Autodesk Inventor LT 2009 - Technology Preview

This is a kin to AutoCAD LT, Inventor LT 2009 was released yesterday for free download. Check it out for your 3D needs.

Erik

Quick Access Toolbar

With the release of AutoCAD LT 2009 there have been many changes. One noticeable difference is the Quick Access Toolbar located in the top left of the main screen.

I created my own workspace & well, it disappeared. Here's how you add your own buttons to it. Open the CUI & drag from the command area to the Quick Access Toolbar, located under your created profile. Once there they will show up in the title area of AutoCAD LT 2009.

Book Recommendation

I recently purchased a new book. I have bragged on Robert Green in the past & now I think they will keep coming. Since becoming a CAD Manager I have found that I have trouble focusing on what's important. His book helps to get you on track & on task to becoming a Expert CAD Manager.

Erik

AutoCAD LT 2009

Well, the next release of AutoCAD LT is just about to ship, here is a link to the preview guide. I recently had the chance to look at the full version & well, it was a shock to the system. The interface has changed quite dramatically, of course you can always tweak & make it look like the old versions but where's the fun in that. I like to hear some comments after you take a look at the preview guide.

Erik

Holiday break

Hello all, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Mines been pretty busy. The company I work for moved offices over the holidays and I started teaching again. I plan on picking the posting back up this week & I hope that it will be helpful to someone.

Erik

AU Overview 2007

AU in one word, OVERWHELMING!! The training was excellent, networking great, walking tiring. I was able to attend most of the classes I wanted to go to. I registered late & many of the classes were full by the first week. I sat through many CAD Manager classes. The classes were taught by Robert Green. If you get a chance to attend one of his classes, thru AU or AUGI CAD Camp, I suggest you get down there. I'll post more when I get home.

Later,

Erik

AU Day 3

Well, I have survived another day at AU!! I have learned much on this trip so far. Things like when you are up $20.00 at the craps table it's time to call it a day. This knowledge came to me after I lost it plus the original $20.00 I bet. Seriously, The training here is really good. Yesterday I attended 3 classes, Today I have 5. I learned a little more about the CUI & I'll share those things when I get a little more time. I'm off to my next class. Talk with you later.

Erik

Feed the hungry

I ran across this this morning on snopes.com, it's a word game that has real life consequences. For every word you get right they donate 10 grains of rice. It's gets a little challenging as the levels progress but I think you all can handle it.

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Later,

Erik

Going to AU??

It's a little close to go time for AU this year. I just found out that I will be there. I'm looking forward to meeting fellow bloggers there & other CAD monkeys like myself. If you're going to be there drop me a line & I'll try to see you there.

Later,

Erik

ZOOMFACTOR

I recently had to re-setup my AutoCAD. Today after a few weeks of using my scroll wheel to zoom I realized that I had to scroll an awful lot to zoom just a little way. I forgot to set my ZOOMFACTOR. Default is 60 I like mine in the lower 90's. What do you like to set it at?

Erik

What's your OSMODE?

Mine, 111.

Everyone has their own preferences for which running osnaps they like to have. Once you have yours set to your liking, type in OSMODE. Enter new value for OSMODE : will be your prompt. Write down or memorize that number in the brackets, that is your OSMODE. Now anytime you want to reset your running osnaps to your liking you can by entering your number.

Later,

Erik

Been a couple days

It's been a few days since I posted anything, I had some computer problems to fix. Anyway, I added a search bar up top of my blog. This search will take you directly to the AutoCAD LT Discussion forum. It's not real pretty but it works. I find many of my LT questions have already been asked & have good & quick responses.

Later,

Erik

CADing && Coding

I've had this blog as a link for a little while but wanted to spotlight it on my blog.
Here's a guy who seems to know his stuff when it comes to customizing AutoCAD LT.
Check it out.

http://cadingandcoding.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Mohamed Haris & his blog.

Erik

Plot Tip

I just created a button for printing. It's a 1 button for all your plots kind of thing. Everything in the plot command is the same except for the plot scale. My first thought was to prompt the user to enter the scale like 1=48 type of thing. But, then I had an idea. Use DIESEL. Where it would prompt for the scale in the MACRO I added..

$M=$(/,1,$(getvar,dimscale));

this will enter the ratio of plotted units to drawing units. No prompting, no hassel.

Thanks,

Erik

AUGI Forum

Keep a lookout on AUGI Forum for good information. I recently found this viewport creation tool for LT users.

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=66878

Thank you to Shinyhead for the tip.

Set current layer by selecting object

**EDIT**
It was brought to my attention that I missed something right in front of my eyes. AutoCAD LT 2007already has a button to do this, it's on the LAYER toolbar. But, for those of you with LT versions below 2000 this is a good alternative.
**EDIT**

More DIESEL. I spent a couple days looking & trying to figure out how to set the current layer to an object I picked. Of course with lisp this is fairly simple, but I think I came up with a good alternative for Us LT users.

^C^C_ai_molc;\setenv;CL;$m=$(getvar,clayer);-layer;set;"$m=$(getenv,CL)";;

Also by changing the code a little you can use it to freeze, turn off, lock or unlock a layer.

I hope this is helpful,

Erik

Toggle TILEMODE with DIESEL

Here's a quick way to toggle TILEMODE with a DIESEL expression. You can program this as a button.

'setvar;tilemode;$M=$(!=,$(getvar,tilemode),1)

Also once you make this a toolbar button you can assign a keyboard shortcut to access it.

Erik

Be sure to check the comments

I'm getting good feed back on the comments. Some of the visitors have added their own tips there.


Thanks for stopping in,

Erik

Align Command

Here's a way to get LT to mimic the align command. Create a toolbar button & use this as a macro..
^C^C_select \_move _p ;\\_rotate _p ;@ _r @ \\

Thanks to...

Dean Saadallah
Add-on products for LT
http://www.pendean.com/lt

for the tip.

Erik

Fellow LT Blogger

Thanks to Shaan Hurley I've been introduced to a fellow LT blogger. http://katescadtips.blogspot.com/

Everyone stop by & say hello.

Cheers,

Erik