Autodesk announced today the availability of 3 new products, all for the Mac. AutoCAD 2012 for Mac, AutoCAD 2012 LT for Mac, and AutoCAD WS for Mac.

AutoCAD for Mac was introduced last year for the 2011 version, but there quite a list of missing functionality as compared to AutoCAD for Windows. Although a similar comparison list for 2012 does not exist yet, Autodesk has filled in some of the holes by adding features like Publish, In-place Xref Editing, Layer Filters, Plot Styles, Dynamic Array, etc.

Get ready for a BIG announcement from Autodesk tomorrow, August 16, at 10AM PDT.

You can get a sneak preview by checking out this Youtube video, and the AutoCAD facebook page.

Assuming I'm not the last person on earth to find out about this, then maybe this will help someone else. To grab a screen capture (or print screen) on an iOS device like the iPhone and iPad, hold down the button on top (the on/off or sleep/wake button) and then press the Home button (the circular one on the front).

If you use Batch Files to launch executable files, particularly installs, you might want to know about the string %~dp0, which Microsoft calls a modifier. This string acts like a variable and will expand to form the drive letter and path of the directory from which it is launched.

If you have a series of EXE files you want to launch, you can do this in many ways. I prefer to keep a single batch file in the same directory as the EXE and then use this to launch the EXE file. Then I can stack up as many of these as needed for a particular bulk install.

Getting back to the %~dp0 modifier. For example, to install the latest Adobe Reader silently, I use this syntax.

The prefix string %~dp0 allows me to move the install directory containing the batch file and executable to any server without having to edit a path on the front of the EXE file name.

What do those five characters do exactly? Check out this page from Microsoft where it is all explained.

Are you getting a Cadalyst newsletter? I know your inbox is full, but these really are valuable. I am kind of partial to the Cadalyst Tips & Tools Weekly, which includes Hot Tip Harry and an assortment of other tips and tricks, but there is about a dozen other available newsletters also, including Robert Green's CAD Manager newsletter.

Click here to view a list of newsletters and to sign up. If you really don't want any more email, you can still access this content by clicking on the Past Issues link for most of the newsletters.

This is an update to an earlier post regarding Design Review 2012.

The normal download link is just a small file that runs locally and then downloads the rest of the application at run time. If you would like to download the entire package including DWG Trueview for later deployment, the direct link is http://download.autodesk.com/akdlm/esd/dlm/designreview/2012/en-us/SetupDesignReview2012_bundle.exe. This is ±662 MB download.

While you are waiting for that to download, take a look at the installation guide for information on silent installs.

On many civil engineering projects, horizontal control is established by the creation of an alignment, or baseline, and then identifying locations using stations and offsets from this alignment. In some cases however, we are asked to provide only the actual coordinates of the proposed feature. Civil 3D makes this easy using a Note label, configured with a style to match your needs. Below is a sample Note label configured to show the coordinates and elevation.

If you are having issues with your cursor freezing up (±45 seconds) in Civil 3D when you hover over a Cogo Point - then this should fix it. There is some indication that this is only an issue in Civil 3D 2011, but I cannot confirm that.

Please see the link below to a post in the Autodesk forums, so that the author gets proper credit.

Civil and Raster Design cogo point freezes

If there is one item that most people who use AutoCAD have an opinion on, it is the RIBBON. Well, now is your chance to tell Autodesk what you think. They want your feedback on this UI feature, see below.

The AutoCAD Team is looking for your feedback on Ribbon usage, customization, and satisfaction. Please submit your requests for Ribbon enhancements to the AutoCAD team by taking this survey