Ask the Expert
Ask the Expert
About Guillermo Melantoni :
My name is Guillermo Melantoni Cortabarria. I was born in Uruguay, where I got my degree in Architecture, and immediately started working as an architect, consultant and teacher at both state and private Schools of Architecture in Montevideo (subjects ranging from History and Theory of Architecture to Project and a varied number of applications -AutoCAD, 3ds Max, Revit, Photoshop-).
Before getting hired as an Application Engineer for Autodesk in Latin America (based in Argentina), I worked as consultant for an Autodesk Authorized Reseller in Uruguay (Geosys), where I covered AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, the Revit Platform, Inventor, and 3ds Max.
I spent two years as an AE, mainly making Revit implementations around Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, as well as helping to develop awareness on the whole Autodesk portfolio in my region. At that time, I collaborated in the Introducing and Mastering Revit Architecture books, and had a Revit blog in Spanish called Revit Latino.
I then moved to USA with my wife and became one of AutoCAD's Product Managers. I'm basically in charge of the vision around 3D, and trying to help with the interoperability with the rest of the portfolio. That is still my main focus, now also enlarged by parametric drawing.
I've been a bass player for the last 20 years, playing, recording and touring in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Originally a metalhead, I now just look for people that want to play good music, not caring too much about style (though I still have a bias towards metal). I'm also an avid videogamer in my free time.
Special Note: Also, don't forget to check out Guillermo's video about 3D on the Home Page "It's All About 3D"
About Shaan Hurley:
I have worked for Autodesk since 1998 currently as a Platform Technology Evangelist for the AutoCAD & Platform Products Division which includes the world famous AutoCAD product. As an avid Autodesk software user since 1989 I am a current user of many Autodesk products. I used many of the Autodesk products as a customer prior to joining Autodesk in 1998. Previously a mechanical designer involved in various large projects. Some of the design and construction projects in his past are AISC major steel bridges, hydroelectric, structural steel, process piping, large heat exchangers and ASME pressure vessels even the mechanical design of a self contained and self powered commercial submarine.
Featured as a "bleeding edge" customer during the AutoCAD R14 Design Your World Live broadcast in May 1997, and also included on the AutoCAD R14 demo CD-ROM.
I spend much of my time speaking with Autodesk customers and traveling to meet with them around the world and take their feedback and suggestions back to the product development teams.
Note: Shaan Hurley is also blogger for Between the Lines (http://autodesk.blogs.com/).
Bio (Spanish)
Visualization
AutoCAD 2010
Use? 
Benefits
AutoCAD Driver
AutoCAD on MAC
AutoCAD 2010Your advice sir for a 3d starter, as i have a very small beginner experiance in 3DS MAX 9, and i would like to start in autocad 2009
Hi Mohammad, First of all, it is very important to understand the proper use of each topology (solids, mesh, surfaces) for your specific discipline. I took a look at your profile, and you work in Civil Engineering. You will definitely need to understand the use of surfaces. You may want to check how to work with lofts done with different types of profiles (lines, polylines, splines), and how they interact with solids. Solid modeling may also be useful for you, since you can apply different operations called Boolean (union, subtraction, intersection), and also check their volume. If you've also had experience with 3ds Max, you will know that it basically works with meshes, and this is exactly what we enhanced and redefined in AutoCAD 2010. Although you tell me you have AutoCAD 2009, I strongly encourage you to check the trial version of 2010 and see what we've done with meshes in the feature called Free-Form Design. If you require training in 3D, there are some interesting books about modeling in AutoCAD that you can search, and you should also check if there is an Autodesk Training Center near you. When I started to learn (some time ago... well... 15 years ago), it was pretty much trial and error and using AutoCAD's manual, and, of course, watching other people work (maybe the most useful thing I ever did). I'm starting a blog about AutoCAD 3D today (http://whatamesh.typepad.com/ ), and I'll try to introduce concepts for modeling, for both beginners and advanced users. I hope it can also be useful for you. A last piece of advice. You may know each and every bit and piece of functionality for modeling, but the most important thing is common sense. You need to understand the level of detail you need for each part, and never lose sight of the whole model, while you concentrate in a part. 3D models tend to grow in size and they can slow down your system, if you don't manage them carefully, and introduce the appropriate level of detail. Remember to use xrefs where possible, since they are a great way of managing the size of your project. I hope I've been helpful, and don't hesitate to ask me something else. You can always find me either in the blog or contact me through the AutoCAD Exchange network after this week. Best regards, Guillermo
Thanks alot for your sweet answer, and it didnt make me hesitate but it really cleared alot of things, although my company is Civil Engineering, but i am into Love with CAR design, and i did realy downloaded the AutoCAd 2010 but i am still watching the 2D new options , especially the constrains, so if you dont mind, is autoCAD 2010 perfect for car design, or i should follow up with 3DS MAX instead?
Both tools can help you with your needs if you are approaching car design as a hobbyist. In fact, using AutoCAD 2010 and Max 2010 together is another possibility, since we have fixed some problems that we've had for a long time on the mesh that Max exported to dwg. Now you can directly smooth it in AutoCAD, and then convert to solid or surface if necessary. Check the motorcycle I did in AutoCAD. Maybe that's what you need. If you are considering car design seriously, we have a very specific product for that, called AliasStudio, which is in fact used by many of the car designers. But we're talking about really high end and very specific tools.
Good Morning, I have downloaded the AutoCAD program and i cannot enter the code into the box as indicated. The code that i have does not seem to work? I am currently a student at Clackamas Community College here in the Portland, Oregon area. The last version of AutoCAD that I used was 2005 and boy what a change in appearence of the Icons/pull downs.
Hi Paul, did you download it from the Student Community site? If not, check it out. http://students.autodesk.com/ We did a lot of changes from the 2005 you knew. Good changes, though :-)
Hi Guillermo. I am looking for the best way to remove the call to shx police with a Scrip it Police. It is so boring to launch in each file Style and removing manually the Big FOnt's call. Can you help me? Muchas gracias ;) Merci d'avance. Take care. Fred
Bonjour Frédéric, ça va? Je voudrais répondre en français, mais beaucoup des gens ne vont pas comprendre :-) My good friend Shaan Hurley suggested a trick for this. You can create a little script in Script Pro, which was released today (http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2009/04/autocad-scriptpro-updated-for-autocad-2010.html ), and automate the steps that you always have to make. Salut!
HOLA DE DONDE PUEDO BAJAR FORMAS BASICAS EN 3D
que tal? Autodesk tiene un motor que se llama Seek, que es accesible desde AutoCAD y Revit. Ahi hay muchos objetos para utilizar, directo desde los fabricantes. Tambien podes probar en sitios como Turbosquid o 3DCafe, y seguro hay otros. En estos sitios, deberias verificar que formatos disponen, para saber si AutoCAD los puede importar.
I have change my drawing default template file location and wish to bring it back to default. Can you please tell me which folder it resides in? Thanks, ron
Hi Ron, it may depend on the version and the installation. I copied the location in my computer, which may help you to track yours. You can also look for *.dwt files in your computer, and you will surely find their location. R18 is AutoCAD 2010, so your path may vary at that point depending on the version you have. Good luck!
Hola. No conozco el Auto cad, pero necesito convertir los datos de informacion contenidos en un Mapa que se realizo con el autocad para que puedan ser transferido y usados por un programa de GPS Garmin llamado MapSource. Tambien podria ser a un formato como el que usa el google earth. Gracias por la atencion. Jose Planelles
Hola Jose, Necesitaría saber qué formatos acepta MapSource para poder ayudarte. El mapa en AutoCAD contiene basicamente información en 2D? Hay objectos en 3D también?
hi iam esam azzam i got the degrre of architecture and iam working now in autocad reseller co as trainer and application engineer like u plz advise me
Hi Esam, Not sure what kind of advise you're looking for. It seems that you are following a similar path I did. I really believe that having been a user, then a teacher, a reseller, and then an AE, helped me to have a perspective from many different points, that definitely helped me in my position as PM in Autodesk. Whatever you do, do it with passion, have a vision and clear goals. Keep in touch with the market needs, so you can start not only to follow trends, but be on the cutting edge, and keep teaching. Training people demands conceptual clarity, that you will then apply to everything else. Keep studying, keep practicing, and, again, your work will talk about you.
hi thanks for answer i opened the atc of jordan before 2 days ago my goal is to success it and make it impression but my conflict is to format between the 3 programms autocad and 3d max and revit i feell that i havnt time
Luckily, we are getting quite better at the interoperability between these three products. I'm going to talk about really extensively in my blog, so keep tuned!
I have a very dificult problem here as I have a text on a same setting in Arial fonts but the display and the print out is diferent in thickness why and the font use is only in ttf. Can I email you the files and have a look ? need to solve this as my project date line is near... Best regards, fred
if it's smaller than 10mb, you can send it to guillermo.melantoni@autodesk.com. You can also leave the problematic parts and delete the rest, if the size of the file is too big. Use e-transmit to package all the necessary stuff, so I can have the same situation you are having.
When viewing Library Icons in AutoCad Electrical they have a black back ground. My question is why when I create a new Icon does it have a white back ground and how can I change this?
Edward, I do not have AutoCAD Electrical installed but it is based on AutoCAD so the AutoCAD answer should work. The block preview color is based on the screen background color when saved. You can recreate the color to match by updating the block icon preview using the command BLOCKICON. Best Regards, Shaan
my viewport (1"=1'-0") has a measurement scale set to 12 ( apply to layout only). when i dimension and try to move a dimension with stretch or grips command the dim scale changes. why? also, the linear scale in the props window always has a negative number in most times when i click a dim. help!
Hi Eddie, I can't replicate it. Could you please elaborate a little more on the issue? Which version of AutoCAD are you using? Can you send me a sample file with the problem to my email? guillermo.melantoni@autodesk.com I may be able to help you if I know more about it. Thanks, Guillermo
Que tal, manejo autocad 2009 he hice un sembrado de bloques incluyendo la tuberia que los conecta, sin embargo quiero saber si hay algun comando o funcion que permita eliminar las lineas que cruzan entre mis bloques
Si estamos hablando de 3D, hay una opcion en los Estilos Visuales para que las lineas ocultas aparezcan punteadas (se llama Obscured Edges en el AutoCAD en ingles o Aristas Sombreadas en español). Si estas trabajando en 2D, y lo usas para cañerás, quizás te convenga explorar AutoCAD MEP, ya que AutoCAD por defecto no hace eso. Saludos! Guillermo
Guillermo, how do we get the cool Blue\Gray background\environment you have in your videos? Could you provide an .ARG or point out some of the key settings in the color options box?
Hi Barry! I'm glad you liked the color scheme. My arg file may contain sysvar settings that may not be the same you use, so I will direct you to my blog, where I posted the color scheme. http://whatamesh.typepad.com/whatamesh/2009/06/lets-add-some-color-to-the-ui.html I hope you like it, and let me know any feedback. Another setting you need to do is around Visual Styles. I also made a post about it. http://whatamesh.typepad.com/whatamesh/2009/07/obscured-lines-in-visual-styles.html Have fun! Guillermo
Hi GM & SH, Some time when we are opening the CAD file one message is coming in that CAD file “Must re_cover!” and in that file there is no any drawings everything has gone. The Layers are locked, when I unlocked the layers the drawing shows but the complete drawing exploded and spread in some dots and lines in some circles. Please tell me if you have any solution of the same.
Umair, A drawing corruption can occur for several unfortunate occurrences such as network burps, hard drive problems, OS issues, file system issues, applications and customization, 3rd party DWG tools, or a defect. It i extremely difficult to know in your case without having a drawing file and doing an autopsy on it but that does not guarantee finding the culprit or restoring your data. You can email me the drawing at shaan@autodeesk.com and please include any details such as the history on the drawing what has edited it and release versions and if you had any recent issues with it. Cheers, Shaan Hurley Platform Technology Evangelist Autodesk, Inc. Email: shaan@autodesk.com http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/
hi guys ... thanks a lot for Autodesk to give us this chance to contact with expert team i hop one day i become that same .... i want to say that .. i have work on Autocad from 6 years ago ... i now it very will ... im work as Mechanical Desighner/Draftsman. i want to upgrade my experance ... and work with the best software Helping me in my job ((Ravit MEP )) but i Don,t know how can i Start ... can you help me
Rami, There are several online tutorials, books, help within the products, Autodesk and AUGI discussion groups and of course AUGI for free courses. Beyond the tutorials and tips you will learn based on doing work in the product and also drawing on your experience on MEP systems to make it all come together in 3D. Cheers, Shaan
Will Autodesk have any future releases that deal primarily with cleaning up the programming, so that it is not so buggy and bloated? Ever since the yearly release program started, each new version gets more and more bloated, and working on our projects on the company network gets laggy, just running simple commands. Additionally there is functionallity that should be fixed. Tables for one. I have a very large table (roughly 820 rows) that has been extracted from a sheet set. This table works pretty well, until it is broken (wrapped). Then the ram usage goes through the roof and brings my cpu to it's knees. After this wrapping, it literally takes 5+ minutes just to save the file. Also, large sheet sets are pretty laggy running on the interior office network. But when we add outside offices into the project mix, the large sheet sets are awful to use. However, we cannot avoid using them, because of the benefits we receive for plotting, indexing and transmitting the projects. But the building process for these multi-office sheet sets is just painful.
Jason, Good question and concern which we share. While each release may seem "bloated" one of the big challenges is supporting the older features as well as adding and supporting new ones and OS changes. We do have a team that is dedicated to performance and also have a system of double checking code before checking into the build. In addition we have one of the most stringent and complete automated testing systems and top notch QA personnel many who where AutoCAD users before coming to Autodesk and finally an extensive customer beta testing all before release of the products. Nobody inside or outside want bloat or bugs and we do everything possible to prevent them. In some cases it might be someone using a feature like tables for more than it was designed to handle which can be a challenge as it i designed for the most common scenario and use and using beyond that boundary could cause some delays. With time we are always working on features and code based on the feedback from customers like you to improve the product. Thank You, Shaan
Hi there, I was just curious, have you or anyone known of any issues where autoCAD could cause the loss of network drive mapping as well as cause an error message to pop up saying "An unhandled exception has occures insufficient resources exist to complete requested service" then click continue to ignore or hit details. Usually if you hit details it has to do with a JIT Compiler error? We have upgraded our computers to the most possible ram, we are running windows xp service pack 3 (32 bit). This happened once on one person's computer and virtually all day with the network drives coming and going on another person's computer. We have about 30 computers running AutoCAD 2010, network installation. Any known issues or ideas on why this could be the case? I am iffy it's a cad issue but don't really put any bugs past cad anymore (sad to say), the IT guru's think it's CAD. I am still skeptical and think it's something else since if it was CAD I would think it would be happening to a lot more users. Thanks in Advance
Katie, I have not heard of AutoCAD causing loss of drive mappings. It sounds like a system issue or perhaps it is running our of system resources which is causing the problems like too much consumed memory by running applications. Are the drive mappings being lost just in AutoCAD or do you lose them completely from the Windows Explorer as well, if the later it is definitely a system issue with the OS or network. Best Regards, Shaan
I'm looking for a somewhat "standardized" source of electrical symbols (USA) to use in system wiring and interconnect drawings with hi-reliability electronics for aviation, shipboard, and ground-mobile applications, including AC/DC power, circuit protection, wire & cable (single wire, multi-wire cable, twisted-pair, twisted-quad, dual twisted-pair/ethernet, etc.), grounds (power, signal, cable shield, chassis), etc.
Jack, There are some electrical content in the Design Center AutoCAD command ADC as well a Autodesk Seek http://seek.autodesk.com/. Cheers, Shaan
Hi! I used to be a 3D Max user for Rendering, but I've been using AutoCAD Architecture 2008 last year and I’m very happy. It covers my needs, (at the office we need fast results and good quality) but I would like to improve some issues, which I know 3D Max handles better. So my questions ….. 1. Which will be the best option to include Landscaping in my renders? I’ve downloaded a good library of trees and bushes made in AutoCAD, but still not same realism as a RPC. 2. We are updating to 2010, does this version has new improvements compare to 2008 in the render area? Thanks a lot!
Dianny, Both AutoCAD based products and 3ds Max use the same mental ray rendering engine. If you are an AutoCAD Architecture subscription customer there are free downloadable RPC content. http://adt_blog.typepad.com/between_the_walls/2009/04/archvision-rpc-content-download-now-on-autodesk-subscription.html Cheers, Shaan
I used to print in AutoCAD with color and monocrome plot styles, but when I switch to AutoCAD Architecture I only found a AEC standars and AIA plot styles but all print in color. When I try to create a new one I found diferent dialog box and I mess arround with the Plot Style Table Editor. I want to create a monocrome. Can you help me? There's a AU class that show how to do it? Tanks Saludos desde Mexico
Alejandro, You are absolutely right, I had not noticed that. You can create your own CTB by creating a new plotstyle and set all pens to black as that is all the AutoCAD CTB is. I am also going to try to attach the monochrome CTB to this reply.
I am using AutoCad version-9 followed by all the previous version. With the previous versions I never encountered any problem. Now with version-9, I face a little problem constantly that when I use wipeout command and apply a wipeout to an object and get a print, there comes a shaded rectangle around the object I applied wipeout to resulting an undesired output. Is there a command or system variable to control this...? Kindly help me resolve this issue. Thanks
Hashmatullah, Are you sure this is AutoCAD Release 9? AutoCAD Release 9 is from 1987 and would not support features from later releases of AutoCAD such as Wipeout objects. Best Regards, Shaan
How come the command "XLIST" is not in the help literature?
John, The reason why XLIST is not in the main AutoCAD Help is that it is not a core AutoCAD Command but one of the express Tools. There is a Help file for the Express Tool located at C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2010\Express\acet.chm. Thank you for the question. Best Regards, Shaan
On a Revit Architecture based project, we are using the architect's IFC Spaces imported into AutoCAD MEP 2009 (our MEP design software) for gathering the room number and name to create both a room schedule and room tag on the floor plan. I need to know how to make a room number tag that will automatically update with a change to the property set of the space that defines the room number. At present, the room number tag is looking at a manual property set and is, therefore, not automatically updated (even though the schedule does automatically update). Is this possible and what am I missing to accomplish this task? Thanks ahead of time for you consideration of my question.
Hi Greg, I've forwarded the question to an AutoCAD MEP expert, and will get back to you with an answer.
How can I download Impression program. I have used the free trial version. I can not find a site to download or buy this program. I use ACAD LT 2008
Impression is only available at this moment if you are part of the Subscription program for the products listed in this link: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=9246650&siteID=123112 I'm afraid to tell you that LT is not one of them. Guillermo
how can i import coordinates in autocad thru microsoft excel but every points in autocad have definitions because it came from sdr
Shaan wrote a recent blog article on this at http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2009/06/import-xy-coordinates-from-excel-into-autocad.html You should watrch Kean Walmsley's blog http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/
Hi, I'm currently working on a drawing for our city, for a proposed bike path, that is approximately 5000' long. I've created viewports on separate pages in order to show more detail. The problem I'm having is when I scale the viewport to the required 1" to 20' the area I've choosen zooms in to close. What am I doing wrong. Thanks Johnny
Hi John, just want to check which visual style are you using. Are you in 2d or 3d wireframe? Guillermo
Command: _.MOCORO Unknown command "MOCORO". Press F1 for help.
Hi, MOCORO is a command from Express Tools, that lets you move copy and rotate within the same command. Not sure if this was your question :-) Guillermo
Hi - I'm buying a new HP laptop and it comes with the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD. It supports OpenGL 2.0, but has not been tested or recommended by Autodesk. Do you know if this will work for AutoCad 2010 and Revit?
If it's not listed in the Autodesk site, that does not mean it won't work. But I can't give you an answer on that one if our testers have not certified it.
hello, can you explain to me how to delete layers that are not being use, I have tried to delete indiv. layers, I have also tried purge no luke there, so can help me with this issue. thanks norris
If the layer has not been used, you should be able to purge it. Sometimes you don't see anything in there, but maybe there's a block assigned to another layer, that if you explode it, it does have entities belonging to the layer that appears empty. Some releases ago we also introduced a Delete Layer option in the Layers Manager. This one should delete the layer if it really does not have anything. Guillermo
Benefits:
