Between the Lines

REAL 2015 was a REAL Great Event

The past two days almost a thousand have attended the REAL 2015 event here in San Francisco California at the historic Fort Mason. The conference covered everything dealing with Capture Compute and Create. There was everything from laser scanning systems, structured light scanners, infrared, photogrammetry, software like point cloud and geometry tools, CNC mills, 3D printers,VR and augmented reality viewers, underwater and maritime technologies like unmanned boats and ROVs, Makers, and so much more. I had a great time meeting... Read more →

Engineers Guide to Drinks 3D Version Progress

The Engineers Guide to Drinks drawing was really just a test plot drawing was originally created by someone to test pen plotters back in 1972. This drawing has gone crazy viral ending up in online magazine, named a top infographic of 2014, and even as a physical print in a museum in a prohibition exhibit. The next logical evolution of this was from 2D to 3D. Just over a month ago I asked if people wanted to help in that... Read more →

Top Ten Real or Not Real Autodesk Products

In 30 some odd years Autodesk has had literally hundreds of products, and currently just over 100 active products. In those years we have seen many a creative name for a product. So for some fun, which product name/s were not actually a released Autodesk product? Read more →

Throwback Thursday

The very first bound AutoCAD Manual and Command Reference. Read more →

Happy Chinese New Year 恭禧發財

To my friends and colleagues in China: Gong Hey Fat Choy! 恭禧發財 It is now the Yea... Read more →

Five AutoCAD Tips that you can learn in Five minutes

We all want to get more done in less time so that we can go home early, Sorry - so that we can concentrate on value added tasks, such as Designing or Engineering ;) The trouble is, experimenting with different ways of achieving the same task with AutoCAD can be time consuming and disruptive. In this post I want to pass on five simple tips that will help you to produce your AutoCAD drawings quicker, without having to invest a... Read more →

The Wave–of Coyote Buttes North

The Wave - Sandstone Lines, a unique story told by nature. I know of only one other thing in my life with as much red beauty, style and grace. A photo posted by Shaan Hurley (@shaanhurley) on Feb 15, 2015 at 11:31pm PST The Wave - Coyote Buttes North - Vermillion Cliffs National Monument Below is a link to my custom more advanced route I hike to visit The Wave. Please note that you do need a BLM permit to... Read more →

Big Project Memento Update

I love love love this free utility to modify, repair, and and work with 3D scanned data and even create 3D models from photos and a new bug release has been posted. Go check out Scott's blog post on what is in this update and how to get it. Updated free Project Memento huge mesh fixer tool for evaluation until March 31 Autodesk U.S. is on holiday for the Presidents Day. Thursday begins our Chinese colleagues celebration of Chinese New... Read more →

All You Need is Math

It may be Friday the 13th today but its only superstition and for those paranoid there is another Friday the 13th in March, In any case tomorrow is February 14th Valentines Day for most. For those into mathematics here is a clever set of math formulas in honor of Valentines. Read more →

Throwback Thursday AutoCAD 2.18 Commands

It's Thursday (Throwback Thursday), the day after hump day when you show photos or info from history and the wayback machine. Today I proudly present you a screen capture I took from AutoCAD 2.18 circa 1985 showing all commands it supported. Now contrast that with the hundreds of commands today's AutoCAD has and realize how much functionality has been added in the past 30 years. . Did you notice there is no UNDO but there is an OOPS command? Read more →

Helpful AutoCAD Tips and Solutions

Here is a great list of recently published AutoCAD solutions by some AutoCAD Team Members: Date Article Author 10/8/2014 HP printers do not work with AutoCAD 2015 on Windows 8 Daniel Kuhmann 10/23/2014 Cannot import SketchUp files Karen Mason 10/23/2014 How to open AutoCAD without displaying a startup dialog box Rob Fjerstad 11/21/2014 How to create text along a curve Dieter Schlaepfer 12/4/2014 Ctrl+click+drag to copy layouts is not working in AutoCAD 2015 products Daniel Kuhmann 12/4/2014 Error: "Continuous plot... Read more →

Artist in Residence Art Show at Pier 9

While not everyone was able to attend the creative art show at our amazing Autodesk Pier 9 office and workshop I am providing details on the packed and much talked about event. The Autodesk Artist in Residence (AiR) Exhibition was held at Pier 9 recently and included work by digital fabricators, fine artists, architects, furniture-makers, chefs, and many other creatives who have passed through the AiR program over the past year. While many in Pier 9 are Autodesk employees, we... Read more →

Crazy Creativity with Autodesk Maya, Mudbox, Meshmixer, and 3D Printing

I wanted to share an amazing project by Autodesk colleague Craig Barr recent created using a series of Autodesk products, a 3D printer, and above all his mad creative skills. He brought a wild digital character top the physical world. The workflow is fairly specific, but the 3D Printer is an ABS extruding type and could be one one of many brands out there now. Read more →

Throwback Thursday Autodesk 3D Studio R1 Circa 1990

On this Throwback Thursday I give you Autodesk's 3D Studio R1 for DOS from 1990. 3D Studio was the predecessor to the very popular Autodesk 3ds Max. This is from back when when 3D was for more difficult and primitive on old x86 PCs running DOS and you created everything in two steps using the Shaper and Lofter then rendered it. I have this old 3D Studio "carpet bag" package with all original disks. I think in those days we... Read more →

Catch a Dinosaur by the Toe

Current scientific evidence indicates the dinosaurs as we know them are all gone, but they left fossilized bones, tracks, and other traces behind telling the story. Last week I was working on a project in Northern Arizona and found an exhibit of a sandstone that had actual dinosaur footprints on it on display outside the Glen Canyon Dam visitors center. In Utah and Arizona it is not unusual to find dinosaur footprints in rocks and sadly a recent amazing example... Read more →

Design Part of a Humanoid Robot and Win

MegaBots is finally on their way to San Francisco to start working on their next project, a new Humanoid Robot! You can get involved and win both Makerfaire Fame and some fortune by submitting a winning design for this challenge. The challenge started February 1, 2015 and will run until February 28, 2015 so get busy and submit your entry. The winners will be announced March 7, 2015. Prizes, Design Guidelines, and Contest Rules Each winning entry will receive a... Read more →

AutoCAD Classic Workspace with AutoCAD 2015

Recently I republished a popular post about setting up your AutoCAD with the classic workspace (How Can I Restore the "Classic" AutoCAD Interface with Menus and Toolbars?) but the steps changed with AutoCAD 2015. Autodesk's Dieter Schlaepfer recently published an AutoCAD Knowledgebase Article with the solution. AutoCAD Classic workspace is not available in AutoCAD 2015 Check out more great tips and solutions http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting Read more →