It is Alive in the Lab

Happy New Year

Here's wishing everyone the best in the coming year. Read more →

Avatar 3D is a good movie

My wife, her sister, her nephew, and her niece saw the Alvin and the chipmunks movie. Our daughter, my wife's brother-in-law, and I saw Avatar. We thought the 3D was OK but believe the story would be equally compelling in... Read more →

My HDTV

"I really love my television I love to sit by television Can't live without my television TV is king You're my everything" "TV is King," Remote Control, The Tubes, June 1979. As part of moving into this townhouse, we purchased... Read more →

Holiday Break: December 21 - January 1

Autodesk is observing a company furlough for the next 2 weeks. With the exception of staff dedicated to manning our critical systems, all United States employees will take time off with a combination of holiday and vacation. So although it... Read more →

Project Bluestreak Update Now Available

Project Bluesteak has global reach. Senior Product Manager, Mark Evans, and Software Architect, Steve Voorhees, report that we released an update to the Project Blustreak technology preview. You can get more information about Project Bluestreak at: Project Bluestreak home page... Read more →

Facebook Lists Aid in the Personal-Professional Quandry

Originally I was going to use Facebook solely to communicate with my friends and family. Then contacts from my Autodesk blogging started to surface. So my Facebook use became a mix of business and pleasure. I was unsure of where... Read more →

Labs Graduations and Expiration Dates

Feedback: Time is running out! Over the last two weeks, I have been retiring items from the Autodesk Labs site. I want to shorten the menu pull down to make room for new technology previews next year. Rather than totally... Read more →

Shrinkwrap Add-in for Inventor Graduated from Autodesk Labs

This is our fourth and final graduation for the month. It's the end of our year end close out sale. Everything must go. Our prices are insane. We're making room for next year's technology previews. As such the technology preview... Read more →

Video: Patrick Aragon Speaks About Project Dragonfly at AU

Product Manager, Patrick Aragon, was interviewed at Autodesk University talking about Project Dragonfly. You can see the video of this interview on one of these sites: AEC Café:Architecture, Engineering, and Construction MCAD Café: Mechanical CAD community GIS Café: Geospatial community... Read more →

Navigation Tool for AutoCAD Retired from Autodesk Labs

The technology preview for the Navigation Tool for AutoCAD has run its course. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on this technology. For AutoCAD 2008 or 2009 users (or the associated vertical solutions), the installer can still be downloaded from... Read more →

JT Translator Add-in Graduated from Autodesk Labs

It's our end of the year closeout sale. We're making room for next year's technology previews. The technology preview for the JT Translator Add-in for Inventor has also run its course. Thanks to everyone who downloaded and provided feedback on... Read more →

DWG Export for Maya Graduated from Autodesk Labs

The technology preview for the DWG Export for Maya has run its course. Thanks to everyone who downloaded and provided feedback on this technology. CAD Data Transfer is a feature of Maya 2010. For Maya 2008 or 2009 users, the... Read more →

Autodesk Design Review Usage and Features Prioritization Survey

Autodesk Labs is all about feedback. Way back when I was the Software Development Manager for Volo View, Jason Pratt was our Marketing Manager. When Jason and I would argue over what features to implement next, Jason would chide me... Read more →

CATIA Import Translator for Inventor Graduated from Labs

The technology preview for the CATIA V5 Import Translator for Inventor has run its course. Thanks to everyone who downloaded and provided feedback on this technology. Interoperability with other CAD systems is a feature of Inventor 2010. For Inventor 2009... Read more →

Survey: File Formats and Reasons Why

Autodesk is running a brief survey of how users share their designs. Our goal is to understand which formats are commonly used for sharing and why these formats are used. Your input is extremely valuable -- please participate. Survey of... Read more →

Retrofits: Building Awareness for Building Performance

When our daughter Stephanie was in 5th grade, she and her classmate Lisa Curtis won a Waste Management essay contest with their story entitled "Bobby and His Composting." Since then Lisa has not given up the fight for a greener... Read more →

Personal Choices for Sustainability: A Tankless Job

As part of our townhouse remodel, we had a tankless water heater installed. Its predecessor was a gas water heater whose life expectancy was 15 years. Ours was 20 years old. So rather than awake one morning to the prospect... Read more →

New Blog: Civil - Made in France

Now that AU is behind us, and we can breathe again, it's time to welcome Willy Luce to the Autodesk blogosphere. Willy is a pre-sales engineer with the AEC Division of Autodesk France. For the last 4 years, the division... Read more →

Spatial Sustain: Autodesk Labs Aims for True Computer-Aided Design

A cloud of data and infinite computing will be at our beckon call. Our own Brian Mathews gave a briefing to the press: Autodesk Labs Aims for True Computer-Aided Design #au2009 Check it out. Read more →

Book Review: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

I don't usually read fiction. In fact I never do. I normally read books by scientists like A Brief History of Time, Surely You Must Be Joking Mr. Feynman!, or Uranium. Shortly after moving into our townhouse I met our... Read more →

No news is good news? Well no newsgroups is...

We have scheduled maintenance on our servers that will affect the availability of our discussion forums. The down time will occur from Friday, December 4, 5:00 PM PST to Saturday, December 5, 3:00 PM PST. Though this affects all discussion... Read more →

December Plugin of the Month: Layer Reporter for AutoCAD

Q: What do an AutoCAD drawing and a piece of cake have in common? A: They both have layers and are sweet! The ADN plugin of the month for December is the Layer Reporter for AutoCAD 2007 (and later) that... Read more →

Inventor Publisher Technology Preview Now Available

Product Manager, Abhijit Singh, contacted me a while back about a new Inventor Publisher Technology Preview he wanted to get feedback on from the Autodesk Labs community. Autodesk Inventor Publisher Technology Preview is easy-to-use software for creating interactive 3D product... Read more →