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I am officially on week three of my sabbatical and it is all spinning away much too quickly!  Believe it or not there is a blog completely dedicated to people on sabbatical called YourSabbatical.com and they asked me if they could link to my blog...how cool is that?  Now does that mean I need to have some type of epiphany while I am on sabbatical in order to remain worthy of their website?  I guess I'd better get going on the "epiphany hunt"...Click here to see my blog referenced on their site as seen below.

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Matching Dimension Scales:

If you've ever wandered into someone elses drawing where they used multiple dimension scales  you may have found yourself doing a little trial and error to create a new dimension that matched up with an existing one.  Quickly find the dimension scale of an existing dimension by selecting the dimension, going into Properties and you will find the option "Dim scale overall" in the Fit section (okay...not intuitively obvious).

 

So there is your Hip Tip to kick off your week! 

So far I'm not doing a very good job at being on Sabbatical!  Today I was a keynote speaker at the 2008 National Collegiate FM Technology Conference in Los Angeles.  I did a presentation on "It's a 3D World After All" and talked about  Building Information Modeling (BIM) as it related to Facilities Management.  The conference is made up of facility managers from college and university campuses all over the U.S.  Did you know that BYU (where I went to college) has all of their campus buildings modeled in Revit?  USC has over 40 of their buildings modeled in Revit.

Jose Delgado, from USC Facilities Management,  was a host and one of the people responsible for getting me to present (during my sabbatical no less).  He kindly presented me with a USC football autographed by Pete Carroll, their well known Head Coach!  What a treat for me!

So now I am officially going to relax and enjoy my sabbatical!  Before I do...I want to make an amendment to my Hip Tip from Monday.  Murray Clack sent me info regarding a system variable that allows you to put the Overlapping objects selection option back to Control (from a combination of Shift+Spacebar).  If you have no idea what gibberish I am talking about - read my last post please!

So to put this behavior back to using the Control key to cycle through overlapping objects - you can set LEGACYCTRLPICK  to a value of 1.  Thank you Murray!

And now...I look forward to returning to my white fluffy dog who doesn't even recognize me any more! 

One of the great things about working for Autodesk is that every four years we are granted a 6 week sabbatical!  Well the time has come (once again) for me to enjoy mine!  Hoorah!  The goal here is to take a great big breath, relax, regroup and re-energize oneself.  For me - it's my chance to catch up on all of those things that get thrown by the wayside when you travel too much (you don't EVEN want to look in my closet!). 

Technically my sabbatical started a week ago - but the family made a mad dash for a vacation and I wasn't able to blog before I left (you know how crazy things get when you are trying to get an entire family together for a vacation!).   so that means I am down to 5 weeks left...

I'll check in from time to time on sabbatical (I'm sure you will be thrilled to hear how that closet is going!).

And...incidently...Autodesk University officially opened its doors to registration and we are already 1000 attendees ahead of last year at the same time...Oh my goodness!!! You'd better hurry and sign up before all the good classes are gone!

Here is an AutoCAD Hip Tip for you...even though I am on vacation (who loves you Baby?)

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Selecting Overlapping Objects:

When selecting objects for editing, we sometimes run across objects on top of other objects. It isn't always easy selecting the correct object in such cases, and I in the past I would recommend using the Control Key to toggle through all the possibilties. As you held down the Control key and picked on the screen, AutoCAD would toggle through all of the possible objects that fell under the pick box, highlighting them one at a time. When the proper object was highlighted you were ready to continue with the command. (Let me just say that this is SOOOO much easier to show than to try to write about).

This was one of the tips I was going to show in my "75 Tips in 75 Minutes" class for the last AUGI CAD Camp. Much to my surprise I found out that the Control Key no longer allows you to do this nifty practice. Instead - it has been replaced with a combination of Shift and the Spacebar (what a wacky combo!). So now we have to be a little more coordinated under such circumstances but rest assured - it still works!

Want to test it out? Draw a line on top of another line. Enter the Erase command and place the cursor over both objects while holding down the Shift+Spacebar (or Control if you are in an earlier release). Pick on the screen and you will see that AutoCAD will toggle through both the objects...

So there is a summer time Hip Tip! 

I am certainly going to be sad about the ending of the Education Tour.  What a great opportunity to spend so much time with all the teachers!  I truly enjoyed myself and look forward to doing another tour in the future.  And as always...they didn't just learn from me - I definitely did my fair share of learning from them as well.

I had to take a picture of the crew from the very last event...it was held at the extremely nice Anthem College in Phoenix, Arizona.  Below you'll find our host, Floyd McWilliams of Anthem College (in the suit jacket), Maureen Higgins, the local Autodesk Education Rep, and a very nice man from CADsoft Consulting whose name I forgot (Bad Lynn).  I am really bad with names (so embarassing).  Floyd is a member of the ADDA Board and invited me to speak at their annual meeting in Nashville next year - I am looking forward to it!

 

They took me on a tour of their Veterinary school at Anthem and I couldn't help but let one of the dogs out of their pen so I could pet him (also Bad Lynn).  He was so adorable and in desperate need of a little petting (please don't tell on me).  I just couldn't resist. 

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Controlling Object Frames:

Various imported objects have frames: Images, DWFs, DGN and OLE. In order to edit these objects we need to have their frames turned ON but we often want those frames turned off for printing. We use the IMAGEFRAME, DWFFRAME, DGNFRAME, and OLEFRAME system variables to control the visibility of frames. If you are tired of flipping these frames on and off you'll appreciate that the setting of "2" (added recently to AutoCAD) turns the frames on for editing but doesn't display them during printing. Hoorah!

I am certainly going to be sad about the ending of the Education Tour. What a great opportunity to spend so much time with all the teachers! I truly enjoyed myself and look forward to doing another tour in the... Lynn Allen

One of the things I enjoy most about the AUGI CAD Camps is that I get to sit in on classes as well!  I REALLY enjoyed dave espinosa-aguilar's class on Fields today...I definitely need to spend more time exploring the amazingly powerful world of Fields in AutoCAD!  Today I did my "75 AutoCAD Tips in 75 Minutes" class - it definitely still needs a little fine-tuning before I hit Autodesk University.  US CAD and AUGI did a great job with this event - all very professionally done and the audience was fantastic!

So here is a quicky AutoCAD Hip Tip as they are wanting to go to dinner shortly...(and I'm hungry!)

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Snapping to 3D Objects:

When using object snaps on 3D Objects, AutoCAD grabs the X, Y, and Z coordinate.  Sometimes, we'd like AutoCAD to grab the X and Y coordinate of a point but use the current elevation for the Z.  The system variable OSNAPZ lets you do exactly that!  Set OSNAPZ to 1 and you'll find that your object snaps will replace the Z Value with the current elevation.  Voila!

Aloha!

One of the things I enjoy most about the AUGI CAD Camps is that I get to sit in on classes as well! I REALLY enjoyed dave espinosa-aguilar's (yes - he uses lower case) class on Fields today...I definitely need... Lynn Allen

Well my flight has been delayed by nearly two hours and we're still awaiting a decision as to whether or not the flight will take off...I say just duct tape the plane and lets get going!  So while I wait I thought "what better time to blog?"

This week I am back out again on the Education Tour (well...that is...if my plane actually takes off!) and then on to an AUGI CAD Camp in Honolulu.  Now I suspect I am going to get ZERO sympathy for going to Hawaii - but we do have users in Hawaii who want to hear about Tips and Tricks too!  We have nearly 200 attendees attending AUGI CAD Camp and I am so looking forward to it!

I spent all last weekend working on my handout for the AUGI CAD Camp (just so we are clear...I realize I still get no sympathy from you!). I am doing what I think will be a very cool presentation called "75 AutoCAD Tips in 75 Minutes". So basically...I have to churn out a tip a minute during my presentation! I thought I would share one of the tips I was working on with you today...(still no sympathy at all?)

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Polylines and Linetypes:

One of the interesting things about linetypes and polylines is that they choose to treat each polyline segment as an individual line. Sometimes we want the linetype pattern to display continuously across all the vertices! That's where the PLINEGEN system variable comes into play.

If you set PLINEGEN to 0 (the default) - the linetype is negotiated between the vertices - and it starts and ends with a dash at each vertex.

If you set PLINEGEN to 1 - the linetype will traverse the vertices and treat the entire polyline as one continuous object (as it probably should!).  The odd deal with this is that you might not have a segment at a vertex (as seen below).

So there is your Hip Tip to start the week. I am still waiting for the airplane mechanic to get the duct tape out! (or perhaps some chewing gum?)

Well my flight has been delayed by nearly two hours and we're still awaiting a decision as to whether or not the flight will take off...I say just duct tape the plane and lets get going! So while I wait... Lynn Allen

Hot off the Press...the Autodesk University Courses are posted for your viewing pleasure.  It's not quite time to register yet - but surely you can whet your appetite over this year's slate of classes!  Visit the Autodesk University BLAUG to peruse the class list...

This week I continue the Autodesk Education Tour with presentations to teachers in Chicago, Toronto and Dallas.  It has been fantastic working with the instructors from middle school, highschool, colleges and universities. 

Last week I had the priviledge to speak to the Philadelphia AutoCAD User Group as they celebrated 25 years as a user group.  Can you believe that?  25 years!  I was so thrilled to spend time with them that evening as they recollected multiple memories of the 25 years they have spent together...so inspirational!  Below is PAUG founder Professor Howard Fulmer cutting their 25th anniversary cake  (he must have started the user group when he was 10 years old!).  Some of you might remember him from his popular AutoCAD books - Inside AutoCAD and AutoCAD 14 Fundamentals.

The crowd that was there that evening was kind enough to wave for me as I took their picture (below).

About 150 or so people attended the festivities.  And finally - a picture of the PAUG officers over the years...along with a special tribute to Roland Strauss who passed away a few years ago but was instrumental in the success of the group.  All the comments were very touching.

A huge congratulations to PAUG for their 25 years as an outstanding user group!

Hot off the Press...the Autodesk University Courses are posted for your viewing pleasure. It's not quite time to register yet - but surely you can whet your appetite over this year's slate of classes! Visit the Autodesk University BLAUG to... Lynn Allen

Two cities down on the Education Tour...I'm on to another event in Philly tomorrow.  Tomorrow night I am presenting to the Philadelphia AutoCAD User Group  (PAUG) and believe it or not it is their 25th anniversary celebration! Can you believe that? It takes a tremendous amount of effort to keep a user group going  - and 25 years must truly be a record! A huge congratulations to everyone who has kept the user group going after all these years!  If you are living near Philly be sure to join us tomorrow night for the extravaganza!

I'm really enjoying the Education tour - but it is a very busy schedule!  It is wonderful working with the teachers (especially since I used to be one myself in another life). 

I accidentally left my power supply at the event today (bad Lynn) so I'll make this short and sweet.

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on minimizing the new Ribbon in AutoCAD 2009:

One of the complaints about the Ribbon in AutoCAD 2009 is that it takes up too much screen real estate.  Once you relearn where all the tools are in the new task-based ribbon you might find yourself wanting to minimize it.  That can easily be done with the magical arrow to the right of the tabs.

Hit the arrow once and the ribbon will minimize down to tabs and panels:

Hit it one more time and you are down to just the tabs (and plenty more space).

You'd better REALLY know your ribbon before selecting the last option! 

So there is your AutoCAD Hip Tip from NYC on minimizing the Ribbon!

Two cities down on the Education Tour...I'm on to another event in Philly tomorrow. Tomorrow night I am presenting to the Philadelphia AutoCAD User Group (PAUG) and believe it or not it is their 25th anniversary celebration! Can you believe... Lynn Allen

I'm about to go on the road yet again - this time I'll be speaking to educators (my favorite of course!).  I'll be addressing education and industry trends along with my usual AutoCAD Tips and Tricks.  If you are in the neighborhood and happen to be an educator be sure to join me for the AutoCAD Education Tour.

Autodesk went on a week long break last week and consequently it's probably been very quiet in the Autodesk Blog Land.  Right before the break I had a chance to meet with one of our new customers - Starbucks!  (something near and dear to my heart).  While I was in Seattle I met up with Stephen Bardin (in a Starbucks of course!) and we had a delightful conversation.  Starbucks is currently making the transition from Microstation to Autodesk Revit (so very exciting!) and we had a nice chat about the transition process.  Thank you so much for the latte Stephen and good luck as you continue to move your designers from Microstation to Revit (they are just going to love it!).  Stephen was nice enough to let me snap a picture of him (below).

I am off an running (need to put the finishing touches on my presentation for Thursday)...it's 105 here in Novato today and that just makes it really tough to work (doesn't it?).

Did you listen to my Cadalyst Tip this week?  Both last week and this week I talked about customizing the tool palette with hatch patterns and blocks.  Definitely take a look and you'll find how easy it is to put your Hatch Patterns on your palette.  The advantage of doing this is that it knows the layer to land on, the scale factor, rotation angle etc!  Take a glimpse at my Cadalyst Tips and Tricks video for detailed information.

Try to stay cool!

I'm about to go on the road yet again - this time I'll be speaking to educators (my favorite of course!). I'll be addressing education and industry trends along with my usual AutoCAD Tips and Tricks. If you are in... Lynn Allen

Oh woe is me...the 15 city tour is about to come to an end.  I'm in my room waiting to go on for the final time (so dramatic - aren't I?).   If I'm lucky I'll catch Heather doing her traditional farewell cartwheel at the very end of the day (stay tuned for a picture if I can get one!)

The wonderful AUGI gang has asked me to mention their annual Salary Survey that will be closing soon (June 30th!).  If you haven't contributed yet be sure to do so!  The survey is very short and sweet and should only take a couple of minutes (even I took it!).  The results of the survey will be posted in the September issue of AUGIWORLD.   

Did you know that AutoCAD 2009 has a different icon for EXPLODE?  Sadly...I guess that dynamite is no longer politically correct and now we have the below icon for EXPLODE...my goodness what is the world coming to when we lose our good old EXPLODE icon?

So here is a quick hip tip that just came up recently.

AutoCAD Hip Tip to turn off the annoying extra prompt in the PEDIT command:

So you decide you want to turn a line or an arc into a polyline.  You enter the PEDIT command and select the desired object.  AutoCAD comes back and says the very annoying "Object selected is not a polyline, do you want to turn it into one?".

Of course you do - that's why you went into the PEDIT command!  If you (like me) find this irritating and unnecessary then you'll want to turn it off with the PEDITACCEPT system variable.  Simply set PEDITACCEPT to 1 and it will suppress that extra prompt and automatically convert it to a polyline.  That saves you an extra step in the PEDIT command and that saves you a smidgen of time. 

And I believe that many smidgens actually add up to minutes at some point...right?  (what exactly is a smidgen anyway?)

I'm off to my last Experience tour presentation...I hope I don't cry at the end!

Oh woe is me...the 15 city tour is about to come to an end. I'm in my room waiting to go on for the final time (so dramatic - aren't I?). If I'm lucky I'll catch Heather doing her traditional... Lynn Allen

Ahhhhhhhhhh...the tour is definitely winding down as we only have one last event to go (in Edmonton).  I think I'm going to be really sad when this 15 city tour has come to an end.  I love the enthusiastic audiences...I love my travel buddies...I love meeting our customers and hearing the good (and the bad).

Over the past two months I've gotten to know the other roadies quite well.   I know that Heather (who manages the entire tour) orders a glass of red wine with dinner (regardless of what we are eating) and she loves chocolate desserts (especially if there is ice cream involved). Newlywed Jeff (our fabulous AV guy) is a vegetarian who wears the same shirt all week (no room for extra clothes when you are hauling all that equipment around) and has litterbox trained free-range rabbits as pets at home.  Amy (of "Ask Amy" fame) has decided to join Jeff as a vegetarian and gets the award for sticking to her diet regardless of what the rest of us are eating (she is amazing!).  Our new BFF Eddie is a fascinating mix of a great shopper (better than some of my best girlfriends)!, tattoo sporting (he got a brand new one of flames while on the tour) and prefers to drink diet Coke.  There's Rodney and his "I am sooooo single" girlfriend (too time-consuming to explain this one) and the always charming Pete Southwood who consistently offers to pay for dinner and drinks (incidently we love that about Pete).  Add all of this up and you have an amazing team of fascinating individuals that I will miss dearly.  I couldn't ask for a nicer lot to travel with.  Below you'll find a picture of most of the traveling team (dear Eddie is missing).

From Left to Right...Leslie, Jeff, Heather, Rodney and Amy.

Back to business - following up on an earlier posting - f

or those of you who are fighting with the FIND command in AutoCAD 2009 - rest assured that the first service pack (due in early July) will solve all of your problems.  So stay tuned...

Inventor LT 2009 has been posted and is available for download!  Here you will find the next best thing to the full Inventor package (Autodesk's solid modeling package for manufacturing).  Be sure to visit labs.autodesk.com (the land of awesome "FREE" stuff) to download it.  You say you aren't in manufactuing?  No matter...do you have kids in the house?  This fantastic, easy to use solid modeler is a great stepping stone for your kids and a great way to introduce them to a real 3D package.  If you think AutoCAD is true 3D - you haven't seen anything until you've seen Autodesk Inventor!  Now there is a package you can really sink your teeth into!  Do I sound salesy?  I might because I really love Inventor.  Believe me - once you start to use it you will become an addict like myself!

Ahhhhhhhhhh...the tour is definitely winding down as we only have one last event to go (in Edmonton). I think I'm going to be really sad when this 15 city tour has come to an end. I love the enthusiastic audiences...I... Lynn Allen

Well it's been quite the busy week lately! My only excuse for not blogging is the fact that I have just been ultra busy! Do you ever have one of those crazy weeks where you just feel like you are treading water and trying desperately to just stay afloat? One of the reasons I've been so ultra busy was because I changed to a different department at Autodesk. I am so excited to now be working with the Autodesk Customer Experience team. That means I will be in a better position to help out Autodesk product users (that means you!). The Customer Experience team at Autodesk is all about doing what they can to ensure a great experience and that definitely brings a smile to my face. Pretty much the same job...different team that's a little more up my alley.

Joseph Wurcher (the AU Blog) and I have been working on the final Autodesk University schedule and we hope to put the final stamp of approval on it soon! This year we have over 625 classes (fantastic!) and we are loving the great courses that were submitted. Now it's just a matter of getting the right classes at the right time...which can really be a juggling feat. Sometimes I feel like its a giant Rubik's cube.

Announcing the Autodesk Customer Video Project! They will be giving away 100 of the very cool Flip Video Cameras (I want one!) in return for a couple of minutes of video. They are looking for a few good passionate AutoCAD users who want to share their stories with us (how AutoCAD has changed your life, cool projects you've done, etc). You upload the videos to the website then after approval you get to be features on the AutoCAD site! Think of this like the YouTube for AutoCAD fans.

You can request your camera send an email to autocad.video@autodesk.com. Don't miss out! This almost sounds too good to be true!

I'm off to a Customer presentation for Emcor Corporation. I'll be doing my "60 AutoCAD Tips in 60 Minutes" presentation...which is a whirlwind tour through some very cool tips (or at least I think they are cool). I'll be doing a 90 minute version of the same presentation (with 30 more tips) at Autodesk University so be sure to join me!