ASCENT Blog

Citius - Altius - Fortius

By Elvis R. Sverko

With the start of the Games of the XXX Olympiad today, let’s take a look at a way to make your CAD usage Faster - Higher - Stronger.

With many designers using various 3D solid modeling software packages to create their designs, it would be nice to be able to bring any of them into one package to create 2D drawings. With the latest release of AutoCAD, you can directly import various 3D types of files, such as Autodesk Inventor, SolidWorks, CATIA, Pro/Engineer, NX, Parasolid, Rhino, IGES, and STEP. Simply use the Import button on the Insert tab of the Ribbon. You can then freely modify the data using standard editing tools. It’s a great way to bring models of all different types to play together.

 

To create your 2D drawings Faster, if your design team uses Inventor to design in 3D, you can create the 2D drawings automatically in AutoCAD using the Base View From Inventor command found on the Layout tab of the Ribbon. With this command, you place a base view of any orientation of the 3D model.

Taking this command Higher, you also can select a specific Representation of the Inventor model, and then create projected views (right, top, isometric, etc.) of the same model. All instantly. All automatically. You can even create other drawing views from these initial views, including section views and detail views.

Even Stronger, these drawing views in AutoCAD can be automatically updated if the original Inventor model is modified. Simply use the Update commands on the Layout tab of the Ribbon, and all drawing views (base, projected, section, detail) update to show the modifications, and any annotation updates along with it. Now that’s a win-win for everyone.

Educators and instructors should also be aware of these capabilities with AutoCAD, because your students might come from various places using various 3D design software packages, and these AutoCAD tools, like the Olympics, brings all people together.

With some competitions, everyone is a winner, including all the spectators who are in attendance at some events. Because of AutoCAD, spectators are able to truly enjoy the events at the National Stadium Brasilia, which was designed by Castro Mello Architects using AutoCAD. (I know it’s not the Olympics, but the World Cup is just as much a friendly competition among all countries around the world).

 

So remember to use AutoCAD to make your designs Faster – Higher – Stronger.

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” - Pierre de Coubertin (founder of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894)

 

September.... the Time for Personal Development

By Jennifer MacMillan

Wow, September already! Wasn’t it just March with all the new 2012 software being released?

What amazes me about September is that after so many years being out of school (No Hints!), September still always feels like the start of a new year. It gives us a second chance to look at things or set another New Year’s Resolution and start off fresh again. I started September by cleaning my desktop (actual and computer) and even that gave me a renewed sense of energy. Okay, maybe it is that I have started drinking coffee. Hmmm...there is my next resolution. I will save that one for January.

The idea of September and starting a new school year got me thinking that new beginnings should also be considered in the working world. Why not! We love learning. We are all back from holidays, are refreshed, and in a lot of cases our managers are looking at spending the rest of their budgets so they don’t lose them. To me this is the perfect time to focus on personal development. When was the last time you had training? I am not talking about the YouTube video you watched. It is really incredible to think how far training has come in the last 10+ years. There are so many training options available. Here are some ideas:

• Open enrollment training classes with a professional trainer and curriculum.
• Personal one-on-one consulting with a consultant.
• Live over the web training classes.
• Purchasing a hard-copy or e-book training guide for self-study. (Highly recommend ASCENT, great company! Had to say it!)
• Purchasing an on-line training course for self-study. (Again, ASCENT material rocks!)
• Accessing learning content through a searchable learning management system. (Wouldn’t you know, ASCENT offers this as well!)
• YouTube videos (I know, I kinda slammed this earlier, but it really is a great, economical way to learn something new. I wouldn’t recommend it for learning new software as there is a lot of smoke and mirrors included in these videos to help sell software, but there is some great information.)
• Custom classes for an entire company or team. (ASCENT is starting to get lots of requests for these. It gives companies the opportunity to create a course that is geared to only them. It can cut down on the number of days, focus on a specific workflow, or be written with the companies own models. I always tell customers “the sky’s the limit”.) 

So... along with cleaning off your desktop, get a good idea of where you want to be in the next 6-12 months with your software skills and get some training. Have fun learning and have a great September!

Jennifer

ASEE - 118th Annual Conference and Exposition

By Paul Burden

I am just back from beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia where we attended the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition. ASCENT was one of over 100 exhibitors in the Exposition Hall this year. Thank you to everyone that stopped by to speak with us – there were some familiar faces and a lot of new faces for us at this year’s event.

Here are a few observations I gathered while speaking with attendees of the conference this week:

• There is a wide variety of CAD software being used by schools and institutions providing engineering education. Among the software being used by people we spoke to are AutoCAD, Inventor, Pro/ENGINEER, CATIA, SolidWorks, NX, Revit Architecture, Civil 3D, MicroStation, and the list goes on.
• The educators we spoke with are passionate about ensuring that the curriculum they use when teaching courses involving CAD software provides students with usable skills and modeling strategies.
• Courseware that is modular is preferred so that topics can be reorganized to fit the scope of a class.
• Some educators develop their own tutorials for CAD software, but find it very time consuming to keep up to date.
• Interest in using digital versions of textbooks, such as eBooks, is growing.

In a number of sessions and events, I also saw incredible cooperation between corporations and schools to ensure that those enrolled in engineering programs are developing the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in industry. To continue this theme, educators should feel welcome to provide feedback to us and other publishers of textbooks and training courseware so that these offerings can address the unique requirements of academic institutions.  So at events like this conference and anytime in between, tell us how we’re doing and what you need. Within the realm of CAD software, we want to ensure that the engineers of tomorrow can graduate with skills that will enable them to use these tools immediately.

Finally, we had a lot of fun passing out our Brain Age Testers. Hopefully, it reported an age you were happy with.  

By Paul Burden