Between the Lines

AEC Hackathon 7.0 Copenhagen

One of my favorite events filled with innovative thinking and ideas combined with collaborative fun and technology are the AEC Hackathons held around the world. The next big AEC Hackathon is being held next month in one of my favorite cities in the world, Copenhagen Denmark. ] Feb 21 2020 18:00 - Feb 23 2020 20:00 In a nutshell, the hackathon starts with a group of people from industry, academia, tech, architects, and programmers that for the most part don't... Read more →

Architecture, BIM, and Mechanical Community Meetups

Architecture Community Virtual MeetUp Do you work in the architectural field? Do you have questions about tools within AutoCAD, Revit, or another Autodesk architectural software platform? Are you looking to pick the brains of talented professional engineers in your field? If so, please join us for our Architectural Community Virtual Meetup on the 4th Tuesday of each month. Next Architecture Community Virtual MeetUp Tuesday, January 28, 2020 8:00am PT | 11:00am ET This month you’ll learn how to develop sets... Read more →

XR Party

I attended a great XR Party (Extended Reality (AR & VR) last evening in Portland at Open Signal PDX , the Open Signal: Portland Community Media Center. It was a gathering of the XR community and showed a short in XR no longer being just a cool fringe technology, but now a maturing communication and story telling technology platform as XR us being used in many businesses from marketing, gaming, journalists, architects, story tellers, local community organizations, and artists all... Read more →

The Autodesk Group Network – Find Your Group

There are currently 70+ groups around the World and growing of thousands of Autodesk product and technology users just like you. Go have a look and find your group or enter your existing group (add a group) to the growing list. Local groups are an invaluable resource and network as I remember running the Portland Autodesk Users Group years and years ago and many awesome local people looking to share ways of using the software and back then it was... Read more →

Innovation Stations Open at OMSI

On Friday evening I attended the grand opening at the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) for the new Center for Innovation - Innovation Station exhibit in the turbine hall. OMSI's Center for Innovation is using our community's creativity and design thinking to solve global problems. And its fun! Tinkercad was also released for a new group of kids and adult visitors of OMSI on Friday as part of the new Center for Innovation exhibit. Children and adults alike... Read more →

AEC Excellence Awards 2019

Every year we recognize some customers for their AEC designs. Every year I am amazed, inspired, and in awe of their projects and the innovative ways they used Autodesk software. These nine winners and the Innovator of the Year will present at Autodesk University 2019 in only a couple of weeks. Read about the winning customers and their projects. ”When it comes to the AEC industry, projects come in all shapes and sizes. So does the innovative use of technology—whether... Read more →

Autodesk University 2019 Thrive Guide

We are now less than four weeks from Autodesk University 2019! Autodesk University is the premier Autodesk customer event held yearly where several thousand creative design and visualization experts descend on Las Vegas. They arrive wide eyed, craving knowledge from the best in the industry. They leave tired and full of valuable knowledge to make them more productive back at work. After attending every Las Vegas based Autodesk University, I have compiled and published this annual long list of tips... Read more →

Autodesk Media and Entertainment Showcase 2019

Last Thursday in our Portland Autodesk office, we held a free event for anyone to celebrate and show the creative customers and community of our entertainment products such as Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max. We had several presentations from local visual fx and animation studios with amazing visuals and insight on how they work and create what they do. We also had two Autodesk product owners of 3ds Max and Bifrost. Speakers Gabe Selinger of Liquid Development Sarah DeFlaminis... Read more →

If You Love 3D and are in Portland Oregon Today

I hope if you are in the Portland Oregon area today, that you plan to attend the second annual Autodesk Media and Entertainment Showcase. The event is free with some food and refreshments with the highlight amazing local speakers who use Autodesk Media and Entertainment products like 3ds Max and Maya. See how people are using Autodesk products to create amazing VFX and animations and how technology can be used in incredible ways to unleash creativity and save time. You... Read more →

Autodesk Portland Media and Entertainment Showcase Event is Next Week

I hope if you are in the Portland Oregon area, that you plan to attend this second Media and Entertainment Showcase. The event is free with some food and refreshments with the highlight being amazing local speakers who use Autodesk Media and Entertainment products like 3ds Max and Maya. See how people are using Autodesk products to create amazing VFX and animations and how technology can be used in incredible ways to unleash creativity and save time. You will also... Read more →

Start Your AU5K Training Tomorrow With This Easy Training Plan

Autodesk University is just over a month, a mere 48 days from now in November, and once again the highly popular AU5K is once again happening on Tuesday morning at AU with hundreds running, walking, and cheering last year. Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost even ran last year and has plans to run with us again this year. So please join me and everyone else at the AU5K and start preparing for it now with easy attainable steps building up. I... Read more →

Mass Timber in the Neighborhood

I love the new Mass Timber buildings that are growing in popularity, especially up here in the Pacific Northwest. We have had a mass timber building going up just a block from our Portland office. The Sideyard held a grand opening last evening and soon Ferment Brewing and other tenants will hopefully be opening, especially Ferment Brewing – yes yes yes. The Sideyard (B76 West) building went up really fast compared to other local construction we have been watching from... Read more →

Bring Your Questions to Autodesk Today

If you have questions about Autodesk’s AEC products and AutoCAD, today is your day with the AEC Answer Day event going on. How The Day will work in the ENGLISH Community: Our team of experts will be in the following Community categories from September 24th, 2019 from 6:00am to 2:00am on September 25th PST ready to answer your questions. Just pick your product category, select a forum and click the “Create a New Post” button to ask your question. AutoCAD... Read more →

Autodesk University 2019 Blogger and Social Media Meetup

Every year at AU we invite active bloggers, social media participants and other “friends” to join us for a little food and drink at AU – a chance for us to meet some of these people face to face and to thank them for their (typically unpaid) efforts around Autodesk products. Read more →

Happy 20th Birthday Autodesk Inventor and Vault

Yesterday in the Autodesk Portland office we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Autodesk Inventor, and partied like it was 1999, when Autodesk Inventor was born in our. A flashback to 1999 Autodesk Inventor R1 codename Rubicon We even got Inventor R1 running for people to try their old school Inventor modelling skills. It was amazing to have all the fun conversations, wear old Inventor shirts, enjoy food and drink, and celebrate a big milestone of 20 years. The first customer... Read more →

Join me at Autodesk Portland Media and Entertainment Showcase

Plan to attend this second Media and Entertainment Showcase. The non-sales event is free with some food and refreshments with the highlight being amazing local speakers who use Autodesk Media and Entertainment products like 3ds Max and Maya. See how people are using Autodesk products to create amazing VFX and animations and how technology can be used in incredible ways to unleash creativity and save time. You will also network with other local Portland people in media and entertainment. Last... Read more →

Start Preparing for the AU5K Now with This Training Program

Autodesk University is only a couple months from now in November and once again the highly popular AU5K is once again happening on Tuesday morning at AU with hundreds running, walking, and cheering last year. Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost even ran last year and plans to run it again this year. So please join me and everyone else at the AU5K and start preparing for it now with easy attainable steps building up. I started this AU5K a few years... Read more →

Portland Adult Soapbox Derby 2019

Two weeks ago I had one of the coolest volunteer jobs as a Course Marshall for the 22nd annual Portland Adult Soapbox Derby held in Portland's beautiful Mount Tabor Park. I spent all day with a bullhorn and a radio clearing the course, heckling people who ignored the course rules, assuring the safety of the derby cars and drivers as well as the spectators, and making people laugh and have fun. There were several races and we had a few... Read more →

Kids at Autodesk Day – Portland 2019

This is always one of my favorite days of the year and it was held in the Autodesk Portland office yesterday. We had over 60 kids of our employees show up for a day filled with fun activities, snacks, food, and even robot rides. Read more →

Autodesk Forge Accelerator in NYC September 9-13

A Forge Accelerator is an opportunity for cloud developers to spend one week with the Forge team, with one-on-one help building applications. Apply to attend the #Accelerator in NYC from September 9-13: https://autode.sk/2GCGhCz Jim Quanci Senior Director, Autodesk Developer Network announced today that this event will be held at the big New York City Amazon AWS offices making room for more participants. From Twitter https://twitter.com/jimquanci ”Just teamed up with @awscloud- to hold the Autodesk Forge Accelerator in their large NYC... Read more →

Project Egress Build Thursday July 18th at the National Air and Space Museum

I hope you are either planning to attend at the National Air and Space Museum or watch the live stream of the #ProjectEgress build with Adam Savage. Read more here https://airandspace.si.edu/events/project-egress-build and https://www.tested.com/science/space/880604-announcing-project-egress-project-national-air-and-space-museum/ This event should be live streamed tomorrow by the Smithsonian and/or Tested.com. Jen Schachter and Andrew Barth worked into the evening to get as prepared as they can get for this complicated build of many parts some 3D printed, some machined, and some sourced. Autodesk’s employees Jonathan... Read more →

You Have to See This

If you are near Washington DC, you should come battle the crowds and endure the heat and muggy weather to see the Washington Monument. They are projecting the Saturn V5 Rocket for Apollo 11 projected on it at 9:30pm and then an experience this Friday and Saturday night. I seen it last night and was blown away at how awesome this was. It should be done often as the 1:1 scale of the rocket on the monument was unreal. It... Read more →

Smithsonian Apollo 50 Events Next Week

Next week there are multiple events commemorating and celebrating the 50th of the Apollo 11 mission and the first human walking on the surface of the moon. There is also a fun event on the 18th with Adam Savage. "Project Egress" Build event next week. A Collaboration with Adam Savage and Tested.com July 18, 2019 at 11:00am at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. FREE This hatch was constructed based on a 3D scan project with the... Read more →

Autodesk Lunch with the Customer Events

I started a program in our Autodesk Portland office this year to connect our awesome local Autodesk customers with our awesome employees and so far it has received great feedback from both customers and employees that have participated in it. The two groups don't meet often enough and also may be limited to an industry but with several industries and technologies converging it is important for everyone to be connected and exposed to different customers and industries to better understand... Read more →

Apollo 50 Festival

I hope you might be able to join me for an amazing free event on the National Mall in Washington DC celebrating an amazing historic accomplishment 50 years ago with the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon. July 18 - July 20, 2019 https://airandspace.si.edu/events/apollo-50-festival Autodesk had the honor of helping digitize the Apollo 11 command module in 3D and in the process help unlock answers as well as preserve the historical piece of history. The Apollo 11 Command Capsule... Read more →