Website Links

 

http://www.dotsoft.com/index.htm
Terry Dotson’s DotSoft

DotSoft is a software company that has many useful CAD add-ons as well as stand alone products. Many of these tools work in both AutoCAD & BricsCAD (which many people are starting to switch to as their main CAD platform). There is the popular ToolPac which is like a mix between AutoCAD’s express tools on steroids and a common sense approach to how tools should work in AutoCAD. C3D Tools is a set of tools that works specifically with Civil 3D.
Both sets of tools not only speeds up your productivity, but they extend the program by allowing you to do things that your out-of-the-box CAD program can’t do. They honestly open up new possibilities with your CAD projects.

http://streamlined-design.blogspot.com/

Streamlined Design is a great blog that addresses some approaches as a CAD/BIM Manager/Admin and a .NET programmer. There are also some general AutoCAD user tips available but the best part that I get from the blog is how Tim approaches delivering needed content in an efficient and flexible manner. There are many other approaches that I have seen explained from other CAD Managers/Admins that seem too rigid and controlling, thus limiting how the end CAD user can customize THEIR working environment. I Find this blog to be a refreshing approach that many can benefit from.

http://lynn.blogs.com/
 Lynn Allen may cover all things Autodesk, but her heart is in AutoCAD. She posts tips & tricks for AutoCAD users and she has a Tips and Tricks class at Autodesk University each year. She is very thoughtful and is always learning about new technologies that help us design more efficiently.
I think that for AU next year, I will submit a class called “61 Tips in 60 Minutes” instead of Lynn’s “60 Tips in 60 Minutes” just to see her reaction ;)

http://cadsetterout.com/
The CAD Setter Out is a great resource to learn about AutoCAD & Autodesk Inventor. The blog is run by a good friend Paul Munford who lives “across the pond”. I genuinely admire his passion for being involved in all things design-oriented and his expertise with AutoCAD & Inventor.

http://www.74mph.com/

Seriously – this is by far the most productive AutoCAD batch processor available!!! There are batch processors that do plotting, but that is nothing compared to what Hurricane can do for your drawings and for the savings of an entire project. Updating or changing attributes in titleblocks… easy. Swapping out blocks or doing edits on specific layout tabs… Hurricane can do that as well. There are so many abilities that this utility can do it is worth checking out their website (of course) but check out their youtube channel to see hurricane in action [HERE]

www.theswamp.org

The swamp forums are a great place to hang out and get your feet wet when you are learning to code LISP routines. There are many helpful programmers willing to help with questions. There are a lot of routines to be found just lying around over there too. You will have to register and wait to be granted access though, but the wait is worth it. The swamp is free but donations are accepted to help with keeping it online.

www.lee-mac.com

Lee is awesome! He is a swamper too, but don’t hold that against him. He helps a lot of people with their questions & problems with LISP. His site has a lot of free programs that are great but the most useful part of his site is the tutorials and explanations of his code. If you really want to learn how to code well, his site is a great resource. Lee likes to post a piece of code in a forum and then tries to improve on what he already posted. It is actually fun to see what he comes up with. Don’t forget that Lee is also available for specific Custom Programming for a reasonable fee.

www.cadtutor.net

 

 

CADTutor has a lot to offer. There are plenty of forums and tutorials and it is all free!!

Autodesk forums
There are a lot of forums for the various Autodesk products. Most likely, you either find an answer to your question in an existing post or someone will help you.

CAD Panacea
This is R.K. McSwain’s blog. He brings a lot of experience and valuable tips to his blog. He is also currently “Hot Tip Harry” over at Cadalyst.com And you might recognize R.K. from various forums as he responds to many posts and has even received the “Expert Elite” status from Autodesk which is a distinguished title given to few people like R.K. because of their contributions on their forums.