Between the Lines

Fusion 360 Extended Access Program

Autodesk has recently announced a special program for Fusion 360 in the Extended Access Program which gives free commercial access to Fusion 360 until June 30, 2020. Find out more on the free Extended Access Program: https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/extended-access-program Read more →

Learn How to Create Electrical Schematics in Fusion 360

There is a free webinar next week that will teach you how to harness (pun intended) the new ECAD feature in Fusion 360. My first schematic with Fusion 360 The building block of every successful circuit board is it's schematic. The Schematic editor is engineered to save design time by providing access to thousands of components. In this webinar you will learn how to design your first schematic. February 11, 2020 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Register Now Read more →

Track and Compare Your Fusion 360 Use

Have you ever wanted to measure your use and proficiency of Fusion 360 and compare your knowledge to known roles to help identify areas for you or your users that you can improve and learn? There is an app named Command Map in the Autodesk App Store that provides this visually for you. As designers and engineers, we are always learning and needing growth an improving our use of tools and more optimally to document our design ideas digitally. Command... Read more →

Generative Design – 2019 in Review

Its a new year, and another exciting year of the impact of generative design with our customers using Fusion 360. Here is a great article by Mike Smell reviewing the past year of 2019 and providing some context for the future. Generative Design: A Year in Review and A Fresh Start Read more →

Electronics Design Now Included in Fusion 360

This is huge news for those in the design and manufacturing world as you can now do your industrial and mechanical design but with this months update you get professional electronics design. This makes Fusion 360 an end to end design tool for designing and manufacturing products. 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 →

Fusion 360 Roadmap and More

Autodesk’s Fusion 360 has turned 6 years old and I remember when it was a little conceptual baby incubating in the former Autodesk Labs for people to download and provide their feedback. It has come a long ways in the past 6 years and become a real product and thousands of daily users and amazing products that have been designed by customers using it. If you are interested in where Fusion 360 is going in the future, here is the... Read more →

Bringing the Outside In

At Autodesk, we are always listening to customers and opportunities to improve based on the feedback. One opportunity for bring the outside signals in where we bring people from outside of Autodesk into Autodesk for a limited time as a Visiting Fellow. We have done this successfully for several years in my team within the Office of the CTO and now named Strategic Foresight. The Autodesk Visiting Fellows Program recruits senior-level, industry-shaping talent to help light the future path of... 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 →

Project Egress 3D Model

The Apollo 11 Command Module CM-107 Columbia Egress hatch in Autodesk Fusion 360. They will assemble a replica made from machined and 3D printed parts next week at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum with Adam Savage. Anyone can now download the Fusion 360 model. http://3d.si.edu/apollo11cmhatch. Using high resolution 3D scans of the hatch captured inside the National Air and Space Museum by Autodesk and the Smithsonian Digitization Program Office, engineering student Andrew Barth was able to reverse engineer and... Read more →

3D Printed Titanium Solid bike in Portland

The SOLID bike is now proudly on display in the city that inspired it, and in the office of the software used in the design, our Autodesk Portland office. SOLID bike: The first connected, 3D printed titanium bike by Ti Cycles Design & engineering software: Autodesk Fusion 360 and Autodesk Alias For most of us, buying a bicycle means picking out a stock model that best fits our size and style. But, that comes with trade-offs, since mass-manufactured bikes can’t... Read more →

Change Fusion 360 User Interface for the Better

A User Interface (UI) can impact your use of a product and if done right can increase your productivity making it logical and intuitive and reduce steps or provide insight on where you are. The new preview for the Fusion 360 provides and checks all those boxes with a well needed update. In the past a software UI update might just the cheese or includes style changes to icons and causes a lot of re-learning by users, but in this... Read more →

How to activate a Start-up or Educational license for Fusion 360

I recently had to provide this information to a friend who is setting up a school with Fusion 360 for the students and felt this would be great to highlight for anyone else looking to get up and licenses running for the free education or start up licensed Fusion 360. Hopefully you were aware that as a student or teacher or even a startup company or enthusiast user you may get many of the Autodesk products free for a term... Read more →

Employee Made Arcade at Autodesk's Portland Office

Our Portland Autodesk office took the Autodesk tagline of “Make Anything” quite literal. We moved into this beautifully restored downtown central eastside Portland office a year ago. So when some of the employees heard we had a game room, they asked about an arcade game. There wasn’t an arcade game or budget – so they decided to make one. It was an organic grassroots volunteer project, but a group of employees decided “hey, lets make our own arcade console.” They... Read more →

Fusion 360 Meetup in Portland May 7th 2019

Last evening at the Autodesk Portland office a Fusion 360 Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/Portland-Fusion-360-Meetup/) was held and several attended to hear Keqing Song and Paul Sohi of the Fusion team present as well as Paul be challenged to answer questions in a “Stump the Chump” session as well as tips and tricks. It was a good time with lots of pizza, beverages and a great deal of Fusion 360 wisdom all around. Keqing Song and Paul Sohi starting the Meetup. What happens... Read more →

Fusion 360 Stump the Chump in Stumptown

Got stumped using Fusion 360? Don't worry, you're not alone. Lucky you, Paul Sohi, our Fusion 360 Evangelist extraordinaire / chump will be in our Autodesk Portland office, so we've decided to host a Fusion 360 meet-up and put him on the spot to answer you questions. Meet fellow users in our Portland community, as well as the folks behind the software. Paul may even show off some of his own workflow tips for making the most of Fusion 360!... Read more →

Fusion 360 Academy is Coming in August

Happening in Portland Oregon is the largest Autodesk Fusion 360 learning & networking event, the Fusion 360 Academy! The Fusion 360 Academy will offer 25+ classes taught by Autodesk experts and industry pro's, a Design Slam to show off your skills, and plenty of opportunities to network. Sign-up now and save $100 with an early-bird special! https://autode.sk/2Ipkm3I Read more →

Autodesk Fusion 360 and Generative Design

An in-depth review of Autodesk Fusion 360 and generative design was just posted by DEVELOP3D, who are also holding their conference DEVELOP3D Live in Sheffield England today. “As we discussed at the outset, topology optimisation refines a singular form to an optimised state, typically using a singular material. Generative design in Fusion 360 is, by contrast, a platform for experimentation on a much grander scale. All in all, what Autodesk has delivered on here, in its first pass, is pretty... Read more →

FIRST Robotics PNW Finals

Last week and finishing up Saturday was the Pacific Northwest FIRST District Championship 2019 where 68 Pacific Northwest FIRST FRC Teams competed for invites to the World Finals in Houston to be held April 17-20th. I drove up to Tacoma Washington for the PNW Finals to see the team 1540 that I mentor compete and see the other 67 regional teams. Team 1540 Flaming Chickens designed their competition robot named “Phineas” using Autodesk Fusion 360. These events are always inspiring.... Read more →

Design Week Portland - Ultimaker+ Autodesk

Design Week Portland is right around the corner, and this year we’re partnering up with Ultimaker to help you level up your design-to-make game. Come see the latest from Ultimaker and Autodesk in Autodesk’s renovated new Portland office (renovated Towne Storage Building) just off East Burnside by the bridge in the central eastside industrial district. Look for the water tower with our logo and you can’t miss us. Parking can be a bit of a challenge at times so choose... Read more →

FIRST FRC PNW District Clackamas Academy Event 2019

FIRST Robotics FRC Team 1540 the Flaming Chickens placed 1st ranking again this weekend in Oregon City, but lost out in the quarter final alliance competition match. They are heading to the Pacific Northwest FIRST District Championship in Tacoma Washington April 3-6 and then hopefully onto the FIRST FRC World Finals in Houston Texas. I am so inspired and impressed by team 1540 and their design created using Autodesk’s own Portland non-GMO, organic, free range mechanical design software Autodesk Fusion... Read more →

Startups in Autodesk's Portland Office

Autodesk has provided space and resources to a local Portland startup incubator organization named PIE (Portland Incubator Experiment) to run a startup incubator in our Portland office named PIE Shop. Read more →

Autodesk Design & Manufacturing Official Show Reel 2019

Autodesk just published a new video showing some amazing and inspiring highlights for our Design and Manufacturing industry products, partners, and customers. Enjoy! Read more →

Autodesk Fusion 360 and Wacom

Wacom just released a video featuring Autodesk’s own Jeff Smith using Fusion 360 on a Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 tablet. https://youtu.be/4bCN2SgGnIo Our Autodesk Portland office also made a cameo from my aerial footage. Both Autodesk and Wacom have offices located here in beautiful Portland Oregon. Read more →

Free Software and Fusion 360 Training for FIRST FRC Teams

We are just a week away from the big 2019 FIRST FRC Destination Deep Space competition reveal and thousands of teams start to formulate their game strategy and begin design their robots for 6 weeks then the competitions begin between teams in regions with some heading for the world finals. Many winning teams see CAD as key to their strategy and design allowing them to better design and simulate as well as generate their Gcode for CAM cutting of parts.... Read more →