Between the Lines

Pi Day for PIE

If you are located in beautiful and innovative Portland Oregon and love new technology from startups then you should absolutely RSVP and mark your calendars for Pi Day 2019 and the PIE Demo Day 2019. PIE is the Portland Incubator Experiment and all about nurturing startups and their founders. We believe in PIE so much we provide space in our Autodesk Portland office for the PIE Shop incubator currently with 7 startup companies and also PDX Women in Technology (PDXWIT)... Read more →

Autodesk Generative Design Beta for AEC – Project Refinery

At Autodesk have used our generative design for architecture and layout to design our MaRS office in Toronto and an intelligent flow and layout for Autodesk University, now we are making it available as a beta publicly for you to try it and provide your requests and feedback. “Project Refinery is an Autodesk generative design beta for the architecture, engineering and construction industry that gives users the power to quickly explore and optimize their Dynamo designs. Project Refinery not only... Read more →

Autodesk Proudly Supports STEAM Education

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) Spend your #HourofCode this week using Tinkercad and coding with Autodesk Tinkercad Codeblocks: autode.sk/2OIfaHC “No experience preferred All you have to do is start” Read more →

Forge DevCon Keynote 2018

The Forge DevCon was held on the first day of Autodesk University. The keynote was great and you can now watch it on YouTube. It was apparent from the Forge DevCon they will need to expand the are as it was packed with Forge developers,partners, customers, and employees this year and many amazing 3rd party solutions built upon Forge being shown. Forge DevCon Keynote 2018 “Watch the full Forge DevCon keynote from November 12, 2018. Featuring Jim Quanci, Brian Roepke,... Read more →

Reimagining the Future of Making

Automation Helps People Live and Work Better “Humanity inevitably needs, desires, and demands more. At the same time, it must also confront the reality of less—fewer natural resources, less space, and fewer skilled construction and manufacturing workers than the world needs.” “Automation also helps companies stay ahead of their competitors, but more important, it encourages and supports the imagination that moves humanity forward. Better cities, better buildings, better things, better work: Reimagining the model for automation can balance the inevitability... Read more →

Don't Be Kanye with Security

It’s always good to provide reminders to be mindful of security, especially in this day of technology where much our life and data is contained on our phone and laptops. So, last week Kanye was meeting (crazy rambling meeting) with the US President and broke out his phone and many of us noticed that he used all 0’s for his passcode to unlock his phone. It’s bad enough he unlocked his phone within view of cameras beaming the view to... Read more →

Paul Allen 1953 - 2018

The tech world and the US Pacific Northwest is reeling from the loss of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen yesterday. Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen died at 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In addition to being the ideas person with Bill gates when they founded Microsoft, Paul Allen was also a huge philanthropist as well as a sports team owner of teams like NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and part owner of the Seattle’s Sounders soccer team. He... Read more →

Sleepless in Seattle

I am working remote from Seattle this week for several reasons. Tuesday I had my FAA Part 107 renewal exam for commercial SUAS pilot – and passed. I did a lot of studying and practice tests. I can’t recommend RemotePilot101.com enough and first learned of them in our corporate training program and now use them for all my SUAS training and certification needs. Thursday I am speaking at Seattle Startup Week. How Technology is changing the $10 trillion construction industry... Read more →

THE FACTORY Powered by Fusion 360 Back at AU 2018

Do you remember the awesome speakers many made at Autodesk University 2017, and how popular this was? We're bringing the crowd favorite back to AU2018! This year a new project where attendees will have the chance to roll up their sleeves in a unique hands-on factory setting to design and manufacture their own air quality sensing lamp. THE FACTORY powered by Fusion 360 will be front-and-center in the Expo Hall and is open to a limited number of participants on... Read more →

Digitally Designing the Physical World – XR for Architecture and Construction

A week ago, last Monday evening I presented at a local meetup group Design Reality that was for an AEC focused XR event. My goal was to expand the awareness of AR/VR beyond the 3D rendered images commonly used in pre-construction design reviews and into what I see as a sweet spot in AEC construction. XR is the new term for eXtended Reality which combined AR/MR/VR and is a nice high level since it appears that all three will be... Read more →

Linking Engineering and Philanthropy (LEAP) 2018

The LEAP 2018 competition challenges FIRST FRC teams to develop new technologies to engage and assist resource-poor youth in farming and agriculture, while working alongside Mercy Corps. Autodesk has proudly partnered with Mercy Corps and Team 1540 to support FIRST Robotics Teams designing a solution to a global challenge. LEAP was started by students of Catlin Gabel here in Portland as FIRST FRC Team 1540 Flaming Chickens. It is such a good way to connect engineering design and philanthropy and... Read more →

Autodesk Accelerate 2018 is a Wrap

What a truly amazing event Autodesk’s Accelerate 2018 was, and I will be attending again next year for sure. The attendees in attendance, the presentations, the deep quality conversations, the networking, the Autodesk Toronto office in MaRS District were all top notch. Amazing Location. Thank you Autodesk Canada and all the Autodesk employees that made this a reality and great event like Jamie Eckmier, Denese Gordon, Stephen Hooper, Paul Sohi and many others including staff that provided great tours like... Read more →

See You this Week in MaRS Toronto

The Accelerate with Autodesk event is this week in beautiful Toronto for those interested in the future of design and manufacturing. The location is the MaRS Discovery District which is the world’s largest urban innovation hub and also where the new Autodesk Technology Center is located. We can say with all honestly that we are going to MaRS this week. Explore the future of design and manufacturing This year's event will focus on the convergence of design and manufacturing technology,... Read more →

Want to Learn More About Blockchain Technology?

Autodesk is hosting an annual meeting of blockchain experts at our Portland office Friday September 12th. “Join us for the premier gathering of tech industry professionals. Learn about blockchain from businesses built on the distributed ledger platform, potential applications and innovations, and how Coinbase and new blockchain-based businesses will impact Portland’s technology landscape.” Interested, Learn more and RSVP http://bit.ly/2MVHMRx Read more →

What Is Building Information Modeling - BIM

I get asked this quite often and I simply explain it is the evolution of lines arcs and circles to objects as components in a 3D architectural design model encompassing the entirety of the the building from design to meta data on performance and materials.Its all about the data.. Autodesk just posted a nice video on YouTube explaining what BIM is. Happy Throwback Thursday The video has a highlight from the history of CAD to pioneer Ivan Sutherland with the... Read more →

Digitally Design the Physical World - XR for Architecture and Construction

I will be presenting next month at the Design Reality meetup event in Portland on using VR/AR in AEC Construction. While many think of a 3D immersive experience and walkthroughs for the design phase, the really valuable sweet spot to AEC professionals is using AR/MR in construction to to plan, review, spot errors, and more. I will talk about the many ways Autodesk and our products generate and enable VR/AR/MR for many industries, but then specifically focus on the AEC... Read more →

Moore or Less

I was thinking last night about how technology has changed over the years, and how Moore’s Law has apparently been broken as computer CPUs are not doubling computational power each 18 months. We have not seen the transistor density and computing power doubling for a couple years now. I understand it is a feat of engineering and physics to do this and I'm not certain of the reason chips have slowed their advancements in recent years, but does it matter... Read more →

Automation & AI for Good 2018

Village Capital and Autodesk Foundation are teaming up on a forum to showcase and support early-stage startups that are using AI, automation, or robotics to create new jobs in emerging industries, fill gaps in the current workforce, and retrain or upskill workers whose jobs will be automated, freeing them up to focus on higher level tasks. The companies will benefit from peer learning, access to cutting-edge technologies, and executive level mentorship. The growth of artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and robotics... Read more →

Reality Capture API is Now Available on the Forge

An API for Reality Capture is available on the Autodesk Forge platform to create 3D models from photos using photogrammetry just like ReCap Photo (aka formerly Autodesk ReMake). Now you can build this same functionality into your own Forge platform applications. Read More at The Hitchhiker's Guide to Reality Capture API, for tips and tricks on using this API. http://autode.sk/2ts6TC6 Read more →

Congratulations to Dr. Ivan Sutherland

“Father of Computer Graphics” Honored with Washington Award by Western Society of Engineers Ivan Sutherland recognized in celebration of Engineers Week Rosemont, IL (Feb. 19, 2018) – The Western Society of Engineers is celebrating Engineers Week (February 18–24, 2018) by honoring Ivan Sutherland, PhD as the 96th recipient of the Washington Award at a celebratory dinner on Friday, February 23. The prestigious award is conferred upon an engineer whose professional accomplishments have preeminently advanced the welfare of human kind. “I’m... Read more →

ADN DevDays Webinars Available

Autodesk Developer Network DevDays Webinar recordings are now available at http://autode.sk/2C8momg on the Autodesk DevTV YouTube channel. Revisit any presentations you may have missed, or want to re-review! The recorded discussions cover the APIs for Forge, Revit AutoCAD Civil3D, BIM 360, InfraWorks, Inventor, Autodesk Vault, Fusion 360, and AutoCAD. 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 Forge - What is it?

Have you heard people talking about Autodesk Forge? Perhaps you wondered what it really was and why it will be a big deal. Jim Quanci Senior Director, Autodesk Developer Network recorded a recent YouTube video that might help you better understand What is Forge and show you some live examples for customers and developers. Read more →

You Will Love Laser Scanning with this Hardware

Just over a week ago I got to use the new Leica Geosystem’s BLK360 laser scanner on a project. After having used other laser scanners in the past, and some being not only very expensive but also heavy and cumbersome on project sites, this BLK360 was an absolute delight to use. It was about the weight of a large mug of coffee plus a light tripod and then the iPad to run Autodesk ReCap Pro for mobile app. I had... Read more →

Solve WiFi Range and Bandwidth Issues

I wanted to share this with readers that might have the same modern day issues. I recently moved into a new house and was battling getting WiFi throughout the house. The house is a 75 year old farmhouse and now renovated, but the layout is odd with many walls and a floor between the bedroom and all the way out to my home office. In the past I had tried the WiFi repeaters and had little success, other than lightening... Read more →