acaddoc.lsp and Who Gets What

When your firm different disciplines that all require different lisps to be loaded. Using the acaddoc.lsp to load only the lisps individual users require and nothing more can increase everyone's speed. To do this, I combined a group of lisps in to a FAS file and then load them only for the users that need them by name with an if statement. While we are at it, you can also add some lines to update fields, lock layers, and add a Mode Macro. Click on the image below to see an example.

The first portion of is the statup lisp.

• cmdecho=0 turns the command line reporting off, so what we are doing here is kind of a secret.
• Use command to perform anything that could be typed on the command line in AutoCAD.
• Setvar can be used to set any AutoCAD variable.
• cmdecho=1 turns the command line back on. 

The next portion is any standard lisps that all users will need. they are loaded no matter what. Princ is used to report on the command line that the All-Users FAS file has been loaded.

The last portions are used to load mechanical and electrical lisps based off the users login name. This is the login they use to login to their PC every day. The extra princ brings up a blank command line to start a drafting session.

AutoCAD's Lucky 13

I was looking at my Blog layout and noticed that the image at the top which includes a perverted version of the AutoCAD interface showed version 2011 at the top. That did not seem right, so I used Microsoft Paint to change the 2011 to 2012.


That got me thinking about next April. That is traditionally when the new version of AutoCAD will come out. The question that came to mind is "Will there be another 13?" The original version 13 is legendary now regardless of its merits. It's up there with New Coke, Sony Betamax, the Edsel, and smokeless cigarettes. OK, I have dated myself in more ways than I originally thought possible.


The question remains. Will Autodesk temp fate and release a whole slew of 2013 products? Will only old people make the connection. I don't know. Its not like they can skip 13 like a high rise hotel, but if they were to change the naming convention, where would they go? 2012i? Ouch! I retract that. Better just use Roman numerals like the Super Bowl. 

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing AutoCAD XIII.

Some how that feels better. No doubt there is a team of professionals already working on this most important issue. If you have a better name for the new release, I would love to hear it. Comment on this post to save the day for everyone.

Dear Lazy Drafter #3 - Unconscious Incompetance

I often get asked for CAD advice and I might have an idea about what to do. Then again, I often have stupid ideas too. Oh well, if you are seeking CAD advice, and don't care who you get it from, drop me a line at lazydrafter@gmail.com. I'll do my best not to make you feel worse.
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Dear Lazy Drafter,


I am a Lead Drafter for a team of 8 drafters. I just hired a kid out of a 2 year technical school. During the interview, he spoke well and had good confidence. I look for this because the drafters here need to work interdependently. Now that he has been on the job for 7 weeks, it has become clear that he is not that confident with the software. He takes longer than he needs to. He really cares about doing good work but, he can't seem to do it very quick. the hard part for me is that he thinks speed is not the issue, and he just needs overtime to make deadlines. I have showed him tricks like using key-ins and leveraging his selection sets, but I don't think any of it is sticking. How do you tell someone, they need to improve, when they think they are great? He really believes it!


The Emperor's New CAD Man
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Dear Emperor,


According to a wise old man named Abraham Maslow, there are four stages to learning..


Unconscious Incompetence - You don't know what you don't know.
Conscious Incompetence - You know you don't know something.
Conscious Competence - You know how to do something.
Unconscious Competence - You do something so well, it doesn't take conscious thought.


I think your new drafter is at stage 1. That would make your next step, finding a way to let them know that the expectation is higher than they thought. If there is no problem perceived, the behavior will never change. I do have more patience for someone who is unaware they are a problem than someone who is perfectly aware they are. I hope you will find that once your drafter accepts that speed is a real issue, that he will progress into stage 2 where he should begin dealing with the speed problem. Before long he should be at stage 3 by focusing on the speed issue. You may not even notice when stage 4 happens and he is executing commands without thought. Think of how often you hit the enter key or the space bar. Do you think about it each time, or does hand just do it out of habit?


Being aware that everyone is at a different stage of learning with just about everything they do, helps me deal with their behaviors better. It's also cool to think that I learned something in college that I still apply in my daily life.