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Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Subscription Clients - Autodesk 2011 Software Via Download
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
For current Autodesk subscription clients the Autodesk 2011 products primary delivery mechanism is via a download. By downloading the software you will be able to receive the software quicker than waiting for a box of software. Your Software Coordinator will receive an email as soon as their serial number has been upgraded after the release of the 2011 product. The email, is sent from Download@autodesksubscription.com, contains the customer’s serial number and the product key, which is needed for installation. Please remind your customers to check their junk/spam folders for mail coming from Download@autodesksubscription.com because the emails sometimes end up there.
If you prefer to receive the software in a box your Software Coordinator can log into www.autodesk.com/subscription and change the delivery preference in your Subscription Center profile to “box.”
Enjoy the new software.
Join the MasterGraphics Team!
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Sales Representative – Manufacturing Software and Services
MasterGraphics is looking for a high energy, high activity consultative Sales Representative to help grow our business within the manufacturing community. Celebrating our 60th anniversary this year, MasterGraphics is a well-established, solid organization with a number of untapped business opportunities.
You will be networking in to clients with design data needs, helping them to enhance their design process with Autodesk®’s suite of industry-leading CAD and digital prototyping tools. As a Premier Service Provider for Autodesk, MasterGraphics is authorized to provide not only the software but the installation, training and business consulting services that manufacturing organizations need to stay on top of their game. Our set of software and services positions both the customer and you for success.
This position will cover a territory that includes Madison and a radius north, west and south. It will roughly cover Rockford, IL up to Black River Falls and over into Iowa. The position will be based at our Madison headquarters.
Click here to learn more about this position and the benefits of joining the MasterGraphics Team
Vault Replication 2.0
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
By Darren Hartenstine
No, this isn’t a new product coming out from Autodesk anytime soon. But, it’s a major addition to their replication environment available in Vault Collaboration 2011 and Vault Professional 2011 (formally Manufacturing).
Replication allows for two geographically separate offices the ability to share a common Autodesk Vault. In 2010, we could only replicate the files and all database transactions need to occur at the main site. The result would provide some performance boost in accessing and editing CAD files, but searches and Item Master / Change Order access could be slow as a result of poor network performance between sites.
Now, with 2011, we can replicate everything. Or, if you want to win first prize to the Geekdom awards, you can create a hybrid configuration of full replication at some sites and partial replication at others.
Brian Schanen posted a recent blog explaining how the technology works.
Here’s the link to the blog:
http://underthehood-autodesk.typepad.com/blog/2010/03/full-replication-with-autodesk-vault-2011-product-family.html
A few things to point out…..full replication takes a Microsoft SQL license at each database site. And, you will need the Autodesk Data Management Server (ADMS) to be installed at each remote site.
Twitter’s Tweets on Autodesk 2011
Friday, March 26th, 2010
By Darren Hartenstine
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube….I am just amazed at the amount of information available for the Autodesk 2011 Products found on these social sites. Now, that’s not to say it doesn’t come with an annoying side-effect….what I like to call - word vomit.
Gross analogy, but right on track with the kinds of irrelevant “stuff” you have to filter through to get what you’re interested in. Since this blog is related to what I do at work, we’ll keep this about the current product release from Autodesk.
If you weren’t part of the Twitter release of Autodesk’s 2011 product line, you didn’t get the massive barrage of comments around the product videos, personal takes on the features, what’s new guides, and general impressions from fellow “Tweeps” - which I think are the individuals and companies I follow on Twitter….or, Twerps.
If you use any of these sites, you can follow me at twitter or Youtube using the same name…..ManageYourData. Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/manageyourdata Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/manageyourdata
For those individuals that resist or just haven’t gotten around to it, you’re missing out. I hate to be a nerd and use a line in a movie, but “Resistance is futile.” - social media is going to become a large part of our daily lives.
Hopefully….tweet at you later…I know, dorky, right? My wife calls me a Twerd.
Vault 2011 Product Family - What’s New
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
By Darren Hartenstine
Well, today we can start to talk about the new products coming out from Autodesk. You will begin to see a lot of great information on what’s new from MasterGraphics. I have to say that this release is huge! Autodesk Inventor has a ton of new features and with Vault, they have taken a more evolutionary approach.
Since I’m the Data Management guru, I will focus on the Vault Product Family. If you are not aware of the various products available for Data Management, they are Vault, Vault Workgroup, Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional. So, where’s Vault Manufacturing? It was renamed this year to Vault Professional.
One more piece of information is that Vault is no longer a Manufacturing only product; it is now platform. This means it will work with both Manufacturing and Architectural products, like AutoCAD Architecture and Civil 3D. Revit currently doesn’t work with Vault, but I am sure it is in the pipeline for future releases.
One side note is that this year, Autodesk will provide the software as a download and may not have sent you a DVD, unless you requested it to be delivered that way. If you forgot your login information, you can request it from the subscription portal. http://subscription.autodesk.com
I will post some blogs over the next few weeks discussing the new features available in the 2011 Vault Products. For now, I wanted to post the technical “What’s New” Document. Enjoy!
Vault 2011 Product Family - What’s New
Is Paperless still a Myth?
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
By Darren Hartenstine
With the advent of electronic Data Management applications and digital formats, why are companies still printing on paper? I was reviewing some statistics around the printing industry and found the information alarming. Here’s just one blurb I feel is noteworthy.
The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of water used in industrial activities in OECD countries and is the third greatest industrial greenhouse gas emitter, after the chemical and steel industries (OECD Environmental Outlook, p. 218)
Green initiatives; sustainable design; these are great concepts, but is anyone actually making the effort to use less paper? I know that a company cannot go 100% paperless (yet), but I feel that the Engineering Design process is a perfect component for this evolution. The Autodesk Vault product family has some great tools to facilitate paperless design.
In the last week as a test, I have tried to cut my paper use out completely and have struggled with it. I am somewhat old school and use paper for note taking. It seems to be faster for me up front, but in the long run, I know that it is inefficient and it often becomes difficult to locate past information. I know it’s funny, but having that piece of paper is like comfort food.
I am interested in opinions, comments, experiences, etc. with companies/individuals that have attempted or successfully implemented a paperless design process. Feel free to contact me via email or through this blog posting. My email address is Darren.hartenstine@mastergraphics.com.
Autodesk Inventor Publisher Technology Preview
Monday, December 14th, 2009
By, Dan Banach
If you or your company creates technical publication for parts book manuals, assembly instructions or operation instructions you will want to check out http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/inventor_publisher/ and download Autodesk® Inventor® Publisher Technology Preview (in the Manufacturing section).
Inventor Publisher allows you to fully leverage your Inventor data by importing 3D data from Inventor or a DWF file. The models cannot be edited in Inventor Publisher and no previous Autodesk Inventor experience is required. Once the data is imported you manipulate and annotate the design. Lastly you publish the data to programs such as Word, PowerPoint or create a movie file. Your documentation will always be up to date. If the original Inventor models change you can update the Inventor files in Inventor Publisher.
To learn more you can watch how to videos at: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/inventor_publisher/getting_started/
Enjoy,
Dan
AutoCAD Skills for Civil 3D: Part 2
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
I’ve been putting together a series for brand-new users of AutoCAD who are getting ready to learn Civil 3D. You don’t need to know AutoCAD inside out, but understanding the basics is huge. This originally was a ten-part series but it has grown a bit.
Part 2 is ready! AutoCAD skills for Civil 3D: Part-2 Selecting things!
Part 1 is still available: AutoCAD skills for Civil 3D: Part 1 Getting to know the interface.
Coming soon: Part 3: AutoCAD Properties
Have fun!
-Lou
ImageModeler and MatchMover
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
By Stephen Gabriel
The Autodesk subscription program has frequently been viewed as nothing but a way to get the latest version when it comes out, but for 3ds Max users, it is actually far more. In the last two years, we have seen significant software enhancements and additional tools available to subscription customers, such as CAT and the Connection Extension. Both of these added significant tools to our palettes.
This year, Autodesk subscription customers also gained access to ImageModeler and MatchMover. Each of these applications serves a specific function within the visualization process rather than adding a specific tool set into 3ds Max.
ImageModeler can best be thought of as a set creation tool. ImageModeler allows you to take a series of images of a location and build a 3D model be selecting common points within the images. The model accuracy is dependent upon the size of the images, the number of images and the number of points used to coordinate the images. This can help you create a 3D model that can be used as a setting for your visualization project, whether is it putting a building on the street or placing a product like a car in the environment. Because the model is 3D, you are no longer constrained to matching the camera position of the original image and can position it where it produces the most compelling shot.
MatchMover is a powerful utility that creates a camera from recorded video. MatchMover allows you to create tracking points that the software uses to determine the motion of the camera that was used to create video footage. The camera and it’s motion path can then be exported to 3ds Max to create the animation of your scene. The process is very quick and painless and you can even composite your model back into MatchMover to check the accuracy of the camera path. The result is a more precise camera match for animated shots.
Combined, these two tools represent a lot of value to visualization artists and they are free for download from the Autodesk subscription website for all subscription customers.
AutoCAD Architecture – Detail Component Manager
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
By: Dwane Lindsey
Here’s another one of those features in AutoCAD Architecture that gets overlooked at times…the Detail Component Manager. With all the talk of transitioning to 3D, the 2D details often get left behind. This is one of those areas (of many) that AutoCAD Architecture excels at, even if you go to full 3D with the other AEC Objects. I even know of a few companies that have moved from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture just because of the Detail Component Manager.
So what is the Detail Component Manager? Glad you asked! 
The Detail Component Manager (as shown below) is a database of 2D detail components.
The database is broken up into the 2004 CSI Divisions…except not all divisions are utilized out of the box. (Note: The 2009 version included two databases, one for the 2004 format and one for the 95 format. Versions 2008 and earlier included one database for the 95 format.) As you expand each division, you’ll narrow the search to the sub-divisions, and then the types of components. Once you select the component you’d like to use, you can then choose the “size” of the component.
Once you select the size, the fun begins. As in the following example for Roof Deck, all you have to do is pick 2 points and you now you have single polyline of roof deck! This is not individual blocks arrayed, so you can select the entire run and do what you want with it…and it’s not even a single “width” line, it has actual thickness!
As with all Detail Components (and AEC Objects), they insert on a layer automatically (and yes, this can be customized). And some components will have multiple layers if they are required. For example, a CMU block will come in on the A-Detl-Wide layer, but it will contain A-Detl-Medm and A-Detl-Patt for some of the lines and hatching inside the block.
Since I could go on and on and on and on about the Detail Components, I’ll wrap this one up. I’ve barely scratched the surface on using the Details within the database. There is so much more I could go into, like how the CMU will array blocks until you pick a second point, or how many different steel shapes are available…including steel joists (which can be inserted as a top view, side view or section view), but I’ll save that for a later time (maybe a demonstration??). As you can see, the Detail Component Manager in itself could make the initial move into AutoCAD Architecture quite easy…and all without ever going into the 3D realm.
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