Not just another Autodesk University Post

Now that I have everyone’s attention, I have decided to write about something I did at Autodesk University in November of 2016. I was faced with the challenge of teaching a hands-on lab. Teaching a lab can be very difficult since you have 100 people with all different levels of skill. You do not want to make it too easy, go to fast, or make it difficult for people to all follow along. I connected with friends at the AKN (Autodesk Knowledge Network) and decided to use Project PRAXIS as my way of collecting my notes and training materials.

My class, Pumping up Productivity in the Lab with Macros One Character at a Time is based on creating time saving macros in AutoCAD to be placed on a tool palette for quick access. Hands on labs at AU are not recorded which made me want to provide everyone with a way to go back to the class and review anything they missed or did not have enough time to review. The image below includes the palette provided in class as well as some additional ones I have been testing over the past few months. Macros can be very productive and fun to create!

At the time of Autodesk University in November of 2016 my paper was over 50 pages and contained 13 exercises for my class to go through in 90 minutes. I decided to document my entire workflow which you can view in here in PRAXIS. I have finally completed my additional exercises to the workflow and now have 20 total. Each exercise includes documentation and a Screencast (shown in collection below) for the user to have a printout and a video on how to complete the exercise.

Click on the image below to view my Screencast Collection on Macros in AutoCAD

PRAXIS was a great way for me to keep my notes, document the exercises, and stay organized and focused. There were some late nights and weekend hours but the end result is a fully comprehensive workflow of 20 exercises with many references to sources on how to complete macros in AutoCAD.

Select the image to be taken to my workflow on Macros in AutoCAD.

=================================================================================

What is PRAXIS you ask?  See below for notes from the PRAXIS site:

https://praxis.autodesk.com/praxis/getting-started.php

PRAXIS is a cloud-based app for sharing your product knowledge and best practices through simple, step-by-step workflow diagrams.

There’s nothing to download and install. Because

PRAXIS runs on your browser, you always have access to the most up-to-date version.

PRAXIS works on Google Chrome, version 20 and later, on Windows and Mac OS. We plan to support other browsers in the future.

There is no concept of files in PRAXIS. Your work is saved automatically to the cloud.

For the time being, anyone can view a shared workflow, but only in Read-Only mode.

=================================================================================

That’s all for now my friends. For those of you who know me I am a very huge boxing fan so I have to go now and visit with friends and family to enjoy some time together and watch a fight later tonight.

Don’t forget to register for Autodesk University 2017. Look me up, I will be there roaming the halls and attending classes just like you.

Until next month, Sam.