Editor's Window

'Tis the Season: We're awarding prizes and offering new ones all around.

This month we're getting an early start on the season of giving. Congratulations go out to Charles Allred, who came up a winner in Cadalyst's Hot Tip Harry Challenge 2006. Charles, a structural steel detailer at Wesko Detailers in Murray, Utah, will be heading to Autodesk University in Las Vegas at the end of this month. Still in the prize sack is a copy of AutoCAD 2007—we'll select that lucky winner in mid-December—special thanks to contest sponsor Autodesk.

Sara Ferris

Winners were picked from all those who had tips published in Cadalyst's "Hot Tip Harry" online column this year. I'm happy to announce that Cadalyst will continue the Hot Tip Harry Challenge during 2007, with another trip to Autodesk University up for grabs. We'll also continue the new tradition of awarding $100 to the author of the top tip each month, and all published tipsters receive a spiffy Cadalyst T-shirt.

Send your AutoCAD tips to Hot Tip Harry at harry@cadalyst.com. If you're having trouble with your LISP or VBA programming, stop by the Harry forums at www.cadalyst.com/forums. And check out Hot Tip Harry each month for a new batch of time-saving tips: www.cadalyst.com/harry. It's hard to argue with winner Charles Allred, who sums up the beauty of customizing AutoCAD: "We are always trying to come up with ideas to make drawings faster and easier."

As an added incentive to jump-start the 2007 challenge, you can drop off your tips (on a CD or floppy disk, please) at the Cadalyst booth (#665) at Autodesk University. All those who do so will earn a chance to win a handheld GPS receiver—the winner will be notified after the show.

While Hot Tip Harry's primary focus is on VBA and AutoLISP routines for AutoCAD and related products, Cadalyst's Tips & Tools Weekly e-mail newsletter features all types of tips for any CAD application. If you haven't checked out this newsletter lately, you can find past issues at www.cadalyst.com/Tips&ToolsWeekly. Each edition contains an assortment of helpful tips, most checked by our volunteer Tip Patrol. Most of the tips we receive are related to AutoCAD and MicroStation, but we'd love to hear from users of other CAD software as well. Send your e-mail to webmaster@cadalyst.com. Currently, authors of all published tips receive a "Cadalyst: CAD the Way You Want It" T-shirt. New for 2007, we'll randomly select a published tipster each month to receive one of those $100 gift cards.

Speaking of gift giving, we're also seeking suggestions for our holiday gift guide. (See our first pass at www.cadalyst.com/giftguide.) Tell us what's on your workstation wish list—or the single device or application you can't imagine working without. We'll publish the best suggestions in an upcoming edition of Cadalyst Daily e-newsletter and send one lucky workstation its own SpacePilot 3D navigation device (a $499 value), courtesy of 3Dconnexion. Send your e-mail to editors@cadalyst.com.