Light Reading

No man can, of course, subsist only on the hell that is the Caltrans Highway Design Manual, so I decided to cut myself some slack and do some fun reading for engineers. I'd been meaning to read this for some time, and last month I'm waiting at a bus stop, and there sitting on a rickety table outside a used bookstore and next to a "All Books Outside $1" handwritten sign is, The Measure of All Things. Reading books is a great excuse for being unemployed.

Thinking Back

1 Year Ago EIT California Thankfully, because of comity between the California Board of Engineers and the New Jersey Board of Engineers, I didn't need to resit any exams and I didn't need to add any experience or additional coursework. I give California my New Jersey details, I request the information from Newark and post the package out to Sacramento. Four weeks later when Sacramento are conducting their FE exams, I get word that I'm an EIT in California.

3 Years Ago EIT New Jersey On the final semester of my Masters Degree and NJIT are offering FE Exam prep on weekends. Since its been a good time since studying chemical bonding, thermodynamics, simple electrical circuits, it was lucky for me even though it made some full weeks. Sat the exam with the General for the morning session and Civil for the afternoon session, no real problems, no time crunch and confident of a passing grade.

3 Years Ago Masters in Civil Engineering

7 Years ago Pennoni Associates I was creating a quick and dirty model of Palmyra City Hall to show the layout of their proposed library.

15 years ago Cadking Design I was creating this model and writing an article for AutoCAD 13. No that really was the good old days, two weeks to install, test, learn and utilize a piece of software to create enticing graphics and draft a meaningful, accurate and fair review for a national magazine (and precious little financial reward), good times.

AutoCAD 2011 - Learning Resource Changes

Learning Resources New Features Workshop Online Help System Autodesk Seek

I should probably have named this entry AutoCAD 2011 - Learning Resource Changes Improvements

AutoCAD 2011 - Modeling Tool Changes

3D Modeling Workspaces 3D Object Snaps Solid Modeling Surface Modeling Surface Creation Tools Surface Editing Tools Analysis Tools Consistent Materials Mesh Modeling Point Clouds

I should probably have named this entry AutoCAD 2011 - Modeling Tool Changes Improvements

AutoCAD 2011 - Drawing Tool Changes

Parametric Constraints Geometric Constraints Dimensional Constraints Transparency Hatches and Gradients Polylines Splines External References Scale Lists Missing SHX and Font Files Text Alignment in Linetypes

AutoCAD is synonymous with documentation for good reason. Powerful documentation tools in AutoCAD 2011 help you work even faster with automation, management, and editing tools that minimize repetitive tasks and speed your time to completion. No matter your project’s size or scope, you can meet the challenge with AutoCAD—continuously leading and innovating documentation for over 25 years.

Parametric, Geometric and Dimensional Constraints
I've always been huge fan of geometric and dimensional constraints, not through the usual route of having worked on highly parametric mechanical drafting software Inventor, Pro-Engineer, Mechanical Desktop et al, but simply from the amount of drawing tidy I've done in the passed.

Ooh, I wish it had been available back then, especially with the additional functionality of the inferred geometric constraint tool. Damn that's cool.

Autodesk is making a medium sized whoop about the added functionality to the parameters tools, particularly the filters, however, I'm still to be impressed.

Hatches and Gradients
You have to be happy with new Hatch ribbon, I love the background fill, I love the scaling options. I know the grip editing features have not really been changed since 2010 but I like it so much I'm going to mention it again.

But now for the gripes, firstly I always launch the hatch dialog from the command line, h [ret] used to be all I needed, now I need to do h [ret] t [ret], if i wanted command line options I was happy to simply -h [ret]. Also, another boo hoo, why does my hatch [ret] select [ret] last [ret] not work but hatch [ret] select [ret] previous [ret] does?

MIRRHATCH system variable is fine, I guess.

Polyines
Although most of the new polyline edit tools are great additions, AutoCAD simply isn't as good as Microstation, and even with the additional tools it only makes the user want more. Clicking on an arc segment to stretch is great but it only leaves you wanting more control especially with sizing and tangent conditions. (And yes I know I could be using geometric constraints to alleviate these issues, but I'm lazy)

Cherry Blossom Festival

Taiko Model OK, not particularly accurate nor difficult, but at least fun. And it is not often I get practice in creating something entirely within MAX, i.e. without at least the geometry being created in AutoCAD.

Reminder: Now that I've had a chance to look at taiko drums a little more closely, I could probably do to update the model.

StormNET Part 4

Importing Exporting AutoCAD Drawing Files (12:48) Exporting Profile Plots to AutoCAD (6:04) Importing Exporting Pipe Networks Land Desktop Civil 3D (23:32) Importing Exporting GIS Shapefiles (31:57) Merging Multiple Models (8:34) Complete XPSWMM Support (14:28) Output Horizontal Plan View Display Options (13:22) Displaying Analysis Results on Horizontal Plan V (2:17) Displaying Graphical Time Series Results (2:28)

Longitudinal Profile Plots Results (6:17) Output Microsoft Excel Input Output Reports (10:04) Pipe Sizing (5:07) Detention Pond Control Structures (2:17)

Routing Methods (2:42) Model Convergence (3:21) Hydraulic Flow Routing Issues (2:20) Pump Station Control Rules (1:48)

StormNET Recap Videos

StormNET Part 3

Detention Pond Outflow Structures (3:27) Defining Infiltration Detention and Retention Ponds (10:58) Defining Underground Detention Storage Structures (14:15) Defining Stormwater Drainage Inlets (36:18) Defining Controlled Valves (14:17) Defining Pumps (20:42) Defining Water Quality Modeling (11:05) Laying Out a Stormwater Network (47:51) Defining Editing Subbasins Links (5:23) Importing Exporting Background Orthophoto Images (3:54)

StormNET Recap Videos

AutoCAD 2011 - User Interface Changes

Drawing Window Quick Access Toolbar Navigation UCS Icon and 3D Gizmos The Ribbon Object Visibility Object Selection Action Recorder

I should probably have named this entry AutoCAD 2011 - User Interface Changes Improvements

I like the Australian woman in the getting started videos, I wonder if any new users actually watch the video after installing, or whether they charge on and ignore any of the advice/instructions. Actually quite useful, plus links to more videos and more features. New Features Workshop Learning Path More Videos Online Help

StormNET Part 2

Detention Pond Outflow Structures (3:27) Defining Infiltration Detention and Retention Ponds (10:58) Defining Underground Detention Storage Structures (14:15) Defining Stormwater Drainage Inlets (36:18) Defining Controlled Valves (14:17) Defining Pumps (20:42) Defining Water Quality Modeling (11:05) Laying Out a Stormwater Network (47:51) Defining Editing Subbasins Links (5:23) Importing Exporting Background Orthophoto Images (3:54)

StormNET Recap Videos