Mastering Civil 3D 2011

I received my copy of Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 last week and had plenty of time to read it while proctoring some Autodesk Certification Exams. 

It is excellent.  I've been up to my eyeballs in Civil 3D for the last four years and I can honestly say that I never stop learning tidbits here and there from my Mastering books.   James and Scott did an awesome job creating fresh information and fine-tuning this encyclopedia of Civil 3D knowledge.

(Yes, guys I will put a glowing 5 star review on Amazon too!)


So, that leaves me with the question...do I pitch/recycle my first one?  All of my clients have upgraded to at least 2009, leaving the 2008 book as a mere memento of a time that I didn't know my ass from a negative slope grading object.

So I turned my 2008 book into a minibar:

Believe me, the first cut was hard.   For one thing I've always been taught to revere the printed word.  Second, cutting into Dana, James, Mark & Jason's  pivotal work felt a little bit like cutting up a high school yearbook. 

Despite this book desecration/minibar transformation, the world should know I have the deepest respect and admiration for the authors. 

BOTTOMS UP!

Super Helpful Help

Hey all!

I know, I know I should blog more often.  But it is summer and there are State Fairs to attend,  beaches to lay on and sunshine to absorb. 

Here's something I JUST noticed today... the help in 2011 knows object names and uses them to help you navigate procedures.  It picks the name of the object at the time you hit F1. 

For all I know, it's done this since 2005, but I'm just noticing it now.  It's cool.  It makes me feel safe and happy in the Help docs. 

Have a great week!