RobiNZ CAD Blog

Smart Brisbane encourages Smart parking, Dumb Auckland doesn't

Brisbane encourages Smart parking, Dumb Auckland just thinks about revenue collecting.

Why not encourage smaller cars in the city especially when you consider the probability of two Smarts in Auckland  wanting to park in the same space at the same time is about zero?

Smart parking
19.01.05
Brisbane City Council is the first local government authority in Australia to endorse legal parking of two smart cars in one parking space. Brisbane city councillor Graham Quirk told the Courier Mail: "If people want to go to the trouble of buying environmentally friendly, space-saving cars, we ought to be giving them incentives."

Waste of time 26.01.05  Owners of the new smart micro-cars will be wasting their time trying to park two of the tiny 2.5m-long vehicles for the price of one in an Auckland City parking space. "There are no designated parking spaces in Auckland anymore - there haven't been for around five years," said Auckland City Council parking services manager Chris Geerlings. "They are now called parking areas." Council replaced the single-stand metres with a pay and display system. "In theory, you could now park five or six cars in what would have been the old parking space, as long as each one shows a pay and display ticket,” "We would like to think that by introducing pay and display parking areas, Auckland City is being more progressive and innovative than Zurich or Brisbane." Geerlings said.

Standards New Zealand to adopt XML

Standards NZ are moving to XML format. They have their catalogue now as PDF and in a database format with its own viewer but the move to XML is interesting. For AEC perhaps this means there will be potential to integrate & reference standards information directly in the relevant BIM object style/family.

Computerworld - Standards body to adopt XML

Standards New Zealand, the body that oversees the development of industry standards, is to convert its catalogue of more than 3,000 standards to XML…

The Fiat/GM thing

Autoblog and Just Auto have updates on the whole Fiat/GM thing…

The GM/ Fiat saga continues:

 It looks like we will have an end to all this by next week when the mediation is over. Fiat still holds firm and it is expected that GM will pay…[cont on Autoblog]

 ITALY: Fiat extends period of mediation with GM over put option:

Fiat SpA said on Monday the end of its mediation period with General Motors had been pushed back until February 1, but that it will have the option to compel GM to buy its troubled auto division beginning the following day, an Associated Press (AP) report said... (Cont on just-auto.com - Daily News]

A true Formula One Star retires

Professor Sid Watkins is probably not a name many would think of when naming Formula One stars. His contribution to the sport has been enormous. After 26 years service he has helped make Formula One, a once deadly sport, far safer. Thanks “Prof”.

Motoring - F1 stalwart bows out

Professor Sid Watkins, who stepped down as Formula 1's medical head on January 20, leaves behind a far safer sport than the one he entered 26 years ago….

More information on ADT Sheet Set DST file corruption

I have posted an update – as posted on the ADT Ng by Paul McArdle [Autodesk] - to my ADT Sheet Set DST corruption article. Its an explanation of the likely cause and recommended process to avoid the problem until a final fix is found.

Link: Read my Updated Article

Airbus 380: It is an Airvillage

I like the new name, Airvillage, Boris Johnson suggests is more accurate than Airbus when talking about the A380 in an article on his blog.

Airbus 380:

This is not a bus, or even a tram or a train or ship. It is an Airvillage. Already Richard Branson is planning to fill his 380s with casinos and gyms and coffee parlours

Read the full article at: Boris Johnson MP

Randy's Boeing Blog

Randy Baseler, vice president of Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, has a new web journal. Not quite a what I’d call a Blog yet (no permalinks, comments or RSS feed) but looks like it will develop into one. Suggest Randy looks at Bob Lutz’s Fastlane Blog as a good example of corporate blogging.

In the posts to date he reviews their sales in 2004 (inc 7E7 sales launch) and has comment on the Airbus A380. We will probably see both as Air New Zealand have 7E7’s (& 777’s) on order and the airport here has been altered to cope with A380’s (not sure whose – Qantas, Emerates?).

Randy's Journal 

17 January 2005
Seattle
Happy New Year, and welcome to my new web journal. Talk about a new year's resolution - I'm starting the year by entering the Internet, and I'm looking forward to it.
I hope it will help solve one of my biggest frustrations - not being able to talk with everyone as often as I like about what's going on in our industry and our company. Either I'm in a different time zone, or in a meeting or at another commitment, so this web space can be a place where you can go to find out my thoughts and opinions.
And in the weeks ahead as we figure out more about blogging technology, we'll be adding more features…

Top Gear picks its favourite Cars

Top Gear (BBC’s motoring programme) picks its favourite Cars. Some you’d expect to see (Ferrari 430) and there are a few surprises; even a Holden (with Vauxhall branding)!

What would I have from their list? Peugeot 1007, Ferrari F430 and Citroen C4

Cars of the Year - Top Gear Awards 2005

FIAT Croma: Right this time?

Big Fiat's are not usually a wonderful thing. Probably the only exception was the FIAT 130 Coupe.

The previous FIAT Croma was built on a shared platform also used, with various modifications, for the Lancia Thema, Saab 900 and Alfa Romeo 164 models. It was not the worst in class but was far from the best. Now they are trying again with the new one sharing a GM platform. Second try for the Croma name and you have to hope its more successful this time. It needs to be.

Preview pictures on the FIAT Home Page.

Fiat is having it large: just-auto.com: The Automotive Business Blog

 

Reduce Recurring Task Clutter

Nice tip from 43 Folders to handle those tasks that need to be done but not clutter up your to do list between time. Outlook does this when you choose “Regenerate new task [number] weeks after completion” as the recurrence.

43 Folders: The Beauty of the Recurring Task

“A great feature for handling a lot of stuff you don’t want to forget about—but that you don’t want sitting interminably on your to-do list…”

Cadalyst offers RSS feeds

Cadalyst now provide RSS feeds. If you are not familiar with RSS they have a brief introduction and link to some readers on the site. RSS Bandit that I use isn’t listed  

Cadalyst - RSS feeds

Cadalyst is pleased to offer RSS feeds for each of our Web sites: Manufacturing, AEC, GIS/mapping, CAD Management, and Cadalyst.com. Instead of using a Web browser to roam from Web site to Web site, you can install an RSS reader to automatically gather new content from your choice of RSS-enabled sites.

Waitakere City Image Gallery

Just found a nice Picture Gallery of the area where I live.

The Waitakere Online Web site is an electronic gateway into Waitakere City. Its vision is to provide information, interaction, promotion and communication for all of its users. It has been developed with the potential to become the home page of choice for all residents, businesses and visitors to Waitakere City.

Fix a "Bogus Paperspace" layout message in Architectural Desktop/AutoCAD

Sometimes with Architectural Desktop/AutoCAD 2005 you may see this message when saving the drawing :

"_qsave Bogus Paperspace view, fix before saving."

This indicates the layout being saved has an error. I’m not sure if its “new error” or was always there and not reported prior to 2005 versions. I have not seen it before we upgraded and usually see it in older files being updated to current standards.

You can fix this by copying the content of the damaged layout to a new layout. Do not copy the whole layout using “Move or Copy ~ Create a Copy” option on the layout tab as this just duplicates the Layout complete with the error.

Test each layout in the file by making it current then doing a File>Save. If you don’t get the “Bogus” error message the current layout is OK. Try the next until all are tested then repair damaged ones as follows:

• If the layout is not required just delete it.
• If the layout is required you’ll need to rebuild it as follows:
• Create a new empty layout (Right click any layout then New Layout).
• Check all layout related layers (Title, Viewport etc) are On, Thawed and Unlocked.
• Copy/paste the content (Title + Viewports) from the “Bogus Layout” to the new layout.
• On the new layout turn on the Viewport(s) (Right-click>Display Viewport Objects>On) and set the page setup.
• Save the file & check the “Bogus” error is fixed on the new layout.
• Delete the original “Bogus layout”.

The result should be a clean file that no longer gives the “Bogus error” on save and its usually a lot less effort than rebuilding all the modelspace/layout data in a new blank file.

Doodles, Drafts & Designs: Industrial Drawings from the Smithsonian

If you are interested in industrial design or design graphics this exhibition is well worth a look. Doodles, Drafts & Designs presents concept drawings and graphics done to develop and present designs or market the final products. Those in the USA can see it live but via the net its open to everyone.

Doodles, Drafts & Designs: Industrial Drawings from the Smithsonian
A travelling exhibition developed by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Behring Center, from the collections of the National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
January 21, 2006 - March 19, 2006  Pasadena Museum of History, Pasadena, CA

Via Max Newmann, Editor At Large, xtra.co.nz Favourite Sites Newsletter.

Shaan has a Cool Autodesk University 2004 Video

Shaan has a Cool Autodesk University 2004 Video: 

[Via Between the Lines]

Help make your AutoCAD & Viz wishes a reality

Shaan Hurley has put out a call for AutoCAD/AutoCAD LT & Viz Beta testers on his blog “Between the lines”. There are many benefits to being involved in helping shape the future of the software you use and the only cost is your time.

I have found in the past that time spent on beta was more than compensated for by time saved simply because you have a better idea of the tools you’ll be working with in the future and can plan for that. Another benefit is you become part of a great community of Beta users.

If you use other AutoCAD related software Shaan+'s article has information on how to be included in those beta’s when they happen. If full participation is not viable there is also details on how to submit Feedback using a web form on the Autodesk site.

Participate in Shaping Future AutoCAD and Viz: 
Internally we call them test fests, usability sessions, focus groups, customer research, or gunslingers. No matter what the term used to describe them, Autodesk is always looking for customers to provide feedback on our products… [cont]
[Via Between the Lines]

Had ZoneAlarm problems recently?

Tonight started up my machine and Windows advised 2 security updates were required. I  installed them and after rebooting the machine was very sluggish. Just opening a folder would take ages, running a program an eternity. Found out ZoneAlarm Pro’s vsmon.exe was using 50–90% Processor all the time. The machine was periodically locking up and misbehaving to the stage where I couldn't get any browser to run.

Since vsmon.exe is a component of ZoneAlarm Pro I rebooted the machine and reinstalled it. I chose to install with all the default settings (not retaining previous) and after the usual reboot, wizard and permission  requests for various applications seemed to be back to normal. This got me going long enough to have had a look at the ZoneAlarm forum and I found its not just me.

I actually suspected the Windows Updates but there are several messages from users that have not applied them and still have problems. One message points to a date related ZoneAlarm Pro failure, set the clock prior to 12 Jan 2005 and it goes away.

What is disappointing is I could find many user messages but nothing from ZoneLabs, not even a “We are working on it” message on the forums. If anyone else is having this who has seen official comment from ZoneLabs, be interested to hear what they said?

UPDATE 14/01/05: A complete removal and re-install of ZoneAlarm as instructed in this message on the ZoneAlarm User Forum seems to have fixed the problem.

UPDATE UPDATE 20/01/05: Nearly week later and still no problems. The clean reinstall option does work.

My VCR reached the end of time!

I have an old Sony SLV-757NC VHS VCR’s (and even older Panasonic NV-H70 EA) which get a lot of use as I time-shift most things to avoid commercials. Both have been great machines but I discovered tonight that the Sony has reached the end of time! 

The Panasonic was one of the first Hifi VHS machines (must be 15 years old) and I got the Sony when they first started making VHS (10 years ago?) as it had a NICAM Stereo tuner. It was the only way to get digital stereo reception as I had a good, but non-NICAM, Sony TV* at the time. I set it to record  “Scrapheap Challenge” every Friday but found it recording tonight (Thursday). I found the set day & time was correct and the machine thought it was recording on Friday 13th January 1984. I have obviously been using it longer than Sony anticipated and the internal calendar ended at 31–12–2004 so it had gone back to the beginning of its calendar which was 1984.

Its old, but still playing OK, and I found out from www.timeanddate.com that I can set it back to 1994 as it started on a Saturday like this year so the date/day will be the same then found someone else has the same machine and has mapped out conversions to 2016. The Panasonic has no time problems as is just a simple 7 day repeating clock with no months to complicate things.

I think it may be great excuse to get two of my “Toy Wish-List” items. I had already decided to get a Sony RDRHX900 DVD HD Recorder (DVD + 160gb Hard Drive) to replace one and a new Sony VHS Hifi for legacy tapes I won’t bother transferring to DVD. Might have to go shopping for the RDRHX900 on Saturday whatever day/date that is and get a birthday present!

* My Sony Living Museum: The 15 year old Sony TV was replaced by a Sony ES29 Trinitron a few years ago so I could play NTSC DVD’s but I gave it to someone who still using it every day and it still looks ok. My WMF202 Walkman (1991) and Sony D50 (first ever portable CD from 1985) are used regularly & still going strong!

Breaking Down Building Information Modeling (BIM) knowledge barriers

You may have heard the term “BIM” and wondered what its all about?

Matt Dillon is breaking down Building Information Modelling (BIM) knowledge barriers with a recent article on his Blog: Breaking Down the Walls. 

Its a great introduction to BIM, how it differs from traditional CAD drawing, and the benefits an information rich building model (2d or 3d) can bring. Also covered is the impact of BIM on the design process for all those involved. If you are considering adopting BIM or already doing it already its worth reading.

Breaking Down the Walls: BIM - What is it, why do I care, and how do I do it?

Link: Breaking Down the Walls. 
An online resource for users of Autodesk Building Solutions products

Architectural Desktop: The service packs do help!

Its important to keep your software up to date. That annoying thing that’s been bugging you may have already been fixed!

If you have a problem which generates a Customer Error Report dialog send it in, with as much detail as possible, as they are used to track and solve problems. Its a little bit of effort now but may help save you a lot of hassle in the long run.

Check for updates by going to: www.autodesk.com/support

• Select your product from the list
• Open Data & Downloads
• Then Updates & Service Packs
• Check your specific version (they are all there back to ADT R1!)

Note: ADT will usually have its own service pack which includes all appropriate AutoCAD fixes. If using an AutoCAD vertical product check for its service pack before applying any AutoCAD ones.

Chris Yanchar on ADT 2005 SP1 Adoption:
“…Unfortunately, over the last 4 weeks, our records indicate only 34% of Customer Error Reports from Architectural Desktop 2005 customers were from users that have installed Service Pack 1. The SP was released in September. Additionally, in systems where AutoCAD and Architectural Desktop are installed, 5% have installed an AutoCAD Service Pack , but not the Architectural Desktop 2005 SP 1.”
Full article at: Between the Walls

Fiat Vs Honda - Little belters

CVT Punto meets Jazz.

Fita Punto and Honda Jazz - Little belters
07 December 2004
The Punto and Jazz are both recently facelifted small cars with big car aspirations. Dave Moore puts each models' CVT-equipped versions head to head….
Link:  STUFF : MOTORING

Blogjet Response Impresses

I had the same experience but reported via email. Great Product, great service

Blogjet - Great Response:

In a previous post here I mentioned all the reasons why I love using Blogjet as a front end to TypePad. It makes my life so much easier and straight forward. TypePad by itself is great – no question. TypePad + Blogjet is more than great – it’s excellent. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my previous post, I was having some problems getting Blogjet 1.5 to post due to a time code error.

I reported the problem using the Blogjet forum, and I’m very happy to report that the response from the Blogjet staff was great. They responded to my post with 18 minutes (perhaps just luck – but I’m very happy anyway), asked relevant questions, gave me a few things to try, then about 8 hours later provided a link to a new build that corrected the problem. Outstanding!

Blogjet 1.5  (5.0/5.0)

[Via PDA Dreams]

Celestia shows space is big and beautiful

In 1983 John Walker drew The Solar System to scale in AutoCAD-86. It was a demonstration of AutoCAD’s floating point database resolution and I remember being shown it when I was at Tech. Everyone was amazed at the precision as they zoomed from Pluto’s orbit down to a plaque on the leg of the Lunar Lander, Eagle, with readable text.

That was a long time ago but I remembered it tonight as experienced similar amazement when I watched Celestia in action. It’s a free real-time 3D space simulation, for Windows/Mac/Unix, which lets you travel through our solar system and to over 100,000 stars in our neighbourhood.

Once installed (approx 11mb download) I recommend you start off with the Demo Tour launched from the Help Menu. The screen-shot (Earth with New Zealand orbited to centre stage) gives an idea of the display quality you’ll see but prepare to be amazed as you zoom from the Earth to the Moon, then the Sun, Saturn & its Moons. Its then back to Earth for a short tour of the Northern and Southern hemisphere night sky with stars and constellations on display. Next a very quick trip across the universe to the giant red star Antares, a brief look at the Milky Way from a distance, then home to earth again.

Now its your turn to explore the 3d photo real accurate celestial model as you wish. Its simple to use, but information rich and stunning to look at, with comprehensive options that will keep your amused for hours. Thanks to the authors: Chris Laurel, Clint Weisbrod,,Fridger Schrempp, Bob Ippolito, Christophe Teyssier, Hank Ramsey, Grant Hutchiso and many others who contributed to this excellent software.

Link: Celestia Home page
(If the main page is off line there will still be a link to the download site and forum).

*Note: Shaan Hurley has the AutoCAD file mentioned, solar-1.dwg, available for download in AutoCAD 2004 format and more information on AutoCAD 64 bit precision on his AutoCAD Blog – Between the Lines.

Terri got a Vaio U750P for christmas

Terri has just got a Sony VAIO U for Christmas. See her, and Ricks Aibo’s, first impressions!

I didn't get one for Christmas but its first on the “H'mmm Essential Toys” List!

Terri's Tales, Tech & Travel: VAIO U750P and AIBO

VAIO U750P and Aibo
One of my new Christmas gadgets from Rick was a Sony VAIO U750P...

Via jkOnTheRun

EphemeraNow > Museum of Mid-Century Advertising Art and Illustration

This site is well worth a look. Although its advertising there are great images. An RSS Feed lets you know when new ones are posted. Mid Century art with new century distribution.

EphemeraNow > The Museum of Mid-Century Advertising Art and Illustration

A family-friendly Web site dedicated to the commercial art of mid-century America.

TUMONZ - Updated to Version 2.08 + 2005 Tide data

TUMONZ has another update to support High Resolution Photos of Auckland. Unfortunately only Auckland City boundary (they commissioned the photo’s) so don’t cover the Waitakere City where I live

If you have TUMONZ the 2005 Tide Data is available. It’s probably been there for a while but I haven’t needed it until now as summer only started on Sunday!

The tide feature in TUMONZ is great, click anywhere on the sea and you get Tide and Moon Phase data for the nearest measurement point. The “flow” is shown as a wave but can point at any time/spot to get precise time/height readings. Major and Minor fish feeding periods are shaded inside the tide-curve according to the solunar fishing times.

TUMONZ - The Ultimate Map of New Zealand. Anywhere. Any Scale. All Vector.

What's New in Version 2.08 ?

• Support for the New Auckland City High Resolution Aerial Photos,
• The ability to enable/disable the advanced plug-ins (GPS Manager, Spreadsheet Data Link) to make TUMONZ even faster loading.
• Reduced the CPU usage while live tracking
• Improved NMEA stability & added manual configuration of NMEA settings.
• Other minor fixes and additions.

Garmin MapSource Updated to Version 6.5

If you own Garmin's MapSource there is a new update available to version 6.5. Details of all the changes are listed on the download page but some are:

• Updated the default document format to the new GDB version 2 format.
• Added the capability to import GPX documents that use both versions 1.0 and 1.1 of the GPX schema and export GPX documents using version 1.1 of the schema. (NOTE: GPX is also used by TUMONZ GPS Manager)
• Added the ability to batch-edit certain properties of user waypoints.
• Added category and sub category classifications to property pages for map features. This was done to help users better understand the classification scheme and be able to use it in feature finds.
• Added ability to zoom in on sections of a route profile.
• Reorganised categories used by the 'find places' and 'find nearest' dialogs to make finding items more intuitive.

Garmin: MapSource Updates & Downloads

MapSource software version 6.5 as of January 3, 2005
Download (11.99 MB)
WARNING: This software will not work unless you already own a MapSource product.

The Architect's Desktop

David Koch has a good article on updating ADT Multiview blocks, including those used as tags. Has step by step instructions for ADT 2004/5 and 3.3.

The Architect's Desktop

Updating Multi-View Blocks
“The only constant is change.” Even in the most carefully developed office or personal standard, eventually there will come a time when an established standard has to be modified. If a Multi-View Block definition – including one for a tag - is changed, you can update existing drawings that have already made use of the “old” definition. The process may not be intuitive, so I am outlining the steps here….

RobiNZ Blog now has site specific Google Search

After a little bit of trial and error have managed to add site specific Google Search to this blog. Hopefully its there in the right hand column!

Google make it easy but to get it working/looking OK I had to edit what they provide:

• Change the linear layout & “stack” the elements (image/text field/radio buttons) to fit them to the column space on the TypePad site
• Shorten the text field
• Change the coding to UTF16 (whatever that means)
• Change the Image as wanted a non-transparent version as the drop shadow looked odd against the grey.

Realise this is trivial stuff for many but I’m not even an HLMT Novice  

Thats why I use tools like TypePad, BlogJet and MindManager for creating HTML!

ClipTray - Welcome Back!

I’ve just rediscovered a long lost utility.  I used ClipTray in the past but, for some reason, didn’t reload when moving to a new PC. I don't know why but just remembered it as was doing lots of copy/paste while formatting a document. I found it again and in the time I was away its got better.

ClipTray is a “clipboard accelerator” that runs in the system tray gathering up the items you copy/paste. So what you say, the windows clipboard does that for one clip and some Office applications remember multiple clips?

ClipTray has many more features and works with any application. Once items are copied you can:

• Paste the last item copied with Control+V as normal.
• Or fly-out the ClipTray system tray history menu:
• Pick any object previously copied object to be pasted with Control+V.
• See format indicated by the application icon.
• See a tool-tip preview with text or image and other information like clipboard status (Current/not), source application exe, size (pixels or characters)
• For Text Clips you can also:
• Reformat: Upper/Lower/Mixed/Sentence Case, Remove leading/trailing/multiple spaces & Line breaks.
• Email text based Clips (creates new message with text added) but not images
• For web link Clips: Open in same/new browser.
• You  can save clips permanently so you never have to type that email address, link etc again!

These are the features I like but there are more. One is the price which is great: its Freeware! 

If you do a lot of editing its a great time saver and now runs in my system tray nearly all the time. The only thing I've found is it can occasionally interfere with export of large MindManager Map exports to Office applications as this involves multiple automated copy/pastes. I just close ClipTray while doing these. Other than that, if you do lots of document editing, I recommend you give it a try!

ClipTray: Put the clipboard in your system tray!

A new BlogJet!

I’m posting this with the new release of BlogJet (1.5). I have tested it previously, and liked it, but often use TypePad’s thumbnail feature which it didn't support at the time. This post is to check it now does! If there is a photo of a Smart car on a dumb car at the right of this text it does

BlogJet is a composition/management tool that allows off-line WYSIWYG post editing and easy posting to most Blog services. Although TypePad’s new online WYSIWYG editor is far better than the old one I was still composing posts off-line then transferring there, then adding pictures/formating, then posting.

BlogJet gives me all the tools of the TypePad editor, and more, and allows the off-line to go-online seamlessly.

UPDATE: This is no longer a trial, have just purchased it!

Life of an Origamy... and Viz

Alex Bicalho (Viz/Max Wiz) has started a blog:

Life of an Origamy.

via Will render for food... 

Diggin' Deeper

Found out today that McGraw Hill Construction.com has a Blog:

Diggin' Deeper edited by Judy Schriener.

There are great articles, some about AU 2004 and the AUGI AGM.

Found via Beside the Cursor...

GM's Bob Lutz blogs

Bob Lutz, GM Vice Chairman, is now blogging!

Several articles there already and links to recent interviews, some on car design.

Link: GM FastLane Blog.

Welcome to FastLane The FastLane blog is your source for the latest, greatest musings of GM leaders on topics relevant to the company, the industry and the global economy, and -- most of all -- to our customers and other car enthusiasts. We look forward to an open exchange of viewpoints and welcome your ideas and feedback throughout 2005.

Via Autoblog

MindManager & Tablet

I haven't used MindManager on a Tablet PC yet but agree with The Tablet PCs Weblog's review.

Link: Equation Tools - MindManager X5 Pro - The Tablet PCs Weblog - tabletpcs.weblogsinc.com.

"There are less expensive and even free mind mapping tools available, but for total Office integration and maximum productivity, MindManager is my tool of choice"

2004 Engadget Awards

Apple will be happy but can't image the folks at Sony Personal Audio are popping many champagne corks to celebrate their wins in 2004 Engadget Awards!

Sony VAIO's did ok in a few categories but not my favourite: "U Series". Perhaps they need a new category for "Handtops".

Link: The winners of the 2004 Engadget Awards! - Engadget - www.engadget.com.

The Graphing Calculator Story

I'm not an Apple user, so haven't ever used it, but the story of how the Graphing Calculator came to be is very cool:

Link: The Graphing Calculator Story.

Graphing Calculator 1.0, which Apple bundled with the original PowerPC computers, originated under unique circumstances.

Demo 3d Sketch application for Tablet PC

This is neat. A impressive demo application for 3d sketching on a Tablet PC developed by Cornell University

Link: Cornell CCSL: 3D Journal.

A long-standing dream in computer-aided design is the possibility of using freehand sketching as the language for interactive design. 3-D Journal Project is a demonstration of live sketching, written for TablePC .NET platform in C# with Pen SDK.

Via joelorr.blogspot.com/

Swanston St Grand Prix

This would be good to see!

Stupid Auckland City throws out V8's (and speedway) while Melbourne has Formula One in the Park and City...

Link: Pledge steers F1 cars closer to city - National - www.theage.com.au.

Pledge steers F1 cars closer to city

By Royce Millar City Reporter January 4, 2005

Melbourne's city streets are almost certain to become a temporary formula one mini-circuit ...

40,000 Visits 300 Posts

Not many compared to some but the blog crept over the 40,000 visit mark today!

Total number of hits to Blog: 40146

Total Posts: 300 (301 now)

AutoCart Drive-through Supercenters

Perhaps those that think we need more shopping malls in New Zealand are behind the times. Malls require all that tedious walking when all you really want is more stuff fast...

Could Drive-through Supercenters  be the future?

Perhaps but I think they have missed two important features of shopping:

• It's a social and recreational activity. The mall/superstore is the modern equivalent of the town square or, sadly, the park for many. People actually go shopping for fun even if they don't want to buy something. I don't really understand this concept except for book, CD and electronics stores!
• Discovery is an important part of shopping. You may know what you want but often it's not what you buy. Just delivering the goods you have ordered more efficiently is fine (the net can do that now) but it won't with help the selection process.

Link: IFTF's Future Now: AutoCart Drive-through Supercenters.

AutoCart Drive-through Supercenters An interesting new concept .. a drive-through supercenter ...

"We need more shopping malls'?

Do we need a much retail/person as Australia?

Link: STUFF : BUSINESS - STORY : 'We need more shopping malls'.

A report finds New Zealand is under-shopped compared with Australia...

The 2005 "Bloggies" Nominations

Nominate your favorite blogs for the 5th annual web log awards "Bloggies". The finalists will be announced January 20th 2005 and then you can vote on the finalists. Lets get some CAD related blogs in the final bloggies awards this year!

http://2005.bloggies.com/

Via: Between the Lines: The 2005 "Bloggies" Nominations.

Shaan's AU 2004 Photos

Shaan Hurley has a zillion Autodesk University 2004 Photos posted;

Link: Shaan's Autodesk University 2004 Photos.

Dilbert's Ultimate House

"Dilbert's Ultimate House (DUH)" has some great ideas (seriously, read the spec's) and the CAD images and tours are nicely done. Its well worth a look and some of the less serious suggestions are funny.

This was my favourite: "Solar panels to power electric fans. These fans will power wind powered generators on non-windy days. The wind turbines will power klieg lights to recharge batteries attached to the solar panels on windy nights."

Raj Raheja, of Heartwood Studios, did the "Virtual construction" using AutoCAD & 3D Studio Max 5.1 & 6 and said "It was a lot of fun!". Their impressive company website also well worth a look if you are interested in CAD/Visualization.

"In pursuit of finding true happiness and peace on earth for Dilbert and Dilbert-like individuals across the globe, cartoonist and visionary Scott Adams embarked on a journey to create "Dilbert's Ultimate House"(DUH)."

"Dilbert is single and needs all the help he can get," said Adams. "He'd design his house to be wife bait. We wanted him to have a house so impressive that some woman would overlook his personality just to live in it."
Link to: Dilbert's Ultimate House.

Via: BusinessPundit

My Autodesk University 2004 Summary

Autodesk University 2004 (AU) was the first I have attended. Given that it requires considerable investment, in money and time, to get there (from New Zealand) it was hard to know if the long trek to AU would really be worth it.

Many (including Autodesk) say AU is best the place in the world for Autodesk Brainpower, Training, and Industry Networking.

My one-line summary is “They are right!”

I learnt more in 4 days than I believed possible. It has taken several weeks just to process the notes and information collected. It will take much longer to implement what I learned. I can’t share everything but this article is a summary of what I went to discover and what I got from attending AU.

Perhaps it may be of help if you are trying to justify your attendance at the next AU. If at all possible, I will be there.

ADT DST Issue Update

Chris Yanchar has posted some advice to the ADT Newsgroup on using the Sheet Set Manager (SSM) in ADT especially when projects are hosted on network drives.

Occasionally while rearranging sheets, with drag&drop, the SSM structure can appear not to change & sometimes the .dst file SSM uses to control sheets can be corrupted leaving a 0kb file. The result of this is that sheet set structure information is lost even though the dwg files and content are all still on the disk.

I've had this happen twice in the time we have been using Projects & SSM. The cause seems to be the interaction of ADT, multiple users, and the network environment projects are hosted in.

Chris has suggested several methods to avoid this problem until a final fix is found.

Message as posted to: Autodesk - Discussion Group - DST Issue Update

Posted by: chris yanchar - autodesk - Date: Dec/31/04 - 14:06 (GMT)

Hi All,

Several of you have mentioned running into an issue of the .dst (Sheet Set) file reducing itself to 0 kb. We have finally able to reproduce this thanks to clues from some of your posts. Unfortunately I don't have any information about a fix at this time, but here are the main things to avoid:

1) Avoid drag&dropping the same sheet or subset in quick secession. If you moved a sheet/subset and don't see things update or the palette appears to freeze, wait a second and then try to do it again.

2) In multi-user mode, avoid drag&drop same sheets/subsets simultaneously. The slower the network the easier to reproduce; network traffic can affect this. The issue is the delay in the Sheet Set tab updating its display before the second drag&drop. In some cases, it might look like the sheet/subset did not move and so you will try again, but it is the latency in the updating that causes the problem.

3) If you are manipulating the Sheet Set in a multi-user environment, clicking the Refresh button occasionally should also ensure things are up-to-date prior to you making your own changes.

Some of you have stated that things are fine, then as soon as the project is opened up the next day...poof. This might be that the above issues occurred but went unnoticed, or it could mean there is another way to reproduce the problem.

Nonetheless, hopefully those of you that are running into this can be mindful of the above for a couple weeks and update us on your experience.

For those of you that are experiencing this problem, please email me (chris.yanchar@autodesk.com) your findings - good or bad -- this way we can better track the issue with those customers that seem to be running into this more often.

Thanks
--
chris yanchar | desktops product planning manager
building solutions division | autodesk, inc.
http://blogs.autodesk.com/adt

NOTE: If faced with a corrupt .dst you can restore a "good one" and this will restore the sheet set structure as long as nothing is altered in the project before the file is restored. If you don't have a backup as a last resort you can delete the corrupt .dst file. If no .dst file is present ADT will build a new one next time you access the project. The catch is that it's built from the dwg file/layout structure on the disk and may not reflect any other editing you have done.

UPDATE: 20-01-2005 As posted to ADT Ng Paul McArdle [Autodesk]

"We are still working on this problem. It appears that a probable cause is a short time lag when updating the sheet set after drag/drop. In certain cases, it is possible to do a second drag/drop before the first drag/drop has finished updating the sheet set. The second drag drop can then confuse the sheet set by creating circular references or creating invalid relationships (having a node be a parent or grandparent of itself). Although this may work in Hollywood, it tends to really mess up the sheet set.

Best advice it to have one person modifying the sheet set at a time. By this I mean adding, moving, deleting sheets or editing the sheet set properties. Multiple users working on existing sheets at the same time is fine.

Second important point is to perform the drag/drop operations patiently to give ADT time to complete each operation. For example, if you drag/drop a sheet or subset and it doesn't immediately appear in the new location, give it a minute to catch up. Do not attempt to quickly repeat the same drag/drop again!

Wait for the sheet set tree to update and reflect your last changes before attempting the next operation.

UPDATE: 21-02-05: Autodesk have posted a Hotfix that  addresses this problem

Flight Simulator 2004 Vs Real

Recently I did a flight with MAVERICK Helicopters (The "Dreamcatcher" tour). We flew over Vegas to the Grand Canyon and landed in the canyon by the river. On the return journey we passed over the Hoover Dam as the sun set then flew over "Old Las Vegas" and along "The Strip" for a superb view of the Casino lights.

It was awesome to see but strangely familiar. Credit for that goes to the Flight Simulator 2004 team as I had flown "The Strip" in it before leaving home. It looked surprisingly similar!

Some on the flightsim newsgroup wanted to see how similar so I made an album with photos taken on the flight and the same images taken from Flight Simulator 2004 (as close as possible) for comparison.

Flight Simulator claim "As real as it gets" and I think this shows it gets fairly real!

Open the Album: Flight Sim 2004 Vs Real.

NOTE: I have two freeware add-ons seen in some shots. Other than these everything you see is out of the box Flight Sim 2004:

• The Eurocopter (ec130b4.zip from Flightsim.com) isn't in Maverick livery but is close to the machine I flew in.
• The Strip has extra buildings and detail added (vgas2004.zip from Flightsim.com).