RobiNZ CAD Blog

Autodesk Application Manager — One update to rule them all

I’ve been doing a few software installs recently; updates to Autodesk Building Design Suite 2015 at the previous workplace and a fresh install at the new one. As a result I’ve come to really appreciate Autodesk Application Manager; one of the best support applications Autodesk have ever made. Remember the pain? Install an app — or more like a dozen for the Design Suites — then spend hours finding which have been updated, downloading patches and installing (or updating deployments) on the machine. That is history as Autodesk Application Manager makes it a one click process, well nearly. You still... Read more →

Autodesk desktop applications to be ‘pay as you go’ subscription only from 2016

It was an early start for a call to learn about some big changes to Autodesk software purchases from 1 February 2016 onwards. New commercial seats of most stand-alone desktop software (not Design Suites) will only be available on ‘pay as you go’ Desktop Subscription, not as Perpetual Licenses or the current annual Maintenance Subscription. Purchases before 1 Feb 2016 will continue to receive existing benefits: Existing perpetual licenses will continue to work forever. Existing Maintenance Subscriptions (annual updates & bundled services etc.) will be honoured for as long as the subscription payment is maintained. If current Perpetual or Maintenance... Read more →

Free Autodesk Software for ALL Schools, Teachers, and Students Worldwide!

I arrived back from Tibet to find some very welcome news from Shaan Hurley. Autodesk now provides students, teachers and schools WORLDWIDE with free* access to Autodesk software: 3-year licenses of 80 titles of the exact same software that our commercial customers use. Free Software for ALL Schools, Teachers, and Students Worldwide! - No Catch or Fine Print! – Between The Lines Blog Hooray! I have been anxiously awaiting this for years. Effective today, Autodesk provides FREE access to our software to students, teachers and schools around the world. If you are an engineering school or teach CAD drafting or... Read more →

The new Autodesk.com and 2014 products revealed

Autodesk have unveiled a new look Autodesk.com and announced their 2014 product updates. The new look Autodesk, hinted at earlier this month, comes with updates to existing products, new applications, revised industry specific Design Suites and Autodesk 360 Cloud Services. Check out the announcement below and details at http://www.autodesk.com/ I’ve had a peak a some of the 2014 line-up and will be posting about the release product when they are available. Read more →

64 Bit Stability for Revit and AutoCAD

Shopping for a laptop (not for me!) recently it was good to see 64 bit OS installed on all but entry level products. Given that level of acceptance in the consumer space I find it surprising to find some dedicated CAD workstations are still running the 32 bit flavour of Windows. I thought Windows 8 would be all 64 bit but it seems Microsoft are still going to offer an 32-bit (x86) flavour. So, why 64 bit for CAD? If you have any doubt 64 bits are better take a look at this post from Revit Clinic: 64 Bit Revit... Read more →

AutoCAD Architecture 2013 has a RGB colour display problem?

Last year I found some of our AutoCAD Architecture Spaces displayed strangely when imported, as exploded AutoCAD hatch, into Revit 2012. Many looked fine but a few hatches (exploded spaces) displayed solid black instead of the colour assigned. It didn’t matter as the AutoCAD Architecture Spaces were only used as a reference. RGB = Black? Now I have found the same display glitch appearing inside AutoCAD Architecture 2013 itself. Spaces look fine in Modelspace, Print perfectly but display incorrectly in a layout viewport. You can click the image below to enlarge: Window 1: Shows the spaces displaying correctly in Modelspace... Read more →

Moving AutoCAD Architecture Projects, even if Windows objects

This post, republished below the break, first appeared as a guest post on Shaan Hurley’s Between The Lines ~ Autodesk Blog. Shaan was visiting remote regions in Africa and enlisted some guest bloggers to fill the time he was off-line and save him from getting eaten by wild animals. That appears to have worked but it seems, by the report of antibiotics needed on return, thorny plants & microbes were more of a threat. Get well soon Shaan! AutoCAD Architecture projects are best moved via the Project Browser interface (below). It’s usually a simple matter of selecting the Project, Right... Read more →

AutoCAD Architecture Nested Views

While you can create multiple nested views in an AutoCAD Architecture View drawing the automatic labels won’t initially show the correct values. Below you can see a partial location plan with the Stockroom Plan inside it. Both tags will initially show the same values (for the larger view). Just select the tag & drag/drop onto the correct view in Project Navigator. They will update to show the appropriate values, and will maintain them when the views are dropped on a sheet. Read more →

AutoCAD Architecture Hide & Seek?

I was working away & minimised AutoCAD Architecture (ACA) to do something in another application. When time came to restore ACA it appeared the main application window had disappeared. It was still active on the taskbar but didn’t restore when selected. Then I noticed clicking the taskbar icon made the “A” App button appear (as seen below) on the second monitor where I park the Properties & Project Navigator Palettes, which were both still functional. Closing the Properties Palette revealed a scrunched up fully functional main window small enough to be totally hidden apart from that peekaboo App button! I... Read more →

The Autodesk 2012 Launch Aquatic with Salesoft CAD Solutions

It takes something special to lure you into an underground bunker filled with sharks. After a photo at the door (easier to ID the remains?) it was quite a trek, stopping to observe the Penguin Colony, to the Antarctic Hut and an auditorium lined tanks of huge stingray & fish. A welcoming drink & tasty finger food satisfied the appetite although you wondered if the seafood watching from the tanks realised some of what we were eating was seafood. No chance of a quick exit as it was guarded by sharks and, anyway, we were here to see design software:... Read more →