Old Stuff Doesn't Matter

I wonder why we continue to have a place in a title block for Drawn By:.

Back in the olden days, each drafter had a sheet. They worked on it until they were done, and they put their initials on the sheet to indicate they did the work.

Electronic sheets don't sit on a single persons desk and in my experience, are seldom completed by a single individual. Somehow the idea that a single person should have their initials on every sheet has persisted. Somebody usually steps up and says use my initials. We take the time to fill in a box that honestly no longer needs to exist.

It is a small thing to be concerned about in the grand scheme, but worth noting that time is wasted daily on who's initials do we want to use.

I say, delete it from our title blocks and un-friend somebody on Facebook. Let's see which gets noticed first. My guess is neither one.

A CAD Dork's Day 2015

So Melanie Stone Perry asks if a bunch of her dorky friends might be interested in Blogging on what we do all day. I think she wonders if she is alone in what she does, or maybe, just maybe, there are others. Who am I to turn her down? Here is what I did Tuesday January 27th, 2015.

6:04 am  Activate snooze function on my phone alarm.
6:05 am  Brush my long beautiful hair. 
6:08 am  Realize I am bald and dreaming. Get up and pick out one of 4 remaining staged outfits I prepped over the weekend.
6:30 am  Head to work. Leo A Daly Omaha.
6:50 am  Arrive at office. Crack first Dr. Pepper of the day, eat unfrosted brown sugar cinnamon Pop-tarts. Check LinkedIn and like/comment on anniversaries, birthday's and job changes. Look for cool articles. Go through my favorite Blogs, answer emails and figure out what I am doing for the day.
7:30 am  BIM Managers Hi-5 meeting. We get together every morning for a 5 minute meeting that lasts a half hour. 
8:00 am Dr. Pepper #2. Production work, fix misaligned linked Revit files.
8:45 am Triscuits and Pepperoni. I get hungry. 
9:00 am Impromptu meeting to discuss an upcoming meeting.
9:42 am Finish misaligned Revit links from earlier, skip Code Book Webinar.
10:12 am  Impromptu energy modeling discussion and rework of architectural model.
10:45 am  Some how the misaligned models that were fixed an hour ago are misaligned again.
11:30 am Quick online meeting to discuss how a bunch of offices can communicate and get along better. It ended with a virtual hug, so that's a good sign.
12:00 noon Superbowl party featuring homemade soups in a bowl. Get it? Soup'er' Bowl. we are pretty creative over here. 
1:00 pm  After lunch hangover, answer emails, revisit misaligned models and decide to push it until 2pm.
1:30 pm  Cookies and Dr. Pepper #3. Revit - AutoCAD coordination meeting with clients. Said unpopular things and used guilt to get my way. 
2:00 pm  Finally sorted out my problem model of the day.
2:47 pm  Documenting what goes wrong on deployments and why. Putting together ways to make deploying software a no fail situation.
2:52 pm  Therapy session with two other BIM Managers budgets, standards, training, and working with IT.
3:12 pm  Short discussion about a logo for the Omaha BIM Collaborative.
3:23 pm  Hallway discussion about upcoming company meeting. Decide to have a formal meeting Friday.
3:45 pm  Final email review, pack my bag with "to go" work.
4:00 pm Go to University of Nebraska to teach Design Processes and Construction Documents.
5:30 pm  Present how to import AutoCAD files into Revit, then overview of a construction document set. Tell sad story of how I lost a company $20,000 over 1/256". Lesson: the details are very important.
6:06 pm  Return home, eat dinner, pickup daughter from work, get ice cream.
7:50 pm  Finish this Blog post.
8:00 pm  Take out the garbage.
8:09 pm  Do the dishes, watch the Lego Movie with youngest son, while reviewing "to go" work.
9:30 pm  Put the kids to bed.
10:00 pm  Fall asleep during the news.
11:03 pm  Wake up, and go to bed for real.

If you are still reading, I think you are pretty awesome!

To see what other CAD Dorks were up to today, check out these posts from.
Melanie Perry The Mistress of Dorkness
Brian Benton CAD-a-Blog
Paul Munford The CAD Setter Out
Mark Sadler Best CAD Tips
Robin Capper RobinZ CAD Blog
Dean Salladah Lt is Still AutoCAD
Robert Green CAD-Manager.com
Mark Kiker CADD Manager.com
Lucinda Klein CAD Klein
Thomas Rambach CAD Toolbox

Worst Blogger Ever!!

Back in April, I went to San Francisco for an Autodesk sponsored Blogger Day. I got to spend a couple of days with 

Lynn Allen, 

John Evans, 

Luciana Klein, 

Robert Green, 

Shaan Hurley,

Robin Caper,

Paul Munford,

Curt Moreno,

RK McSwain,

And my only friend named Vladimir.....Vladimir Michl

I never posted any pictures... until now. Here they are folks.

 Vladimir, Robin, me, and Shaan on the ferry

 Luciana Klein

 Paul Munford

 Robin Caper

 Luciana Klein

 Shaan at the orange door

Luciana Klein enters the porthole

 Robert Green, Robin Caper, and Vladimir Michl

 This is Lynn Allen's back, see the close up of her coffee cup below.

Lynn rhymes with Ken

AUGI Annual Salary Survey

Salary Survey

Melanie Perry is one of the nicest most genuine people you will ever meet, and she needs our help. 

Please click the Salary Survey link above so Melanie can put together the best darn dissertation on that data anyone has ever thought possible. I look forward to the results every year, but we need you to take the survey first.

So Chop, Chop people. Stop reading this and get busy.

My Top 15 Cool Things about AutoCAD 2015

Here is my top 15 Cool Things about AutoCAD 2015 in no particular order....

1. Pin drawings to the start page
2. Block galleries
3. + Layout tab with overflow stack
4. Lasso Select
5. Natural order layer sort
6. Cap lock and shift
7. Badges on cursors
8. Dimensions that don't snap to dimensions
9. Fillet plines
10. Print map data and keep it static
11. Point cloud cropping
12. Where's my tool?
13. Design feed - note to self
14. Performance reports
15. Command Preview

Get ready for 15 posts on where I will tell you why each of these are awesome!

New Version of AutoCAD

The web is buzzing about the new versions of Autodesk software, and I have to admit that I am very excited myself. My biggest excitement at the moment is hanging with a great group of fellow Bloggers in San Francisco as we prepare for the official launch.

Thanks to Lynn Allen for picking up the dinner tab and making sure nobody got left out.

Thanks to Shaan Hurley for the best advice of the evening. "Don't Google "meat turtle".

Melanie Perry for being the kindest person ever.

Robin Capper for giving us the inside scoop on The IT Crowd.

Robert Green for getting me to the restaurant.

and R.K. McSwain, Curt Moreno, John Evans, Paul Munford, Vladimir Michl, and Luciana Klein for sharing a great meal and drinks.

Purple "A"

I'm trying to get used to this Purple "A".

Final Thoughts on Autodesk University 2011

I am already missing all my AU friends old and new. I am not missing the sound of slot machines. Especially the one that yells out "Wheel! Of! Fortune!" at the airport. Tom and Brian from Virginia agree.

Other ways to know you are in Las Vegas.... Well you see a giant ad like this one in the airport!

I have to admit that I am still a little curious about what a "grease gun" is.

All that being said, mark you calendars, the place and time is set for next year.

Last Day of AU

Well, a lot of really cool things happened to me at Autodesk University this year.

I saw Lynn Allen. She turned and went the other way before I could say something stupid like "duh... I like AutoCAD too!" Thanks for that Lynn.

Santa Claus was looking at using Autodesk Inventor to crank up toy production. I am happy to report that only I am on the naughty list. My kids need only hold it together for a few more weeks in order to stay on the Nice list.

I ran into Kate Morrical author of LT Unlimited and said "Duh... I like AutoCAD LT too!" She was very nice and let me get a picture before enforcing that restraining order.

Lastly, a co-worker and I decided to go for broke and take the Revit Architecture Certification exams today.

I am proud to announce that we are both Revit Architecture 2012 Certified Professionals. Here is a picture of Andrea nailing it.

With all that, I have one more class, a nice meal, a short sleep and a plane ride home tomorrow. 


Next year, you come too and will get that picture with Lynn Allen.

The Exhibit Hall

On Wednesday I finally hit the Exhibit hall. As usual there was a ton of activity and lots to see. The annual beer bust was going on which tends to liven things up. I think I met everybody that works for IMAGINiT.

I met Martha Hollowell, who happens to write the book on everything for Ascent. I mean Architecture, MEP, Structural and CAD/BIM Management (AutoCAD and Revit based) books. Truly, an amazing woman.


Randy Swaim and Christal Vandecar were holding down the fort at the Eastcoast CAD booth. They showed me some awesome tools for converting Revit MEP files to AutoCAD MEP so they can be customized and sent to be manufactured.


My long time friend and one time boss, Lonnie Cumpton was burning the midnight oil over at the BIM9 booth.


Todd Saemisch at the Lighting Analysts booth, blew my mind with thier tool to do point by point lighting calculations directly in Revit using the same engine developed for AGI.


Oliver Turan was showing off Cad technology Centers' Revit Express Tools.


Steve Martin of CAD Works has a great story to tell with BIM Xchange 4.0.


On top of all that, (and there was very much more) they were giving out corn dogs and popcorn!


Best night of the event, hands down.

From the Press Lounge - Tuesday at AU

This year at AU is a little different for me. Normally I am fretting about a class I am teaching the whole time, but this year I am fretting about blogging about the event as a member of the media.


I have to say it has its perks. Number one, I have access to Dr. Pepper and the internet in the Media Lounge.


So to wrap up Tuesday, I ended up meeting with more great friends and attending some great classes. Ask the Experts was an interesting class because it was not really a class.

A bunch of smarty-pants types, put themselves on the line and had a room of almost 200 try and stump them on anything we couldn't figure out. This is especially brave considering the room was full of smarty-pants.


Seeing the people I only get to see at AU brings back memories from AUs past. Below is a hat that I got in 2004 at the very first AU that I presented a class on how to make MV Parts in ABS. I was terrified.

Its good to see you again;

• Tom Glidewell - Thanks for the drink ticket
• Doug Bowers
• Bill Zavadil
• Beau Turner
• Matt Mason

Welcome to AU 2011

It's on! Really just the start, but I have already learned a ton and reconnected with friends that I only get to see at these events.

Melanie Perry is the coolest person to just talk to about geeky things and books.

Joe Eichenseer from IMAGINiT is simply the smartest person I know.

Bob Palioca from ideate has the most intersting ideas about data and the future.

Carl Bass had a great slide in the opening address.

I think this year is all about fireing us up on technology and the ideas that anything is possible for anybody. PCs are cheap, sensors are cheap, data is available... what we should do with it is up to us.

You got to love being empowered to go out and change the world!

Gearing Up for AU 2011

It's a short week and I am settling all the details for my trip to Vegas. I have lots of appointments with vendors and Autodesk people, and I am looking forward to posting all about it. I hope to have some real interesting and insightful conversations and hopefully a scoop or two on what Autodesk is up to.


If there is something you would like to have me find out about while I am at the conference, please comment on this post and I will do my best to make it happen. If you are in Vegas next week, I'll be the geek with glasses. Stop me and say "Hi".

Dear Lazy Drafter #5 - Dreaming of Designing

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.
===========================================


Dear Lazy Drafter,


I am in a rut in my career. I like my job at (Company name withheld) , but I want to progress into design, not just picking up redlines. I have been working hard here for 5 years. I work overtime without question when they need it, I help solve problems. I'm on the team when they need drafting done quick and accurate, and I'm well respected. But I feel like I have topped out. I get raises, but I don't get to design. Do you have any suggestions on how to break through the drafting glass ceiling.


Signed 
Dreaming of Designing


===========================================


Dear Dreaming of Designing,


It sounds like you are a valuable part of the team that has gotten type-cast as the drafting savior. You are recognized for your drafting skills, but your dreams of designing are going unnoticed. Here are a few things to give a go.

• Just because you know something, doesn't mean it is common knowledge. Tell your supervisor in no uncertain terms of your aspirations and ask for his/her help.
• Find a mentor. Having somebody that can not only teach you design skills but open doors for your will expedite your growth.
• I keep saying this, but one more time... change yourself. You can't do the same old things and expect different results. You need to up your game by being more professional in dress and actions. Mix it up, and put yourself in the circles of people you want to work with. The relationships you make will propel you.
• Invest in yourself. That may mean going back to school or getting training outside of work. Doing this increases your value to the company and yourself and shows a level of commitment that not everyone else has.
• Do something. Demonstrate your skills by taking a crappy job nobody wants or fixing and internal problem, but do it with out being asked. Just tell them you see a problem and say you can fix it.
• Say some good things. This might be hard for some, but find something good about everyone you know at work and tell them. This will greatly enhance the companies perception of you and will jump start your relationship building skills.

Long story short, there are times when you have to meet your company halfway, but if you really want success, go 90% of the way and make it easy for your company to pick up the other 10%.

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.

AutoCAD Bible 2012

Ellen Finkelstein writes a little book called the AutoCAD Bible and AutoCAD LT 2012 Bible. 

She also has a AutoCAD Tips Blog, writes on using Power Point effectively, gives presentation training and consulting along with speaking. When she is not doing anything else she chairs Over-Achievers Anonymous when most people giving into sleep.


All that aside, my favorite resource for everything AutoCAD has been and continues to be the AutoCAD Bible. When I say that, I think that the facts back me up. Case in point....


A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting with Ellen, Lynn Allen and other Bloggers at an AutoCAD launch event. When we all introduced ourselves, Ellen said "My name is Ellen Finkelstein and I write the AutoCAD Bible." Lynn introduced herself this way. "Hi, my name is Lynn Allen. I have written 5 books on AutoCAD, and if you stacked them all up, they wouldn't be as thick as Ellen's!"


Go to Amazon right now and buy a copy for yourself, and one for a friend.

A Lazy Drafter Business School

Yeah, I'm Lazy and I am also cheap. Like a lot of people, I believe the more education you have, the better off you are. I was doing some research on MBA programs, and found that Wikiversity to be quite helpful.


I posted on MIT giving away online courseware back in 2006, but upon revisiting their site I found some great business courses that are sure to benefit a Lazy Drafter or CAD Manager looking to up their game. Check out MIT Sloan Business School courses here. Self learning over the internet can be hard. It takes discipline and a sustained effort. But, I guess if you found this post, maybe you have what it takes to succeed online.

Know Everything About AutoCAD

Mastering AutoCAD can take years. When trying to learn everything there is to know about AutoCAD, it is not hard to miss the ever increasing number of developments, add-ins, and third party packages that can take your designs to the next level. It’s no place for the technology challenged, but it is also an opportunity for the technology savvy with their eye on the latest developments. This article will explore how to stay on top of the latest developments in the CAD World.


Knowing What You Don’t Know
How does one stay informed on the latest and greatest developments in the CAD world? The internet is a great place to start but there are so many great sites and so much data out there, it can be hard to sift thought it all to actually find relevant information. Here are some suggestions.

• Take a half hour every work day just to research. It is so easy to be in fire fighting mode all the time. There never seems to be a shortage of things going wrong. If it means coming in early or staying a little late, turn off your phone and email, set a timer and explore the internet for something new.
• Join AUGI and follow the AutoCAD Forums. Ask questions or just mine the valuable information, tips and tricks, and the official AutoCAD Wish list found there.
• Whenever you find a blog or website that has good information, follow it. Some will send email alerts when there are new posts, most have RSS feeds.
• Use a RSS reader to bring your data together. I use Google Reader, but there are others. A good reader will allow you one stop shopping for the blogs and websites you visit most.
• Follow the authors and rock stars of the AutoCAD world. Do they tweet? If they do, I bet the information is timely.
• Use Google Alerts to receive an email when ever there is something of interest posted on the internet. Create alerts for things like; #D AutoCAD, AutoCAD Add-in, Lynn Allen, anything or one at all that interests you. These alerts can be sent to your email or straight to Google Reader.
• Add the Autodesk Press Room to your RSS reader or receive emails. Go to http://pressreleases.autodesk.com/ to find out what Autodesk is up to the second they release it.
• Autodesk Labs is constantly thinking of the unbelievable. Check out there web page at http://labs.autodesk.com.
• Talk to other people. Other people think differently than you, which means they solve problems in a way you may not have thought of. It also means they may know something that you do not. These people are in your office, and they are outside of your office. Go to the user group meetings (start one if you have to). These people are facing the same issues as you, looking for the same types of information as you, and they have these meeting just to share the solutions you need. The point is go out there and meet people.
• Get training. Your reseller likely offers great training and is in touch with the latest trends. CAD Camp is rolling out this month. Autodesk University has the greatest collection of AutoCAD geeks in the world.
• You Tube. Can’t beat it for just in time training. Autodesk has its own channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Autodesk, and users all over the globe are posting incredibly helpful videos of just about everything.

New Year's Goals

With the new year it's a good time to think about eating right and exercising more often. 

It is also a good time to look at your professional goals. I am thinking a little about the CAD calendar. 

AU is over, but there is a lot of online material that if I want to get through it, I should get on it quick. 

New version's of Autodesk products traditionally come out in the first quarter of the year. This means if I have any left over to do's on the old version, it needs to be cleaned up quick too.

I also need to review any stats I have been collecting and set goals for 2011. I track a lot of plotter information. Downtime, cost per plot, paper costs, maintenance cost. I use this information to know if things are costing more or less year to year. If you have never tracked information, I encourage you to do so. The first step to making a good plan for growth is have a solid idea of where you really stand. The following year you can use the collected data to make reasonable goals. Most importantly, you can quantify your success with more than. "Things are better... because it feels better".

Another valuable stat is Drafting time per sheet. Depending on your accounting, you might be able to quantify the CAD used on the job and divide it by the number of sheets produced. If you know the billing rate on the job, it then becomes easy to calculate the cost per sheet. Would it be helpful to know if the cost or time per sheet was increasing or decreasing? I think so.

This is also a good time to honestly evaluate your own skills and make a real plan for how to fill in the gaps. 

Budgeting your time is exactly like budgeting your money and it is just as valuable. If you go through the year reacting to the things that happen, you will have a much more difficult time progressing in your career as opposed to a person that set goals based off reliable information, and executes a plan to achieve them.

Lastly give some honest thought to succession planning. If you want to move up out of your current position, having someone to succeed you will remove a barrier to promotion. While you are thinking about yourself, also pause to predict the succession of those above you. Those are opportunities for you if you recognize them.

Happy New Year, now get to work!

Interpret Fatal Error Unhanded Access Codes

If I had something to help me interpret fatal error unhanded access codes, I could work on world peace in my free time. Alas, I must spend hours trying to figure out where they come from and what they are trying to tell me with zero help from the alpha-numeric generated. 


I would be happier with "AutoCAD quit and it doesn't know why."