RobiNZ CAD Blog

Back to Orlando?

It’s more than bizarre that only a couple of months after making the 28,000km return journey to Orlando for AU 2005 I’m about to do it again. Advanced Visual Technology are a U.K. based company and their first ever user conference is at Disney Resort – The Yacht Club. It’s on Crescent Lake, near Disney's BoardWalk, and just a few minutes walk from the AU 2005 Venue! It’s a small world after all. Read more →

Tablet PC demo video at jkOnTheRun

James Kendrick shares an awesome Tablet PC demo. I think my next PC has to be a tablet… jkOnTheRun Audio Edition #11- Tablet PC demo video The video was recorded totally on-screen using Camtasia Studio. Programs shown in the order of appearance in the video (WMV format, 1024x768, 17.6 MB, 14.5 minutes): Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005 Sticky Notes ActiveWords Pro (with InkPad) Outlook (ink email) OneNote MindManager Pro JVC Gantt 2 PowerPoint Journal Ink Art (Experience Pack) Internet Explorer Send to OneNote 2003 (Education Pack) InkGestures Read more →

DWF file precision - Why high DPI settings will not greatly impact file size.

I found this discussion group post by Scott Sheppard [Autodesk] interesting. He explains how DWF DPI (dots per inch) influences file precision, especially for measurement with Composer, and why you can set DPI to huge values, in image terms, without greatly impacting file size. Extract from Autodesk DWF Discussion Group - Increase Precision on Measuring Tool?. The precision of a DWF Composer is based on the DPI settings of the ePlot pc3 driver in AutoCAD. You should not think of this value in printer/plotter terms. The human eye can discern about 1200 dots per inch. This is fine for visual... Read more →

NEW! Autodesk Architectural Desktop Resource Center

Hat tip to Jimmy Bergmark for pointing out the new Autodesk Architectural Desktop (ADT) Resource Center. It has marketing info, white papers, technology overview and on-line demonstrations of ADT features. The “Tutorials” (Shockwave Flash demos with audio) are useful if you want to show someone the difference between ADT and plain AutoCAD. You can also sign up for ADT Webcasts, maybe learn some new tricks yourself! Unfortunately both the page and URL use the current Autodesk marketing “tag-line” for ADT; “AutoCAD for Architects!”. [engage rant mode] I don’t like “AutoCAD for Architects” as it doesn’t communicate the capabilities of ADT’s... Read more →

New era for land transactions in New Zealand

From 2008, no paper… Beehive.govt.nz - New era for land transactions in New Zealand. All survey and land title transactions in New Zealand will be lodged electronically from July 2008, Land Information Minister Pete Hodgson announced today… "New Zealand will become the first country in the world to have a fully electronic survey and land registration system" Read more →

Carl Bass on becoming Autodesk CEO 3.0

Business Week have a brief but interesting interview with new Autodesk CEO, Carl Bass. There is a re-cap of his of his journey to the top job at Autodesk which included being fired by former CEO Carol Bartz. This is surely an unusual tactic for advancing your career! It also covers what he dubs “Autodesk 3.0” (inspired by "Web 2.0" I guess). A New Blueprint for Autodesk - www.businessweek.com. In taking over from Carol Bartz, incoming CEO Carl Bass tells how he wants the software maker to sell tools to manage the entire design process… Via www.tenlinks.com PS: You can... Read more →

Instant AutoCAD Support...

My ADT deployment omits the “add a plotter” shortcut as everyone except one remote user accesses the same network plotter pc3’s. I went to set up plotters for the remote user, off-site, but there is no “add a plotter” shortcut… After a fairly long search, looking for the file that kicks off the add a plotter wizard, I rang our dealer ready to ask my “Stupid question of the day”. The instant Julia answered the call I found addplwiz.exe, problem solved. How’s that for rapid support response! * “Stupid question of the day” calls are not usually daily but are... Read more →

Anatomy of a Disaster

This is not about CAD software but is a useful read for anyone involved in creating, training or using software. Scott Adams (The Dilbert Blog) deletes 500 comments from his blog thinking they were draft copies of the published comments. Often reality and user perception can differ with disastrous results. The Scott Adams Meltdown: Anatomy of a Disaster. “The designer develops a “Design Model” of the software, communicates it through the “System Image”—the look, feel, and behaviour of the interface. The user, in turn, attempts to recreate the Design Model through experiencing the software. This understanding then forms the user's... Read more →