Save the Tatas!

Breasts are near and dear to my heart. I was delighted to discover that Shaan Hurley of Autodesk is also a fan. If Shaan can raise $2000 by AU2009 (NEXT WEEK!) he will shave his head at the Autodesk Blogger's Social.

What can you do?

For everyone who follows the blog revit3D.com, Greg Arkin is donating $1 to the Susan G. Komen foundation for the Cure. He's hoping that like-minded people will donate as well.

Let's do this! Click here to donate.

Remember, you can't motorboat prosthetic funbags.

AutoCAD Skills for Civil 3D: Part 1

Folks, you don't need to be an AutoCAD guru before you learn Civil 3D 2010. However, you do need to know some basics or you will get lost, frustrated and/or confused when working in Civil 3D.

Lately, I've been teaching a lot of Microstation/Caice users how to use Civil 3D - and finding that the best approach is to spend at least a day focusing on just the AutoCAD side of things.

The following is part one of my 10-part series AutoCAD Skills for Civil 3D.

The document is called 10 AutoCAD skills, but that's a bit of a misnomer. It is more like 10 general topics to be aware of.

Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends. Happy Belated Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends. Happy early Pongal to my Indian friends.

CAD Quickie

As you know, I am a huge fan of using the Overlay option when working with external reference files. Read this post to find out why. I recently discovered a system variable that will help you by forcing the default attachment type to Overlay.

XREFTYPE

Set this system variable to 1 to default to overlay all the time.

For some of you, I'm sure this is old news, but for me I was tickled pink to find it.

AutoDesk "See the Difference Tour" Virtual

Haven't decided if the Autodesk 2010 products are for you?

November 17th, Autodesk takes its 2010 roadshow into the cyberwebs.

Register for this online event now. There will even be a virtual trade show area - where you can chat live with yours truly. The web interface for the virtual event is more fun and interactive than your average webcast.

View informative sessions including:

• AutoCAD 2010 Tips & Techniques with Lynn Allen
• The AutoCAD Family of Products with Shaan Hurley
• The World of 3D Modeling with Heidi Hewett

Be sure to stop by the MasterGraphics booth and say "Hi!"

Eagle Point to Retire RoadCalc, Surface Modeling Products

It is the end of an era. After November 2011, the products that launched Eagle Point into the competitive world of civil engineering software will be retired.

The modules being retired are:

• RoadCalc
• COGO
• Surface Modeling
• Storm Sewers
• Sanitary Sewers
• Watershed Modeling

The last version of AutoCAD that Eagle Point will make these modules for is version 2012. The Microstation compatible versions of these modules are also being retired.

Users can get technical support for Eagle Point's legacy software through the end of calendar year 2011.

Eagle Point has transitioned into building add-on products for Civil, Civil 3D and Revit. From http://www.eaglepoint.com/:

"With AutoCAD Civil 3D now in its 5th major release, we are excited about
standardizing on Civil 3D as our development platform. This means that we are
able to focus our energy on developing new technologies that help you complete
your land development, transportation, and environmental projects better, faster
and more affordably than ever before."

If you find yourself in a position where you'd like to transition from Eagle Point to AutoCAD Civil or AutoCAD Civil 3D - stay tuned. I'll be posting more on this topic over the next few weeks.