New Configura CET Tip

Hello friends,
I haven't had much to share lately but today I want to tell you about a CET trick I discovered when I was testing.

Updating multiple alternatives at the same time

Lots of people ask me if they can make changes to all their alternative at once and I have always said no.  But I found a work around using Blocks.

See, a block is the same in all your alternatives, so if you make a block of your architecture you can update it in one and all the other alternative will also update.

Here are the steps:

1. Draw your room in one of your alternatives.
2. Select the whole room and right click to pick Make Block.
3. Leave the Block dialog open and switch to another Alternative.
4. Place the Block.

When you change the Block in any alternative they all will change.

You can do this with other things that are the same in all the alternatives as well, like accessories or even the workstations.

Hope this is something you can use!

Have a great day,

Cate 

Christmas Gifts to You

Tis the season for giving.

Sure you hear about free apps for your smart phone all the time but did you know that there are free programs for your computer too?

Here are some that I use and some that come recommended but I haven’t had to use yet... but might now.

1. SketchUp  http://sketchup.google.com/download/ - I’ve talked about it before and it’s still the best deal out there.
2. Trillian  http://www.trillian.im/ - this chat program is a great way to combine all the different chat programs (AOL, MSN, Skype, Google+, Facebook) in one so you don’t have to load each program to chat with different friends.  It also has an app for your phone if you really can’t get enough chatting! Pidgin is another program like this that my husband uses.  
3. Picassa https://picasaweb.google.com/home - I use this program for organizing my photos uploading to their web site so I can see them on my smartphone without actually using space on my phone.
4. CutePDF http://www.cutepdf.com/ - installs a printer driver to print to pdf.  It doesn’t have all the functions of Adobe but it’s all I need.
5. Jing http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html?gclid=CMOxk5_8la0CFWkDQAoduDOplw - fun and easy way to capture either images or short clips from your screen.  It’s great for tech support when you want to send in the steps you did and don’t want to write each one out.  Just start the recorder and do it, you can even narrate.
6. Evernote http://www.evernote.com/ - I use this to take notes and capture web sites on my laptop, smartphone, or when I’m on someone else’s computer.  They all sync up so if a friend gives me a great recipe when I’m at her house I have it when I get home on my laptop. Now, there are people who say the DropBox is better, I’m tempted to download it and try but I don’t know if I can transfer my notes from one to the other and I’ve got a lot of notes.
7. GIMP (Graphic Image Manipulation Program) http://www.gimp.org/  - If you don’t have PhotoShop you can get this one for free.
8. CCleaner http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner - cleans up the junk on your computer great if you are running out of hard disk space.

Here are some recommended ones that I’m going to try:

• 7-zip - zips up your files
• imgburn - copys files to a DVD - great if you have a lot of files to send to a client
• teamViewer - online viewer of other peoples computer, similar to GoToMeeing but free.

BEWARE: Make sure you download these programs from their actual web site or a trusted site like CNet.  There are lots of hackers out there setting up fake versions of the populars free downloads with their own bad stuff on them.

I hope you can use some of these programs to life a little easier. 

From my family to yours I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

(Yes, we are geeks)

Cate

Comfortably numb

I've been thinking about the user experience lately. And I've come to the conclusion: It's amazing what you can get used to.

Case in point. CET Changed the behavior of the Schemes dialog pop up box. It used to pop up in the upper right hand corner but now it remembers where it was last and pops up there. This is so much nicer. I forgot that it bugged me and I simply got used to it.

This happens to power users all the time. We find work arounds or just get used to it. But the bug is still there.

As a trainer and a power user I’m in a unique position to watch new users get frustrated by bugs that have long since stopped bugging me. This fresh perspective is something most of us gloss over.

A couple weeks ago I was training some designers who are dealing with very badly drawn furniture symbols.  They learned to deal with them by redrawing the symbols correctly. All this extra work because the people who drew the symbols originally haven't responded to their complaints. Like most of us, after a while you stop complaining and just deal with it.

My challenge to you is, UNITE.

You need to make yourself a thorn in the side of the software companies.That's what I do. A lot of times complaining to a huge company like Microsoft or AutoCAD makes you feel like you’re the only one not clapping at the end of a rock concert. Smaller companies are different. They tend to care about complaints. CET, CAP, ProjectMatrix, and others like them fall into this category.  

A lot of my students say they don't have time to report the little things but I say if we all complain a little, maybe they will fix it.

Every thing they fix is one less thing you have to remember when using the software. And that makes your job a tiny bit easier. All these tiny bits add up.

So instead of being numb to the weird idiosyncrasies, tell someone.  

If you don't know who to tell, tell me.

I'll tell them!  

Be thankful!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Cate

Vegas Baby!

The CET User Conference in Las Vegas last week was excellent!  I saw a lot of old friends, met some new ones and learned some new tips as well!

Tip1
One thing I can away with is I am more inspired than ever to learn SketchUp better. Aidan Chopra from Google SketchUp spoke and he was excellent.  I really see where it can work with CET but also with CAP & ProjectMatrix. With specials being so important it's nice to have a 3D drawing tool that I can use to create customs in, export to ACAD or CET and add intelligence and then render. I bought the Pro version last week for $500 to be able to import/export ACAD symbols but that seems like it will be worth it once I get good.  And it won't take me long to get good!  Three reasons:

1. It's easy - my 9 year old son plays in it and he taught himself. I figure if he can I should be able to.
2. There are loads of videos and tutorials online to help. 
3. It's fun.  I find myself playing in it when I'm supposed to be doing something else.

I might use SketchUp for sketchy renderings too but I think my use will be mostly for specials.

Tip 2

Another great tip I got from the conference was to use Movie Maker for presentations.  Whether you are doing walk thoughs or just have renderings and text it was a FREE way to pull stuff together.  I downloaded it today and will check it out.  I am all about FREE software!  

Naturally it wasn't all about work - the food and the costume party were great. There were some very creative costumes. I'm not sure I want to see the photos! I had plenty to drink so I was at my BEST dancing! LOL

Thanks for reading,
Cate

Specials - blech

Specials seem to be the thorn in designers sides when they are doing projects.  How do you handle them?  There are lots of ways: add them to the spec, put a dummy symbol in the drawing, create the symbol in SketchUp, stretch it in AutoCAD, draw it from scratch, etc. Then you have to add intelligence to the symbol and each software has it's strengths and it's issues for doing that.

Some good news:
I've heard that CAP is coming out with some new tools for specials that will give you the ability to include specials in Visual Impressions.  VI is a great new tool but only for standard product, so adding that functionality will really help.  I haven't seen it yet - but as soon as I do I'll share it with you!

Other good news:
CET is updating the Editables extension to make it more user friendly. I like Editables, however, it has a lot of steps and buttons. CET has been getting feedback from users and incorporating them into the tool. Also, haven't seen it but I will this week at the CET User's Conference in Vegas.  I'll let you know what I find out.


By the way, let me know if there is a topic you'd like to hear about.  I'm happy to share what I know.

Have an excellent day,
Cate

Hardware. Finding the perfect little black dress.

I get the hardware question a lot.  What do I recommend? What do I have? What do I like?  It's a toughie.


First off, let me say I am not a hardware expert.  I ask a lot of questions from people I trust and do the best I can.  This is my take on that info.

It's a lot like getting a little black dress for a big event.

You could spend $500 at a boutique or find one on sale at a department store for $20.  The dress from the boutique may be a classic and you could wear it for years. I have a few of those - I gained weight and can't wear them, but also can't just donate or sell them at a garage sale because I spent so much on them.  So they take up space in my closet waiting for me to lose weight.  The dress from the department store may be cute at first but sometimes the cheap dresses don't last - sometimes they do - but often enough they lose their shape or fall apart. Sometimes it's a great deal, sometimes not.

So what we do is find the dress that we can afford but that we know will last and will be good for a long time. We find that comprise. 


The same thing with computers.  We need to find the one that is the best we can afford and that will last.  


Here are some factors to consider:

• Your IT department - Do you have one? Do they really know what you do?  Are they responsive when you need help?
  If you have a great IT department you can trust them to get you what is best for you and what they like.  Make sure they know how your software works, that having a laptop designed for gaming doesn't mean you are a gamer.  If you don't have the best IT support you may need to stick to your guns about the hardware.  I have heard many designers tell me that the IT person didn't believe them when they said they needed a good graphic card and got a cheapie and the designers are paying for it with crashes and slow machines.  If you are your IT department then support from the manufacturer is going to be very important.
• Laptop vs Desktop - Are you going to work from home/clients/Starbucks?
  A desktop computer can be upgraded and can have more power for less money.  However, with the graphical nature of our programs and the work anywhere attitude people have a laptop is much more practical, even a large heavy laptop is better than a desktop and a monitor if you want to work from home or do a quick presentation at the clients.
• The brand of the other computers in your office.
  If your office has a contract with Dell you may get better pricing.  Or your IT person may have a good working relationship with someone. 

What do you need? 

The most important issue when getting a computer for designers today is getting the best graphic card you can afford.  My experience is get a Nvidia GeForce Graphics Card but there are lots of them so here is a chart to figure out if the one you are getting is as good as you can afford. 

The second most important is the hard drive, then getting plenty of ram to support that awesome graphic card.

What Brand

Just like dresses we all have our favorite brands.  I can't wear Ann Taylor because I'm just not thin enough but I know there are people out there that love her.

I don't have a favorite brand right now. It used to be Alienware when they were a boutique shop and they are still fine but then Dell  bought them and if I'm going to buy a Dell - I'll just buy a Dell.  Which I think is a good computer.

I wouldn't get an HP.  Rumor has it they are getting out of the hardware business and my experience has been a bit like getting the dress form the department store. Sometimes they are solid other times not so much.

I like Lenovo ThinkPad and the Thinkstation  but they are on the higher end of the price scale. You do get what you pay for and I have some clients that have them and are very happy.

Mac are right out.  Our software doesn't really run on them.  Oh well.

This is what I have right now:

Malibal P150H Lotus P150HM

  Display: 15.6" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED Backlit Glossy Display
  Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2920XM, Extreme 8MB L3 Cache, 2.50-3.50GHz
  Memory: (12GB) 12288MB, PC3-10660/1333MHz DDR3 - 3 SO-DIMM
  Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 485M 2GB GDDR5
  Hard Drive: 160GB Intel® X25-M SATA II 3Gb/s SSD2 Drive

I got this laptop in June and I haven't been happy with it because I think I got a lemon.  My friend Jason at Configura loves Malibal and has over 20.  I have heard others say the same thing.  However, my experience with their customer service was bad.  They were unprofessional and unresponsive to my problem - blaming me for my hard drive crash.  I would only recommend them if you have an extremely good IT person.

Keep in mind, all of this could change in a minute because there is always something new. You are also going to want to get a new one in a couple years to keep up with all the new software that is going to come out!  Trust me, it won't stop.  I buy a new computer every 18 months - but that's pretty much my only business expense so you  may want to budget for every 2 to 3 years.

So, have I answered the question?  No, but I hope you can make a more informed decision now.

Good Luck!

Cate

Nifty new tab in ProjectSymbols for CET

There was a new release for CET and ProjectSymbols last month.  A huge improvement for ProjectSymbols was the new tab in the Layers dialog call Categories.

See, you can link the layers to categories that will be able to turn on and off when you plot!

And you can save them like layer sets.  It's very cool.  It's been needed for a long time and I'm happy to see it working in 2.6.

The release notes are a bit vague about this but once you start using it you will see why it is needed.

Hope this makes your work a bit easier!

Cate