Between the Lines

They Grow Up So Very Fast - Happy Birthday Katie

My daughter Katelyn "Katie" turns 13 years old, and becomes an official teenager tomorrow which is technically now in Australia which is now 12:00AM August 1st, 2014 in Perth. She has always been my princess and it is both an honor and pleasure to watch her grow from a baby to the beautiful smart young lady she is today and for her to call me dad. Reaching 13 is another big milestone in life and makes me realize how fast... Read more →

Please Vote to Support Virunga's Impact Challenge

My good friend and respected paleontologist Dr. Louise Leakey tells me we are in the final hours to vote to support ‪‎Virunga‬'s Google Impact Challenge‬! Help Virunga Foundation win £500,000 and Google's support to protect wildlife and communities. It only takes a couple seconds to vote, and you can make a real difference in the world, and to the last remaining mountain gorillas and other endangered wildlife.This can be your good deed for the day, and feel really good about... Read more →

Autodesk AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Webinar July 31 2014

OSNAP! You're invited! Please join us for the Autodesk AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Webinar: ‘Precision Drafting: Object Snaps and Object Tracking’ Autodesk AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT users are gathering for a series of Hangouts designed to introduce you to the powerful features available in AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT. We'll show you time-saving tips and tricks that can be used to increase your productivity immediately. Some of AutoCAD's most precious features - and time-savers - are either buried in the documentation... Read more →

Change AutoCAD Layout Background Color to Black

So you want you AutoCAD Layout to be black just like you model space background for whatever reason or preference you have? Simple to do and here is how to do it. I this video Autodesk Screencast you can see the command steps I use in real-time and hear my voice instead of just looking at images and and text explanation. The post I wrote back in 2007 & 2010 on this topic is one of the top ten read... Read more →

3D Prints with a Powerful Purpose

With all of the hype surrounding 3D printing it is sometimes difficult to hear about the true promise of 3D printing like artificial limbs and many more life changing examples in addition to the powerful transformational changes it will do for manufacturing. Here is one example of a 3D print being used in a disaster site and making a real difference for people. 3D printing is not just about printing plastic things or toys. I was involved this Spring with... Read more →

My Weekend

Be active, healthy, and happy. Cecret Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon (40°34′12″N 111°37′19″W / 40.570°N 111.622°W) is located about 20 minutes from where I live, and is a great place to hike and chill before starting another busy work week. The amazing wildflowers are just now starting to bloom. What are you doing this Summer, or for my friends down under what are you doing this Winter? Cheers, -Shaan Read more →

Ultimate Mid-Summer Cool Down - Verruckt

I have been dealing with the hot Summer heat even triple digits for awhile now and anything cool and wet sounds like a great idea. I just happened to read that Autodesk customer Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City had built a huge waterslide named Verruckt (means insane in German)which cools you down with extreme thrills and chills. The water slide is taller than Niagara Falls.It is not only fun but a good workout with 264 stairs to climb to the... Read more →

Throwback Thursday - Vintage Computer Hardware

It is always amazing to stumble across computers from the distant past. I have two old vintage computers that I found while was cleaning out of my storage. They both actually boot up and run. The pair are an Apple Macintosh SE with 1Mb RAM and 2- 800k drives from 1987 and a Radio Shack TRS-80 model III from 1983. An original single button Apple Mouse and the old Apple logo sticker. The Radio Shack seal from 1983 It is... Read more →

AutoCAD Shortcuts Guide

Need a fast way to enter a command, want to save keystrokes, and time? Here is the perfect resource for you. http://www.autodesk.com/store/autocad/autocad-shortcuts Read more →

AutoCAD Deployment Tutorial

Do you need to learn how to install; or deploy AutoCAD easily onto computers? Don't go installing one by one on multiple machines wasting your time and others, do it fast and easily whether standalone or network licensed use the deployment feature. Read more →

Autodesk University 2014 Advance Pass Savings and Front of the Line

Only 142 more days until Autodesk University 2014 (AU2014) and networking and learning the latest Autodesk product tips and techniques with 9,000+ like minded architects, engineers, designers, animators, and industry leaders from all over the world. This all happens December 2-4 in Las Vegas Mandalay Bay. Save $600 You save a great deal of money now by purchasing your Autodesk University 2014 Advance Pass to the largest Autodesk event of the year and the one event you will only regret... Read more →

Dude - Where's My iPad Mini

An acquaintance of mine Luke Freiler shared with me an experience that I have had nightmares about. Luke was driving to work and realized his iPad Mini was missing and didn't know where it was. Hopefully on the kitchen counter at home I am sure was the thought in Luke's mind.They used Apple's Find My iPhone/iPad app and to his horror it was on the freeway, still alive. They rushed to find it but located it a little too late... Read more →

Autodesk Feedback Community Has Been Upgraded

Last night we migrated the Autodesk Feedback Community which hosts the Autodesk Beta and Autodesk Labs communities. It took a couple hours and some hard work and sweat but we migrated over 700,000 files to a new version of our platform and onto a new set of beefy server hardware. Avatars When you first login if you look in the upper right you will see the option to upload an avatar image (if you don't see it refresh your browser... Read more →

Autodesk Feedback Community Outage Tonight at 7:00 PDT

This is the final reminder that we will be upgrading server hardware and rolling out a new version of our Autodesk Feedback Community platform tonight. The Feedback Community hosts both Autodesk Beta and Autodesk Labs for over 125,000 users around the world. Planned Maintenance: Wednesday July 9th 7pm PDT until approximately 12am PST. The Feedback Community will be offline for approximately 5 hours while we make this major update. Of course with any server and software upgrade you don't expect... Read more →

3D Prints of USS Arizona Artifacts

Autodesk partnered with the US National Park Service to undertake the most complete study of the USS Arizona in 30 years both above and below water using many 3D capture technologies. Two of the artifacts captured using photos and Autodesk ReCap Photo were iconic and historically significant as they had been in the hands or used by those onboard during the Pearl Harbor attacks of December 7th, 1941. The items were a cooking pot and a Coke bottle. The models... Read more →

Autodesk Feedback Community Outage Notice Wednesday July 9th, 2014 at 7:00 PDT

We will be upgrading server hardware and rolling out a new version of our Autodesk Feedback Community platform that hosts both Autodesk Beta and Autodesk Labs for over 125,000 users around the world and is expected to exceed over 140,000 unique users before the end of 2014. Planned Maintenance: Wednesday July 9th 7pm PDT until approximately 12am PST. The Feedback Community will be offline for approximately 5 hours while we make this major update. Of course with any server and... Read more →

The Future of Our Past - Tatjana Dzambazova at TEDx

My good friend and Autodesk colleague Tatjana Dzambazova (Technology Whisperer, Senior Product Manager of the IPG - Reality Solutions Group) recently presented at TEDx on technology and reality capturing (digitizing the analog world) including many of the amazing projects I have mentioned on this blog, and many more. You should really check this out as it is inspiring and provides and amazing glimpse at the possibilities of capturing reality in digital form for many purposes. http://bit.ly/1mQxxsO She really likes BIG... Read more →