Between the Lines

FIRST FRC 2018 Power Up – Are You Ready!

This Saturday January 6th 2018, the new FIRST FRC 2018 season game and field will be revealed which will then set thousands of high school teams and they will begin work on their robot designs followed by the competitions. The only thing we know right now from FIRST in their public hints and teaser video, is that the game and field is themed “8-bit” and the game is named “POWER UP”. FIRST Robotics Competition Game & Season Info Autodesk will... Read more →

New Autodesk ReCap Photo Version

If you are using the former Autodesk ReMake updated with new abilities and UAV support, you will be interested in the updated version released just this week. ReCap Photo is included with your ReCap Pro subscription. Autodesk ReCap Photo update version 18.2.0.8 is now available. Read Here Here is a recent project of mine with a textured 3D mesh of a building created solely from photos taken in a 15 minute UAV flight. Display mode is set to texture with... Read more →

Free Training Courses

In addition to all the free great classes and keynotes from Autodesk University (Autodesk University 2017 Classes Posted), LinkedIn is providing 40 courses for free covering Autodesk product training and certification preparation, construction management, technology like artificial intelligence, and business. In addition to English some courses are available in French, German, Japanese, and in Spanish. LinkedIn Learning Teams Up with Autodesk to Offer Free Access to 42 Technology Courses Go get some new skills, for free! Read more →

Autodesk University 2017 Classes Posted

Classes from AU 2017 are now online for you to go gain knowledge and skills from the top Autodesk product experts. http://autode.sk/2jRDB8H What are you waiting for, go learn something. You could event do a lunch and learn in your office on a class or topic. Read more →

Most Popular Speaker at Autodesk University 2017

The most talked about and lined up for speaker at Autodesk University 2017 was, well a real speaker this year that you could build yourself. At Autodesk University, a group of attendees participated in a Product Innovation Platform track organized and designed by Autodesk’s Garin Gardiner. Participants designed the speaker starting from the speaker body in Autodesk Fusion 360 and the circuits in Autodesk Eagle as well as generating the CNC G-code to machine the parts. Those that were not... Read more →

The Future of Making at Autodesk University

Normally at Autodesk University you attend to see and learn from great speakers, but in this case you get to make an awesome custom speaker. In the Product Innovation Platform track you will get to go through each step from the beginning electrical design in Autodesk Eagle to the product design and machining in Fusion 360 and at the end of the track you will get to assemble and take your custom CNC machined wood enclosure speaker. Here is a... Read more →

Capture a Building in 3D

Last week we flew a UAS (drone) over a old historic building being renovated in Portland Oregon. We captured 279 photos in two short 15 minute flights and automatically generated a 3D textured model and Ortho corrected TIFF files using Autodesk ReCap Photo. ReCap Photo has an entirely new engine and now expanded to 1000 images support as well as DEM file and Ortho TIFF file creation. If you have a land development or construction project, you should look into... Read more →

Autodesk 3ds Max 2018.3 Released – Fluids

One of the top 3 requested 3ds Max Ideas site items is now complete with the addition of Bifröst Fluids which was previously only available for Maya. Tutorial: 3ds Max Fluids Part 1 - Basic Setup Read an overview of 3ds Max 2018.3 at the Autodesk’s AREA blog. Fluids: Fluids allow you to create fluid simulations directly inside 3ds Max using Bifrost technology. Read/create BIF files for direct interoperability with Maya. Save/create presets based on viscosity, giving the illusion of... Read more →

Happy 20th Birthday Navisworks

Not only is this year 2017 the 35th year of Autodesk and AutoCAD, but Navisworks is celebrating 20 big years of coordinating AEC construction model and design data. The Navisworks team will be celebrating their 20th year at Design Night in Sheffield England on October 24th. I will be in attending the Design Night and be announcing a meetup in both Sheffield and Manchester to talk all things Autodesk over a pint or coffee. Stay tuned for more details and... Read more →

Drone Photogrammetry with the New Autodesk ReCap Photo

Autodesk ReMake is evolving to Autodesk ReCap Photo. Autodesk ReCap Photo will be part of ReCap Pro for both your LiDAR scan data and photogrammetry data. In addition to the great 3D mesh editing that was in the former ReMake, there are new features added like raising the limit of photos to 1000 photos and for creating 3D models and geolocated orthographic views from drone (UAS) imagery. All for a very low monthly subscription and well below other comparable solutions.... Read more →

Autodesk Answer Day Sept 21st 2017

Hello AutoCAD, AutoCAD Mechanical, Inventor, and Revit users in Asia! We have an... Read more →

Tinkercad Goes Brick Mode

Tinkercad just added a cool new mode in yesterdays 3.2 update. For those unaware, Tinkercad is the awesome free web based 3D modeling tool for everyone 4-400 years old. There is now the is the new brick workspace. If you create or open a model and then select the new brick workspace, it will convert the Tinkercad model to a brick style model reminiscent of those Danish plastic bricks that hurt when you step on them. Before brick workspace. After... Read more →

Detecting Changes to the USS Arizona Using Autodesk ReMake

Are you aware you can compare data in Autodesk ReMake? We compared a 3D model created of the USS Arizona Memorial from subsurface LiDAR laser scans, photogrammetry model data, and SONAR data to thematically show the changes over a 2 year period of time. Knowing what is changing on the USS Arizona Memorial is vital for many including the US National Park Service, US Navy, US Coast Guard, and the State of Hawaii. See the video showing the thematic change... Read more →

Autodesk University 2017 - Design/Make/Use a Custom Speaker That Goes to 11!

There is a new Product Innovation Platform Design/Make/Use Track being planned for Autodesk University by Autodesk’s Garin Gardiner and your votes are critical to making this a loud reality. This track contains 5 classes that will take you through the complete Design/Make/Use process and as a bonus you get a wicked custom portable USB speaker, that you designed and made. You will start in Autodesk Eagle for design of the electronics PCB board, then solder and test the completed circuit board, Using Autodesk Fusion 360 you will design the enclosure including drawings and renderings and then generate the machine toolpaths. At the end of the 5 classes, you will new skills and knowledge and have your custom wood speaker enclosure machined on-site that you can assemble and test. Read more →

Autodesk Answer Day in Progress

Many Autodesk teams around the world are online to help answer your submitted qu... Read more →

Autodesk Answer Day is Tomorrow

We are holding another popular Autodesk Answer Day tomorrow May 24 in our discus... Read more →

Autodesk University 2017 Call For Proposals

It is that time of the year again, time for veteran and newbie speakers to pitch their proposals for a class at Autodesk University in Las Vegas November 14-16th, 2017. The bar is high since so many proposals are submitted but if you are creative, have a great topic that many want, and the skills to present you should rise to the top and be a speaker this year. The proposal is essentially an outline and later if selected you... Read more →

FIRST Robotics World Finals

This weekend hundreds of teams from around the world will descend on Houston Texas for the FIRST Robotics World Finals. This year the finals will be split into two cities, Houston this weekend and St Louis next weekend. The team I have worked with for 2 seasons now that use Autodesk Inventor and Fusion 360, Portland’s own Catlin Gabel high school Team 1540 Flaming Chickens will be there competing. You can watch the video feeds over the web. https://www.firstchampionship.org/watch-live The... Read more →

Revit 2018 Released – What's Ahead on the Revit Roadmap?

Revit 2018 released this week with many new enhancements and features. Congratulations to the Revit product team for another great release and to the awesome beta participants that are integral to the quality and success of our products by kicking the tires early in development. Read more on Revit 2018 here: What's New in Revit 2018? - Revit Official Blog But what about the next release of Revit? Well just like the Fusion 360 team the Revit team is providing... Read more →

Enable Preview Functionality in Fusion 360

Have you wanted to test out new Fusion 360 features and functionality before they make the main release? You can turn on feature previews in your profile by selecting preferences in Fusion 360. Select Preview and then simply check the available functionality you would like to preview. Keep in mind these are only early previews of features and that we want your feedback should you run into an issue or have a suggestion. Read more →

Autodesk 2018 Products

Some of the Autodesk 2018 products have been released from beta and available for download now. The two main ones I am aware of are AutoCAD 2018 and Autodesk Inventor 2018. AutoCAD 2018 (beta codename Omega): Many changes under the hood including major performance improvements but some also required changes to the DWG file format. We had been trying to hold off on impact to file formats but over the past 5 years the time had come with all the... Read more →

Fusion 360 Meetup in Portland Oregon this Week

If you happen to be in beautiful Portland Oregon this week, want to meet some of the Fusion 360 team and see some cool things then sign up for the free meetup. Michael Aubry of Autodesk has organized this meetup and will be joined by others from Autodesk like Brian Ekins and Fusion’s Keqing Song. I will also be attending this meetup as I can’t get enough Fusion 360 info. Fusion 360 Meetup - What's New in Fusion & CNC... Read more →

Autodesk AEC Answer Day March 8th English and Deutsch

The next Autodesk Answer Days series is this Wednesday focusing on AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) products. Have questions that you’ve always wanted to ask? Come to the Autodesk Community to interact directly with the product teams responsible for the software you use. English Event Details: Answer Day will be occurring in the following English Forums: Date/Time: March 8th from 6:00am to 6:00pm Pacific Time BIM 360 Civil 3D InfraWorks 360 Revit Deutsch Event Details: In addition to the English... Read more →

Autodesk Official Show Reel 2017

We have just published our annual and extremely popular official Autodesk Show Reel for 2017. This is pure inspiration and eye candy which showcases all the amazing things our customers do with our 3D design, building, engineering and entertainment software and technologies. Sit back and prepare to be blown away! Read more →

Academy Award for Mechanical Running Horse Design

The 89th Oscars are under a week away on February 26th, but I already know a recipient and it is not one of our traditional film tools like Autodesk Maya. This Academy Award was a Technical Award and the design was created in Autodesk Inventor for a mechanical running horse by longtime Inventor power user Scott Oshita of Datum3. The design is purely mechanical, elegant, and seen more big screen appearances than many Hollywood actors. The design was made into a physical prop. Perhaps you seen it recently in the HBO series Westworld. Read more →