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I bought a Garmin GPSMap 60C and the Automobile Navigation Kit a few weeks ago. This is way cool. On top of a robust database of businesses I discovered (by accident) that the map contains individual street addresses too. This thing recalculates routes on the fly if you miss a turn or decide that your way is better.
I took a snorkel/dive trip to Crystal River on 01-10-06. The manatees were very friendly. I saw more this year than last. There are much less fish around King Spring this year compared to last. I know, you want to see some pics of manatees.
Training has been great this month. I have really enjoyed these classes.
Autodesk University in Orlando, FL was a blast. The Civil3D Grading classes were the best. I have authored a video book on Land Desktop with a Civil Design book on the way. The International Pool and Spa Expo in Orlando, FL was an amazing 2.5 acres of exhibits with around 16,000 attendees. ShastaCAD, without question, is still the best design package going for the pool industry.
Zoom....there he goes again; next stop, St. Augustine.
CAD Camp in Jacksonville, FL., was excellent this year. AUGI put on a great show. Matt Murphy is one of the best instructors I have ever encountered. Last year I won 5th place in the Top DAUG competition. This year I won 4th place.
I think I have Sheet Set Manager figured out. There are some definite do's and don'ts that I have learned in the process. Rule #1: Don't fight the software.
Civil 3D keeps crashing about every 5th command. I'll let that bake a little longer and pick it up again after the next release.
RDV is now available for releases of AutoCAD 2004 and higher. Download a copy and try it out.
The FSMS Annual Meeting is just around the corner. I hope to see lots of my Surveying buddies there. CAD Camp is coming up shortly in Jacksonville. See you at AU in Orlando. Also in Orlando is the International Pool and Spa Expo. You have got to see this show. They do the coolest things with water. I'll be doing demos at the ShastaCAD booth. Please stop by and say hello.
Zoom..zoom.. life is moving very fast lately. 3 weeks in New Hampshire on a working vacation. I manage to squeeze in some fun wherever I go. Mt. Monadnock in Jaffrey, NH, was a great climb, beautiful weather. I added a few tips since my last visit to the Journal. See if you can guess which ones were added. Dave Alley's web site received an update as well as Marc Peloquin's web site I've had a few training gigs here and there.
Doing support and demos online through GoToMeeting is excellent. You can watch my screen as I demo a solution or I can take over your machine to create a custom configuration. This is the best solution I can think of for one on one training or for presentations to people in as many as 10 different locations at once. You get instant access to me. No scheduling weeks in advance, no travel costs, it's just you and me, whenever. Fast and cheap.
Dave Alley and I have been furiously gathering GIS data for a bunch of new projects. We have put the finishing touches on a few other projects. Go..Go..Go
Sailing on Tampa Bay with Carl and my Dad was just spectacular. Thanks Carl.
I spent last week in San Francisco ramping up on my Civil 3D 2006 skills. I joined the ranks of K-TEK Certified Professionals®, the finest collection of brainpower on the planet when it comes to Autodesk's Infrastructure Software.
The Grand Canyon is an awesome place. I spent three days there last month. I also visited Sunset Crater, The Painted Desert, ancient Pueblo ruins at Wupatki National Park, the Snowbowl, Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, Montezuma's Castle, and Phoenix. I updated the It's a 3D World page with some of my recent road improvement projects.
3D terrain models look so cool when they are shaded or rendered. They are even more spectacular as you change your viewing perspective. It is surprising how easy it is to add life to your terrain models. I couldn't contain my enthusiasm any longer so I gave a short presentation on how to make a fly-by video using Land Desktop at the Suncoast Autodesk User Group's Civil SIG meeting in Bradenton, FL. I also demonstrated how easy it is to use RDV 2005 for Civil 3D to create a 3D interactive web page where the aerial photo is draped over an exaggerated terrain model.
Take a look at the Tips page. I reorganized the Tips page and added a few new tips and articles. I have some cool videos of terrain models I have been working on. I'm also creating interactive 3D web pages with RDV 2005 for Civil 3D. With a 30 second video you can make your point very clear. People you want to communicate with who don't have the time to study your plans or read a report can get the gist of an executive summary in a few seconds. They are easy to produce and have tremendous impact on your audience.
Hello there. Glad you could make it back here to check on Brian's latest adventures. I have been pumping out design plans and helping people define and document their CAD standards. A few people have been through my training on Land Desktop and ShastaCAD. I revised a few pages on this site.
A red shouldered hawk stars in my latest video. I was experimenting with Windows Movie Maker. Check out this video clip I put together to promote Raptor Software.
I made an awesome dive trip to Crystal River on 2/11. There were two huge tarpon lurking around King Spring along with several good size snook. Three Sisters Spring had lots of manatees. Needless to say I posted a few more pictures.
I have added and updated a few pages. First, I added an Autodesk Survey Training page, then I updated the ShastaCAD Training page to include a date for the next ShastaCAD Basics class. Thanks to all who made 2004 a great year. Happy Holidays.
Autodesk University was a spectacular trip this year. Learn all day. Party all night. Eat, sl..(well, I skipped that part), repeat.
I cannot thank the experts enough for sharing their knowledge with me. You made the trip very worthwhile.
The best part was seeing tons of old friends and making a few new ones too. I took lots of pics and vid which I will share with you soon.
Civil 3D 2005 has some ups and downs. The ups are very sweet though. The advice here is to start learning it now.
You don't want it to hit you like a tidal wave when LDT gets put out to pasture in a few years.
The National Spa and Pool Institute (NSPI)
had their international convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
On Friday I left AU to visit the ShastaCAD booth in the final hours of the NSPI show.
With roughly 12,000 in attendance ShastaCAD received non-stop attention at their booth.
They just kept coming, even after the show closed.
AUGI hosted it's first regional CAD Camp in Jacksonville, FL., on November 9th. It was a great success. I attended five 100 minute educational sessions taught by people whom I will now refer to as celebrities in the CAD World. Believe me, there is so much more to learn. I stuffed my folder full of little notes on new tricks to try out. We got the inside scoop on new features that Autodesk is considering adding for the next release of AutoCAD. This little pilgrimage was a steal at $75 for the day including lunch, dinner, and evening entertainment!! The networking opportunities were outstanding. The educational value was great. It's like a mini-Autodesk University. Next year they plan a repeat performance on September 26, 2005. Plan to attend. You won't regret it. Go to the CAD Camp web site to check it out.
Are you attending Autodesk University November 30th through December 3rd in Las Vegas? Don't miss it. If you think CAD Camp was cool AU will make you feel like you traded in your pup tent for a ski chalet. Let me know if you are going. Maybe we can find each other among the 4000 geeks projected to attend this year.
AutoCAD Tip added.
I've also been working on some great projects: grading, sewer and water designs, CAD Standards documentation and implementations,
and house plans for Peloquin Design.
Diving in the Florida Keys. Woo Hooo! 3 days - 6 dives I recommend Abyss Dive Center. They are the best on Marathon Key.
Hello there. I visited many interesting places during my month long trip up the East Coast. I took over 1000 pictures. Check out this list of destinations.
A new article Terrain Model Basics has been posted on the Tips and Articles page.
BrianMorse.com is now BrianMorse.com, LLC.
Have you seen the new features in AutoCAD 2005? Some releases of AutoCAD have new features that are "nice for the other guy, but not for me." This release is different: Features like Sheet Set Manager, Table creation and formatting commands, and Fields are a must have for everyone. Read the reviews in
CADalyst Magazine and browse the
Autodesk web site.
Two more pages have been added to BrianMorse.com, ShastaCAD Training and Instructor Led Training
I'm in Phoenix this week attending a ShastaCAD training class. If you do pool design or landscape design you have got to see a demo of this software. Well thought out, well designed, features targeted to a specific application, this is the way CAD should be done. ShastaCAD Software is now supported by BrianMorse.com. Training classes in Florida are being scheduled now.
I am taking an Underwater Archaeology for Sport Divers class at SeaTrek Divers in Bradenton Beach. We will be surveying the wreck of the Regina. The site will become the 10th Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve. I have finally arrived at the convergence of my three passions, CAD, Surveying, and Diving. Just take a moment to soak that all in.....How cool is that?!
I know it's been a little quiet on the web site additions lately. That's a good thing. That means I'm busy. Let's just run through some accomplishments for the past month. I've put together a CAD Standards Document, completed some "as built" plans, held a few evening classes on Land Desktop, and finished a set of house plans for Peloquin Design. Yes, I crossed over to the A(rch) world and used ADT. That's a very cool program.
Below is a brief list my recent knowledge quests.
I need to put a links page together. I found quite a few good examples of CAD Standards that I would like to share with you.
I also managed to squeeze in a dive at Hudson Grotto. That was so dark and so mysterious. The air temp was about 40-45 deg. F. The water temp. was 64 deg. F. We circled along the wall at a depth of 25 to 35 ft. just to check the place out. We'll be going back to take it to the next level.
Outlook tip added.
Last weekend I went diving at King Spring in Crystal River. There were numerous manatees in the river and adjacent canals. I posted some pictures.
You may have noticed on your way here that I added a big link to my article published in CAD Digest. I promised to exchange links with Cindy Dunn but I want to setup a formal links page first. I have collected a ton of great AutoCAD links in my favorites folder; not so many with a purely Civil/Survey focus. I'm still searching.
The CAD elf found some work. I still want more work. I would like to chat with those of you just lurking on this site. I don't bite or chase you down the street. Just send me a brief email to say hello, ask a question, suggest something you would like to see added to this site, offer a spelling correction, or teach me how to fish.
I revised the ASCII Point Files from Blocks tip. I change some formatting, corrected some misstatements, and added some more images. You like pictures don't you?
I'm getting the hang of using this UL tag, finally.
The Integrated Training page has been reformatted as a direct result.
Terrain Models added to tips
It's a discussion on the benefits of this foundational capability of Land Desktop.
Home page and services page tweaked, again.
The CAD elf needs work.
Hurry up and call or Santa will bring you a digitizing tablet instead of a scanner.
Testimonials from former students were added.
The About page was rewritten.
More Tips added to site. Some have pictures. (ooh...aaahhh)
My Dad, Robert W. Morse, published a book about
my Grandfather and Great Grandfather titled, "The Morse Museum Story".
I just learned how to use "<"br">" when formatting
web pages. Sometimes the simplest things
escape our knowledge.
Home page reinvented. Provides a quick list of my services.
Tips added to site.
New Picture of Brian added to web site. The beard did not meet with my mother's approval.
Launched web site for Peloquin Construction Company, Inc.
Launched a new business venture CADMachines.com.
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