LD Assistant 2010 Releases March 22, 2010

Dear LD Assistant User,

I am proud to announce the release of LD Assistant Ac 2010. This release brings a number of new important 3D CAD features and new menus.

It is our company’s vision to provide software that is easy to use that increases productive and wins more business. This release accomplishes all three! It has been a long time coming and we have a lot blood, sweat and tears into making this release a solution with features that will make you more money.

Most importantly, LD Assistant uses Autodesk’s AutoCAD® 2010 DWG file format making LD Assistant the only CAD Program in our industry that is 100% AutoCAD® DWD, no other CAD software in our industry can make that claim. Additionally, we want to thank all of our customers for the feedback on how to make LD Assistant a more robust program.

Thank you for being a loyal customer.

Rufus Warren President
Design & Drafting

LD Assistant Ac 08 Licensed Users
LD Assistant Ac 08 & 08.5 users, you will be able to purchase the upgrade package for $595.00.

LD Assistant Ac 04 Licensed Users
LD Assistant Ac 04 & 04.5 users, you will be able to purchase the upgrade package for $1,795.00.
NOTE: 04 users this will be your last chance to upgrade your Ac 04 version.

AutoCAD Plug-ins Users

LD Assistant PL 08 Licensed Users
LD Assistant PL 08 & 08.5 users, you will be able to purchase the upgrade package for $495.00.

LD Assistant PL 04 Licensed Users
LD Assistant PL 04 & 04.5 users, you will be able to purchase the upgrade package for $1,000.00.
NOTE: 04 users this will be the last chance to upgrade your Ac 04 version.

Visit Design & Drafting eCart or call sales at 708-499-0107 to place your order.

If you purchased LD Assistant Ac or PL 08.5 in the last 45 days, contact us for your free upgrade.

Featured LD Assistant User DJ Seibert

DJ Seibert has been using LD Assistant software to aid in his

projects since 2003.

“LD Assistant gives me the ability to show the client what they

can expect to see when the job is completed. The visualization

with renderings really helps them understand what it is they are

getting with the design,” says DJ.

DJ Seibert designs theatrical lighting, audio, and video for

auditoriums, sanctuaries, theaters, TV studios, black box

theaters, cafeterias, and gymnasiums in education and

religious facilities. DJ has been with Snyder Hoffman for the

past 11 years as a designer. He also has 25 years experience

as an owner of his own production company.

March 2010 Featured Article

• CAD Drawings & Standards in Theatres - by Steve Green and David Ripley     Intended to be usable across all CAD programs, the ABTT CAD Standards are based on work by members of the Standards Working party: Matthew Attwood, Alan Bartlett, Robert Batchelor, Chris Dyer, Steve Green, Colin Maxwell, Alison Southern, and Anthony Waterman. Complied by Steve Green and David Ripley.    USITT has a general Graphic Standard intended to be used by both scenery designers and scenic technicians. The Lighting Design Standard provides guidelines for anyone, from technicians to the production team to clearly to understand the intent of the lighting designer. USITT also has a Standard that covers Portfolio Guidelines for Designers that includes helpful examples  of paperwork, concept sketches and lighting plots.

LD Assistant - March 2010 Explained Features

LD Assistant's  LOFT


Controls the draft angle and magnitude of the first and last cross sections of the lofted solid or surface. The draft angle is the beginning direction of the surface. 0 is defined as outward from the plane of the curve. (LOFTNORMALS system variable)

March 2010 - Autodesk News

• Autodesk® Expands Project Cooper to Design
Enthusiasts Globally
   

Simple, Hassle-Free 2D Drawing Software - Ideal for quick design work,

Project Cooper* sketching software enables you to draw accurate, detailed

plans and layouts to scale using simple 2D drawing tools, predrawn symbols,

and sample drawings. Because the software produces files in one of the

most widely used design formats, it’s easy to share your drawings with clients,

architects, and other project partners. Click here to keep reading ...

Click here to see an overview .. Click here for free download.

* Limited Time Offer. Project Cooper is a free preview of new drawing, drafting,

and sketching software.

• Autodesk 3D Technology Powers First Animated
Feature Movie and Game

  

Autodesk® has announced that its 3D modeling, animation and rendering

software was a primary tool used by Ilion Animation Studios and Pyro Studios

to help create the “Planet 51” video game and movie. The software was used

 throughout the pipeline of both the game and film to help produce a visually

rich and believable alien world with the look of 1950s America. To date,

“Planet 51” is the biggest budget animated film produced in Europe.

Click here to keep reading.

March 2010 - Design & Drafting News

• Visit InfoComm Las Vegas June 9-11  and stay for CAD Training

• LD Assistant Ac & AutoCAD  w/LD Assistant PL CAD Training June 12-14  Visit InfoComm and stay for LD Assistant/AutoCAD Training!         LD Assistant Las Vegas CAD training is being hosted by Pat Bash of In-House Production.         This hands-on training provides an introduction to the essential skills of using LD Assistant to create light plots. Attendees will discover the advantages of today’s object-based lighting design program: create a light plot using the built in tools and instrument data, generate paperwork, create real-time walkthroughs with video and audio playing back and more! click here for more information or to reserve your seat.

• LD Assistant is Powered by Autodesk Technology     Autodesk Technology means LD Assistant is the ONLY CAD program that's 100% AutoCAD DWG.     No Other Program in our industry can make that claim.       LD Assistant uses Autodesk’s AutoCAD DWG file format. DWG is the native format for AutoCAD software and AutoCAD-based products. Autodesk owns, develops, and iterates the DWG file format. The DWG format changes every few years, as Autodesk adds new features to AutoCAD.     Several reverse engineered software libraries exist that simulate the DWG file format with various levels of success in providing DWG read and write capabilities. With NINE MILLION users and over a billion AutoCAD DWG files in existence, no wonder other CAD software companies want you to believe that they can import and export to DWG without any problems!     • LD Assistant Support     Text Size & Color: After creating a plot you may want to change the color or size of the text on a few blocks to highlight important data. With LD Assistant it's easy to modify blocks, rotate truss and create new moving light profiles. Click here to see how easy it is to change the text and color on any LD Assistant block. Understanding Group: ctrl + a   will turn the Group on and off. Click here to learn more about Group.

March 2010 News

• InfoComm 2010 - Conference: June 5-11 Exhibition: June -11 Las Vegas -More than 32,000 professionals from 90+ countries are expected in Las Vegas. Make plans now to join your peers and colleagues this June and discover why InfoComm is the premier event for the AV industry.  Click here to learn more

• Free AutoCAD Trial - with 3D free-form design tools, parametric drawing capabilities, and PDF import, AutoCAD® delivers the power and flexibility to take documentation and design further.  Click here for your Free AutoCAD Trial

• New Opportunities for Green Design - As calls for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resound globally, the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry must answer. After all, buildings—not vehicles or industry—are the leading source of GHG emissions, a fact not known to 95 percent of Americans. Click here to keep reading

• 3D models come to the iPhone - Interactive, 3D product documentation is going mobile, targeting non-CAD users such as repair technicians. For example, Autodesk Inventor Publisher Technology Preview, a free download from Autodesk Labs, supports the creation of interactive 3D assembly instructions, operating procedures, repair instructions, and the like. Click here to keep reading

• Autodesk Establishes R&D Presence in Israel - Autodesk, Inc. a leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, has established a research and development center in Tel Aviv, to help drive the development of emerging technologies such as web-based design and collaboration software. With the addition of Israel to Autodesk’s global development network, Autodesk now operates development centers in more than 14 countries around the world.  Click here to keep reading

March 2010 Articles

• Understanding Dimensioning - e-book - Daily AutoCAD

• AutoCAD 2008 Material Definition Toolpalette - e-book - Daily AutoCAD

• 18 page PDF document of Erhan Toker which are about dynamic blocks in AutoCAD - e-book - Daily AutoCAD

• 16 Landscape Symbols in 2D Plan View - e-book - Daily AutoCAD

• Marking Revisions with a Revision Cloud : using REVCLOUD command to add revision cloud in AutoCAD, Ellen Finkelstein.com

• Understanding UCS: To become a master in 3D Modeling you have to learn UCS issue

• Free Electric Symbols Library for AutoCAD - e-book - Daily AutoCAD

• Something Nice and Useful: Copy Objects Effortlessly Using the Right Mouse Button - AutoCAD tips, Gultekin Ozkan, Daily AutoCAD

• Standards Enforcement Tools : using batch standards checker in AutoCAD to check DWG files for standards compliance, Robert Green, Cadalyst

• AutoCAD 2010: New System Variable to Fade XREFs - XDWGFADECTL system variable to control fading of XREFs, CAD Addict

• Underlay in AutoCAD 2010 : snapping to graphic elements in underlay, underlay files in Xrefs, Mark Kiker, CADDManager Blog

• Attaching PDF Files in AutoCAD 2010 : attaching as underlay to drawing file, Mark Kiker, CADDManager Blog

• The X Factor : Placing Text Above and Below Dimension Lines - enter '\X' instead of pressing Enter button to get TYP text below line in AutoCAD, Donnie Gladfelter, The CAD Geek,

• Managing Display Settings : controlling color, linetype, lineweight; organizing layers in AutoCAD, Brian Benton

• Everybody Can Draw Springs Without the Helix Command : defining path of spring in AutoCAD, Gultekin Ozkan, Daily AutoCAD

March 2010 Reviews

• Asus packs an Eee PC Netbook with Nvidia Ion and a dual-core Intel Atom : Hot on the heels of the well-regarded HP Mini 311, Asus has moved the Netbook bar forward by taking a 12-inch Netbook chassis and including both Nvidia's Ion graphics and a dual-core version of Intel's Atom processor  (called the Atom 330). We've previously seen dual-core Atoms only in a handful of Nettop desktops,  because of heat issues, and it's unlikely we'd see one in anything smaller than a 12-inch laptop body.

• HP Pavilion dv7-3065dx : At $1,299, the dv7 remains relatively slim for a gaming laptop, but with a GeForce 230M GPU, it's not really an enthusiast machine. Instead, consider its greatest assets to be the Core i7, a massive 17.3-inch screen, and higher-end Altec Lansing speakers, making this a compelling desktop home theater.

• HP Envy 15-1050nr : Intel Core i7 720QM / 1.6 GHz ( Quad-Core ), 6 GB / 16 GB (max), 500 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 7200 rpm, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, ATI Radeon HD 4830, 15.6 in TFT active matrix, EPA Energy Star, 5.1 lbs

• Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q850 : Intel Core i7 720 QM / 1.60 GHz ( Quad-Core ), 6 GB / 8 GB (max), 64 GB Solid State Drive - Serial ATA-150, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M, 18.4 in TFT active matrix, RoHS, 10.1 lbs

March 2010 Jobs

• Swank Audio Visual : Part-Time Olympic Valley, CA 96146

• TEKsystems : AV/TELECOM technician who will be responsible for various audio and video  conferencing and cabling responsibilities

• AV Systems Engineer : experience in the design and integration of medium to large scale  commercial Audio Visual Control Systems

• AV Supervisor : Professional AV person will be hired to provide audio visual (AV) and video conferencing support and management for meetings at a customer site in Charlotte, North Carolina.