Saturday, October 16, 2004

Wearing My Monitor

1 comments
Surfing around for a similar device I ran across the following from Mitsubishi Electric:
http://global.mitsubishielectric.com/company/r_and_d/innovations/inn_02.html



Called the SCOPO, this prototype compact wearable display is designed for users who need to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. Users have full visual range once they take their eyes off the display, which is positioned in front, slightly below eye level so as not to obstruct normal vision.

There is an accompanying video (requires Real Player) and rumored to be $400.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Max 7 Shipping


It's official and shipping now. What is it? Well Max 7 of course... You can read the press release about it here.

happy rendering...

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Importance of File Naming - General To Specific Part I

0 comments
One of the most often overlooked items when working with digital files is your choice and implementation of a File Naming scheme. Early in my career I was not so concerned with this, but overtime as I began working on larger and more complex projects the use of a good file naming system has made my life (and others working with me) much easier.

Why is this so important and why should you care? Good question. One of the most important reasons to consider the naming structure you use is to benefit both yourself and others later to access a particular file/folder to retrieve or use the data contained therein.

Since I tend to use ADT and VIZ more often than not I would be remiss if I did not include a related example to share in the context of this article. At the end of this consider how to use a similar approach for your daily work. For the cad world the UDS (and other standards) offer some guidelines for consistency in your drawing file naming but outside of cad there are no real guidelines for visualization files (from maps and materials to your working model files). Let's look at a typical approach:

Notice to proceed with work is given and off you go to start modeling. Along the way you will want to save this file. Now is the critical time and if you have no standard you should give some thought to your naming scheme at this point. If like most users you probably have a folder for your current job. Some may have a specific folder structure they tend to use from job to job. If so this is a great idea as this will help you know where to look for a particular file regardless of which job you are currently working on. Consistency here is the key and an item you should strive for.

So at this point we have a folder structure, perhaps similar to this:MyDrive:\\Projects\ProjectType\JobName\LocationIfApplicable\WorkingFiles

Using a similar structure allows us to keep all jobs in a consistent location (this applies for 1-2 users as well as larger working teams). Achieving a good naming scheme starts with the folder structure you use. It is important that the structure you choose/use allow for maximum flexibility not just for current projects but also future work/project types.

Once we have a working folder structure the next step is to deal with the files themselves. To accomplish a good naming system we should again consider flexibility, usability and simplicity of use the main goal. Let's discuss the main concept of this article:

Work GENERAL to SPECIFIC ex. General_Specific_MoreSpecific.FileExtension

As you can tell in the example above I tend to use the underscore (_) instead of using periods (.) in my naming strategy. While macintonsh, unix, linux, etc.. work well with periods if your workflow involves multiple platforms you will want to avoid periods to be as compatible as possible with each system. You would be wise to also avoid the use of spaces to separate your naming acronym as this will help when using scripts.

In part II of this article I will be giving more specific examples to help share this concept. In the meantime with a small bit of planning before and during your next project you can help to make your projects easier to work with for everyone involved by paying attention to your specific naming scheme.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

ADT Model Space View

1 comments
For those utilizing named views (View>>Named Views...) in the Project Navigator within ADT there are several times that you may wish to see the boundary extents of each named view. To accomplish these there are a few ways to accomplish this:

1. Under View>>Named Views... you can select your named view and choose Edit Boundaries. This will allow you to specify a new rectangular boundary if you wish.

2. In the Project Navigator you can double click the named view to show the boundary (and the extents of the boundary) on your screen.

3. Use the undocumented command "showmodelspaceviews" to show all the named views in your drawing including their name (see example below).



happy cadding...

Monday, October 11, 2004

Error creating or saving AVI files in VIZ 2005


When attempting to save or create an AVI file from Autodesk VIZ, you receive an error indicating the program must be shutdown.

This update fixes the save to AVI file format feature for Autodesk VIZ 2005 English. The English update can also be applied to localized installs of Autodesk VIZ, but the AVI specific dialogs will appear in English. To install, download (here) and unzip avi.bmi to the \Autodesk Viz 2005\stdplugs folder.

happy rendering...

Thursday, October 07, 2004

AUGI Cad Camp


One of my main focuses is to help those in the cad and visualization industry to expand their working level knowledge to help them grow personally and professionally. Well in keeping with that spirit I received the following item from Richard Binning that will be a great help to many users:



For those interested there is a great regional learning and networking event called AUGI CAD Camp, which will take place in Jacksonville, Florida on November 9, 2004. AUGI CAD Camp is a one-day event that will provide a unique opportunity for you to highlight and promote your particular user group and recruit new members.

For you and other members of your staff, the educational benefits of attending AUGI CAD Camp are significant.

Choose from among three different classes in five sessions. This enables you and other members of your staff to plan their training strategies and target specific learning needs.

Get expert advice from Lynn Allen, Autodesk technical evangelist and friend to end users everywhere. Check out hot new technology from some of Autodesk’s top third-party software development partners in the exhibit area. Have plenty of time to network with peers and colleagues. A single day devoted solely to training and networking is sure to benefit you and every member of your staff, so be sure and spread the word.

We hope you’ll join us in Jacksonville! Simply visit our website at http://www.cadcamp.com to learn more.

While you are there, be sure to register as slots are filling up fast!

If you have any questions, contact Richard Binning.

Monday, October 04, 2004

Viz Consolidation


For those who visit and use the discussion groups from Autodesk, they will be consolidating the VIZ release specific + Wishes discussion groups into one master discussion group on October 07, 2004. Autodesk VIZ Vizions will remain.

The new forum will be named: Autodesk VIZ (nntp:/autodesk.viz). If you are using NNTP (newsreader) you will need to resubscribe to the new forum in order to use.

happy rendering and heres to hoping for a smooth transition of the NG... =)
 

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved Beau Turner Triple D Design, LLC | Template design by Brian Gardner | Converted to Blogger Template by Bloganol dot com