It is Alive in the Lab

Shape Extraction for AutoCAD Hip Tip: Working with Other AutoCADs

As released the technology preview of Shape Extraction for AutoCAD supports 32-bit and 64-bit versions of: AutoCAD 2011 // more AutoCAD Architecture 2011 // more AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 // more AutoCAD Plant 3D 2011 // more We have already... Read more →

Shape Extraction for AutoCAD Now Available

Let's get in shape. Unedited point cloud data can appear to be just one big blob. Laser scanners work their magic by creating point cloud data. AutoCAD has the ability to load point clouds even into the millions of points.... Read more →

Top 10 Reasons to Shop at a Farmers Market

On Wednesday, July 21, I attended a lecture in our green speaker series on the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market that sets up every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Julie Cummins of the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture... Read more →

Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Now Available via a Streaming Technology

Child being spoon fed his lunch The delivery of the Inventor Fusion Technology Preview continues to evolve: When we first released the Inventor Fusion Technology Preview, we let you download and install the whole application. As a follow up to... Read more →

Updated CommunityCommands for AutoCAD Now Available

CommunityCommands for AutoCAD is the right medicine for discovering new commands. Take advantage of the Customer Involvement Program (CIP) and receive command recommendations from the user community. CommunityCommands is a plug-in for AutoCAD that compares your workflows with those of... Read more →

Inventor Optimzation Now Available as an Autodesk Labs Technology Preview

Some of you may have previously read about Inventor optimization via the cloud as Project Centaur. This technology is now available to the Autodesk Labs community: Inventor Optimization Technology Preview via Autodesk Labs So by all means, we would like... Read more →

Photo Scene Editor Hip Tip: Don't Use a Flash

The Photo Scene Editor for Project Photofly is a free application that allows you to submit photographs to our servers in the cloud. The Project Photofly service takes these pictures and automatically constructs a 3D photo scene as best it... Read more →

Project Snap for AutoCAD Update Now Available

Yesterday Product Manager, Todd Nicol, gave me updated installers for Project Snap. I was happy to make them available via the Autodesk Labs site. With this latest update, Project Snap now supports text and attributes! Any textual entity that you... Read more →

Watch Two Project Photofly Videos and Become an Expert in 11 Minutes

Marketing Director, Domiqiue Pouliquen, works at our office in Sophia Antipolis, near Cannes, as in the Cannes Film Festival - a tough assignment, I know. He has developed some tutorial videos for using the Photo Scene Editor. The first one... Read more →

Updated Project Neon Rendering via the Cloud Now Available

The Project Neon team has released an update on Friday. They recently gave me a video that shows how easy it is to use. I included it on the Labs site. Autodesk Labs: Rendering via the Cloud Demo For those... Read more →

Photo Scene Editor Hip Tip: Getting Out of Locked Photo Mode

Technology previews are about feedback. When working with a photo scene in the Photo Scene Editor, a few of you have gotten stuck in "photo locked mode" when trying to orbit around your 3D models. You can tell you are... Read more →

YouTube Video: Pictures of Wrigley Field Get Converted into a 3D Stadium Model

Here's a great customer-generated YouTube video that shows how a model of Wrigley field was created using Project Photofly. Project Photofly took this user's uploaded photos and created a 3D model for him. The computation was done on Autodesk servers... Read more →

Money: Faces on US Coins

At Autodesk, we are inspired by a better world designed and made for all. Our mission is to empower innovators with design and make technology so they can achieve the new possible. We deliver customers intuitive, powerful, and accessible technology... Read more →

Learn About Converting Photographs into CAD models via this YouTube video

The Photo Scene Editor for Project Photofly is our newest technology preview on Autodesk Labs. Capturing the reality as-built for various purposes (renovation, energy analysis, add-on design, etc.) is possible using your standard digital camera and technology made available through... Read more →

Project Neon Down for Maintenance Tomorrow

The Project Neon service will be down for portions of the day tomorrow while the team makes some updates. Thanks for your patience and continued interest in Project Neon. Read more →

Photo Scene Editor for Project Photofly Now Available

No need to shake it like a Polaroid - just upload and go 3D. "I want to fly like an eagle to the sea Fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me I want to fly like an eagle... Read more →

Project Butterfly Collaboration Video: Watch it now

The Project Butterfly team has released a new video that explains its powerful collaboration capabilities: Autodesk's Butterfly Channel For those without YouTube access, you can download the flash video: 3D artists.flv. If you want to learn even more about Project... Read more →

Autodesk Gallery at One Market: Let's Make Beautiful Music Together

Last month we added a new exhibit to our Gallery at One Market. Like our Brokk exhibit, the RKS Guitars exhibit came to us from our gallery in Lake Oswego. Musical instruments need to be ergonomically designed for comfortable play.... Read more →

The Permanent Record of Lothar Sheppard

In all my years of schooling I always played by the rules. I didn't want anything bad "on my permanent record." In retrospect I was probably overly cautious. Perhaps there's no such thing as a permanent record? In the 90's... Read more →

Radium Technology Preview for Moldflow Insight Now Available

From the Autodesk web site: Autodesk Moldflow injection molding simulation software, part of the Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping, provides tools that help manufacturers optimize the design of plastic parts and injection molds, and study the injection molding process. Companies... Read more →

3D Annotation for Inventor Now Available

The redlining process is a well-oiled machine. Guiding you with an easy-to-use ribbon interface, the 3D Annotation for Inventor technology preview allows you to apply 3D Annotations: dimensions, geometric tolerances, surface finish symbols, datum symbols, and notes to your part... Read more →

Common Sense Blogging Guidelines

A blog is a very personal thing. On the other hand, I am recognized as an Autodesk employee, so when I write something, it is a reflection on Autodesk. In addition, Autodesk provides links from our web site to employee... Read more →

Autodesk Gallery at One Market: Let's Get Demolished

Last month we got a new exhibit at the entry to our Gallery at One Market. The Brokk demolition robot came to us from our gallery in Lake Oswego. Brokk is a leading supplier of remote-controlled demolition equipment to the... Read more →

Seven Technology Trends for Design

Borrowing some slides from Autodesk Labs VP, Brian Mathews, plus interjecting some of my own, last month I gave a net meeting presentation on my take of the 7 technology trends of the design industry. The context was - at... Read more →

Autodesk Labs down for maintenance from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM today

Down time: 5:00 PM Pacific Time to 10:00 PM Pacific Time The Autodesk Labs site and discussion forums will be down today while our IT department migrates our systems to an even more stable and robust environment. Thank you for... Read more →

Software By The Hour

Autodesk Labs Software Architect, Ben Cochran, supplied me with another blog article posting. More than a decade ago, I worked for Motorola developing firmware. (Firmware is software written to control specific hardware components typically without an operating system.) We used... Read more →

2010 Biomimicry Education Summit

Biomimicry is a design discipline that seeks out sustainable solutions by emulating nature’s time-honored patterns and strategies. The main idea is that nature has already solved many of the problems society is currently struggling-with with-regard to energy, food production, climate... Read more →

Seeing is Believing

Autodesk Labs Software Architect, Ben Cochran, supplied me with a blog article posting. Have you wanted to try out a new application or tool but didn't want to go through the hassle of downloading and installing? Personally, I like projects,... Read more →

Beautiful Inventor Fusion Images

Adviser to the CTO, Jonathan Knowles, was working on a presentation the other day. I saw some screen shots of Inventor Fusion (courtesy of Senior Product manager, Kevin Schneider) as part of that work. I thought I would share them... Read more →

Updated Project Butterfly Now Available

Senior Software Development Manager, Tal Weiss, let me know that the Project Butterfly team updated the servers just before the United States employees went on our weeklong furlough. Web Browser-based DWG File Collaboration with Project Butterfly Based on your feedback... Read more →

Updated Solar Radiation Technology Preview for Revit 2011 Now Available

Before we went on our company furlough, Software Development Manager, Mark Webb, provided me with an update to the Solar Radiation Technology Preview. I updated the installer on the Autodesk Labs site. I am just now getting around to posting... Read more →

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July. Here's to 234 years of democracy. It is traditional for us to watch publicly held fireworks displays. Read more →