Meeting Minutes

Past meeting minutes for 2005:

December 2005 meeting minutes:

EVAUG President Mike Taylor opened the meeting warning the attendees that the EVAUG website and announcement emailing system are being developed and may have glitches for the first few months. He also mentioned that we can get at least one free ticket to the 2006 Autodesk University (AU), for next year, if we collect the names of three EVAUG members that attended this year. This free ticket next year is compliments of AUGI.com, the international Autodesk user group. Mike continued by inviting attendees to bring a CD or “flash” drive with their problem files, take the floor, and literally show us their problems. If necessary, they can bring and plug in their own notebook computer.

Past President Beau Turner took the floor and announced that AU will be back in Las Vegas next year, at the Venetian. Beau suggested attendees begin their planning to attend (with or without the free door prize from AUGI.com), and to justify the funding. Attendees provided several tips.

Attendees took a fifteen-minute break for drinks, and snacks, provided in alternating months by the two local Autodesk dealers: InletTechnology.com and AvatechSolutions.com.

Mike Taylor lead a discussion on what the attendees liked and disliked about the meeting topics, format, and venue for the past year. Nearly everyone present had comments about something. Good things mentioned included Nick Fuller’s 3D solids tutorial Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting, the 3D printer booth, Ed Goldberg’s “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” presentation, the Autodesk vertical products, .dwf usages, the “What I Do” shows, and especially the door prizes.

Topics that attendees suggested for 2006 included: Interaction among software like SketchUp and ADT, ADT and Revit, elementary lighting and rendering, and Paper Space text and dimension scaling.

A couple tangent topics addressed included Microsoft plans to support .dwf in upcoming Office software, and Adobe 7 will likely support layers.

This meeting may have set a new record for both attendees (26 were present) and door prizes. For door prizes, attendees received: candy filled candle canes, a hatch pattern library, “Quick Text”, AcroPlot Pro, a File Manager that runs inside AutoCAD, a 128 MB flash drive, AU binders, Autodesk paper tablets, pens and playing cards by Cadopolis, a stress ball, a book about tweaking AutoCAD drawings with PhotoShop, AU carry-on bag and backpack, “not for resale” (NFR) copies of Architectural Desktop (ADT) 2006 and Autodesk Building Systems (ABS) 2006, and two one-year memberships to EVAUG.

November 2005 meeting minutes:

Nick Fuller, EVAUG Vice President and Membership Manager, replaced President Mike Taylor as the chair of the meeting this month. Nick announced that he accepted an offer from Avatech Solutions, on eof two local Autodesk resellers and trainers. Nick’s Special Interest Group (SIG) tutorial on elementary 3D modeling will continue, but exact dates are unknown.

Beau Turner, past President, took the floor and announced the new free .dwg viewr from Autodesk called “TrueView”. Beau asked attendees for their favorite commands and went into a few in detail, including Quick Select on the Properties Dialog Box, and editing the alias file “acad.pgp”. The “problems and solutions” section of the meeting continued and Beau discussed the various lines made by AtuoCAD, including Polyline, Spline, arcs, etc.

Attendees took a fifteen-minute break for drinks, and snacks.

Beau Turner presented on Autodesk Revit software, thought by some to be replacing Autodesk ADT as the architectural “bread and butter” software, within the next five or six years. Beau started with its history, and acquisistion by Autodesk. Revit only uses one file, similar to Microsoft Access, whereas the “traditional .dwg” vertical products are all restrained by the limits of the .dwg file format, requiring Xreffed files. Revit saves back to AutoCAD .dwg format better now than before, but still have some problems. Beau emphasized the “Information” in Building Information Modeling (BIM). Revit invoked “restraints” on walls so they remained lined up across hallways, or keep rooms the same size and the building perimeter changes. It’s more WYSIWYG than Autodesk’s ADT. Room tags automatically line up, without the need to “acquire” points with ADT’s Object Snap Tracking.

For the first time in recent memory, there were no door prizes this meeting. We'll make up for that in the upcoming months.

October 2005 meeting minutes:

Mike Taylor, EVAUG President, opened the meeting and asked attendants to share problems they have with Autodesk software. Most problems couldn’t be resolved without having the respective hardware and drawings. Many involved advanced topics like Sheet Sets, and ADT Wall Styles.

Mike asked, and found that many attendees are using R2000. Bobby pointed out that he’s got a subcontractor or client that submits work in R12.

Attendees took a fifteen-minute break for drinks, and snacks.

Nick Fuller, EVAUG Vice President and Membership Manager, announced the first Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting, involving elementary 3D modeling with vanilla AutoCAD. Nick is preparing handouts for two or three sessions, to be held at one of the local Autodesk dealers’ classrooms. The first SIG meeting is planned for November 3rd.

Nick reviewed a recent article in Engineering Review magazine, which addressed the advantages of high-end software for modeling buildings. The article stated without high-end software, the design to construction time is typically 85 weeks. With proper software, the time is reduced to 61.

Nick continued with a presentation of Autodesk Building Systems (ABS) 2006, and showed his work for a museum in Colonial Williamsburg. ABS automatically designs and inserts adaptors to merge ductwork of different cross sections. Rarely (if ever) in Nick’s presentation did he need to use icons or pull-down menus. Most modifications to his ventilation model were made by simply right clicking and selecting from cursor menus. ABS also makes suggestions for duct runs from one point to another. Nick toggled through 15 suggestions and selected the best option.

Section views are nearly instant, once you’ve built the 3D model. ABS is built off ADT. Nick showed how valves can be deleted and the piping “heals” itself.

Mike Taylor took back the floor and invited the attendees to design a T-shirt graphic for EVAUG. At an upcoming EVAUG meeting, we’d review and select one to be printed.

This meeting the door prize was an NFR copy of ABS, complete with ADT and vanilla AutoCAD included.

September 2005 meeting minutes:

Nick Taylor, Vice President and Membership Manager of EVAUG, filled in for President Mike Taylor, who was unable to attend. Nick opened the meeting at 7:00 PM, and introduced Paul Burgener, who showed three 2D site plans he made for runway and rail facilities needed to deploy Army vehicles and ammunition. Paul receives CAD and image files and hardcopies, along with rough sketches of what facilities the user needs. He then draws them at full size and provides the areas and lengths for an architect to use for cost estimates. Paul’s work typically involves images, Mtext fields, and layouts with “vanilla” AutoCAD 2006.

Attendees took a fifteen-minute break for drinks, and snacks.

Nick Fuller reconvened the meeting and introduced the second presenter, Brian Johnson (BJohnson@InletTechnology.com) of Inlet Technology, a local AutoCAD reseller and training company. Brian demonstrated Autodesk’s “Civil 3D” software and showed a 3D “wire frame surface” where home building parcels were planned. Civil 3D work often begins with a “TIN” object, similar to vanilla AutoCAD’s surface or 3D mesh objects, built with surveyors’ x,y,z coordinate point data for the terrain. Similar surveying data is then added to show the 3D centerline of the proposed roadway. Civil 3D quickly calculates the roadway easement borders and generates suggested parcel borders, based on the operator’s requirements for area or frontage along the roadway. Civil 3D also can develop a table listing the properties (size, perimeter, etc) for the parcels. Brian also showed a video clip made with Autodesk Viz software, showing vehicles along the proposed roadway. Another clip took the viewer below the roadway surface to show the underground pipes and conduit.

Though not demonstrated in the time allowed, Civil 3D can also calculate “cut and fill” volumes. Discussion provided insight for uses for such software. The price for Civil 3D (built on Autodesk Map) is roughly $6000. It’s difficult for operators to learn without formal training. Civil 3D and Autodesk Architectural Desktop (ADT) don’t work together as well as some might like.

Nick then moved on to the door prize portion of the EVAUG meeting. Nick asked attendees who had children and dogs, and tossed out yo-yos and a frizbee, compliments of Cadopolis. Other door prizes passed out were Mouse pads from Inlet Technology, Civil 3D evaluation CDs, and a full “NFR” copy of Civil 3D.

August 2005 meeting minutes:

EVAUG President, Mike Taylor, opened the meeting at 7:00 PM, and welcomed newcomers in attendance. Mike introduced Lonnie Cumpton, of http://www.avatechsolutions.com/, who briefed and demonstrated Buzzsaw, by Autodesk. For large architectural and construction projects, Buzzsaw controls documents, graphic data (such as CAD drawings), and communications. More than just an “FTP site on steroids”, Buzzsaw notifies users when team members or clients complete milestones. Each user is provided appropriate access to only read and revise data for their part of the project. All revisions of data are saved for archive purposes, and records are kept at what each user accesses, downloads, and revises. Buzzsaw is developed by the same Autodesk team that manages the .DWF format, which makes it an excellent choice for exchanging and redlining technical drawings.

Attendees took a fifteen-minute break for sandwiches, drinks, and snacks.

Mike Taylor reconvened the meeting and provided the second presentation. Mike demonstrated “Real People Content (RPC)”, by ArchVision.com. The “content” consists of collections of 2D images for various 3D angles of people, vehicles, plants, and other objects. The “place holders” inserted in drawings, reference the respective image collection. Based on the viewing angle, these “place holders” then determine which of the 2D images to be used, when the entire scene is rendered. This technology allows for far far faster renderings than the more intuitive method; modeling each and every person, plant, and vehicle in 3D. Trees can quickly be randomized for various heights, with just a few clicks, providing a more realistic rendering.

Price for a single “collection” for a single person is typically $25. Sets of 20 people, cost around $219. The RPC can be bought and downloaded for 3D Max, Viz Render (which ships with Architectural Desktop), MicroStation, and even PhotoShop.

Mike then moved on to the door prize portion of the EVAUG meeting. After asking attendees to raise hands if they had a stressful, or fun week so far, Mike tossed out stress balls and yo-yos. The next door prizes were copies of QuickText, an AutoCAD add-on that easily generates text styles for such uses as isometric illustrations. Other door prizes were: Architectural Details (3000 details commonly used by CAD operators), a certificate for Architect 2000 or LT Architect (a “poor man’s” Architectural Desktop), and Ralph Grabowski’s book “The Illustrated AutoCAD 2006 Quick Reference”.

July 2005 meeting minutes:

EVAUG President Mike Taylor opened the meeting at 7:00 PM, at our temporary location (this meeting only), the auditorium at the Advanced Technology Center of the Virginia Beach Campus of Tidewater Community College. For our annual "Extravaganza" meeting, Mike introduced the EVAUG officers, and turned the floor over the Beau Turner, past President. After a brief PowerPoint show explaining Building Information Management (BIM) and
Building Lifecycle Management (BLM), Beau quickly ran through the old 2D vanilla AutoCAD method of drawing floor plans and elevations. The operator runs temporary (construction) lines off the floor plan to develop the side view elevations. Except for moving and stretching walls and windows, it's similar to manual drafting.

Beau then repeated the same design using Autodesk Revit, showing how much easier it is, and generated a schedule of doors and windows, and 3D views with no extra work.

Attendees took a fifteen-minute break for sandwiches and snacks (provided by Avatech Solutions).

Mike Taylor reconvened the meeting and introduced the keynote speaker, Ed Goldberg AIA (www.hegra.org) of Baltimore, MD. Ed has taught architectural drafting at the community college and university levels for 8 years, and authored the book "Autodesk Architectural Desktop, 2006: A Comprehensive Tutorial". He has practiced architecture and industrial design for over 30 years. Ed provided an unbiased (the good the bad) about various CAD
software. Ed endorses Autodesk products, not so much for the quality and simplicity, but because of the vast user base and stability of the company. Ed pointed out, however, that few Architectural Desktop (ADT) operators take advantage of the 3D benefits, and generally waste it as simple vanilla AutoCAD. Customers also don't often appreciate the advantages of ADT's
automatic scheduling capability (BIM).

Ed suggested the future of CAD might someday lead to "hologram" displays of buildings, so contractors simply match up the foundation and walls with the image they see displayed in real space. There'd be little need to measure anything before cutting.

Ed also compared ADT to Revit, and suggests vanilla AutoCAD users upgrade to ADT for at least a while, before considering Revit. To some extent, the Autodesk ADT and Revit teams are competing against each other. Many features that first were in Revit have been added to ADT, but ADT was first at a couple that were later added to Revit. The two use different file management systems (Revit involves one huge file, vice multiple Xref files, controlled by an .xml file in ADT). Revit is "Bi-Directional" where a change in the elevation view is reflected in the floor plan, and vice-versa. Screen captures show the two programs are very similar.

Ed also discussed the "flavors" of 3D Studio, and advised what to use each for.

The smaller door prizes given away this month were 4 stress balls, 5 yo-yos, 3 ball caps from Cadopolis, 2 certificates to build a Rapid Prototype model, by Dimension Printers, an Inlet Technology Tee shirt, a year long membership to EVAUG, and the book "Just enough AutoCAD", by George Omura. Large prizes given were a "not for resale" copy of AutoCAD R2006, and one of ADT R2006.

May 2005 meeting minutes:

EVAUG President Mike Taylor opened the meeting at 7:00 PM, at our new location, just a block toward the water, in MMM Design Group's suite on the 3rd floor of 300 East Main Street, the black glass SouthTrust Bank building.

Mike introduced the first presentation given by Paul Burgener. Paul
demonstrated and briefed on the AUGI.com website, explaining how free membership allows users to access email-based tutorials. Members are also invited to write a tutorial and teach it via forum to other AUGI members, as Paul did last February.

During the short break between sessions, the attendees discussed various corner topics and refilled with sandwiches, fruit, and drinks.

After the break for snacks and chats, Mike reconvened the meeting and demonstrated SketchUp, a 3D easy-to-learn software. Mike developed a building complete with steps, windows, furniture, people, and a railing around the roof, in less than an hour. SketchUp is intended for quick presentation concept graphics done by non-CAD operators. Evaluation CDs were passed out at the end of the meeting. For more information see www.sketchup.com, or call Mike direct at 515.9595 (cell) or mtaylor@outerbox.org.

Here was the result of Mike's quick work (click to enlarge):

Door prizes given away this month were 2 sets of socks, a tee-shirt, a working copy of SketchUp version 5, a gift certificate for $35 to Barnes and Noble book store, and a not-for-resale copy of Architectural Desktop 2005.

April 2005 meeting minutes:

EVAUG President Mike Taylor opened the meeting at 7:00 PM, at our new location, just a block toward the water, in MMM Design Group's suite on the 3rd floor of 300 East Main Street, the black glass bank building. Mike asked attendees for topics to consider for upcoming quarterly "Special Interest Group" meetings, in dealers classrooms. Several ideas were suggested.

Mike introduced the first presentation given by EVAUG Vice President, Nick Fuller. Nick demonstrated building attributed blocks to simplify office design procedures. Using a thermostat as a sample, Nick showed how to define attributes using various options. These blocks later contribute to an automatic Bill of Materials (BOM). Nick also discussed REFEDIT and BATTMAN commands. DDINSERT allows operators to redefine block definitions in drawings.

During the short break between sessions, the attendees discussed various corner topics and refilled with pizza, cookies, and drinks.

After the break for snacks and chats, Mike reconvened the meeting and introduced the main presentation, Beau Turner, former EVAUG president, presently with Avatech. Beau demonstrated several new features of AutoCAD 2006, starting with Dynamic Blocks. With some initial time invested, dynamic blocks are similar to Architectural Desktop objects. The operator can simply click on a triangle on the inserted block, and change the block to one of the pre-planned "flavors". A bed, for example, can be quickly switched from a twin to a double, queen, or king. The BOM (if set up) will
update this new block "variant", the next time the drawing is opened or the BOM is manually updated.

AutoCAD R2006 also displays more information on the cursor, that USED to be on the command line. Operators may now depend less on reading the command line, and decide to turn it off completely, to gain more usable graphics area, with "heads up design".

Small door prizes given away this month were ball caps from Cadopolis.com, several Cadopolis Engineer Toolkit download passwords, for various engineering specialties, a Techsmith novelty lamp made from a printed circuit board, and mini-mouse perfect for use on airplanes.

March 17th, 2005 meeting minutes:

EVAUG President Mike Taylor opened the meeting at 7:00 PM, at out new location, just a block toward the water, in MMM Design Group's suite on the 3rd floor of 300 East Main Street, the black glass bank building. The conference room was very comfortable, but a bit small for the record number we had in attendance (one count was 28!).

Mike introduced the first presentation, on elementary 3D modeling and viewing, given by Paul Burgener. Paul walked slowly through modeling a simple 2 by 4 sawhorse using the AutoCAD type-in commands: EXTRUDE, 3DORBIT, ROTATE3D, and SLICE. To get quick rendering for "sanity check" Paul demonstrated "HI" and "RE" aliases.

During the short break between sessions, the attendees discussed various corner topics and refilled with snacks and drinks.

After the break for snacks and chats, Mike reconvened the meeting and introduced the main presentation, Veredith Keller, of Inlet Technology (www.inlettechnology.com), of Virginia Beach. Veredith presented one handy trick or tip after another, starting with AutoCAD 2005's Tool Pallet transparency, Auto-hide, and customizing. She continued with Layer groups, < Shift> right-click for Osnaps (a forgotten oldie), and a quick overview of DWF Composer, used to redlining drawings via Internet.

The big door prize this month was an NFR copy of AutoCAD 2005. Smaller prizes given away were squishy earth balls, and other minor trinkets.

February 17th, 2005 meeting minutes:

EVAUG President Beau Turner opened the meeting at 7:00 PM. He welcomed everyone and announced the new set of officers for the EVAUG. With Beau on the road much of the time with Avatech, Mike Taylor will assume the helm as President. Nick Fuller will be Vice President. Steve Collier will remain as Webmaster, Paul Burgener will remain as Editor, and Shannon Turner will remain as Treasurer.

Beau next wrote down topics for potential presentations as attendees called them out. Topics of interest were: special features in ADT, 3rd party programs, Autodesk vertical products, work samples of attendees, pro and cons of various programming languages such as C sharp, 3D plotting, CNC machining, AEC content, document management, favorite websites, and custom materials.

Also, there's a possibility we're move to a new location. The most likely candidate is the MMM Design Group building right next to the present HEWV location. Check back for further info before the next EVAUG meeting.

During the short break between sessions, the attendees discussed various corner topics and refilled with snacks and drinks.

The second presentation was given by Beau Turner and Mike Taylor on the subject of CAD Burnout prevention and recovery. Sighting articles written by Mark Middlebrook (www.markcad.com), Beau and Mike listed ways to switch off the track to burnout, such as: Learn a new specialty (structural, architecture, civil, or manufacturing. Teach yourself (or get taught) ADT, ABS, Civil LDD, Revit, Viz Render, AccuRender, scripting or programming languages such as AutoLISP, VBA, .net, or ARX. Check out local schools for opportunities to teach or tutor. Present a topic at your LUG. Quit your job only as a last resort, and only after securing another.

The big door prize this month was an NFR copy of AutoCAD 2005. Smaller prizes given away were a frisbee, cozee, 2 coffee cups, and a Revit tee shirt. Many of the door prizes were provided by Inlet Technology (http://www.inlettechnology.com).

January 20th, 2005 meeting minutes:

EVAUG

President Beau Turner opened the meeting at 7:00 pm. He welcomed everyone and introduced Verideth Keller, of Inlet Technologies, one of two local distributors of AutoCAD software, support and training. Verideth quickly demonstrated Autodesk Viz software, for developing a photo realistic room, complete with ceiling and floor tiling, painted walls with molding, and a few sample furniture shapes. With the "OVW Map" feature and Scaling, she adjusted the grid size for the tiles, and then typed in an exact value to meet standards. Verideth added lighting and later adjusted their " Hotspot" and "Fallout" for more shading realism. Mirror surfaces were placed and adjusted on curved and flat objects. As a finale, Verideth showed several video clips she'd made using Viz for clients. For information on Inlet Technology, see http://www.inlettechnology.com. To reach Verideth, email her at vkeller@inlettechnology.com.

During the short break between sessions, the attendees discussed various corner topics and refilled with snacks and drinks.

After the break, Nick Fuller provided a demonstration of Autodesk Building Systems. This month Nick concentrated on developing and updating schedules. Schedules are tables listing materials and their properties or characteristics. Ventilation diffuser information can include the cubic feet per minute (CFM) of air they deliver to rooms. Construction codes and customer specs require airflow volume based on the room area, planned number of people, and the heat load of office equipment such as copiers and coffee makers. As the drawing changes, so will the linked schedule information. Besides supporting engineering analysis, this information is also helpful in estimating costs. Nick has been operating ABS professionally (generally self-taught) for less than 3 years, and has shown features at a few EVAUG meetings during that time. His "real life" tips and tidbits were educational and often humorous.

Autodesk Revit was compared with Architectural Desktop (ADT), during a tangent discussion. Revit seems to be more "bi directional" in updating data to and from "snap shot" section views, but ADT (and ABS) is still the software of choice for complete construction drawings. Revit is preferred for developing presentation and conceptual graphics. Evaluation copies of Revit were on the freebies table.

The big door prize this month was an NFR copy of ABS 2005. Smaller prizes given away were a cloth Autodesk bag, Cadopolis software, and a few copies of Lynn Allen's tips and tricks reference guide. The Freebie table provided several brochures, and trinkets, including some provided by the Oce plotter and scanner sales show earlier that day.

© Eastern Virginia AutoCAD User Group