Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween!!

Just thought I would wish all you bloggers a happy halloween!!
Don't eat too much candy tonight, atleast space it out through the rest of the week. :)

Here's something fun to help celebrate (and less messy than the real thing) have fun!
http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Exporting a Schedule to Excel (or Word)

So now that you have your schedules set-up and working great in your drawings you would like to export them to Excel or Word to do further calculations or write-ups for the project. Enjoy!

To Export a Schedule to Excel or Word:
Select the desired schedule by clicking once on it.
Right click.
Choose "export".
A pop-up window will appear.
Under "Output" choose the desired program, location, and name for the file.
Click "OK".
A format pop-up window will appear.
Choose the output format as desired.
Browse to where you want it saved and give it a file name.
Click "OK".
If you chose Excel it may ask if you want an "unformatted decimal value" or "convert to formatted text". Choose the desired format.
You can check "apply to all columns" if desired.
Click "OK".
Now you can go to that file and open it in the program you set it up for.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Yellow warning boxes around Room Tags

As I continue to learn new things in ABS 2007 I am sharing with you all. I discovered this awhile back and thought it might be a good item to post out here for you all.

Yellow warning boxes around Room names/numbers:
A yellow box with a slash through over the room name/number tags it will appear if you have unloaded the Arch’s xref that has the spaces in it that your tag is referencing.

This is because the tags can no longer find the spaces they are associated with.
In order to get rid of these warning boxes you will have to reload the Arch’s xref.
Save the drawing.
Close the drawing.
Open the drawing back up.
You can not get rid of them by running a "regen", you HAVE to exit the drawing.

Or atleast this is the only way that I have found so far to take care of this issue.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Juggle 101: Part 2

I think it is time for part 2 on juggling. :) I know you all have been awaiting this with baited breath...hmmm...that would explain that odd smell. ;)

Alright, so now you have done your calculations, rounded up 3 rather symmetrical objects, and located a place to practice.

To begin, drop one ball on the floor. Now pick it up. Get used to this. A MAJOR portion of learning to juggle is picking up the balls you have dropped. That's why I suggest practicing over a couch.

What I am about to teach is called the 3 ball cascade. This is the basic form of juggling. Once you get the cascade down you can learn other tricks that build off of it.

Ok here we go:
Set 2 of the balls down. You will only need one to begin with. Start with a ball in one hand, it doesn't matter which hand. Place your hands about shoulder distance apart and approximately at your waist line. You will want to make an "infinity" or "figure 8 on it's side" pattern with your throws. This pattern is accomplished by tossing the ball from one hand to the other and then back again. AKA to get the ball from your left hand (LH) to your right hand (RH) your throw will form half of the infinity symbol. To get the ball back from your RH to your LH your throw will form the other half of the infinity symbol. When you toss the ball do it gently, in one plane (don't throw it away from yourself), and have it peak at about your eye level.

The higher you throw the ball the more time it buys you to react and catch it. But don't throw it so high that you lose control of it. As you throw, I suggest you use a sort of scooping motion. So you throw as your hand comes in towards the center of your body and you catch the ball towards the outside of your body. The scooping motion is in the same plane as the throws. Also, if you cushion or absorb some of the fall of the catch it makes the whole process a little smoother, and easier on your hands.

Now: throw, catch, pause, throw, catch, pause...repeat! Be patient and practice often. You need to get this pattern down. The other two balls will follow the same pattern, it's just the timing of when they are all thrown that creates the cascade pattern.

Hopefully at some point I can figure out how to get a picture on here and I will be able to illustrate the pattern a little more clearly.

Until then good luck! :)