Whether users need to learn how to create and use “families” or understand how to draw unusual shapes and “weird” walls, this series of Revit Architecture libraries demonstrates how to do it all, with video tutorials that provide easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions.

While the Revit training courses and tutorials included in the libraries are suitable to train people from the ground up, they can also be used by experienced Revit users to fill in any gaps of knowledge they may have. Each library consists of a series of courses that cover essential topics such as “families”, interior layout tools and MEP (Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing) coordination. Each course contains specific video tutorials and tips that help users fully understand and be able to apply the information. Additionally, since the courses in each library are fully searchable, they also serve as a reference guide during and after training, for all levels of Revit expertise.

The training is considerably more affordable than sending users out for training and can be delivered whenever most convenient. The courses, taught by a recognized expert in the field, provide a systematic approach to training. However, students have the flexibility to review or train on specific topics, functions or tools that may be needed for a project currently being worked on. “With no travel costs, no instructor costs, no scheduling to worry about and a systematic approach that teaches best practices, this training makes Revit users billable faster and helps get projects done faster while maintaining high accuracy standards”, says Mike Arroyo, Axiom’s world-renowned CAD-training evangelist.

Each of the courses is filled with video tutorials and broken down into easily assimilable sections of about 30 minutes, allowing users to gain significant expertise in a short period of time. The courses:

• Provide a systematic approach to training with the flexibility to train on a specific topics that may be needed for a project currently being worked on.
• Are taught using video tutorials allowing users to see exactly how to do something.
• Are completely searchable, making them a useful reference guide both during and after training.
• Have short, 30-minute training modules making it easier to grasp the materials.
• Are taught by a recognized expert in the field.

This new set of on-line courses uses LearningBay’s Professional Development Hours (also known as Continuing Education Hours) format, allowing users to count study time toward their professional license renewal (in states where permitted). Each course comes with the following:

• Videos covering the materials of the course.
• Step-by-step labs and sample files, allowing students to practice on actual drawing files.
• Instructor Notes, where the instructor expresses insights or has tips relating to the lesson pages.
• A course syllabus, complete with a course description, course objectives, a list of topics and a course completion plan.
• Student worksheets to make it easy to document student progress.

As an online solution, LearningBay is affordable, easy to use and can be quickly implemented in virtually any office with an Internet connection. (Companies can also host learning content themselves, host the content on a dedicated server managed by Axiom or purchase the learning content on CDs or DVDs.)

CAD Managers can create new courses by combining Axiom’s courseware with customized information that can come from a variety of sources such as Word documents, web pages, videos and other sources or by customizing existing courses. Because Axiom’s courses are broken up into discrete units, CAD managers can easily modify these units to include proprietary knowledge and procedures.

All courses include videos, labs, worksheets and a course syllabus and are backed by Axiom’s support team.

How to Contact Axiom
For more information on LearningBay or to see a free, online demonstration of Revit training courses, call Axiom at 727-442-7774 extension 2963, e-mail 2963@AxiomInt.com or visit Axiom on the Web at http://LearningBay.com/revit/.

About Axiom
Axiom is one of the world’s most experienced developers of time-saving CAD software solutions. Axiom focuses on making CAD work easier by creating time-saving and productivity-boosting tools and training, based on real-world problems CAD users encounter. Based in Clearwater, Florida, Axiom has been developing software for over 25 years.

This new release, the first in a series of libraries for Revit, contains 12 browser-based courses with a total of 573 videos providing easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions on how to use Revit. While this series of Revit training courses is suitable for beginners, the courses can also be used by experienced Revit users to fill in any gaps of knowledge they may have. As all of the courses are searchable, this also makes an excellent reference guide allowing users to quickly find information on how to use a specific Revit function or tool.

The training is considerably more affordable than sending users out for training and can be delivered whenever most convenient. This “always on” training means it can be accessed as often as users like, for training, review or refresher whenever it’s needed. “With no travel costs, no instructor costs, no waiting and no scheduling to worry about, this training makes Revit users billable faster and at a reduced cost,” says Mike Arroyo, Axiom’s world-renowned CAD-training evangelist.

Each of the courses is broken down into easily assimilable sections, allowing users to spend as little as 30 minutes a day on study. The courses cover topics such as learning how to:

• Use templates, define grids, create levels and generate sheets.
• Work with interior layout tools.
• Create and modify slabs with details on using other tools, such as Offset, Trim and Align.
• Load Revit families (such as columns, piers and footings), create floor plans and adjust the view range.
• Orient a view and work with 3D views.

The courses also cover, in depth, essential topics such as building information modeling (BIM), using visualization tools and working with title blocks.

This new set of on-line courses uses LearningBay’s Professional Development Hours (also known as Continuing Education Hours) format, allowing users to count study time toward their professional license renewal (in states where permitted). Each course comes with the following:

• Videos covering the materials of the course.
• Step-by-step labs and sample files, allowing students to practice on actual drawing files.
• Instructor Notes, where the instructor expresses insights or has tips relating to the lesson pages.
• A course syllabus, complete with a course description, course objectives, a list of topics and a course completion plan.
• Student worksheets to make it easy to document student progress.

As an online solution, LearningBay is affordable, easy to use and can be quickly implemented in virtually any office with an Internet connection. (Companies can also host learning content themselves, host the content on a dedicated server managed by Axiom or purchase the learning content on CDs or DVDs.)

CAD Managers can create new courses by combining Axiom’s courseware with customized information that can come from a variety of sources such as Word documents, web pages, videos and other sources or by customizing existing courses. Because Axiom’s courses are broken up into discrete units, CAD managers can easily modify these units to include proprietary knowledge and procedures.

All courses include videos, labs, worksheets and a course syllabus and are backed by Axiom’s support team.

How to Contact Axiom
For more information on LearningBay or to see a free, online demonstration of Revit training courses, call Axiom at 727-442-7774 extension 2913, e-mail 2913@AxiomInt.com or visit Axiom on the Web at http://LearningBay.com/revit/.

About Axiom
Axiom is one of the world’s most experienced developers of time-saving CAD software solutions and the largest third-party provider of general-purpose add-ons for MicroStation. Axiom focuses on making CAD work easier by creating time-saving and productivity-boosting tools based on real-world problems CAD users encounter. Based in Clearwater, Florida, Axiom has been developing software for over 25 years.

Revit is produced by Autodesk, Incorporated, of San Rafael, California. LearningBay and Axiom are trademarks of Axiom. Revit is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Incorporated.

###

For Immediate Release

Press Contact:
Kris Nickerson
Press@AxiomInt.com
727-442-7774

Axiom
1805 Drew Street
Clearwater, Florida 33765

The first in a series of libraries for AutoCAD 2011, this new release contains ten browser-based courses with a total of 289 informative videos and 212 pages of course instruction. While this series of AutoCAD training courses is suitable for beginners, the courses can also be used by experienced AutoCAD users to fill in any gaps of knowledge they may have — especially when moving from a previous version of AutoCAD.

The training is considerably more affordable than sending users out for training and can be delivered whenever most convenient. This “always on” training means it can be accessed as often as users like, for training, review or refresher whenever it’s needed. “With no travel costs, no instructor costs, no waiting and no scheduling to worry about, this training makes AutoCAD users billable faster and at a reduced cost,” says Mike Arroyo, Axiom’s world-renowned CAD-training evangelist.

As an online solution, LearningBay is affordable, easy to use and can be quickly implemented in virtually any office with an Internet connection. (Companies can also host learning content themselves, host the content on a dedicated server managed by Axiom or purchase the learning content on CDs or DVDs.) LearningBay is far less expensive than classroom training and also includes the ability to test and evaluate the skills of users and automatically builds remedial content based on the results. Student enrollments, progress and test scores are a useful tool for managers and instructors to evaluate their departmental learning activities.

Each of the courses is broken down into easily assimilable sections, allowing users to spend as little as 30 minutes a day on study. The courses cover topics such as learning how to:

• Effectively use and customize the Quick Access toolbar.
• Build personal workspaces using the AutoCAD ribbon.
• Work with the Application window in the AutoCAD drawing environment.
• Open and switch between multiple drawings and use Drawing window tools to control what portion of the drawing is displayed.
• Plot and publish drawings.

The course also covers, in-depth, essential topics such as the ribbon interface, the Drawing window, the Status bar and basic drawing techniques.

This new set of on-line courses uses LearningBay’s Professional Development Hours (also known as Continuing Education Hours) format, allowing users to count study time toward their professional license renewal (in states where permitted). Each course comes with the following:

• Videos covering the materials of the course.
• Step-by-step labs and sample files, allowing students to practice on actual drawing files.
• Instructor Notes, where the instructor expresses insights or has tips relating to the lesson pages.
• A course syllabus, complete with a course description, course objectives, a list of topics and a course completion plan.
• Student worksheets to make it easy to document student progress.

How to Contact Axiom
For more information on LearningBay or to see a free, online demonstration, call Axiom at 727-442-7774 extension 2613 or e-mail 2613@AxiomInt.com or visit LearningBay on the Web at www.LearningBay.com/autocad/ to find out more about LearningBay’s AutoCAD 2011 training courses.

About Axiom
Axiom is one of the world’s most experienced developer of time-saving CAD software solutions and the largest third-party provider of general-purpose add-ons for MicroStation. Axiom focuses on making CAD work easier by creating time-saving and productivity-boosting tools based on real-world problems CAD users encounter. Based in Clearwater, Florida, Axiom has been developing software for over 25 years.

AutoCAD is produced by Autodesk, Incorporated, of San Rafael, California. LearningBay, and Axiom are trademarks of Axiom. AutoCAD is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Incorporated.

###

For Immediate Release

Press Contact:
Kris Nickerson
Press@AxiomInt.com
727-442-7774

Axiom
1805 Drew Street
Clearwater, Florida 33765

See how to easily toggle off a Layer by selecting an associated object that resides on it. This tutorial, from our AutoCAD 2011 Essentials Advanced: 418-A — Open Viewports, is one of hundreds tutorials in our AutoCAD 2011 courses.

Flexible. Searchable. Affordable
Find out you how you can produce more … faster … with the level of accuracy you’ve come to expect by having the exact video tutorials you need, when you need it for the project you’re working on now. Simply fill out the form on the right for more information.

Clearwater, Florida, USA — ”V8i training? We don’t have the budget for that.” That is a typical response that many CAD users and managers are getting today. There seem to be fewer engineers and drafters around and those that remain are needed to work on the projects at hand. Sending people out for training just doesn’t seem to be an option due to both the direct costs (including travel costs) and lost production time. Doing training in-house, while saving the travel costs, still isn’t cheap either and often consumes more valuable billable hours than management is comfortable with giving up. Yet, you’re still left with the nightmare of training users — as well as yourself — on the upgrade to V8i with all its attendant interface changes and new features. On top of that, you must integrate this new version of MicroStation seamlessly into projects and workflow without any flubs or hiccups. How do you get users quickly trained on V8i without losing valuable production time?

Have you ever had a similar “Catch 22?” LearningBay is an effective, affordable training solution that is available to your users 24/7 allowing them to get trained without heavy losses to your production schedule.

Only the Billable Survive
Delivering billable hours while producing high-quality designs is critical for both you and your organization. Fortunately, Axiom has a solution that will allow you to get the V8i training you need to keep both the quality of work and billable hours high. LearningBay from Axiom is an affordable, online, e-learning training solution that effectively trains your personnel on the specific areas of MicroStation that they need to learn or brush up on. They don’t need to waste time going over topics that they already know. And, they can do all the training without having to leave their desks!

What’s special about these courses?
They include “Learning Videos” where students watch the instructor demonstrate what is presented in the lesson pages.

Short on time? The course lessons are arranged in 30-minute segments to make it easier to get through a course on a daily schedule that won’t interrupt production hours.

Videos are included where the instructor expresses insights or tips relating to the lesson pages and entices viewers to move on to subsequent lessons.

With sample files and illustrated step-by-step exercises, students are able to strengthen their learned skills at their own pace, as well as explore freely without fear of compromising or damaging live project files.

Need a “paper trail” for all that MicroStation training you’ve done? LearningBay makes that easy because all the courses are in a Professional Development Hours format and include a course syllabus, course description, student worksheets, course objectives, a list of topics and a course completion plan.

Need an edge in getting that promotion? Upgrade your skills in V8i with structured on-line training that documents your every course completion to the satisfaction of most HR requirements.

Figure 1. To get this tip, click on “v” (video instructions), which opens a narrated video by MicroStation evangelist Mike Arroyo. Here he gives an animated instruction showing how the “Copy Manipulation” task is executed so you don’t make unnecessary copies. Multimedia features like these make LearningBay’s training courses in V8i very clear and easy to pick up.

The videos provide easy-to-follow instructions. For example, Axiom’s own MicroStation evangelist, Mike Arroyo, goes over the “Double-Click Icon” in Lesson 1 of “Manipulate Basics”. While using a manipulation command like “Copy”, Mike lets you in on the following tip: “Just double-click on an icon (works with most icons) and you’ll get a grayed-out icon [Figure 1]. Then, when you select an object to copy it, and once the object is placed, MicroStation automatically terminates the command so you don’t keep placing the same object over and over.”

LearningBay courses are designed such that beginner, intermediate and advanced materials are grouped into libraries. Each library contains related courses that cover that subject. For example, some courses included in the V8i Essentials FastStart Library are:

The MicroStation Environment — This course covers MicroStation interface basics such as the differences between dialog and settings boxes, how to dock tools and some dialog boxes along the edges of the screen, as well as the topic of when and why one would “pin” tools or boxes to the edge. These are just a few lessons in this course designed to make you even more indispensable to your peers, executives and your organization.

Interface Basics — There is more to the MicroStation interface than icons and dialog boxes. This course begins with the two types of MicroStation interfaces, dialog and toolbox, and quickly goes into task navigation. Learn how to efficiently move between drawing tasks, as well as master the Tool Settings box.

Drawing Tasks Part 1, 2 and 3 — Here are three courses written for those who need to quickly know how to draw inside V8i without the information overload. Each course explores key drawing tasks like how to insert drawing objects into the design, how to work with related tool options and how to measure distances, place cells or symbols and add dimensions to drawings.

Model Start — An introduction to modeling that shows how to create design files, how models are stored inside a single DGN, the two different types of models, as well as how to create, modify and import existing models.

Figure 2. Where do you find lesson terms and what the heck do those icons mean? Just going to the “i” icon (information page) takes you to the page which gives you all the terms used in an easy-to-understand layout so you can effectively apply your V8i tools.

By training at their own desk, on a schedule and pace that fits CAD managers and users alike,LearningBay makes the task of training far more convenient and with less expense than sending staff out for training. The training is always available to fit whatever level of expertise is needed and can be delivered whenever most convenient. This “always on” training means it can be accessed as often as users like, for review or refresher training, whenever it’s needed. “With no travel costs, no instructor costs, no waiting and no scheduling to worry about, this training makes V8i users billable faster and at a reduced cost,” says Mike Arroyo, Axiom’s world-renowned MicroStation evangelist and Vice President for Learning.

Figure 3. Clicking on the “n” icon (instructor notes) provides notes from the instructor in video format. The notes include tips and insights on the upcoming task. It is these little features that giveLearningBay students an incentive to continue on to the next lesson and finish the course — to say nothing of Mike’s cool beret.

Call now!
For more information on browser based or on-site training, contact an Axiom MicroStation Consultant today! Call 727-442-7774 extension 2291, e-mail 2291@AxiomInt.com or visit LearningBay on the Web at www.LearningBay.com now!

How to Get MicroStation to Use Your Microsoft Word Dictionary
Don’t you hate it when you have to keep adding words to your MicroStation dictionary that you’ve already added to your Microsoft Word dictionary?

Here is a way to make MicroStation look at the dictionary file used by Microsoft Word so you don’t have to add the same words to your MicroStation dictionary:

1. Load Microsoft Word.
2. You’re going to need to know the location of the dictionary file that Microsoft Word is using. This location will vary by your version of Microsoft Word. Here is how to find the exact path to your Microsoft Word dictionary, broken down by the most popular Word versions being used today:
   • For Microsoft Word 2003, go to Tools | Options…, select the “Spelling & Grammar” tab and then press the button labeled {Custom Dictionaries…}.
   • For Microsoft Word 2007, press the “Office Button”, press the button labeled {Word Options}, choose “Proofing”, and press the button labeled {Custom Dictionaries…}.
   • For Microsoft Word 2010, go to File | Options, choose “Proofing” and then press the button labeled {Custom Dictionaries…}.

   Each one of the above instructions will bring you to a dialog box that shows a full path to the Microsoft Word dictionary file. Note down this path.

Figure 1. You can see where the custom dictionary is stored in any version of Microsoft Word. Here’s an example of what it would look like using Microsoft Word 2007.

1. Load MicroStation and open any file.
2. Go to Workspace | Configuration, then select “Spelling” from the “Category” list.

Figure 2. Use the MicroStation “Configuration” dialog box to customize where MicroStation looks for your spelling dictionary.

1. Under the section labeled “Spell check configuration”, select “Spelling User Dictionary” then press the {Select…} button.
2. Navigate to the path that you noted down from Microsoft Word in step 2 above, highlight the file named “custom.dic” and press {OK}.
3. At the “Configuration” dialog box, press {OK} and then press {Yes} on the alert box when prompted.

Now, restart MicroStation. Your previous MicroStation dictionary will no longer be read. It will still be there, but MicroStation will now use the Microsoft Word dictionary that you specified as your active dictionary.

Export Shared Cells to Form a New Cell Library
Ever have a need to create a new cell library from the shared cells that are already placed in your DGN file? This is really easy to do.

• Go to Utilities | Key-in.
• In the “Key-in dialog box”, enter: export cells shared (path and file name)
  as in Figure 3.

The command shown in Figure 3 will instantly create a DGN file named “library.cel” that contains a model for each shared cell that was in your active file. Now you have a cell library of your shared cells!

Figure 3. MicroStation’s key-in browser can be used to run a number of different, helpful and often little-known commands such as exporting shared cells.

Want More MicroStation Know-how? Call!
For more information on cool tips and tricks, check out our LearningBay courses by visiting www.LearningBay.com. You can also schedule a free demonstration about training solutions or talk with one of our MicroStation Consultants by calling 727-442-7774 extension 2495 or sending an e-mail.