Project Butterfly... The Future of the Autodesk Technology!!!

Hi there... on their continues effort to make our life easier Autodesk Project Butterfly is LIVE on the Autodesk // LABS_, is Autodesk Technology Preview that enables AutoCAD users to edit and collaborate on AutoCAD drawings through a Web browser. With Project Butterfly, AutoCAD users can share and work on DWG files with colleagues and clients from any computer with an Internet connection.

Cool stuffs for us... so go, sing in and check it out!!!

GOOGLE EARTH EXTENSION for AutoCAD and AutoCAD-based products... from the Autodesk//LABS_

Hi everybody, at this time I would like to talk about something really good that is going on... Autodesk//LABS_, has some really cool utilities that can make the different on what you can do with the AutoCAD-base products...
How many time have you seeing people working with Civil 3D and Google Earth, they can push and pull information from it, like images and mesh, publish their project just to see how it will interact or look on the actual environment on the right place in the space....
Well now you can do it too... Because GOOGLE EARTH EXTENSION for AutoCAD and AutoCAD-based products is out for you to try it out...
What is Autodesk Labs?
Autodesk Labs is home to innovative new technologies and collaborative development. Its mission is to involve the customer, in the progress of design technology solutions. They are not a beta program, or a usability team, because the technology that they work with is too new to be a product. The user feedback that you provide to Labs is really on product ideas, while they’re still in an early conceptual stage.
They explore and develop technology that is commercially relevant to customers in design – no matter what industry you work on.
The best way to learn about Autodesk Labs is to start experimenting yourself. Check out the different technologies available on Autodesk Labs, participate in the discussion groups and blogs, and be sure to register to receive email updates when new technologies are posted. Try out their free technology previews, test them and tell them what you think. Your comments, experience and insight help drive the future of Autodesk innovation.
So go, get register and start making the different...

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 Update 3.1!!!

Hi, everybody.... In a continuing effort to provide high quality products, Autodesk has released AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2010 Update 3.1, which fixes or addresses a variety of issues discovered by customers and by Autodesk's internal testing team.
Before applying this update, make sure that any customizations made to the user profile (such as, customizations made to the support file search paths, print file customizations, printer support file paths, redirections, custom template settings, and so on) are exported to a secure location, then imported and reapplied after the update has been successfully installed.

Note: This update applies to all language versions.

Important things to take in consideration!!!
You cannot run an automatic uninstall to remove this update. To restore your version of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 to its pre-update state, uninstall AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 and reinstall it.
If you intend to apply the AutoCAD Civil 2010 Subscription Advantage Pack to your installation of AutoCAD Civil 3D, you must do so before applying AutoCAD Civil 3D Update 3. Attempts to apply the Subscription Advantage Pack after application of AutoCAD Civil 3D Update 3 will fail.

Digging into some new AutoCAD functionality… Text Custom Linetypes!!!!

Hi everybody, is been a while since my last post, well at this time I have something really cool to talk about. Sometimes we have the need to create a new custom linetype to denote different lines in our drawing, like water lines, gas lines, fences, etc… For those of you that have some text custom linetype, here is something that you will love.
When we talk about text custom linetype we have a lot of thing that we need to think off, like Text Styles, Scale, Rotation, X offset, and Y offset. Probably the rotation is being the most painful one, because is not the same to draw a line for left to right, that for right to left…. So we end up with things like this…

Here is how this line looks like until ACAD 2010
*DDS_CAD,DDS line ---- DDS---- DDS ---- DDS ---- DDS ---- DDS ---- DDS --
A,.5,-.2,["DDS",STANDARD,S=.1,R=0.0,X=-0.1,Y=-.05],-.2

But now in 2011 Autodesk did something really nice for us… they change the rotation parameter, and give us the ability to manipulate this factor in a different way, introducing U and A, beside the original R, but what this mean to us… well…
R=value
R= specifies relative or tangential rotation with respect to the line.
U=value
U= specifies upright or easy-to-read text.
A=value
A= specifies absolute rotation of the text with respect to the origin; that is, all text has the same rotation regardless of its position relative to the line.
So in any AutoCAD-Base software, this is how will look my custom text linetype now…

Here is how this line looks like in ACAD 2011
*DDS_CAD,DDS line ---- DDS---- DDS ---- DDS ---- DDS ---- DDS ---- DDS --
A,.5,-.2,["DDS",STANDARD,S=.1,U=0.0,X=-0.1,Y=-.05],-.2

Where is this file???... here is the location on Vista and Win 7

C:\Users\Your User Name\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\C3D 2011\enu\Support\acad.lin

Hope that this will be helpful for you… now have fun creating your text custom linetypes...

What is New in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011!!!

Hello everybody!!!... Even though that Autodesk official realize day for Civil 3D 2011 is April 20th, we are able to see all the good things that this realize has to offer, here are two videos that are been took from one of the Autodesk Channel in YouTube... courtesy of CivilFromTheGroundUp...





Hope that you will be as exited as we all are... I am Looking forward to see what else Autodesk can do for us!!!

AutoCAD 2008 and 2009 Based Software and Window 7

Hello everybody is been a while since my last post, but I am back…
Since Microsoft lunch Window 7, we have received a lot of calls asking if they can install AutoCAD 2008 or 2009 based products on their new computers…. Well first of all, it is important to understand that Window 7 is a brand new OS, went you got your AutoCAD Based software 2008 or 2009, Window 7 wasn’t available yet, so it is a “NOT SUPPORTED OS” for this applications by Autodesk.
They only Autodesk Supported Products for Window 7 are the 2010 releases…
Windows 7 Support for Autodesk Products
Known Limitations with Windows 7 for AutoCAD and AutoCAD-based Products
What exactly these mean to us as users… that I CAN or CAN NOT install the software on my new computer?????????
I have being doing some test here at the office; so far we are being really successful installing and running AutoCAD 2009 based software without any mayor complications; Can you run into some weird stuffs?... Probably, I haven’t run yet into weird stuffs. I use regular AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009, I have done projects, worked on costumer files and be able to share those with them without any problems…
The same situation with 2008 AutoCAD based software; I only had run into this one, which is NOT an AutoCAD issue… it is a Microsoft error….

"There Is No Disk in the Drive. Please Insert a Disk into Drive \Device\harddisk#\Dr#"

Remember we are on our own, this is an unexplored territory and Autodesk does not support this OS for 2008 or 2009 software’s… we could run into issues, but on the same page, you can count with the AutoCAD online community, and I am sure that somebody like me will help you, so you will never be along….

Have a great day to all!!!

Autodesk University Extension!!!

Hello everyone, for those of you that don't know The Autodesk University (AU) conference held each year in Las Vegas is the world’s largest learning and networking event for Autodesk product users. But not everyone can travel to Las Vegas. So this year thanks to the economy, Autodesk is extending the benefits of AU by sharing classes and content from the event with Authorized Training Centers (ATC®). The result is a new worldwide initiative called Autodesk University Extension and Digital Drafting Systems is participating, we are the only ATC and Autodesk Authorized Reseller on South Florida doing it.
On December 4, 8, 9 & 10 of 2009, we are presenting an Autodesk University Extension event tailored to our community of users. This is a great new opportunity to upgrade your skills and connect with peers and experts without the cost of traveling to Las Vegas.
Our program is FREE and we invite you to join us.

Digital Drafting System’s and Autodesk University Extension Event combines expert-led class content from AU in Las Vegas with face-to-face interaction with our local instructors and other users...
* At our event, you will receive:
- FREE training, including 3 on-line live classes and 5 recorded classes at AU in Las Vegas (see program below)
- 90 days of FREE access to 350 classes recorded at AU, archived on AU Online, and available to you on-demand.
Plus, you may purchase additional training and certification at significant discounts:
- Twenty percent (20%) discount on Autodesk Official Training Guides - Autodesk publishes dozens of titles every year designed to help users at all levels of expertise improve their productivity with Autodesk software.
- Fifty percent (50%) discount on Autodesk Certification Exams (in participating countries) - The competition for the best jobs and projects is fierce. And the ability to demonstrate your expertise is crucial to your success. Validate your Autodesk skills with Autodesk Certification.

** And if you mention that you got to sing in for the link on this blog, we will give you the opportunity to take your certification exam for FREE**

Do not get left out just because you were not able to travel to AU in Las Vegas this year, please join us for 4 days of knowledge and fun.