Image data to be used with the tutorial lesson Inserting an Aerial Photograph from the Internet.

Learn how to increase the accuracy of your welded assemblies by using Autodesk Inventor.

See how Inventor’s 3D Grips tools and Content Center Feature Library make sketching and model editing faster, and more intuitive.

Use Autodesk Inventor Studio to create a lifelike rendering of a vehicle suspension assembly.

See how Autodesk Inventor Professional's FEA can help you test design ideas before you prototype.

How to get Autodesk MapGuide up and running in 5 easy steps.

Proper setup of Autodesk® Vault structure is critical to a successful and flexible vault. This article outlines one way to integrate Autodesk Vault within your organization without the overhead and complexity of multiple Inventor project files.

Learn how to use mental ray® software: Materials, Shaders, and Global Illumination

In a recent article, I explained AutoCAD® 2004 software’s new tool palettes in detail. Now, Autodesk has come out with an extension that greatly expands the capabilities of the tool palettes and makes them easier to use as well.

Buzzsaw members can learn how to start a discussion thread when adding or updating a file, and Buzzsaw administrators can learn how to create and use project home pages with these Autodesk Buzzsaw Tips.

Tool palettes provide an easy way to access and insert blocks and hatches into your drawings. In this article, you learn how to customize tool palettes that use your existing block libraries.

I believe one of the main advantages of upgrading to AutoCAD 2004 is that the best of the AutoCAD Express Tools have been included on the install CD free of charge. (Be sure to install them!) Let’s look at a few of my favorite Express Tools.

By the time you finish this article, you will have the Autodesk® VIZ skills you need to make a wide variety of attractive, fast-rendering cloth objects.

In this tutorial you master the skills required to start rendering interiors using Autodesk Architectural Desktop and VIZ Render.

The power of parametric design software lies in the fact that dimensions don’t just numerically represent the size of an object but actually control the size. If you change the number, then the object’s size changes to match.

You’ve been hearing about DWF™ (Design Web Format™) for years—but now it’s time to really listen! The DWF format is accelerating, and there’s no slowing the train now. You need it. You can use it. So just sit back, read this article, and start to think about the many ways the DWF format is going to save you time and money and make your design process more efficient.

This tutorial is the third in a series on working with the tools provided with the Sheet Manager feature in Autodesk® Civil Design software. In this tutorial, you’ll explore in some detail the various elements that make up a typical sheet style, so that next time, you can begin creating custom sheet styles that conform to your office’s drawing standards.

Did you know that AutoCAD® 2004 has a new tool for batch plotting? That’s good news for people who like to create multiple plots overnight for regular plotting or archiving purposes.

When teaching advanced classes in AutoCAD® software, I’m often surprised at the number of students unfamiliar with the Displacement options for the Move and Copy commands in AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT® software.

This article reviews modifier stack fundamentals, including applying and removing modifiers from objects, and covers some of this tool’s more complex capabilities.

In this tutorial you will learn how to use the Transitional constraint to analyze a mechanical assembly to ensure that your parts will function correctly and to demonstrate the function to other people.

One of the most important new features in Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2004 is the Project Browser, and its subordinate drawing manager, the Project Navigator. The Project Browser coordinates all your projects while the Project Navigator serves as an Xref manager that, combined with XML coding, automatically integrates all the drawings and Xrefs in your individual project and notifies you when any Xref requires an update.

In this series of articles on new features of AutoCAD® 2004, I’ve been covering those features that most readers will use. This month I’ll explain a potpourri of small drafting and editing features that offer something for everyone.

Don’t we all want to get our designs finished faster? Any enhancements that shave time off the drawing process are definite money savers!

Don’t we all want to get our designs finished faster? Any enhancements that shave time off the drawing process are definite money savers!

In this tutorial, you edit those plot sheets and learn how to work with viewports on a layout tab.

Many designers who use Autodesk® VIZ to render environments subsequently edit their images and animations in applications like Adobe® Premiere® and Photoshop®. This article explains how to achieve many of the same effects using VIZ, which can save you time on every project.

Discussion Threads and Comments are a quick and easy way for project team members to communicate with each other on design problems, changes, or general project issues.

It is easy to customize your Site Information page to publish information that you want all site members to see.

Tool palettes provide a new way to add content to your drawings. In a nutshell, tool palettes give you the ability to insert drawings, hatches, and blocks by dragging an image from a tool palette into your drawing.

Last time we looked at rotating an object by a referenced amount. This month we’ll see how you can also scale an object by an amount given by a referenced object.

In previous tutorials, you learned how to use Autodesk® Land Desktop to work up a basic roadway design. Now you are going to use a road design to learn some highly efficient and timesaving, plot-sheet drawing and plot-generation skills using the Sheet Manager tools in Autodesk® Civil Design.

You can use the Find feature to search for files located in your site, project, or specific folder.

Have a lot of your project members forgotten their username and/or password? Would you like to send a subtle reminder telling them how to log in?

Every good wall needs a good foundation, and you can create both, and increase your drawing productivity if you use the Wall Styles that ship with Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2004 software.

VIZ Render is the newly designed rendering application coupled with Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2004.

Typically, you use the ROTATE command in AutoCAD LT® software to rotate one or more objects a specified number of degrees about a specified base point. Also typically, you select only one object for rotation and choose a rotation base point somewhere on the object--at an Endpoint or Midpoint, for example.

This tutorial demonstrates an easy way to model site features using 3D polylines.

This tutorial leads you through the process of creating dynamic templates for road design cross sections where the design is changing.

One of the most significant features of AutoCAD® 2004 is the redesigned Mtext Editor for creating multiline (paragraph length) text. Several changes and additions in the Editor make multiline text (Mtext) much easier to manipulate.

This article is the fourth in a series on working with cross sections. In the last tutorial, you learned how to apply the template to the sampled existing ground. The next step in this process is to view the resulting cross sections.

This tutorial describes the first half of the process of developing a template that you can use to create road cross sections.

This article is the first in a series on working with baselines, profiles, and cross sections for basic road design using Autodesk® Land Desktop software. The first step in road design is to lay out the plan view of the road.

This article is the fourth in a series on working with baselines, profiles, and cross sections for basic road design. The next step in the road design process is to edit and generate reports for the finished ground surface for the profile, which we'll do in this tutorial.

We've been developing a basic template that you can use to create road cross sections. This process involves two steps: drawing the template and then defining it. In the last tutorial we drew the template. This time we'll look at the steps involved in defining it.

This article is the third in a series on working with baselines, profiles, and cross sections for basic road design. The next step in the road-design process is to draw and define the finished ground surface for the profile, which we'll do in this tutorial.

This article, the second in a series on working with baselines, profiles, and cross sections for basic road design, describes how to create a basic centerline profile showing the existing ground along a horizontal alignment.

This article is the third in a series on working with cross sections. The next step in this process is to apply the template to the road design to create the cross sections.

AutoCAD® 2004 makes it easier then ever to free up valuable drawing space and to personalize your environment for maximum productivity.

As much as we’d like to spend our design time focusing on geometry, text is an integral part of the drawing process. Any forward progress in the world of text can mean more time for design and less time on annotation.

The improvements that affect everyday drawing life are always favorites. Many of your requests have been incorporated into AutoCAD® 2004, so many they can’t all fit into these pages.

Most of the objects you render in Autodesk® VIZ 4 are mesh objects. In this article, you learn how to use the Edit Mesh modifier to change these objects.

In the last tutorial, we took a quick look at working with grading objects using Autodesk® Civil Design software. This time out, you’ll learn about more advanced grading techniques for working with target regions and slope tags.

This article is the fourth in an introductory course on designing in 3D using AutoCAD® software. In this article, I cover many of the AutoCAD techniques for displaying and viewing your 3D drawings.

Often the easiest way to move lines and other objects back to zero elevation is to use the CHANGE command. But don’t look for this command on a menu pull-down or toolbar. In out-of-the-box AutoCAD LT® software, it’s only available by typing it at the command line.

The lack of layers may be a rude shock to you seasoned CAD users, but take the following tutorial to see how Autodesk® Revit® pulls this off and then make up your own mind about designing without layers.

Learn about the Autodesk MapGuide application development process.

In this issue you will learn how to define custom relationships such as dimensional constraints, alignments, and attachments between components.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to generate volume calculations, balance the grading, and create contours from a grading object.

In this tutorial you'll explore the motion constraints in Autodesk Inventor®, which provide yet another way to make sure your assemblies are operating correctly.

This article is the third in an introductory course on designing in 3D using AutoCAD® software. Last month you learned about simple 3D objects. This month we move on to 3D coordinates.

On a recent snowy afternoon, I ran across some information about the productivity benefits of saving both partial and complete drawing file information in AutoCAD LT® software. If you work with moderate-to-large drawings, you’ll want to explore these file-save methods.

This article is the second in an introductory course on designing in 3D using AutoCAD® software. Last month you learned about basic 3D concepts. This month we move on to simple 3D objects.

This article is the first of at least six that will make up a course called Intro to 3D. In this first lesson, I discuss concepts and definitions that will apply throughout the course.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use the dynamic assembly constraint analyzer to determine if your assemblies are working properly, evaluate whether your assemblies are properly constrained, and create an AVI file that demonstrates how the assembly works.

In this first tutorial, we are going to look at the built-in relationships—the parametric nature—of Revit building components, relationships that are maintained throughout drawing changes.

If you have not yet used the productivity-enhancing Grading Object feature, this tutorial will get you started by taking you on a tour of the Grading Wizard available only in the Civil Design plug-in for Autodesk® Land Desktop.

In this Autodesk Inventor™ tutorial we'll focus on the use of projected geometry to include geometry from existing parts when creating a new part in an assembly.

This tutorial highlights some of the areas where you may need to think outside the AutoCAD "box" to be proficient with Autodesk Inventor.

Using the tools and techniques described in this tutorial, you can create and save how-to-assemble animations of these components as they move into their exploded positions.

Autodesk Inventor 5 expands the use of adaptive technology to enable cross-part sketch associativity. In this tutorial, we'll examine how and where to take advantage of this new tool and throw in a few tips and tricks along the way.

Learn how to use Mass Elements to create a simple mass model.

Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 3 offers a complete set of intelligent design objects—intelligent objects know their form and function and how they relate to other drawing objects—and tools that make modifying them a quick and easy task.

Construction documents would be easy to create if walls were simple, straight forms—but they usually are not. Both Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 3 and 3.3 have the tools you need to create unusual walls quickly and easily.

Autodesk® Architectural Desktop customers can check off a number of their software wish-list items thanks to the new Productivity Enhancement Extension.

Last month we looked at the Detail Manager in the Detailer tool included with Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 3.0/3.3. This month I want to discuss the Detailer's Compose Details menu.

Last month I shared some interesting Autodesk® Architectural Desktop Release 3.0/3.3 productivity hints with everyone. This month and next month I want to talk about Architectural Desktop's Detailer tool.

In this tutorial, we'll use intelligent AEC objects to design a stair enclosure, with stair, slab, and landing, and create its section automatically.

This month we take that exercise several steps forward, adding a hallway and doors to the plan. This tutorial will show you how to use the interactive Section Object while adding a hallway and doors to a plan.

This month we'll explore the undocumented MASSELEMENT > CONVERT command

Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 3 and 3.3 offers parametric tools that enable you to easily modify column grids allowing quick changes in the structural part of your design.

Now that we've explored Autodesk® Architectural Desktop software's mass-modeling capabilities we're ready to look at another design method, Space Objects and Space Boundaries.

In this tutorial we'll look at some more tools for creating, modifying, and automatically cleaning up walls that you'll find in Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 3 and 3.3.

Try this tutorial to experience using intelligent AEC objects.

In this tutorial you'll master the skills required to create and modify a wide variety of sloped roofs using Autodesk® Architectural Desktop software.

In this project you'll learn how to create Multi-View blocks that are compatible with standard layouts and display representation sets for use in Autodesk® Architectural Desktop software.

In this tutorial—the last in the series on how to build, edit, and analyze surface models using Autodesk® Land Desktop—you will learn how to create contour styles and import and modify contour lines.

This tutorial will show you how to create and use description keys in Autodesk® Land Desktop to add layer control and block insertion to point objects.

This tutorial is the second in a series on how to build, edit, and analyze surface models using Autodesk® Land Desktop. This article focuses specifically on how to use breaklines to more accurately model the terrain.

This tutorial—the third in a series on how to build, edit, and analyze surface models using Autodesk® Land Desktop—focuses on how to edit the surfaces you build.

This article explores two ways you can get information into, and out of, AutoCAD® Land Development Desktop software.

In last month's column, we created and attached a point XDRef database to a project. Now we'll look at how to use database information to enhance the current AutoCAD® Land Development Desktop drawing.

One of the fundamental tasks in building a topographic map is to label lines and arcs with relevant information.

In this tutorial, we will take a look at what LandXML is and how you can use it in Autodesk® Land Desktop Release 3.

In many maps, you run out of room to label lines and arcs individually with information such as length, direction, or radius. In these cases, you will often have to create a line or curve table. Using the tools in Autodesk® Land Desktop software, you can easily create tables with different formats and styles to present this information.

In this tutorial you will learn how to attach XDRef data to a point group to create elevation overrides.

The most common conversion job has always been digitizing contour maps. This tutorial will show you how to convert these types of maps into contour objects using tools from Autodesk® Land Desktop 3 and Autodesk® Raster Design 3 (the program formerly known as Autodesk® CAD Overlay®).

This tutorial is the first in a series on how to build, edit, and analyze digital terrain models in Autodesk® Land Desktop software. First, some background, principally a discussion of data types.

This tutorial will show you how to use the Track View interface to create, modify, and delete animation information for objects in your scene.

Even though 3D Studio VIZ® software provides an extremely sophisticated 3D modeling environment, every user must first master creating and editing 2D shapes in order to get the most out of the product's 3D capabilities.

In this project we review some specific techniques that will help you reduce file size, increase the speed at which they render, and make them easier to modify-without sacrificing the realism and quality that 3D Studio VIZ software has made possible.

By the time you complete this article you will have acquired skills that will make creating and maintaining your 3D Studio VIZ designs significantly easier.

This tutorial will show you how use the Align and Normal Align to create 3D models quickly.

In this article you learn how to use each of these methods to define a NURBS model. By the time you complete the article, you should feel comfortable creating most objects using NURBS modeling commands.

Much of architectural design depends on designing and presenting elegant structures within and around buildings. In this article you learn how to create 3D frameworks using the Lattice modifier in 3D Studio VIZ® software.

In this article you become familiar with patch grids. You learn how to create and edit them and have a chance to discover what makes them so different from other modeling tools you may have used.

In this tutorial you'll explore dragging and dropping materials onto objects and creating a material based on a scanned image.

In this article you master combustion and lens effects. By the time you finish it, you will know how to make a variety of visible light sources.

This article reviews how to apply materials to objects using the UVW Map Modifier, the most commonly used tool for controlling how materials are applied to objects in 3D Studio VIZ. By the time you finish reading this article, you will have the skills required to control the materials applied to most of the objects in your designs.

If you're ready, today you'll learn how to create walkthrough animations, make objects follow paths, and animate objects with forward and inverse kinematics.

Now with the Reference Manager Extension (available only to Subscription members with AutoCAD-based products), you can automatically manage all file relationships and dependencies generated by AutoCAD software and industry-specific products built on AutoCAD (see Figure 1).

This month I'm not presenting a tutorial so that I can share some interesting Autodesk® Architectural Desktop Release 3.0/3.3 productivity hints with everyone.

Do you need to change a bunch of text from one text style to another? Would you like to match up the linetype scale factor or linetype of one group of objects to another? Then the MATCHPROP command (affectionately known as the Property Painter) is for you.

The new AutoCAD 2002 associative dimensions are more reliable than before and most of the time they should work just fine on their own. However, if you run into any problems, these new commands and updated system variable are great for fine-tuning your dimensions.

Everyone is familiar with hyperlinks on websites. Hyperlinks make connections between documents on the Internet. But you can also insert hyperlinks between objects in your AutoCAD® drawings and files or websites that may be located anywhere on the Internet, a network (intranet and extranet), or your own hard drive.

It's a rare occasion when you don't need to place text in a drawing. Consequently, any improvements to the world of text are welcome improvements indeed! AutoCAD® 2002 has a couple of great new text-editing functions that can make your drawing life just a little bit better than before.

Learn how to share your drawings with the Publish to Web wizard.

In AutoCAD 2002, you'll find two new commands, SCALETEXT and JUSTIFYTEXT, that make working with text easier and less frustrating.

Do you sometimes deliver PowerPoint presentations to clients or colleagues? Have you ever wanted to put an AutoCAD® drawing in the presentation? There are many situations where you might want to formally present your work rather than just bring a printout and have the audience gather around.

This article is the first of a two-part series on using block attributes, including the new attribute features in AutoCAD® 2002. This month I will focus on managing block attributes—creating and editing them.

Learn how transspatial dimensioning enables you to dimension model space objects from paper space, automatically updating the paper space dimension as you edit the model space object.

This month, as we continue looking at the new features in AutoCAD LT® software, I want to examine the My Drawings section of the AutoCAD LT Today facility.

Make sure you're taking full advantage of all the improvements to the LAYER command.

Learn how the new system variables in AutoCAD 2002 offer many more options for displaying hidden objects in the 3D environment.

If you've been wondering how to display and plot presentation-quality graphics of your 3D AutoCAD® 2000i drawings, this short tutorial is for you.

One of the menu options is Enter, which you can use to end the LINE command—but who wants to take that extra step?

This article is the second of a two-part series on using block attributes, including the new Attribute Extraction Wizard in AutoCAD® 2002. This month I focus on the new, easy way to extract attributes.

My readers consistently share some great tips with me, so this month I'm going to throw a few of them your way.

AutoCAD® 2000i contains many new and enhanced features that streamline everyday editing chores, increasing efficiency and relieving some of the tedium involved in carrying out highly repetitive drawing tasks.

If you have AutoCAD® 2000 or higher, you have access to one of my all time favorite commands: QDIM, for Quick Dimensioning. If you're still churning out your dimensions one at a time you simply must try this great timesaver.

We all have certain idiosyncratic methods of working, why not set AutoCAD to optimize these methods?

Learn how to create an improved BREAK command toolbar.

It's not uncommon for us to need to update our block definitions from time to time. Enter the REFEDIT command to save the day.

This month we are going to look at the AutoCAD LT® PURGE command. The PURGE command is used to remove unused named items, such as block definitions and layers, from a drawing.

This month, as we continue looking at the new features in AutoCAD LT® 2002, I want to examine two of the new text features—the SCALETEXT and JUSTIFYTEXT commands.

This article describes how you can use the SCALETEXT command to change the height of Multi-Lined Text (MTEXT) objects.

One of the greatest advantages of working in AutoCAD LT® software is that you can establish almost boundless number of layers, freeze and thaw them, turn them on and off, and lock and unlock them at will and in any combination.

Beginning with AutoCAD LT 2000 you can perform multiple undo actions, reversing the effect of more than one undo using the new MREDO (for multiple redo) command.

Let's look at an AutoCAD LT® 2002 feature that often gets overlooked: the ability to "lift" drawings from AutoCAD LT and transfer them to other visual applications such as Microsoft Word®, where they can provide effective illustrations for inclusion in a text document.

With eTransmit you can use the Internet (or an Extranet or Intranet) to easily transmit, or "ship," a drawing file—down the hall to a colleague or around the world to a subcontractor.

AutoCAD LT® 2004 makes it easier then ever to free up valuable drawing space and to personalize your environment for maximum productivity.

Learn how to use some of the new Wall and Window features in this first of a series of tutorials that will help you more effectively implement Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 4 in your designs.

Last time, in the second part of this three-part tutorial, we added code to our macro to place an occurrence of a Marker part at the assembly center of gravity (COG). In this tutorial, we'll add a number of additional procedures.

In last month's tutorial, we built the user interface for a center of gravity tracker for Autodesk Inventor™ assemblies. This month we'll add the programming code to insert a special center of gravity (Marker) part, position the Marker part at the assembly, and display the assembly COG coordinates in the current document units.

In this and next two tutorials we'll introduce a few of the concepts you'll need to understand if you want to extend Autodesk Inventor with VBA macros.

n this month's tutorial, we'll look at some techniques to help you break out of the "beginner" category.

This month's tutorial introduces the new sheet metal punch tool available in Autodesk Inventor™ 5. Because a punch is a special type of iFeature (iFeature is the new name for Design Element), we'll also examine the creation of a moderately complex iFeature.

In this tutorial, we'll examine methods to manage file properties, and take a look at the ways in which properties can help you document your designs.

Take a look at an Autodesk Inventor 4 tool that projects geometry in sheet-metal parts.

In this tutorial, you'll review a use of projected geometry that's applicable to all Autodesk Inventor™ versions and then examine some of the new options for projecting geometry in the part modeling environment of Autodesk Inventor 4.

What happens when you use 2D commands on 3D objects? Ellen Finkelstein says you may be surprised. Simple commands such as COPY and MOVE are intuitive enough, but have you ever used EXPLODE on a curved body?

No bones about it, assemblies created with skeleton modeling are easier to update than those created with modeling techniques based on assembly constraints and adaptive relationships—provided you put in some extra planning at the onset. Neil Munro tells you what you need to do in this by-the-bones Autodesk Inventor® tutorial.

The Options dialog box is certainly a handful. Nine different tabs filled with countless settings can intimidate even the experienced AutoCAD® user. It's not so complicated when you break it down into bite-sized pieces—but where do you begin?

Ellen Finkelstein shows you how to use the REFEDIT command to edit blocks and xrefs without leaving the host drawing in this timesaving AutoCAD® tutorial.

Kelcey Lemon, Senior Technical Marketing Manager for Autodesk Architectural Desktop, shows you how to quickly and easily add a threshold to a door in this Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 3.3 tip.

Just when you think you have Autodesk® VIZ all figured out, you discover it has another trick up its sleeve. You may know how to create omni lights, point lights, and area lights, but did you know that you can turn any object into a light source? By the time you complete this article, you will know how to create objects that don't just accept illumination, but actually emit light that illuminates other elements in a scene.