tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67419542009-02-21T02:14:40.435-06:00Design Automation, Technology, Strategy, and cadgurus.comMarknoreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-43027596387734171662008-10-31T19:28:00.002-05:002008-10-31T19:51:52.825-05:00

I think this site/effort should be getting more buzz. Premium IT is, among other things a fantastic repository of best practices for IT organizations. The site include blogs, white papers, and trends. While it surely is a strong marketing strategy for Intel, the site is still quite valuable and really hits the mark for large IT organizations. If you haven't explored the site I recommend a visit,

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-11658700470923360492008-10-17T20:52:00.008-05:002008-10-19T21:52:00.843-05:00

Despite having 200 downloads on this site, I really believe cad managers should be selective in the number of custom tools they deploy.  Every custom tool requires support, testing, communication, and training. And, if it's an application you created, then it also requires development. This may not be an issue when you have a small design operation of say 15 people, but start to scale your design

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-60516089577791419242008-10-11T12:56:00.001-05:002008-10-11T12:56:53.022-05:00

Millions of people, generally younger than me understand the potential of social networking sites. I, on the other hand, am just beginning to grasp the potential. I see how the tools are used, to communicate what you are doing now, and to tell people more about your interesting life. Andre McAfee (Harvard Business School) describes in his August 15 blog post The Twit's Progress how sites like 

Marknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-86246137373943168582008-10-06T19:07:00.003-05:002008-10-06T20:04:35.066-05:00

I have updated the cadgurus download page. A couple of things you will notice right away. First, there is a new sort filter. For example, if you just want to see V7 downloads then click the V7 filter link. All filter options are loaded when you first visit the page - all but the by title option is hidden. The advantage here is that you can toggle quickly between the options. It's definitely

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-68294348746301777472008-04-12T00:41:00.007-05:002008-04-12T01:30:33.141-05:00

Just got back from China! Visited Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. The picture is from a side street off Nathan Road in Kowloon.The trip was short, but very educational. And, I have to say, despite the pre-trip research, I was a little surprised with the amount of development in south eastern China. Shanghai especially is a very exciting place and the Chinese should be proud of their

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-33032199447535125312008-03-16T16:47:00.003-05:002008-03-16T16:55:04.224-05:00

I've added a new feature called snap shots. It shows you where the link will take you before you click. I've enabled the feature for external links like this one, snap. Notice the comment icon after the link? This icon indicates that snap is enabled for the link. I hope it helps. Post a comment if you have ideas for the site.

Marknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-519157001417884902008-03-01T17:20:00.007-06:002008-03-01T18:09:37.077-06:00

Instead of doing homework today I spent most of the day hacking my way through a simple ruby script. Ruby on Rails is the scripting language adopted by Sketchup. There is lots of information available for Ruby, but I stuck to only the sketchup resources - they seemed more relevant.What I wanted to do with this script was to find all of the entities in the file that had the same attribute. In this

Marknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-43779779189050553742008-02-22T23:47:00.002-06:002008-02-23T00:05:20.464-06:00

I had a request from Ashley to recompile Accudraw reset for MicroStation XM. Thanks Ashley for prompting me to do this. Sounds like the tool is still useful, so if you want it here it is.adrstxm.zipLeave a comment to tell everyone what you think.XM has some functionality that returns focus to the accudraw dialog anyway, but there are probably situations where being able click the reset button

Marknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-73189141476543958182008-02-09T23:10:00.000-06:002008-02-09T23:29:15.035-06:00

We've been able to create fly throughs and animations in MicroStation for many years, but I can't say I ever predicted that people would share these like they are today - CAD on YouTube!Go to YouTube and search on MicroStation, Autocad, or Sketchup and you will discover that people are creating animations and sharing said videos. Some of the examples are quite creative. Here's "Building a House

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-8937289538855773062008-02-08T22:59:00.000-06:002008-02-08T23:18:30.348-06:00

Looking for something?This is a great link for google search tips. TechTracer.com's article lists 10 search tips I'm sure you will find useful when looking for CAD resources. Here's an example. In the google search field type the following,sketchup model table filetype:skpIt mostly works. The third item in the list is a picnic table, and it's a sketchup file that you can open, save, edit, etc.

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1143306953065867652006-03-25T11:13:00.000-06:002006-03-25T11:15:53.216-06:00

Here's a quick site status.I made some updates to the site. Nothing significant, only some clean up - removal of links that no longer work, increase table width, change copyright date, etc.It appears the site is worth keeping. You may be interested, or maybe not - markstefanchuk.com gets about 4000 visits per month. I found the stat was rather astounding considering we don't advertise or promote

Marknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1110229173631791772005-03-07T14:58:00.000-06:002005-03-07T14:59:33.636-06:00

' if the model isn't locked then a "No Change" error is returned.On Error Resume NextActiveDesignFile.Models("HangerPipe").IsLocked = FalseHere’s an interesting consideration. A couple of blogs back I explained how to lock models. If you’re intending to process the model programmatically you will have to unlock it. But if the model is already unlocked, as would be the case when you create the

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1109645491502826662005-02-28T20:39:00.000-06:002005-02-28T20:51:31.503-06:00

Check out the GetPicture method in the V8 object model. There is a decent example in the help file on how to use the method.I've been using it to display CellElements in an image box. It's great visual feedback for my application placement tools. Most (maybe all) elements have this method, so I think there are several applications where you might use this tool. Cell library veiwer, search and

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1109035111154599392005-02-21T19:16:00.000-06:002005-02-21T19:57:33.166-06:00

Last week I had some trouble with locking models. As it turns out so were several others - see discussion.bentley.com. We are currently working with MicroStation 08.05.01.25 and in one of my programs I'm using a second model to store some information. And, I don't want any of my users to be able to delete, or modify data in this model.Turns out though, that in this version at least it is possible

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1108424914395821352005-02-14T17:43:00.000-06:002005-02-14T17:48:34.396-06:00

1 - We'll start with today. In reading an article on MSDN I discovered that sometimes those of us who think we know something like to use words that our readers might not. As is evident in the following statement, "The following definitions are more informative than they are normative..." And since I'm making fun, I'll leave out my learned colleague's name.Normative: “adj 1: relating to or

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1100968458837727232004-11-20T10:18:00.000-06:002004-11-20T10:37:36.130-06:00

Some of you have probably noticed that my email and phone numbers have changed. In an attempt to battle mid-career complacency syndrome (err, MCS) Mary and I moved to Minneapolis at the end of September. With new gigs for both of us, we sold the house in Alabama, packed up our stuff and shipped it north. Despite the change of pace, I continue to work on additional projects and write my quarterly

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1091126267907896162004-07-29T13:03:00.000-05:002004-07-29T13:42:37.666-05:00

At some point since starting markstefanchuk.com I convinced myself that all of the links on cadgurus.aspx page worked - that there was a download file for each link. Evidently I missed some. Since posting the page in February I have received several emails (very helpful emails) telling me of broken links. I have fixed them. At least I beleive I have fixed them. Of course please don't hesitate to

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1088608639746336382004-06-30T10:10:00.000-05:002004-06-30T10:23:12.996-05:00

I received an email from Paul wanting to know a little more about locate filters. Here's my reply. You can find the complete pie example on my website in the C-A-D section. The download is called pie.zip and there is an article there that explains how to create pie.mvba. This article demonstrates how to develop a placement and edit (locate) command. In this example command you will see that I

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1087320320031196822004-06-15T12:14:00.000-05:002004-06-15T12:26:47.583-05:00

Just sent my latest article to C-A-D. Subscribers can look forward to a follow up to my previous article on Graphic Command Design. In the new article I demonstrate how to add leaders to a right of way pie symbol. I'll post the code for the article later this month so it's available when the magazine comes out. And don't forget downloads for older articles are available here - http://

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1086382766950271962004-06-04T15:26:00.000-05:002004-06-04T15:59:26.950-05:00

As if the germs our co-workers spread throughout the office when sick aren't bad enough, now it seems our computers are an oozing toxic trap and you know we can't avoid contact with either menace. Ok, yes I've spread my share of the plague. Now, I provide a link to the wired news article, but I've found headlines in several places. Just check google newswith its 12 bazillion links that are

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1086219624555810182004-06-02T18:32:00.000-05:002004-06-02T18:40:24.556-05:00

I fixed the link to snappy.zip on thecadgurus page. Snappy is a v7 basic macro written by Robert McCartney. Apparently there are a few people visiting the site each day attempting to download a file or several. Hellooooo, is anybody there? Thanks to James. He noticed that the snappy link was broken - file was missing, and sent me an email. So, if you notice a link is broken feel free to send

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1086213245744320472004-06-02T16:31:00.000-05:002004-06-02T16:54:05.743-05:00

I realized recently that maybe I don't have to build my own locate tools in VBA. Here's the tip. Instead of rolling your own locate logic into a primitive command interface build a locator interface to locate an element, save the element globally in a public variable. Do this in the locate filter. And on accept call a primitive command that implements the primitive interface to draw new

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1086101308715416882004-06-01T09:08:00.000-05:002004-06-01T10:13:19.733-05:00

Have you ever looked at something a thousand times and then look at it again one more time and discover something new? That's how I feel today about ILocateCommandEvents_LocateFilter. How many times have I looked at the locate filter and never noticed the Accepted parameter? Has it always been there? Well ok, here's the deal. Accepted is true when the filter method is called. And as long as

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1085693639983477762004-05-27T16:29:00.000-05:002004-05-27T16:33:59.983-05:00

Heads up/Tip this guy returns True if the there is a rotation, as in If Matrix3dXYRotation(view.Rotation, angle) Then . . . do something . . . But what's not obvious is that angle is a holder for the rotation angle. So angle can be initialized to 0. And if the view is rotated pi/4 radians, say, then angle is returned with that value. Like I said, not obvious. There are probably other Is type

Marknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741954.post-1085608175142107072004-05-26T16:42:00.000-05:002004-05-26T16:53:13.666-05:00

I wrote about CRAB's Code Page last week. This week I made a few contributions. All VBA examples for MicroStation V8+. Here's a list, 1) Measure and Copy to Windows clipboard. 2) Primitive and Locate Command Templates 3) Project Backup automates export of all modules, forms, and classes. Check it out. Several people have already posted code contributions. If you're learning VBA or are expert

Marknoreply@blogger.com0