2013CAD-N-Lighting
LD Assistant Tips
LD Assistant POLYSOLID 3D Tool
With the LD Assistant Polysolid tool you can trace around the 2D plan and create a 3D shell of a venue. The POLYSOLID command provides a quick way to draw 3D walls. A polysolid is like an extruded, wide polyline. In fact, you can draw polysolids the same way that you draw a polyline, using both straight and curved segments. Unlike extruded polylines, which lose any width properties upon extrusion, polysolids retain the width of their line segments. You can also convert objects such as a line, 2D polyline, arc, or circle to a polysolid. Polysolids are displayed as swept solids in the Properties palette.
polysolid-wall room2
The first tool on the modeling tool palette is the Polysolid 3D tool. Once you click on the Polysolid tool look at the command line (Pix 1).  
tool  
The question being asked in Pix 1 is: Do you want to start drawing, or do you want to change some of the parameters before you start ? We're going to need to change some of the parameters. Lets change the wall height to 12 feet and wall width to 6 inches.  
polysolid1 room3

Above, the options are in the brackets. They are [Object/Height/With/Justify]; if we simply type the first letter of the word height (H) and press the enter key, we would type 12 and the foot mark ' and press the enter key again. After pressing the enter key type W for width and hit the enter key. Now we type 6 and the inch mark '' for the width of the wall and press the enter key. If you would like to change the side on which the wall will be drawn from the cursor on, type (J) for justify and press the enter key. To make a change to the justification, type J and press the enter key then type L for left, C for center or R for right. If you are happy with the center, you can just start drawing.

I have found turning on the Object Snap (F3) makes it very easy to trace around a 2D drawing.
Featured LD Assistant Rendering by Kevin Denzel
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Autodesk News
New Autodesk SketchBook Ink App Delivers Stunning Creative Tools for iPad - Unlike traditional vector drawing apps, SketchBook Ink enables users to produce very fine detail in their artwork, independent of resolution, building on the intuitive freehand-drawing Autodesk SketchBook Pro platform. This new technology also supports the ability to export and print large, high-quality images right from the iPad. Final artwork can be exported at optimal sizes to the photo library on iPad, email, Dropbox, or iTunes file sharing. Images exported to Dropbox or iTunes file sharing can exceed 100 megapixels. Click here to keep reading.
 
Articles & How To
Processors for CAD Hardware: Find the Balance Between Multiple Cores and Increased Single - by Alex Herrera, CADspeed
Multi-core approaches have proved to be a great way to gain theoretical speed-ups, but for CAD professionals who have practical computing demands, how well reality tracks theory depends on their application. Some CAD software programs, including AutoCAD and SolidWorks, do limited multitasking if multiple processors are available — for example, in managing the user interface and on-screen display. And rendering software, whether running on the CPU, GPU, or both, tends to use multiple processing cores.
Given this, most CAD pros will want to find the right balance of multiple cores and increased single-thread performance, the latter enabled by Intel through a combination of architectural improvements in its CPU design and its Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, which delivers an (often temporary) increase in CPU clock speed. Click here to keep reading.
Mobile Vs. Deskside: CAD Workstations Don’t Follow Conventional Rules - by Alex Herrera, CADspeed - A disconnect has been emerging between the perception and reality of mobile workstation sales and usage. Since its emergence almost a decade ago, I’ve viewed the mobile workstation as a slam-dunk when it came to replacing conventional corporate/consumer notebooks, as they are far more appropriate devices for hard-core graphics professionals. But especially recently, the buzz about mobile machines becoming more than road-warrior tools — but instead deskside replacements —has gotten louder. Click here to keep reading.
RAID for the CAD Workstation - by Alex Herrera, CADspeed - RAID is an option you’ll likely want to consider for a new workstation, depending on the model you choose. The acronym stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, and refers to the redundancy that provides reliability and data security. By far, the most common options offered in workstations are RAID modes 0 and 1. Click here to keep reading.
New Layer - Color change not applied as expected - by Silvia Menon - When creating a new layer and changing its color, you may sometimes find that the color change is not applied as expected. This can happen when you change the layer color while you are still in the editing mode for the layer name. Click here to keep reading.
Open CAD with a specific template - by Ellen Finkelstein - You can launch AutoCAD with a specific template of your choice. You do this with a command line switch. When you double-click the icon on your desktop or start AutoCAD from the Start menu, you are executing a statement. You can customize this statement by adding parameters, also called switches. Click here to keep reading.

Where do AutoCAD Dimensions Belong? Paper Space or Model Space? - by Brian Benton - There are some topics that will always be debated; Paper or Plastic, Mac or PC, Football or Soccer, Standard Time or Daylight Savings Time, Dimension in AutoCAD’s Model Space or Paper Space? The problem with this question is the same as with the other questions that I mentioned, the answer depends on what you are doing. That answer sucks to be honest, but it’s the truth. Many times it really won’t matter. Other times having dimensions in model space is the worst thing to do! Or the worst will be having a million dimensions in paper space across several tabs that have to be updated when one model space dimension would have updated everything. Click here to keep reading.
Mask Dimension Text - by Kate Morrical - Ever have a dimension that’s blocking something in your drawing? It’s probably not something important, or you’d move the dimension, but what if you’re putting a dimension on an image, or over some contour lines where it’s hard to read? Click here to keep reading.
A Top Secret AutoCAD Dimensioning Command - by Lynn Allen - Nearly all designs need dimensions in their final drawings - so I have a top secret dimensioning command to share with you. It's no longer on the ribbon - so you just might not know about it! Click here to keep reading.
Obscure Object Snap That Saves The Day - by jarod Schultz - There are some obscure object snaps in AutoCAD that are not always easy to find or understand how they work. In this Click Saver, I want to discuss parallel and how it can save some tremendous time on the AutoCAD platform. In the example below, I want to draw a line coming out from the center of the circle; but, I need to make sure it is parallel with the existing edges and make it 5 inches long. Click here to keep reading.
AutoCAD WS Managing Your Room Tables from the Cloud - by Shan Bryant - Quite often, the FM manager needs to get revised FM CAD information to a remote facilities site within minutes to make sure that the work is done with as little time lapse as possible, in different time zones, for example. Click here to keep reading.
Hardware for the CAD Professional
First Look Review: Beefy desktop machine delivers top CAD performance.
For more than 20 years, @Xi Computer has been designing workstations for CAD users, and during that time the company has developed a reputation for delivering real value. The latest Xi MTower PCIe workstation reviewed in Cadalyst Labs holds true to that tradition.

Performance -
We measured the Xi MTower PCIe's performance with our usual suite of three tests: the Cadalyst c2011 v5.3b benchmark with AutoCAD 2011 and its default driver; Cadalyst c2011 with AutoCAD 2011 and NVIDIA's enhanced driver; and SPECviewperf 11. In addition, for the first time, we included the results running Cadalyst c2012 with AutoCAD 2012. Per our standards, we set the screen resolution to 1,280 x 1,024 and the color depth to 32-bit. We enabled hardware acceleration for AutoCAD and turned off vertical sync for the graphics card. -

Based on our extensive experience with @Xi Computer, we weren't surprised that the benchmark numbers for its latest workstation were incredible. Running c2011 with AutoCAD 2011 and the NVIDIA enhanced driver, the scores were as follows: total index of 1,482, 3D graphics index of 4,864, 2D graphics index of 439, disk index of 274, and CPU index of 352. These scores are the highest we've seen to date for a workstation in Cadalyst Labs. -

The scores for the SPECviewperf 11 suite of tests were of similar caliber, with three of its scores earning top honors as indicated. The weighted scores, single-sample mode only, were as follows: 47.29 for catia-03 (No. 1), 32.43 for ensight-04, 73.68 for lightwave-01, 48.93 for maya-03, 15.59 for proe-05 (No. 1), 57.12 for sw-02 (No. 1), 38.41 for tcvis-02, and 34.03 for snx-01. -Next up are scores using the default AutoCAD driver. We'll start with the AutoCAD 2011 and c2011 benchmark combination: total index of 567, 3D graphics index of 1,198, 2D graphics index of 453, disk index of 275, and CPU index of 340. -

Using the Cadalyst c2012 benchmark for the first time in a formal review, we ran AutoCAD 2012 with its native driver; NVIDIA's enhanced driver does not support AutoCAD 2012. The results were as follows: total index of 546, 3D graphics index of 1,043, 2D graphics index of 485, disk index of 301, and CPU index of 355. Going forward, we will test workstation performance using the c2012 benchmark and AutoCAD 2012 combination. We include both sets of numbers here for future reference. Click here to keep reading.

 
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Design & Drafting appreciates your interest in our products. Please forward this newsletter to your friends and associates, however, NO part of this newsletter may be used without permission. © Copyright 2013 by Chicago Stage Equipment Company Inc. D.B.A. Design & Drafting. Autodesk, AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, DWF, DWG, DXF, ObjectARX are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.© 2012 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. Rufus Warren Editor