten everything caught up, and wanted to share a quick tip on how to deal with stubborn annotative objects. If you make use of annotative objects inside AutoCAD, chances are you’ve gone to modify an object, and AutoCAD just ignores you. MOVE, COPY, even ERASE do nothing, and you’re left wandering – what now?

When I first encountered this issue my solution was to restart AutoCAD. That certainly wasn’t the most efficient “solution”. Then I stumbled upon another method that made this little roadblock a little less frustrating – the AUDIT command. The trick here is rather than answering “Yes” to fix errors, tell AutoCAD “No” you do not want to fix errors. It seems a little counter-intuitive I know, but running the AUDIT command and answering “No” actually does something. It unlocks your annotative objects so you can modify them once again (and don’t have to restart CAD).

I have also heard disabling the “Maintain visual fidelity for annotative objects” (Open and Save tab within the OPTIONS command) prevents this little hiccup from happening in the first place. Of course, you probably won’t want to disable this if you are exchanging files with anyone using a version earlier than AutoCAD 2008. AutoCAD 2007 and earlier do not have the annotative feature, and the maintain visual fidelity option makes your annotative drawing compatible with those earlier versions of AutoCAD.

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The blogosphere has been talking about it for a while now, but until today, you haven’t been able to get AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010.  I just checked the Subscription Center and found a very welcome addition to the Product Downloads section.  That’s right, anyone on Autodesk Subscription for AutoCAD Civil 3D can download the 2010 release starting today!

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Here in Richmond, VA it’s spring break for the local schools, and with Helen being a school teacher I thought I’d take off a few days myself.  Nonetheless, one thing that did hit my mailbox early this week was an e-mail from Mark Kiker, president of AUGI, letting me know Lynn Allen had agreed to give AUGI a sneak peek of her infamous AutoCAD 2010 Tips & Tricks booklet. As an AUGI member you get all the goodness Lynn’s Tips & Tricks booklet has always been known for, AND something extra special in this years booklet is a bonus section on Autodesk Impression 3 (which was made available to subscription members today). Here’s an excerpt from AUGI on the Tips & Tricks booklet:

You all know the value of Lynn Allen’s Tips and Tricks. You know that she has saved you tons of time and effort. Now Lynn Allen, Autodesk technical Evangelist and AUGI Sweetheart, is offering an exclusive to our members. A sneak peek at the AutoCAD 2010 Tips and Tricks.
That’s right – before anyone else gets to see them, Autodesk is allowing AUGI members an exclusive downloadable version. This PDF download is stuffed with the best of the best from Lynn. You have used them in the past and they have made you more productive. Get the latest in a long stream of helpful hints directly from Lynn to AUGI members. You must be a member to download the booklet.

The only catch to this deal is that you have to be an AUGI member to get access to the download.  But, in my opinion, that’s not a catch at all.  AUGI membership is FREE, and with your membership you get things like AUGIWorld (bi-monthly magazine), AUGI Hot News (monthly e-zine), free training, and more!  In addition to joining AUGI you should check out the Autodesk Imagine Tour.  There’s a good chance the tour is making it’s way to a city near you, where you can see Lynn present her Tips & Tricks live!

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Now, before we begin, some of the pranks you’re about to read may get your fired from your job.  Unless you really want to give your boss a darn good reason to fire you, please use your common sense before actually performing any of these pranks!

Embed messages into the ACADDOC.lsp file.

ACADDOC.lsp gets loaded for every drawing.  Put something like this in the victims acaddoc.lsp file, and wait for their reaction.

(alert “Autodesk has detected usage that is in direct violation with the license agreement for AutoCAD 2009.\n\nYour system configuration and usage statistics have been sent to the anti-piracy division of Autodesk.\n\nAutoCAD 2009 will now close.”)
(command “_close”)

Create a GROUP of the entire drawing

It’s been my experience few people know about the GROUP command inside AutoCAD.  It’s intended use was to be a cross between a normal drawing object and a block.  Nonetheless, the following command sequence will make it so every object in their drawing highlights when they select just a single object

-GROUP
CREATE
PRANK
PRANK
ALL

To have even more fun with this prank, when the victim calls you over to their computer to take a look, press Ctrl + H real quick.  This will toggle groups off, so you can then select objects individually.  Before you leave the victims desk, press Ctrl + H to turn groups back on.

Turn BLIPMODE on

AutoCAD will place a + everywhere you unsuspecting victim clicks. The “blips” will stay until he/she runs a REGEN.

Turn on and shrink the LIMITS of your drawing

With the processing power of today’s CAD workstations, LIMITS is a largely forgotten command.  Nonetheless, when turned on, a user cannot draw anything outside the drawing LIMITS.  Thus if you do something like…

Command: LIMITS
Reset Model space limits:
Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.0000,0.0000>: 0,0
Specify upper right corner <4000.0000,4000.0000>: 1,1
Command:LIMITS
Reset Model space limits:
Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.0000,0.0000>: ON

Your unsuspecting victim will get something like this when they try to draw a line…

LINE Specify first point:
**Outside limits

Make the cursor color and the background color the same

A black background + black cursor = one freaked out user.

To play this prank go to the Display tab within the OPTIONS command.  Click on the [Colors] button. Find the Crosshairs Interface Element, and set it to whatever the background color is.

Display EVERY toolbar known to AutoCAD

To pull this incredibly cruel, but rather harmless, trick enter the following at the command line:

-TOOLBAR
ALL
SHOW

Be sure to use the hyphen to execute the command line version of the TOOLBAR command.

Thank goodness fixing this one is as simple as restoring your favorite workspace.

Erase All, and SAVE twice

If this one doesn’t get you fired, it darn well should!  At the command line:

ERASE
ALL
QSAVE
QSAVE

Keep in mind the BAK file is always 1 version behind the DWG.  Thus by saving twice the BAK and the DWG will be the same. Before trying this one Open resume.doc, Print…

Set SNAP to something ridiculous and turn it on

To pull this prank:

1. Enter SNAP at the command line
2. Enter a value like 10,000
3. Use the SNAP command to turn it on, or just press F9
4. Sit back and watch as your victims cursor jumps all over the place.

Turn off the MTEXT formatting toolbar

A lesser known system variable is MTEXTTOOLBAR.  When this bad boy is set to 0, your victims MTEXT Toolbar will never display (until they find this blog and set it back to 2)

Change the MTEXT sample text

By default when you go to place a piece of MTEXT you get “abc”.  Change the MTJIGSTRING system variable and it can be anything you want (so long as it’s less than 10 letters).

Save all BAK files to the Desktop

Everyone loves Express tools, especially when they can be used in a fun little prank.  Within the Express Tools arsenal of commands is one named MOVEBAK.  Set this to say the path of your victims desktop, and watch their desktop fill up with a BAK file for every DWG they save.

UNDEFINE a common command (like SAVE)

Another rather unknown, and also incredibly dangerous command is UNDEFINE.  In essence you can UNDEFINE any command in AutoCAD.  Maybe you UNDEFINE the LINE command and make the LINE command point to the QQUIT command.

Hide everything but the Drawing Window

Pressing Ctrl + 0 will hide everything but the drawing window (including menus/ribbon).  Ctrl + 0 won’t hide the command line, but Ctrl + 9 will.

Move a common dialog off the screen

Open  a common command, press Alt + Spacebar.  You’ll get a little sub-menu with the option to Move the dialog. Use the arrow keys to move it off the screen.  To make AutoCAD remember the location, use the Enter key to exit the dialog.

Insert your favorite prank here…

Have a great prank of your own that you would like to share?  Post it in the comments of this post, and let your fellow The CAD Geek readers die in laughter this April Fools Day, and make those who don’t know about The CAD Geek wish they did.

Happy April Fools Day!

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