Between the Lines

Congratulations to Dr. Ivan Sutherland

“Father of Computer Graphics” Honored with Washington Award by Western Society of Engineers Ivan Sutherland recognized in celebration of Engineers Week Rosemont, IL (Feb. 19, 2018) – The Western Society of Engineers is celebrating Engineers Week (February 18–24, 2018) by honoring Ivan Sutherland, PhD as the 96th recipient of the Washington Award at a celebratory dinner on Friday, February 23. The prestigious award is conferred upon an engineer whose professional accomplishments have preeminently advanced the welfare of human kind. “I’m... Read more →

FIRST FRC Team 1540 Robot Pandora Reveal

For the past 3 seasons I have volunteered as a mentor with the FIRST Robotics Team 1540 Flaming Chickens of Catlin Gabel in Portland Oregon. It has been an amazing experience to see the inspiring young adults problem solve, design, make, collaborate, outreach, philanthropy with LEAP, and compete. These are inspiring young humans prepared for the world and a bright future. Check out the Team 1540 reveal video for the robot named “Pandora” that will be competing in the 2018... Read more →

Spring Fusion 360 Event at Portland Community College

Presented by the PCC CADD department: Enjoy hands-on 3D learning in this informal workshop featuring Autodesk Fusion 360 and CADD instructor Phil Eichmiller. Stay a little, stay all day. Who: Anyone can attend When: Friday, March 30, 2018 from 9:00am-4:00pm. Where: PCC Southeast campus, room MT117 Cost: FREE Read more →

ADN DevDays Webinars Available

Autodesk Developer Network DevDays Webinar recordings are now available at http://autode.sk/2C8momg on the Autodesk DevTV YouTube channel. Revisit any presentations you may have missed, or want to re-review! The recorded discussions cover the APIs for Forge, Revit AutoCAD Civil3D, BIM 360, InfraWorks, Inventor, Autodesk Vault, Fusion 360, and AutoCAD. Read more →

Snowpocolypse in Portland

We tend to over-react here in Portland when it snows or there is freezing ice storms, but for some good reasons. We normally don't get snow, or just a trace then it melts.In the past 3 winters we have seen more than just a trace. Snow or ice storms tend to slow or bring the city to a standstill because don't laugh but we have only a couple snow plows and our roads with hills are not designed for the... Read more →

Share How to Do Something Using Screencast

Autodesk Screencast is not your ordinary screen recording tool, its purpose built for Autodesk products and FREE. Screencast records: Keystrokes Mouse movement and clicks Commands on the timeline Screencast supports AutoCAD, Inventor, Maya, Fusion 360, 3ds Max, Revit, InfraWorks, and other popular Autodesk products. Go Record, Edit & Share! https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast You can also just watch some Screencasts to learn something new and follow along with every click, pick, and command they use. Choose a product to see its Screencasts Questions?... Read more →

Throwback Thursday - Space Shuttle Sample Drawings

Going into the Autodesk way way back machine for these AutoCAD sample drawings, the Space Shuttle Columbia from AutoCAD 2014 and Shuttle 3D DWG from AutoCAD R10. Download Columbia DWG Download Shuttle DWG A favorite historic DWG of mine is from AutoCAD 1.2, but sadly the copy I have right now is unable to be opened. Here is a screen capture of the drawing when I had it at one time opened in AutoCAD 2.18. Aside from this historic AutoCAD... Read more →

Call for the Autodesk AEC 2018 Show Reel Submissions

Have you recently completed or worked on some amazing AEC and BIM projects that you would like to share with a large audience? Every year Autodesk produces show reels to show off all the amazing things our customers and partners do with our software and technology and your projects could be featured but only if you submit your submission this year, and soon. Here are the 2016 and 2017 AEC Show Reels. Autodesk AEC Showreel 2017: Worldwide Projects – YouTube... Read more →

A Car is Headed for Mars

Yesterday February 6th, 2018 was an amazing time in our world for science, engineering, and for all kids like that dream big and nothing seen impossible as a guy named Elon Musk is parking his Tesla convertible automobile in orbit around Mars or on the ultimate road trip to deep space. The car even has the phrase “Don't Panic” on the dash as a nod to Douglas Adams and his Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe. Let that sink in for... Read more →

The Solar System Drawn to Scale in AutoCAD DWG– Scale & Accuracy is Everything

Back in AutoCAD version 2.18, Autodesk placed a sample drawing with AutoCAD named the Solar.DWG to demonstrate the precision of AutoCAD back in the early eighties. AutoCAD was based used 64bit floating point precision and the most accurate back then. With this Solar DWG you can see our solar system in 1:1 scale in kilometer units. This would not be a good DWG to plot/print 1:1 full scale. You can zoom all the way in on the Apollo Lunar Lander... Read more →

Mowing Green this Weekend

In Oregon we have mild winters and as such grass in our yards are green and still grow requiring maintained by mowing. After 20 years of service with Autodesk, I was awarded a credit I could use for various gifts and I chose to green my house with a home improvement gift certificate. I have retired my gas engine lawn mower for a nice efficient Greenworks Pro 60-volt Brushless Lithium Ion cordless Electric Lawn Mower. It was really nice to... Read more →

Hedgehog Day in the Office

Did you know that before the overweight lazy Pennsylvania groundhog predicted when spring would arrive (poor accuracy record btw), there was the hedgehog? Its true, it was actually Hedgehog Day before it was ever Groundhog Day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day “Groundhog Day: is a popular tradition celebrated in the United States and Canada on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerging from its burrow on this day sees a shadow due to clear weather, it will... Read more →

What is Your Favorite AutoCAD Sample Drawing

After I was given the original nozzle that was in one of the first sample drawings of AutoCAD from 1984 (An Epic Piece of Autodesk History –The Nozzle), there were many discussions on old sample files. It’s Throwback Thursday, so in the spirit of that what is you favorite AutoCAD sample file or ones that bring the most memories for you. I spend my current job mostly looking forward in to the future of design and technology, but it is... Read more →