It is that time of year that my Autodesk subscription is up for renewal, so it makes me think about the latest pricing system that Autodesk has been implementing lately.
I had been on the “Subscription” plan for years, but that name was changed to be called the “Maintenance” plan in 2016. The new “Subscription” program is entirely different than the old subscription program even though it has the same name. Yes, that can be confusing.
It is now the end of another year, with all the experiences of life that comes with that year. As such, we tend to evaluate the past year and look forward to the challenges and experiences of the new year. That includes all different aspects of our lives, including the personal and professional sides. However, in additional to individuals doing this, organizations need to do the same thing.
Since this is an building industry oriented blog, I am going to touch on what I believe to be an important component of AEC firms in the technological age in which we now live. That is the evaluation of Building Information Modeling (BIM) within your firm. While there are still many AEC firms that have not moved into the world of BIM, it is becoming more common and more important in the industry.
It is extremely important to evaluate BIM within a firm. There are costs associated with moving toward BIM integration and it is important to understand whether your firm is getting a return on that investment and how it can be improved.
Many people are now aware that Autodesk has released the 2017 version of its various software packages. There are many great blog posts about the enhancements in the packages and I really like some of those enhancements. Before discussing any of those 2017 enhancements, I thought I would post some links to official Autodesk pages for you to peruse.
As most Autodesk software users have learned, Autodesk has modified its method of selling the various software packages and how users pay for ongoing usage of the software. I won’t go into those actual methods as they are well documented at Autodesk. However, since “words mean things”, I am posting this notification from Autodesk. When you see information from Autodesk, it is important to know what they now mean as the old terminology we previously used may not mean the same thing now.
Here it is….
Dear Autodesk Customer,
On February 1, 2016, we are making some simplification changes to our subscription offerings by:
If you have questions about the new terminology or changes to our Global Travel Rights policy, contact your Autodesk Authorized Reseller or your Autodesk sales representative.
When I opened AutoCAD 2016 for the first time, I (like the rest of you) noticed the Start tab. That was all well and good and I thought that it would go away when I opened a drawing, similar to previously releases. But then I opened an existing drawing and noticed the Start tab was still there. My thought was “Ok, I will close it so I don’t have an extra tab”. The problem was that there was no “X” on the tab to close it like other tabs.
I have been working with Autodesk products for 26 years, so during that time I have gotten to know the names of their various software packages. That includes how to spell the software names. I have always been a bit amused by how the various packages actually get spelled, both by people that use the software and those that don’t. Some of the most interesting spellings are found in job descriptions posted by human resource personnel.
For AutoCAD users, the latest big news is that Autodesk has released their 2016 version of AutoCAD. Along with AutoCAD, you can also get the 2016 versions of AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD MEP, AutoCAD Electrical, and AutoCAD Mechanical.
As with each release, there are features that you will love and some that you really don’t care about. However, which features are preferred vary per person and per discipline. I will try to give a basic description of some of the new/updated features of AutoCAD 2016.
It is almost time for the annual Autodesk University, which is AU 2014 this year. Since I attended Autodesk University for 17 consecutive years, I thought that I would give some advice to first time attendees. It seems that there is a large percentage of 1st time attendees each year, so maybe some of them will read this blog and get some tips.
I don’t very often review software products for my blog, but I decided to review Able2Extract PDF Converter 8 from Investintech.com. This is a software that will convert PDF files to AutoCAD files. It will also convert PDF files to Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, OpenOffice, HTML, and Images. My primary interest is in conversion to AutoCAD, since I wanted to know how it works in assisting with building design. I work with both Revit and AutoCAD products, so my focus is based on those software packages.
As a consultant and trainer, I work with many people that are currently working with AutoCAD or transitioning to Revit. I am constantly amazed at the number of architectural users of AutoCAD that are not aware of detail components within AutoCAD Architecture. These components can be an important part of drafting the many details that are part of an architectural design office. Over the years, I have spent many hours drafting details for construction documents and I think of the advantages of having pre-made components available to me for detailing.
This is Part 6 and is the final part of a multi-part series on the Autodesk Content Browser. This article will address how to update palettes that have been shared from the Content Browser.
Part 1 of the series addresses why you would want to use the Content Browser and how to get to it. Read it here.
Part 2 of the series addresses how the Content Browser is organized. Read it here.
Part 3 of the series addresses the library to which the Content Browser will look. Read it here.
Part 4 of the series addresses adding a catalog to the library and how to make catalogs available to users. Read it here.
Part 5 of the series addresses how to add tools and tool palettes to the Content Browser. Read it here.
As changes are made to tools or tool palettes in the Content Browser, you want the users to see those changes on the tool palettes inside their AutoCAD Architecture on their computer.
This is Part 5 of a multi-part series on the Autodesk Content Browser. This article will address how to add tools and tool palettes to the Content Browser.
Part 1 of the series addresses why you would want to use the Content Browser and how to get to it. Read it here.
Part 2 of the series addresses how the Content Browser is organized. Read it here.
Part 3 of the series addresses the library to which the Content Browser will look. Read it here.
Part 4 of the series addresses adding a catalog to the library and how to make catalogs available to users. Read it here.
The most important part of using the Content Browser is having appropriate tools and tool palettes contained within it. That is where the true power of the content browser comes into play as it gives accessibility to those tools deemed important to be shared with others.
Applying Technology to Architecture 