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. Christian, Jesse and Shaan at Kairos Shaan at Kairos 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 Max of WobbleWorks and the 3Doodler 3D Prnting Pen Shaan of Autodesk and Max of 3Doodler Pen Kairos Event on the NYSE Stock Exchange FloorOn 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. Shaan in a SUIT!! Shaan and the AnybotI also met Anybot a virtual presence robot that allows people to attend remote locations even attend meetings while away over the Internet. Autodesk’s own Jonathan Knowles has had a robot but this is a new and sleek model. 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 Read more →

Today the new Autodesk logo has been revealed. The logo is not just a text font but something that can actually be constructed using origami methods. Many more changes to the Autodesk brand and products are coming. Read more →

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. Read more →

I received several great tips covering both AutoCAD and Revit and had to pick just one to give the license of Techsmith Snagit to. I chose Owen Wengerd for his type on cycling through objects. Read more →

Since it is Valentines Day tomorrow, I decided to give away a free license of SnagIt for PC or Mac to the best tip posted as a comment to this post. Post your Autodesk product tip you love by tomorrow... Read more →

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. Read more →

Now you can be a monster Maker creating your own 3D creatures on your iPad for free. The designs can be shared as well as 3D printed. Autodesk 123D Creature app. Read more →

Yes “physible” which means that it can be 3D printed. The word was just accepted into some online dictionary as a real word now. So next time you get a 3D model from someone you can ask them if it is physible and then explain that you are asking is there enough thickness, angles in order to be able to 3D print the model from the digital to the physical world. Read more →

Autodesk 123D Make 1.1 for Mac and Windows has been released. Autodesk 123D Make is free software that allows you to import a 3D model and slice it up into printed patterns. You can then using the pattern build a 3D model from cardboard, wood, plastic, tin, or even fabric. In the past we have created some really cool 3D models from cardboard including ancient skulls, museum pieces, and even the life sized recyclable cardboard CEO named “Carl’board”. Read more →

It was a great time participating as a judge in this weeks event hosted by [acronym] Magazine Public Sector CAD Awards. Hundreds attended to see the presentations by Lynn Allen and others. Read more →

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. Read more →

If you are in New York City next week you can get a free introduction on how to design for 3D printing with Duann Scott of Shapeways. Learn from the veteran 3D printing Jedi master Duann on how to design... Read more →

I first saw this animated short movie being shown before a feature movie Wreck-it Ralph in November at the cinema but now Disney is releasing the Oscar nominated "Paperman" on YouTube for everyone to enjoy. It is very creative animated short which blended traditional animation and some complex computer animation methods resulting in an amazing retro style. Read more →