Autodesk's Big Day

Today is the big Autodesk event that I've been talking about.  In a few hours I will be attending a live webcast featuring some key officials from Autodesk.  In this even they will be launching their line of 2011 products!  There are a lot of exciting things happening and additions to the software that we love and often love to hate.


If you are interested in seeing the webcast (look for me in the audience) go to this link and sign up:

AUGI March Hotnews is Available

AUGI's March edition of Hotnews is out and ready to be read.  I have my regular Tipniques Article, and there are several other great articles that you really need to read.

Some of them are:

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?

Tech, I need it

I <3 Tech

What an exciting day for me.  I love tech, and the more I use it the more I realize how much I enjoy using it.  Today my son had to meet some of his classmates to work on a project.  No problem, I have a bonus chapter for my video training title to script so I can record it.  I can work on it then.  We live in a place that has a high amount of traffic on the weekends, especially during spring break, and there is only one road in and out of our town.  That means that to get out of the house would take about 45 minutes to an hour, and to get back would take about just as long.  By the time I got back home from dropping my son off I would have to leave, just to sit in traffic.  Ah ha!  I have tech!  So I packed my Dell laptop, my Palm Pre, and my jump drive.  I also took along a notebook, not a real notebook, but actual notes written on paper.

I dropped my son off and went to find a "techy" type place to go, grab some coffee, a snack, and plug in.  Found it, Starbucks will do just fine.  The funny part, that once I started I quickly realized that my working file wasn't on my jump drive, but on my Windows Live account! It's there so I can get to it no matter where I am.  This Starbucks didn't have a wifi and I couldn't find one.  I quickly turned on the Mytether application on my Palm Pre.  Presto!  Instant wifi hot spot.  I was able to get several sections written and even started writing this post.  I did forget my USB cable so I wasn't able to charge my phone.  Let me tell you, tetherinf my Pre really drained the battery, fast.

So, with my tech I was able to work and have a productive afternoon.  How does your tech help you be more productive?

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. 

AutoCAD Fundamentals

Today I am taking a break from my massive online gaming and am working on a new bonus chapter for my training video from Infinite Skills. It's a training video that is about 10 hour long and it is an introductory title to AutoCAD. Pretty soon I will have it available for purchase on my blog. It covers all of the basic tools anyone needs to use AutoCAD. If you have never used AutoCAD but want to know how, this is the video for you. If you haven't used it in a long time and need a refresher, this is for you. If you need your employees AutoCAD skills improved, this is the one for you.

Stay tuned for more details and for some free giveaways!

yes, I said free!

GOOGLE TV on it's Way

According to the New York Times, Google is partnering up with Sony and Intel to develop an entertainment system, that integrates television and the web in one product. The device will allow users to watch TV or surf the web, with one piece of equipment.

Read the article from the NYT to get the low down.

In case you didn't know, this product is essentially out there. I have one at home. It's called a computer. I envision this device to be different than a computer. It will install just as easily as a video player but be much more simpler to use than a computer. They could use either the Android mobile system as an OS or use Google's Chrome OS. Either one would give the user enough computing power to browse the web, check email, watch the nightly news and download videos from services like Netflix and Hulu.

What it won't do is handle major software like Office or AutoCAD. I see it as being a browser based OS (Chrome OS) similar to Apple's iPad, except it will have flash installed and USB ports.

This product has the potential to be what Web TV was meant to be. I'm sure there will be several different types. One that comes with a TV, one that is a standalone to hook up to your current TV, different hard drives and speed.

What do you think? Would you get one? If so, what would the price need to be?

p.s. There is also a Google Car in the works!

Mobile blogger

I want to post to my existing blog from my mobile device.

Thank you.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Autodesk University 2010 Call for Proposals - Now Open

The Autodesk University 2010 Call for Proposals is now open. It seems to me that they are starting off a bit earlier this year than in the past. that's good because several speakers take on several classes. There is a lot of effort that goes into these classes. Planning, writing, testing, handouts, and then showing up!

Autodesk University is a giant convention covering all of the products that are produced by Autodesk. There are over 600 presentations with close to 10,000 visitors. It is perhaps one of the largest networking opportunities in the CAD/Design software industry.

Once at AU, you can attend training courses that are tailored to you industry, improve your own skill set, get up to date with current and future technology, and find solutions to your company's situations.

Autodesk Special Event - Yeah I'm going!

Next week Autodesk is having a special event at their San Francisco office.  Several CAD bloggers, like myself, will be in attendance.  I can't give out any real information yet, but I can share with you a list of who will be there.

• Michael Beall ~ http://www.cadtutor.net/corner/
• David Cohn ~ http://cadman-do.blogspot.com/
• Donnie Gladfelter ~ http://www.thecadgeek.com/
• Mark Kiker ~ http://www.caddmanager.com/CMB/
• RK McSwain ~ http://cadpanacea.com/
• Melanie Perry ~ http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com/
• Curt Moreno ~ http://www.kungfudrafter.com/
• Barry Ralphs ~ http://www.opendcl.com
• Dean Saadallah ~ http://LTisACAD.blogspot.com

This list is simply amazing.  I have personally worked with most of the bloggers listed in one way or another, either on a project with AUGI, sharing blog posts, or through Cadalyst Magazine.  I have also gone to each and every website listed for CAD help or advice at some point in my career.  If you need CAD help, start with this list.  If they can't help you, well, then reboot three times and try again.

I went to a similar event last year.  There will be a live Webcast that you can sign up for and watch.  Here is the link:  http://www.autodesk.com/webcast

Other members of the Autodesk team will be there and we will have the chance to speak with them and ask them questions.  They too will be asking us questions.  I am very excited to be attending this special event.

Do you have any questions that you would like Autodesk to answer?  I can not guarantee anything, but I will be happy to inquire for you.  I will be blogging the event and Tweeting details, so stay tuned.

You can follow my tweets at: www.twitter.com/bcbenton

Now, what to wear . . . .

Who Likes AutoCAD and Free Stuff?

A couple of blog posts ago I mentioned that I haven't been blogging much lately.  That's about to change.  All I have to really do is post once a week and my post count will go through the roof!  I have been using AutoCAD and other Autodesk products for about 17 plus years.  That experience, plus my training opened a door that I was happy to walk through.  I have authored and reordered my very first training video series called AutoCAD Fundamentals. I was able to work with a great group of people from a company called Infinite Skills.  Together we have created a nearly 10 hour training video.  It is a video that will take anyone that has never used AutoCAD before and make them into an AutoCAD user.  I'm going to blog about this title more and more as the days go on.  But suffice it to say, that I have plans to get some free copies out there to readers of CAD-a-Blog!!  Stay tuned for more information about the title and on how you could win a free copy.

Cadalyst's Tips & Tools Weekly

Cadalyst magazine has several newsletters.  I am the Tip Patroller for their weekly newsletter Tips & Tools Weekly.  It is published every Monday.  This weeks tips include:

Start Commands with a Double Click

Set Extrusion Distance

Two-Key Commands

Program Keyboard and Mouse Inputs

Go to Cadalyst's website and click on the CAD Tips button to find all of the tips and to sign up for the newsletter.  Every tip is reader submitted.  There is a ton of great stuff there.

Autodesk releases Hotfix for running Impression 3 on Windows 7

Autodesk has been silent (or at least very quiet) with regards to Impression for some time.  I even stopped writing about it for AUGI World.  It's back! Sort of.  Impression doesn't run to well on Windows 7.  Or so I'm told.  I'm running it ok on Windows XP and Windows Vista.  They have released a hotfix for it.  According to Autodesk's website, this hotfix fixes a problem Impression has in Windows 7 where when you attempt to open, save or import a drawing, Impression fails!  Ouch!  

Download the hotfix from this site.

Impression is great.  I use it and have several tips on this blog about it.

Sorry for the Delay

You might have noticed that I haven't been blogging much, at least not on CAD-a-Blog.com.  I have been doing a bit of micro blogging on Twitter and Facebook.  Don't worry.  I'm getting back to it.  I've been busy on a project that has been published (I'll talk more about it later) and tried to get some other projects going.  I didn't finish them.  That's ok.  I want to rework this blog's format, and once I do, I will get back on the job.  Hang with me, and keep coming back!