Between the Lines

Big Autodesk Answer Day May 18

It’s free. It’s easy. It’s Autodesk Answer Day. Join us online May 18th, 2016 for the next big event. Have questions that you’ve always wanted to ask? We’ll be answering questions in the AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Revit, Inventor, Vault, Maya, and 3ds Max forums. What: Autodesk Answer Day – You have questions, we’ve got answers! Date: May 18th, 2016 Time: 6am to 6pm Pacific Time Topics: AutoCAD, Maya, 3ds Max, Civil 3D, Revit, Inventor, and Vault. http://autode.sk/answerdays Read more →

Team 1540 at FIRST Robotics World Championships

I have been honored to be working with an absolutely amazing group of high school students FIRST Robotics this year. Team 1540 Flaming Chickens is from Catlin Gabel here in Portland Oregon and they are competing this week in the FIRST Robotics world championships in St. Louis Missouri with ~600 teams from around the world. Their robot Zuko was designed using Autodesk Inventor in a full digital design before building anything physical. Teams have competed in several regional competitions to... Read more →

Throwback Thursday - When Was that AutoCAD Feature Added

When was 3D or Dimensioning added to AutoCAD? A great list from Autodesk founder John Walker of major features in AutoCAD and when they were added to AutoCAD up to 1992. AutoCAD Major Feature Release History Read more →

Autodesk University 2016 Call for Class Proposals is Open

It is that time of the year where you can submit your class proposals for Autodesk University. The Call for Proposals is now open and runs through closing on May 27, 2016. Those who submit their proposals before 9 a.m. Pacific time on May 11 will be entered into a drawing to win a prize for a $100 Amazon gift card and more! “We want YOU to speak at AU Have a great idea for an AU class? Submit a... Read more →

Autodesk During SFMade Week

Autodesk is celebrating Makers at SFMade Week. SFMade Week is a celebration of local manufacturers, their products and their people May 9th-15th. Attend the event for factory tours, pop-ups, demos and more. Come meet with a host of maker-entrepreneurs who use Autodesk® Fusion 360™ 3D design software and/or 3D printing to prototype or produce their innovative products. When: Monday, May 9, 2016 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM (open house format) Where: Autodesk Gallery at One Market - One Market, Floor... Read more →

Final Autodesk Memento Beta Goes Live

A new beta build of the Autodesk Memento Windows version has been announced and available for download. Memento is an extremely versatile tool for 3D mesh model repair, 3D model creation, and 3D printing. Our Autodesk Memento Team posted build 1.8.0.22 which has several new enhancements. With this new beta for Windows (Mac coming later) you can now create 3D textured models using 1000 photos, decimate by selection, a new file format, Autodesk Gallery, Play Viewer, and offline reconstruction in... Read more →

Throwback Thursday – Me in 1997

In 1997 I was an Autodesk customer working at Oregon Iron Works here in the Portland Oregon area. I gave an interview as an AutoCAD R14 early pre-release alpha tester on how much better AutoCAD R14 was than the previous AutoCAD R13 release. Rohit Arora found the AutoCAD R14 demo CD-ROMs today and posted to LinkedIn tagging me. Warning: This image and video is not for the faint of heart. Video: https://youtu.be/fThsTwTNkQc Read more →

Engineers Guide to Drinks in 3D DWG

Awhile back I asked people to help re-create the 1970’s era drawing file Engineers Guide to Drinks in 3D. I first found this fun drawing years ago when it was a test DWG file for a plotter company. A couple years back Florian Römhild of http://engineers-drinks.blogspot.de/ re-drew the guide in DWG format and a few others have also modified the popular drawing like the Whisky Drinks version. Robert Lupo was a rock star and recreated the Engineers Guide to Drinks... Read more →

Autodesk 2016 VfX ShowReel

Do you like to see visual fx? Autodesk has just released it’s customer video showreel for visual fx. I absolutely love the annual showreels Autodesk releases showing what our customers create using our software and technology like 3ds Max and Maya. Autodesk 2016 VFX Showreel If you want to create some Vfx or animations of your own, Autodesk 3ds Max 2017 was just released today. What's New in 3ds Max 2017 Read more →

Check out the Autodesk Fusion 360 Design Differently Blog

There is an Autodesk Fusion 360 blog named Design Differently that has great tips, tricks, and info like what is in the latest monthly Fusion update. If you are a Fusion 360 beginner or a seasoned Fusion user looking for advanced techniques and inspiration this might be the perfect regular resource for you. http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/ There was a post this week detailing the latest Fusion update that was far more than just a new logo. April 13, 2016 Fusion Product Update... Read more →

First Year Back in Oregon

A year ago today, I made my journey back to Oregon. Autodesk hired me from Oregon 18 years ago and I moved to the San Francisco Bay area for many years followed by a couple years working remotely in Utah before moving back to Oregon last year. I am now based in the Autodesk Lake Oswego Office with a great group of Autodeskers where I live only a few minutes from the office allowing me to walk to work on... Read more →

Apple Watch Unlocked my House

Last night I left for yoga in a hurry without my phone or house keys as the yoga studio is only a short walk from my home. When I returned home I realized my predicament of not having my phone or house keys. After checking all my locked doors and windows I debated my options while standing in the rain. Then I remembered, the Apple Watch wear not only to tell time and for fitness tracking could make phone calls.... Read more →

Great Fusion 360 Article & Training Resources

I just spotted a great Fusion 360 article by Josh Mings of SolidSmack and had to share. Fusion 360 Model Features You Have to Try: Part Modeling If you want to learn the basics of Autodesk Fusion 360, check out the free live webinar being held tomorrow. Webinar: Fusion 360 Basics “Attend this session to learn the basics in Fusion 360. This is intended for those out there who are completely new users of Fusion and 3D design. After an... Read more →

New Autodesk ReCap 360 Pro

The new ReCap 360 Pro an all in one reality capture solution is out. If you are doing reality capture then you should look at the new features like Fly features for UAV/drone photos, Auto-Cleanup tool, Scan-to-Mesh (converting point cloud data into 3D textured meshes) in addition to the new low price for such a powerful tool. Read More about the all new ReCap 360 Pro: http://autode.sk/25Ve8fK Read more →

Autodesk PNW FIRST Robotics Championship was this Weekend

Autodesk sponsored the recent Pacific Northwest FIRST Robotics Championship for high school students held from Thursday to Saturday last week at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in sunny and unseasonably warm Portland Oregon. There were 64 high school teams participating from the Pacific Northwest states of Alaska, Oregon, and Washington that had won local district competitions to compete in this event. In addition to the students, parents, mentors, judges, there were many Autodesk employees volunteering at the event. What an amazing... Read more →

Throwback Thursday – AutoCAD Simulator

Back in the day of AutoCAD Release 12 there was an actual product simulator available as a tutorial training product. Read more →

Autodesk Feedback Community Maintenance Notice for Thursday April 7th, 2016 at 9:00pm PDT

We will be upgrading server hardware in our Autodesk Feedback Community platform that hosts both Autodesk Beta and Autodesk Labs for over 200,000 users around the world assist Autodesk with improving our products and technologies. Beta and Labs participants are a critically vital member of our Autodesk team and make a difference. Planned Maintenance: Thursday, July 9th 9pm PDT 5:00am GMT for approximately 1 hour. The Feedback Community will be offline for approximately 1 hour while we add more storage... Read more →

Model Mania Challenge

Lucas Prokopiak is a colleague of mine in the Office of the CTO and wrote a great post on using Autodesk Fusion 360 to re-create and go beyond some public SolidWorks 3D model challenges. Lucas used Autodesk Fusion 360 which he is still fresh at using and documented his experience at all stages of the process from the modeling to the simulation and machining of the actual physical parts. It is a really good exercise to get better at using... Read more →

Forget the Consumer Internet of Things

This is a great article by Autodesk VP of Corporate Strategy Jon Pittman on a topical tech subject the Internet of Things (IoT). Our team and Autodesk has been doing a great deal of thinking about a connected world and how it relates to the products you design using our software and technology. Imagine the building or car that provides operating feedback to the original designers so that they can learn from and improve them and future designs anticipate more... Read more →

Mylar Balloons

Balloons are nice and fun, but do you ever think about where they go when you set them free up into the air? I have found them at mountain tops sitting in the in pristine vegetation and in alpine lakes where they can cause problems for the wildlife. Balloons can be like helium filled grocery bags that we don’t like to just though out into nature but we don’t give a second thought about balloons. Just think about things you... Read more →

Congratulations FRC Team 1540

This past weekend the FIRST Robotics PNW district 8 playoffs were held in Oregon City, Oregon. The alliance of teams 1540 Flaming Chickens, 2471 Team Mean Machine, and 5468 Retro-bots won the event. Congratulations teams! There were so many amazing teams and their robots in the event and supporting parents, teachers, mentors, sponsors, and FRC volunteers making the event a big success and great time for everyone. Here is a slow motion video of a successful shot at the tower... Read more →