Technical theatre musings & articles
This Autocad lisp combines the layeriso & layeruniso commands into a single command. Use once to invoke, use again to turn off. You can use fade mode or off mode.
command: LI – layer isolate with Fade Mode @ 60% (default)
command: LI` – (that’s a backtick, next to the 1 key) layer isolate in Off Mode
A recent trip to the Thunder Dome (our steel recycling center) yielded this amusing photo. Yes, that is a heaping pile of tape measure blades. Yikes.
These are the finished pictures from the tiny track dog project. (Man, that was a long time ago.) And the results were: success! They worked like a charm. There was no cable slip, no binding in the track, and the travel noise was minimal. We noticed that the UHMW bowed (approx 1/32″) at the bottom when the cable was tightened down, which was expected from such small bits of hardware. Nick simply pre-tightened the cable, and carefully shaved the dogs on the tablesaw — done.
The track was shaped from composite lumber (Home Despot decking). It ended up cheaper than the equivalent amount of UHMW, slicker (& quieter) than lumber and was less fiddly than strips of maso or arboron. It was also much gentler on our blades & cut mucho quicker than UHMW would have.
Download Text Override Tool v2.7 – while in AutoCAD type “TO” to run this routine.
I’ve recently updated my text override tool for AutoCAD. In case you didn’t know, you can make the text field in a dimension read anything you want. Ask some hardcore cad users about it, and your castle might be set upon by an angry mob. Why do some drafters revile the text override? Reason: lies, lies, and more damned lies. If you can’t trust the dimensions in a drawing, what can you trust? After years of misuse by impatient and/or lazy cad users the text overrides have developed a bad rap. Here’s the truth, with great power comes great responsibility. Take a gander at the screen shot below, and you’ll see what I mean.
Cool huh? Note that none of the actual measurements were harmed in the picture above. In the text overrides, “1 1/2″ O.C.” is actually “<> O.C.” Autocad swaps out the <> with the measurement. That’s some sweet stuff.
Normally to access the text override you have to plow through the properties palette and change it manually. Pain in the ass. I wrote this utility to simplify the process, & now you too can access the text overrides through a friendlier interface. I built in my own frequently used text overrides (shortcuts, if you will). I also included a few new features from the last go around. If you open the file in a text editor, you can change the shortcuts to your liking. Its as easy as changing a list.
Go forth and have fun! And remember, if you use this for evil the CAD gnomes will sneak into your bedroom and smother you in your sleep.
Changes:
Options:
Existing shortcuts: (<> = autocad’s measurement)
Scratch! has been updated to version 0.8.
This version adds a couple of features and bug-fixes:
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Scratch! is an Autolisp utility for AutoCAD that provides a quick & simple way to utilize a temporary scratchpad layer. Scratch allows you to quickly switch in & out of the scratchpad layer, and empty it away whenever you want. You can read more about it at the original article, Scratch! (an AutoCAD Scratchpad Utility)
Just finished editing this video for my portfolio, thought other might find it interesting.
This is the mark II design for the tiny track dog I posted earlier. This version features a sandwich style construction, which has several benifits over the mark I design.
Securing the aircraft cable through this dog should be vastly easier than the first version. It’s as simple as two set screws, a few copper inserts, and four flat head machine screws. Machining the cable path in the first version wasn’t too hard, but cleaning meeting two small, blind holes 135 degrees apart did prove a challenge. As a result, threading the cable through dog #1 was an exercise in aggravation, something I do not care to repeat.
You’ll notice the top part of the sandwich is steel, which allows us to weld the knife in place through a milled slot. Since we’re still waiting on details of the tracking furniture, we can build the dog now and leave the knife design for later. Also, dog #1 featured a removable knife, which is nifty, but seriously impractical at such a small size.
Speaking of size, this dog will be the same as the last one – 15/32″ x 3/4″ x 3 1/2″.
The shop should get one of these built within the next few weeks. Perhaps I’ll find enough time to slink away from the office and do it myself. In either case, I’ll post an update, and let you know if all my wishful thinking was for naught.
Is this the littlest track dog ever? Perhaps. Either way, it’s sooo cute! This prototype track dog measures in at 3/4″ x 15/32″ x 3.5″ and is milled from a solid chunk of UHMW. (Ignore the oily grime, its fresh off the bridgeport.) The 1/8″ aircraft cable is secured with two set screws in the opposite face of the dog. I’m thinking the mark 2 will feature a sandwich style construction with a fixed knife. Stay tuned for later revisions to this project.
Just finished adding an article about bow rollers on the Stagecraft Wiki. Click here to read more.
A few weeks ago the ladies of the costume shop found the latest and greatest leap in scissor technology ever. At some point during the laughter, they bought it and are now planning to use it’s terrible powers for theatre-wide domination. Just be careful, you could put an eye out with that thing.
