"What's Inside?" customers ask. We answer

R.N. remarks:

You wrote in What's Inside? AutoCAD 2012: "Nudge isn’t a command: it’s a new verb. Select some objects, hold down the Ctrl key, and then move them by pressing any of the cursor arrow keys on the keyboard. Watch them be nudged, three pixels at a time."
 
Three pixels?
Is this CAD?
Is this 2012?

In Rhino, as long as I can remember, Nudge means moving an object (or, more often, a vertex) so many mm or inches or fractions, with easy settings for Ctrl, Shift, and what the keys mean.

AutoCAD 2012's documentation doesn't report the nudge distance. I judged it to be three pixels from two screen grabs I overlaid. Just now I tested to see if Nudge works with object snaps; unhappily, I must report, "No." Update: Nudge works with snap distance. (H.T. Kelrod).

 

J.W. writes:

 I saw some cool things you can now do in 3D that were difficult before.

 

S.N. asks:

Congrats for completing new ebook on AutoCAD. Thanks for info, would like to go for it. Will let you know the way I would like to pay. Need to check my paypal account.

With PayPal, you can purchase the ebook through its Web page at www.upfrontezine.com/wia12.  If you need to use a credit card, then you can make the purchase through my distributors, such as these:

• CAD Depot
  www.caddepot.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=77&products_id=769
• SimpleCAD
  www.simplecad.com/autocad-2012-book.htm 

 

C.H. complains:

Did they FIX the garbage us old timers have been b***hing about since release 14??

M.K. is curious:

Hey, just curious, what programs are used to make an e-book? Are you going to publish the 2012 version of The Illustrated AutoCAD 2006 Quick Reference book?

There are two primary file formats for ebooks today: PDF and EPUB.

I use InDesign for typesetting, Atlantis for writing, WinSnap for screen grabs, PaintShop Pro for editing screen grabs, and Visio for annotating screen grabs. Output is in PDF. InDesign includes Distiller for creating PDF files. The Pro version of Acrobat is handy for replacing pages, but otherwise Acrobat Reader is good enough to checking the PDF output.

I have tried to output to EPUB, but so far haven't had great results. EPUB seems best for novels, where just text flows along pages. My ebooks have annotated figures, sidebars, and other design aspects that just don't come out well.

As for my Illustrated AutoCAD 2012 Quick Reference book, I will begin work on that book in early April. The publisher, Cengage Delmar, should have it available by early July, I would think.

 

A.N. wonders:

How do I get the what’s new in LT book as well?

I don't have such a book, sorry! I did create one for AutoCAD LT 2006, but sales were too small to justify repeating the exercise. There is a list of new features at Autodesk's Web site: usa.autodesk.com/autocad-lt/features

 

D.S. asks:

I tried to order 5 copies, and pay via PayPal, but the cost came up at 100% rather than the 40% discount [for purchasing multiple copies]. Is there another way to order, without having to write a cheque?

You can make bulk purchases of What's Inside? AutoCAD 2012 at a 40% discount. The www.upfrontezine.com/wia12 site isn't set up for discounts, so here is the indirect way:

1. Go to www.paypal.com and then log into your account.
2. Click Send Money, and then fill in the following info:

To: [email protected]
Amount: [$7.20 x number of copies ordered]
Purchase: Goods

3. Click Continue.
4. If you wish, enter a message, such as "Discounted payment for WIA 12".
5. Click Send Money.

 Thank you for being honest enough to pay for the extra copies. Too many customers freely make copies for colleagues without realizing they are breaking the ebook's copyright. (You can make one printed copy from the PDF, and no electronic copies.)

 

Copy editor Herbert Grabowski writes:

Congratulations! I feel like a "mid-wife" (whatever their feelings are).

Thank you for doing the copy editing, dad. If sales of this ebook are any indication, AutoCAD 2012 will be a hit for Autodesk. The ebook sold more copies in its first 12 hours that last year's edition did in 24. Either that, or curiousity is really, really high.

 

Steve Johnson reports on his blog nauseam blog that the three discontinued commands are merely undefined: DsViewer, Trace, ScreenMenu, and Blipmode. You can reactivate them in AutoCAD 2012 with the Redefine command. However, the Screen Menu is removed from CUI, and so cannot be customized.

Comments

[Steve Johnson]

Yes, it's 3 pixels, which is a spectacularly clueless thing for CAD software to do. It's on my list of 2012 things to blog about.

Thanks for the mention, but it's Johnson and blog nauseam, not Johnston and Blog Nauseum.