Top Ten Most Popular Technology Previews of 2011

It's that time of the year when everyone publishes their top 10 lists. I know the year is not over, but I doubt the results will change between now and then. So when I look back over the year in terms of the number of downloads for a technology preview, I can easily see that this was a banner year for Autodesk Labs. I simply use a SQL query against our metrics database that I maintain:

SELECT YEAR(MetricsDataDownloads.Date) AS Year,
              SUM(MetricsDataDownloads.Completed) AS Downloads
FROM MetricsDataDownloads
GROUP BY Year
ORDER BY Year

This gives me some numbers that I can easily paste into Excel and produce a graph:

2011 was our most popular in the 5 years that Autodesk Labs has been in existence. The top 10 downloads that accounted for this popularity were:

10.	Project Storm	try structural analysis via the cloud
9.	Feature Recognition for Inventor	convert 3D CAD models to Inventor
8.	2D to 3D Tool for Inventor	create 3D models from 2D data
7.	Project Spark	get started with lightweight BIM
6.	Inventor Fusion Technology Preview	combine parametric and direct modeling
5.	AutoCAD LT Citrix Trial Player	try AutoCAD LT online without installing
4.	Revit Add-in for Autodesk Cloud Rendering	submit Revit files to Autodesk Cloud rendering
3.	Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD-based products	work with Google Earth and DWG files
2.	Project Vasari	try conceptual modeling with cloud-based analysis

And what should come as no surprise, the most popular technology preview in 2011 was:

1.

123D Catch / Project Photofly

convert 2D photographs to 3D models via the cloud

Thanks to everyone who makes Autodesk Labs possible. Without a community, it's just a web site. Without downloads and actual usage, it's just all talk. Thanks for trying these technology previews and proving meaningful feedback.

Tabulation is alive in the lab.