Robert Green's CAD Manager Survey

Please take a couple of minutes to complete Robert Green's CAD Manager Survey. He should have some very interesting data to share with all of us when the results are compiled. Unlike Lynn Allen, he didn't ask me to promote it, but I am because it will help the whole CAD Manager community if your experience is included.

And don't forget to come back here and answer the "Your first AutoCAD version?" poll.

AutoCAD Poll: Your First AutoCAD Version

This poll will close when the next version of AutoCAD is released.

CAD Mgmt Toolbox: Autodesk Updates & Service Packs

By now I hope you've heard about Service Pack 1 for AutoCAD. Here is a quick list for several Autodesk update and service pack pages. Please let me know if you know of others.

AutoCAD www.autodesk.com/autocad-updates
AutoCAD LT www.autodesk.com/autocadlt-updates
AutoCAD Raster Design www.autodesk.com/rasterdesign-updates
Autodesk VIZ www.autodesk.com/viz-updates
AutoCAD Map 3D www.autodesk.com/map3d-updates
AutoCAD Civil 3D www.autodesk.com/civil3d-updates
AutoCAD Land Desktop www.autodesk.com/landdesktop-updates
AutoCAD Architecture www.autodesk.com/archdesktop-updates
Revit Architecture / AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/index?siteID=123112&id=2334435&linkID=9273944
or go to www.autodesk.com/revitarchitecture, select “Product Download” and then select “Updates”
AutoCAD MEP www.autodesk.com/buildingsystems-updates
AutoCAD Revit MEP Suite www.autodesk.com/buildingsystems-updates

You'll notice the "pre-2008" names are used in several of the URLs, but these pages do include 2008 updates.

CAD Mgmt Toolbox: Autodesk Trial Downloads

Most Autodesk software is available as a 30 day trial which you can request from your Autodesk Reseller, but many of these same trials are also downloadable. So if you need a few weeks to get under the hood and take one of these products for a test drive, then here you go (just make sure you have a wide lane on the information superhighway because some of these are monster truck sized downloads). FULL DISCLOSURE: Once again, these links are personalized for the Autodesk Reseller I work for, so if you are in our territory you will probably be contacted by them.

AutoCAD Civil 3D
AutoCAD Architecture
AutoCAD MEP
Revit Architecture
Revit MEP
Revit Structure

CAD Mgmt Toolbox: Resource Center Tutorials

There are a lot of tutorials for Autodesk products on the web. I hope you are already taking advantage of many of them. I'm not going to get into a learning style debate here. Nor am I going to try to list all of the tutorials available. But I wanted to make sure you add the following tutorials to your toolbox. These are all from the various Resource Centers I described previously. FULL DISCLOSURE: Please note that these links are personalized for the Autodesk Reseller I work for, so if you are in our territory you will probably be contacted by them.

AutoCAD Civil 3D Tutorials by Lucy Kuhn

AutoCAD Architecture Tutorials by Amy Fietkau

AutoCAD MEP Tutorials by Armundo Darling

Revit Architecture Tutorials by Amy Fietkau

Revit MEP Tutorials by Armundo Darling

Revit Structure Tutorials

P.S. And for you subscription customers - don't forget to have your designers work through the Subscription Center tutorials.

CAD Mgmt Toolbox: Autodesk Resource Centers

Autodesk has created Resource Centers for several of their Infrastructure and Building Solutions products. These Resource Centers include FAQs, Whitepapers, Customer Stories, Tutorials, and Trial Downloads/Requests. Here are some quick links:


AutoCAD Civil 3D www.autodesk.com/experiencecivil3d101


AutoCAD Architecture www.autodesk.com/aca-resource


AutoCAD MEP www.autodesk.com/amep-resource


Revit Architecture www.autodesk.com/ra-resource


Revit MEP www.autodesk.com/rmep-resource


Revit Structure www.autodesk.com/str-resource

CAD Mgmt Toolbox: VIZ 2008 Essential Skills Tutorials

There is a nice online tutorial for Autodesk VIZ 2008 at http://download.autodesk.com/us/viz/Essential_Skills/index.html. Please note that there is a recommendation at the bottom of the menu to use a resolution higher than 1024x768.

When I first ran the tutorials I saw a pleasant introductory screen and waited for something to happen...

...nothing happened.

I tried running it again and got the same non-results. I was running at 1280x800, but apparently that wasn’t good enough. So, if you want to view these tutorials, you’ll need a higher resolution or you can use the following workaround.

Look in the lower right hand corner of the screen. See that “100%” with the magnifying glass next to it?

Select the down arrow to open the menu and select “Custom…” A value of 90 worked well for me.

Happy VIZ tutorialing!