Between the Lines

Explore the Autodesk Forge Showroom

A new online resource Forge Showroom is now available to see what others are building using Autodesk Forge. https://forge-showroom.autodesk.io/ Read more →

Join Us for a Virtual AEC Hackathon

Over the next couple of weeks there is a online virtual event going on for those in the AEC industry. Some of the presentations are free to attend, but the registration is cheap at $25 to see some of the potential cutting edge silo busting ideas and the hackathon team solution presentations. Come learn something, a new perspective, a new technology, a new contact, a new potential solution to a challenging problem in our industry. For a great deal of... Read more →

AEC Hackathon Online – Join In and Bust Silos

I would encourage anyone in the AEC, technology, and the built environment industries looking to break silos and explore new ways of doing things and meeting like minded awesome people to look into joining the upcoming AEC Hackathon. This year the Hackathon will be online due to the current world events with COVID-19, but there are already plans to get back together, and hopefully we do it again in Copenhagen at BloxHub (AEC Hackathon Copenhagen 2020). I will be involved... Read more →

Autodesk COVID 19 Resources and Projects

Many of of our jobs and industries are changing due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, with many looking for resources and information on how to change quickly, and safely. Autodesk has created a resource center to support you with details on special programs, remote working assistance, learning, industry resources and Autodesk Foundation information. Autodesk COVID-19 Resource Center If you are in the AEC industry, I would strongly encourage you to look at the Return to Workplace information and resources. https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/aec-return-to-workplace... Read more →

New Business Models and Business Model Transformation in Construction 4.0

I found this article from Olivier Lepinoy of Autodesk today on the Autodesk Construction Blog, and really enjoyed the points Olivier makes about how and why the time is now to change how we do things in AEC Construction. It may be the best 18 minutes you spend today if you are in he AEC industry and want to think ahead to transform your business, and how we build. ❌ Get ready. Forget your ordinary perceptions and beliefs, change your... Read more →

COVID-19 Design Challenges – Call To Action

My longtime friend and Autodesk colleague Kean Walmsley and I have been talking about ways Autodesk technology might assist our customers, and even us at Autodesk in these changing times or the “new normal”. How might we evaluate social distancing, points where people could congregate or HVAC flows all based on best health and safety practices being publicly discussed in this potential new normal environment when many self isolated communities slowly phase back in public settings and buildings. I would... Read more →

Setup BIM 360 Projects Programmatically – Open Source Release

There is a new Open Source Tool from our Autodesk Global Consulting Delivery to address a common request from our customers requiring a way to automate setting up BIM 360 environment users and projects. The BIM 360 project setup tool sample was first created by Oliver Scharpf from our Global Consulting Delivery team to solve this need. The tool was released by Autodesk to Open Source for everyone to use. Use this command line tool to setup BIM 360 projects,... Read more →

Volunteer Design and Make Projects to Help People Breathe

Yesterday an acquaintance I know Gui Cavalcanti was recognized for participating in a volunteer open source effort to design breathing ventilators for those that may need them due to the COVID-19 virus. Its a blend of makers and engineers creating mechanical designs and the 3D printing parts. The Futuristic Solutions the Internet is Crowdsourcing to Cure Coronavirus – Newsweek “A Facebook group called Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies, which consists of over 13,000 members, is trying to find solutions to... Read more →

Limbitless Impact Through Design

Last week, the Autodesk Portland office was fortunate enough to have one of our Autodesk Foundation grantees visit and speak to our employees and product teams about their non profit named Limbitless. Limbitless is working with OHSU, a local hospital and one of four in the United States that are running medical trials to get FDA medical approval from testing prosthetics with children. Limbitless uses Fusion 360 and Eagle to design the prosthetics and also use Maya for developing a... Read more →

Join Us Next Week to Innovate and Break AEC Silos

There is a great AEC Hackathon event being held next week in beautiful Copenhagen Denmark. The goal is to break down the silos in AEC design, technology, and the workflows to result in better cities. I will be joined by two of the expertly skilled and amazing Autodesk consultants from our Autodesk Global Consulting Delivery organization. It’s going to be a lot of work and fun. You should consider attending if you will be in Copenhagen end of next week,... Read more →

Mass Timber Summit and Hackathon in Portland Oregon

Are you passionate about technology, AEC design, sustainable wood, and mass timber design and construction? If you answered yes to any of these, you should consider attending the Mass Timber Summit Hackathon being held in beautiful Portland Oregon March 20-22, 2020. Join leading architects, engineers, researchers, builders, fabricators, real estate professionals and technologists for a weekend of innovation focused on mass timber, digitalization of construction, automation, robotics and software. Mass Timber Workshops and Hackathon Link to Event Page www.masstimberhackathon.com Presenters... Read more →

Windows 7 Ends Today

I hope by now everyone reading this has already moved on from Windows 7 machines, and if not hopefully this causes you to consider that move. Today Microsoft set the End of Life support for Windows 7 meaning security updates and more wont be released. I remember 10 years ago when beta testing Windows 7 (AutoCAD 2010 on Microsoft Windows 7) and how stable and nice that was compared to prior releases of Windows, but that was many many years... Read more →

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 →

Over 700 Hours of Training for Free

If you weren't able to attend Autodesk University 2019 in Las Vegas last month or missed a class in your busy schedule here is an amazing resource and opportunity. There are over 700 hours of recorded AU 2019 sessions are now online for free, from labs and keynotes to instructional demos and panels. The learning is just getting started. https://autode.sk/38yDkiK 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 →

How Architects are Using VR and AR in Design Processes

Guest post from Jessica Outlaw who runs the Outlaw Center for Immersive Behavioral Science at Concordia University in Portland Oregon. Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) is increasingly being incorporated into the design process for architects. VR/AR devices allows architects and their clients to experience their buildings, and make any necessary adjustments, before construction begins. I interviewed eight experts who are working in the intersection of architecture and VR to learn how VR is changing the way architects are doing their... Read more →

Introducing Alias Create VR

Immersive computing is revolutionizing the world around us. What started as a spark of imagination decades ago has ignited an inferno of technology-driven creative opportunity today. Nowhere is this more apparent than the automotive industry, where augmented reality and virtual reality technology (AR/VR) continues to deepen and expand its impact on the creative design process.So it is my absolute pleasure to announce the availability of Alias Create VR – a VR based conceptual design toolset as part of the Alias... Read more →

What is Autodesk Researching with AI and VFX

Problems grow in complexity with time, what is Autodesk doing to solve this challenge for VFX? “From specialized image segmentation to AI-powered UV creation, and natural language art directing, see where Autodesk stands and is going with AI-fueled entertainment creation. Evan Atherton, Senior Research Engineer, kicks off the conversation of how designers and artists will work in the future with the help of Artificial Intelligence. Will Harris, Flame Family Product Manager, discusses AI for VFX and Color Finishing, and Sebastian... Read more →

Autodesk joined the 3D Formats Working Group to Support the Khronos glTF file format

Autodesk has joined the Khronos Group. Autodesk is an industry-leading provider of 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, that joined the 3D Formats Working Group to support the Khronos glTF file format. “We are delighted that Autodesk has joined Khronos. A company of Autodesk’s stature can be enormously influential in creating and promoting open standards, such as glTF, for the good of the entire 3D industry,” said Neil Trevett, president of the Khronos Group.” https://www.khronos.org/blog/autodesk-joins-the-khronos-group “Autodesk is committed to accelerating... Read more →

Optimized Design and Fabrication Workflows with Dynamo

Are you looking for in-depth information on using computational design with Dynamo (Open source graphical programming for design) for structural design? Well here is your opportunity with class content from an Autodesk University class and posted recently! “Learn how to optimize your design workflows with Dynamo and how to perform design automation for repetitive structural tasks.” Structural Dynam(o)ite: Optimized Design and Fabrication Workflows with Dynamo https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/article/Structural-Dynamoite-Optimized-Design-and-Fabrication-Workflows-Dynamo-2019 “In the world of structural engineering, we are challenged to consider many design options,... Read more →

Attention Startups - Apply to PIE Shop Portland

Applications for the next classes of PIE and PIE Shop are now open. They will close on August 18. Please share far and wide with promising founders and startups https://piepdx.com/apply We’re super interested in the startup you’re building and we’d love to hear more about it Applications are currently open for two flavors of PIE: PIE supports companies that are building digital products. We have a deep history in Software as a Service (SaaS) and B2B companies, having helped startups... Read more →

New High School Interns in Autodesk Portland Office

We are honored to have 3 college student interns and 9 high school interns from FIRST Robotics FRC Teams this year working on software in our Autodesk Portland office. They are once again working on the Autodesk Synthesis software that is free and open for FIRST FRC Robotics teams to use to simulate their code and import their robot design before competition. It is an amazing project and fun to play based in Unity. From left to right: Kira is... Read more →

Meet Project Discover for Dynamo

My colleague Kean Walmsley announced on his blog Through the Interface on the new Project Discover for Dynamo out of Autodesk Research and is ready to be tested. It is a tool that we used to perform generative design in the AEC design for our Autodesk Toronto office including predicting the natural light rays into offices to assist in office location based on employee preferences (video Generative Design for Architecture: Autodesk MaRS Office). Read Kean’s overview in his blog post... Read more →

Got My Bags Packed for My Mars Condo!

A great story of smart young minds tackling a challenge put forth by NASA helped AI SpaceFactory Win NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge for additive constructed habitats. NASA awarded AI SpaceFactory $500,000 for the successful construction of a 15 foot Mars habitat with three windows named MARSHA. Read more →

Realtime Revit BIM Models in Unity in Just One Click

Today, the awesome fi9ne folks at Unity announced the collaboration with Autodesk for a Revit importation product named Unity Reflect. Unity provides a platform for all sorts of immersive 3D possibilities in AR/VR and more that have bent my mind at times. Now with Unity Reflect you can import your Revit BIM 3D model in one click. Get a hands on look at Autodesk University London in just two weeks! https://unity.com/event/au2019 “Announcing Unity Reflect, a new product for architects, building... Read more →