Between the Lines

Autodesk IDEA Studio Research Proposals Due May 15

We're looking for the best, the brightest, and the most innovative and creative faculty, students, and researchers that you know, and we need your assistance in encouraging them to apply to the IDEA Studio - Autodesk's unique scholar-in-residence program.  The IDEA Studio is now accepting proposals for residencies that will take place in November 2013 through January 2014, and proposals are due May 15.

Located in San Francisco in the Autodesk Gallery at One Market, the IDEA Studio supports faculty and students from around the world who use Autodesk software in advanced, imaginative ways to solve real-life problems. In addition to grants of up to $30,000 USD, residents are given an inspirational workspace and are connected with a tailored network of Autodesk advisors to help them reach their research goals. 

Applicants can submit a brief proposal directly via the online Proposal Submission Form.

The Coolest 3D Printed Speakers in the World

3D printing is now a viable technique for manufacturing highly customized, consumer-ready products. Designers can now go from concept to reality 100% digitally.

My Autodesk teammates Arthur Harsuvanakit and Evan Atherton are an amazing dynamic duo (3Duo) researching digital design, fabrication, and 3D printing technologies. They have developed some 3D printed speaker enclosures after Maurice Conti said “Hey, this would make a cool speaker” and then determined the project goals. The first speaker appeared on the cable channel Current TV with Autodesk CEO Carl Bass as well as featured in my Autodesk University 2012 session.

Now the 3Duo Arthur and Evan have taken the 3D printed speaker concept much further. They designed and 3D printed a new set of speakers in multiple materials using a Stratasys Objet Connex 500 printer and then incorporate LED lighting by startup LumiGeek.  If you are going to have a one of a kind set of speakers, why not really challenge what can be done and make them really wild and not only play cool music but light up LED lights in patterns synchronized to the music.

YouTube video of the speaker pulsing to the beat of music. http://youtu.be/50TBPeu560U

From Evan:
The main goal was not about making something wicked cool, although it was a factor but  more down to earth goals were established for this project.

• Demonstrate 3D printing as viable Manufacturing tool.
• Create something unique, but also useful.
• What can we print vs. what should we print.
• Now that we can print just about anything. We need to take a closer look at what we should be printing.
• In order to understand we must participate (in 3D printing)

How did digital design tools enable this project?

• Combined surface and solid modeling to create a unique design and product.
• Using 3ds Max we were able to pattern in an organic surface modeling environment to allow form exploration. The form exploration in 3ds Max gave us complex shapes and patterns that would be hard in a solid modeling environment.
• Using the Autodesk Labs plugin Mesh Enabler for Autodesk Inventor, the solid model was created from the .STL exported mesh from 3ds Max.
• Using Autodesk Inventor parametric features were created. Working on a solid model parametrically in Inventor is much more accurate for creating the necessary mounting geometry for the speakers and cables, etc.

Note from Shaan:
Now that we are starting to beta test the upcoming Autodesk Fusion 360 product, this might be a great one place to design the entire project. With the freeform sculpting powered by the T-Splines technology and also a top notch parametric design mode. Its like the reeses peanut butter cup of industrial and mechanical design software combining the best of both worlds.

Here are two screenshots showing the larger speaker enclosure design in 3ds Max.

 
3D renderings of the speaker designs.

 

The completed speaker set in the Autodesk Gallery all ready to rock and put on a trance inducing LED light show.

Wired Article on the speakers:
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/04/lumigeek/

Thanks to the mad speaker scientists Arthur & Evan for designing and creating the speakers, and Maurice for challenging and focusing them on this wicked cool project.

Here is the Instructable to create them from Evan:
http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Speaker-Enclosures-With-Lights/

I would like to challenge them to create the ultimate stereo enclosure to make this a complete uniquely styled and created music experience. I would love to bring the cool set to Autodesk University 2013 to show off what can be done with a complete digital design to manufacturing process.

Cheers,
Shaan

Project Pinocchio 3D Character Controlled Real-time in Maya

As I mentioned on my Twitter account (@ShaanHurley) Friday, Autodesk’s own digital mad scientist or researcher in the Office of the CTO Brian Pene created a 3D rigged character using the new Project Pinocchio technology preview from Autodesk Labs and stepped it up a few levels. He took the rigged character he created and using a Xbox 360 Kinect &  FaceShift was able to control the character in Autodesk Maya live in real-time.

What a great way to read bedtime stories to your young kids and give them a deep dark nightmare experience. Imagine setting the screen to your Skype call for a live business meeting or call home while traveling. Of course for those in the animation business there are more practical applications than my two examples, but I just like to warp the use of technologies just like my humor.

“Project Pinocchio is a free technology preview that leverages Autodesk's powerful 3D design and animation tools to provide you with a web-based laboratory where you can create fully-rigged custom 3D characters. Design a creation of your own or modify existing stock characters using a variety of pre-defined body types, facial features, and clothing styles for inclusion in 3D games, animations, and scenes.”

Check it out:
Autodesk Labs: Project Pinocchio and Xbox 360 Kinect FaceShift http://youtu.be/jxT0Xti4yG0

Brian also tested out controlling a character using the upcoming hardware LeapMotion:
Autodesk Labs: Project Pinocchio character controlled by LeapMotion in Maya

Autodesk T-Splines Plug-in for Rhino

The reintroduction of Autodesk T-Splines Plug-in for Rhino and discussion on a new version 4 coming was discussed in a recent live webcast and now available to watch on YouTube. You may remember T-Splines (my friends in nearby Provo Utah) were acquired back in November of 2011, and Autodesk stated at the time they would continue supporting non-Autodesk products which T-Splines was developed for. Since that time updates have been released and a renewed effort for new versions has been announced.

Catch up on T-Splines with the recent webcast by Autodesk T-Splines Product Manager Matt Sederberg and Autodesk CEO Carl Bass. This is another frank and honest discussion by Carl on design software tools and his actual use of the tools.
http://youtu.be/wjXS1oD0sY8

“T-Splines is a technology used by industrial designers, jewelers, and architects to easily create and edit freeform, organic designs.

A few months ago, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass delighted the T-Splines community by announcing on the T-Splines forum that T-Splines for Rhino development would resume actively. Watch this webinar to listen to Carl talk with Matt Sederberg, former T-Splines CEO and current Autodesk product manager, about what has happened with T-Splines over the past year, why Autodesk has decided to resume more active development, and what this means for the future. There will be live Q&A at the end.”

Even more exciting to me is T-Splines being integrated in the upcoming Autodesk Fusion 360 which is in beta currently at http://www.autodesk.com/Fusion360. I love Fusion 360 as you can do both complex organic product industrial design and solid modeling workflows on both Mac and Windows. Autodesk Fusion 360 is like a design tool that makes you a one man wolf pack of design.

Cheers,
Shaan

What is the Role of Design in Creating a Better World?

Autodesk has released a short video on the role of design from the perspective of some visionaries:

• Mickey McManus - CEO of MAYA design
• Eve Blossom - Founder Lulan Artisans
• Christine Furstoss - Global Technology Director, Manufacturing & Materials Technologies. GE Global Research
• Peter Diamandis - founder and chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation and the co-founder and chairman of Singularity University
• Schuyler St. Leger - 3D printing enthusiast and Autodesk University 2012 keynote speaker

Link to the YouTube hosted video http://autode.sk/YZZBvd

Kairos Society Summit & Some 3Doodling

Last Friday and Saturday Autodesk participated as a sponsor in the Kairos Society Summit in New York City. The Kairos Society is a non-profit organization founded to foster innovation and entrepreneurship by students.

“Founded in 2008, the Kairos Society is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization based in the United States. We work to find and empower the young pioneers who will push the world forward through entrepreneurship and innovation - we do so with the support of the top universities, mentors, and corporations across the globe. At the Kairos Society, we view today’s global problems as opportunities for entrepreneurs to focus on the meaningful businesses and innovations that will radically change the world for the better. Not only for our generation, but for the generations to come.”

Autodesk CEO Carl Bass and Autodesk CTO Jeff Kowalski were at the event as were about 6 Autodesk employees including myself presenting on the subjects of 3D design and 3D Printing. Many of our 3D printing friends like Stratasys and Shapeways were also at the event.

 

During our panel session on 3D Printing where we spoke of Autodesk role in developing software and technologies used in design and also supporting 3D printing. We covered a great deal of ground in a short amount of time to 350 students broken up into 3 groups. I absolutely love discussing technology with students as they come up with the greatest questions and ideas since they don’t know the boundaries or set in their ways. During the session I brought up the hot topic of the 3D Printing pen “3Doodler” on Kickstarter that was trying to raise $30,000 and are now OVER 1.8 million dollars and causing a buzz all over in social media and even among researchers in the 3D printing space. In fact there was a long email thread I was involved in the evening before the Kairos event discussing what it really was and if it was really 3D printing, or really a free form 3D sketching tool. When I brought up the 3Doodler topic a gentlemen in the back of the session pointed to himself and so I asked what he wanted to add to the discussion, it was none other than the co-founder of WobbleWorks and the 3Doodler pen Maxwell Bogue.
3Doodler: The World's First 3D Printing Pen

 

On Saturday we were invited to participate in the launching of the Kairos 50 on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. What a surreal and interesting venue where many of the startups in the Kairos 50 were presenting their projects.We were all dressed up in suits and I even had a tie on.

I also met Anybot a virtual presence robot that allows people to attend remote locations even attend meetings while away over the Internet.  One cool thing was the ability to attach a mobile device running Google Hangouts and that could then be used to allow people to join a Hangout session and experience an event or place remotely. Would love to have some of these at AU.

Cheers,
Shaan

Get Involved in Autodesk Future Products & Technologies

For those that love to participate in providing early feedback that helps shape the future of Autodesk products and technologies, there are several great options to get involved. You don’t have to be on the bleeding edge or the top Autodesk product user in the universe as all skill and experience levels are encouraged and needed.

Both Autodesk Labs and Autodesk Feedback Community are now managed under the Autodesk Office of the CTO. Both of these valuable future product and technological incubators are vital to Autodesk and of course benefit our customers.

Autodesk Labs

Autodesk Labs is where several Autodesk teams post research and future technologies to get feedback on them. The technology previews are not products yet, but are early concepts. The goal is to find what technology previews are useful or need improvement from those that people have little interest for. Several current Autodesk products like Autodesk Inventor Fusion, Autodesk Revit LT, and Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler have successfully graduated from Autodesk Labs to be come real Autodesk products.
Go to: http://labs.autodesk.com/

Autodesk Feedback Community

Autodesk Feedback community is the center of the Autodesk product universe for future versions. This is where you can sign up to be a part of the early discussions in product futures, early alpha and beta versions of the Autodesk software you use or wish to use. The goal is to get early user feedback on the new releases and of course send in bug reports to improve the products before the new releases are released to the general public.
Go to: http://beta.autodesk.com/

Autodesk User Research & Product Usability

Autodesk User Research is where you sign up to participate in in studies on how Autodesk products and technologies are used. Things like workflow where the product team or product design may want to know how a conceptual or current feature is discovered and used are studied remote, at events, or in person visits.

Get involved and help shape future Autodesk products and technologies today.

Cheers,
Shaan

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.

Carl Bass on Engineer vs. Designer

I thoroughly enjoyed the return of the Engineer vs. Designer podcast, especially this one featuring Autodesk’s own CEO and chief Maker Carl Bass. The entertaining interview by Josh Mings and Adam OHern was great as it felt almost like I shoulder surfed in on a candid conversation about design software at a lounge somewhere in Brooklyn.

• Who are you, Carl Bass?
• What is up with all the iOS apps? Where are they taking us?
• Where is Autodesk today and where are they going?
• Why CAD in the Cloud? (Fusion 360)
• When can we expect Autodesk hardware?

After the podcast I was left thinking that we Autodesk employees have the most candid, coolest, down to earth, straight talking CEO ever.

Check out the podcast:
http://engineervsdesigner.com/61-autodesk-carl-bass/

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

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Bloomberg Businessweek Design Conference – Visually Recorded by Tom Wujec

Visual Recording of Bloomberg Businessweek Design Conference by Autodesk's own Tom Wujec http://buswk.co/VjqSYZ

You might think to yourself “hey I can draw”, but can you really draw real-time as the presenters are speaking or a conversation of fast speaking colleagues like my team to capture the essence of the topic and key takeaways as that is the hard and even more rare talent. Some may have seen Tom visually record at Autodesk University during a community meeting event and he literally had paper around the room and he just kept drawing non-stop. At the end a complete visual recording of the event was easy for anyone to understand as a picture tells and conveys an idea much better and faster than just semantic text.

More about Tom

Tom is a member of the team I am on in the Office of the CTO and a great fellow, no really Tom’s title is “Autodesk Fellow”.  He is one of the instrumental people in the history of the popular Sketchbook Pro and Maya products.Tom is also well known not only for being a nice, thoughtful, stylish, and funny guy, but he is key at TED including the referee of the fun cage match events also at Autodesk University and the Innovation Forums and more.

Tom regularly meets with teams from Autodesk as well as companies around the world and facilitates discussions to flesh out ideas, problems, and strategies by leading the discussion. Many times having a led discussion and documented visually can help a tam arrive at the right strategy, idea, or solution compared to just talking and taking notes in a group meeting amongst themselves without a ring master or herder of innovative cats.

Tom was also a key driving force involved in the Autodesk book “Imagine Design Create”.
“Imagine Design Create tells rich, three-dimensional stories of the value, impact and process of design, showcasing key players, their design challenges, and the victories of collaborative problem solving.”

Autodesk Imagine Design Create is available as an iPad app in the Apple app store, as well as PDF, and in printed book format.

 

Some of Tom’s TED Talks

Tom Wujec: 3 ways the brain creates meaning
 

Tom Wujec demos the 13th-century astrolabe

Tom Wujec: Build a tower, build a team

Tom Rocks!

Computer Reboot and Tech-xersism

Not a normal reboot by any means but actually a new drive and starting from the fresh Operating System and rebuilding as well a performing a tech-xersism to rid the machine of evil bits and bytes. I had to reinstall everything to get back to where I was before my drive and OS decided to get sick or possessed by ancient evil spirited code for the past two weeks seriously hobbling my ability to work between crashes, lockups and blue screens. I am very rough on hardware due to all the unreleased technology I install and uninstall or the crazy things I research and try as well as travel incidents like last year in remote Northern Turkana basin Kenya and having to place my laptop on blocks of ice due to the 115+ degree heat, and then AU 2011 where static electricity built up from all the walking and then I touched my laptop while it was running and the motherboard fried.

One of the biggest challenges when rebuilding your machine is knowing what your hardware is, what is installed, and what are you registration keys for the installed application. You can do it manually but that could seriously take forever and I found a free tool from a company that sells enterprise tools that give a tool for individuals to use to create a report of more details of your computer than you could ever do manually. From all your hardware details, OS and updates, driver versions, software and keys, to a list of the installed software you are not using frequently.I looked very closely into the tool to make sure it was not a scam tool or transmitted my data to their servers which it did not and was amazing to document my laptop hardware and software.

How do I know what is installed on my machine?
The Belarc Advisor http://belarc.com/free_download.html

 

One other thing I did when rebuilding my laptop is that I went with a Solid State Drive “SSD” instead of a standard drive. My bootup time of Windows from the power being off to logged in and ready to rock went from about 90 seconds to around 14 seconds with the same software installed. A SSD drive has no mechanical parts and is essentially flash memory like your cameras, iPads, and smartphones use. I am blown away at how fast a laptop can be running completely on a SSD drive.

Now I hopefully can get back to work with a healthy PC.

Cheers,
Shaan

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Autodesk Formit 2.0, then Revit

Autodesk Formit is a free iPad app launched on iTunes as a version 1.0 during Autodesk University 2012 in December and just updated this past weekend to version 2.0.

Autodesk FormIt Version 2.0 has just been launched on iTunes, and it is completely free. This latest update includes some great improvements including metric units, automatic Revit file creation (with Autodesk 360), grid and snap settings adapt to zoom level, and some great user experience enhancements.
Download or update today: http://autode.sk/TjO5Hj

Autodesk Formit provides a simple iPad based 3D modeling tool for you to conceptually model architectural designs, building massing models, or a conceptual master plan. Formit is a very basic and intuitive 3D tool where you use your fingers to create the designs. When you have the conceptual design you want you can then refine it into an accurate design model by logging into your Autodesk 360 account for the Revit .rvt file that is placed along with the Autodesk Formit .axm file.

It is just plain fun to explore architecture design concepts on the iPad tablet. For those mechanically inclined, check out the free Autodesk 123D Design.

What's new in version 2.0

• Support for metric units (a hot user request)
• Cloud conversion to Autodesk Revit: supports Metric or Imperial, depending on sketch setting
• Imprint closed shapes on faces and push them in to make solid cuts
• Grid and snap settings adapt to current zoom level
• Rectangles can be drawn at angles to the grid
• Satellite images can be reloaded
• Redesigned sun-study popover takes up less space
• Gallery is a single scrollable page and can be sorted by name or date
• Sketches now display their name in the Gallery
• Fit to view has option to include a loaded image
• Help button now has an option to go to the Autodesk Formit GetSatisfaction support site
• We are now gathering anonymous usage data. This can be disabled from the About page
• Crash recovery: If there is a crash, you will be able to retrieve data on next load
• Various stability and bug fixes

Here is a existing retail mall created in Formit by Angel Espinoza after he had only been using Formit for a couple hours. Angel started by just using a location which imported the Map or satellite background (you can even use a photo from of a site plan). He then created primitives and then modified those to create the 3D Formit model.

So if you have an iPad, go download or update today: http://autode.sk/TjO5Hj

Inside the Mind of Carl Bass Autodesk CEO & Chief Maker

Recently Autodesk CEO Carl Bass was interviewed on Bloomberg TV for Bloomberg Design 2013. Hear from Carl about his experience with digital design as a hands on Maker, Design as a Verb, Design Experiments and Form Exploration.

Inside the Design Mind of Autodesk's Carl Bass http://bloom.bg/UQcNlP

Shown in the video is the free Autodesk 123D Design available for the PC, Mac, Online, and the iPad.

Don't be a Technology Armadillo

I recently learned that the odd animal armadillo has very self destructive habits that threaten it’s very own survival. What the armadillo does that is so bad is that once it establishes a path, it continues to use it regardless of the changes and obstacles placed in its path. Part of this is due to its poor eyesight and it follows fence lines and other barriers to guide them but what about when a house or road is placed along that established armadillo path, the armadillo does not always adapt and runs into the object over and over. The friend who told me about this was living in a new apartment building and every once in awhile they would hear a loud “thud” sound outside on the wall. The thud sound turned out to be an armadillo running its long established path before the apartment building. This behavior also allows people to trap unwanted armadillos easily just by placing a trap on their established path or along a fence line. Armadillos are also known to jump when scared which is deadly when they are on a road and jump under a moving vehicle.

Adapt, Evolve, or Perish!

If you do not adapt and evolve when a new technology or challenge is in your path, you will be in the same blind peril as the armadillo. When your industry is changing like it is today in the design world with more 3D design, cloud computing, BIM, and Digital Prototyping, you must learn how to be adapt your skills and business to adapt, compete, and survive, or risk running into a wall or trap like an armadillo.

Don’t be a Technology Armadillo

-Shaan

 

Update: I should be more clear in that I am not saying all technology should be adopted, but it should be looked at especially if your industry is changing. Whether we like it or not, change is the one thing always occuring.

Six Technology Trends

You need to watch this short video of Autodesk’s geek and technology master in residence Brian Mathews, Group CTO of the Platform Products Group providing his overview of the technology trends.

Want a list of the 6 trends, watch the video and hear them explained, and why they matter.
http://youtu.be/5dmfFf0W_bI

Cheers,
Shaan

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Security Tip on USB Thumb Drives

I know many of my friends are in Vegas this week for CES and thought I would point out one of the biggest threats to your computer and network, thumb drives. You see them at most trade shows or even just laying around in public like the one I found at the gym yesterday.

Many of the largest network compromises including governments, top secure military facilities, and even nuclear reactors have occurred because the bad guys have figured out people will grab these thumb drives (“sweet, free hardware”) and stick them into their machines without even a thought about it. The problem is some of the amazing free found USB thumb drives contain trojan software code that gets installed on your machine once inserted. After inserting a malicious USB thumb drive your machine and the security rights it has are provided to the malicious trojan thus the criminals or data stealing or damaging code can spread to your corporate and other networks.

You can even have a network breach/compromise without a target computer even connected to the web or network in a secure DMZ area by one person inserting that malicious thumb drive into a machine in that secure environment. I have seen at military bases where the USB ports on computers were actually epoxy glue filled so that nobody could insert any USB device.

Your USB port and Wi-Fi are two most insecure highways onto your computer besides executing unknown free software from the web.

Save yourself the potential problems and spend $15 for a thumb drive at the store, and always format before use. So just think when you see a free USB thumb drive sitting on a chair or on a table in public, it could be a big trap.

Be secure out there,

Shaan

Update: @Kitestyle_twit on Twitter pointed out one more good tip for mitigating the USB threat and that is disabling the autoplay setting on your computer. But the malicious USB could be placed in almost any computer, and not all will have autoplay disabled. Microsoft should disable it by default in a service pack.

 

USB Flash Drive Security from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive_security

"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

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Thank you Schuyler "Sledgehammer" St.Leger

Capturing the Exploratorium in San Francisco

The San Francisco Exploratorium has long been a place for kids and adults alike to explore science and technology, but it is moving. The Exploratorium is moving to the historic Embarcadero waterfront at pier 15 in 2013 and closing the current location in the Palace of Fine Arts in a couple weeks.

One of the people that the Exploratorium helped get interested in science and technology was Autodesk’s very own Brian Mathews who is now the Group CTO for the IPG group. Brian mentioned it made such an impact on him that he wanted to help document the existing Exploratorium in 3D using Reality Capture methods such as laser scanning and photogrammetry for historic preservation.

Laser scanning is where stationary laser scanning equipment such as the FARO Focus 3D projects a laser beam and captures the x,y,z coordinates and other attributes at a very high speed. The highly accurate points captures create a 3D point cloud that can be used as a digital reference of the objects and space.

Photogrammetry is where you take a series of photos and then software creates a 3D textured model. Autodesk currently has a free photogrammetry software for computers as well as the mobile iPhone and the iPad named 123D Catch where you can take photos of an object and create a 3D model. Brian is using an advanced unreleased version of the technology we are working on.

Having the Exploratorium captured forever in 3D will preserve not only how it was configured to help with planning exhibits at the new location, but also preserve it for historical record purposes long after the old location is gone. One could even later print the objects in 3D physical models.

Check out the video that includes Brian and the Reality Capture from ABC 7 KGO in San Francisco (you do have to bear through a commercial first grrr)

Exploratorium preserving past, preparing for future
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=8924014

Cheers,
-Shaan

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

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Thank you Schuyler "Sledgehammer" St.Leger

Exercise Your Brain and Learn More About Autodesk

Robert Scoble recently visited the Autodesk Gallery & interviewed Autodesk Group CTO Information Modeling and Platform Brian Mathews. From infinite computing, bio/nano technology, rip mod fab, to reality capture including capturing Robert’s own head in 3D. This video will give you a really great overview of Autodesk and technology. In Robert's words, “mind blowing” and "If you are interested in the future of the world, this is a must watch."

http://bit.ly/X9qu2q

Robert Scoble aka the Scobleizer is a social media and technology titan whom I have known for several years as we both shared a common bond of blogging for large software companies. I have also met his cameraman Rocky several times most recently at the final launch of Space Shuttle Discovery NASA Tweetup.  If you want to know about technology, then Robert is the go to guy with a very clear opinion that he is never afraid to share.

Brian Mathews is our resident Autodesk expert on technology “uber geek” currently in the position of Group CTO Information Modeling and Platform Group. Previously at Autodesk, he has held positions Vice President of Autodesk Labs, software architect and engineering management positions for design collaboration solutions, data publishing, and the computer graphics engines used in AutoCAD and Autodesk 3ds Max software, and multiple CAD viewers. He was the chief architect at buzzsaw.com as well as being the guy behind the Autodesk Design Web Format “DWF” format. Brian has also held technical positions at Sun Microsystems and Ithaca Software.

Brian holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Cornell University. He holds a variety of patents covering data compression, computer graphics, software as a service, and design collaboration. He is also an avid Ham radio operator.

I have been lucky enough to work closely with Brian for several years including having him as my manager and VP in Autodesk Labs. He has always blown my mind on what he knows, thinks of emerging technologies, and their possible application in design. I always came away after a discussion with Brian with every available brain cell and neuron firing at 110%.

Thank you Robert for visiting us at Autodesk!

Cheers &
73s (ham radio speak)
Shaan

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

Many people including myself have been predicting some mainstream print center would adopt 3D printing and bring it locally to millions of consumers. Quite frankly I thought it would be FedEx Kinkos first, but it looks like Staples beat them in announcing their intensions for 3D printing.

Staples Fires Warning Flare To 3D Printing Market - Seeking Alpha tinyurl.com/d7hzdz7

I have been talking about this for the past two years including at Autodesk University as it really is a no brainer when you consider the 3D printing and possibilities for consumers without a 3D printer in their home and need a part immediately.

It made perfect sense to me after I had to reverse engineer a plastic part for my clothes dryer and even discussed this on NPR last Spring “New Projects Help 3-D Printing Materialize on NPR.” I thought for small non-critical components it would be nice to have manufacturers provide a STL source file for free or a small charge and save warehouse space, transportation costs, energy, and satisfy customers with an immediate solution instead of waiting for a shipment. I know the lawyers would certainly want a customer agreement that the part produced from the STL was not under their control or liability, and that would be perfectly fine.

If the manufacturers don't embrace this and get in front and lead, people will surely resort to doing it themselves then posting source files online for others on a site like thingiverse.com. If they force the consumer to do it themselves, they will lose all control and the opportunity to be innovative in part supply and personalization of their products as well as make some very happy customers.

Imagine you need a small replacement part for your vacuum or want a custom accessory for your vacuum like a spoiler for your fast Roomba vacuum, a new custom mount for your GoPro camera, or perhaps a personalized smartphone case. Now imagine you simply go to the manufacture and select an option to 3D print the part and have the option to go pick up the 3D part from a local place like Staples 1.8 miles away in x hours for x$ that very same day.

That would, and Will be awesome someday.

-Shaan

Thank you Schuyler “Sledgehammer” St.Leger

Some may have attended or seen the fun Cage Match on “3D Printing is a Toy” with 12 year old prodigy Schuyler St.Leger last week. I even wore the Nacho Libre mask and cape in an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate Schuyler. This was really a no win debate for my position that 3D printing is a toy.
First: he is a cute and well spoken 12 year old kid that is passionate about 3D printing rating on enthusiasm meter of a scale 1-10 he pegs it at 99, and he really is smarter than most 30 year olds with a degree.
Second: 3D Printing is here to stay and will only get better and used in many more ways to benefit everyone.
My only point to be made during the entertaining fun event was that while I do fully believe in 3D printing, currently for most it is just printing small plastic toys with some limited exceptions.

Cage Match Video at Autodesk University 2012 Shaan :Electric Boogaloo” Hurley "3D Printers are Toys?" and Schuyler “Sledgehammer” St.Leger http://bit.ly/TBR2qC 

He hit me with not only great debate points but LED bombs and a hammer names the “Hurley Hammer” and then called me Aardvark as that animal has two “a”s in it’s name like me.

Here are two photos from the match taken by Mike Burke shared in the AU2012 Flickr Photo Pool
http://www.flickr.com/groups/au2012/pool/

 

He received a really cool steampunk styled trophy.

 

 

 

 

Check out Schuyler’s keynote presentation at Autodesk University: "Why I'm a Designer & a Maker"  http://bit.ly/schuylerAU2012

Personally I don’t see in the near future anyone printing critical components for bridges, nuclear equipment, or submarines that I used to design several years ago. It will take some great advancements in the future to be able to reliably, scale, and economically replace current materials and manufacturing methods, but I think we will get there someday. We are currently in the infancy and exciting research stages in my opinion especially for consumer 3D printing, but the technology is rapidly evolving. I have to laugh at articles like the one on thedailymash where they poke fun of where we are now with 3D printing with a bit too much sarcasm perhaps to troll readers. I have seen other online blogs where they call 3D printing a fad, but in time they will be proven wrong.

I share the optimism of Schuyler on 3D printing, and their significance in the future of manufacturing and science. I commend him on all that he does to promote 3D printing and Makers. He is one amazing and smart kid. It will be amazing to see what he does in the future as he may be that one person that comes up with the way to make 3D printing as common in manufacturing as a CNC milling or casting process.

 

Thank You Schuyler!!!

The Future is So Bright I Got to Wear 3D Printed Shades!

-Shaan

Students Harness the Power of Autodesk Simulation 360 for Free

Attention Engineering and Architecture students go to the Autodesk Education Community to try the leading edge of Cloud powered Autodesk Simulation 360 technology at no cost.

Autodesk Simulation 360 gives you Mechanical and Computational Fluid Dynamics tools that leverage the power of cloud computing to compute solutions faster than ever.

Check it out:

http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=360cloud

This is in addition to most every Autodesk product free for students for 3 year software licenses.

Check out the blog post from Thom on Engineering Education for the Mechanically Inclined: http://bit.ly/Z0RKhM

I Was In New Zealand Last Night

I presented to an Inventor User Group organized by CADPro Systems last night in Christchurch New Zealand, but I never left my house, dealt with the security & customs checkpoints, or the long flight with the standard baby with an earache crying with an unchanged diaper on the 15 hours of flights each way. I used my webcam and GoToMeeting web conference software to present to the user group virtually where I could see and hear the attendees and they could see and hear me.

It was 10:30 pm time Wednesday (Halloween and wearing my Zombie Food shirt) and 5:30pm Thursday for them, so technically I was presenting into the future.

I placed my webcam upside down for a couple minutes just to have some down under Southern hemisphere fun.

I spoke about Autodesk Labs, the importance of sending in the CER reports each time and that they do not go into a black hole, and the recent Kenya research with 3d capture techniques and flying the Octo Copter in remote Northern Kenya to test capturing high resolution imagery to locate rare fossils faster and more accurately than just walking the desert.

During Q&A there was a common request to get the Autodesk Labs technology preview for the 3D Annotation in Inventor back or in Autodesk Inventor as a core feature. Here is s small webcam image of a small portion of the room when asked who not just wanted that feature, but who needed it. Scott Sheppard posted the feedback results of the 3D Annotation tool :

Inventor 3D Annotation Feedback Results

 

I stayed around for a Power Inventor user named Jason Dent of 4th Dimensional Façade Solutions Ltd to present on a mind blowing method of designing the exterior of a complex building using Inventor. Jason said: "Without Inventor, this job would have been absolutely impossible.”

It was a great treat on Halloween as I love speaking to customers and also seeing how they use our software and their feedback. Thanks to the user group members I attendance and Peter Crawley and Gavin Bath of CADPro Systems for making this happen. If you would like me to speak to your user group just send me an email request with details on the group, proposed date and topics.

Do I wish I was really in Christchurch and New Zealand, absolutely as I have been to New Zealand a couple times and loved every minute of it with the landscapes and people.

Cheers!

Shaan