Drawing the Machine

Thank you for Reading!

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:28:50 -0700

Announcement: Thanks to everyone who has followed this blog. I have accepted a position in a different field, and will no longer be updating "Drawing the Machine." The blog has been a lot of fun, and I hope those of you who read it got as much out of it as I did writing it.

For now the blog will remain open, so feel free to browse the archived content. Also, Garin Gardiner's "In the Machine" will occasionally cover AutoCAD Mechanical-related topics.

And it was all yellow...

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:18:00 -0700

My apologies for quoting Cold Play, but it may aptly describe the text color (yellow) on some of your legacy drawings when opening them up in AutoCAD Mechanical 2009. Here's a quick way to bring a little visibility back into your life...

Start with the AMOPTIONS command (Tools>Options) and select the AM:Standards tab. Double click on the active standard (in this case, ANSI) to move into the Standard Settings dialog.

In the Object properties area, click on the Settings button.

Click on the Restore Defaults button to revert layer and color settings back to factory defaults, and....

Your preview should automatically update to a more visible shade of Miami Blue

Depending on whether the current background color is dark or light, the appropriate object color and layer settings will be applied to the current drawing. Please note that if you have customized the layer settings in your drawing, they will be reset to the factory defaults. (Ex: if you have set centerlines to be created on a custom layer, other than AM_7, they will be reset back to AM_7)

Thanks to Lakshmanan Lakshmanan for his help in this content development ;o)

AU 2008: Help Us Select the Sessions!

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:13:08 -0700

Sunday was the deadline for submitting potential session topics for Autodesk University this fall. The response to our “Call for Papers” has been fantastic, and we received 1306 submissions by the deadline. A total of 606 professionals from all over the world submitted one or more topics, and 25% came from outside the US.

We're doing something new this year—we would like you to help us select the best 500-plus sessions.

We have uploaded all of the sessions (that were submitted by the deadline) to AU 2008 Session site and we need your input. Topics are organized under 19 tracks, which are either an industry or a product. If you are considering attending AU, please take a few minutes to vote for sessions that you absolutely want to see.

Over the next few weeks, we will review all those submissions and whittle them down to the number we can actually physically accommodate in the Venetian Conference Center in Las Vegas.

Registration for AU will start on August 15th, and one week earlier for AU members. Class schedules will be available for review by August 1st.

Thank you in advance for helping us select the most interesting classes. The deadline for voting is Saturday, May 3, 2008

for your AU 2008 sessions now!

5 UI Tips to Start Navigating in AutoCAD Mechanical 2009

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

1. Ribbon

You may have noticed that typing RIBBON in the command line brings up the Dashboard and configuration nodes for the Ribbon in the CUI editor edits the Dashboard instead. This is because the Ribbon is based on the Dashboard. The Ribbon is not available in AutoCAD Mechanical 2009 but the Dashboard still is. The Dashboard can be used in the vertical orientation.

2. Menus

Menus in AutoCAD Mechanical 2009 have been reorganized. For AutoCAD users, you will find the menu items in AutoCAD Mechanical 2009 familiar. Mechanical-specific commands can be found within the new menu items.

The big, red A button you see on the left is the Menu Browser button. The menu hierarchy is the same in there. A Search box is added to let you quickly find a command if you need.

3. Toolbars

Along with the menus, the toolbars are also reorganized. They are in 2 lists, Mechanical and AutoCAD. All Mechanical toolbars, including main toolbars and flyout toolbars are in the Mechanical list. You should be able to find all the toolbars you need here.

The AutoCAD list gives the toolbars from AutoCAD so you will find many toolbars and toolbuttons overlapping those in the Mechanical list. Usually, the Mechanical toolbars are comprehensive and will provide all the tools you need. E.g. Use the Mechanical Dimension toolbar instead of the AutoCAD’s for Power Dimensions and enhanced mechanical tools.

4. Status Bar

The status bar buttons are now shown as icons. These icons give more space in case if you prefer to turn them all on. They can also be toggled to their former text versions via the right-click menu.

For Structure users, do note that the Top Down/Bottom Up, R-Lock and S-Lock status bar buttons are turned off by default now. You can turn them on through the status bar options. Do note that they currently do not have an icon version.

5. Workspaces

Like in AutoCAD Mechanical 2008, there are 4 workspaces:

· Classic (Default) – Classic AutoCAD Mechanical interface with a minimal set of tools. This will give you mainly the Drawing and Modify tools. This workspace is also meant to look a lot like the AutoCAD classic UI to help AutoCAD users to get use to AutoCAD Mechanical quickly.

· AutoCAD Classic – For users who need to use tools from the AutoCAD classic layout quickly, this workspace provides the same UI in AutoCAD Mechanical.

· Essential – This gives a more comprehensive set of tools, especially with the Dashboard turned on, for all the tasks required in AutoCAD Mechanical. This is recommended if you are familiar with the tools in AutoCAD Mechanical.

· Structure – Tailored for Structure users, this workspace is targeted at expert users. The Dashboard is also turn on here. Note that changing to this workspace does not turn the drawing into Structure, nor turn on the Top Down/Bottom Up, R-Lock and S-Lock status bar buttons automatically.

New kid on the blog...

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:29:00 -0700

As Andrew De Leon is pouring his soul (and all of his extra time) into the 2010 release of AutoCAD Mechanical, i'm here to help out and get some useful feedback from You (the users) while i'm at it! As a quick intro, I am the Technical Marketing Manager for AutoCAD Mechanica and AutoCAD Electrical, which includes additional driving time with Inventor, and our fantastic Data Management products (Vault and Productstream). For more info, just take a look at my bio or even better, drop me a line!

I'll be patrolling the Discussion Groups, looking for good fodder for the next installment of Drawing the Machine. In the meantime, it would be great to hear from everyone in the field, and find out what we can do to spice up the blog. Content suggestions, a great idea for tips and tricks, or do you or someone you know of have a great story to tell? Communication is key, and I haven't quite mastered mind reading, so here's your opportunity!!!!

Jarred

AU 2008: Last call for great presenters

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:35:00 -0700

Two words: submissions deadline. If you’re considering joining our outstanding slate of speakers at Autodesk University 2008, you’ll have to act by April 27, 2008.

Please submit your presentation proposal(s) online, as soon as possible, at the Call for Papers website.

Whenever we stop to analyze why Autodesk University has become so hugely successful, one thing is clear: the excellent presentations from experts are a big, big factor.

The time for us to assemble the AU 2008 faculty, who are without a doubt the most critical component of the overall AU experience, is nearly over. So if you:

• Have the communication skills, technical expertise, and relevant experience….

• Want to share your knowledge of a favorite topic—from tips and tricks and sales techniques to new business opportunities such as sustainable design….

• Are motivated to bring success to design professionals and their organizations….

• Want to demonstrate your expertise to several thousand Autodesk customers, partners, and employees, thereby promoting your business success? Then we want to hear from you—now!

A speaker honorarium is also provided!

Creating a Surface Texture Majority Symbol

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:42:00 -0700

For those using an ISO based standard, either the out of the box version or you own company tweaked version, a number of symbols have the option to place a “majority” symbol in addition to their geometry and leader based variations.

The Surface Texture symbol is one of these symbols; however, if you place the symbol following the default command prompts, the majority symbol option is not available within the dialog box. So how do you access the option?

It’s pretty straight forward once you know… just don’t select any geometry and most importantly, don’t use a leader while creating the symbol… When you see the “Next Point :” prompt, instead of picking a point and creating a leader, press Enter. This creates the symbol without a leader and makes the majority symbol option available for selection within the dialog box.

Once a majority symbol is placed, the symbol continuously monitors the drawing space it’s placed in. This monitoring allows the symbol to be placed before or after your specific surface texture symbols. If placed before, any symbols placed after will be added between the brackets automatically. If placed after your specific symbols, all existing symbols are immediately added and the monitoring continues just in case you forgot one…

Tips

1) The level of detail of the symbols between the brackets is controlled by the Surface Texture standard element. There are two options; Simplified and Full list. I’ll let you decide which one best fits your requirements.

2) The majority symbol is title border specific. This means that if you use multiple title borders (placed using AMTITLE) within model space, the majority symbol will only monitor the drawing space within the title border it’s placed. Any surface texture symbols placed outside the title border or within another will not be added.

- Andrew

AU 2007 AutoCAD Mechanical sessions

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:19:00 -0700

With AU 2007 just around the corner, here’s the complete list of AutoCAD Mechanical sessions on offer. So if you use AutoCAD Mechanical and you are attending AU, make sure you catch at least a couple of these sessions.

Kevin Robinson: The Power Tools of AutoCAD® Mechanical

Session ID: MA201-5

Frustrated with tedious design tasks? Learn why AutoCAD Mechanical is a great choice for 2D mechanical designers. There are many tools in AutoCAD Mechanical that will increase your productivity and reduce common design errors. Learn how to take advantage of these tools such as Associative Hide, Power Dimensioning, Bills of Material, Auto Balloon, and Screw Connections. If you’re using AutoCAD for mechanical design or you’re a casual user of AutoCAD Mechanical, come learn what productivity really means!

Kevin Robinson: All the "Zero Learning Curve" Features of AutoCAD® Mechanical

Session ID: MA211-1L

Based on last year’s award-winning class, "Power Tools of AutoCAD Mechanical," you’ll leave this class ready to fire up this mechanical CAD drafting engine. This supercharged class takes the top 10 features and shows you the ins and outs in order to kick “Plain-Jane AutoCAD” to the curb for Mechanical drafting and design work.

Jim Swain: AutoCAD® Mechanical and Power Dimensioning: Start Saving Time Now!

Session ID: MA215-3

Power Dimensioning is the fastest and easiest tool available for the typical AutoCAD user who wants to increase productivity! Just install AutoCAD Mechanical and with a few tweaks to your Options, you can be using a single command to meet your dimensioning needs. It is so fast and so easy, you’ll wonder how you’ve survived without it! Sounds like a late night infomercial, doesn’t it? But in this case, the claims are true! We’ll look at how to set up and use Power Dimensioning so you can start saving time immediately.

Dale Schneider: Drawing Documentation: Communicating the Design with the Help of AutoCAD® Mechanical

Session ID: MA219-1

Design creation is considered by many to be the fun part of a project, and its associated drawing documentation a necessary chore. This session focuses on the tasks and tools in AutoCAD Mechanical for creating drawing documentation as quickly and efficiently as possible while meeting custom-drawing documentation requirements. Tasks and tools include utilizing Associative Hide so the design geometry remains dynamic and appears as required; creating and reusing annotation views of mechanically structured data; configuring and utilizing Custom Borders and Title Blocks; and the use of standards-based parts lists and balloons.

Dale Schneider: AutoCAD® Mechanical Standards: Configuration and Use

Session ID: MA305-3

Because of the importance and impact current settings in the Active standard have on your geometry and annotation, it is important that all CAD managers and users of AutoCAD Mechanical understand the configuration of mechanical standards. This session presents the configuration of a standard with special focus given to the configuration of the bill of materials (BOM) and its related items of component properties, parts list, and balloons. While learning about the configuration of the BOM, we’ll also cover layer management and master settings. To work as efficiently as possible and to maintain consistency among drawings, you’ll learn the different ways to reuse your standard settings with template drawings and how to export and import your standards.

- Andrew

AutoCAD Mechanical Beta 1 now available

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 08:44:03 -0700

The AutoCAD Mechanical team would like to invite existing AutoCAD Mechanical users to participate in the Beta Program for the upcoming release, code named "Edison". Basically, this is your chance to give the next release a good old test while providing feedback on what weve built

To sign up, go to http://myfeedback.autodesk.com and select Sign up from the Active Zone Menu. For the sign up process, use the Beta Code Edison and make sure you select AutoCAD Mechanical as one of the products you use.

- Andrew

Settings the standard for your symbols

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:32:38 -0700

In the last tip I showed symbols from the ISO standard and if youre not overly familiar with AutoCAD Mechanical you may be wondering what that means. Basically, it means that AutoCAD Mechanical is a standards based product; all symbols are created according to international drafting standards. And yes, theres a good chance the standard you need is available.

Included within AutoCAD Mechanical are 7 international drafting standards; ISO, ANSI, DIN, BSI, CSN, JIS and GB. So if youre in need of welding symbols according to AWS A2.4 98 or surface texture symbols according to JIS B 0031 2003 they are available and ready for use. All you need to do is select the drafting standard you, your company or the current project requires before you start creating symbols.

Selecting the drafting standard is pretty straight forward. On the command line, enter AMOPTIONS (this launches AutoCADs Options dialog box with the AM:Standards tab selected). In the top left corner select the standard you require.

Once youve selected a standard, the Standard elements list on the left hand side is updated to reflect the selected standard. Within the list, some of the elements support multiple revisions. Simply expand the tree to expose and change the active revision.

Once you close the Options dialog box, the selected standard becomes the active standard and all symbols created from this point forward will be created according to the standard youve just selected. All existing symbols will continue to use the previous standard.

- Andrew

Tip: make sure your drawing template (*.DWT) is using the correct standard. This will save you from having to change the standard in every new drawing you create.