AUGI January HotNews is out! I have two articles!

The AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) HotNews January edition is out.  It's been a while since I had an article in HotNews but this month I actually have two!

Here they are:

AUGI World, April 2012 Edition is Available For Reading

AUGI has released the AUGI World April edition for your reading pleasure.  This month's AUGI World theme focuses on the many new features and updates to Autodesk's line of software.

I have written the article "Little changes, Big Impact" and it is about the new features to AutoCAD 2013.  Check it out and take a look at plethora of new features found in Autodesk's 2013 line of programs.

AUGI.com

http://www.augi.com/augiworld/current-issue

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Read it Online

AUGI March HotNews

The AUGI HotNews March edition is now available.

The Feature Story (written by me, Brian Benton) entitled “CAD on the GO” takes a look at several mobile applications available from Autodesk.

Melanie Perry talks about the recent AUGI Home Page Poll “What Version of AutoCAD Are You Using?”

Mark Kiker’s CAD Management article, entitled, “Get It In Gear” discusses methods of motivating your CAD People.

And don’t forget AUGI President David Harrington’s monthly letter to all AUGI members.

This month’s Sponsor Spotlight is brought to us by HP Monitors.  Check them out.

CADspeed article: Tips on Buying Wide-Format Printers for CAD, Part 3 of 3: Setting It Up

Are you or your company about to get a new printer? Before you do, check out my latest article for CADspeed. It's part three of a three part series.

In this series, I discussed ways to determine your needs and the different types of wide-format printers. Now let’s talk about setting it up.
Check it out!

AutoCAD WS Plug-in for AutoCAD

The October 2010 AUGI Hotnews is out.  Check out my Tipniques article on the AutoCAD WS Plug-in for AutoCAD.

AUGI May Hotnews is now Published

AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) publishes an online newsletter every month.  The May edition is now up and ready for you to read.  As always there are some great articles in it this month.

AUGI Board member and President has an informative article on the make up of AUGI's membership.  He looks at who we are, where we are and what we do.  Mark also has a second article discussion the early years of AUGI.

This months CAD Management article offers guidelines for assembling the right number of staff members for projects, the right amount of content for a published CAD Standard, the right size support staff for your company, and more.

In The Civil Side, Melanie Santer investigates new and enhanced features in the latest release of AutoCAD Civil 3D.

In the Tipniques Column, I continue my exploration of the new features of AutoCAD 2011.  Don't worry, I haven't covered all of the details yet!  I'll need at least two more columns!

AUGI Hotnews March 2010 - Read my Tipniques Article

AUGI's monthly online publication, Hotnews, is out for March.  I have my regular column again, Tipniques.  This month's article is titled: "How Do You Use AutoCAD?"  It takes a look at some commands and features that you might not be aware of in AutoCAD.  Take a look and let me know what you think. 

Do you know of any secret AutoCAD commands or features?

Request for Guest Bloggers

CAD-a-Blog is looking for some guest bloggers.  I want to expand the content on the site and I know you have something to add.

If you are interested in volunteering your time please contact me.  It can be a one time deal, or on a regular basis.  We cover CAD and GIS related news, tips, software developments and all other design and tech related topics. 

AUGI World is Back!

It's been a rough time for CAD related print magazines. Cadalyst magazine was dropped by Questex Media then picked up and licensed by Longitude Media (see my post discussing this.) AUGI and Solidvapor parted ways effectively halting the publishing of AUGI World.

Great news, AUGI World Jan/Feb 2009 was just issued! But, in digital form only. Sound familiar? Cadalyst is doing the same, for now. Being a writer for both entities I have been aware of these awful situations. Thousands of readers go to both magazines to glean information, tips, and trends on a daily basis.

This issue of AUGI World includes, but is not limited to, the following article topics:

• Tutorials for the newest Autodesk products
• CAD management trends and issues
• Tech articles and tips & tricks
• Training advice
• CAD industry observations

And don't forget my article on Impression (as usual!)

Follow the link and download a copy of the magazine. AUGI World is a great find. There is so much information in it covering many different fields and topics that anyone can get something out of it. And it's free!!

CADALYST Magazine to Continue!

I know many of you, just as I have, have been reading Cadalyst Magazine for most of its 26 year history. It started off as a user group of sorts but came to be much more. This past month, Questex Media Group, Inc. announced that they would no longer publish Cadalyst. Questex has owned Cadalyst for several years. They quickly let go several key staff members and kept a skeleton crew to finish out the month of February.

That has changed, to some degree. Longitude Media, led by former Questex Media vice-president, has agreed to publish Cadalyst through a licensing agreement with Questex. Nancy Johnson, editor in Chief of Cadalyst will remain in this position.

Press Release

It also seems that most (if not all) of the contributing authors will stay on creating their high quality articles and tips as always.

Longitude Media will be able to continue with the online side of Cadalyst with little or no stop in production. However, the print side of things is up in the air for now, but I am told that they will eventually print again once it is feasible.

I am very excited about this announcement as I am on of the contributors to Cadalyst. I review the tips submitted to Cadalyst by its readers for the Tips and Tricks Weekly newsletter that comes out every Monday. Last week I thought I had reviewed my last tip, but today, after this blog post, I have to get back in the saddle and get these tips reviewed before tomorrow so we can catch up!

Hurry for Cadalyst and for its readers. I can't wait to see what this change will bring!

http://www.cadalyst.com/

Graphtec Wide Formet Scanner-Review

I have written a review article for Cadalyst Magazine. This review article take a look at Graphtec's CSX300-09HDplus Wide-Format Scanner. This scanner is meant for firms that need full color scanning but do not have a hehavy load. This reduces the initial cost so that the company will have access to color scanning. It does a great job of scanning, it's just slow. The black and white scanning abilities are up to par and allows companys to archive paper drawings.

Check out the full article at Cadalyst.

AUGI Hotnews January 2009

The first issue of AUGI Hotnews for 2009 is out.

Check out my column, Techniques this month. It is about the Zoom Command.

Features

AUGI Status Report

Mark Kiker, AUGI president, reviews AUGI's 2008 accomplishments and gives members an update on the year ahead.

Do Revit Users Need User-Generated Content?

A recent survey illuminates the issues involved in finding quality Revit content such as families. This article examines the survey results and highlights some options for obtaining user-generated content.

Columns

TIPniques: Zoom the Way You Want

Brian Benton explores the number of ways that AutoCAD users can zoom around their drawings. If you haven't used zoom lately, you may be surprised at the versatility of this AutoCAD feature. You'll learn what it does and how it works in this article.

CAD Management: A CAD Manager's Mindset, Part 3

Mark Kiker continues his exploration of the CAD manager's mindset or "world view." This month, you'll discover the many benefits of a mind set on Action and Results.

The Civil Side: How Do Civil 3D and BIM Relate?

Join columnist Melanie Santer for this in-depth look at how to incorporate BIM into civil engineering projects via AutoCAD Civil 3D software.

Sponsor Spotlight: HP Sharpens its Edge

Meet HP Blade Workstation solutions, which allow Autodesk software users and administrators to centralize all their workstations in a single data center where they can be properly secured and maintained.

AutoCAD Architecture: A Kick Start

In this lesson, AutoCAD Architecture expert Tharakesh Ananthakrishnan teaches you how to add components to a wall style.

The Creative Inventor: Good Design Flow

The goal of every user of 3D solid modeling software is to create models that are stable, predictable, and easy for others to modify in the future. Here's a look at how to avoid taking shortcuts in design that will cause issues later on.

AUGI World Nov/Dec Out

The latest issue (November/December 2008) of AUGIWorld magazine “It’s Your Move: Strategies for Adopting New Technology” has just hit the shelves. This edition contains its regular number of high quality articles covering a spectrum of Autodesk products, and industry related items...

• The Cad Manager - Dictums of Design Software Development
• It’s Your Move - Strategies for Adopting New Technology
• Autodesk Architecture - Prepare Yourself
• AutoCAD Civil 3D - Today and Tomorrow for Civil Engineers
• Architectural Visualization - Building a Rendering Pipeline
• Autodesk Impression - Closing the Sale, with Style
• Revit Architecture - Ride the “A” Train
• Revit Structure - The BIM Effect
• AutoCAD - Unlocking the Power of AutoCAD 2009
• On The Back Page - Just so we understand each other...

The November/December 2008 issue of AUGIWorld magazine “It’s Your Move: Strategies for Adopting New Technology” can be downloaded from the AUGIWorld main page on AUGI.com.

AUGI November Hotnews is Out

AUGI’s official monthly email newsletter “AUGI HotNews - November 2008” hits the streets and the ‘inboxes’ of its members.

My favorite of course is this month's TIPniques: DO YOU HAVE STYLE? Wonder why I like it so much?

Here is a list of some of the other articles in this month's edition. They are even better than the TIPniques article.

• Countdown to Autodesk University 2008
• From AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture 2009
• A CAD Manager’s Mindset
• TIPniques: Do You Have Style?
• Creative Inventor: Documenting Designs, Part 3
• The Civil Side: Creating and Editing Surfaces
• AutoCAD Architecture: A Kick Start

3D Rendering In AutoCAD

I would consider myself to be an advanced user in 2D Drafting with AutoCAD. Not so in 3D modeling. I have started taking on the task of learning the ropes of 3D. I know, it's a bout time. I may be the last one. I have the basic concepts figures out, see my article in AUGI Hotnews, but in order to make more complex objects, well, suffice it to say I still have much to learn.

The general concept of 3D modeling is very similar to 2D modeling. I have also started trying my hand at rendering. I am taking a class at our local Community College. Right now we have a project to create an office, of any type. It has to have tree walls, at least 20' long, a roof (not flat), openings in the walls, a desk, a vase, a lamp, lights, and more. I did that. I even put swords in mine! I like swords. I had the most difficulty with the lighting. My first attempt had the lights to dim, way too dim. You will see that in the images, they are a little bit dark. I'll get better, don't worry.

Anyway, so my question, how do you handle your lights? Do you make your own materials? Are you sad that Autodesk VIZ is no more? Should I write about 3D more?

Here are some images from my project. Which one is your favorite? Remember, this is my first model/rendering, but feel free to critique it.

AUGI-Hotnews for September 2008

AUGI's September issue of Hotnews is out. This month I have an article called "Lets Get Animated."

This article takes a very basic look at the animation capabilities in AutoCAD. If you have ever wanted to create a simple animation for a presentation or project proposal with AutoCAD, check out this article. It will give you enough information on how to di it.

Happy CADDING.

AUGIWorld Salary Survey

AUGI World's Annual Salary Survey is out. Here is a link to the article.

Check out this survey. My friend Melanie manages it and she does a fantastic job. This article breaks down the data collected into several categories. This year it was decided to release the survey earlier than normal.

Save Time With Impression Blocks

AUGI World Magazine's September/October edition is out! There are several great articles, as usual.

My article, Save Time With Impression Blocks, is there on page 14. This article takes a look at using and applying blocks in Impression. It also discusses how to use the block library, edit blocks, and more.

Check it out. If you are using Impression, how do you use blocks in it? Do you create new ones for each project? Or do you import the blocks from AutoCAD?

Let me know.

Happy CADDING!

AUGI Article-Units

Check out my latest article for AUGI Hotnews, MEASURING UP. It is an article that discuses units and how to set your AutoCAD files units of measurement.

The article also looks at methods on properly setting up your drawing units.

Happy CADDING.

AUGI Article - Those FLexible Fields

Please forgive me as I neglected to let you know about my latest article in AUGI Hotnews for July, 2008.

This article, TIPniques: Those Flexible Fields - July 2008, discuss the basics of fields and ways to use them. they can be used for sheet numbers, object data, file data, and more.

Check it out. What should I write about next for AUGI?