Free Download
Here's a freebie that I found hidden in this month's Cadalyst. It's called 3D Lighting and it's a free plug-in for ACAD 2k, ADT r2 and MDT 4 (not r14). Now, here's what they didn't tell you in the magazine: to adjust your lighting you must have SHADEMODE set to: Gouraud shading. It installs a 5-button toolbar, and asks for a Authorization Code. You get the code free when you sign up on their mail list. Also, if you try to use it, you must have the latest patches installed for ACAD's graphic system which you'll need to download. When using it you should also set DISPSILH=0. They also suggest the following: Click on Tools (pull down menu)/ Options / System (tab) and then click PROPERTIES under Current 3D Graphics Display. You then get another dialog box that you are told to turn off DYNAMIC TESSELLATION. Next, under Acceleration choose HARDWARE with the wopengl6.hdi driver. About the buttons: You get 5 new commands, which are 3dlight, 3DlightColor, 3DlightReset, 3DlightHelp and 3DlightFlush. Light allows you to move the light source and the interface looks basically like the 3DORBIT command. Color allows you to change the light color, ambient light color and the color of the interface. Reset restores ACAD's regular setting while Flush totally removes the 3Dlighting information from the drawing. The Flush is not necessary to do to files being sent to other people without 3Dlighting or if you need to open the drawing in r14, but it will remove the proxy dialog box when trying to open it.
Drafting Online
Well, in the past week Autodesk has put forward their new ACAD 2k online at AltaVista, which have done a fair job at hiding it. They suggest a minimum of 56k connection to try it. I tried it on a 28k connection just to test it and you should probably forget even considering using it unless you have at least a DSL connection. Personally I don't see it flying unless everyone has a T-1 connection and they have blazingly fast servers on their end. Instead here's a really cool product that actually makes sense. Most offices have a white board to sketch on, etc. With Mimio you can draw on a whiteboard and have the data, including color, erasing, etc. be input directly to a computer and sent out via the web, have you words translated to text, calculator on the white board, etc. It works by simply putting a sleeve over your dry erase marker and placing a "Bar" along one edge of the whiteboard. The system uses ultrasonic to send the signals back to the bar for positioning. Personally, between the calculator and the ability to capture your images directly to the computer make this worthwhile. With the ability to import the images into ACAD you have a nice way for techno-phobes to create sketches quick and easy for your drafting department to turn into drawings.
Here's a freebie that I found hidden in this month's Cadalyst. It's called 3D Lighting and it's a free plug-in for ACAD 2k, ADT r2 and MDT 4 (not r14). Now, here's what they didn't tell you in the magazine: to adjust your lighting you must have SHADEMODE set to: Gouraud shading. It installs a 5-button toolbar, and asks for a Authorization Code. You get the code free when you sign up on their mail list. Also, if you try to use it, you must have the latest patches installed for ACAD's graphic system which you'll need to download. When using it you should also set DISPSILH=0. They also suggest the following: Click on Tools (pull down menu)/ Options / System (tab) and then click PROPERTIES under Current 3D Graphics Display. You then get another dialog box that you are told to turn off DYNAMIC TESSELLATION. Next, under Acceleration choose HARDWARE with the wopengl6.hdi driver. About the buttons: You get 5 new commands, which are 3dlight, 3DlightColor, 3DlightReset, 3DlightHelp and 3DlightFlush. Light allows you to move the light source and the interface looks basically like the 3DORBIT command. Color allows you to change the light color, ambient light color and the color of the interface. Reset restores ACAD's regular setting while Flush totally removes the 3Dlighting information from the drawing. The Flush is not necessary to do to files being sent to other people without 3Dlighting or if you need to open the drawing in r14, but it will remove the proxy dialog box when trying to open it.
Drafting Online
Well, in the past week Autodesk has put forward their new ACAD 2k online at AltaVista, which have done a fair job at hiding it. They suggest a minimum of 56k connection to try it. I tried it on a 28k connection just to test it and you should probably forget even considering using it unless you have at least a DSL connection. Personally I don't see it flying unless everyone has a T-1 connection and they have blazingly fast servers on their end. Instead here's a really cool product that actually makes sense. Most offices have a white board to sketch on, etc. With Mimio you can draw on a whiteboard and have the data, including color, erasing, etc. be input directly to a computer and sent out via the web, have you words translated to text, calculator on the white board, etc. It works by simply putting a sleeve over your dry erase marker and placing a "Bar" along one edge of the whiteboard. The system uses ultrasonic to send the signals back to the bar for positioning. Personally, between the calculator and the ability to capture your images directly to the computer make this worthwhile. With the ability to import the images into ACAD you have a nice way for techno-phobes to create sketches quick and easy for your drafting department to turn into drawings.
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