Between the Lines

Pixar Animation Behind the Scenes

Have you ever wondered how the amazing animated movies such as Up, Cars, Finding Nemo, Toy Story and many more are created from beginning to end by Pixar? We at Autodesk are always amazed at what customers like Pixar do with our technologies and tools. Pixar uses many Autodesk products including Autodesk Maya in their animation pipeline. So much work goes into an animated movie and this Pixar in a Box project by the great folks at Khan Academy and... Read more →

Autodesk ReCap and Leica Webinar Sept.1

Just a heads up and reminder for those that use laser scanning and heard of the Autodesk Leica announcement and how they may be working together. Accurate by Design: Learn How to Streamline Point Cloud Workflows with Leica ScanStation P16 & Autodesk ReCap Register Now: https://us.gep.autodesk-services.com/registration/41909 There is another one on this Thursday. Please read more: http://beyonddesign.typepad.com/posts/2015/08/upcoming-webcasts-autodesk-and-leica-alliance.html Read more →

AutoCAD 2.18 Fun Challenge from Autodesk University Australia

Recently my Irish friend living in Australia Sean Twomey asked me how I managed to get AutoCAD 2.18 to run on modern hardware. I told him all you needed was to create a virtual machine and then create a virtual disk smaller than 10Mb because in 1985 apparently a hard drive beyond 10Mb was crazy thinking the 30 year old AutoCAD version would not launch. Sean got his version running just in time for Autodesk University Australia in Sydney held... Read more →

Throwback Thursday - SolidWorks 95

SolidWorks 95 from the mid 1990’s and developed for the mighty Windows 95 platform. I have this package and CDROM in my collection of classic computer design tools. While this is not an Autodesk developed tool it is a classic for some in the mechanical engineering and design world. Coincidently Autodesk has a promotion for SolidWorks users to get a more modern design tool. Autodesk invites SolidWorks users to give Autodesk Fusion 360 a try! autode.sk/1MPTCUF Read more →

Autodesk University 2015 Registration Open

Start your AU engines get making your pitches to your management and register early for discounts and the best class selections. In only 97 days Autodesk University Las Vegas will kick off and over 10,000 will descend on Vegas to learn, network, and be inspired and blown away! Join us to explore the future of making things at #AU2015. Las Vegas registration open now. http://autode.sk/1NrhYWj Autodesk University at The Venetian Las Vegas December 1-3, 2015 Watch the AU Las Vegas... Read more →

Engineers Guide to Drinks on Display in Everhart Museum

The Everhart Museum currently has an exhibition on Prohibition and has included the infamous Engineers Guide to Drinks Drawing framed on the wall. I will be releasing the 3D DWG version of this drawing very soon thanks to the hard work of a volunteer named Robert Lupo. The exhibit opened July 9th 2015 and will run to December. http://everhart-museum.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/ Here are a couple photos from the exhibit on Flickr copyright by the photographer Nezkapix Some press about this exhibit. http://thetimes-tribune.com/lifestyles/new-everhart-museum-exhibit-traces-history-impact-of-cocktails-1.1902818... Read more →

3D Printing Making Dreams a Reality - Kieran's Hand

Everyone needs an inspiring and feel good story to start off their work week, and this is a great one about an amazing young boy and technology. Kieran was born with a birth defect of Amniotic Band Syndrome and has no fingers on his right hand. As Kieran states in the video it has been difficult to deal with until he received a 3D printed prosthetic hand. Modern prosthetics are very expensive costing tens of thousands of dollars, and even... Read more →

12 Year Blog Birthday

Yes, It seems like only yesterday but it has been millions of hits to thousands of pages of content and comments since this blog was started 12 years ago today. First blog post in August 2003: Getting the feel for this Blog I want to say a sincere thank you to everyone of the readers and my colleagues here at Autodesk! The feedback I receive is why I continue to blog here. I would also like to thank Autodesk management... Read more →

I am Not an Alien with a UFO

OK the jury might still be out if I am an alien life form, or not. Last night I had a funny out of this world experience while practicing and testing flight control technologies with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at dusk in NW Portland’s Cathedral Park. The park is located near the amazing and iconic St Johns Bridge. I had just landed the UAV when a group of 6 (sobriety-claiming) adults young and old tourist came running down the... Read more →

Sell Your 3D models on our New 3D marketplace!

Do you create 3D content and also need some extra cash? Start making some extra money selling your 3D models on our new 3D marketplace! Power to the 3D artists! The marketplace built to support amazing independent 3D content creators like you.Open a Shop! Read more →

Autodesk Memento Beta New Build Posted

A new Autodesk Memento build 1.2.0.7 was just posted. http://memento.autodesk.com A few tasty highlights: Smooth boundary tool – you can now select an edge loop to smooth it and not have any more the jiggered cuts Surface tool enhancements New push/pull sculpt. We start to move towards real sculpting – not just smoothing. This is not yet a perfect implementation, currently the strength of the sculpt brush is dependent of the brush size, but we will be adding much more... Read more →

Friday Fun – Flying Over a Forest

Last evening myself and Autodesk colleague George Hudetz met up at a park while I flew a UAV/UAS to practice flying skills as well as capture some photos and video of the landscape from an aerial perspective. The location was just South of Portland Oregon and just to the West of Wilsonville Oregon at Graham Oaks Nature Park. Looking at a tall Douglas Fir forest from above at low 200-300 feet altitude is always amazingly to me and thought as... Read more →

AutoCAD Beta Program Transforms to Year Around Customer Council

Things are changing in many of the Autodesk Beta programs as many transition to new development cycles and technologies to continually improve the product and participant experience and move to year around customer feedback cycles. Last week I sat in on an call with several customer bloggers while Autodesk’s Allison Keller who manages the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Betas and Customer Council and Autodesk PR Lori Telles presented the changes and benefits as well as took questions. Here are some... Read more →

Autodesk Gallery Pop-up Tokyo

Autodesk Gallery Pop-up Tokyo 23 Oct – 08 Nov 2015 Come experience the future of... Read more →

Fun Giveaway of a Rare Tee-shirt

Last year at Autodesk University 2014 we had the MegaBots team modify their big paintball firing robot arm to fire tee-shirts out into the audience using compressed air. A couple of the shirts were a rare shirt with an image of Autodesk President, CEO, and our Chief Maker Carl Bass wearing a pair of 3D glasses. These were not edited images of Carl but a real photo I took at an event where he was speaking. I have two of... Read more →

The Hitchhiker's Guide to AutoCAD Basics

If you are looking for a fun way to learn the basics of AutoCAD, then this free online document is perfect for you. Learning any professional CAD application can be challenging so Autodesk has created a great deal of learning resources including this guide developed in the past 2 years. The title was based on the popular science fiction novel by Douglas Adams “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”' but you journey through most of the core basics of AutoCAD. Thank... Read more →

Autodesk Stingray Game and VR Engine and AEC Walkthroughs

Autodesk caused a great deal of excitement and options this week by announcing Autodesk Stingray a game engine that in addition to working close with Autodesk 3ds max and Autodesk Maya also allows for AEC walkthroughs. Now there is another option and choice on the market for studios to use to get their game, virtual reality experience, or architectural walk through onto multiple platforms including mobile without needing to be a hardcore programmer. You get product integration as well ass... Read more →

Need to View a Design File for Free Without Installing Anything?

To view a design file such as a DWG, RVT, or IPT and over 50 other design file formats all you need to do is drag and drop to Autodesk cloud based A360 Viewer with nothing to install. After viewing you can share your file for viewing to another person with nothing for them to install. https://360.autodesk.com/Viewer Read more →

WTH Wednesday - 3D Sea Cockroach

Recently I visited Colleen Flanigan an artist working to save the Mesoamerican reef and some marine biologists at the UNAM University in Puerto Morelos Mexico. While there I saw a skeleton of what was called a “sea cockroach” or “sea roach” which appeared similar to a slipper lobster and was about 8 inches in length. I was there training scientists on how to capture objects like corals as 3D models for study using only a camera. I photographed the sea... Read more →

Autodesk Provides a Streamlined 3D Printing Experience for Windows 10

Autodesk played a vital role in the newly released Windows 10 embedded 3D Printing functionality. To make 3D printing more accessible to Windows users worldwide, the Spark 3D printing platform will provide an optimized 3D printing experience directly within Windows 10. This helps streamline the additive manufacturing process from design to fabrication. Autodesk will also make the free* Spark APIs available to the Microsoft developer community, further extending the reach and growth of the 3D printing industry. "There's a crucial... Read more →

Congratulation to Donnie and Helen Gladfelter

This will surely brighten anyone's day! Some of us take our love of Autodesk products to the extreme in fact I have seen wedding proposals and invitations made in AutoCAD. It was great to see my friend Donnie Gladfelter (aka The CADGeek) become a new parent along with his lovely wife Helen. His awesome employer CADD Microsystems gave the new Jackson Gladfelter a new outfit outfit that says “Latest Autodesk Product.” I would say Donnie and Helen have an 18... Read more →