LT Unlimited

AutoCAD WS 1.5 Facecast Today

It’s Facecast time again! This week’s edition is all about AutoCAD WS 1.5 and its new features, including the very cool Design Feed.

The fun starts TODAY at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern, and you can watch over on Facebook or right here on the blog.

Watch live streaming video from autocad at livestream.com

(And if you missed last week’s AutoCAD LT 2013 broadcast, you can watch the archives here.)

AutoCAD LT 2013 Facecast Today

My AutoCAD LT 2013 Facecast is just a few short hours away, and as I promised, you can watch it on Facebook OR right here! The fun starts at 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific.

Remember to send in your questions, otherwise I’ll just be talking to myself. :-) (But you’ll still get plenty of good tips!)

Watch live streaming video from autocad at livestream.com

AutoCAD LT for Mac and Mountain Lion

Apple just released OS X 10.8, a.k.a. Mountain Lion, but if you’re running AutoCAD for Mac or AutoCAD LT for Mac you might want to hold off on that upgrade for a bit.

Currently the 2012 and 2013 versions of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT for Mac are NOT supported on OS X 10.8. Installing it can cause issues with the installer, cursor, printing to PDF, and more.

Our team is working non-stop on an update that will provide support for Mountain Lion, but in the meantime we highly recommend that you stay with your current OS version.

The link below is to the official support document, and includes information on upcoming betas for Mountain Lion updates.

AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT support on Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)

AutoCAD LT Facecast on Thursday

It’s Facecast time again!

On Thursday, July 26 at 11:30 Eastern, I’ll be hosting a Facecast on AutoCAD LT 2013.

Click here for the event page.

Join me to hear about the fun new features in this year’s version, as well as some of my favorite tips and tricks that you can use for older releases too. We’ll also have Q&A time, so think up your questions to ask on Thursday or email them to me in advance.

If you can’t get to Facebook from work, don’t worry—I’ll be posting the feed here at the blog so you can watch directly, without going through Facebook.

See you Thursday!

Automatically Add Annotation Scales

When you’re working with a drawing containing annotative objects, sometimes you want those objects to automatically pick up on scale changes (to display them in multiple views)—and sometimes you don’t. Fortunately, there’s a variable for that, and it’s right on the status bar.

I confess, when I started this post I thought this little icon had two options: on and off. But it turns out to be a little more nuanced than that.

The variable that this icon controls is ANNOAUTOSCALE, and it has 5 possible values.

• 0: Changing the active scale does not affect existing objects.
• 1: Changing the active scale adds the new scale to existing objects unless they are on a layer that is locked, off, frozen, or frozen in the current viewport.
• 2: Changing the active scale adds the new scale to existing objects unless they are on a layer that is off, frozen, or frozen in the current viewport.
• 3: Changing the active scale adds the new scale to existing objects unless they are on a layer that is locked.
• 4: Changing the active scale adds the new scale to all existing objects.

Whatever value you choose is stored in the registry, and is toggled on and off by the status bar icon. (Factoid: Using the icon actually sets the value negative, so 4 becomes –4 until you turn it back on again. You don’t have to set the variable to 0 to temporarily turn scale adding off.)

Hopefully this will help if you’ve every found yourself wondering why scales were mysteriously added to annotative objects—or why they mysteriously weren’t!

New Beta Project Now Recruiting

Interested in new ways of creating 2D designs? Then this link is for you: http://autode.sk/2Ddesign.

You’ll need an Autodesk ID to sign in, but if you’re a member of the discussion forums, Autodesk Labs, etc. you probably already have one.

See you over there…

AUGI Salary Survey Now Collecting Data

Ever wonder if you’re really being paid what you’re worth? Of course you have, and AUGI is here to help.

They’re currently collecting data for the 11th annual Salary Survey, and they need your input. A survey like this is strongest when it gets a lot of respondents, so hop on over and fill it out!

AUGI Salary Survey 2012

You must be a member of AUGI to take the survey, but membership is free and it’s easy to sign up.

And you don’t have to worry about your privacy: “The survey results are not tied to your user name and the results are not sold or given to any other entity. The results are presented in wide groups and by category.” (Source: Survey FAQ)

Results will be published in the September issue of AUGIworld, so you’ll be able to see how your job stacks up against the other respondents. (I hope for your sakes that you’re all above average.) :-)

Thanks for your participation!

Calling all AutoCAD Architecture and MEP Heroes!

(I know this post may not apply to many of you, but I’m putting it up for those of you who have multiple Autodesk products in your portfolio. Thanks for reading.)

Do you have a project that was designed and modeled using AutoCAD Architecture and/or AutoCAD MEP? Does the building have a unique look that makes it stand out? If you do…then submit your company name and project to be considered for the next AutoCAD Architecture or AutoCAD MEP hero image!

We are now looking for next year’s hero image for our AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD MEP products. The selection process will be based on, but not limited to the following criteria:

• Was the project modeled using AutoCAD Architecture or AutoCAD MEP?
• Is the building aesthetically interesting? The architectural team needs a building that looks cool and unique to meet their requirements.
• Does the MEP model contain duct, pipe, plumbing and lighting systems? If it includes cable tray, fire protection, etc., even better!
• Are all the stakeholders (such as the design firm and building owner) willing to sign an agreement with Autodesk to use their project and models for the purpose of a hero image & other in-product assets such as splash screens?
• Are the design firms willing to share their models with Autodesk? We will need them to create the images using Autodesk 3ds Max Design.

If you would like to showcase the great work your firm has done (and have some bragging rights too!), please contact Armundo Darling with the subject line “ACA and AME Hero Image Submission” for a chance for your project to become the hero image for AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD MEP!

What day is it again?

Here in the States, we had the day off yesterday for the July 4th holiday. While it was great to have a break from email, it also means I’m sitting at my desk thinking, “What day is it today? It feels like Monday, but I’m pretty sure that’s not right…”

Fortunately, AutoCAD LT has a way to help me stay on track: fields.

The Insert Field dialog has an entire category devoted to “Date & Time” fields, with more formats than you will probably ever use.

But if you don’t see the format you want, you can make your own with the code letters as listed on the right.

Here’s a rundown of the four different Date & Time field types:

• CreateDate. This is the date the file was first saved or created. It doesn’t change after you insert it.
• Date. This is simply the date that you insert this particular field. You can update it manually with UPDATEFIELD, but otherwise it doesn’t change.
• PlotDate. This is the date the drawing was last plotted. It will update on successful plots (and as controlled by FIELDEVAL).
• SaveDate. This is the date the drawing was last saved. It will update on successful plots (and as controlled by FIELDEVAL).

Occasionally you might get some quirks—creating a drawing file by copying another will update CreateDate, but not SaveDate.

So, thanks to AutoCAD LT and fields, I know that today is:

Tool Palettes and Object Snaps

I ran across an interesting issue in the Autodesk Discussion Forums, and thought I’d re-post it here in case someone else had the same trouble.

The poster was confused as to why blocks inserted from a tool palette didn’t seem to obey object snaps during placement, despite the fact that they were active.

A little detective work uncovered that the methodology was to blame—if you click-and-drag a blog from a palette into a drawing, object snaps get a little twitchy. (Is that enough of a technical term?)

However, if you click-and-release on a block, then you can place it with object snaps just like in any other insert or modification command.

The poster complained of this issue in 2011 and 2012, but it seems to be better in 2013. All the same, I recommend single-clicking over click-and-drag from tool palettes.