blads blog

As a trainer in CAD software, you are always on a journey updating your skills and technical expertise, usually its via printed materials, i.e. training guides, books, etc and other sources. In fact, my merge little collection of IMAGINiT Training Guides is starting to pile up... I am now thoroughly overjoyed that I have access to all my training guides in Ascent's eBook format.   The eBooks contain the exact same content as their printed versions, with one major exception - they are in full colour and so much easier to read.  The books are installed utilising the VitalSource Bookshelf system to download and view your collection.  They can be installed on Mac or Windows computers and on iPads and smartphones. The VitalSource BookShelf browser enables the user to search the contents of the books, or with their eBook library.  You can zoom in and out, a handy feature when using an iPad, Tablet or smartphone, when viewing images that contain dimensions or othe...

Wow, its been a while since I posted anything... my bad.  So a brief summary what's been happening since... BDA National Conference 2012 Held in april at the national maritime museum, darling harbour, nsw whilst numbers were a bit down, it was great to catch up with "old" friends from around the country. this year the conference featured pecha kucha styled presentations, that is a format that is based on 20 images x 20 seconds per image - its a format that makes presentations concise and keeps things moving... there was even one from yours truly on all things - bladams wine cellar :) Revit Technology Conference, aka RTC AUS 2012 Held in May at the Novotel Resort, Wollongong. What a great conference, this time participating as a Sponsor. I had the privilege to go and represent IMAGINiT Technologies on their trade booth and as principle sponsor of the gala dinner on Saturday evening.   Some interesting snippets of information learnt during the ...

News this week - the beloved AUGI Forums has had a long awaited  upgrade of the forum software to vBulletin 4.1.11  and its looking pretty slick but don't take my word for it - go Visit the AUGI Forums Whilst this version of software has many new features, at this time, AUGI are only implementing the ones we already have active. Others will be implemented as they are tested and they become Board approved. I can tell you though, that there is a new mobile skin for the site that is implemented automatically if you browse to the website using a supported mobile device.  :) I hope your experience with this upgrade goes as smooth as possible, as mine did... Late last week, the March edition of AUGIWorld was released. This edition featured Tips, Tricks & Techniques including some great Jay Z's Revit Tips n' Tricks and Mark Kiker's Mac Apps

Yes it's on again…  a Vegas-styled Australian Autodesk University summit…      The Summit is a series of events held throughout Australia, which  starts in Sydney on March 13, will be in Adelaide and Melbourne on March 16 and March 21 respectively, before concluding in Brisbane on March 23.        The full-day program offers elective options throughout so that attendees can focus on topics specific to their job.   The two IMAGINiT speakers who will be presenting at the Summit from the United States are Carl Smith and Alex McCarthy. Carl Smith, an Autodesk certified instructor, sought after speaker and blogger, will deliver the manufacturing focused sessions, whilst Alex McCarthy, a Revit platform, sustainability and BIM expert, will deliver the Autodesk Revit and BIM related sessions. Some of the topics that they will cover include collaboration, design automation, green design, Revit MEP simulation and visualisation.   ...

  This beautiful old  historic building located in Williamstown, South Australia is home to Domain Day cellar door   which has some unique wines  from its cool climate vineyards.   A particular wine favourite of mine, Saperavi, has proved difficult to find in SA until now and Domain Day's version is simply gorgeous… Highly Recommended :)   On arrival, we were greeted by   their cellar door manager, Jimmy Day - his passion for his wines was infectcious and we treated to not only delicious Saperavi tastings but other styles as well.  For the uninitiated Saperavi  is a red wine grape variety that is a native of Georgia in the former Soviet Union where the  grapes are known for their dark pink flesh and very dark skins, from which they get their name.  It makes a intensely deep purple coloured wine with great tannins to give outstanding cellaring potential.

The best thing I ever did was switch from PC to Mac OSX which seems like eons ago now…   Since then, many other friends and relatives have also switched and have asked me for a list of my favourite free (or low cost) "tools" or "apps" for the Mac that will make their lives easier… This is what I've come up with so far (in no particular order)... RoaringApps Not an App but an extremely useful website wiki to check compatibility for Mac OSX Lion and now iOS 5.  Exceeding useful if you're thinking of upgrading from Snow Leopard to Lion Dropbox Everyone knows Dropbox for their amazing file-sharing service. Drag any file into the Dropbox folder and it automatically gets shared. Sign up for a free account and you automatically get 2GB to share with your friends. Set up shared folders and anything you drop will be instantly downloaded by others. Need mobile access to your files? There’s an iPhone app just for that. Th...

Before I get back into work mode, thought it'd be great to ramp up my cycling, so with the aid of one of my favourite iPhone apps BikeBrain Lite… I started the week, Sunday 2012-01-01 with a great ride down past the Sturt River Linear bikeway - just the thing needed to clear out the cobwebs from the previous night's activities. Day 2 didn't according to plan, shortly after setting out at the Athelstone end of the River Torrens Linear Park bikeway, I happened  along a group of joggers who didn't wish to share the path which unfortunately resulted in some "nice" battle scars… After having an unplanned rest-day 3, Tues. 2012-01-03, started moderately early in the morning with a ride down to Glenelg from Hallett Cove to meet friend, fellow trainer & this morning's riding partner.     Yesterday, Thursday 2012-01005, saw a more leisurely ride part way along the Encounter bikeway along with friends and their kids. Great scenery and a great ...

Wow, its been a while since I posted my analysis of my iTunes Library (April 2010)… since then I've had a bit of a splurge on music / cd's which I love listening to whilst working… From my first analysis this was my summary (refer link ) since then my library has grown somewhat Wow… my Track count has increased by 73.5% and artist count increased by almost 33% and my most played genres are…