14 Questions to ask when interviewing for a CAD position.

Everyone that uses CAD needs a job but how do you know if a potential employer is right for you? It's very difficult to hire the right person and it is equally challenging to find the right employer. As a worker, you are putting your faith and trust in your employer to create work for you, to keep the business running, to create an environment you can work in, and for the sake of your job. If your employer fails you are out of a job. It can be difficult to trust somebody else with your future. Make sure this job is right for you. Here are a few things you can do to help you vet out potential employers during the interview process.

There are several typical job interview questions you should probably ask when seeking any job.

Introducing the CadMouse by 3Dconnexion

3D Mouse maker 3Dconnexion has just introduced their newest product. It's not another 3D mouse. It's a "regular" mouse they are calling the CadMouse.

3Dconnexion says that this is the worlds first mouse designed specifically for CAD professionals.

“We developed the 3Dconnexion CadMouse because CAD users asked us to.” says Antonio Pascucci, VP of products at 3Dconnexion. “We took the time to understand what they needed before developing a combination of smart hardware and software features.” 

“With the introduction of the 3Dconnexion CadMouse, we are excited to be meeting the demands of CAD professionals across a broad range of industries and professions,” Pascucci says. “The icing on the cake is that CadMouse enables a new level of Two-Handed Power for our current customers. In other words, using a CadMouse together with a 3Dconnexion 3D mouse like the SpaceMouse Pro or SpaceNavigator makes it possible to interact with digital content in a way that wasn’t possible before.”

CAD Standards Should be Vague

It is fairly standard these days for a company to have a CAD Standard. The point to a company CAD Standard is to ensure production quality and to maintain an efficient work flow. It keeps all construction documents in line and makes certain that everyone can work with everyone else’s files. If your CAD Standard fails at any of these items then it is failing you.

One key aspect to help ensure a CAD Standard works properly is to keep many of its aspects vague.  Locking down criteria to something exact can stifle production and increase bloat. Definition and specifics are great but they can create bottlenecks in your production process. If your template CAD file has several thousand layers (as an example) but yet you find you never have the right layer, then there is an issue that needs to be resolved.

Google Sketchup Model Your Town Competition

I'm a CAD guy. I know, it's hard to believe, but I am. I love making things in CAD, it's how I roll. 3D CAD is very cool too. I also like Google. I use several of their products. One that I haven't used as much is Google Sketchup. I've toyed with it a bit here and there over the years but I have never done any serious work with it. Until now!

I have decided to through my hat in the ring in Google's latest competition, Model Your Town. Essentially this contest is a brilliant way for Google to increase their meager 3D Building content on Google earth for free! Or for at least at the cost of a party for the winner, some press, and a $10,000 tax deduction in the form of a check to the winners home town school! It's a great idea.

Modelers basically have until March 1st to submit their models. they have to be simple enough for Google Earth, yet accurate. they also have to have realistic photo renderings on them. So they have to actually look like the buildings from your town. And, you have to provide meta data for each building.

Easy enough right? If it were just one or two buildings then it would be a piece of cake. Or if it were just random CAD Gurus from here and there, I'd have a huge shot at winning! After all, I've been using CAD for 16 years now! But it seems that cities from all over the world are getting into it! Not to mention that big architectural firms are jumping in too! At last count, it seems that there are at least 200+ entries at the time I am writing this!

The good news is that you can form a team to do your work. So, my son and i are teaming up on this project to try and win 10 grand for the school in our town. It also seems that other teams consist of Architectural firms, or what you might call "experts". We are feeling a bit like David amongst several world wide Goliaths here, but that's ok with us because David one with a single stone.

No Cost CAD - Project Draw

AutoCAD can be very expensive. AutoCAD LT is still on the expensive side, especially if you don't need all of that power. What can you do if all you need is to create simple sketches? They are 3D models, so Google's free version of Sketchup is priced right, but it's not what you want or need. Autodesk has an online product available called PROJECT DRAW.

Project Draw provides a vector based 2D drawing platform that runs through your web browser. There is no software to purchase, no updates, no patches to maintain, etc. If you have a web browser and internet access you can use it!

Project Draw has the ability to draw basic shapes, many of them predefined. You can also draw lines, add fills, etc.

Basic Shapes

There is a fairly large basic shape library containing predefined shapes for you to use. The categories include:

• Basic Shapes (Square, circle, triangle, cross, round rectangles, and more
• Flow Chart
• Callouts
• Network (computers and geeky stuff)
• Windows/Mac UI (interesting applications here)
• Floor/Office/Kitchen & Bath Layout (related furniture shapes and equipment)
• Furniture (beds, lamps, tables, sink, & furniture)
• Electronics (electrical symbols, wiring, etc)

As you can see, with these shapes, users can quickly create a basic layout to give to a contractor, engineer, architect, or permit coordinator to convey your needs and wants without having to spend thousands of dollars and years of training for a complex design program. I drew this character in about one minute using different shapes and fills.

Ok I won't win any awards for this, but perhaps in the hands of a creative artist something great could be drawn.

In the case you want to draw something a little less abstract, you do have dimension controls when drawing a shape. In the screen shot below, I started on the FLOOR LAYOUT basic shapes and inserted a square room shape. You are asked to insert the dimensions for the the sides, or you can drag the edges of the shapes like grip editing in AutoCAD until the sides are at the length you want them to be.
You also have control of what type of units you are using in the drawing as well as the page size. You have two choices, imperial (inches) or metric (millimeters). If you draw a shape in inches but now want to switch to millimeters, go ahead. Project Draw automatically knows the difference. A five inch object will automatically convert to 127 millimeters, for example. I mentioned earlier that there are different sheet sizes to choose from. When working in imperial units, you can choose from ANSI or ARCH A, B, and C sizes. They also have legal, 8"x10" and 30"x 42". If you don't like those settings, enter in your own, like 24"x36". The metric units have ISO A2, A3, A4, and A5. But again, you can still enter in your own size in millimeters.

Properties Window

Many of the features mentioned above are accessible from the Properties Window. When an object is selected, the properties for that object will be displayed. Here you can change its size, rotation, and insertion point. These same variables can be changed directly on the shape through grip edits. But this feature allows you to accurately draw your shapes to the size you want to. They are just randomly drawn lines that you guess is the right size.

The properties window controls the drawings units, paper size, grid controls (on/off and size), snap to grid, scale of drawing, ruler on/off, and guidelines. One issue with the scale of the drawing. Make sure you set it first before you start drawing otherwise it seems that the drawing objects will also scale!

Project Draw is a very versatile, free, and simple program to use for basic sketches and design documents. It has many possible applications in many different genres.

Here is a list of features as provided from the website for Project Draw:

• Project Freewheel integration - include your designs from AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, or any other DWF in your diagrams and use them like any other shape
• Predefined shapes - drag and drop our vector shapes to create custom diagrams.
• Save your diagram in editable formats.
• Export your diagrams in a variety of formats, including DWF, DWFx, PDF, JPG, PNG, and SVG.
• Cross-browser compatible - create a diagram in IE, open it in Firefox, or vice-versa.
• Handles - drag the shape handle to stretch dimensions.
• Linear, curved, and orthogonal connectors available.
• Imperial and metric page sizes available.
• Text tools, gradients, shadows, zoom, dimensions, snap-to-grid, and more - we’re adding new features all the time based on your feedback.
• Dynamic images - embed images into web pages based on your diagrams. Update the diagrams and the images automatically update.

I recommend that you check it out. You may find that it would be a useful tool for many people.

Happy CADDING!!

As a CAD User, what are your issues?

Tell me your problems. I don't mean problems in using CAD, like how do I divide a line into three equal parts? I mean work related issues. For example:

• How do I deal with a difficult CAD Manager?
• How do I deal with difficult CAD Users?
• My boss knows nothing about CAD but tells me how to use it?
• Our CAD Standards are awful.
• My hardware is unreliable, what do I do?
• How do I improve my skills?
• My boss is a jerk, now what?
• I need a job, so what do I do?

I am looking for questions from a CAD Technician's point of view, or from a CAD Users perspective. I am not looking for CAD Managers issues, though the two often share the same problems.

So, what are your problems? And how do you handle them?

Why the Ribon is Bad and Good

There has been a lot of discussion with regards to Autodesk's changes to AutoCAD's interface. There have been many complaints about the ribbon and that it is considered inefficient by many of its users. I feel that the claims of inefficiency are valid when compared to using toolbars and somewhat agree to its comparison to pulldown menus. The issue here is that it takes more clicks to get to the command needed. You can’t disagree with that because it’s true, just count the clicks and mouse movements to get to a command.

I am not saying the ribbon is garbage; I only want to point out the fact that if you are a user that works with toolbars and menus, then you will have efficiency issues.
I propose that toolbars and menus are still less efficient to use then keyboard input. Admittedly I am an old DOS based AutoCAD user and learned to use cad with keyboard entries, a tablet, and the menu screen. Perhaps that makes my opinion a biased one.

If a user can type with the left hand and work the mouse with the right then this, in my opinion, is the most efficient use of time. This work process means a user doesn’t have to move the mouse back and forth across the screen increasing the time it takes to work. It is much quicker to use the keyboard and mouse simultaneously. I call this method “Two-Handed CADing.” “One-Handed CADing” would have the user ignoring the keyboard as much as possible while moving the mouse over the entire screen. This method also takes up more screen real estate. Because more buttons (menus, toolbars, etc.) are needed. If the toolbars and menus change, then the user can not work as efficiently until the new interface is learned.

Two-Handed CADers use keyboard shortcuts. What if they change? Then they can easily open the old alias file, copy and paste the customizations into the new one. They do not have to learn anything unless it is for a new command. Much easier than relearning a program they already knew.

This is where I feel the Ribbon fist best, with Two-Handed practices. Even though TH (Two-Handed) users key in commands, several often use toolbars, palettes, or menus every once in a while. I know that I do. Sections of the Ribbon can be pulled out (like toolbars) and placed anywhere on the screen, while the rest of the Ribbon is collapsed, docked, hidden, or left alone. This has the potential of using even less screen real estate.

For these two reasons I like the Ribbon. It fits well with my Two-Handed style of CAD use.
Do you like it or hate it? Why?

Review - CADsmart

CAD-a-Blog is about teaching CAD skills, especially AutoCAD skills. With that in mind, I try to keep my eyes open for products or services that can help users (and me too!) better themselves. I feel that I have found such a product.

Consider this scenario; imagine that you need to hire a new CAD user for your company. How do you know if that user can in fact use CAD? How do you know the extent of his or her skills?

Also consider this; how can you measure the CAD skills of your current users?

Well I have come across a product that comes from the United Kingdom. It is from CADsmart.
CADsmart is a company that provides testing software that measures general AutoCAD (and Microstation) skills in users. It has the ability to measure CAD drafting skills, not programming, not customizations, but CAD skills. In a nutshell, the user takes a series of drafting based assessments, each one covering a specific topic. The results are compared to a benchmark that has been developed by CADsmart from thousands of users that have taken the same or similar assessments. The user is scored individually and in comparison to other users. For example, one segments score could state that you scored an 80%. That means that you were 80% correct. Now compare that score to the benchmark and you will have a means to measure your abilities relative to the thousands of users that have already taken the assessment. This software gives you a score for the user and tells you if it is a good score or not.

CADsmart’s benchmark is meant to represent the average user. If you score above that, then you should be a good CAD user. If you score below the benchmark, then there might be some areas for training. The assessments are scored separately on overall accuracy and time taken. These two measurements can be compared to the benchmark or to other employees in your company.

CADsmart’s assessments cover specific topics. Each one consists of a series of steps that the user must complete. It doesn’t matter how the user gets the work done, or how long it takes, only that the end results are what they need to be. This is one of the main reasons that I like this software because every user will work in a slightly different way and what matters is the final drawing, not so much as how it was drawn. I said that time doesn’t matter, well it doesn’t affect the accuracy score, but it is measured and compared to the benchmark. So keep it in mind that you need to be both accurate and quick, just like in real life!

Each category has its own benchmark that you can compare your score with. This is very useful because it provides a means of determining where your specific problems are. This feature is great for managers too because it enables them to find specific problem areas in their users so that they can concentrate their training programs exactly where they are needed. Time and resources are not wasted training the wrong people in the wrong skill sets.

CADsmart is not perfect. It is not cost productive for a single user to buy the software and use it on themselves, though this can be done. It works best in a group environment. You also have to have AutoCAD software on your machine in order to run it. One other thing that I understand, but didn’t like too much, is that while taking the test, I can’t pause it in case my attention is needed elsewhere (That happened to me while I was taking the test. I got a low score in the dimension portion because of it-maybe I’m just bitter!) Playing devil’s advocate, if I could pause the assessment, then I could stop it, figure out the task, then start again. That’s cheating, so I understand the reason behind it, but I want it anyway!!

That’s the gist of it. I don’t want to overload you with information, so I am going to write about CADsmart in smaller bite size parts like this. Check out their website, read about them, and let me know what you think. Later I’m going to get more into the workings of it, what it has to offer managers in terms of assessment tools, charts, and recommendations. CADsmart will test the user, show the assessment data, and provide recommendations on what areas to train the specific users in. It is a very helpful tool in my opinion.

Happy CADDING!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUTOCAD!!!!!!!

AutoCAD was released in 1982. Now AutoDesk is everywhere. Frankly, I'm glad. I have been using CAD software and AutoCAD in some form or fashion for ever 14 years. It has allowed me to provide for myself and my family. It is a great tool. After 25 years of mainstream use, I am still amazed that I can find people that hate it so much. I understand their arguments and complaints, as most of them are true. When I argue against manual drafting and the improvements CAD has allowed, their complaints become mute.
I was working for an engineering consultant firm a few years ago. It was a small firm, about five employees. We had an individual their that was an "old time" board drafter. He fought against CAD every chance he could. One day we lost power. The entire area was blackened. People were stepping outside for some light. This guy (the CAD hater) made a comment, "You know, if we drawing on the board we could still work without power." I replied, "Sure, but we couldn't see what we were drawing." Because of this man's drafting experience and his "bleeding" on my drawings at this early stage in my career, I became a drafter. A CAD Drafter, but a drafter none the less.

AutoCAD has become the industry standard in CAD. Why? Well, know companies buy it because it is the standard and they want computability. Plus there are more workers that know AutoCAD than most any other CAD program (this is a personal estimate, I have no real data to confirm nor deny theses statements.) AutoDesk made AutoCAD available to any one, meaning your operating system didn't matter. It ran on many different platforms, DOS, windows, etc. Then with release 14 it was only available for Windows. This finally streamlined the software. AutoDesk didn't have to spend time making it work for several different platforms they could concentrate more on the software. This being said, I see more and more users clamoring for AutoCAD to be available on a MAC and/or Linux.

The changes per release are often to go back to take a look at. For new users of AutoCAD, the software can be daunting and overwhelming. I started using AutoCAD with release 10, but many others have been there since the beginning.

Version 1.0 was released in November 1982 (I was 8 years old.) Version 1.2, or release 2 was given in April 1983. it's enhancement was a dimensioning facility. WHAT??? You could dimension? You mean if you wanted a dimension you had to draw each line, each arrow, each leader, each value?? And I complain when users don't use associated dimensioning!! Release 3 gave us right justified text and a large plotter addition. Release 4 gave us the ability to fillet two lines. It also gave us the HATCH command. Imagine, drawing a hatch pattern by hand!! We could also zoom previous or zoom extents now. We were also given the array command and could use the control keys to turn on/off grid, ortho, etc.

Release 5, or version 2.0, gave us dot/dash line types. Layers could now have names assigned to them and there were no limits to how many we made in a file. We could now format our digitizer tablets and use multiple buttons on the pointing devise. How many of you have used CAD with a digitizer and tablet? I have. Sometimes I miss it. We could now UNDO the line command. I can't live without undo. Attributed text for blocks is now available. Some new notable commands were: isoplane, mirror, view. They also added "osnaps". This meant that your lines could now actually start/stop at the end of other lines. I worked at a place were a drafter was fired for not using osnaps. Maybe he was used to working on a pre-release 5 versions!! (We were working on release 10) Another great command added to release 5 was the SAVE command. Before you had to exit the drawing to save the file. Did it save when the program crashed?

Release 6 added 3D!! The additions to AutoCAD keep enhancing this software making it more and more efficient. Released in May 1985, release 6 added more plotter functionality, limits, more units control (angular units). The ability to freeze and thaw layers was added. Other new commands added were BLIPMODE (I can't stand it myself) and chamfer. Release 6 mostly made the older commands and functions better. The biggest contribution in this release though was one that makes AutoCAD stand out. It is also one of the reasons that it has become the mainstay and industry standard. In release 6 AutoLisp was added. It was limited, but in January 1986 an update was available that integrated it fully. Release 6 was known as Version 2.1.

Version 2.5 (release 7) made many enhancements on commands and functions. Crossing and previous selection options were provided. The CHANGE PROPERTIES command was added, as well as the SELECT command. Plotting to a file, not a plotter, was added. The COPY command could now make multiple copies. Angles could be made and displayed in surveyor's units. Mirror can now be done at any angle. Tangent and Perpendicular osnaps were added. The CIRCLE command was added. Evidently they didn't need to draw a circle, just arcs, until June of 1986. Some notable command additions are: Divide, Ellipse, Explode, Extend, measure, offset, polygon, rotate, scale, stretch, and trim. These very basic (by today's standard) commands are part of what makes CAD so much more efficient than board drafting. I can't imagine working without them.

Version 2.6 (Release 8) was released in April 1987. This release basically enhanced existing functions, what more could possibly be added? Well, associative dimensioning, transparent uses of the zoom, pan, view, and redraw commands, X/Y/Z filtering, a fractional mode for units, and AutoLISP enhancements, like user input functions.

Release 9 (called AutoCAD Release 9) came out in September 1987. This was the first version that required a math coprocessor on intel based microprocessors. All files made in release 9 were compatible with all release 9 files that were made in different operating platforms (windows, Unix, DOS, etc.) The multiple command modifier was added. The user interface was more advanced. It added a menu bar, pull down menus, icon menus, and dialog boxes. Splines were added, crossing selection boxes were now dotted lines to differentiate between inclusion boxes.

Release 10 came in October 1988. This is the version I started with. The linetype load was updated, purge was enhanced as well as the zoom previous. VIEWPORTS command was added. REDRAWALL and REGENALL operated on all active viewports. A new CHPROP command streamlined object manipulations. Dimension variables were added to enhance placement and visualization. Several 3D enhancements were made that allowed the line command to draw in 3 dimensions, visibility commands for hidden lines, surfaces and mesh commands, and fast zoom mode for 3D. The PEDIT command was updated.

In October 1990, release 11 was provided. There were several "behind the scenes" enhancements made, especially to users that worked on a network. A file locking system made sure that only one person was working on a file at any one time. Multiple copies of AutoCAD could be placed on a server now and a new setting allowed for plot spooling. Many enhancements to the dimension functions were made. Users could now have different colors for text, ordinate dimensions, text could now be moved, the gap between lines and text can be edited, non linear dimensions can be created, a dimscale of "0" can be set to allow for paper space scaling to happen, angular dims can be acquired with 3 points now, and more. The AUDIT command is added. Xref files are now dynamically linked. Before it was basically a "copy-paste" that wasn't editable. The user had to re-reference the file if it changed. Aliases for commands can now be defined in the .pgp file. Any combination of TOP/MIDDLE/BASELINE/BOTTOM and LEFT/CENTER/RIGHT is now supported. Fractional input is now accepted. Trim and extend can now be undone. OSNAPS now work on circles, arcs, and polylines. Wild Card input and patterns are now accepted.
Perhaps the biggest enhancement to release 11 was the system variable TILEMODE. Thus we entered the age of PAPER SPACE! It is amazing that has been in existence since 1990 and many users still struggle with it. Tilemode created a working area to present your drawing. Model space was no longer a drawing area, but a place to create a model. Paper space was to be the area for the actual drawing. This allows multiple views of a model at multiple scales to be drawn. Multiple views of the model can be plotted in a single plot operation, complete with additional production drafting graphics, such as sheet outlines, title blocks, annotation text, etc.

Release 12 became the industry standard for many agencies and firms. It was released in June 1992, the year I graduated from high school. It had some minor interface changes that were mostly behind the scenes. Files saved in 12 were compatible with release 11 files. The OPEN command now changed DWG files to the new R12 format automatically. Older release had to do this manually. Enhancements to the dialog boxes were made that allowed users to more easily view and change information. The new BHATCH command made it possible to hatch objects that intersected each other (this is my fondest memory of switching from r10 to r12). Commands with a DD prefix now open dialog boxes. GRIPS are now here!! This made quick modification to objects very easy. The AUTOSAVE (timesave is the actual command) feature was added, saving the butts of many users from that day forth!! Tiff and Gif files can be imported. Some other new commands that were added: NEW, OPEN, QSAVE, SAVEAS CONFIG, ALIGN, TIFFIN.

Release 13 in November, 1994, flouted Windows based enhancements to the user interface. Floating toolbars, flyouts, etc. made it more of the graphical interface we know and love today. But they still had other OS options available, DOS, etc. This interface change made available many different opportunities for OLE files and the like. Other enhancements were the ability to explode a non-uniformly scaled block, multiline text (thank you), spell checker (again, thank you), dimension styles (how did we work without them), leaders were now separate objects, properties dialog box, associative hatching, new osnaps (ext. intersection, apparent int., and relative point), Object Grouping, true ellipse, splines (defined by nurbs), multi-parallel lines, xline, xray, boolean operations, 3D rendering enhancements, boundary, box, extrude, leader, lengthen, region, and tooltips were added.

February 1997 brought us Release 14. In it we received a new graphics pipeline. We went from ADI graphics to HEIDI graphics. Plot drivers were never the same!! Paper space regen time was reduced, polylines and hatching were stored as single entities, reducing the file size. AutoSnap was given. This feature indicates with a symbol what snap point on an object was being selected. The user could cycle through the available snap points by hovering over an object and pressing the TAB key. The OSNAP toggle was given to let us turn it on and off. In the plot preview we actually get to see the drawing, and not just an over all shape of a rectangle. Tracking was added, real time pan and zoom, match properties, start up wizard, template drawings (what did we do before?), solid fill hatch, draw order, image references, bind, DWFOUT (yes, the earliest version of the DWF file was available in R14), xclip, and more. The biggest change in R14 was that it was now only available in a Windows OS.

March of 1999 gave us AutoCAD 2000, a.k.a. Release 15. 2000 gave us the "Heads-up Design Environment." This allowed users to work with multiple drawings in a single CAD session, copy, move and paste objects between files. We were introduced to the Design Center, which was a sign of things to come!!! Other new things were the QDIM functions, new osnaps (parallel and extension), AutoTracking (use polar and osnap tracking to draw objects at specific angles or relative to object snaps), partial open/load xrefs, real time 3D rotation, viewports and views can have different user coordinate systems, UCS manager, view, reference editing, Office like Toolbars, intellimouse panning and zooming (you know, the scroll wheel), right click short cut menus, hyperlinks in a drawing, non-rectangular viewports, VBA applications and custom code can now be used, camera, close, find, options, whohas, and more.

AutoCAD 2000i (R16 was released July 2000) was deemed the "Internet edition" of AutoCAD. Many new features were: freeze layer by viewport, double click edit of objects, trim to objects within blocks, multiple fillet and chamfer, plot merged lines, eTransmit, and more. Much of the new features worked on the theory that companies would be transmitting their files via the internet.

R17, or AutoCAD 2002 came out in June 2001. It gave us the block attribute manager, edit attribute dialog, enhanced attribute editor and extractor, standards manager, xml output, advanced license management, and more.

AutoCAD 2004 gave us tool pallets and a new dwg format for faster working files! The publisher made batch plotting and Multi sheet DWF files easy and possible. Digital signatures and password protection can now secure files. Floating network license makes it easier to get CAD to infrequent users. The new "true color" color wheel is here!! Plus gradient hatch. 2004 was also the beginning of a yearly release of the latest AutoCAD version every March. 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 were all release in March, one year after the next. that's a lot of upgrades!!

AutoCAD 2005 is where AutoCAD really starts to get advanced. DWG files are now 52% smaller. The introduction of tables and the Sheet Set Manger was given to us. This new enhancement changed the way we managed projects and their files. It links files together and makes sharing the information in the easier. It can collate sheets into logical sets and subsets and assemble sheet sets.

AutoCAD 2006 (released in March 2005) gave us the CUI (Customizable User Interface). This addition made migrating customized toolbars, menus, etc. into a new release much easier (in theory.) We were also given Dynamic Input (input at the cursor, not just the command line) and dynamic blocks. The power of blocks is greatly increased now that they can be manipulated with changing the block. 2006 also provided many tools in our 2D drafting and annotation.

AutoCAD 2007 gave us Vault, PDF write abilities, DWF underlays, animation, enhanced rendering, extremely easy 3D drawing, the DASHBOARD, and more. The big ticket item in 2007 was the major overhaul of the 3D capabilities. You don't have to spend time studying the 3D tools and methods any more. editing 3D objects is as easy as grip editing 2D lines!!!

The latest release, AutoCAD 2008, gave us many drafting and annotation enhancements. We can now over ride layer properties per view port. The dashboard is now customizable, tables can now function more like a spread sheet, annotated scaling (text and dimensions automatically scale according to the scale of the drawing), multi leaders, WYSIWYG mtext editor enhancements, and much more.

The current release of AutoCAD is so much different than what it was in release 1.0

Filters

How do you select what you need? Some times it can be difficult picking between what you want and what you don't want. One way is to isolate the layer an object is on. That is not always practical. For example, suppose you want to select a certain block in a file that has been inserted several times. You can isolate the layer it's on, but the blocks entities are on different layers, or the block was drawn on certain layers, but was inserted on a different layer!! (not always the best thing to do)

There are several options. You can create a selection query through the "FILTER" command. This command can be done by itself, or transparently (that means it can be used while the user is already in a command.) If the same selection criteria is used over and over again throughout a project or just in daily tasks, creating a filter might be a good idea. That way the steps don't have to be repeated every time.

To do this, start the FILTER command. (Just type in FILTER at the command prompt.) A window opens with many options. Give the filter a name (it's a good idea to name the filter according to the desired selection.) There are many search criteria to choose from, or simply select an item that meets the needed criteria. All searchable criteria from that object will be placed in the window. Remove any item that is not needed, otherwise, the filter will only be able to find that one item!!! Save it. Start a command (copy, move, delete, etc.), when prompted to select the items type in 'Filter. Make sure the apostrophe is there. This makes a command "transparent." Select the saved filter, click OK, and any item that meets your search filter will be selected. Of course, you actually have to do some selecting. If the item doesn't match the criteria you can't pick it!!!

What if you don't have a pre-saved filter? Just start the filter command transparently within your command and select the needed criteria.

Another way of using filters is with the "Quick Select." It works much the same way as the filter command, but you can't save your criteria. It too is transparent. The interface is a little more simple to work with so it is quicker. It doesn't provide all of the criteria options that filter does, but typically it will provide enough to get your work done.

Start a command, type in 'qselect. Again, the apostrophe makes it transparent. There will be options to choose from like, layer, color, block, type, etc. Select the item that best fits your needs. A second choice that narrows down the selection is available. Select it and presto your needed items are selected.

After using these filters a few times they will become second nature. There are several ways to invoke the quick select command. Play with it to find out which way works best for you.

The Speed is in the Clicks

How fast, or efficient, are you in CAD? Employers typically want drafters that are quick and correct. Clients want drawings quickly and accurate. Some times it is difficult to get both, but that is the goal we strive for.
So, how fast are you? Why do you work at the speed you do? Is it because you have a lightning fast computer? Is your mouse super efficient? Does your CAD have cat like reflexes?
A good way to reduce your time spent drafting is to reduce your "Clicks and Picks." The number of mouse clicks, the number of mouse movements will increase/decrease your drawing time. Find a way to click less. How? Set up standards, templates, toolpallets, blocks, dynamic blocks, and osnaps.
Two ways to use osnaps that will greatly reduce your clicks and picks are with tracking and the "snap from" snap. These two functions will reduce the need to create, edit, remove temporary construction lines.

On/Off or Thaw/Freeze - What's the difference?

Good question. There are differences, but they are subtle. The most common use of these commands is to make data invisible but retain it in the file. Both methods will accomplish this.

Off/Freeze Similarities: Is not visible, does not plot,

Differences:

On/Off - Is hidden in 3D, is still regenerated when off, will zoom extents to OFF layers, off a layer a block is on only items on that layer in the block are invisible

Thaw/Freeze - Can thaw/freeze per viewport, will zoom extent to thawed layers, freeze layer a block is on the entire block is invisible

There may be more, but this is the basics. The main differences again are; you can thaw layers per viewport, you can't turn them off per viewport. If a layer is off, it will be off in every tab and every viewport.

If layers are off, AutoCAD still regenerates them, though there is nothing to see. Not so much of a problem anymore, but why regenerate invisible lines?

If layers are OFF, and you ZOOM EXTENTS, those layers are still included in the "extents". But if they are "frozen", then you zoom extents only to what is visible.

If you use a block that has uses layers in it, and insert it on a different layer, when you freeze the insertion layer the entire block is invisible. If you turn off a layer, all layers used in the block that are on a different layer will still be visible. Example: I have a block with a layer in it called blue, and a second layer called green. I insert the block on layer red. If I freeze layer red, the block will be invisible. If I turn off the layer red, I will still see the entire block. If I freeze or turn off layer blue, then only the objects on layer blue will be invisible.

WOW!! That's confusing. It is easier to do it yourself than to read about it. Try it out and let me know what you discover.

Trim and Extend Dimensions

Did you ever have a need to adjust a dimension quickly? You can with the trim and extend commands. Here's how: The image shows a box that is 20' x 20'. What I want to show are the dimensions from the edge of the box to the center. I could delete the dimensions and reapply. Or, since I used associated dimensioning like a good boy, I can reassociate the dimensions. Both methods take several steps. In this case all I really need to do is to apply the TRIM command.
Start the trim command, select the center lines of the box (or the lines you want to dimension to go to), enter, then select the dimension. it will "trim" to the center line.

They will then look like the second picture. In the case that I started with the dimensions to the center lines of the box, but want them to the outside edges, I would activate the EXTEND command. Select the lines I want to dimension too, enter, select the dimensions and they will move to the outside lines.

It's a nice little trick that will help out from time to time.

Clean your Files or your Grounded!!

When I receive files form a client, vendor, or coworker, I often ask why? Why what? Why did they leave one million extra and unused layers in the file? Why are there unused blocks in the file? WHY? WHY? WHY? Oh the humanity!!!

I ask CAD users around the office to take a few steps when they finish working in a file in order to make things easier for others when they have to come behind us and fix what we did wrong. Here are the steps:

1. Audit. Run the Audit command to fix many errors that could cause AutoCAD to crash. Runt the Audit command. When prompted to "Fix any errors detected", type in "Y" for yes. If errors are detected, a prompt will appear asking if they are to be deleted. Type in "Y" for yes, as this is why we are doing this.

2. Purge. When using the purge command, select the "Confirm Each Item to be Purged" box and the "Purge nested items" boxes. This will allow the user to eliminate all purgeable items in the file with one click. If unused items might be needed in the future, then select the purgeable items one at a time. It can be cumbersome, but saves items that you might want.

3. Zoom in or out in the file so that the drawing border fills the screen. Then save. This will allow for any thumbnails of the drawing to clearly indicate the contents of the file.

These steps will keep files clean, neat, and tidy.

THIRD POST!!!

How long am I expected to count my number of blogs? I guess that's why the are numbered and dated.

Somewhere I promised to post tips about AutoCAD. This shall be the first. Maybe this will be more of a discussion on CAD, lets see what happens.

It has been my experience that many CAD Users today lack basic drafting skills. Do you think that a CAD user is a better drafter if they have made board drawings? Maybe you think there is no difference. How much training have you had drawing on the board? What is the difference between a CAD Technician and a CAD Drafter? Is there a difference?

When I had to go through applications and resumes to fill a vacancy a while back, i had to ask these questions. I found it difficult to find a "Board Drafter". There are plenty of "CAD Users", but where they "CAD Drafters?"

I gave them a very basic test to see where they were in their drafting and CAD skills. I would have to say that I learned more of what I needed to know from that test than from the interview. I wouldn't do one without the other whenever I hire again.

Have you ever had to take a test for a drafting job? What was it like?

Second post!

I don't really need to count these posts because they will count themselves. When things are new we have a tendency to count them.

What do you know? I know CAD. Specifically AutoCAD. I don't know much else. I've been working with CAD for over 14 years so I should have learned something about it by now.

One thing I have learned about CAD is that there is so much to it that I don't know yet. I continually learn about it every week. I have to, it's my job to know CAD. I think that three of the most useful and yet unknown "tricks" in AutoCAD are:

1). "control + tab": This command sequence is actually a Windows feature. you will find many Windows features that can be used in CAD. This feature will toggle a user between open CAD files.

2.) "up" arrow: (and the "down" arrow) Pressing the up and down arrows will bring to the command line the last commands that were entered. Very useful when repeating frequent commands.

3.) "shift": Press the "shift" key when selecting objects in CAD to add them to your selection group. If you selected an object that you don't want in your group, press the "shift" key and select that item. It will be removed from your group.

As you can see, these "basic" items can increase your efficiency. They are simple, but effective. I am often amazed when users are unaware of them.

See you next time.