Between the Lines

Autodesk SketchBook Mobile for the iPhone and iPod touch

This is so very cool for users of the Apple iPhone and Apple iPod touch and only $2.99 which has to be a record low price for an Autodesk application excluding free products.  I am a longtime Crackberry users and never really been tempted to jump to the iPhone because I would spend my time playing with all the cool things instead of working. This single application makes me really consider getting an iPhone, or at least an iPod touch. This is not the first time Autodesk has been on a handheld device as we had a viewer and other applications in the past but this is the first I know of on the iPhone.

John Schmier pointed out that Autodesk has released a prior iPhone application. Autodesk Fluid to demonstrate fluid dynamics on the iPhone.  Thanks John!

   The SketchBook Mobile application using the pressure and touch sensitive screen provides professional sketching tools for designers, artists, and doodlers. It also allows the capture of a picture from your iPhone camera so you can then use that in your sketch although I might have fun editing peoples faces with horns and moustaches when in meetings.

Congratulations to the Autodesk SketchBook Pro Team now they are on the Mac, Windows, and the iPhone. Check this out even if you don't have an iPhone as the technology and design tools you can put in your hand are amazing.

• YouTube Video SketchBook Mobile iPhone App from Autodesk
• Press Release Autodesk Releases SketchBook Mobile on the App Store
• Product details SketchBook Mobile Now Available for the iPhone and iPod touch
• Guillermo’s post and experiment with SketchBook Mobile Autodesk SketchBook Mobile for the iPhone and iPod touch

“Digitally capture your ideas as napkin sketches or produce artwork on-the-go. Created for artists, designers, and anyone who creates artwork for fun or work.”

"Key features in the SketchBook Mobile App include:

• Layers - Drawings can contain up to six layers.
• Brushes - The software comes with 25 preset brushes and completely customizable brush settings.
• Color selection - Customizable color swatches and a color wheel with RGB sliders provide a virtually unlimited palette.”

Autodesk Sketchbook Mobile painting and drawing software is available on the iTunes App Store.

Cheers,
Shaan

Autodesk Dragonfly Exports to AutoCAD 2D & 3D .DWG as well as Revit .RVT

The new Autodesk Labs project named Autodesk Project Dragonfly has been gaining a great deal of chatter in the social networks as well as the web and traditional press. It is a really cool free web based application allowing almost anyone to design their house, space or just reorganize a space. It is as simple as drag and drop. You can assign dimensions and when completed share with others on the site or export to a JPEG, 2D or 3D .DWG file or a Revit .RVT file.

You first sign up for free at http://dragonfly.autodesk.com

I could have started using an existing design shared on the site or from scratch as I ended up choosing.

I started by simply dragging in some floors and then shape and get them to the right dimensions. Selecting the wall allows me to see the dimensions and change them.

Once you get the rooms all set you can then go crazy dragging in content from plants, flooring and rugs, doors and windows,  to furniture, to cabinets and more off the palettes.

Here is my 5 minute creation. Note I am not a interior designer or architect. :-) You can select the View in 3D option and even work in the 3D view mode.

 

I grabbed one of the more complete designs from the public gallery to show what exporting to DWG results in.

 

 

You can also export to a JPEG raster image of a Autodesk Revit .RVT file.

Give Autodesk Project Dragonfly a try to re-organize your ofice, your house, or even a future dream office. Nothing to install, free, and downright fun. To use a line from an GEICO insurance companies popular television ads “So easy, a caveman could do it”.

Cheers,
Shaan

General ShadowFinger’s Design Contest and a New TeknoChronicles Episode

That’s right the evil villain in the TeknoChronicles of Z General ShadowFinger has a contest for 3D design the “Benign Design Contest in 3D”.

General ShadowFinger has thrown the challenge out.

”Finding good design talent is almost as hard as getting 10,000 giant mutant crabs to obey you”

 

There are some great prizes like trips and digital cameras.
Are you up for the challenge?

Oh, and there is a new TeknoChronicles of Z episode available.

TeknoChronicles of Z Episode 2 - General Malaise
Z's View Cube and Steering Wheel tutorial is interrupted by a mysterious proposal from General ShadowFinger.
Watch Now

Cheers,
Shaan

Guide to Sustainable Design For Architecture, Engineering & Construction

Thinking Green, Autodesk has published a guide for all to read on sustainable design. This helps you understand and explore the impact of energy, water, materials, and land in the building lifecycle.With selection of each of the areas of the lifecycle segment there is a link to Learn More detailed information.

    

Guide to Sustainable Design For Architecture, Engineering & Construction

Note: Being Sustainable or Green does not just mean drawing on green layers or using green textures. :-)

-Shaan

Autodesk Shows Inventor Fusion at AU2008

Being from a mechanical background before coming to Autodesk, and having been an Autodesk Inventor user since before release 1, this was one of the coolest technologies I saw at Autodesk University 2008.  It was the Inventor Fusion technology from our Manufacturing division at Autodesk.

I was wandering the AU exhibit hall and saw Autodesk’s Kevin Schneider in an Autodesk Labs booth demoing something I had not seen before, so I stopped and watched. It had everyone’s eyes at the booth and in some cases jaws were dropped. It was very cool technology, exciting, and innovative. It permits the parametric modeling (history based) modeling available with Autodesk Inventor to work with the direct editing (history free) of Inventor Fusion. You are not locked into one methodology of parametric or direct editing for a project and can use either based on the tasks at hand and combine the design data, the proverbial best of both worlds.

The User Interface “UI” is new and showcases many new concepts based on customer research. The technology appeared to be presenting options based on the task and there appeared to be some predictive choices based on contextual next step/options for the selected feature. You could work all without using dialogs or the ribbon menu.

The demo of Inventor Fusion was very powerful and it will be exciting to see the industry and peoples reaction when a technology preview is available for download.

 

Check out the videos and details http://www.inventorfusion.com/

Cheers,
Shaan

First Day of Autodesk University China 08

Yesterday was an action packed day of presentations for Autodesk University China 08. It started with some Chinese acrobats and dancers arranging the letters on stage to create Autodesk.

There were many senior executive speakers such as Autodesk’s CEO Carl Bass, Autodesk CTO Jeff Kowalski, Autodesk VP Senior Vice President, Platform Solutions and Emerging Business Amar Hanspal, as well as many Autodesk Autodesk Asia and China executives such as Autodesk Senior Vice President Patrick Williams, Autodesk Global Vice President Huang Jianming, and Vice President of Greater China Aldous Wong.

Autodesk CEO Carl Bass spoke on a wide range of topics including Autodesk and also the global challenges with global warming, resources, and how innovative design can be a critical part of solving these challenges. He also spoke about Autodesk’s commitment to China.

 

Autodesk CTO Jeff Kowalski spoke about technology and innovation in design and how technology can now make things appear truly real as well as how you can experience design before it is real.

 

 

Autodesk VP Senior Vice President Amar Hanspal’s presentation was about my teams products like AutoCAD and the innovation, and how it is critical in the design process. He also spoke about our partner developers building upon AutoCAD, and an Autodesk product to capture existing designs. He is an incredibly inspiring and passionate speaker.

The presentation by Autodesk Global Vice President Huang Jianming was about the 1500 Autodesk employees in China Autodesk China Research & Development (ACRD). This presentation was detailed about all the products they work on and their highly educated backgrounds.

 

Autodesk Senior Vice President Patrick Williams gave a presentation of Autodesk’s footprint in China and described the projects they are involved in. Projects include some of the worlds largest projects as well as a humanitarian project like the Sichuan province earthquake.

 

Later there were experts from many fields such as well known architect 谢英俊 who spoke about efforts to rebuild the earthquake-stricken areas in China's rural Sichuan province using sustainable design and construction methods.

 

 

Bruce Beasley was a special guest an spoke about his digital sculpture exhibition and how he involves science and technology such as 3D printing in his sculpture processes.

Several other Autodesk Senior Vice Presidents spoke at industry sessions such as Buzz Kross and Jay Bhatt.

For anyone wishing to get involved in providing Usability on Autodesk products here in China. Autodesk Chinas own Product Design Manager Itamar Lima Medeiros provided me with the Chinese text detailing getting involved.

欢迎参加用户可用性测试！

什么是可用性测试？

为了测试我们的软件产品是否合乎您的需求，我们想邀请您亲临现场，试用我们的产品。观察员会记录下您在操作时所碰到的问题，聆听您的意见，之后将记录反馈给产品设计人员。您所试用的产品可能尚未定型，也可能处于后期成品测试阶段。无论哪一种情况，您的意见都将影响我们产品的未来！

加入我们！欢迎到我们的AU展台来与接待人员洽谈！

I was not able to attend all sessions as I had to rush back to my hotel across town to work more on my presentations Thursday morning. I learned a great deal about Autodesk China and China. I have so many photos to process and post but wont have much opportunity until the weekend.I am posting them to my Flickr site in the Autodesk University China 08 collection.

 Autodesk University China 2008

I still have a really bad case of jetlag waking me up at 4AM each day. It is 4:49AM currently in Shanghai China.

Best Regards,
Shaan

Autodesk Gallery at One Market Opens in San Francisco

 

There is now an official press release.

Autodesk Gallery at One Market Opens in San Francisco, Showcasing Design Process

For images and more information about the Autodesk Gallery, visit http://www.autodesk.com/thegallery.

The Autodesk Gallery at One Market

Now I can show the photos I took and discuss the Autodesk Gallery from my perspective. I also heard it called the Autodesk Design Gallery and I liked that name better as it highlights Design which I got a sense of while there.

 

I was at the One Market office and now including a new Autodesk Gallery located along the Embarcadero looking directly at the historic landmark San Francisco Ferry Terminal with stellar head on view. We have many of our offices and teams located in the same One Market building. I was there for a customer design validation event looking at the future of AutoCAD and getting the customer feedback with the AutoCAD Product Design Team that was held in the new Autodesk Gallery in the most high tech training room I have ever seen. We had high tech walls and even 4 high definition projectors.  The view looking out the front windows is priceless and beautiful. You can see down the waterfront, the Ferry Terminal, and the Bay Bridge all from the location of the Design Gallery. The Gallery has also been has been submitted for a LEED Platinum CI certification. I even bumped into Autodesk CEO Carl Bass while there but he was quite busy getting ready for the grand opening of the Gallery.

Design has never played a more important role in turning change into opportunity. Everyday, Autodesk customers are recreating the world around us and how we experience it – new and innovative processes to things never before seen. This gallery showcases some of that daring work and illustrates the ways an idea can become real.

The Design Gallery showcases many great products and projects from architecture, auto design, to the large Bay Bridge new span. Immediately as you step off the elevator you are presented with a large airplane turbo prop engine. The architecture of the space is modern yet relaxed like that of a gallery. Each area has information and nice pullout information drawer panels to see more about the projects. It was excellent to see that we have taken the high road and list all design software used in the projects not just Autodesk. Most anyone realizes that when a claim that a large product or project was done completely in one design software is stretching real world reality.

Jason Medal-Katz was the circus leader to put this all together and he did a fantastic job. Some of the products and Projects A large LEGO sculpture (62,000), The Bay Bridge Model including models of the rebar and tension cable which combine many smaller cables, a Ford Shelby GT 500 yes a car on the second floor instead of on the road. I tried to sneak the GT 500 down the elevator but it was too heavy and would not fit. I even got to use the One Laptop per Child laptop. There was also a model Chrysler Super Bee Concept Car in the Gallery.

Here is the complete list of items represented in the Gallery:

• Ford Motor Company – Shelby GT500
• The LEGO Group – LEGOLAND Mega Model
• Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Arup, Stantec Architecture, SWA – California Academy of Sciences
• FIRST Robotics – FIRST Robotics Competition
• 42 Surfboards – Hollow-Body Surfboard
• Yves Behar/fuseproject – One Laptop per Child
• Virtual Cinematography – Intersense and Autodesk
• California Department of Transportation; Bay Area Toll Authority; California Transportation Commission; Parsons Brinckerhoff; T. Y. Lin/Moffat & Nichol A Joint Venture – Bay Bridge Seismic Safety Project
• Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP – Cathedral of Christ the Light
• The Permasteelisa Group – Double Skin Facades
• ADEPT Airmotive – Airplane Engine
• Black Diamond – Cobra Ice Axe
• Herman Miller – the Mirra Chair
• Chrysler – Super Bee Concept Car
• SHoP Architects – 290 Mulberry
• Vandenberg Air Force Base/Digital Globe – WorldView1 Satellite Launch
• Bruce Beasley – GS022 (Sculpture)
• Robert Michael Smith – Paradise Bird Burlesque (Sculpture)
• Keith Kottingham – 3D print artist
• Jason Salavon – Print artist, US Census Bureau data
• Spark Design Awards – Various
• Technology lab includes: FARO 3D scanning equipment; Dimension Printing 3D printer; Perceptive Pixel multi-touch wall; Augmented Reality display

There is technology everywhere from the high definition visual displays on walls to the audio all run by high tech computer system behind the scenes that allows full control of the video and audio to the different sections of the Gallery. Some of the walls are high tech as well and fold up up into themselves changing the spaces.

I was in awe of the Gallery and I had only one minor complaint. As a photographer/shutterbug traveling without a tripod or external lamps with me, the lighting was difficult to take photos in due to the bright sunlight coming in from the big windows and the dimly lit interior to best show the exhibits on display. I said minor as most are interested in the exhibits themselves, not the white balance of the location required to take a photo without a tripod. :-)

The Autodesk Gallery will be open starting October 1, 2008, the first Wednesday of each month from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. to the public. If you are in San Francisco down by the waterfront, stop on in.

More of my photos of the Autodesk Gallery are located on my Flickr Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/btl/ or Autodesk Gallery tagged photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/btl/tags/autodeskgallery/

Cheers,
Shaan

Experience Building and Experience Manufacturing Magazine and Websites

Longtime CAD writer/press and quite the character Martyn Day alerted me on Facebook about one of his latest ventures.  The online site and magazine is Experience Building and Experience Manufacturing.

In addition to industry articles the site has live updated RSS feeds of some of the Autodesk blogs which is a bonus in my book. The site and magazine articles are refreshing new content, topics, and angles. I found some very well timed articles today that I had been researching so it was well worth the visit to the site. Give Martyn a click!

Next magazine editions are scheduled for September and October.

http://www.experiencebuilding.com/	http://www.experiencemanufacturing.com/

Well done Martyn!

Cheers,
Shaan

Metric System Adoption in the United States?

Please… There are many benefits to the metric system (aka International System of Units) and a long glorious history of imperial units but I personally think the time has come to standardize on one system across the board. Currently many industries in the US use metric as their only unit of measure but construction seems to be a hold out. Imagine the simplification of material manufacturing and sourcing not to mention that it is easier to go by tens in metric than decimal results in imperial or conversions that can cost serious construction issues due to rounding.

Am I alone here?

We the United States are the largest hold out on adoption as a sole units measurement system.

While I am at it can we get retire the dewey decimal system?  

FYI: Excellent & Free online calculators eCalc

Cheers,
Shaan

Autodesk University 2007 Keynote Presenters

From Autodesk University Blog (BLAUG)

The stage for the General Session on Tuesday will be shared by Carl Bass, Autodesk CTO Jeff Kowalski and Yves Béhar, founder of the San Francisco-based design firm fuseproject. Mr. Béhar is featured on the cover of this month's Fast Company. At AU, Yves Béhar  will share his approach to design and highlight some of his recent projects, which include Herman Miller, Birkenstock, Swarovski, and the $100 laptop.

In addition, the AEC Solutions group has invited William McDonough, author of the book Cradle to Cradle, Remaking the Way We Make Things, to present “Building the Future—AEC Solutions Industry Presentation” on Wednesday.  William McDonough, a world-renowned leader in the field of sustainable design, was recognized by Time magazine as a "Hero for the Planet" in 1999. The magazine stated that "his utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world."  Mr. McDonough is principal and founder of the design firm William McDonough + Partners.

And on the Geospatial Main Stage, Dr. Brian Cullis and Geoff Zeiss will  present  “The Geospatial Value Chain”.  Dr. Brian Cullis, PhD, is vice president and global lead for CH2M Hill’s Enterprise Consulting, and Geoff Zeiss is Autodesk’s own Director of Technology and evangelist for Geospatial Solutions. With over 50 years of experience in geospatial studies between them, these provocative and entertaining experts will address the topics of an aging infrastructure, a shrinking workforce, and how new technologies converge to integrate design, asset management, and geospatial analysis.

Autodesk Content Search alpha Technology Preview Now Alive and Free

What:
Early this morning Autodesk has made available a web based alpha technology preview of the beginnings of our new content search technology. Autodesk Content Search may not be the official name. There will be 2D and 3D content from many of the leading content aggregators like McGraw Hill Sweets, BIMWorld, and Reed FirstSource. In addition to the content aggregators we also are providing all the sample content from AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD MEP which will  be indexed into the search content. The browse option on Content Search alpha allows you to browse for content using AEC industry standard classifications, including MasterFormat 2004, Omniclass 1.0, and Uniformat II. In this first incarnation of Autodesk Content Search it is mainly aimed at AEC architecture but could be expanded in the future for more disciplines.

In the searches you will see supported file formats from the Revit RFA, AutoCAD DWG, DWF, DGN, SKP, Word documents, and PDF. If the DWF is in your content item result you can even choose to view it in Autodesk Freewheel with no installation of anything required.

Where: 

http://cs.labs.autodesk.com/?target=_blank

Why:
This alpha technology preview is for you to have a look at a product evolving and actively seeking feedback to help shape the future. It is different than a standard web search engine as it actually can search based on the attributes of the design data and parameters. Currently the attributed data is only extracted only from DWG files and Revit RFA files. Content Search alpha will be updated constantly.

 

Please give us your feedback

Feedback: Labs.ContentSearch@autodesk.com

CAD Manager 2007 Survey for Robert Green

All CAD Managers please take a moment to complete the CAD Manager Survey for Cadalyst magazines CAD Management expert and nice guy. You have probably seen or met him at an event, read an article by him, or learned something from him at some point over the years and now you can assist him in his annual survey. 

 www.cad-manager.com/survey

Test Drive a Future Release of AutoCAD? Next week?

Come test drive some new features in AutoCAD and impact future releases on September 5, 2007 in San Rafael, California.

The AutoCAD Product Design & Usability team would like to invite you to join us for a sneak peek and test drive of a future version of AutoCAD, focusing on changes to the use interface and productivity enhancements. Members of the AutoCAD team will be there to introduce you to new and enhanced AutoCAD features. 

In a casual focus group style, we want to share with you our design-ideas-in-progress and ask for your input as we solidify our ideas for an upcoming release. We'll include time at the end of the session for general feedback. We are happy to discuss any issues, future directions, or wish list items with you at that time. Your input is critical in shaping the future of AutoCAD. We depend on and value your ideas. After this session we will make key decisions based on your input. 

Plan on spending the day (9am to 5pm) to meet the team and do some hands on sessions with the next release. Snacks and lunch will be provided.

Interested in attending the event? Here’s what we are looking for:

• Day to day users of the software
• Users not proficient in LISP or scripting
• Users configuring the interface for other users
• All levels – beginning to advanced

Seats are limited so please contact Shari Nemerovski to register for this exciting event where you can help shape the future of AutoCAD.

Shari Nemerovski
shari.nemerovski@autodesk.com
Customer Research and Events Coordinator

John Benstead's Excellent AutoCAD History/Adventure/Evolution

In this year that is the 25th year of AutoCAD and Autodesk, New Zealand based Jon Benstead posted on his http://www.cadit.net blog a about AutoCAD history from a 20+ year AutoCAD veteran/legend/survivor. The story and photos are priceless to those wishing to see and understand the evolution of CAD and AutoCAD. The lettering machine will most likely make many shake with flashbacks or scratch their heads wondering what it is.

AutoCAD - In The Beginning...

Thank you for sharing John.

Can I please share your images in my AutoCAD History images on Flickr or if you have a Flickr account (free btw) you can tag them with AutoCAD History and I will then add them to the group collection links.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/btl/sets/72157600140924927/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/472931@N23/

Autodesk and AutoCAD Celebrating 25 Years of Design Innovation!

And to celebrate you will soon start to see activities and celebrations. launching today is a fun site about the Autodesk AutoCAD 25 years with some information like trivia, timeline, and profiles and comments from some longtime Autodesk customers.

www.autodesk.com/autocad25

I love the "Legends of AutoCAD" and recognize the names and faces. I swear Rusty Gesner has not aged in the many years I have known him.  It is also very nice to see Lucio on the front page. Also shown  Jack Foster, Paul Laycock "G'Day Mate", and Carole Hibbard. Each has a podcast file you can play.

I know some of the trivia is fairly simple as I got 15 out of 15 my first try in less than 1 minute. :-)

I am trying to get a 386 with DOS 5.0 perhaps one of those sweet 45 pound laptops from the 1980's to run AutoCAD release 1 or 2  on at Autodesk University this year in celebration of the anniversary.

I started using AutoCAD in R11, when did you start?

Cheers,
Shaan

AliasStudio, Create Sexy Curves and Surfaces

That's right I said "sexy curves and surfaces" as that is exactly what Autodesk AliasStudio can create by allowing designers to design hot looking and innovative products. Some of the well known items designed using AliasStudio are Wild West Motor Company, RKS Guitars, Honda, Land Rover, Nissan, Toyota, Jaguar, Apple products, Callaway Golf products, many well known bike designs, and many auto designs of most companies as the leading auto design software. AliasStudio integrates 2D sketching with 3D modeling for conceptual or industrial design. 

Autodesk AliasStudio Personal Learning Edition (free Trial)

Tutorial on AliasStudio 2008 from Melissa Thomas on her blog Engineering Education for the Non-Civil Minded.

• Getting started with AliasStudio 2008 Part 1
• Getting started with AliasStudio 2008 Part 2

 

Nice article on AliasStudio 2008 PLE from Desktop Engineering LINK

Wicked Cool - Freewheeling Freely

Collaborate in Freewheel

Swedish technical guru Jimmy Bergmark posted a nice overview of some of the changes in the free Autodesk  Freewheel project from Autodesk Labs. Note to Jimmy, lookout some have an issue with the "Collaboration" word but what other word would you use to describe it, perhaps "working-together mode"? :-)

Jimmy showed some examples of the sketching, Impression styles, navigation, and callouts. Pretty cool stuff for both 2D and 3D design data.

Cheers,
Shaan

cadforum.cz Adds More!

I received an email announcement from my Czech CAD friend Vladimir Michl about the more free offerings on his excellent website that has literally thousands of Autodesk product tips and tricks many unique to his Autodesk product cleverness at finding new ways to do something or get around something.  Now he has publicly shared blocks for AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit as well as discussion forums. Vladimir is also the brains behind the famous Budweiser benchmark drawing which shows just how compatible a software is at reading DWG content and perhaps that needs to be updated with more new AutoCAD objects soon.

Here is to another 10 years and more for Vladimir and his team and their excellent contributions to the CAD world!

Now there is just one important tip missing on cadforum.cz and that is how a motivated person can get involved and active in helping shape the future of Autodesk products by working with the actual teams during betas and feedback projects at http://myfeedback.autodesk.com

Cheers,
Shaan

CAD Forum (www.cadforum.cz) Available in English, German, and Czech.

Over the last 10 years, the CADforum.cz web site has grown up from a small local Czech CAD support site to an international CAD portal visited daily by thousands of professionals from all over the world. This web site is available in Czech, English and German.

CAD Forum offers lots of free web services but the main feature is the large database of thousands of tips and tricks for AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, Civil 3D and other CAD applications by Autodesk. This CAD tips database has already answered more than 10 million queries posted by its visitors. The Czech version of CAD Forum now contains over 4,000 searchable tips and tricks (1,370 tips in English) - and new tips are added almost daily.

Two new services were now added to the CAD Forum portal - an extensive library of CAD blocks and a discussion forum.

The "CAD blocks catalog" section contains over 1,300 categorized 2D and 3D blocks and symbols in DWG (AutoCAD), RFA (Revit family) and IPT (Inventor part) formats. Blocks can be dragged directly from the web to the running CAD application with the help of the i-Drop technology. Users can easily upload their own useful blocks and help to grow this library of publicly shared CAD blocks.

The new "CAD Discussion" section builds on the popularity of the Czech-version discussion forum with more than 40,000 posts. Questions not fully answered by the Tips and Tricks database can be discussed here.

"It is the 'free' nature of the services which contributes most to the popularity of our web site. In the published tips we are trying to solve the most burning issues we recognize from our CAD customers and help them to use their CAD software efficiently" says Vladimir Michl, editor of CAD Forum.

Among other features offered by CAD Forum there is also a Download section with hundreds of CAD utilities and update patches, CAD glossary, online unit converter, CAD programming samples, CAD web links, content syndication and a project hosting service.

The CADforum.cz web site is operated by the top Czech Autodesk Value Added Reseller and Developer - XANADU a.s. (www.xanadu.cz)

Autodesk Impression Makes Another Great Impression

I have been involved with the team that developed Autodesk Impression and have had a ton of fun with the product and love hearing from the customers about how much easier and fun it makes their work. So now Cadalyst's Ron LaFon has wrote a detailed review of Autodesk Impression and looks like he too has become a fan of the product. I also read recently of a review for Photoshop that actually at one point recommended using Autodesk Impression for  architectural renderings after all isn't Photoshop for photos.

Turn your 2D DWG and DWF files into attractive renderings

A few highlights from the review:

"Autodesk Impression is both easy to use and understand. It offers the ability to save files in popular graphics formats and print your images easily"

Autodesk Impression is moving at light speed and has a private group of customers discussing with the team on the future releases and you too can register for this at http://myfeedback.autodesk.com. For those already with a  MyFeedback account just make sure you have selected Autodesk Impression in your profile as well as yes to beta or feedback projects.

Personally my opinion on Impressions benefit is the fact that unlike some other products trying to accomplish a rendering in a design process  as a out of the loop extra disconnected process, Impression fits into the design process by accommodating the files DWG and DWF and  changes without having to redo the entire file. For example if the design changes (they always do) you can simply update the Impression file by reading the latest DWG file or applying the saved style, but if you did this in another product you would have to go through the exporting a new postscript file and setting up all the rendering or if using manual methods like markers you have to plot a new file and start over from scratch making. What is a few minute process in Autodesk Impression can be a few hours or days in other product or process to get the same output and time is money.

Here are some real examples of Autodesk Impression by customer Ged Trias who has mastered the product and been very active in helping guide Autodesk in the future of the product by providing feedback.

Another Autodesk Impression customer making great use of Impression is Lisa Town.

And an excellent example from Howard Munsell.

Check out the Autodesk Impression Online Community

Cheers and make a lasting Impression!
Shaan

Autodesk's Doug Look and the Multi-Touch Wall Prototype

Autodesk Labs member Doug Look shows the state of the art prototype of the Multi-Touch Wall. The video is now posted on YouTube. It is a nice video except the old Autodesk music and no talking or explaining what is being done in the video. :-(

 So is this the future for working with some types of data?

Attention Students and Teachers...Free Autodesk Software and Education Support!

Award-Winning Autodesk Student Engineering and Design Community Now Available for Middle and High-School Students and Teachers at www.autodesk.com/school

“Autodesk created this community to support a number of STEM initiatives happening throughout the country, such as Project Lead the Way and FIRST Robotics,” said Paul Mailhot, senior director of worldwide education programs at Autodesk. “We hope teachers will take advantage of resources on the community site to help them integrate relevant and engaging projects in the classroom. And we hope that students who explore the site will realize how exciting design and engineering can be.”

Teachers who join the Autodesk Student Engineering and Design Community get access to popular 2D and 3D design software and teaching and learning resources that will enable them to become familiar with new design technology and incorporate project-based learning into the classroom. Teacher members also have the opportunity to share coursework and discuss projects and best practices with peers to find the best ways to inspire their students.

Middle- and high-school students who join the community will benefit from access to the same 3D design software used by industry professionals, and gain general exposure to the fields of architecture, construction, mechanical engineering, industrial design, civil engineering, animation and gaming. In addition to free(a) student versions of Autodesk software, the community provides students with tutorials for these applications, a “getting started” area and information about design-related college and career paths.

Autodesk understands that it takes more than integrating technology into the classroom to engage and motivate students to learn challenging STEM concepts. A recent study by the U.S. Department of Education on the effectiveness of technology in the classroom proved that teachers need adequate training and support in order to effectively use technology to improve student performance. The Autodesk Student Engineering and Design Community provides much-needed assistance for middle- and high-school teachers looking to learn design software by providing step-by-step tutorials that teachers can access from any computer with an internet connection.

“Teachers’ jobs are hard enough without having to learn new technology, which can be intimidating,” said Mailhot. “Autodesk hopes this community will develop into a support network for teachers, where they can explore resource materials and connect with peers to share teaching tips, such as how to keep kids motivated and engaged in the classroom. We also designed the site to make learning new software less challenging, so teachers can focus on what really counts in the classroom—teaching.”

To sign up for this new community, participants can register online with a school-issued e-mail address. Students without a school-issued e-mail address can still access the community by asking one of their school’s faculty members to join. The faculty member can then authorize access for participating students without a school-issued e-mail address. Middle- and high-school teachers and students can register now at www.autodesk.com/school.

Autodesk Products & Resource Free for Teachers and Students

I just wanted to mention this again for those that did not check out the link when I announced the Autodesk’s Student Engineering and Design Community awhile back. If you are a student you can download many of Autodesk's products and network with fellow students and resources.  For teachers there is curriculum content and more.

Products available for free download:

• Autodesk® Inventor™ Professional
• AutoCAD® Civil 3D®
• Revit® Architecture
• Autodesk® AliasStudio™
• Autodesk® VIZ
• Revit® Structure
• AutoCAD® Raster Design
• Autodesk® Impression
• AutoCAD® Map 3D

More details are located at:

http://students.autodesk.com/ 

http://www.autodesk.com/education

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=6080671

Have Old Autodesk Photos, Trivia, Stories, Memorabilia, Get My iPod Nano!

In light of 2007 being the 25th year anniversary of Autodesk, I am on a quest for all historical photos even box shots, customer stories, memorabilia and such that may be out there around the world. This also includes any historical photos of items designed using Autodesk products over the past 25 years by our customers. Please rummage through the closets and hard drives. Perhaps you have some pictures of the old Sausalito days or even back to the old garage days where it all started. Maybe you have a picture of an Autodesk employee when they did not have gray hair, or back when they had hair. I know some have even over the years tracked Lynn's hair colors and actually had a timeline in PowerPoint presentation at a past Autodesk University. :-)

I am offering up a new black iPod Nano to two people and perhaps many other special rewards in return like a special Autodesk limited edition iPod external speaker set. I would be happy to discuss any photos or memorabilia you might have so we could get copies to celebrate the 25th anniversary. Maybe you would like to be featured for your many years of Autodesk product usage and your designs as that might also be a possibility as we look for ways to celebrate the 25 years around the customer. Maybe you have some great Autodesk or AutoCAD Trivia to share.

Recent post on the request:
Twenty Five Years of Autodesk, and Request for Your Stories

I am also rebuilding my AutoCAD History Site so stay tuned for a updated version soon.

S.Hurley's AutoCAD History photoset

Cheers,
Shaan Hurley
Autodesk, Inc.
shaan@autodesk.com

Schlitterbahn Waterpark and my Ramblings on Design

Saw this today on the travel channel while just relaxing and got hooked. They showed the South Padre Island Texas water park Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark (36 acres) and the water rides as well as behind the scenes. They also showed AutoCAD being used by the the company NBGS (Jeff and Gary Henry). The cable television program was 1 hour long and really was interesting not like a advertisement it was all about the rides, the design and stats.

The Schlitterbahn Boogie Bahn 2 sheet wave was amazing and said to be the largest manmade surf wave in the US and holds a competition of surfers each year. The sheet wave is a custom designed structure and uses technology from Autodesk Inventor using firm FlowRider by Wave Loch.There was also the Master Blaster which you ride in a inflatable raft vehicle down a large structure at almost 20 mph. They use an ingenious water jet system to propel you even uphill up to 50 feet.This is all tempting me to take a vacation down to South Padre as I just scheduled a sabbatical for this August and will be looking for fun distractions. I also saw that you don't have to stand in lines as most water feature lines are kept in the water to keep you cool. That sure would make for an awesome day but you may end up with pruned fingers and a sunburn.

DESIGN

You might be surprised to know many of the rides around the world such as water rides, roller coasters, ferris wheels, bungee towers, or other amusement and theme park ride and structures may have most likely been designed using Autodesk products such as AutoCAD, 3ds Max, Autodesk Inventor, Maya, etc. I have spoken with many designers over the past years including many designers that design coasters and waterparks around the world and use Autodesk products like AutoCAD. One of the worlds most famous and innovative coaster design firms (and featured an another TV channel I love to watch the Discovery Channel) is located here in Utah and designed one of the first roller coaster cork screw featuring rides. Although most old school coaster designers used string or wire to first model the features then a pencil, many today use software. There is also Water Technology of Beaver Dam Wisconsin (hi Joel)designing water parks with Autodesk products including the new Autodesk Impression. David Harrington a former Autodesk Users Group International "AUGI" Top DAUG and AUGI President worked on the design for the Disney MGM Studios Aerosmith themed coaster Rock 'n Roller Coaster in AutoCAD, see this in the Autodesk Freewheel Examples.

Check out the coaster and water park design related links

• Waterparks -Wikipedia
• Discovery Channel Build a Coaster
• The Ultimate Roller Coaster Contest--Physical Science/Mathematics
• Roller coasters - Wikipedia
• Dream Job: Roller Coaster Designer

This is not a marketing or sales advertisement, I am just a design junkie at heart, and appreciate and am passionate about design.

Many times I find myself missing being a full time mechanical designer like I was 10 years ago. There is nothing like designing a product and seeing it from conception to completion and functioning. I am so envious of Autodesk customers and the products they design and build every day in the world.

I may not always be an Autodesk employee, but I will always be a designer. - Shaan

Got a cool project or design that might spark a young person to choose a science or engineering career, please email me at shaan@autodesk.com. It is important to excite young people on how cool design and engineering careers are.

Everyday Edisons Television Documentary

Autodesk is proud to partner with Everyday Edisons, produced by Bouncing Brain Productions, and set to air in the United States nationwide on PBS.

Premiering April 28, 2007, the Everyday Edisons^SM series follows seven aspiring inventors as they realize their dreams with the help of Autodesk® Inventor™ and Autodesk® AliasStudio™ software. See the entire process—from idea to production—unfold on this televised, 14-part documentary.

Autodesk Link to Everyday Edisons Article

Everyday Edisons. Home | PBS

www.everydayedisons.com/

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