Between the Lines

Play Hide and Seek with a 3D Laser Scanner

If you have done a lot of 3D laser scanning or LiDAR you know how waiting to see if the scan is done can be sometimes a hide and seek game to not get caught in the scan and photo. On a recent project the FARO scanner caught me as evidenced by the point matching when merging scans in Autodesk ReCap Pro. Laser scanning systems take photos at the end of a laser scan so that it can bake the... Read more →

Weekend Snapshot

This past weekend I hiked hiked on the North face of Mount Hood in Oregon up to the alpine meadows via the Pinnacles and Vista Ridge trail to Elk Cove about 10 miles and 3000 feet vertical. It was an a amazing hike but I have never seen Mt Hood without so much snow. It is usually covered in places by glacier snow and ice fields year round. Part of the hike passed through a forest fire affected region (... Read more →

First Day Back in the Saddle err Office

I have been on sabbatical since mid-June and returned to the Autodesk Lake Oswego office this morning – a little too bright and early. I absolutely love working for Autodesk and truly appreciate that they still believe in giving employees a real disconnected break every four years to rejuvenate and reflect and come back with a reinvigorated energy. I feel rested, relaxed, and ready for many great products, projects, and events and of course more blog and social media information... Read more →

Create a 3D Human Skull

Have you ever wanted your own 3D skull or other unique object? Now you can make any 3D model you create or find on the web into a real physical 3D object of cardboard or clay without a 3D printer. Check out this tutorial created by David of Make Something using the free and fun Autodesk 123D Make to create a full size 3D skull. You can create some really cool abstract sculptures from cardboard as well. You could use... Read more →

Aerial 3D Terrain Mapping with a Drone

Recently I edited a 3D model and created a quick video in Autodesk ReMake (formerly Autodesk Memento.) The 3D model was generated using Autodesk ReCap 360 Pro from photos taken last month using an UAS/drone in the hot windy Trona Pinnacles near Death Valley California. The ability to create 3D textured models from aerial photos opens up many possibilities in design, construction, and site mapping. Autodesk has released specific features in ReCap 360 Pro named Fly that allow you to... Read more →

Beautiful Mt Hood

I absolutely love seeing Mt. Hood on my flights back home to Portland Oregon. I took this photo Sunday evening with my iPhone after returning from surprising my mother in Idaho on her 70th birthday. If you look closely you can see Mt. Jefferson in the background. Read more →

Autodesk Memento Becomes Autodesk ReMake

Autodesk Memento becomes Autodesk ReMake and has formally graduated to a commercial Autodesk product! Autodesk ReMake turns reality data into hi-resolution 3D meshes for design & engineering workflows and so much more. It has been a long journey to this point and many new features and great feedback along the way from Memento users. http://Remake.autodesk.com Read the message from the product manager and Mother of Memento Tatjana Dzambazova. Memento graduates to Autodesk ReMake! Mammoth skull was being worked on by... Read more →

Photos of the Day

I thought I would share the following photo I took today while working on a project near Death Valley California. It was hot, but so beautiful. While I am sharing a photo of the hot desert, I might as well as add for contrast last weekends hike in Oregon’s Opal Creek.I wished I could have swam in that creek today with the heat of the Southern California desert. Read more →

Wonderful Weekend in the Columbia Gorge

I hope you enjoyed your weekend, I certainly did enjoy mine. It has been almost a year since I moved back to Oregon. I am certainly enjoying the outdoors and being back here after 18 long years away. Yesterday I spent the day hiking up Eagle Creek just past the picturesque Punch Bowl Falls. There were even two guys in helmets and wetsuits attempting to swim down the rain fuelled creek over the falls. The day ended in Hood River... Read more →

The Hydrous Maldives 2015 Expedition

Such a visually stunning story with a very important educational angle about the ocean by Sly Lee and the 501 (c)3 non-profit organization The Hydrous. The Hydrous do what they proclaim by “communicating science beautifully.” They were recently in the Maldives in December 2015 and generated highly detailed 3D textured models of corals using Autodesk Memento to study changes occurring in our oceans. Here is one of the 3D coral models generated from photos in Autodesk Memento. Check out “The... Read more →

Golden Gate Bridge is 83 Years Old Today

Happy Birthday Golden Gate Bridge! It was 83 years ago today that the Golden Gate Bridge construction was started. I am so proud that about 20 year ago and just before I joined Autodesk I got to work on the design and testing seismic structural changes that were incorporated into the North Tower of the bridge to assure the bridge survives future earthquakes. Did you know there is a hidden elevator located in the North tower that takes you to... Read more →

Happy New Year!

Two of my photos of my New Years Day sunrise in Portland. This is my first New Years Day back living in Portland in 18 years. What an amazing sunrise start to 2016, but so very cold. I am looking forward to a great 2016 as it has certainly started out with so many good things for me to be thankful for. Just prior to sunrise with a long exposure photo.Taken from Pittock Mansion viewpoint in the West Hills. And... Read more →

Autodesk Memento Now Available on both Mac and Windows

Autodesk Memento beta is now available natively for the Mac platform! This is big news as popularity grew fast about Autodesk Memento several Mac users were anxiously awaiting to use it natively on their OS. In addition to the addition of Mac supported version there has been a great deal of bugs squashed and features added.Between us, I don’t think this team sleeps. Read more →

Autodesk University 2015 Photos and Sharing

Autodesk University 2015 was last week in Las Vegas and perhaps all the photos in Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have scrolled into history.You can view and share photos in the Flickr Gallery. I am continuing to post some of my AU2015 photos there and you can too for free. View or add your AU2015 Photos Today https://www.flickr.com/groups/au2015/pool/ Read more →

Diary of a Drone Pilot

A little piece just went live today about some of my work researching reality capture using UAV/UAS. The sky is no limit in Reality Capture and Computing where the cloud takes on two important and powerful meanings. Diary of a drone pilot I just returned 3 days ago from another project involving UAV flights that I can’t wait to share details with you, but here are a couple unrelated aerial images from that trip to Bali Indonesia. -Shaan (suffering from... Read more →

Replicate a Keepsake in 3D Using Autodesk Memento

Recently I replicated a silver necklace pendant of a very sentimental pinecone using Autodesk Memento which converted standard photos into a 3D model. I then 3D printed the model on an Autodesk Ember 3D printer and plan to then cast in pewter or silver an exact replicae. The pinecone pendant on a necklace was originally created as a silver casting from the real pinecone given to a mother by her oldest son. It was a really heart warming story why... Read more →

Long and Memorable Weekend in Utah

For the past four days I have been enjoying a trip to Utah with my girlfriend Amy to visit my mother, my 3 kids, and some friends. It was so great to visit with friends and family but also get to show Amy around a place she had never visited. We did so much in 4 days including lunch at my favorite Mexican mole spot The Red Iguana,haunted house fun, Park City, Brews and Blues festival at Snow Basin to... Read more →

Share 3D in the New Autodesk Memento Gallery

In the past 24 hours Autodesk has launched a new Memento Gallery where you can publish your Autodesk Memento 3D models for others to view or even download. I published models up there to test it and it works very well. How to publish tot the gallery: Create or load a model in the free beta of Autodesk Memento for Windows (Mac version in testing now) I loaded a model of a Sea Cockroach I created from a series of... Read more →

I am Not an Alien with a UFO

OK the jury might still be out if I am an alien life form, or not. Last night I had a funny out of this world experience while practicing and testing flight control technologies with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at dusk in NW Portland’s Cathedral Park. The park is located near the amazing and iconic St Johns Bridge. I had just landed the UAV when a group of 6 (sobriety-claiming) adults young and old tourist came running down the... Read more →

Friday Fun – Flying Over a Forest

Last evening myself and Autodesk colleague George Hudetz met up at a park while I flew a UAV/UAS to practice flying skills as well as capture some photos and video of the landscape from an aerial perspective. The location was just South of Portland Oregon and just to the West of Wilsonville Oregon at Graham Oaks Nature Park. Looking at a tall Douglas Fir forest from above at low 200-300 feet altitude is always amazingly to me and thought as... Read more →

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 →

Capturing Building Exteriors In 3D - Reality Computing Webinar Series

On May 7th, 2015 a small team of us descended on the city of Atlanta Georgia to perform some research comparing terrestrial laser scanning of the exterior of a building to the results of photogrammetry using UAV and ReCap 360 and then the combined model from both processes. Comparisons of the data looked at the accuracy and tolerances in both methods as well as the combined results which as you can guess is twice as good and neither was uniquely... Read more →

Using UAVs in Searches for Missing Dog

So many times when you say the word “drone” people think of negative things or when you mention UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) people think of annoying flying toys and privacy issues, but they are so much more and far more positive uses that unfortunately get less coverage. As a veteran UAV/UAS pilot for Autodesk, I use UAV/UAS mostly for capturing photos and video of architecture and to generate 3D models using technology like Autodesk Memento... Read more →

Worlds Oldest Tools Discovered

The oldest stone tools known to man were found in remote Northern Kenya. The tools date back 3.3 million years. My friend Dr. Louise Leakey documented the excavation and tools using Autodesk technology to share the discovery with the world. These historical findings are detailed in an article published last week in Nature Magazine (May 20, 2015). Now, through the power of Autodesk technology, people all around the world will have the chance to share in this major scientific discovery.... Read more →

Be Safe This Weekend

It is Memorial Day weekend in the United States which kicks off Summer. Sadly it also is the start of more traffic accidents and many related to long holiday drives while tired. Please, if you are driving long distances this weekend stop and take resets and arrive alive. The photo was taken by me this week from a UAV Quad Copter a rest area along Highway 26 between Portland Oregon and Cannon Beach. Read more →