It is Alive in the Lab

Autodesk Furlough for US Employees This Week

Taking some vacation time in 2009 Autodesk is observing a company furlough this week. With the exception of staff dedicated to manning our critical systems, all United States employees will take the week off with our vacation time. So although... Read more →

What is that thing?

There was an old Saturday Night Live skit where Steve Martin repeatedly asked "What is that? What the heck is that? What is that thing?" I am asking the same question: What is that thing? While looking for a place... Read more →

Second Highest Visitor Total for Labs Site in July

We are happy to see that the Autodesk Labs site is quite popular. When we look at unique visitors per month, July 2009 was our second highest month ever. Last month was only topped by October 2008 where we introduced... Read more →

AU2009 YouTube Contest: Lights, camera, action!

Autodesk is sponsoring a YouTube video contest. Upload your own video to YouTube that explains reasons to attend Autodesk University 2009. How about a Top 10 Reasons to Attend Autodesk University a la Late Night with David Letterman? You can... Read more →

Request for Suggestions for Google Earth Publishing Enhancement

Yesterday I posted the list of top downloads for July. You can see that the Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD is a popular download. One of our Autodesk Labs visitors, a Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey, recently... Read more →

Top 5 Downloads for July

We are grateful that many of you download utilities from Autodesk Labs. Your experience shapes the future of our technology. In terms of what was popular last month: So please keep it up. Read more →

AutodeskChannel is all aTwitter

My Twitter ID is AutodeskLabsScott. I also use Twitterfeed to share blog postings via tweets. Autodesk PR Channel and Education Manager, Angela Simoes, let me know that the Autodesk Channel team is getting its official own Twitter account - autodeskchannel.... Read more →

Theme Songs for Autodesk Labs Technologies

This post was inspired by Shaan Hurley who emailed me when he heard a song on the radio entitled "Dragonfly" by Shaman's Harvest. What if Autodesk Labs technologies had theme songs? 2D to 3D "3-D" by Cheap Trick ShareNow "Share... Read more →

Mirroring in Inventor Fusion

A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey wrote in: The Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview with the boss / base feature cannot mirror; however, the same process hole / cut feature mirror can. Is that true? Software Quality... Read more →

Alias Direct Reader Add-in for Inventor Graduated from Autodesk Labs

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback since April 2008 on the technology preview of the Alias Direct Reader Add-in for Inventor. This feedback was used to incorporate the functionality into Inventor 2010. Future comments and suggestions should be made through... Read more →

Computer Graphics World: Pictures in the Cloud

Freelance Writer, Kenneth Wong, has a thorough write-up of Software as a Service (SaaS) as it pertains to Project Showroom and Project Dragonfly: Pictures in the Cloud Check it out. Read more →

Email Address for Subscription Questions

Autodesk Labs is all about feedback. We have email aliases for each technology (e.g. [email protected]) or utility. We also have a generic email address for [email protected]. In a similar fashion, for those of you with inquiries about your subscriptions, you... Read more →

Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Expands to South Africa

Like most companies who host technology previews, we start slowly and get bigger. As such the Inventor Fusion Technology Preview was originally limited to the following geographies: Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada China France Germany Ireland Italy Japan Luxembourg New... Read more →

It's All About The Commute

Last weekend we were in the Bay Area looking for a place to live. The goal is to optimize the commute to the Autodesk office at One Market in San Francisco. There is a passenger ferry that goes from Alameda... Read more →

Sample July Feedback to Autodesk Labs

Autodesk Labs is all about feedback. Every once in a while I get an email that says "I have downloaded the utility from the site. I have been using it. What kind of feedback are you looking for?" To give... Read more →

YABC - Yet Another Boot Camp

I have alluded to boot camp as part of entering military service in the United States. There's also boot camp for the Macintosh environment that lets you run Windows applications on Apple hardware. Well I got a message from Director... Read more →

Updated Project Dragonfly Now Available

The Project Dragonfly team has been busy at work. Yesterday the team released an update. Recall that Project Dragonfly is our software as a service approach to floor planning. All you need is your browser to create your own floor... Read more →

What Might Interest Me?

Autodesk Labs has a variety of technologies for you to try: Autodesk has many products: I decided to connect the dots: http://labs.blogs.com/mapping.htm/ This page depicts "If you use this application..., you might be interested in this technology from Labs." I... Read more →

Not a Bad View

My wife and I are in the Bay Area today shopping for a place to live. We are staying with friends. They have a nice view. It's a little bit hazy today, but that place looks like a city you... Read more →

Two Quick It's Alive in the Lab Blog Statistics

Like yesterday's post inspired by an email from Eddy Kuo, I get help with this blog. Between what I write and other members of the team, we are able to post about 30 blog articles a month. We've been pretty... Read more →

Point. Snap. Print. - a world of Star Trek possibilities

Eddy Kuo is one of our developers who has worked on technologies like Project Freewheel, multitouch, augmented reality, and virtualization via the cloud. So it's no wonder he went ga-ga when he encountered a series of articles. Fuji Finepix Real... Read more →

Updated Solar Radiation Technology Preview Now Available

Based on your feedback, on Friday of last week we released a minor update to the Solar Radiation Technology Preview: Free Download of the Solar Radiation Technology Preview on Autodesk Labs Keep those emails coming in. You have until January... Read more →

New Autodesk Labs Site Design Unveiled

The new Autodesk Labs site redesign went live last Thursday night. Thanks to Marketing Manager, Amanda Collins, who lead our efforts and Senior Strategic Designer, Doug Look, who created the new "look" for the site. We'd also like to thank... Read more →