It is Alive in the Lab

Autodesk University Blog: AU on Second Life!

No this isn't some kind of trick. It is definitely a treat. AU on Second Life! So get your avatar over there and check it out. Read more →

Happy Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN Our old pal, Jürgen Wagner, supplied me with a DWF file for Halloween. You can see Jürgen's file and play with the knobs by panning, zooming, orbiting, etc. Project Freewheel: no install required for a Happy Halloween DWF:... Read more →

Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview available on DVD

Autodesk Labs metrics indicate that 64% of you visit our site using a Cable connection or DSL. That's impressive. You see the benefits of being connected to the world using high bandwidth. So for many of you, these download sizes... Read more →

Project Draw and Visual Search are back up

Our service provider has corrected the problem with its Windows servers. Project Draw and Visual Search are back up. We apologize for the inconvenience. You can resume your exploration of Project Draw and Visual Search and let us know what... Read more →

Project Draw and Visual Search temporarily down

Our service provider is experiencing a problem with its Windows servers. Project Draw and Visual Search are affected. They are down. Our service provider is working to bring its servers back up as soon as possible. Thank you for your... Read more →

Home Sweet Home Page (a.k.a. Where's Project Freewheel or Project Showroom?)

You can always use the Autodesk Labs menu pull downs to find and access items on the Autodesk Labs site. Let me explain. The Autodesk Labs home page has a few basic sections: These include: Flash animation: This section appears... Read more →

Oce Design Contest for Autodesk University

Peter Lawrence of Océ reports that Océ is sponsoring a design competition for Autodesk University attendees: http://www.oceusa.com/AU2007contest Océ is seeking your visually impressive designs to showcase your talent at Autodesk University (AU) on the Océ TCS500, the world's fastest color... Read more →

You Tried It. We Learned from It. Thanks!

The participants in the Project Freewheel collaboration sharing session provided terrific feedback. Being influenced by customer feedback is what Autodesk Labs is all about. Thanks! On Monday I posted a blog article entitled Try it: Participate in a Design Review... Read more →

How Software is Built: Interview with Doug Look - Senior Strategic Designer - Autodesk Labs

Our very own, Doug Look, Senior Strategic Designer for Autodesk Labs was interviewed by Scott Swigart and Sean Campbell, blog authors and facilitators for discussions about software development models. Interview with Doug Look - Senior Strategic Designer - Autodesk Labs... Read more →

Devastating Wildfires in Southern California

In response to the devastating wildfires in Southern California, Autodesk is making a $10,000 donation to the American Red Cross. It's Alive in the Lab readers can click here to find out more information and how to make a donation... Read more →

Project Draw now available on Autodesk Labs

A new service, Project Draw, is available on Autodesk Labs. Project Draw lets you create simple drawings with an easy to use interface that requires just a browser. No install required. Please check it out and tell us what you... Read more →

New Autodesk Revit MEP Blog: Inside the System

Revit MEP Product Manager, Kyle Bernhardt, has launched a new Autodesk blog: Inside the System Kyle's blog will cover Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) topics and Sustainability as well as new technology in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry.... Read more →

Autodesk Visual Search now available on Autodesk Labs

We have all used search engines. You enter some text. You click the search button. The search engine queries its pre-indexed set of content and returns a list of results that match the text. This works great for documents and... Read more →

Try it: Participate in a Design Review at a time suited for you

The Project Freewheel collaboration capability lets you collaborate in real time. But it does not have to be that way. A sharing session persists on the web much like a web site. Since the session contains your design data plus... Read more →

AutoCAD Drawing Cleanup Utility for 2008/2007 side by side installations

The Drawing Cleanup Utility was first made available for AutoCAD 2008 and AutoCAD 2008-based applications. People wanted to use it with AutoCAD 2007. So the Drawing Cleanup Utility was updated to also support AutoCAD 2007 and AutoCAD 2007-based applications. Our... Read more →

Updated Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD now available

An updated version of the Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD is now available on Autodesk Labs. Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD Software Architect, Thomas Inzinga, reports the following improvements in this new version: Added support for AutoCAD® Map 3D 2008.... Read more →

AutoCAD Drawing Cleanup Utility now available for 2007 and 2008

The initial feedback that we have received from you is that you love the Drawing Cleanup utility for AutoCAD 2008. So much so, that many of you want to use it on AutoCAD 2007 and AutoCAD 2007-based applications. Well we... Read more →

Eye Candy You Can Touch

Autodesk Labs Marketing Manager, Amanda Collins, shared some teaser information regarding Autodesk Labs and Autodesk University 2007: Tom Wujec has his eyes on that car. And he’s working with it – by touch. His screen covers an entire wall. His... Read more →

Autodesk Vault Mirror graduates from Autodesk Labs to Vault 2008 SDK

Software Engineer, Doug Redmond, developed the Autodesk Vault Mirror utility that has since graduated from Autodesk Labs. The Autodesk Vault Mirror utility was compatible with Autodesk Vault 5 or Autodesk Productstream 5. It was not compatible with Vault 2008. Vault... Read more →

AU BEAT for Autodesk University 2007

I have already blogged about things at Autodesk University that you can see and feel - like a multi-touch wall. Now it's time to talk about something you can hear. AU BEAT The Autodesk University 2007 podcast series consists of... Read more →

AutoCAD Drawings: Let's talk dirty...

Do you work with partners that supply you with drawings? Do these drawings not conform to your own company standards? Do you wish you had an easier way to clean them up? Autodesk Labs is happy to announce the availability... Read more →

Project Freewheel: Impression rendering technology temporarily disabled

Customer load testing of build 31 of Project Freewheel has identified an issue. We are grateful to our loyal users for this feedback. For the moment, we have disabled the Impression rendering technology from Project Freewheel. We are investigating the... Read more →

Translator Add-ins/Project Freewheel are keys to customer success

Autodesk Labs is about feedback. Sometimes this feedback is in a form that helps us to improve. Other times users just wish to express their gratitude for what Autodesk offers. Here's an example of an email I received today. Thanks... Read more →

High resolution Multi-Touch Wall video now available

Senior Strategic Designer, Doug Look, has been working with our design software on our Multi-Touch Wall from Perceptive Pixel. In July, we posted a YouTube video showing Doug in action: See Doug in action via YouTube The Multi-Touch Wall is... Read more →

Using Project Freewheel to AutoGenerate thumbnails

When I was authoring the Beyond the Paper blog, I got a lot of questions from users asking how to convert their TIF files to DWF files. I usually cautioned them that by already having "image data," converting to DWF... Read more →

A thumbnail is worth a thousand words...

Google has the ability to look for text strings in designs. It returns a list of hyperlinks to designs containing the text supplied to the search engine. Wouldn't it be nicer to see a list of thumbnail images of those... Read more →

Introduction to Interior Designer, Landscape Designer, or Contractors...

Autodesk Program Manager, Brian Souder, is defining a new type of CAD (computer aided design) product and would like to discuss some concepts with Interior Designers, Landscape Designers, and Contractors. Contact him at [email protected] if you are interested. Read more →

Autodesk Content Search among the blogs

With the release of the Content Search technology preview alpha, some articles are starting to appear in various blogs. Got Content? AutoCAD Insider Heidi Hewett http://heidihewett.blogs.com/my_weblog/2007/10/got-content.html Autodesk Content Search alpha Technology Preview Now Alive and Free Between the Lines Shaan... Read more →

What happens in Vegas...

Autodesk University: What happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. What you see, hear, and say will make a difference in Autodesk offices across the globe. Autodesk Labs is no exception. We will be sharing technology and getting your feedback.... Read more →

Autodesk Labs at Autodesk University 2007

Marketing Manager, Amanda Collins, asks: "What has an arm, a leg, a wrist, and over one million pixels?" Come find out. Follow our tracks and check out Autodesk Labs at Autodesk University 2007 in Las Vegas. Read more →

Interview: Autodesk Labs Senior Strategic Designer Doug Look

You've seen him in the YouTube videos: Doug Look and the Multi-Touch Wall (Part 1) Doug Look and the Multi-Touch Wall (Part 2) Doug's title is Senior Strategic Designer, because he is to apply design principles not just to the... Read more →

Autodesk Content Search: searches easily refined

The Autodesk Content Search alpha was released on the Autodesk Labs web site yesterday. This technology preview features use of an open source search engine to locate design content from Autodesk as well as Autodesk partners. Autodesk Content Search allows... Read more →

Autodesk Labs announces ContentSearch alpha preview

Autodesk Labs is proud to announce the availability of a technology preview for Content Search. Please give it a try and let us know what you think: [email protected]. Autodesk Content Search Since our mission at Labs is to explore new... Read more →