Tips & Tutorials Archive
As a CADer, professional or hobbyist, the latest in technology is always a point of focus. With the pace at which new technology is being developed and introduced to the market, staying ahead of the game comes at a substantial cost, pun intended. For that very purpose,
If you’re into 3D printing, you need STL files to print with. And if you’ve developed your own designs, then converting DWG to STL format is your next step. You might want 3D printed parts for the following or other reasons: Visualize design concepts Create product mockups,
Looking for the best screen setups for CAD? Well, the first thing that comes to mind when I personally want to setup a new system or rig is the display. That’s because at the end of the day, the display will be what I use to see
Monitors are a tricky bit and with a controversial history in their making. From serial to Thunderbolt interfaces and from CRT to IPS LED, there is a lot of ground to cover when making the decision of replacing or adding a monitor to your rig. Read on
The world of technology has virtually unlimited advancements and miniature evolutions every single day. Hence a new kind of optical drive or USB-interface peripheral popping up overnight is not that big a deal. What is a big deal is knowing what’s new, what makes it relevant and
Need a terrain for your upcoming game or Hollywood blockbuster? Or are you simply looking to master the art of creating landscapes and planes that can be used for hosting other elemental objects? Either way, and for so many others, you can do so with AutoCAD. Although
To reinvent drawing methodologies would have been an impractical approach towards the development of CAD, almost 60 years ago when the whole thing started. Because of this traditional approach, most of the techniques and tools are the same as traditional methods with the digital transition the main
In the world of CAD, coordinates play a part as important as any other. Any rotation, skewing or other manipulation is done with the help of mathematical equations and the help of regular geometric and algebraic techniques that work with the coordinates. For this purpose, the inherent
AutoCAD has gone head to head with a lot of other packages much capable of the challenge. One widely held debate is between the AutoCAD user base and the MicroStation user base. These communities like most others have no limit to the reasons why they would stick
Another head to head with AutoCAD and BrisCAD facing off in 2D/3D CADing. AutoCAD, the now multi-faceted and extendable all-rounder designer that chugs more RAM than a German does beer, going against another lesser popular DWG-oriented package developed for efficient execution. Let's delve deeper to see what
Experience comes with time, and it is no doubt that any man or woman adept at a certain skill, to the point that they can optimize their work methods beyond the traditional techniques, have put in time and effort to get there. As the saying goes, practice
As you may all know, there are a ton of ways of entering data or importing it into AutoCAD. This can be done through automated scripts written in your favorite language or simply developed in LISP. It can also be done through the use of Autodesk’s extensions
Any 2D drawing or model that has been designed and is ready for 3D development usually requires some kind of preparation before we can begin the 3D design. This is because in 2D, the design cannot be realistically assessed, meaning only once a 3D model is created
AutoCAD has the tools necessary for preparing presentations, image inclusive slides and other scripted hacks that can add so much more interactivity to your models and drawings. But with all that vastness, AutoCAD by itself has no methods, tools or functions for the development of animations, especially
For those of us having served any amount of time as a 3D CAD designer, the name SolidWorks is a name well known. Even though software packages with more complex functionality exist, SolidWorks is an industry favorite. It has a user base larger than any other 3D
With SolidWorks we have the SolidWorks Explorer that is meant to make your job easier when it comes to renaming parts and files apart from the regular features such as categorical and hierarchical viewing of the assemblies and parts included in the project. Now, before we talk
Have you ever had to reconstruct your CAD environment simply because the default settings for the project we’re not what you wanted? Or do you work as a hobbyist on the weekends and would like to have project settings for your hobby-work different from your professional workload?
If you’ve ever used a spreadsheet you know what tables, cells and references are. You also know how to operate tables in applications and you also probably know how to link tables and cells together. But did you know, AutoCAD has facilities for handling tables and databases?
CAD has come a long way from the days of Sketchpad and Douglas T. Ross. So much so, that it has been introduced to colleges as a complete discipline which students are now allowed to specialize in. With the scope and broad domain of CAx technologies, the
AutoCAD is perhaps the oldest, most complete CAD software package. Because of its age, it is the granddaddy of all CADing applications with an extensive user base and vast function set. Also because of age, AutoCAD also has the granddaddy characteristics. It’s rigid, meaning you have to
