cadalyst
Cadalyst Author

Bill Fane


Bill Fane is a Cadalyst contributing editor, a registered professional engineer, and a retired instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, where he taught mechanical design courses in AutoCAD, Mechanical Desktop, Inventor, SolidWorks, manufacturing processes, and design procedures. A self-admitted recovering doorknob designer, he has written more than 200 "Learning Curve" AutoCAD tutorials for Cadalyst magazine since 1986 and claims to be a close personal friend of Captain LearnCurve. If you have questions about commands, send him an e-mail him at bill(dot)fane(at)cadalyst(dot)com.


The Last AutoCAD Command Article
The Last AutoCAD Command   9 Jan, 2016
By: Bill Fane

Learning Curve: On the occasion of his final column, Bill Fane reminisces about the first.

New Tricks for an Old DOS Article
New Tricks for an Old DOS   30 Sep, 2015
By: Bill Fane

Sometimes, an old-fashioned disk operating system (DOS) command prompt can perform better than Windows. In fact, as you’ll see if you read on, there are things that can be done using the DOS prompt (also known as the system command prompt) that Windows can’t do at all.

Still Looking at 3D in AutoCAD Article
Still Looking at 3D in AutoCAD   27 May, 2015
By: Bill Fane

Learning Curve tutorial: Use the ViewProj and ViewSection commands to create 2D views of your models.

Yet Another Way to Go from 3D to 2D in AutoCAD Article
Yet Another Way to Go from 3D to 2D in AutoCAD   21 Jan, 2015
By: Bill Fane

Learning Curve tutorial: To create 2D views from 3D models quickly, try the ViewBase family of commands.

Article
Siemens PLM Connection 2013   12 Jun, 2013
By: Bill Fane

The annual user conference previews NX 9, reviews the Curiosity rover project, and promotes product lifecycle management.

Article
Seek and Ye Shall Find: Quickly Locate AutoCAD Files That Contain Specific Entities    24 Oct, 2012
By: Bill Fane

Learning Curve AutoCAD tutorial: Automatically search through drawings to find those that contain a particular type of entity, or even entities with specific characteristics.

Article
Autodesk Inventor Professional 2013   11 Jul, 2012
By: Bill Fane

First Look Review: 3D modeling software aligns more closely with AutoCAD, offers an enhanced user interface, and now comes with cloud-based services.

Article
Siemens PLM Announces Solid Edge ST5   11 Jun, 2012
By: Bill Fane

Coming in July, the latest version of hybrid history-based/history-free modeler updates 3D assembly and part design features as well as 2D drafting.

Article
AutoCAD 2013   26 Mar, 2012
By: Bill Fane

Cadalyst Labs Review: Autodesk’s flagship product offers new cloud-based features to enhance file storage and collaboration, new 3D-to-2D functions, plus myriad small but very useful tools to make your everyday work easier.

Article
Taking Another Look at 3D   21 Mar, 2012
By: Bill Fane

Learning Curve AutoCAD tutorial: FlatShot isn't the only way to generate 2D views from 3D models — try the Solid View, Solid Draw, and Solid Profile commands as well.