Beyond the Paper

"Better Process Podcast" Series 3 of 3

The last two interviews in the series of Better Process Podcast interviews.

Listen to Patrik Chartrand, who has been working for the past 12 years as a CAD application expert in the eastern Canada area. He as teamed up more than once with Autodesk to help out various clients to implement complete turn key CAD solutions. He was the first to be awarded the title of Inventor Certified Expert in 2005, and is a regular speaker at Autodesk University.

http://www.podcasternews.com/programs/87/better-process-podcast/4647/ 

Listen as Amy Bunszel, Product Line Director for Autodesk Inventor, discusses the importance of digital prototyping.

http://www.podcasternews.com/programs/87/better-process-podcast/4651/ 

--Volker

“Better Process Podcast” Series 2 of 3

The second in a series of Better Process Podcast interviews.

Today, listen as Jim Lambert from Bosch Rexroth Canada discusses their use of 3D design tools for complete digital prototyping.  Bosch Rexroth have recently been retrofitting the St. Lawrence Seaway canal locks, a project that would have been much more difficult without being able to create digital prototypes early in the process.

http://www.podcasternews.com/programs/87/better-process-podcast/4650/ 

--Volker

AutoCAD DWF PUBLISH: Please do not rename DWF6 ePlot.pc3

When used in conjunction with the Sheet Set Manager, the PUBLISH command is a powerful means for one-click DWF file generation.

The PUBLISH command takes the settings from various PC3 files, such as page sizes, and uses that information to generate a multisheet DWF. To ensure compatibility across applications, this process uses the same DWF Toolkit that is supplied to Autodesk DWF Partners. The attributes of the DWF file itself are derived from the DWF6 ePlot PC3 file. In this regard, the PUBLISH command from the Sheet Set Manager combines settings from both types of PC3 files. This provides the ability for AutoCAD users to set up PLOTS for specific devices but then generate DWF files that can be subsequently printed to those devices with the same results. The PUBLISH command specifically looks for the DWF6 ePlot PC3 file to perform its operations. So please do not rename this file.

AU 2007 Meet and Greet

Shaan Hurley posted the following article on his blog, inviting all bloggers and other interested parties.

"My team will be holding a Meet and Greet at the La Scena Lounge located in the Venetian Hotel and Casino on Monday November 26th beginning at 6:30PM and lasting till whenever we are booted out or things wind down. This will be a relaxed informal get together for people to meet each other before Autodesk University 2007 starts the following day. It is always nice to know some people before the event as it makes it much more enjoyable and productive.

I am also inviting all bloggers to meet up at this time so people can place a face to the poster as well as network."

Read the complete article here.

--Volker

“Better Process Podcast” Series

Ken Rayment, who hosts the excellent “Better Process Podcast” (a regular “must-listen” podcast for anyone in the manufacturing industry) recently sat down with a couple of Autodeskers and customers at National Manufacturing Week show outside of Chicago.  In the following series of podcast interviews, you’ll hear about the importance of collaboration, the state of the manufacturing industry, and some of the interesting projects our customers have completed.

Today, listen as Chris Hession, Sr. Product Marketing Manager for Autodesk® Design Review and Autodesk® Freewheel is interviewed about the importance of collaborating early in the design process and discusses the tools that make it possible.

http://www.podcasternews.com/programs/87/better-process-podcast/4648/ 

--Volker

Redlining DWG?

A recent discussion group post highlighted this issue once more and I thought that it would be a good opportunity to repeat what has been said so many times before.

A user wanted to know whether there is a way to markup DWG files in our Autodesk DWG TrueView application, a question that came up many times before and I am sure will be submitted many times again.

Scott Sheppard took the time to post this detailed reply: "Autodesk does not make a tool to redline DWG files directly. Though you and others have asked for it, we find that most people who send out their DWG
files do not want the people doing the redlining to be able to modify them.  If we let you redline the original DWG, when you save your redlines, you would change the DWG. We have a similar situation with Revit (RVT) and Inventor (IPT) files. So to solve this problem for DWG, RVT, and IPT in one fell swoop, we use DWF. You publish a DWF from the DWG. Or you use Vault and let it publish the DWF file automatically. You redline the DWF. You save it and change the DWF. You send the DWF back to the person with AutoCAD. That person loads the DWF into AutoCAD and changes the DWG based on the redlines in the DWF."

This was depicted in an old blog posting (the Autodesk DWF Viewer was still around then):

--Volker

Old Drivers Can Cause Problems

No, we are not talking about senior citizens getting behind the wheel; we are talking about your computer’s out-of-date display adapter driver. If your computer is exhibiting unexpected behavior or frequent crashes when you try to manipulate a 3D model in Design Review, it might be time to update the display adapter driver.

Step one is to get information about the driver that’s already installed on your computer. Choose Start > Run. In the Run text box, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter. Under Display Adapter, right-click the one you want to update and choose Properties.

On the Driver tab, note the Driver Provider, Driver Date, and Driver version. This is all the information you’ll need to check your computer manufacturer’s Web site.

Step two is to browse to that site (Dell, IBM/Lenovo, HP, etc.) and look for a link containing the term Support, Download, or Driver. (On some sites, it’s as easy as entering the name of the display adapter in the site’s Search text box.)

Once you find the appropriate display adapter on the manufacturer’s Web site, compare its Driver Date and Driver Version to the one you have installed.

If the Web site’s version is more recent, download and install it according to the site’s instructions. You will likely have to restart your computer.

If after updating your display adapter driver doesn’t solve the problem, at least you can rule out this number one offender and begin pursuing other possible reasons.

--Volker