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Grab the chance now to help guide us on ways to improve our software, website, and more by getting involved in our customer reference, usability, or beta programs.
Your suggestions could result in product changes that boost your productivity and make your work easier.
We look forward to contacting to you to talk with you about Autodesk Design Review.
Select this link to participate.
--Volker
Chris Hession from the Freewheel marketing and John Schmier from the development team, are hosting what promises to be an exciting and informative session at AU titled:
Share Designs Online: An Introduction to Autodesk® Freewheel™
This session will provide an overview of Freewheel, including the variety of ways you can build it into your processes to quickly, easily, and seamlessly communicate designs to your colleagues. They will also show some cool working integrations of Freewheel.
Make sure to register soon for Autodesk University and be sure to sign up for the Freewheel class before it fills up.
A user contacted us recently and posted the following question:
"I was testing the new ability of Inventor 2008 to load a markup set.
But when I try to change the markup set status, I do not get a list of 4 options (<None>, Question, Review & Done), but a HUGE list (see enclosed image). All the way at the bottom of the list are the "Done" options. It seems like the options have been added 50 times!!!
Both Inventor 2008 and Design Review 2008 are at SP1."
The Inventor group confirmed this to be an existing and known problem and suggested the following workaround: "The issue with the multiple listing under Markup Status is known and we are working on it. You can work around this by RMB (right mouse button) on the markup in the browser and select Properties. In the properties dialog, you can change the status of the markup at the top of the
dialog."
--Volker
The Extended Design Group is investigating as to whether we should continue to offer non-Admin and Admin installs for the Autodesk Design Review application in the future or whether we should offer it with Admin install only.
Many organizations have moved away from non-Admin installs but we are well aware that there are users out there who would prefer it if we continue to offer it the way we have been.
We would greatly appreciate it if you could find a few minutes and share your thoughts and/or concerns on the subject by replying to this post or by emailing me directly at volker.joseph@autodesk.com, should you prefer to remain anonymous.
Thank you.
Volker Joseph
EDG Beta Manager
Once in a while we get the opportunity to get out and about with the Extended Design Group (EDG) Management team. EDG is the team that brings you Autodesk Design Review and other applications. This time, we met at our offices in Ithaca, NY and after a day full of meetings, we decided to get dinner at a local restaurant.
Food and drink where excellent, as always, but I can assure you that some of the conversational content was way beyond excellent - even amusing at times <grin>.
One attested to having seen a 15 foot mountain lion, whilst another member of the group experienced a plane clipping his roof. I missed the end and am not able to tell as to whether the plane or the roof made for a happy ending.
Ever wondered why some folks grow beyond 6'5"? Well, I certainly question some of the philosophies since I have learned that one can grow this tall on cookies and coffee alone! Even more so when served from the age of three years...
Did you all know that Atlantic City is in Georgia? [Where is Miss Teen South Carolina when we need her?]And never mind the remark that Vegetarian folks are vegellicious. Did I spell this right?
For my part I enjoyed a humongous piece of T-Bone, which must have been at least 25 ounces - though some claimed it was part of the tail of that 15 foot mountain lion. And I refused desert since they did not have any beef on the menu...
All that and more...good fun and a great team to be with!
--Volker
App vs SaaS
Scott Sheppard has a comparison of the collaboration processes available from Autodesk Design Review and Project Freewheel.
Collaboration comparison of Autodesk Design Review, Project Freewheel, and Autodesk Freewheel
Check it out.
You probably knew that Design Review can convert a DWF file into a custom symbol catalog. But did you know that using the Autodesk DWF Writer (http://www.autodesk.com/dwfwriter), you can produce DWF files from PowerPoint 2007? Let’s turn a PowerPoint presentation into a custom symbol catalog for Design Review.
Prepare the slideshow
The number one fail-point when creating a custom symbol catalog using PowerPoint is not setting up the presentation file properly. If you don’t set the presentation background to be transparent, in Design Review, your custom symbol will look like a sheet of paper with a shape on it…which would obscure your drawing.
To create a PowerPoint presentation that will become the custom symbol catalog
1. In PowerPoint 2007, if necessary, create a new blank presentation.
2. On the Design tab, click Background Styles and choose Format Background.
3. From the Fill options, set the Transparency to 100%.
4. Click Apply to All.
5. Click Close.
Add a Shape
Once the presentation background is transparent, you’re ready to create your first slide that will eventually become the first symbol in the custom symbol catalog. We’re going to use shapes supplied by PowerPoint, but, of course, you can add content to the slide you want.
Worth repeating is that each slide in the presentation will become a custom symbol in the custom catalog. So only put one shape on a slide. If you put multiple shapes on a slide, then all those shapes on that slide will be converted into a single symbol in Design Review.
To add a shape to a slide
1. If necessary, delete the text placeholders from the slide.
2. On the Insert tab, click Shapes.
3. Draw the desired shape on the slide. The shape’s position on the slide doesn’t matter.
4. Optional: Format the shape as desired…change its color, size, etc.
5. To add more symbols, you need to add more blank slides and repeat steps 1-4.
Tip: Create a new slide without text placeholders, on the Home tab, click New Slide and choose Blank.
Make the DWF File
With your PowerPoint presentation ready, you have to print a copy of it as a DWF file.
To make a DWF file from the PowerPoint presentation
1. Click the Office button and choose Print > Print. The Print dialog box opens.
2. From the Name drop-down list, choose, Autodesk DWF Writer for 2D. Tip: You can tinker with the DWF Writer properties if you don’t like the results in the DWF file.
3. Click OK. The Save DWF File As dialog box opens.
4. Name the new DWF file.
5. Click Save. The DWF file opens in Design Review. Each sheet has one shape on it.
Label the Sheets in Design Review
In Design Review, each sheet has a relatively meaningless name. That sheet name will become the label for the custom symbol unless you change it. You should correct that so each symbol has a useful name.
Note: You cannot rename an individual symbol in a symbol catalog once it has been imported into Design Review. You will need to remove the symbol catalog, change the sheet name in the DWF file, and import the DWF file as a symbol catalog again.
To rename a sheet
1. In the Contents palette, right-click each sheet and choose Rename.
2. Type a meaningful label for each sheet. A sheet’s name will become its label shown after importing the DWF file as a custom symbol catalog.
3. Repeat the above steps until each sheet has been renamed.
4. Save the DWF file.
Import the DWF File as a Custom Symbol Catalog
With the sheets renamed, you are ready to make the DWF into a custom symbol catalog.
Note: You cannot rename a symbol catalog once it has been imported into Design Review. You will need to remove the symbol catalog, and import the DWF file as a symbol catalog again, providing the desired name.
To create a custom symbol catalog
1. In Design Review, on the Standard toolbar, click the Stamps and Symbols arrow and choose Import DWF as Symbol Catalog. The Import DWF File as Symbol Catalog dialog box opens.
2. Navigate to where the DWF file that contains the PowerPoint shapes.
3. Select the DWF file and click Open. The Add Symbol Catalog dialog box opens.
4. Accept the default catalog name or type a new name.
5. Select Import Each Sheet as a Symbol. This creates a separate symbol from each 2D sheet in the DWF file.
6. Click OK.
To delete a custom symbol catalog, refer to the “Remove a Symbol Catalog” topic in the Design Review Help file.
Stamp a Custom Symbol on a Sheet
Now that the custom symbol catalog has been imported, it is available whenever you want to stamp 2D content.
To stamp a custom symbol on a sheet
1. Open the DWF file that contains the 2D content you want to stamp.
2. Click the Stamps and Symbols arrow and choose the desired catalog and symbol.
3. On the 2D sheet, click where you want to position the symbol’s center. The symbol is shown on the canvas and as a markup item in the Markups palette.
4. Optional: Format the shape as desired…change its position, size, etc.
I’d be interested in seeing the custom symbol catalogs you create! So be sure to share them with us by responding to this blog.
--Volker
The DWF Toolkit makes application development possible for Autodesk partners.
Autodesk is a Microsoft technology partner. The Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation provides a foundation for building applications and high fidelity experiences in Microsoft Windows Vista, blending together application UI, documents, and media content, while exploiting the full power of your computer.
InterKnowlogy is also a Microsoft technology partner. Leveraging the technology of the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), InterKnowlogy built a 3D Collaborator for AutoCAD© Drawings. It allows you to annotate on the 2D or 3D surface of AutoCAD Drawings that have been published as DWF. 3D Collaborator is another example of an independent use of the free Autodesk DWF Toolkit. Although the download includes some prewired sample DWF files, InterKnowlogy updated 3D Collaborator this month to make opening your own DWF files easier.
Please take 3D Collaborator for a spin with your own DWF files and tell us what you think. In this age of ever expanding bandwidth, does size matter? How is the speed? How would you like to see the metadata presented? You can email scott.sheppard@autodesk.com with your thoughts or simply post a comment on this blog page. Your comments are welcome.
Autodesk Design Review 2008 and Bosch Rexroth were prominently featured in this week’s issue of Design News’ Slant column. This Q&A with Jim Lambert, who is the current design manager for Bosch Rexroth Canada Corp., a partner company of Bosch Rexroth GmbH.
The PSEB/EDG PR team worked closely with Lambert and timed this Q&A with Design News, in light of the National Manufacturing Week (NMW) in Chicago later this month, in which Lambert will be speaking with Amy Bunzel. As a side note, Jonathan Knowles is slated to speak with Patrik Chartrand of Advanced Dynamics at NMW.
Overall, the Q&A is extremely positive, highlighting the need for ADR’s collaborative technology in an Inventor workflow. Lambert stresses the importance of ADR in both Bosch Rexroth’s internal and external reviews.
Read the complete article here.
--Volker
Labor Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in the United States since the 1880s.
The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
Today Labor Day is often regarded simply as a day of rest and, compared to the May 1 Labor Day celebrations in most countries, parades, speeches or political demonstrations are more low-key, although especially in election years, events held by labor organizations often feature political themes and appearances by candidates for office. Forms of celebration include picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays, water sports, and public art events.
Families with school-age children take it as the last chance to travel before the end of summer. Some teenagers and young adults view it as the last weekend for parties before returning to school. However, of late, schools have begun well before Labor Day, as early as the 24th of July in many urban districts, including Nashville and Atlanta. In addition, Labor Day marks the beginning of the season for the National Football League and NCAA College Football. The NCAA usually plays their first games the weekend of Labor day, with the NFL playing their first game the Thursday following Labor Day.
--Volker
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