CAD Manager's Newsletter (#189)

Newsletter News and Survey Analysis p>

An added department, more reader input, and expanded coverage of the annual CAD manager's survey are some of the new features.

In the last issue of CAD Manager’s Newsletter, I asked you for some input about the topics you’d like me to address this year. Well, you didn’t disappoint! Therefore, I have taken your suggestions to heart and will begin with this very issue.

Changes You’ll See
To address some of your requests I’ll be implementing the following changes:

• Revamp the CAD manager survey. I’ll be extending the survey's scope to Europe and the United Kingdom this fall and will provide some additional analysis on this year’s results in this newsletter -- so please read on!

• Provide more tips, tricks, and hints. I’m introducing the CAD Manager’s Toolbox feature that will alternate with my traditional Question and Answer section. This way, I can still answer questions, but I'll also be able to pass along more specific information when it is warranted. You’ll see my first installment of the CAD Manager’s Toolbox in this issue. (You can even win a cool Cadalyst souvenir if I use your Toolbox suggestion.)

• Provide more information on programming languages. I’ll focus some issues of the newsletter on AutoLISP and VBA and also provide some programming self-help resources.

• More information on general CAD resources. I’ll add a Useful Links section to the newsletter whenever I’ve got something really interesting to pass along.

• More detailed information. I’ll occasionally use an issue of the newsletter to provide more in-depth and “how to” information on topics covered in my monthly CAD Manager magazine column.

• Personnel management and training topics. I’ll create several newsletters this year focused on helping you deal with overall issues as well as some detailed resources and techniques, which I’ll deliver in the CAD Manager’s Toolbox section.

It’s my hope that you’ll like the changes and that you’ll always feel free to let me know how I can be of better service to you, the working CAD manager. Here goes.

More Salary Survey Data

:: CAD Manager's Toolbox

The Fake Network Drive

The Issue
You need to deploy your CAD tools via a network, but it is hard to test your deployments in a live network environment. After all, if you mess up a network environment, you’ll cause heartburn for all your users -- not just you. So how can you get around this problem?

The Solution
Simulate the network using a fake network drive, and you’ll make sure all your paths and files are correct without putting your real network at risk. Then you can upload all your changes to the real network after testing is complete.

:: Resources

New, Improved Product Showcase
Cadalyst's database of CAD software and hardware products is now more user friendly. We've added descriptive text to help you find what you're looking for. We've also added more software and hardware categories to select from. And we modified the product lists so now when you click on a category, you will see the products displayed in reverse chronological order instead of alphabetical order. Stay tuned for even more improvements coming soon.

:: Events

MAXON Power Integration Tour 2008
Various Dates February - April
Various Cities in the United States and Canada
The Power Integration Tour presents free seminars demonstrating how to get increased speed and efficiency by combining the power of Adobe CS3 Production Premium and MAXON CINEMA 4D. Read more

Using Revit Architecture to Facilitate Energy Code Compliance Calculations
March 7, 2008
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The calculating and reporting of the areas of building components is a very time-consuming part of the process in building energy code compliance. In this month’s sustainable lecture, Peter Vanko of Bower Lewis Thrower Architects will discuss how to use the tools in Revit Architecture to streamline the entire process. Read more

For a complete list of CAD meetings, conferences, training sessions, and more, check out our calendar of events on Cadalyst.com.