RobiNZ CAD Blog

Niagara, an elegant and effective Android user interface

Having used iOS, Android I still have not found a phone UI to match Windows Phone for simplicity, flexibility and customisation. With the demise of it I ended up on Android and looked for a way around the worst aspect of iOS and Android: having to manage a grid of icons. That is something both tried to make better (but made worse) with folders. Forget managing application icons, lists or folders For me Android became tolerable when combined with 'Nokia Z Launcher' years ago (thanks Kerry) which used a simple list, with integrated search and filter by gesture. Simple in... Read more →

Seek and ye old PC shall die, only to be born again

I've been working from home (WFH) for 9± weeks using my old desktop PC to Remote Connect to a CAD workstation in the office with no problems. I purchased it in December 2009, and it has been used for intermittent CAD, gaming and general home computing ever since. I got a big (for the day) 1.5 Terabyte hard drive as it's my 'download everything' local backup for 800GB of OneDrive cloud stored documents, photos etc. On my mobile machines I just have the OneDrive folders I need set to off-line to reduce storage & sync data. It's an old PB... Read more →

AutoCAD & Revit mouse wheel unwanted zoom extents after panning

Not sure when it started but both AutoCAD & Revit started Zooming to extents after a 'hold the wheel' mouse pan. Maybe something changed (mouse driver) or working on a remote connected machine impacts timing... Bit of a searching I found an Autodesk forum post (about AutoCAD) but no real solution. There was a clue as a post mentioned it was probably a miss-detected mouse wheel double-click. After a bit of trial and error I found altering (speeding up) the Double Click speed setting sorted it. On Win 10 Settings > Devices > Mouse > Additional Mouse Options [link on... Read more →

March 2020 - 16th Anniversary!

March 31st means it is blog’iversary time. Sixteen years since that first tentative post! New Zealand is a long way from everywhere and social media eliminates that gap. What makes this anniversary strange is due to the COVID-19 nationwide lockdown even connections with local family, friends, colleagues are virtual. I usually put a blog related photo from the year in these posts but this is a favourite view, just 20km away on Auckland’s West Coast, which currently might as well be on the other side of the globe! I really appreciate the connections blogging, and more recently Twitter & Facebook,... Read more →

Windows Quick Assist to help support locked in users | COVID-19 Lock In

If you are IT supporting locked in family, friends, & colleagues with Windows newer than the August 2, 2016 Anniversary Update (build 14393) Windows Quick Assist will allow you to see and/or control their PC over the web. It makes it much easier to train or troubleshoot problems. You can give assistance to someone or receive assistance with the same Quick Assist application. Giving Assistance to a remote user From Start > Windows Accessories > Quick Assist choose the Give Assistance > Assist Another Person option. Quick assist will generate a code to give the person requesting assistance to enter... Read more →

Some design lessons to amuse the kids (of all ages) | COVID-19 Lock In

Shaan shared this resource from Disney & Kahn Academy for children of all ages: One-of-a-Kind Learning Experience from Disney Imagineers | By Shaan Hurley on Between the Lines Read more →

Remote Desktop tips

If working connected to the office machine using Remote Desktop set your home machine to a different Windows theme to the work one. Helps remember which is which when working full screen! If you can adjust BIOS Settings (or your IT Help desk might have to do) some machines have BIOS power settings to automatically restart after a power outage and auto restart if not running at a set time. In our case I set to 06:00 so if accidentally powered off at least you don't have to visit the office to turn on again. Also there are different shortcut... Read more →

Vale 'Blads'

it was a shock, last night, to learn of Bill Adams death. Although we both come from the Southern Hemisphere the AUGI booth at Autodesk University was where we met in person. I will miss that smile and the man under the crazy hats (below at AU2011). Vale Bill, my thoughts are with his family and all who'll miss him, literally, around the world. Read more →

If you use BIM 360 Design don’t overlook the Revit 2020.2.1 Hotfix

If you use Revit 2020 (yes) with BIM 360 Design (yes) and migrated projects (yes) with lots of families (yes) don’t delay installing this hotfix (which will be offered in the Autodesk Desktop App). It fixes a corruption which could result in data loss. Fixed an issue that resulted in the loss of family data in some workshared models when family definitions had not been recently modified. This fix does not repair models which have encountered loss of family data, for more information refer to Family Corruption in Revit 2020.2 Clipped from: https://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2020/ENU/?guid=RevitReleaseNotes_2020updates_2020_2_1_html Read more →

CAD headphones?

If you like listening to music or podcasts while working, but don't want the isolation of earbuds or headphones, check out my review of Aftershokz Aeropex bone conducting headphones. Read more →