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CADS News - July 2008, Issue 103
C A Design Services & Autodesk news
In this month's edition...
CADS drill new depths of technology to Van Elle
Drcauto Releases Smart Architect for AutoCAD LT 2009
CADS drill new depths of technology to Van Elle
C A Design Services Ltd have assisted Van Elle, one of the UK’s leading geotechnical, piling and foundation contractors in the development of an automated drilling and grouting management system.
This new system eliminates the need for paper records by using touch screen technology. Engineers on site can now enter all drilling log data directly in to a database and monitor site progress via the web. The application uses Autodesk design web format (DWF) technology to allow the site plan to be visible over the web.
Though currently only deployed on ground stabilisation sites, the ‘Onsite System’ will shortly begin deployment across the remainder of Van Elle’s specialist projects. This affirms the group’s commitment to invest in new technologies. CADS core technology is based around AutoCAD and Autodesk DWF technology. Our technology will soon be available for schools and other institutions, to aid in the planning, procurement and maintenance of the facilities.
For more information please contact our Technical Manager Grant Dott at: grant@cadesignservices.co.uk
Drcauto Releases Smart Architect for AutoCAD LT 2009
Smart Architect 2009 offers an architectural aspect of AutoCAD to extend the power of AutoCAD 2009 suite. Smart Architect 2009 introduces a selection of improved commands, including: Smart Wall Technology, drawing documentation, shadow diagrams and quantities. The product integrates greatly with AutoCAD 2009.
For more information please visit:
http://www.tenlinks.com/news/PR/drcauto/062708_smart_architect.htm
ODA releases new software development platform
The Open Design Alliance (ODA), a non-profit association of thousands of software developers and users, announces the release of version 2.6 of the ODA software development platform. This new application includes DWGdirect and DGNdirect. The added materials include a new DRX enabler for DWG files exported by Autodesk Inventor. It’s believed to be added support for new DWG 2009 system variables.
For more details please visit:
http://www.tenlinks.com/news/PR/Open_deisgn_alliance/063008_dwgdirect_dgndirect_26.htm
CADS raise £’s for everyman
CADS helped support the everyman campaign June awareness month by having their own awareness day. Staff raised money by dressing in a blue theme, baking and selling treats, a lunch time quiz was organised and the faithful raffle was drawn at the end of the working day. CADS managed to raise £115.73 towards the charity campaign.
Visit http://www.icr.ac.uk/everyman/index.html for more details
Using Layer Filters in the Layer Properties Manager (Property, Group and Invert) (Full AutoCAD and LT)
By default within the ‘Layer Properties Manager’ you will see layer filters listed in the panel on the left side of the dialog. Two default filters are ‘All’ which shows all the layers in the current drawing and ‘All Used Layers’ which limits the view of layers to only the ones that contain objects.
Creating your own filters
There are two buttons at the top left corner of the ‘Layer Properties Manager’ the first is the ‘New Property Filter’ button and the second is the ‘New Group Filter’ button, filters can ease working with multiple layers in AutoCAD.
New Group Filter
Creates a layer filter that contains layers that you select and add to the filter, clicking the ‘New Group Filter’ button does not open a dialog but instead adds a Group Filter to the current list of filters. When the filter has just been created it will be in the rename mode so you can easily change the default name, which will be something like ‘Group Filter1.’ If you click away from the name or decide to rename the filter later then you can do so by right clicking on the filter name and picking rename from the shortcut menu.
An example of a ‘Group Filter’ maybe one you create to “group” the layers of a drawing that contain the objects for the shell of a building. You would click the ‘New Group Filter’ button which would create a group filter with a default name, rename to “shell” so that we know what the filter is for. To add the layers that we need to filter right click the “Shell” filter name and choose ‘Select Layers > Add. ’ The ‘Layer Properties Manager’ will disappear allowing you to go round you drawing clicking on one object for each layer that makes up the building shell. Once you have selected all the layers press ‘enter’ or right click to get back to the layer dialog. You will see only the layers you have selected listed in the right side of the layer dialog.
Why bother with Filters
Once you have created filters whether they are Property or Group filters you can control off/on, freeze/thaw, lock/unlock and isolate group for all of the layers within the filter in one go. This can be done by right clicking onto the filter name and choosing the option you want from the shortcut menu. Another advantage of creating a filter is you can slim down the list of layers to only those that are in your filter, because when you have a filter selected only the layers within the filter display in the layer manager, layer toolbar and dashboard. The reason for this is an option called ‘Apply layer filter to layer toolbar’ which you can get to when you click the ‘Settings…’ button on the ‘Layer Properties Manager’.
Back to topTake Five – Famous Marketing Mistakes
- Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish where it was read as "Suffer from diarrhoea."
- Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.
- Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "manure stick."
- When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what's inside, since most people can't read.
- Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.
- An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el papa), the shirts read "I saw the potato" (la papa).
- Pepsi's "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave", in Chinese.
- Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."
- The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Ke-kou-ke-la", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "ko-kou-ko-le", translating into "happiness in the mouth."
- When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "it won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." Instead, the company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."