Between the Lines

Time Change is a Good Time to Check Your Backup Solution

Many say with the time change to Daylight Savings you should check your fire & smoke detectors batteries and test them, that is a great idea.

Equally as important to many with gigabytes and terabytes of data, documents, design files, photo memories and basically our digital lives is to take the time and make sure you are backing your data up regularly, reliably and of course securely. Backup methods fail sometimes faster than a Vegas wedding, so double and triple check your backup methods and I possible don’t rely on just one method. whether it is external drives, physical media, cloud solutions, offsite media chiseled into stone whatever it is make sure it works and you can get your data back safely and securely. I once had my main hard drive go out and then I checked my back up solution and murphy struck and that too failed and I lost photos and documents I can never get back.

You should be doing these things more than twice a year with the time change but twice a year is better than never as both can cause memories to go up in flames.

Cheers,
Shaan

MakerBot and Autodesk Partner Up for 3D

The announcement was just made by MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis in speaking at SXSW 2013 and the Autodesk press release just went live announcing Autodesk and MakerBot will be partnering to provide 3D design software and 3D printing hardware to engineers, designers, architects, makers, creators, and artists.

Autodesk and MakerBot have been working together for awhile now on many projects including MakerBot’s Hackathon using Autodesk 123D Catch to capture models of the New York Metropolitan Museum exhibits and 3D print them. There was also the infamous horsehead captured and 3D printed and even larger Bay Bridge lights project. Beyond just capturing 3D geometry using 123D Catch there are many people that use Autodesk software to design in 3D and send their designs to a MakerBot 3D printer myself included.You can use everything from the Autodesk 123D family including 123D Catch, 123D Creature, 123D Design, and 123D Sculpt to the professional Autodesk design software to create 3D models and 3D print them on MakerBot 3D printers.

“Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot, announced the partnership during his Opening Remarks for SXSW 2013, and the companies showcased creatures designed with Autodesk’s new 123D Creature iPad app, which were printed on a MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer at SXSW Create Presented by Autodesk.

“Software is key in showcasing the capabilities of 3D printing, and Autodesk’s 123D Creature iPad app is an awesome way to highlight how you can customize a design, make it your own, and print it in 3D on a MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer,” noted Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot. “MakerBot prides itself on setting the standard in desktop 3D printing, and now in working with Autodesk, we are also together, setting the standard in providing the leading 3D design software that is optimized for printing on a MakerBot.“

“Our goal is to continue making 3D printing from our applications simpler and more straightforward, and optimizing the Autodesk 123D family to work with MakerBot printers delivers on this promise by enabling our community to print their creations with greater ease,” said Samir Hanna, vice president of Consumer Products at Autodesk. “Our collaboration will help accelerate the next industrial revolution, and we are excited to work with MakerBot to make this happen.”

This might be bigger than a Kardashian wedding, and certainly last longer and be more meaningful.

Are Blueprints Really Dead?

I read an online articles headline stating blueprints were dead. I would love that, but in reality I find that proclamation of blueprints being dead as a headline hard to believe at this time. This topic also started a flurry of tweets discussing if paper blueprints were really dead and discussing if hardware could survive some work environments.

First in order to avoid confusion or misunderstanding I want to clearly indicate I prefer mobile digital solutions like using AutoCAD WS, Buzzsaw or Autodesk 360 at the office or at the jobsite to review and/or markup drawings. With mobile there are also many ways to make sure that you have the latest approved drawings and information such as from a Vault server or Autodesk PLM 360. In the design workflows I think paper is all but dead as not many are designing using paper other than perhaps sketching concepts or draft planning but in the use of the design data for assembly, construction, and fabrication drawings the paper still is alive and well in certain rough environments that eat electronics like soft chewy candy.

Don't have a 3D Printer, No Problem

I hear it frequently when I speak about 3D Printing “Shaan I don’t have a 3D printer”, but they were not aware there are many printing services available locally and on the web. I think that is the business model 3D printing will be for awhile where the design shops and ultra hobbyists may have a 3D printer, but others designing in 3D can still pay for someone else to create the 3D print for them. I don’t think in the near future every home will have a 3D printer, but I believe they will all have access to one. We are starting to see companies like Staples dabbling in a local 3D print services but I want to see a day where the manufacturers of consumer goods provide free or a for a small fee replacement parts or custom modifications that you can purchase online and then pickup at your local FedEx Kinkos which are located about everywhere. That would save time, energy, warehousing, transportation costs and be better for the environment.

3D Printing - The Future is Coming to a Print Shop Store Near You

A good option is my friends like Duann at Shapeways.com that have some 25+ materials from plastics, ceramics, to metals they can 3D print in and also you can even market and sell your designs on their marketplace. There is also Ponoko, Scultpteo, i.materialize, and many more including if you are  a member of 123D you can get 3D prints.

I currently have a MakerBot Replicator which is great for lower resolution ABS 3D prints and their HUGE freely usable Thingiverse community with 3D models ready to print or mod;

Soon I will have use of a real professional quality 3D printer the Mojo from Stratasys (acquired Objet). I am running to my door each time I hear a UPS truck drive by. Of course even with the Mojo I will still be limited in the number of materials unlike Shapeways and other 3D printing services which have several types of 3D printer types so if I want something other than a plastic I will use my Shapeways buddies.

You can also locate a local hacker space or TechShop and get involved as many of them have 3D printers as well as a host of many other tools for making things.

3D Printing is growing exponentially in use and applications and now including printing living human tissue and organs like the recent announcement of Autodesk and Organovo.

So if you have 3D software from free like the 123D Design & Meshmixer to AutoCAD, 3ds Max, Revit, Maya, Inventor Fusion, Autodesk Inventor, and others chances are you can export a STL file to be printed by a 3D printer and have options to print it. Your not going to be printing your replacement liver or hear, but 3D print your creation in plastics, ceramic, metal, and glass prints are currently possible by everyone.

Duann of Shapeways even printed me some wicked cool fun examples of materials including my cherished Bacon Mobius Strip which you can purchase one yourself!

Happy 3D Printing!

-Shaan

Related articles

"Bioprinting has the Potential to Change the World"

Now That's a Wrench! Largest 3D Printed Wrench

3D Printing - The Future is Coming to a Print Shop Store Near You

Staples to get in-store 3D printers

A Printrbot Fixed My Dishwasher

100 Ingenious 3D Printer Pieces - From 3D Printed Pasta to Instantaneous 3D Photography (TrendHunter.com)

"Bioprinting has the Potential to Change the World"

This was a quote from our Autodesk Chief Technology Officer Jeff Kowalski on the partnership with medical research firm Organovo.

While the ability to print yourself a new liver after a tough New Years Eve party may not be possible this year, the research and technology is definitely headed towards the ability to 3D print print real functioning human tissue and organs in the future will be reality.

Read more in the Wired.com article:

”Autodesk Developing CAD Software to Design, 3-D Print Living Tissue”

http://www.wired.com/design/2012/12/autodesk-3-d-print-tissue/

Take it easy on your body this holiday season as you cannot 3D print replacement parts, yet…

Cheers,
Shaan

Related articles

3D Printing - The Future is Coming to a Print Shop Store Near You

Biotech startup targeting liver, cardiac and kidney research with 3D bioprinter

Thank you Schuyler "Sledgehammer" St.Leger

Now That's a Wrench! Largest 3D Printed Wrench

The Largest Ever 3D Printed Wrench! (Video)

The largest  3D printed wrench by the new Stratasys Objet1000 printer. It is an example of the new wide format 3D printers ability to create larger objects in ABS plastic. The build size for this 3D printer is a whopping 1000 x 800 x 500 mm.

The one thing I think of when seeing this wrench, where is the scary big King Kong like guy that can use this 1.2 meter wrench.
Run Sam!

Cheers,
Shaan

Related articles

3D Printing - The Future is Coming to a Print Shop Store Near You

Thank you Schuyler "Sledgehammer" St.Leger

Magic Finger for Your Designs

Maybe you have already heard in the last day or two about the innovative Magic Finger research. The Magic Finger turns any surface into a touch interface. Magic Finger is a research project from Autodesk Research in collaboration with the University of Toronto and University of Alberta.

The Magic Finger will also be featured on the Canadian Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet show which airs at 7pm EST tonight.

Magic Finger inverts the typical relationship between the finger and an interactive surface: with Magic Finger, we instrument the user's finger itself, rather than the surface it is touching. Magic Finger senses touch through an optical mouse sensor, enabling any surface to act as a touch screen. Magic Finger also senses texture through a micro RGB camera, allowing contextual actions to be carried out based on the particular surface being touched. A technical evaluation shows that Magic Finger can accurately sense 22 textures with an accuracy of 98.9%. We explore the interaction design space enabled by Magic Finger, and implement a number of novel interaction techniques that leverage its unique capabilities.
http://www.autodeskresearch.com/publications/magicfinger

http://youtu.be/WgR1358xZaY

Here are some of the latest articles about the Magic Finger research:

• http://news.discovery.com/tech/magic-fingers-121011.html
• http://phys.org/news/2012-10-magic-finger-device-day-content.html
• http://www.gizmag.com/magic-finger-interface/24544/
• http://hothardware.com/News/Autodesk-Magic-Finger-Enables-a-Touch-Pad-on-Any-Surface/
• http://hackaday.com/2012/10/16/magic-finger-input-device-is-a-camera-on-your-finger-tip/
• http://dvice.com/archives/2012/10/optical-finger.php
• http://techaunt.com/touch-your-phone-from-distance-magic-finger/ 

I thought a little deeper on another angle on the research topic with regards to our Autodesk design & visualization software users like Revit, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, 3ds Max, Maya, Sketchbook, etc.

How do you view using another innovative interface to interact and augment the use of the software? Imagine concept sketching using your finger on any surface or refining textures, materials, lighting or modifying a 3D model. I know there are many of us that people will have to pry the keyboards from our cold hands when we die, but many are also open to new methods and interactions as technology and innovation are always evolving to solve current problems.

I have personally always believed when I was designing that the lag causing the most problems for me was not the idea or concept but the translation from my brain to the computer using commands icons etc. <insert USB port in the head joke here>. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could take away much of the software and input interaction and allow you to free flow the design to the computer with greater speed?

So…what do you think, would you be open to new methods like the Magic Finger in addition to the old ways? Post your comments below.

Cheers,
Shaan

Disclaimer: Autodesk Research is core part of the team I am on serving in the Office of the CTO here at Autodesk.

New Autodesk Recommended Hardware Site

Randy Young is an  Lead Engineer for Autodesk Hardware Certification and today he sent me some great information on the new Autodesk Recommended Hardware website. In the past we have provided test results and guidance on graphics cards or recommended system level requirements such as memory and CPU but never really to the model and manufacture of a computer system but that is changing.

Have you ever wondered what systems work with your Autodesk Product or Suite? Or better yet what has been tested and designed for use with your Autodesk product? Look no further than www.autodesk.com/hardware. Most Autodesk products test hardware but have not posted results for recommended hardware until now. Autodesk now has a unified hardware site which displays both recommended computer systems and the certified graphics support.

One of the most common customer frustrations is how to pick a system that will work best with your software. Choose incorrectly and product stability problems will arise. Since Autodesk products are highly hardware dependent and are commonly used in tandem to solve design problems it is important to choose the correct system before installing any software. This can be done by; visiting www.autodesk.com/hardware, selecting System hardware, selecting your product(s) or suite, year, operating system, and clicking the Find button.

 

Now you can see all the systems that have been tested with your selected products. This site also allows you to see all tested vendors and form factors (Laptop & Desktop) together in one list. Now if you click on a system name, for example Dell Precision M4500, it will show you the test results and give you a link to jump directly to dell.com to order the system. If your system is adequate but you need to update your driver you can click on the graphics card name to go directly to the latest tested driver for this card where it can then be downloaded and installed.

This updated site should help you choose a system for your current Autodesk product, pick a system when upgrading your product, and configure your existing system to work with your current product. By choosing the correct system and keeping your existing system up to date with the latest driver you will avoid productivity losses due to slow performance and instability.

If you have any questions, see the FAQ site and if you have any issues not on the FAQ, please feel free to send us a message through the feedback link.

Good luck on your next project,
Randy Young
Autodesk Lead Engineer
Autodesk Hardware Certification

<Thank you Randy>

AutoCAD 2013 System Requirements

The system requirements for AutoCAD 2013 are pretty much the same as the last two releases with the exception of no longer officially supporting Windows Vista (not blocked on install just not supported.) Remember system requirements are not a one size fits all as there are a number of factors that affect how much resources your system may require. The factors can be from the complexity of your drawings, 2D or 3D, visual styles. These requirements are also the lowest suggested system optimal requirements, so use it as a suggested baseline.

AutoCAD 2013 Windows System Requirements

32-bit version

Operating System:

• Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later of the following:
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home
• The following operating systems:
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Hardware:

• CPU
  • Windows XP – Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon Dual Core, 1.6 GHz or Higher with SSE2 technology
  • Windows 7 - Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon Dual Core, 3.0 GHz or Higher with SSE2 technology
• Memory: 2 GB (4 GB recommended)
• Disk: Installation requires 6 GB space
• Display: 1,024 x 768 with true color (1,600 x 1,050 with true color recommended)

Misc.

• Browser: Internet Explorer 7.0 or later web browser
• File Formats: (New file format in AutoCAD 2013):
  • Save-as Support
    AutoCAD R14, AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2004, AutoCAD 2007, AutoCAD 2010, AutoCAD 2013.
  • DXF Support
    AutoCAD R12, AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2004, AutoCAD 2007, AutoCAD 2010, AutoCAD 2013
• API
  • LISP are compatible
  • Scripts are compatible
  • ObjectARX application will need to be recompiled

---

64-bit version

Operating System:

• Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later of the following:
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• The following operating systems:
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Hardware:

• CPU
  • AMD Athlon 64 with SSE2 technology
  • AMD Opteron with SSE2 technology
  • Intel Xeon with Intel EM64T support and SSE2
  • Intel Pentium 4 with Intel EM64T support and SSE2 technology
• Memory: 2 GB (4 GB recommended)
• Disk: Installation requires 6 GB space
• Display: 1,024 x 768 with true color (1,600 x 1,050 with true color recommended)

For both 32 & 64-bit  Misc.

• Browser: Internet Explorer 7.0 or later web browser
• File Formats: (New file format in AutoCAD 2013):
  • Save-as Support AutoCAD R14, AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2004, AutoCAD 2007, AutoCAD 2010, AutoCAD 2013.
  • DXF Support AutoCAD R12, AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2004, AutoCAD 2007, AutoCAD 2010, AutoCAD 2013
• API
  • LISP are compatible
  • Scripts are compatible
  • ObjectARX application will need to be recompiled

For both 32 & 64-bit using 3D modeling workflows:

• Memory 4 GB RAM or more
• 6 GB free hard disk available not including installation requirements
• 1,280 x 1,024 True color video display adapter 128 MB or greater, Pixel Shader 3.0 or greater support by your graphics card, Direct3D capable workstation class graphics card.

Your mileage and requirements may vary on system requirements due to how you use the products and your DWG files. So AutoCAD 2013 is coming very soon, and if you are running AutoCAD 2012 you should be good to go. 

Cheers,
Shaan

New HP Z1 All in One Workstation PC

 

HP announced their new all-in-one PC desktop computer workstation the HP Z1 and Autodesk was there with HP in Las Vegas for the unveiling of this new workstation and demonstrated it with several Autodesk design and visualization software products. The HP Z1 looks like a really nice option to dump the standard box chassis workstation and its associated spaghetti of wires for a new sleek, compact, and nice looking pc workstation. For those concerned about an all-in-one computer preventing their breaking open the chassis to swap components or make repairs you can rest at ease as you can open this chassis. It has nice hardware components including the NVIDIA Quadro graphics card to cause the pixels to dance and squeal on the 27 inch LED display.

I am currently looking for a desktop PC workstation alternative to my laptop when in my office and need the horsepower or of a workstation and am really considering this new HP Z1.

The HP Z1 will begin shipping in April for more info see www.hp.com/z1

 

I also heard via Twitter that Autodesk Chief Marketing Officer Chris Bradshaw showed an image my infamous 1982 AutoCAD floppy at the event.

Cheers,
Shaan