…the journey to the Mothership

Welcome.  ようこそ。

AU 2009! I’m going!  Most of you knew that by now.  I’ll be on a shoe string budget, and working while I’m there.  Follow me on twitter, in the AU LinkedIn Discussions, or send me an email.  I’d be glad to meet you there.  Who knows, we might even get Dennis Jeffrey to go!

I am please to announce my partnership with Dennis Jeffrey at Tekni as a consulting author.  I have been quite involved this year with various articles and books.  Check out the publications page for my latest…

Everyone has been very supportive of this work, including Autodesk, Civil3d.com, BIM on the Rocks, and Tekni.  I occasionally write for Civil3d.com as well.

If you want to see something, please post to the Civil3D or Inventor product pages.  I will continue do my best. みんあさんがんばれ。

AU 2008 PowerTrack vBooks Available

AU Power Track Sessions Videos are now available in vBook format. These are video recorded power track session that are completely searchable so you can watch the whole power track or just go to the section your interested in.

If you attended AU they are free from the AU Web Site.
you’ll need to login first http://au.autodesk.com/

If you did not attend AU you can buy the Power Tracks in vBook format by going here.
http://www.myvbooks.com/ac55jsp/stores/1/Autodesk_University_2008_C95.jsp

Inventor, Building Systems and Civil Engineering Power Tracks are all Available.

Civil 3D – Part Builder Comments Please

Ok, Part Builder is not easy. Evan with a tutorial and a workflow, it’s still not easy.

There is at least 1 person in the community that has had trouble with the series outcome.  I need to know how everyone did.

Good, Bad, and otherwise.  Please offer us your comments.

If there is a bug in the procedure, I need to get it fixed for everyone else.

IMAGINiT’s New Office

I have been griping for a year now that IMAGINiT doesn’t have an office closer to me.  They have Tampa, Orlando, etc, you know major cities.  The nearest ‘Major’ city to me is 350 miles away.  I asked Nancy Tremblay when one would be opened for the panhandle of Florida and southern Alabama, say like Tallahassee.   I guess that is considered a bit remote.

Well I just received notice that they now have a ‘remote’ office.  My friend Radu is ‘on top of it’, check it out.

http://rand.com/imaginit/1/rss/viewitem.asp?feedid=BLOGS_MFG_ALL&guid=544

Civil 3D – Multi-sheet Publishing

Since multisheet publishing to dwf came out, and subsequently the recent Design Review versions, I have been a big fan of multi-sheet DWF Publishing, so much so that I put links to Design Review in my emails, and promote it at every opportunity.  I even became a Beta tester for Joseph Volker’s team (hush hush and all that).

The problem I usually face is not necessarily with Design Review, but is in the AutoCAD Drivers for dwf plotting, and how that relates to Multi-sheet.  I just recently installed a service Pack, and Publish in Background defaulted again. 

As many of you are aware, many of you are not.  If you try multi-sheet publishing and if crashes, even if it is not DWF, try killing the background publishing. 

There have been many write-ups on this, and it certainly applies to my setup.  However since I’m at work on Sunday, and it just crashed me AGAIN, I thought I’d remind the new guys. 

Error 1606 on Install

Civil 3d.com just released an old article of mine.  Check it out. 

It’s an old topic, but it hit me at a new angle, and is not on the Autodesk FAQ.

Install error 1606 Local Admin rights on Civil3d.com

Civil 3D – Part Builder Part 7

Back to Part Builder Part 6

In the last session we created the Structures in the Civil 3D environment.  In this session we will modify the configuration to add the slopes to a list, in order to change the structure to be consistent with the corridor side slope.

Open up Wingwall Sloped in Part Builder.  Since we have something that hopefully works, let’s save a new part.  This way we have both.  “If it aint broke, then don’t try and fix it”.  Let’s try Wingwall Variable Slope.

Pick the ‘Save As’ button on the toolbar. The ‘Save Part Family As…’ dialog will appear allowing us to change the Chapter, Part Name, and Part Description.  Leave the chapter as Inlet-Outlet-Custom, cut change the Name and Description to Wingwall Variable Slope.

Hit OK.

Right Click Size parameters and select Edit Configuration.

 

I’m Certified!!!!

That’s right C-E-R-T-I-F-I-E-D baby! I Passed both the Inventor 2009 Professional and the Civil 3D 2009 Professional.

So after listening to me gripe for months about studying, and dealing with delays in publishing, here’s what went down…

Motivation and AU 07

While most of the people that take this test are validating for their employers, I validate for my self. I can’t help it.  I am self taught, self motivated, and just can’t stand the thought that something is bigger than me, or beyond my capabilities. While planning my 2007 AU classes, I noticed the Inventor Certificate Classes at the last minute, and decided to completely screw up my class schedule at the last minute.  They don’t tell you that it’s too late, you just find out when you get there and you have no class handouts. The cutoff is November something.

I took 3 certificate study classes that all looked at the tests differently.  After Barbara, Nancy, Dan, and Matt were done, I was hooked.  Dan said “If everyone had all afternoon to take the test, no one would fail”. Oooh pressure…(small sadistic grin). Clearly I have issues.

I purchased my tests in January 2008, and studied for the 2008 Inventor Expert and Civil 3D 2008 Expert tests.  I won Dan’s Expert AOTC book in Vegas.  There was only 1 book, and I guarantee the nearby classes knew it when my number was called.  I purchased the User book.  All my books were Inventor books, thinking “I run Civil 3D day in and day out, what do I need a book for?”.  This is the reason people read my blog.  I make every stupid decision know, and then talk all about it.

Study

Autodesk cancelled the Inventor 2008 Expert test (mostly due to candidate fear I suspect, no one would pay to torture themselves that way).  They kindly helped me migrate all my tests over to 2009, so I studied for the 4 new tests.  For Inventor I alternated, reviewing each test’s requirements, and then studied the 2008 AOTC guides from cover to cover. When one AOTC guide was over, I’d go to the next.  During each requirement, I’d study Dan’s course from AU 07.  During the process I’d use everything I studied in various things I was working on. When my exam dates got moved back, I’d repeat the process. This is the way to study for that test.  Trust me.

The way I did Civil is NOT the way to study.  All I could do was to practice a start to finish development, using every option I could find. When the Civil Associate exam went from the performance based user, to the question answer based Associate, I choked.  I have no book.   C%#p!!!!  It was a bit late, but I borrowed a copy of Dana Probert and James Wedding’s 2008 book, and bit down hard.  I skimmed over everything, looking for things that would be in a ‘check all that apply’ question.

Even though I moved up to 2009 tests, I had to keep using 2008 books, because we were slam broke, and couldn’t afford the gas to get to Orlando.

Civil 3D – Part Builder Part 6

Back to Part 5

Backup your model

Before we begin, I seriously and strenuously suggest you back up your model.  Don’t do the saveas (which is fine I suppose), but instead use Windows explorer to copy the .DWG and .XML files to a backup location. The VISTA path to these items is C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\C3D 2009\enu\Pipes Catalog\US Imperial Structures\Inlet-Outlet-Custom\

Map the User Parameters to the Application

You may remember the parameters that were handed down when we verified the structure a few sessions ago.  These ‘handed down’ parameters are those that the application uses in it’s controls, and were assigned when we used the Part Configuration Undefined Bounding Shape.  Without these, the structure cannot be modified. These parameters are SHBTh, SHBW, and SVPC, which are the Thickness, Base Width, and the Vertical Pipe Clearance respectively. We used the user parameters (like bThick) to buffer our equations from the application controls, and to make it easier to understand when reading the parameter list.  When we go back to make changes, we can disconnect the application parameters, and toy with our user parameters, and then attach them when we are done.

Let’s set these values before we proceed farther.  Edit the Model Parameters as follows:

SHBTh = 6

SHBW = 24

SVPC = 24

Now we have given something solid to these values, we can map these to the user parameters we created.

bThick = SHBTh

bWidth = SHBW

Now that the parameters have been set, we need to change the bounding shape to be a box.  Right now, the application will only display the structure as a 3D solid, and many styles will not display

this.  To simplify your model in some cases, we need the bounding shape to be a box.

Civil 3D Update available

STOP!

Check the comments, one of our readers noted a retraction for the service pack.

If it is available, use at your own risk.

Civil 3D SP2 is out for English applications.

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Update 2