It is Alive in the Lab

Ten Most Read It's Alive in the Lab Blog Articles for 2012

It's that time of the year when people create those top 10 lists. So I used Google Analytics to identify the top 10 most read blog articles published last year:

1. Issues of the Autodesk Labs newsletter, Innovation Edge, were the most popular:
   
   December issue
   October issue
   August issue
   June issue
   April issue
   February issue
   
   (I treated these as one entry.)

2. Why didn't I think of that?

3. Project Vasari 2.5 Now Available for Download via Autodesk Labs

4. Project Geppetto for 3ds Max 2013 / 3ds Max Design 2013 Now Available

5. Magic Finger: The Future of Touch Interaction

6. Free technology preview of Inventor Fusion for the Mac Now Available

7. Three Technology Previews Come to an End (for now)

8. BIM Coordinator for AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Now Available

9. New free technology preview of Interactive Terrain Shaping for AutoCAD Civil 3D Now Available

10. free technology preview of Point Cloud Feature Extraction for Autodesk Revit Now Available

The prevailing theme is that the Autodesk Labs community likes it when I announce new technology previews are now available. The Magic Finger article from Autodesk Research was also a hit. There's also my lament of why I didn't think of my own version of the corporate logo game for the iPad. Thanks for reading the blog. Your continued readership would be appreciated.

Thankfulness is alive in the lab.

BIM Coordinator for AutoCAD Civil 3D / Revit to graduate from Autodesk Labs

They grow up so fast. Before you know it, they'll be off to Subscription Center.

The BIM Coordinator for AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit was our free technology preview that assists project team members with building and site grids. The technology preview automated the more error-prone manual steps in the coordination of site and building grids between the AutoCAD and Revit environments. The tool specified one common XYZ point and its orientation in the XY plane between the two coordinate systems. This reference point defined the relationship between the building and site grid.

The technology preview has ended. For existing users, the technology preview will cease operation on March 31 (not January 12 as previously reported). Thanks to everyone who participated in the tech preview — those who downloaded:

and those who provided feedback:

Due to strong positive labs feedback, we are actively working on a plan to graduate the Autodesk Labs BIM Coordinator for AutoCAD Civil 3D / Revit technology preview to the AutoCAD Civil 3D Productivity Tools site on the Autodesk Subscription Center. Our expectation is to have versions for both the R2012 and R2013 platforms prior to the end of January 2013. Announcement of availability will be via various Autodesk Civil Infrastructure blogs including From the Ground Up, BIM on the Rocks, Being Civil, and It's Alive in the Lab. Stay tuned.

Anticipation is alive in the lab.

Project Scandium Graduates to Autodesk Simulation Beta

Project Scandium for Autodesk Simulation Moldflow 2013 was our technology preview that extended simulation capabilities by offering new capabilities to try out and provide feedback. These new capabilities and extensions included:

• New capability to analyze molds with conformal cooling channels
• New Thermoplastics Bi-injection Molding process for Midplane analysis technology
• New injection-compression and compression molding process simulation capabilities for 3D analysis technology
• New mechanical property prediction for long fiber-filled thermoplastics composites
• New Buckling analysis option for 3D analysis technology
• Solver enhancements address accuracy and speed
• The FBX export capability increases visualization options among Autodesk products.

The technology preview stopped operating on January 1. Product Manager, Hanno Van Raalte, announced plans for a beta test in the Autodesk discussion forum. Thanks to everyone who participated in the technology preview.

Graduation ceremonies are alive in the lab.

Project Falcon: Would "always on" be a good idea?

Project Falcon started out as an add-on for Alias software, and was then made available as a stand-alone program. It was then rolled out as add-ons for AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit. The same can be said for the videos associated with the technology. There's a Promo and Overview video for each incarnation of the technology. Check them out.

---

AutoCAD

Promo

Overview

Inventor

Promo

Overview

Revit

Promo

Ovevriew

---

For those without YouTube access, you can download the videos from the Autodesk Labs site.

// Visit the Project Falcon page on Autodesk Labs

Though the stand-alone version is useful, what intrigues me about this technology is its ability to run inside design applications. Wouldn't it be cool if Project Falcon was "always on" running in a separate thread, so that its operation did not impact your traditional use of our design applications? For example, imagine if AutoCAD had model space, paper space (multiple layouts), and a new analysis space (where Project Falcon was available anytime you viewed that tab). Any changes made in model space would automatically be reflected in the analysis space. Is that a good idea or not? You can provide your answer in a variety of ways.

According to the Wall Street Journal, there is an increase in the demand for [Project] Falconry (article). I couldn't agree more.

Technology in multiple delivery vehicles is alive in the lab.

Thanks to River Analysis Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 / Map 3D 2012 Participants

The River Analysis Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D and AutoCAD Map 3D was our technology preview of a sophisticated river modeling software package that supported HEC-RAS within the AutoCAD environment. This technology preview made it easier than ever before to compute water surface profiles for modeling rivers, bridges, culverts, spillways, levees, floodplain and floodway delineations, stream diversions, channel improvements, and split flows. The technology preview ceased operation on December 31.

Thanks to everyone who took part. You put the pants in participants -- one leg at a time. The team is considering the next step based on the feedback. The possibilities include:

• Extending the technology preview for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 and AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 users.
• Creating a new technology preview to collect feedback from AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 and AutoCAD Map 3D 2013 users.
• Making a version of the technology available in the Subscription Center.

The team plans on making a decision regarding next steps this month.

Planning is alive in the lab.

Project Parsec retires from Autodesk Labs

Project Parsec for AutoCAD Map 3D provided functionality that enabled users to import and map GIS geometries and attributes to AutoCAD Map 3D industry models from SDF, SQLite, and Esri SHP and geodatabase files, as well as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle® databases.

The technology preview has ended. For existing users, the technology preview will operate for a few more days -- December 31. Thanks to everyone who participated in the technology preview.

Retirement planning is alive in the lab.

Project Simulus graduates from Autodesk Labs

Project Simulus offered powerful geometry modification capabilities through embedding Inventor Fusion along with a very intuitive simplification environment to prepare various CAD models for different simulation studies. In addition, it included more simulation capabilities such as Buckling and Fatigue analysis, shell meshing for thin parts, integrated Decision Center for quick viewing and validation of various results, support for Autodesk 360 viewing, automated adaptive meshing, more loading options, mesh preview capability, and a number of other enhancements for viewing of the results.

The technology preview has ended. For existing users the technology preview will operate until January 1. New users should check out the simulation capabilities of Autodesk 360.

// Learn more about Autodesk 360

Thanks to everyone who participated in the technology preview.

Graduation ceremonies are alive in the lab.

Project Inspire retires from Autodesk Labs

Project Inspire was our technology preview that helped AutoCAD Map 3D users to find, bind, and publish INSPIRE compliant metadata using an open standard CSW (catalog service for the web) interface. For existing users, the technology preview will cease operation on December 31.

Recall that government organizations and an increasing number of private sector companies are adopting Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) specifications when implementing new geospatial solutions, helping drive interoperability and easier data exchange across borders and between communities. In Europe, this is primarily driven by the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) directive. Thanks to everyone who participated in the technology preview.

 Moving on to the next technology preview is alive in the lab.

Project Falcon for AutoCAD Now Available

"When you're hot, you're hot."
— Jerry Reed

Project Falcon is our free technology preview of wind tunnel simulation. As I mentioned only days ago, it has an interesting past:

• It debuted on Autodesk Labs in August 2011 as an add-on for Autodesk Alias software.
• A stand-alone version was made available in November 2011 so users besides those with Alias could provide feedback. This included Macintosh users as well as PC users.
• Earlier this month an Inventor add-on version was made available so users could work directly with the technology in Inventor instead of exporting an STL file and loading it into the stand-alone version.
• Days ago a Revit add-on version was made available so users could work directly with the technology in Revit instead of exporting an STL file and loading it into the stand-alone version.

So in addition to the stand-alone version, there's one for Inventor and another for Revit. I guess the AutoCAD users felt left out, and the team rectified this situation. This latest update provides an add-on for AutoCAD. Now AutoCAD users can skip the STL export as well.

• Download the free Project Falcon add-on for AutoCAD via Autodesk Labs

The installs for the stand-alone version have pretty much gone flawlessly. A few users have had issues with the install of the add-on for Inventor. Those users, as well as new users of the add-on for AutoCAD, may wish to check out this blog article.

Following the steps in that blog article has helped many users over the last year.

While they were at it, they also updated the add-in for Inventor. The team addressed some issues in response to feedback they received from users and the Inventor QA team. The update includes improvements to:

• avoid a crash on select models containing 2D planar geometry and composite surface geometry
• address some minor robustness issues with the ribbon integration

You can provide your feedback on this technology in a variety of ways.

In-app wind simulation is alive in the lab.

Project Grapevine Now Available

"It took me by surprise I must say, when I found out yesterday.
 Don't you know that I heard it through the grapevine."
— Marvin Gaye

The general session presentation on main stage at Autodesk University 2012 highlighted a cornucopia of technologies that you can use to leverage the cloud/mobile/social world in which designs are developed. One of these technologies was Project Grapevine.

Project Grapevine is a new approach to forums, built on the idea that you can tap into your community to solve design and engineering problems using visual tools. Project Grapevine builds your network to become a valuable resource for learning and connecting with engineering professionals within your enterprise or outside.

• Try Project Grapevine via Autodesk Labs

The browser requirements for Project Grapevine include:

• Google Chrome 20 or higher
• Firefox 11 or higher
• Internet Explorer 10 or higher
• Safari 6

The goal of any technology preview is to twofold:

1. Find out if Autodesk should spend any more time and money on a technology.
2. Allow customer feedback to shape how the technology is put into practice.

You can make you thoughts on these two objectives known in a variety of ways:

Scuttlebutt is alive in the lab.

Project Falcon for Revit Now Available

Project Falcon is our free technology preview of wind tunnel simulation. It has an interesting past:

• It debuted on Autodesk Labs in August 2011 as an add-on for Autodesk Alias software.
• A stand-alone version was made available in November 2011 so users besides those with Alias could provide feedback. This included Macintosh users as well as PC users.
• Earlier this month an Inventor add-on version was made available so users could work directly with the technology in Inventor instead of exporting an STL file and loading it into the stand-alone version.

The add-on for Inventor has been very popular. I guess this lead to Falcon-envy in the Building Information Modeling community because the team has just released an update that includes an add-on for Revit. Revit 64-bit users can also avoid exporting STL and importing that into the stand-lone version. Instead they can just work in Revit. This is an alternative to using the Autodesk Vasari Beta.

• Download the free Project Falcon add-on for Revit via Autodesk Labs

Imagine our surprise the other day when we got the following comment on our YouTube video:

ktreagus must be psychic.

You can provide your feedback on this technology in a variety of ways.

Building information modeling in the wind is alive in the lab.

December issue of Innovation Edge now available

There's another issue of Innovation Edge, the Autodesk Labs newsletter, available for your perusal. This brief publication highlights technologies and utilities available on Autodesk Labs. Something people don't always know is that technology previews are free. All we ask is that you try them and give us feedback on your experience. This applies to subscription users, non-subscription users, and students.

// Read the newsletter.

Our aim is not SPAM anyone to death. Opt-in subscribers only receive 6 email messages in a calendar year — one every other month.

To Subscribe:

1. Navigate to Autodesk Labs home page.

2. Click on the Sign In link that appears in the upper right.
   

3. Sign in using your Autodesk Single Sign-on user ID and password.
   
   

4. Click on Newsletter link that appears in the upper right after signing in.
   

5. Check the box to opt in to receive the newsletter and click on Update.
   

6. The Autodesk Labs newsletter sending process will use the email address associated with your Autodesk account. As I mentioned, you will get one email message every other month.

As our opt-in page says, thank you for all of the downloads, site visits, email messages, forum postings, blog comments, and social media interactions. By the way, a list of all past newsletters appears on:

http://labs.autodesk.com/newsletters

Electronic delivery is alive in the lab.

Scheduled Autodesk Freewheel Down Time for December

This is my once-a-month copy/paste blog posting to let you know when Autodesk Freewheel will be unavailable. Months ago Project Freewheel graduated from Autodesk Labs. Project Freewheel users are now using Autodesk Freewheel - the production version.

To check it out for yourself go to:

http://freewheel.autodesk.com/

Autodesk Freewheel lets anyone visualize a DWF file using just a browser.

Several times during the year, new functionality is released into Autodesk’s Enterprise Information Systems to enhance the company’s services to partners / customers and help the organization run more efficiently. The next update is scheduled for three hours on December 15, 2011. To implement these changes, Autodesk Freewheel will experience planned downtime from 2:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday, December 15 through 5:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday, December 15. In Greenwich, this would be 12:00 a.m. UDT on Sunday, December 16 through 3:00 a.m. UDT on Sunday, December 16. As I mention every time, 2012 has been much like 2011 in terms of server maintenance.

We realize that any systems outage impacts the operations of Autodesk, our partners, and our customers. We work diligently to minimize the duration of downtime and appreciate your understanding. So take a three hour break and enjoy the down time.

Updating servers is routinely alive in the lab.

#AU2012: What Autodesk Labs does with all that feedback

Last week I blogged about my #AU2012 class with Shaan Hurley that covered the very latest in cool technology via Autodesk Labs. In that post I mentioned that we covered why Autodesk has a Labs to set the context for the technology previews that we would cover:

• #AU2012: Why Autodesk has a Labs

In our class Shaan and I then proceeded to cover:

• Augmented Reality for Showcase
• Project Chronicle
• Project Geppetto for 3ds Max / 3ds Max Design
• DesignScript
• Project Factory.Modz() for Inventor
• Project Basejump for AutoCAD Map 3D / Civil 3D
• Project Falcon

Our demos were less than perfect. Sorry about that. I could tell from the room's lighting that Augmented Reality for Showcase would not work in that particular environment, so we skipped that. Although I had practiced and played my DesignScript video tens of times. it would not play. Thank you PowerPoint. Lesson learned. At least you can learn about these technology previews via the Labs site.

After our demos, we covered what we do with the feedback that y'all provide to us.

It’s all about feedback. We give you a variety of ways to reach us.

• Email and discussion forums are the time-honored ways. In addition, many of you also post comments on Shaan’s and my blogs.
• Social media is also available. Shaan and I are on Facebook and Twitter. Some technology previews have their own Facebook and Twitter accounts. You can like, comment, tweet, or retweet using these mediums.
• Most technology previews have one or more videos on YouTube. You can post comments there. For people who don't have access to YouTube, you can download the videos from the Autodesk Labs site.
• For people who are strictly professional and have an aversion to Facebook and Twitter, we also have two LinkedIn groups. We have a Customer Council were we invite select individuals to provide extra insight into our technologies and a general Autodesk Labs group where anyone can request membership. Unlike on the blogs where we impart information often in a fun way, we try to keep the information in LinkedIn short and sweet.

So you can use any or all of these mechanisms to tell us what you think about technology previews. So what happens with what you tell us? We analyze it qualitatively and qualitatively.

In addition to understanding the sentiment, volume matters. In terms of traditional feedback, we track how many email messages we get and how many discussion forum posts per technology preview. Sometimes we survey users of a particular technology preview and track how many respond.

We interpret a lack of feedback as disinterest which does not bode well for the technology preview. We don't assume that people will only contact us to complain that something doesn't work, so if there is no feedback, everything must be great.Trying something, liking it, and not telling us is almost the same as not trying it. So even a short note "works great" is better than silence. Our favorite messages are ones where you describe your use case and how the technology preview succeeded or failed. Failure is an option. If a technology is bad, the sooner we know that -- the better.

This graph depicts some of our social media interactions. It has traditional email, forum, and survey feedback, but also includes blog and Facebook comments. Unlike the previous graphs, it has a logarithmic scale. This is the place where there’s no such thing as silence. A technology preview like Inventor Fusion has over 100,000 Likes and Facebook comments. So although Facebook and Twitter may not be for everyone, they are something Shaan and I need to pay attention to. Traditional or social, all of these are just ways you can contact us. Regardless of the means, teams try to answer, or at least acknowledge all feedback within 24 hours.

Though we encourage everyone to tell us what they think, not everyone provides feedback on a technology preview. So in addition to feedback, we look at number of downloads. Once again, we interpret lack of downloads as lack of interest. We interpret lots of downloads as "we might be on to something here."

Each of the teams is on the various feedback mechanisms for their technology preview. Shaan and I are on them all. So when you send your feedback, in addition to the two of us, it goes right to developers, testers, and product managers. But that’s not all, I produce a monthly report that analyzes what we are seeing on Labs. Since I am a fan of the movie Office Space, I call my report the Technology Preview Strategy, TPS, report. The report includes all of the active technology previews so the teams see all of the data and not just the data for their own technology preview. My hope is that we can get a little friendly competition going among the divisions in terms of number of technology previews, who has the most downloads, and who has the most feedback. I make recommendations on next steps based on what I see from the data. So your feedback does not just go into some black hole. What you tell us matters.

Recappping AU is alive in the lab.

Project Hydra graduates to the Beta stage

The technology preview of Project Hydra for Simulation Mechanical / Simultation Multiphysics has ended. Thank you to everyone who participated. For existing users of the technology preview, the technology preview will operate until April 1, 2013. New users are asked to go to the Beta site, log in, and request partricipation.

Graduation ceremonies are live in the lab.

Project Falcon for Inventor Now Available

"Now that I know what to hope for
 Now that I can see the future
 Blow like cyclone my second wind
 Blow like typhoon my second wind
 Blow like tempest my second wind"
-- Todd Rundgren

Project Falcon is our free technology preview on wind tunnel simulation. It started out as an add-on for Alias but then the team updated it to be a stand-alone application to widen the audience in hopes of getting more feedback. The stand-alone application does not require an CAD software. Anyone with an STL file can play in the wind.

Today Project Falcon has been updated so there is now a version that is an Inventor add-on. This will allow Autodesk Inventor 2013 users to evaluate their designs using wind tunnel simulation without exiting Inventor. Is this handy or what?

You can get it from the Labs site now:

• Download Project Falcon via Autodesk Labs

As always, we'd love to hear from you regarding technology previews. It's what the teams are looking for, and frankly, it keeps me employed. You can reach us at:

A technology preview second wind is alive in the lab.

2D to 3D Tool for Inventor 2013 64-bit Available

The 2D to 3D tool for Inventor has been around for a while. As I have mentioned before, technology previews are not intended for production use. After all, they're still in the early preview stage. They are in their infancy and are not fully baked. We are realists and recognize that some customers use them at their own risk. Technology previews are like taste tests at malls. We let people take a sip of Pepsi and a sip of Coke and tell us which one they like better. Regardless of which one they prefer, we are not promising to deliver a lifetime supply of soda. Sometimes people hate the taste of both!

So it's time to give the 2D to 3D tool for Inventor one last go round. In pursuit of this, in addition to Inventor versions as far back as R11, we are asking Inventor 2013 users on 64-bit systems for a thumbs up or thumbs down. How well does this tool integrate with the current version of Inventor?

• Download 2D to 3D Tool for Inventor

Is this technology ready for prime time? If you think so, please say so. If you have data files where it fails, please share them with us. Now is the time to collect data to make a decision on what the next step is for this technology. You can reach us via:

Decision-time is alive in the lab.

#AU2012 Why Autodesk has a Labs

Yesterday Shaan Hurley and I presented some of the technology previews available on Autodesk Labs. To set the context for the technology previews, I presented why Autodesk even has a Labs. I noted that when many people think of Labs, they think about a separate bunch of guys running around in white lab coats working on crazy experiments. At Autodesk it is not like that. Though we do have an Autodesk Labs software development team, Autodesk Labs is really a process. The technologies featured on Labs actually come from all parts of the company -– not just one group of guys in lab coats. Autodesk Labs is really our vehicle for connecting with you.

The primary way people discover new Autodesk technologies is the web site: labs.autodesk.com. The purpose of the web site is to make technologies available and let customer feedback shape their future. Our aim is to turn an invention into an innovation with customer participation. It’s fine to invent a new technology but it doesn't become an innovation unless it gets put in practice by the industries we serve. The labs process is designed to identify the inventions that should be innovations, and the ones that shouldn't.

Autodesk has a couple of contact points with the outside world. Going in reverse order, most of you work with shipping products via our Subscription Center.

But prior to that, some of you participate in beta programs. These are done under NDA. You help test, but you cant run around telling anyone about it. The emphasis of a beta is to make sure a product is ready to ship. Even though a beta may occur months prior to release, believe it or not, there’s not enough time to address suggestions like “Why don't you redo the feature this way?” or “I wish it did this instead of that.” During betas, our development teams really want to know if what they have built works or not.

Autodesk Labs was created to handle those kinds of questions. “What if we totally redid this?” or “What if we made it do something else instead?” When something is on Labs, it is early enough in the life cycle that questions like this are welcome. To open up to as large an audience as possible, there’s no NDA – Autodesk Labs is wide-open to the public. The technology is said to be in preview mode. In fact we're not even allowed to call them alphas or betas because that would imply that something is nearing release. In the case of Labs, it can go either way. Some previews go on to become products. Others die a quick death. So Labs is a step between research and beta.

Speaking of research, the Research guys work with universities on cutting edge research. They are free thinkers who can propose any idea that is “so crazy, it just might work.” That leads to innovations that would otherwise be unheard of. Autodesk Labs tries to be a bit more pragmatic. We focus on commercially relevant technologies that our customers can try. We want to find out if the newly possible is indeed practical.

So in terms of progression, ideally something starts in research, gets tried as a preview, gets a thumbs up from the Labs community, gets developed fully, goes to beta, get a thumbs up as ready to ship, and is available as a product or service.

The Autodesk fiscal year runs from February 1 to January 31. So right now we are in FY13. If we look back at the past 5 years, you can see that the Autodesk Labs process has been growing in terms of new, updated, and graduated/retired technology previews. The various divisions within the company are happy to leverage the Labs process. So with your participation, the process has been working. Thank you.

The art of explaning is alive in the lab.

Process Sim Technology Preview Now Available

For some time the Project Factory.Modz() technology preview has been available on Autodesk Labs. Project Factory.Modz() runs on the desktop and is a Physics Based technology preview for Factory Animation that lets you model your machine line layouts to articulate their working intent to your clients and stakeholders. Due to its graphical nature, sometimes it reminds me of The Simms.

• Learn more about Project Factory.Modz() via Autodesk Labs

Keeping with the factory theme, we have a new technology available on Autodesk Labs. Process Sim is another free technology preview of a discrete event simulation tool that helps you analyze your processes and how they work. You can build a logical model of your proposed assembly line, factory, or industrial machine, and simulate its operation to optimize performance based on design criteria. Unlike Project Factory.Mod(), Process Sim runs in the cloud.

• Learn more about Process Sim via Autodesk Labs

Which do you prefer? Please try them both and let us know. You can reach us in a variety of ways.

Optimal production is alive in the lab.

Project Sci-Viz for 3ds Max Now Has An Installer

Let's get visual, visual. I want to get visual. Let's get into visual. Project Sci-Viz is a free technology preview that enables Max users to run ePMV and autoPack from within 3ds Max 2013.

• Check out Project Sci-Viz via Autodesk Labs

When we first made the technology preview available, users had to unzip the files to a designated location. This led to the following feedback via LinkedIn.

• I tried to install Project Sci-Viz. First of all, it is way too complicated the way the links are set up. I even gone further and try customizing autoPack, and 3ds Max crashed numerous times. There should be an easy way to get it installed in as few clicks as possible - just like other plug-ins do.
  Raj

Today's update includes an installer. Yeah sometimes it works like that. Ask and you shall receive. You have a variety of ways to make your feelings known.

Evolution is alive in the lab.

Scheduled Down Time for Autodesk Freewheel in November

This is my once-a-month copy/paste blog posting to let you know when Autodesk Freewheel will be unavailable. Months ago Project Freewheel graduated from Autodesk Labs. Project Freewheel users are now using Autodesk Freewheel - the production version.

To check it out for yourself go to:

http://freewheel.autodesk.com/

Autodesk Freewheel lets anyone visualize a DWF file using just a browser.

Several times during the year, new functionality is released into Autodesk’s Enterprise Information Systems to enhance the company’s services to partners / customers and help the organization run more efficiently. The next update is scheduled for three hours on November 17, 2011. To implement these changes, Autodesk Freewheel will experience planned downtime from 2:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday, November 17 through 5:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday, November 17. In Greenwich, this would be 12:00 a.m. UDT on Sunday, November 18 through 3:00 a.m. UDT on Sunday, November 18. As I mention every time, 2012 has been much like 2011 in terms of server maintenance.

We realize that any systems outage impacts the operations of Autodesk, our partners, and our customers. We work diligently to minimize the duration of downtime and appreciate your understanding. So take a three hour break and enjoy the down time.

Updating servers is routinely alive in the lab.

Project Sci-Viz for 3ds Max Now Available

Biological science is an exciting new industry. Autodesk is happy to support professionals in this industry in addition to:

• Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC)
• Engineering, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure (ENI)
• Media and Entertainment (M&E)
• Manufacturing (MFG)

Researchers from the Olson Molecular Graphics Laboratory at the Scripps Research Institute and from UCSF have made freely available a number of cutting edge scientific visualization tools such as the embedded Python Molecular Viewer (ePMV) and autoPack. Project Sci-Viz is an Autodesk technology preview that provides a Python engine and API for 3ds Max that allows you to run ePMV and autoPack from within 3ds Max 2013.

For those for whom this is new, autoPack is a tool for densely packing a volume with shapes of various sizes and dimensions. It’s the underlying technology behind cellPack, which combines the ability to encode biological ‘recipes’ with the close packing concepts to create visualizations of densely packed molecular spaces inside tools like 3ds Max. ePMV, the embedded Python Molecular viewer, is an add-on for 3ds Max that allows an artist to easily import molecular geometry from a variety of known sources, such as the Protein Data Bank.

• Learn more about Project Sci-Viz for 3ds Max via Autodesk Labs

Even if you are starting from scratch, you can try this for yourself.

1. Make sure you are using a 64-bit operating system:
   Windows 7 Professional x64 or
   Windows XP Professional x64 edition (SP3 or higher)

2. Get and install Python 2.6.6 (64-bit).
   http://www.python.org/getit/releases/2.6.6/

3. Get and install a free 30-day trial of 3ds Max 2013 (64-bit).
   http://www.autodesk.com/try3dsmax

4. Get and install a custom time-limited version of autoPack and ePMV for 3ds Max.
   http://www.autopack.org/

5. Get and install the Sci-Viz plug-in from the Autodesk Labs site.
   http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/sciviz/

As always, we provide technology previews to get feedback. Is this a good idea or waste of time? Let us know. You can do so in as many as five ways.

Molecules are alive in the lab.

Extended time for Augmented Reality for Showcase Now Available

Augmented Reality allows the ability to overlay semantically in context information (graphics, text, video, sound) on to a live video feed of the real-world in real-time. The Augmented Reality for Showcase team was thrilled with the feedback they received on their technology preview (blog article). They were all psyched to implement some of your suggestions and post an update. Alas other duties have prevented them from getting to this yet. To give y'all more time to work with the technology preview, they did give me an update that extends the technology preview to January 31, 2013. You can download it from the site:

// Download Augmented Reality for Showcase via Autodesk Labs

You will want to log into the Autodesk Labs site using your Autodesk Single Sign-on credentials before clicking on Download Now on the upper right of the page. We are in the process of correcting the workflow where you log in as part of the download process. As always you can provide feedback via as many as six ways:

More time is alive in the lab.

Simulation Overview via a Comparison Chart

Peter Marchese, a LEED Green Associate and Senior Consultant at Microdesk, posed the following question:

Hi Scott, had a question for you regarding some of the Labs tools that do CFD. I was wondering if there was anything that compared or possibly explained the differences between the CFD tools in Project Falcon, Project Vasari, and Simulation CFD. I know the Simulation CFD one is the old Blue Ridge Numerics tool, but I wasn’t sure if Vasari and Falcon are the same engine and analytics or if all three are different and have different methods of getting the results. Any info is great, thanks in advance.

To answer this question I gathered input from various Product Managers around the company. I combined into into a chart:

In addition to the chart, Product Line Manager for Design, Lifecycle, & Simulation, Jon de Hatrog, noted:

Simulation CFD and the CFD portion of Simulation 360 are both derived from Blue Ridge Numerics CFdesign product. Project Falcon and the Wind Tunnel feature within Project Vasari are different from Simulation CFD / 360, but these two share meshing and solving technology. A brief overview of the Project Falcon technology is available in the validation doc on the Project Falcon Autodesk Labs page.

Thanks so much for the question Peter, and thanks to the Product Managers (Bankim Charegaonkar, Derrek Cooper, Hanno Van Raalte, Jon den Hartog, Pawel Piechnik, Sualp Ozel, and Tomi Mossessian) for their responses.

Communication is alive in the lab.

River Analysis: Asked and Answered

The River Analysis Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D and AutoCAD Map 3D is a sophisticated river modeling software package that supports HEC-RAS (Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System). The technology preview makes it easy to compute water surface profiles for modeling rivers, bridges, culverts, spillways, levees, floodplain and floodway delineations, stream diversions, channel improvements, and split flows.

A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey, writes:

• Is River Analysis able to compute unsteady flow data? Unfortunately I haven't found anything about that in the help file.

Technical Consultant, Matthew Anderson replied:

• River Analysis can only import the Max Water Surface from a completed unsteady analysis. The Workflow would be to build the River Analysis model, export the model to HEC-RAS to perform the time-varying unsteady analysis to calculate the Max WSEL, and import the Max WSEL for floodplain mapping.

That's how this whole Autodesk Labs technology preview thing works. People come to the Autodesk Labs site. They download things. They try things. They ask questions. They get answers. If you have not tried the technology preview for yourself, you can get started now:

• Download River Analysis for AutoCAD Civil 3D and AutoCAD Map 3D

Dialog is alive in the lab.

October issue of Innovation Edge now available

There's another issue of Innovation Edge, the Autodesk Labs newsletter, available for your perusal. This brief publication highlights technologies and utilities available on Autodesk Labs. Something people don't always know is that technology previews are free. All we ask is that you try them and give us feedback on your experience. This applies to subscription users, non-subscription users, and students.

// Read the newsletter.

Our aim is not SPAM anyone to death. Opt-in subscribers only receive 6 email messages in a calendar year - one every other month.

To Subscribe:

1. Navigate to Autodesk Labs home page.

2. Click on the Sign In link that appears in the upper right.
   

3. Sign in using your Autodesk Single Sign-on user ID and password.
   
   

4. Click on Newsletter link that appears in the upper right after signing in.
   

5. Check the box to opt in to receive the newsletter and click on Update.
   

6. The Autodesk Labs newsletter sending process will use the email address associated with your Autodesk account. As I mentioned, you will get one email message every other month.

As our opt-in page says, thank you for all of the downloads, site visits, email messages, forum postings, blog comments, and social media interactions. By the way, a list of all past newsletters appears on:

http://labs.autodesk.com/newsletters

Electronic delivery is alive in the lab.

Scheduled Down Time for Autodesk Freewheel in October

This is my once-a-month copy/paste blog posting to let you know when Autodesk Freewheel will be unavailable. Months ago Project Freewheel graduated from Autodesk Labs. Project Freewheel users are now using Autodesk Freewheel - the production version.

To check it out for yourself go to:

http://freewheel.autodesk.com/

Autodesk Freewheel lets anyone view a DWF file using just a browser.

Several times during the year, new functionality is released into Autodesk’s Enterprise Information Systems to enhance the company’s services to partners / customers and help the organization run more efficiently. The next update is scheduled for three hours on October 13, 2011. To implement these changes, Autodesk Freewheel will experience planned downtime from 2:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday, October 13 through 5:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday, October 13. In Greenwich, this would be 12:00 a.m. UDT on Sunday, October 14 through 3:00 a.m. UDT on Sunday, October 14. As I mention every time, 2012 should be much like 2011 in terms of server maintenance.

We realize that any systems outage impacts the operations of Autodesk, our partners, and our customers. We work diligently to minimize the duration of downtime and appreciate your understanding. So take a three hour break and enjoy the down time.

Updating servers is routinely alive in the lab.

Updated Project Simulus Now Available on Autodesk Labs

Software Quality Assurance Manager, John Agcoili, let me know that the Project Simulus team had an update to their technology preview on Autodesk Labs. Recall that Project Simulus offers geometry modification capabilities through embedding Autodesk Fusion along with a simplification capability to prepare CAD models for different simulation studies.

// Download Project Simulus via Autodesk Labs

For existing Project Simulus users, this update includes:

• Fixed issue with lost results in cloned studies and multiple studies in one document
• Fixed shutdown/doc closing crashes
• Fixed random crash after Cloning Studies
• Fixed number of issues in mid-surface Shell creations:
  • Hiding Midsurface with override thickness shows two bodies
  • Crash within creating shell from surface using a Midsurface
  • Crash creating shell from surface using a Midsurface
  • Zero value of override Midsurface thickness was accepted
  • Missing valid inputs for loads and constraints on shells
• Autodesk 360 Viewer file improvement + point mass support added
• Added Support for searching simulation results in Autodesk 360
• Fixed a problem with Solve progress icon when running Cloud solve is canceled by a new Cloud solve
• Fixed number of CER issues reported by Tech Preview users

For potential Project Simulus users who have not tried it yet, what are you waiting for? New and existing users can provide feedback in a variety of ways.

Technology advancement is alive in the lab.

Project Galileo Online Graduates from Autodesk Labs

When Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler was a technology preview on Autodesk Labs, it was known as Project Galileo. A second technology preview, Project Galileo Online, allowed users of Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler to collaborate on and share infrastructure-scale models with their stakeholders. Using Project Galileo Online, users could publish models to Autodesk 360, and invite others to access, download, and commit changes to shared models. The technology preview of Project Galileo Online operated until September 30, 2012. Thanks to everyone who participated in the technology preview.

With its graduation from Autodesk Labs, Project Galileo Online has become Autodesk 360 Infrastructure Modeler. Autodesk 360 Infrastructure Modeler is available to subscription customers of the following software:

• Autodesk Building Design Suite Ultimate // more
• Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite Premium // more
• Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite Ultimate
• Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler // more

Graduation ceremonies are alive in the lab.

Externally Control Project Geppetto? Good or bad?

Project Geppetto is a research project that explores making it easy, fast, and fun to add crowds to 3ds Max scenes. Project Geppetto is a data-driven animation system that offers high level control of plausible human animation. The free technology preview of Project Geppetto includes the Evolver character generation technology.

Ph.D. student, Ning Xe, from the Department of Computer Science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, recently sent the following letter to labs.3dsmax.geppetto@autodesk.com:

Hi, Team members of Project Geppetto,
I checked the web page of Project Geppetto. This is really a fantastic project for crowd simulation. In our lab, we are conducting research on robot control based on a statistical machine learning method. Every year, we have a bunch of theoretical statistical machine learning papers published in journals and at conferences. Currently, we are looking forward to using some simulators to run and demonstrate our robot control algorithms for multi-agents. I would like to ask a favor as to whether we can plug in our algorithm to the core of Project Geppetto, for example, path finding or local behavior control.

Product Design Team Lead, Ian Nies, responded:

Project Geppetto currently can't be driven by an external path/behavior system but it’s a great idea and we will keep it under consideration. Thanks for your feedback!

I find Ning's suggestion quite curious. Is anyone else doing anything like this? Would any of you benefit from controlling your crowds from an external system? Technology previews are all about feedback. Project Geppetto is in its early stages. Now is the time to speak up. If you think this is a great idea, please let us know. If you think that the Project Geppetto team should spend its limited time on other aspects instead, we'd love to hear that as well. If the team shouldn't work on an API to allow the characters to be externally driven, what would you have them work on instead? You can provide feedback via:

If you have not yet but want to get started with Project Geppetto:

//. Download Project Geppetto for 3ds Max / 3ds Max Design via Autodesk Labs

Inquiring minds are alive in the lab.

Act Before It's Too Late: Expiration Dates for Autodesk Labs Technology Previews

I have used this analogy before. Most technology previews are like milk cartons. They have expiration dates on them. When a technology preview expires, the technology preview no longer operates. A preview has a time bomb in it that makes it stop working on a particular date. We do this so there is a sense of urgency to try a technology preview and get back to us. Our customers are busy people, and without this, they would just say "I'll get to that later." When a technology preview expires, any data that has been created by it continues to be valid. It's just that the data cannot be edited using the technology preview since the preview does not run anymore. Certainly new data can't be created either. This approach allows us to get early feedback on the general idea, user interface, performance characteristics, and general correctness of the results.

Here is a list of active Autodesk Labs technology previews and their associated expiration dates. The list is sorted by expiration date - so act fast if you want to provide feedback on these technology previews before they retire or graduate.

Expiration Date	Technology Preview
September 30, 2012	Project Galileo Online
October 31, 2012	Augmented Reality for Autodesk Showcase
December 31, 2012	Project Inspire for AutoCAD Map 3D
December 31, 2012	Project Parsec for AutoCAD Map 3D
December 31, 2012	River Analysis Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D / AutoCAD Map 3D
January 1, 2013	Project Scandium for Simulation Moldflow
January 1, 2013	Project Simulus
January 12, 2013	BIM Coordinator for AutoCAD Civil 3D / Revit
January 15, 2013	Project Geppetto for 3Ds Max / 3Ds Max Design
January 31, 2013	Mesh Enabler for Inventor 2012
February 1, 2013	Project Artoo for AutoCAD Map 3D
February 28, 2013	Project Facrory.Modz() for Inventor
March 1, 2013	Inventor Fusion (Windows version)
March 15, 2013	Project Falcon
March 31, 2013	FABmep Import for Revit MEP
April 1, 2013	Project Hydra for Simulation Mechanical / Simulation Multiphysics
August 6, 2013	Maximo Integration for Autodesk Revit 2013 products
August 12, 2013	Project Basejump for AutoCAD Map 3D / AutoCAD Civil 3D
January 31, 2014	Mesh Enabler for Inventor 2013
July 1, 2014	Inventor Simplification

A development team is focused on a technology preview for a project interval. While they are, they want the feedback and the ability to make a decision so they can continue development of the technology or quickly move on to something else. We appreciate it when we debut technology previews, people try them right away, and provide us with an up or down vote. Your experience shapes the future of our technology indeed.

Sniffing the cartons to see what can still be tasted is alive in the lab.

Project Basejump for AutoCAD Map 3D / AutoCAD Civil 3D Now Available Once Again

I said it before. I will say it again. Bada bing. Bada bang. The free technology preview of Project Basejump for AutoCAD Map 3D and AutoCAD Civil 3D software leverages the Bing Mapping service as a base layer into your designs. Since the Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD is no longer on Labs, you are especially encouraged to try it for yourself. This technology preview has been rereleased on Autodesk Labs:

// Download Project Basejump from Autodesk Labs

So please try this technology and let us know how it works for you. You can provide feedback in a variety of ways:

This time the technology preview will be available until August 12, 2013. If you still have the previous, now expired technology preview on your system, you should uninstall it before installing this new one.

Taking the Bing plunge is once again alive in the lab.

Please help with our Inventor Fusion survey

We know you're busy, but the Inventor Fusion team is conducting a survey and could use your input. The survey is only 12 questions and takes 2 minutes to complete. // Complete the survey Thanks for your responses. Assayment is alive in the lab.

Feedback on Augmented Reality for Showcase

Raise your hand if you have used the augmented reality plug-in for Showcase.

Every once in a blue moon I email the people who have downloaded a technology preview and ask them what they think. This month I chose to do so for Augmented Reality for Showcase. Recall that this technology preview allows you to view your model in Autodesk Showcase with a PC camera by associating your model with a marker and placing a printed version of that marker in your physical environment.

Within the first hour of my asking, here is what you told us.

Enlarge

Some of you just mentioned that you love it.

• "I work in construction design, Augmented Reality for Showcase is an amazing tool, I like this tool present augmented reality animations too, and the possibility to present augmented reality in smartphones without Showcase installed; e.g., take a shot to a blueprint and obtain 3D structure, congratulations!"

• "I have been trying more than 1 month. This utility is very good for presales activity and sailing Digital Prototyping."

• "We presented at the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta -- Inventor models with the app. It went over great -- I have many comments -- too many for this email."

• "Thank you for contacting me, is extremely interesting experience working with Augmented Reality, mainly in my work as an architect would use to show how work on line at my different clients and it would be interesting to somehow have the ability to a "display" augmented reality that every customer can see the designs via web cam and skype for example, will that be? Thanks for listening and keep in touch."

• "Augmented Reality for Autodesk Showcase is very impressive. Currently, I’ve join this application with my demo with Inventor and this tool could help you to increase the sales of the Autodesk Product. I’m just disappointed that this tool will be out of operation on October 31. Honestly if you project to include this functionality in the future and have this tool in function after October 31 I think that this a nice marketing sale tools. Very impressive to finish a demo with Inventor suite!"

Others had trouble using it in concept or practice:

• "I love it but I have no idea what to use it for. So if you can demonstrate where I can use Augmented Reality in Mechanical(HVAC) Engineer workflow I would love to hear/see it."

• "Very cool. I didn't get enough time to really dig deep though. I'd like to see the ability to have different markers associated with different representations or even models. This would give the ability to compare side by side in the augmented environment."

• "It was a novel concept. It was a little hard to use with only having a camera on my laptop. It was not very intuitive to set up. The youtube videos do not have any sound. My background was still showing the Showcase background and not my desk area."

• "Sorry, but I have been unable to get my hands on a webcam to test with. Hopefully soon though."

• "I really enjoyed it, but I need a better webcam. It was really hard to get the webcam to recognize the AR Code. Here is my first, and so far only attempt. I have some great Ideas I would love to try out -- but again it comes down to my webcam just is not good enough. We design Aquaculture sites -- land based worldwide. I would love to put down a full farm with the AR, and then be able to talk about it and the water / fish flow to people so they can really understand it. And I could edit the video -- doing each section one after another and do a great presentation."

• "I tried to set it up using my laptop video camera and was unable to get it to work. (I have an HP EliteBook 8560W Autodesk tech laptop). There was an error and I found a forum post that explained how to get into some double secret error logging window, but essential it didn't help much. Cool idea, very useful in education, but it need to be more tolerant of system and provide more feedback about what is failing and why."

• "This is a really sweet technology preview, but I did not find it to work as well as it did in your video. I tried a couple of different webcams to make sure it wasn't just the quality. The higher end camera actually had an auto focus feature that seemed to make it work worse than the cheaper camera. What kind of camera did you guys use? Once the model showed up on the screen it moved smooth, but it was tough getting it to pop up. Moving it around too much made the model to disappear. I'm definitely interested in using it in demos once it works better."

• "The augmented reality plugin looks great, just the sort of thing I'd love to have in Showcase. I'd like to thank Autodesk for letting users try it out and give feedback. I spent several hours trying to make it work. I even bought a new webcam just to try it out! However, although I made it to the point where I could see live video within Showcase, I never saw my models there. It was rather disappointing. I think if I had been provided with the table and chairs from the demo, as a Showcase file, that would have helped. I do think if Showcase had a more visible measurement system (as well as rulers and measuring tools) it would help. I may try again soon, if I have a better result, I will let you know."

• "I tried this on my iMac running windows through bootcamp, and the software could not use my built-in web cam properly. I just got a black screen with some color lines through it."

• "I was disappointed with the tech preview. I use Inventor 2013 and AR plug-in would not work correctly. My models would not show up on the target. They would be in the data set as I could do a forced orbit and the model would flash by but disappear when the mouse orbit button was released."

• "I am having a hard time getting the image to show up on the marker. It seems like they have to be just at the right angle for it to show up. This kind of works in the marker is small and I can tilt it. However, I have not been able to get it to work with large floor markers. I was planning on demoing this for my user group tonight to show how you could use it for client meetings and other things. However, given the marker angle/ alignment issues it doesn't seem to be usable at this time."

• "We like the idea of the AR plugin however it is very inconsistent. If I setup a Showcase file and setup the markers it will work great. Then randomly the next time I try it will not read the marker correctly and not work. If I start over and recreate it with a the same marker again but new project will work but again later it will stop working out of the blue. The marker setup is not saved in the XML very well because even after loading the marker xml file have to reconnect all the markers to objects. This seems like an unnecessary step. It would be awesome if it worked with an android phone and viewed on the same phone. Guidelines on what makes a good marker would be helpful as well. Many of the markers I think will work are not recognized and do not work. Also, is there going to be an update soon that fixes many of the bugs????"

• "I had a few thoughts on this plugin after using it. I had the problem of saving my set up for the marker and then loading it later. It would always not work the first time I loaded it. I'd have to load it then it would fail then I closed my file and reopened it and loaded it then it would work. I also did not get good resolution or picture brightness from the webcam I was using. The image from my web cam looked 10 times better in other programs than what would come through in the augmented reality. Even adjusting the lighting in Showcase it was at times almost completely unusable. The one thing I think that I would like to see is the option to flip the video so that as I watch the feedback on my main screen it would be more intuitive how to move the marker to see a different side of my model. This would be useful when moving the marker (while the camera is stationary) and conversely having it normal is useful when I am moving the camera around and the marker is stationary. The possibility of on the fly adjusting of the scale would be nice because if you really want to get in close on something you can only move the marker so close to the camera before it can't all be seen anymore. My work around for this was to print multiple markers at different scales."

• "Love it. Was having some difficulty with the camera but that's not a software issue. I wonder if you could do the same if the marker was a ball or a cube? This way I can see a clear side on view whereas with the flat plane marker it's difficult to see a good clear side view."

• "This feature worked flawlessly. I was easily able to take one of my existing Revit models and use the workflow described to create an Augmented Reality of my project. Everyone in the office was blown away. I tried another model and somehow I was able to look from inside my walls ( I was viewing my project as though I was standing inside the model); I was not able to repeat this feature. I work a lot with sales and this is a good tool to help explain design intent. I understand that my current version will expire next month. What are the plans to offer this plug in the future?"

• "This was a great technology preview. I haven't had the opportunity to use it on an active project but have used it a few times for various minor tasks. I don't have a web cam on my computer as such I had to use a recorded video, great feature and useful for the representation of an offsite project but difficult to judge appropriate camera angles and distances. A tablet integration would seem like a great option when visiting clients, or to take it into a plant throw a marker on the ground and see the results, being tied to a computer seems to be a stumbling point. Understandably this is an add-on to a pc based program, it would be interesting to see it running on a windows tablet. Great technology, wish I had the hardware to make it a bit more portable."

• "Unfortunately we were not able to get it to work because of our mapped home-folders to a server share. It seems it couldn't make the appropriate folders on the share or didn't recognize the UNC pathname. We would greatly appreciate this fixed if there's a bug."

• "I appreciated this new tool, but I see some limitations: I had a lot of trouble to make it work with my built-in webcam on my laptop, and my colleague that uses a macbook couldn't make it work at all It is quite useful when you want to show something small like a piece of small furniture or an object, but in architecture, it is difficult to make it work for many objects. and because of my webcam, the lecture of the image was really difficult. It is certainly easy to use, a quick look to your video and it took me a minute to figure it out, but it's not enough developed to be use in architectural field..."

• "I love the idea of being able to use this tool for architecture to show a master plan or Revit model of a building. However, I had trouble trying to get a more detailed model to appear in AR. I'd like to have more information as to what would be considered too big for the AR plugin. My level 300 Revit model is a 16MB a3s file. Has there been any testing to show would is too big? Thanks!"

• "Thanks for working on this project! This is going to be awesome when it’s ready. That being said, it didn’t work for me. I don’t remember exactly why but it just didn’t show the model. Could have been the camera I was using maybe? I couldn't change webcam resolution. My webcam supports 1024x768 pixels it was fixed to 320x240 pixels while I'm using augmented reality feature. So video quality was so poor and augmented reality was not working good because of this problem."

Some mentioned the performance.

• "I found the AR plugin impossible to use with a large file (i.e. a building model). But, I was able to get the AR plugin to work with small files (i.e. a model of a table). "

• "Showcase itself is too slow to use, so I never got around to even experimenting with the AR preview."

• "I've only played with it once with a recorded video of the marker on my desk whilst I moved the camera around a bit and things just didn't seem to work very well. I absolutely love this approach to new innovative ideas though and I'm looking forward to future updates and trying this out in other ways. We sell outdoor street lighting poles and products here and I'd love to be able to upload a video from the field of a marker where a product would potentially go and then bring it back to showcase and give our customer a few ideas of a final product solution."

• "I think this is a great start, the only issue I have is that if this is not a simple model it is very sluggish, I am in an Architectural firm, and it would be great to show our models (buildings) with AR, but our models are two complex and its very, very sluggish to the point of unusable right now, I went as far as striping out (lighting) up the model and still not usable. Great start and concept, very easy to use."

• "Plugin and workflows worked great. I had issues with scaling of models within Showcase and display of AR tag texture map. Showcase did not allow me to scale down large models enough ( SFO Bay Bridge Model) which was in real-world coordinates. I had to scale down in 3ds Max first and then re export FBX to get this to work properly. Really an issue with Showcase scaling limitations rather than the AR plugin. Showed to some clients and they thought it was cool. Of course they asked why they couldn't use iPad to do this ! Also questions of showing animations (like String AR) instead of static models. One step at a time. Nice work overall."

Many of you are looking for a mobile/tablet solution.

• "Software was very cool. I would like some interface or connection to iPad. Better yet, if there was a 360 AR where model can be uploaded to 360 and the viewed through iPad and iPad camera. I see use for it related to furniture with my AEC background."

• "Both myself, colleagues & boss were blown away with the AR technology of the showcase add-on. It was really easy to install & the results were great. My only criticism would be that I don't think the desktop should be the only platform! & mobile with a iPad or iPhone would be a more versatile tool. For example, presenting an AR model of furniture on site in the proposed location for a client."

• "Wonderful tool! We wait for the iPad version!!"

• "It is great product to introduce a new platform for demonstration, I guess the only thing I can suggest is to develop android/iOS apps for mobile device to use. "

• "Thank you for let me try this plug in. I want to create an app for smart phones using the camera to view an architectural plan that you can switch from different layers . Also adding interactive functions like move the sun position, walls growing, re size windows, etc."

• "I have really enjoyed playing with this. I am not sure if it's my webcam, or what, but I have had difficulty getting showcase to recognize the QR code unless it's facing square on to the camera. I will continue to play with it and see if there are settings on my end that I can tweak. Can hardly wait for this to migrate to mobile devices!"

• "I've worked with a similar application from AR-Media Plugin before, which connects up to 3ds Max for instance and has a few features that were appreciated, including animation capabilities and cross sections. The biggest component though would be to make it mobile, which I know I had posted, but I think that's key. It's not easy to find someone with a mobile camera attached to a desktop... or maybe make it as more of Win8 device for all the tablets coming out. I think it would be great to have a plan set printed, and then in the corner have a QR code or marker (custom markers would be great) so that during a meeting I could open up an app on a mobile device and pull in the model. Custom markers could also show the same model in different views, maybe depending on what plan sheet I'm looking at? This could even extend to simply showing AutoCAD 360 files based on printed QR codes... again, in case I'm in a meeting and want to show the digital content source of the printed sheet. Just some thoughts, looking forward to seeing what comes through."

Some of you would like to see us do more with the technology.

• "Loved it. And would like to see this work with Civil 3D. Navisworks, AIM, And other modeling types of Autodesk Software, Site Design, Underground Utilities,Roadway improvements"

• "I like the Augmented Reality add in. My only complaint is that showcase gives me two error messages and then changes my display settings to windows 7 basic when I start it. Also, I noticed the QR code that comes with the plug-in is only read one direction so I can't rotate the image 360 degrees, only 180 degrees. "

• "I have not seen this applied in any AR applications, but ability to have a 3-dimensional tracking object, instead of just a 2d plane, would be handy. This would be a completely different beast, but examining objects tracked by a plane has obvious limitations. "

• "It's a great idea and also a great selling tool. Everyone is impressed when we show them the functionality. Unfortunately it does not work with models imported from Inventor. I think there is an issue with center point of rotation or something like that. But it works if you export model from Inventor to AutoCAD to Showcase... There were some similar complaints on the blog. Will you retire the add-in after October 31, 2012? It would be a shame..."

• "The application that I'm trying right now is to AR MEP components onto the walls in my office. Work flow includes creating the model in Revit, export to FBX, setup the AR, and view it using a marker on my desk (or the floor). One difficulty I'm seeing is the correct getting the correct scale of the model so that receptacles, switches, and other objects project correctly on the wall (e.g. on top of the actual receptacle). Another issue is marker lock-on. At low angles, the plug-in has problems seeing the marker so the model flashes in and out. The lower angle is necessary to see the objects on the wall. Will lock-on improve if the camera resolution is bumped up? I'm using an HD camera (Logitech c920) and lock-on and tracking is lot better on the AR-media 3d max plugin. I'm hoping to get this working well enough to use it as a tech demo for one of our potential clients -- Universal Studios -- so any tips will be greatly appreciated! Going forward, there needs to be a mobile solution -- markerless would be even better."

Still others would like a better user experience.

• "Really good idea however it's quite awkward moving the model as the user is trying to move the model from their perspective not the cameras perspective which is opposite to the user."

• "I really like this feature and it was pretty cool. I used it to show a ac unit and basically was able to hold it and rotate it on the webcam. It seemed though that the barcode had to be orientated a certain direction for the webcam to recognize it. "

• "I think the Showcase AR preview is a great concept with a finicky implementation. I have messed with other AR solutions such as AR Media and found them to be much more consistent. The main problem with the Showcase plugin is that the model only shows up in the video feed if the target is pointed directly at the camera with no additional angle. Any slight tilt or angle and the model disappears. I think it has potential to be a great marketing gimmick, with not much real design value, but it still needs some work. "

• "I like the concept very much. One area of improvement that jumped out at me was that I could not re-orient the model as viewed on the screen by simply re-orienting the marker...I wanted to be able to hold the marker up as a billboard in front of me, and have the model viewed the same way as it did when I held the marker out parallel to my desk. I tried rotating the marker in showcase, but I did not get the expected result from doing that."

• "Likes: Works with multiple backgrounds (infinite ones anyway), Works with Alternatives, The model follows the AR marker while moving it. Dislikes: Video feed is a little flaky drops the model if you move to fast (could be my camera... but I tested several other built-in Cameras and they had the same Drop Rate), Inventor 2013 models do not work with it, I don't like having to reset the AR marker every time (even with the save it seems to need a re-sync). Suggestions: Bind the AR marker to the Model (so it doesn't need to be reset every time), Improve the Video Feed (or Boost the Video Capture rate), Allow inventor (2013) created Alternatives to work inside of showcase, Add a recording button to the AR Screen when its enabled, Allow different Renderings styles (realistic, shaded, water color, etc)."

• "I found the process a bit cumbersome to create the model for the AR. Not being familiar with showcase is part of the issue. I teach Revit part-time at a 2-year college and the students loved the AR concept and would love to be able to create some of their own. I believe that Showcase is a part of the student community software but the use and creation of the model needs some help for beginners. Keep up the good work and thanks for asking for the feedback."

• "My first impressions of the technology are very profound, by that I mean it really fired my imagination for the future uses of the process."

• "Most of the initial limitations are around rotating the model about a fixed camera. I have used a rotating cake stand to help here and the results are much better, also further development into using mac builtin camera would be very useful."

• "I would like to develop as many idea's for usage as possible, I thought it could even be use as advertising for real-estate, use Revit to build virtual rooms and have them in the palm of your hand with full 3d. Gimmick advertising where you receive the coded paper through the post/email and revile the item in full 3d. Your web page said you were discontinuing the service as from the end of the month, is this so? I hope not as I would like to work with you chaps to develop amazing ideas."

• "I've used the plugin for a couple of days, really interesting. I think it could be used both for furnishing and to visualize a building before to build it. I am an Autodesk employee. Only few questions: is it possible to use different markers from those provided? I tried but the system didn't want to recognize the mine. Second: which way can I scale the objects linked with the markers? A little issue: I cannot manage correctly the shadows, they seems to be too far from object's base...which is the correct way to solve it?"

• "It's a pretty exciting experiment. I know this is all in development but these are the things I'll be looking for in the future to make it useful to me. 1) The model slips and snaps around too much on the target. It would be nice if that can be refined and the tracking is smoother. 2) While my web camera records pretty high resolution stills and video, the AR display is really grainy and fairly poor. Those are the two things that stuck out to me. I'll keep playing with it and will make notes for the next time you solicit feedback."

• "The tool looks interesting and impresses the beholder first. However, I could not see reasonably large files (bridges, buildings, etc.). Furthermore, I would like: One. Several models were opened simultaneously with multiple codes (saw it in a presentation a few years ago here in Brazil). Two. Was not necessary to have installed the Showcase for viewing. The ideal would be to create the showcase code and decode the code (read the model) in the actual IE + webcam without the need for additional software."

• "First the pros: 1. Easy to use, 2. Accessible to everyone in our office, 3. Works without a hitch. Cons: 1. Mobile support. Being tied to a web cam is tough. 2. Being able to get "inside" the model, rather than view it as an object. Geo position or set up multiple markers to let person walk into the model? 3. I had issues with recorded video. Never got it to work but that could be user error. That's it. Overall it is a hit here."

• "It was really fascinating. I did have a little trouble getting it to work and when my camera loses track it tends not to work anymore or at least until I reload the model. Other than that it works great."

• "i am ATC trainer and i love this project. The idea is great and can have infinite application. Just a real world example that it occurred to me, we are with a real partial construction of a prototype of drivetrain of a wind turbine and a colleague said: "It would like to see the machine in his 3 version, with the other 2 solution and variants ... only modeled in Inventor until now..." With a tablet and some marker adhesive it will possible! With this technology would be increased not only the presentation level but the digital prototyping philosophy typical of Autodesk that would be applied to visualization. Technical points: - it is amazing but the results are still a little instable, moreover with notebooks cameras that often doesn't have an high resolution. - you have always to be severely "oriented" to the camera, just increase the limit to the screen/marker perpendicularity situation. It would be interesting for example to increase the markers, so that always a marker would be available to the camera, specially for an outdoor use or for a video recording (added option...) on stage, more markers more stage stability."

• "I am very pleased with the results. I had the opportunity to do different experiments with your plugin and the results were amazing. There are some details to improve but are still details. First of all the rollover image: rotate the mirror image results to be quite difficult. Secondly, implement functions for configuring the video (output resolution, brightness, contrast ...). Would be perfect to use a digital video camera via firewire rather than the webcam ... at least I did not succeed;). It would also be useful to be able to send the video in a separate window so that you can work comfortably on multiple screens. Do you think it would be possible to set a rotation as "car showroom"? I'll explain: I have my object and its marker. Start a kind of presentation that constantly rotate the object itself by the Z axis of the marker like the rotating platforms in the auto salon. The last improvement concerns the marker. I had some difficulties to use custom markers in both size and content, my mistake? ;) I can only make my best compliments for the excellent work done!"

• "Hi. I think the AR of Showcase is amazing, all my co-workers are astonished everytime I show them. Some things I would like to add or change: -Control de zoom of the Camera. I have a laptop and always zoom in AR and I cant control it (or havent find the option yet). -Option to capture the video of the camera in real time. -Option to play animation during AR -Option to SCALE the model in AR. -Improve the Marker Capture -Option to HIDE in AR non visible objects. That's all for the moment. Im still trying new things."

• "I was able to get the plugin to work, but only with a pretty simple model. The idea is cool. Unfortunately, a building out of Revit, even with many of the object types turned off, was prohibitively difficult to bring in to Showcase. Also, I was unable use the AR plugin on a computer with two webcams enabled because I could not tell Showcase which webcam to use. Thank you for continuing to produce these beta tools for users to test. We thought it was very nice concept. We found our lower Resolution camera did not have the capacity to pick up the object from too far of a distance. We also had an issue with the camera being place looking down at an angle and the AR would not recognise the symbol on the floor. I think in future for construction if we were able to change the augmented reality view to sections and other elements by rotating the barcode and therefore give an orientation would be awesome. If we could also use a set of control points such as LED’s/reflectors or something to setup a model orientation without paper would be nice, and doesn’t require massive resolution camera’s to pickup and read the symbols."

• "Laser pointers or something since we can then move around and as long as we have 3 pointers viewable we can generate a model."

• "The AR plugin works great, there are a couple of things that I would love to see implemented into the software: 1. ability to create an executable to distribute to clients 2. ability to hyperlink entities to an external file to a website file."

• "Loved the concept. Struggled a bit getting it to work. The lighting in my office was critical to getting it to augment but it did work. It was hard to track down exactly what it was sensitive to. I played with: 1. lighting 2. angle of the marker to the camera 3. flatness of the marker 4. size of the model 5. scale of the model 6. complexity of the model."

• "We need a viewer for ipad, android and windows. I am also using AR Media plug in for Maya a d the picture quality seems sharper/better than the showcase AR plug in..."

• "I primarily do MEP Drafting for Bartlett & West in Topeka Kansas. So any Architectural use for this product is out the window. I was able to follow the video provided and load some hefty models into the Plug-in. I printed the target and glued it to a piece of backer board so I could hold it in the air and move it around while at my desk. But if I had to do it again I would use a non gloss maybe even grey paper. The camera was able to pick out the target after some time, but it really struggled to figure out what it was looking at. I used two different web cameras and had the same result. I probably missed some setting somewhere in showcase to change the resolution or I might need to try it with an SLR. Lately at Bartlett & West, we have been providing our clients with a 3D PDF of the Mechanical Room along with the Plan Set as a PDF. So I thought what if we could point a camera at the plan the model would “come to life”. Not as easy as I hoped for. First I loaded the whole sheet as the target, nothing. Then I loaded the construction line-work as a target, nothing. Finally I placed the default target one the sheet itself and it worked. Almost. As long as the target was in sight it would show up on the plan. If I have to place a target on a page would it be easier to load a QR code to the target to open the model? You could use Autodesk 360 as the host to hold your model/target relationships? This plug in shows a lot of promise and hopefully can be applied in the field with a mobile device."

• "Hi Autodesk Labs. 1. be able to remove 3d marker from the display (Showcase) and show cam view and 3d model only. 2. Microsoft kinect type 3d gestures with Iron man movie type UI (eg scale model to correct size with gestures)."

• "Firstly thanks for all you do to advance technology and software, I am a huge fan of Autodesk’s products and the company. The Augmented Reality tech preview came at a good time, as I have recently been exploring how we can integrate AR into our AEC industry. I have been experimenting with a number of different options, mostly as plugins for 3dsmax, such as ARmedia which runs quite well. I love the idea of having the ability to run the AR directly in Showcase, however it would always be beneficial if it could be viewed on other devices, like ipads, iPhones (or even those other inferior brand devices). This I believe is where the power of AR can really be unleashed, as it allows for showing clients (or potential clients) anywhere, anytime, on any device, rather than being limited to your workstation. The other feature I’d like to see, is to make it easier to play animated AR scenes. There may be a shortcut I’m unaware of, but it was a bit of a pain to have to go to behaviours - properties - playback controls, and then enable the AR. It would be good if the controls came up when AR mode was started, and also the option of an autoplay feature when the marker was recognised, with perhaps an adjustable start time delay.The tracking is good, but there is a bit of jitter when the camera and marker are still, I assume it has to do with a combination of frame rate, lighting, resolution, auto focus etc???? The jittering can be a bit of a pain/distraction when I’m trying to show off the technology and for most people their first comment after Wowww! Is why is it shaking around??? Which can be a bit of a laugh since we’re still recovering from the devastating earthquakes that crippled our city last year. For the camera I’m using the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema, 720p HD, 30fps, with auto focus. I look forward to the further developments of this technology, and I’ll be doing everything possible to push the use of it in our company/industry."

• "I been a user of Autodesk inventor and have always been looking a new methods of presenting my models and prototypes. This augmented reality add on has really revolutionized the prototyping process. By view I hands on it has truly brought out the flaws and the goods of my designs and it allows the people I present to go "this is cool.""

Thanks to everyone who responded. We have much to consider.

Listening is alive in the lab.

Project Spark graduates from Autodesk Labs to become Autodesk Revit LT

Project Spark was our free technology preview of a simplified 3D building information modeling (BIM) solution. Using Project Spark, building professionals could create designs efficiently with real-world building objects, produce more reliable documentation faster, and share files with consultants using Revit or AutoCAD-based products. I once referred to it as the gateway drug for Autodesk Revit.

Autodesk has had AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT for years. After being a technology preview on Autodesk Labs for some time, Inventor LT went on to join Autodesk Inventor in the Autodesk portfolio. I guess the Revit team had LT envy. By the way, LT just stands for "el-tee" even though its origin may have come from Limited Technology. We never ever call it Light. In keeping with our LT theme, Project Spark has graduated from Autodesk Labs to become Autodesk Revit LT. You can learn more about it at:

Try the 30-day Revit LT trial via Autodesk.com

This is not just a simple graduation. Additional features and corrections have been incorporated into the Revit LT version based on your feedback during the technology preview phase. Thanks to everyone who downloaded the technology preview and helped shape its future. For existing users, the Project Spark technology preview will operate until October 1, 2012.

Graduation ceremonies are alive in the lab.

Scheduled Down Time for Autodesk Freewheel in September

This is my once-a-month copy/paste blog posting to let you know when Autodesk Freewheel will be unavailable. Months ago Project Freewheel graduated from Autodesk Labs. Project Freewheel users are now using Autodesk Freewheel - the production version.

To check it out for yourself go to:

http://freewheel.autodesk.com/

Autodesk Freewheel lets anyone view a DWF file using just a browser.

Several times during the year, new functionality is released into Autodesk’s Enterprise Information Systems to enhance the company’s services to partners / customers and help the organization run more efficiently. The next update is scheduled for three hours on September 15, 2011. To implement these changes, Autodesk Freewheel will experience planned downtime from 2:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday, September 15 through 5:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday, September 15. In Greenwich, this would be 12:00 a.m. UDT on Sunday, September 16 through 3:00 a.m. UDT on Sunday, September 16. As I mention every time, 2012 should be much like 2011 in terms of server maintenance.

We realize that any systems outage impacts the operations of Autodesk, our partners, and our customers. We work diligently to minimize the duration of downtime and appreciate your understanding. So take a three hour break and enjoy the down time.

Updating servers is routinely alive in the lab.

2D to 3D Tool for Inventor Retires from Autodesk Labs

The 2D to 3D for Autodesk Inventor allowed you to quickly create 3D models of 2D-designed parts. The 2D to 3D add-in automatically transformed drawing views into orthogonal sketches, significantly streamlining the preparation of 2D views for 3D uses. The technology preview has ended.

Thanks to everyone who downloaded the technology preview.

Thanks to everyone who emailed us to provide feedback.

In general the feedback is that the technology works. It is quite possible that it could make its way into a product offering in the future - but no guarantees.

Retirement is alive in the lab.

Interactive Terrain Shaping for AutoCAD Civil 3D / AutoCAD Map 3D Retires from Autodesk Labs

The Interactive Terrain Shaping technology preview provided users with a unique workflow for developing grading proposals in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 and AutoCAD Map 3D 2012. The primary goal of this effort was to provide a holistic approach to terrain shaping that allows users to go from concept to completion using the same model. The intent was to facilitate the development of comprehensive grading plans that can be easily tuned through the project cycle. The technology preview has ended. Thanks to all those who downloaded the technology preview:

and to those who provided feedback:

We appreciate the efforts of our early adopters to help shape the future of our technologies.

Retirement is alive in the lab.

free technology preview of Project Hydra for Simulation Mechanical / Multiphysics Now Available

Autodesk Simulation Mechanical and Autodesk Simulation Multiphysics are intended for designers, engineers, and analysts who need to accurately predict product behavior, optimize designs, and validate innovative concepts before manufacturing. These desgn applications provide a range of simulation tools.

// Learn more about Simulation Mechanical and Simulation Multiphysics on Autodesk.com

Project Hydra is a free technology preview that is compatible with Autodesk Simulation Multiphysics 2013 and Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2013 software. It provides extended analysis capabilities.

// Download Project Hydra via Autdoesk Labs

The team that brought you the technology preview of Project Scout is looking to pick up right where it left off with Project Hydra. So give this technology preview a try and provide your feedback in as many as six ways.

 

Multiple heads is alive in the lab.

Updated Project Falcon wind tunnel simulation on Autodesk Labs

Project Falcon is our free technology preview that simulates air flow around vehicles, consumer products, buildings, or other objects of your choosing in a virtual wind tunnel. You can load one of the included sample models or one of your own and within seconds you will be able to see and understand how air flows around it. Results update almost in real-time in response to changes in wind-direction and speed. Visualization tools including 2D and 3D flow lines, result planes, and surface pressure shading enable interactive exploration of aerodynamic phenomena. Drag force and drag coefficient can be optionally displayed as a measure of performance.

// Download Project Falcon via Autodesk Labs

As part of this update, the team has a snazzy new YouTube video:

Watch on YouTube

We make technology previews to get feedback. We'd like to hear of your success or failures with this preview. How can you provide feedback? Let me count the ways. Six.

 

The preview will operate until March 15, 2013.

Bags of wind are alive in the lab.

Check out this simulated augmented reality with Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler

Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler software for urban planning design helps civil engineering, transportation, and urban planning professionals create, evaluate, and communicate infrastructure proposals. Infrastructure Modeler can help to drive stakeholder buy-in and inform decision making with visually rich proposals for transportation, land, water, and energy infrastructure projects. Many of you remember this as Project Galileo when it was a technology preview on Autodesk Labs.

// Learn more about Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler

VTN Consulting is a full-service engineering, planning, and surveying firm providing quality services to the public and private sectors since 1960. Their corporate offices are located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Every project undertaken by VTN Consulting is backed by their ability to create long-term relationships with their clients. Working with Autodesk, VTN Consulting is a leader in engineering technology.

// Learn more about VTN Consulting

Here is a story about some work they are doing with Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler for the city of Las Vegas:

ce news: 3D model of above- and below-ground infrastructure saves time and money finding assets.

Today I received some pictures I just had to share.

I also got a 15 second video.

Unearthing buried treasure is alive in the lab.

The MotionBuilder Shelf - free ADN Plugin of the Month for September

MotionBuilder is our real-time 3D character editing and animation software that has been embraced by some of the entertainment industry’s most successful studios. It lets you can acquire, aggregate, and refine data with greater reliability and precision; create, edit, and play back complex character animation in a highly responsive, interactive environment; and work with a display optimized for the individual requirements of both animators and directors. These capabilities have made MotionBuilder ideal for high-volume film and game animation, previsualization, motion capture, and performance animation.

// Learn more about MotionBuilder on Autodesk.com

The ADN Plugin of the Month program is a technology preview on Autodesk Labs where ADN members (Autodesk as well as other companies) provide plugins that show how easy it is to extend the functionality of Autodesk design applications. The source code is included to show how easy it is. THis month's plugin is:

// Download The MotuonBuilder Shelf via Autodesk Labs

Until I get that Labs site defect fixed, make sure you login to the site before clicking on Download Now. This month's tool was developed by our own Manager of DevTech Media & Entertainment, Cyrille Fauvel. From the read me (each plugin comes with one):

This 'Maya style' shelf in MotionBuilder allows you to access all the key functionality that you would use daily from the Asset Browser, it is now right at your fingertips. You no longer have to dig around in the MotionBuilder UI to look for these items, they are in one central location for you. The File menu tab is the default display in the tool, giving you quick access at any time to create a new file, open a file, save a file and save as a file. Additional menus tabs provide you access to default Elements, Primitives, Characters, Constraints and Devices. This one click creation workflow gives you the objects you desire in your scene immediately. If you're not sure what the images are, simply hover over the button for the Tooltips. This tool is easily extendable through the Python SDK, you can add your own custom workflows and tools right into the shelf.

As always we would love your feedback on this at labs.plugins@autodesk.com. We are always looking for new ideas for plugins as well as suggestions for how to enhance the ones that already exist. You can still download all past plugins:

// Browse ADN Plugins of the Month Catalog

We particularly love stories of users who have taken the source code and modified the functionality to suit their needs better.

Shleving is alive in the lab.

Project Factory.Modz() Once Again Available on Autodesk Labs

Once again, this technology preview provides the missing Linc^*. This is a re-release of this technology preview. It is the same as before with a few defect corrections based on user feedback. The re-release is based on user requests for more time to experiment with the technology.

Have you ever wished you could visualize your factory floor in 3D before you configured it? Well if you download and try this technology preview, now you can.

Project Factory.Modz() is our free technology preview for factory animation where you can clearly articulate the working intent of your factory layout to your clients and stakeholders. The technology preview helps you to visually communicate your ideas by animating the movement of material and people inside your facility. It is easy to use and does not require CAD expertise.

// Download Project Factory.Modz() for Inventor via Autodesk Labs

Please try it and let us know your thoughts, criticisms, and suggestions at labs.factory.modz@autodesk.com or the discussion forum. Your experience shapes the future of our technology.

Preventing factory layout confusion is alive in the lab.

* Lincoln Hayes was a character on a popular American TV show in the 1970's called The Mod Squad. Are you old enough to remember it? Or should I say are you young enough to still remember it?

Augmented Reality for Autodesk Showcase: Why Showcase?

One of our newer technology previews is Augmented Reality for Autodesk Showcase. It has been quite popular. The technology preview allows you to overlay semantically in context information (graphics, text, video, sound) on to a live video feed of the real-world in real-time while using Autodesk Showcase.

// Learn more about Augmented Reality for Showcase

As our web site notes: Showcase allows you to communicate your design ideas effectively and facilitate decision making via design exploration and 3D presentation for architects, designers, engineers, and marketing professionals. A frequently asked question about this technology preview has been "Why Showcase? Why not 3DS Max or Maya?"

Technical Evangelist, Brian Pene, shared the answer. The main reason we developed a plugin for Showcase vs Maya or 3DS Max:

1. Showcase is included in all Autodesk Suites whereas 3DS Max and Maya are not. This way we make the plug-in available to a broader group - the broader the group, the better the chance we get feedback to improve the technology.
   

2. Showcase can import 3DS Max or Maya content via FBX. This way anyone designing with Maya or 3ds Max can still enjoy Augmented Reality experiences in Showcase.
   

3. Showcase has superior real-time rendering quality to that of Max or Maya. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder.
   

In summary, because the quality of Showcase real-time rendering is superior to that of 3ds Max or Maya, AND we support both 3ds Max and Maya content via FBX, we recommend you use the Showcase plugin to achieve better rendering results of augmented 3D content to that of similar AR plug-ins for Autodesk 3DS Max or Maya. Your feedback is welcomed at labs.showcase.ar@autodesk.com.

Answers are alive in the lab.

Our first Raspberry Pi Progress Report: Teaching A Parrot To Talk

Some of you may recall that we had a Raspberry Pi contest here at Autodesk and announced the winners.

Internal Raspberry Pi Contest: And the winners are...

One of those winners was Software Architect for Solver Technology Research, Franco Costa, who wants to teach his parrot to talk. He described his project as:

If I had a Raspberry Pi, I would program it respond to my parrot when she talks by playing back a recording of my voice saying her favorite phrases, plus some new ones I am trying to teach her. The Raspberry Pi, being a low power device, could sit near her cage during the day, keeping her company while I am away from home enjoying my day at the Autodesk Office. My parrot's name is Billy, and she is an Australian rose-breasted cockatoo, more commonly known as a “Gallah” in Australia.

Well I recently got a progress report that I thought I would share:

Team building is alive in the lab.

FAQ: What's the difference between graduated and retired?

Technology previews are not intended for production use. After all, they're still in the early preview stage. They are in their infancy and are not fully baked. We are realists and recognize that some customers use them at their own risk. Technology previews are like taste tests at malls. We let people take a sip of Pepsi and a sip of Coke and tell us which one they like better. Regardless of which one they prefer, we are not promising to deliver a lifetime supply of soda. Sometimes people hate the taste of both!

We make technology previews available via Autodesk Labs so people can give us feedback. Most customers try them on test projects. If the technology preview works for them - great. If it does not work for them, no harm/no foul, since the customers are only playing with the technology on test projects. Since technology previews have an end date, customers try them on projects that end before the technology preview ends. Technology previews have a specific end date so no one confuses them with perpetual functionality that is associated with a product offering or subscription service. In fact, technology previews are offered for free to Subscription, non-Subscription, and educational users alike. When the previews end, I don't have a way to re-activate them. It's not part of the Labs process.

A technology is said to have graduated when the preview ends, and it is available somewhere else (e.g., Subscription Center, feature in a new product offering, new cloud-based service). A technology retires from Labs when the preview ends, and users can't get it anywhere. It may come back as another technology preview sometime later. It may show up in a future product offering. It is not necessarily dead, but in the meantime, customers can't get it. At the end of a technology preview, sometimes teams decide they need more feedback, so they conduct another technology preview.

Terminology is alive in the lab.

Clicking On Download Now Lets Me Login But Does Not Take Me To The Download Page

Problem

Sometimes you visit a technology preview page, click on Download Now, login with your Autodesk Single Sign-On credentials, but the download page does not appear.

Immediate Solution

In this situation, just click on Download Now again.

To Avoid The Problem

1. Navigate your browser to the Autodesk Labs home page.

2. Use the Sign In link in the upper right.
   

3. Log in with your Autodesk Single Sign-On credentials (user name and password).
   
   Checking keep me signed in is handy.

4. Visit the technology preview page you are interested in.
   

5. Click on Download Now.
   

Since you are already logged in, it will work like a charm. I have a problem report logged with our vendor who supplied the new platform upon which the Autodesk Labs site is based.

Trouble-shooting is alive in the lab.

INKtalks: Tom Wujec - Towards a new tech-tonic shift

Watch Autodesk Technical Fellow, Tom Wujec, cover:

• Digitized Reality
• Infinite Computing
• Rapid Fabrication

Check it out at INKtalks.

Shifting is alive in the lab.

Project Vasari Graduates to Autodesk Vasari Beta 1

They grow up so fast. Project Vasari has graduated from Autodesk Labs to become Autodesk Vasari Beta 1.

Visit http://autodeskvasari.com/.

Thanks to everyone who helped shape this technology. The volume of your downloads and insightful feedback propelled this technology to the next stage of its development.

Graduation is alive on the lab.

Download is located in the upper right of each technology preview page

The old Autodesk Labs site had the Download link in two places: in the upper right and just below the preview image:

When the new site was launched, it was only available in the upper right:

I got feedback of "Where's the download?" from a customer as well as an employee, so I have done what I can to make the download link more visible by replacing just the hyperlinked text with an additional icon and header:

I have also made note of this in the HELP US OUT section.

Over time I think people will get use to the new design. You read about a technology on the left and take actions such as downloading, trying, or providing feedback on the right.

Attempts at deastonishment are alive in the lab.