Between the Lines

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 →

3D Printing is Not a Fad

Just read a great article in the Harvard Business Review highlighting some of the Autodesk #3DRV tour last year by TJ McCue. The 3DRV spent almost a year on the road crisscrossing the United States meeting amazing people and seeing amazing companies and technologies. To TJ’s point I have had several discussions with people outside of the CAD world using 3D printing in their daily lives now for practical purposes and not just plastic thingamajigs and silly doohickeys. 3D Printing... Read more →

Autodesk Open-Source Ember 3D Printer Design Files

Autodesk posted the open-source design files under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license for the Ember 3D printer this week. You can freely download the complete assembly in Fusion 360, Inventor, DWG, STL and more formats to create your own 3D printer design or modifications for Ember. If you design your own 3D printer based on the Ember you can use the open Spark platform. Ember Mechanical Design Files Complete Assembly (BOM) Read more →

Autodesk Spark integration for 3D printing in Windows 10

At Microsoft’s Build 2015 developer conference today, Steve Guggenheimer, Microsoft vice president of developer and platform evangelism, announced new 3D printing features in Windows 10. More specifically, Autodesk Spark is being integrated into Microsoft’s latest and greatest operating system. –VentureBeat Microsoft Announces Autodesk Spark integration for 3D printing in Windows 10 Read more →

High Tech Conference Table in Autodesk's AR Lab in Pier 9

We have the coolest conference table in my team's new Autodesk San Francisco Pier 9 Advanced Research Lab! The conference table was constructed with 3D prints and addressable LEDs designed by Lumigeek and Autodesk employees. The wood table was created using locally sourced book-matched Bay Laurel, that was harvested from a fallen tree in California. The darker spot seen on the slabs is visual remnant of what caused the tree to die. The physical pattern for the 3D printed crystals... Read more →

Corals in 3D for SCIENCE

Our good friend and a smart innovative marine scientist Sly Lee of The HYDROUS had a nice online piece covering his work in Wetpixel.com. Sly uses Autodesk Memento to generate 3D textured models of coral from photos he and teams take underwater in coral reef locations around the world. The ability to document a coral in 3D with textures is far more rich than 2D underwater sketching or 2D photos. The 3D models in addition to looking amazing and artistic... Read more →

Marine Scientist Uses Autodesk Memento to Build Digital Coral Models

My good friend (and brother from another mother) Hawaii based Marine Scientist Sly Lee has been featured in the Wired UK online and soon to be in the Wired print edition. Sly uses Autodesk Memento to build accurate 3D models to help track the heath and growth or destruction of a coral reef in 3D as opposed to 2D X Y grids which are difficult for most to understand. In addition to being amazing to look at like art especially... Read more →

Autodesk Releases Ember's 3D Printing Resin as Open Source

Autodesk is not only selling the Ember 3D printer and releasing the plans to build your own Ember as open source, but also the 3D printing resin recipe. This week we at Autodesk released the Standard Clear Prototyping resin formula named affectionately as PR48. In an effort to accelerate open for innovation the development of photosensitive resins for 3D printing. PR48’s formula has been published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. The Ember 3D printer is demonstration hardware for our... Read more →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Autodesk 123D Sculpt+ for iOS and Android

Create anything from fighter jets to frogs by sculpting using the new Autodesk123D Sculpt+ for Android and iOS tablets. This is a great way to pass time, improve your creativity, or even give your kids something constructive on their tablets. I can even create semi-cool looking things using this app that I can export to Autodesk 3ds Max or Maya or order as a 3D print! Read more →

Blogger & Social Meetup at Autodesk University 2014

I just returned from Autodesk University and a memorable participation in Pearl Harbor in some historic remembrance December 7th ceremonies and now catching back up. I wanted to sincerely thank everyone that attended the Autodesk University 2014 Blogger and Social Meetup as it was a memorable event of fun networking. I also want to thank our special guests Made in Space with their rare and history making Zero-G 3D Printer and MegaBots. I have it on good authority that we... Read more →

Autodesk CEO Carl Bass Reddit Ask Me Anything AMA

Autodesk CEO Carl Bass will be discussion the Ember Explorer Program, Autodesk's global education announcement of free software for the worlds students, teachers and schools, and anything else you might ask him. Carl's AMA Information will go live tomorrow at 11:45 AM Pacific right before his Reddit AMA at 12:00 PM. http://www.reddit.com/user/carlbass Read more →

Design Competition: Design a 3D Print for an Out of this World Solution

Made In Space recently installed and setup up the AMF Zero-G 3D printer with NASA MSFC on the International Space Station (ISS), and you can get the rare opportunity to print on the same printer and see the one that is currently on Earth. Autodesk has had a long partnership with Made In Space including Autodesk's Director, Strategic Initiatives and a serious space science expert Jonathan Knowles who also serves as an advisor to Made In Space. Made In Space... Read more →

First 3D Printer Installed in Space!

Mark this day down in 3D Printing and Manufacturing history! Made in Space has successfully unpacked and installed the first 3D Printer in space with NASA on the International Space Station. Having the ability to 3D print objects on the ISS will be a huge leap in 3D mankind as there are no part shops to get supplies up in space where you must be more self-sufficient than those of us on Earth. Expect amazing news in the future as... Read more →

3DRV at Arches National Park this Week

This Thursday morning November 6th, 2014 I will be meeting up with the Autodesk 3DRV and TJ McCue in the mountain bike and Jeep capital of the world, Moab Utah. I live about 4 hours from Moab and will make the drive early for an action packed day of visiting with the fine people of Arches National Park and giving them a 3D printed Delicate Arch created from a laser and photogrammetry scan, hiking up for a visit to the... Read more →

Autodesk is SO Much More than CAD - 3D Printed Virus to End Cancer

Most know us at Autodesk as the folks that develop AutoCAD, Revit, 3ds Max, Maya, Autodesk Inventor, and over 115 or so other products, but we are into the non CAD fields as well. We pride ourselves as being highly diversified, and in conversations I often get the reaction "what the "#%@!, really?" We at Autodesk are not only into the Maker movements, 3D printing open source platforms, helping scientist capture coral in 3D for research, capture historical monuments like... Read more →

USS Arizona and USS Utah 3D Survey Project

Just returned from another special project SCUBA diving and scanning the USS Arizona BB-39 and USS Utah BB-31 in Pearl Harbor Hawaii to gather more 3D data for the first comprehensive survey in over 30 years. We at Autodesk have many great partners involved in this pro-bono project last week we had the US National Park Service, US Navy, Deep Ocean Engineering, R2Sonic, and Gilbane Building Company. I was underwater a great deal of time or without Internet which explains... Read more →

USS America Reception in the Autodesk Gallery at One Market

Two of my amazingly talented Autodesk Office of the CTO colleagues Evan Atherton & Heather Kerrick presented a 3D printed creative memorial plaque to the US Navy & Marines crew and Captain Robert A Hall. Jr. of the USS America LHA 6 last night in the Autodesk Gallery. The plaque had a 3D print of the starboard side of the ship mounted on a walnut wood base with custom metal standoffs mounting glass etched with text and 2D wireframe drawing... Read more →

Autodesk CTO Jeff Kowalski & Details of The Autodesk Spark 3D Printing Platform & Printer

Autodesk CTO Jeff Kowalski Reveals Details of Their Spark 3D Printing Platform & Printer. Great article by 3DPrint.com. http://3dprint.com/16422/autodesk-spark-3d-printing/ Jeff will be keynoting at the Inside 3D Printing Conference in Santa Clara I can now say I have seen a real physical Autodesk Spark 3D Printer in person at Autodesk Pier 9 office. The Spark 3D printer is one of the top things on the Christmas list to replace my older ABS extruding 3D printer. I can't wait to print... Read more →

3D Printing in the Final Frontier!

Check out all the buzz being made about Made in Space sending a 3D printer via SpaceX to the International Space Station for 3D printing in space and the unique microgravity environment. Astronauts To Make Spare Parts From 3D Printer NASA flying first zero-gravity 3D printer into space NASA Is Blasting the First 3D Printer Into Space Tonight I personally know one of the amazing Made in Space team members Ashley Dara and it is exciting for her as well... Read more →

Create 3D Models from Photos Using Your Android Device

Autodesk's popular 123D Catch released in 2011 is now available for Android users in addition to iOS, Mac, and Windows for free. Read More 123D Catch now on Android Go Get 123D Catch for Android on Google Play "Use your camera to capture people, places and things around you as amazingly realistic 3D models. Capture friends, sculptures, buildings or anything else you can photograph. Automatically transform them into interactive 3D models that can be shared with friends, family, and an... Read more →

Modeling 3D printable coral reefs

Modeling 3D printable coral reefs with Autodesk ReCap and an underwater camera: http://autode.sk/1oh88Vn This was an amazing project to be part of. It will help scientist better understand the changes our oceans are experiencing, and how coral reefs are responding over time by documenting in 3D the changes of the coral. Here is a photo of me at Kalaupapa Molokai Hawaii diving with camera gear to capture the reef corals. Photo by Naomi Blinick. Related articles Modeling 3D Printable Coral... Read more →