| Featured NEWS |
| Design & Drafting Now Shipping LD Assistant 2012 |
| Design & Drafting is pleased to announce the release of LD Assistant 2012, the most exciting lighting software launch of the 21st century. Rufus Warren of Design & Drafting says they are very proud of LD Assistant's new features and capabilities. “Customers will immediately notice that we listened to their feedback," he says. "Our programming team has added many additional user-requested features, including the ability for users to write and sell add-ons to LD Assistant 2012 using LISP. No competing product comes close in terms of features, ease of use or price." Visit LDASSISTANT.COM to learn more. |
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| Featured LD Assistant Rendering |
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| FREE CAD Blocks For December |
| Download and enjoy courtesy of Design & Drafting. Created in
LD Assistant by Rufus Warren of Design & Drafting. Click on the picture below to download. Don't own LD Assistant? Visit LDASSISTANT.COM to learn more about this revolutionary CAD program. |
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Sign up for CAD-N-Lighting News monthly newsletter and download New Blocks.
Download this month's FREE blocks by clicking on a picture above. LD Assistant users can login into the members area and download even more blocks! |
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| ARTICLES & HOW TO |
| Changes to the SNAP command in AutoCAD 2012 |
| Colorful Settings - loading line types from custom button on quick access toolbar, creating attribute definition, setting transparency of floating command line in AutoCAD, Michael Beall, CADTutor |
| How to Find and Replace Text in AutoCAD - search box from annotate tab in text panel offers refined search options, Edwin Prakoso, CAD Notes |
| How to Load AutoLISP Program - loading AutoLISP using load application in manage tab, closing/restarting, Edwin Prakoso, CAD Notes |
| A Status Bar Icon I've Never Seen Before - indicates viewport layer overrides, opens set to viewport overrides filter in AutoCAD, Brian Benton, CAD-a-Blog |
| Can't We All Just Get Along? Sharing AutoCAD Drawings - advantages of following good drafting practices, procedures, Ted Goulet, AUGI Library |
| Using a DWF in a Full Cycle - Autodesk Design Review tutorial, David Fetz, CAD Geek Speak!, |
| How to Lock The User Interface - by clicking little padlock icon down in system tool tray, Paul Munford, AutoCAD Tips Blog |
| Finding Modified Dimensions - DIMREASSOC express tool to create selection set of changed entities among all selected entities in drawing, Melanie Perry, Mistress of the Dorkness |
| Automatically Execute Command When Open/Create New File - creating acaddoc.lsp, loading AutoLISP program, undefining, defining PLOT function in acaddoc.lsp, Edwin Prakoso, CAD Notes |
| Reduce Mouse-Clicks and Increase Productivity Using AutoLISP - creating fillet using FILLET command in AutoCAD, Ellen Finkelstein, AutoCAD Tips Blog |
| Change the Font of a Text Style Using AutoLISP - changing association of text style from existing font file to another font file in AutoCAD, Sanjay Kulkarni, AutoCAD Tips Blog |
| Understanding Basics of Dimension Style Settings - maintaining dimension style using DDIM command in AutoCAD, Erhan Toker, Daily AutoCAD |
| AutoCAD Tip: Renumber Text Automatically - renumber text along axis or by selection order, Edwin Prakoso, CAD Notes |
| Navigation Controls in Copied Viewports - viewport is not locked when copied using copy command, navigation controls displays visual style in AutoCAD, Silvia Menon, Without a Net |
| Other Stuff |
| Your Own Private CAD Cloud - building low-cost, in-house network using remote desktop connection in Windows 7, Robert Green, Cadalyst |
| Do We Need a CAD Manager? - CAD manager faces challenges while improving productivity, needs support in performing productivity-enhancing functions, Robert Green, Cadalyst |
| Hardware for the CAD Professional |
| Dell Precision M6600 Mobile Workstation - 17.3" LED backlit panel, NVIDIA Quadro 4000M graphics controller, 8 GB of 1,600 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, pair of 256GB SATA 3 solid-state drives in RAID configuration, Art Liddle, Cadalyst |
| Tips on Buying Wide-Format Printers for CAD, Pt 1: Determine Your Needs - consider size of drawings, workload, color exhibits, Brian Benton, CADspeed |
| Tips on Buying Wide-Format Printers for CAD, Pt 2: Choosing the Right One - inkjet vs laser, try to purchase same kind of printer if buying more than one, Brian Benton, CADspeed |
| Tips on Buying Wide-Format Printers for CAD, Pt 3: Setting It Up - consider electrical needs, network issues, software drivers, maintenance set up, Brian Benton, CADspeed |
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| Professional Online CAD Training by Art Whitton |
| For 11 years Art Whitton has offered the best online CAD tutorials and training for new and experienced users. The lessons are adapted from a four level course he developed for new CAD users. Originally, the tutorials were designed for Release 14 and have now been updated and adapted for LD Assistant or AutoCAD 2010. These tutorials will work flawlessly for LD Assistant or AutoCAD 2012. Art's approach has always been to teach the commands in their context and in a natural progression. |
| CAD LEVEL 1 - Beginners |
| LESSON 1-2 ASSIGNMENT 1 INTRO TO DRAWING & MODIFYING |
| LESSON 1-3 ASSIGNMENT 2 MORE MODIFYING COMMANDS - OSNAPS |
| LESSON 1-4 ASSIGNMENT 3 - ACCURATE INPUT |
| LESSON 1-5 SELECTION SETS |
| LESSON 1-6 ASSIGNMENT 4 MODIFYING COMMANDS |
| LESSON 1-7 ASSIGNMENT 5 MODIFYING COMMANDS |
| LESSON 1-8 ASSIGNMENT 6 LAYERS / DIMENSIONING / TEXT / SCALE |
| LESSON 1-9 DIRECT DISTANCE ENTRY AND OBJECT TRACKING |
| LESSON 1-10 CHANGING THE PROPERTIES OF OBJECTS |
| LESSON 1-11 ZOOMING AND PANNING AROUND A DRAWING |
| LESSON 1-12 ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION |
| LESSON 1-13 SECTION VIEWS |
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| CAD LEVEL 2 - Intermediate |
| LESSON 2-1 PLANNING A PROJECT - OFFICE FLOOR PLAN |
| LESSON 2-2 INTRODUCTION TO BLOCKS - CREATING AND INSERTING |
| LESSON 2-3 ALIGN AND ROTATE |
| LESSON 2-4 ATTRIBUTES - NON-GRAPHICAL INFORMATION |
| LESSON 2-5 HATCHING - FILLING AREAS |
| LESSON 2-6 WORKING WITH TEXT |
| LESSON 2-7 WORKING WITH POLYLINES |
| LESSON 2-8 LAYOUT TABS |
| LESSON 2-9 PARAMETRIC CONSTRAINTS |
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| CAD LEVEL 3 - Advanced |
| LESSON 3-1 INTRODUCTION TO 3-D |
| LESSON 3-2 ISOMETRIC DRAWING |
| LESSON 3-3 WORKING IN 3 DIMENSIONS |
| LESSON 3-4 VIEWING 3-D OBJECTS |
| LESSON 3-5 BASIC WIREFRAME MODELS |
| LESSON 3-6 LINE THICKNESS |
| LESSON 3-7 REGIONS AND 3-D FACES |
| LESSON 3-7a MORE ABOUT EXTRUDING & LOFTING |
| LESSON 3-8 REVOLVED OBJECTS |
| LESSON 3-9 ADDING MATERIALS |
| LESSON 3-10 PRIMITIVE SOLIDS |
| LESSON 3-11 BOOLEAN OPERATIONS |
| LESSON 3-12 CHANGING FROM THE WCS TO THE UCS |
| LESSON 3-13 MAPPING MATERIALS |
| LESSON 3-14 CREATING NEW MATERIALS |
| LESSON 3-15 EXTRA PROJECTS AND A TUTORIAL |
