LD Assistant used for "Deal or No Deal" show.

As the Assistant Lighting Designer and Draftsman for NBC’s hit game show ‘Deal or No Deal’, Simon Cleveland used the symbol library of LD Assistant to quickly create extensive plots and paperwork for Lighting Designer Michael Veerkamp. Cleveland, whose main focuses are theatrical and television lighting, said, “I really use it because it has a very intuitive interface…It makes my job easier.” Cleveland also commented that a background in AutoCAD made it the obvious choice, due to its RealDWG integration. “By knowing AutoCAD, I was able to move right into it. I have had theaters that forced me to use other software solutions. With LD Assistant, I didn’t have to learn something new.” The industry standard design and paperwork solution from Design & Drafting Software is a ‘Powered by RealDWG’ application, guaranteeing that files are created, edited, and saved in a native AutoDesk file format, eliminating data-corrupting file conversions between designers.

LD Assistant at Houston’s Second Baptist Church

From day one of a massive lighting overhaul for Houston’s Second Baptist Church, LD Richard Cadena’s creative and technical workflow relied on industry-standard LD Assistant from Design & Drafting Software. “I started using LD Assistant when another lighting CAD program I had
choked on a large AutoCAD file an architect had sent me for a lighting design project I started, and I've been using it since.” Making full use of the built-in features, Cadena said, “I use it to draw my plot, build 3D models, calculate my illumination, and create renderings.” From there, Cadena creates everything from equipment inventories to electrical plans; all inside of a native AutoCAD file format. “What makes it the best solution is that it uses an Autodesk AutoCAD engine, so it's compatible with AutoCAD. When I send out files, I never have problems with compatibility issues. It just works.”

Blue Water Technologies of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is using LD Assistant

Blue Water Technologies of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is using industry standard design software, LD Assistant, to communicate the details of projects from beginning to end. Mark Wilson, Creative Director at Blue Water Technologies, says that he has a creative drafting background, and that the groundbreaking application from Design & Drafting Software offers him a huge advantage in three key areas of his workflow. “I use it as a sales tool with my customers, as a production tool with my staff, and as a management tool with facility managers. The 3D visuals allow me to quickly show my customers the added value of specific project choices, while the timeline features allow me to use it as a working document for the crew. I am able to offer a full production schedule to facility managers, helping to ensure that I don’t end up with a cocktail round set up where I have to hang a truss.”

LD Assistant at Cine Services, Inc.

Cine Services, Inc., of St. Louis, has recently finished a spate of systems integration projects, relying heavily on the industry standard LD Assistant application from Design & Drafting Software. John Burkley, owner of Cine Services, commented that the bulk of the company’s work is design and installation of dimming and control systems for small, medium, and large facilities. “I love the fact that when an architect sends me an AutoCAD, I can open it up with LD Assistant, add in the control and dimming, then send it right back in the exact same format.” As a ‘Powered by RealDWG’ application, LD Assistant handles all AutoCAD files natively, eliminating import and export procedures that can corrupt or destroy embedded data. Burkley added, “For me, the most important part of LD Assistant is the AutoCAD platform.”

Tips & tricks in LD Assistant

System Variables - The Cool Stuff. LD Assistant/AutoCAD has dozens of system variables - so many; in fact, it's tough to keep track of them all. I thought it might be useful to mention a few that will solve a problem or just make your everyday drawing life a little bit easier.

1. OSNAP - OSNAP can be both helpful and frustrating at the same time when it comes on and you do not want it to. The next time you need to snap to an object give this a try. Turn off OSNAP by putting your cursor over the OSNAP button and do a right mouse click. Now turn off OSNAP by using the clear all button. Close and start to draw a polyline. When you need to snap to another object, just hold down the SHIFT key and hit the right mouse button and up pops the right context menu with all the snaps available.
   
2. FILEDIA - Today I just had someone who needed this command. If you are no longer getting the file dialog when you're issuing such commands as OPEN or SAVEAS - make sure this is set to 1.
   
3. SURFTAB - Sets the number of tabulations to be generated for the RULESURF and TABSURF commands. Also sets the mesh density in the M direction for the REVSURF and EDGESURF commands.

More useful commands.

1. SAVEIMG - Saving an image of what's in the drawing area - The next time you need to save a line drawing or a rendering. On the command line type SAVEIMG and hit the enter key. This opens up a dialog box that allows you to save the image.
   
2. GROUP - A group is a saved set of objects you can select and edit together or separately as needed. Groups provide an easy way to combine drawing elements that you need to manipulate as a unit. If you enter - group at the Command prompt, GROUP displays prompts on the command line, /Order/Add/Remove/Explode/REName/Selectable/Create. ctrl + a turns grouped objects on and off in LD Assistant.
   
3. RENAME - Use RENAME to change the names of these objects. You can also use RENAME to view a list of all blocks and definition table entries in the current drawing. You can use the wild-card characters * and ? to rename groups of objects. You can't rename some standard objects, such as layer 0 and the CONTINUOUS linetype.
   
4. ALIGN - Use ALIGN to move, rotate, or scale objects into alignment with other objects. Add source points to the objects you want to align, and add destination points to the objects which you want the source objects to align. You can add up to three pairs of source and destination points to align an object.
   

Are You Using DWF? - Let's face it - at some point in time you're going to need to send your designs to someone who doesn't have AutoCAD...so what is your preferred method of choice? I'd say most of us choose one of the following three:

1. Print the drawing out and physically mail it.
2. Convert the drawing to PDF and email it.
3. Convert the drawing to DWF.

I like using #3... DWF files are Smarter, Smaller and Simpler...and you don't have to purchase any extra software to create a DWF file like you do with that "other" file format. It's easy to publish your design as a DWF out of Design & Drafting and Autodesk design applications. Then tell your clients to simply download the free DWF viewer from the Autodesk website or you can get it right here: Free DWF Viewer.
PDF is definitely the best format for many types of files. Use it all the time at Design & Drafting. But when it comes to your design information - DWF is a much better route to take. You spend all that time working hard on your drawings - why would you risk sending them out in a second-rate format? You want your drawings to shine! You wouldn't print them out on a dot-matrix printer would you? Over 7 million of the DWF viewers have been downloaded from autodesk.com. Check it out today!

Adding textures to LD Assistant

See what a texture will look like before mapping it to an object. Advanced previewing allows user to see what textures look like before selection. With the release of LD Assistant 04, you can add images for textures as easy as dropping them into the LD Textures folder. Keep the image size to under 800 X 800 pixels. Once you have added the texture, you will be able to see the image of the texture in the LD Materials Palette. The new palette allows a clear review of what the texture will look like when attached to an object.

Grouping objects in LD Assistant or AutoCAD

Enter GROUP in the Command line, to display the group dialog box. Ctrl + a, turns a group on or off. By turning off a group, one object in a group can then be removed, then turn the group back on using ctrl + a.

• To create a group:
  1) At the Command prompt, enter group.
  2) In the Object Grouping dialog box under Group Identification, enter a group name and a description.
  3) In the Create Group area, click New. The dialog box closes temporarily.
  4) Select objects and press ENTER.
  5) Click OK.
  
• To toggle group selection:
  At any time, toggle group selection on and off by pressing either CTRL+H or SHIFT+CTRL+A.
  
• To delete a named group:
  At the Command prompt, enter GROUP. In the Object Grouping dialog box, select the group name from the list of groups. Under Change Group, choose Explode. Choose OK. The group is deleted.
  
• To reorder group members:
  At the Command prompt, enter GROUP. In the Object Grouping dialog box under Change Group, choose Reorder. In the Order Group dialog box under Group Name, select the group to reorder. To view the current order of this group, choose Highlight. In the Object Grouping dialog box, choose Next or Previous to view the objects. Choose OK when you have finished viewing the order of the objects. In the Order Group dialog box under Remove From Position, enter an object number. Then under Enter New Position Number for the Object, enter a new position. Under Number of Objects, enter the object number or range of numbers to reorder. Then choose Re-Order. Choose OK to close each dialog box.