It is Alive in the Lab

Jig and Fixture Design, Nucleus, and Structure Generator Retire from Autodesk Labs

When technology previews end, they are retired from Autodesk Labs. We have three technology previews ending today: Jig & Fixture Design for Autodesk Inventor Project Nucleus for AutoCAD and Autodesk Revit Structure Generator for Autodesk Revit Thank you to everyone... Read more →

Try AutoCAD LT 2013 without downloading/installing it

Remember when the Autodesk Labs team worked on Project Twitch - the ability to run design applications on remote servers. You can see one of the fruits of our labor on the AutoCAD LT 2013 page. You can try AutoCAD... Read more →

Autodesk IDEA Studio: YouTube MRI to 3D video

The Autodesk IDEA Studio is a residency program for students, faculty, and industry professionals who apply design-driven solutions to problems in business, society, and the environment. Autodesk provides residents with a place to work at our Gallery at One Market... Read more →

Our Autodesk book, IMAGINE DESIGN CREATE, wins best in show

Our Autodesk book, Imagine Design Create: How Designers, Architects, and Engineers are Changing Our World, was selected as the best in show winner at the 26th Annual New York Book Show. I know team members like Tom Wujec (pictured above),... Read more →

Autodesk Gallery Exhibit: Past, Present, and Future of Product Design

The Autodesk Gallery at One Market in San Francisco celebrates design - the process of taking a great idea and turning it into a reality. With more than 20 different exhibits regularly on display that showcase the innovative work of... Read more →

Project Storm Graduates from Autodesk Labs to Autodesk 360 Structural Analysis for Autodesk Revit

Project Storm for Autodesk Revit Structure is a free technology preview that provides cloud-based structural analysis to structural engineers as a part of the BIM process. With Project Storm, engineers and designers can extend design models from Revit Structure to... Read more →

Walter Isaacson: The Real Management Lessons of Steve Jobs

Sketch, not a photograph, of Steve Jobs created by Autodesk employee, Nikhil Nayak, using Autodesk SketchBook Pro I recently read The Real Management Lessons of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson on the Harvard Business Journal site. While doing so, I... Read more →

Up, Up, and Away My Beautiful Balloon

On February 1 Autodesk Labs moved into the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Though Shaan Hurley and I are still doing our same jobs, we do get a chance to see the company from a slightly different perspective... Read more →

Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD Retires From Autodesk Labs

Alas poor Google Earth Extension! I knew him well. The Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD is no longer available on Autodesk Labs. We are aware of the importance of creating kmz/kml files as well as including preliminary surface and aerial... Read more →

Yet Another Project Vasari Talk is Today

Don't miss out on being a part of the talk: Project Vasari is our technology preview of an expressive design tool for creating building concepts. Project Vasari also includes integrated analysis for energy and carbon via the Autodesk Cloud. Project... Read more →

Bill O'Connor Interviews Carl Bass about Innovation

Recently Autodesk, CEO Carl Bass spoke about the New Rules for Innovation at the TEDx Berkeley event. "You keep using that word... I do not think it means what you think it means." This famous quote - which is about... Read more →

Autodesk Developer Network Expands Autodesk Solutions' Reach

The Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) consists of software developers seeking proven tools and technologies to extend Autodesk products and technologies to produce superior design, geospatial, and media & entertainment software solutions. Members customize existing Autodesk software, create plug-ins, and tightly... Read more →

Chef's Table Dinner at Commander's Palace in New Orleans

The night before we boarded The Rock Boat, since we were in New Orleans, my wife, Sheryl, and I had dinner at Commander's Palace. Since 1880, Commander's Palace has been a New Orleans landmark known for the award-winning quality of... Read more →

Scheduled Freewheel Down Time for March

This is my once-a-month copy/paste blog posting to let you know when Freewheel will be unavailable. Several times during the year, new functionality is released into Autodesk’s Enterprise Information Systems to enhance the company’s services to partners / customers and... Read more →

Project Vasari 2.5 Now Available for Download via Autodesk Labs

Project Vasari is our free technology preview of an easy-to-use, expressive design tool for creating building concepts with integrated cloud-based analysis for energy and carbon. The file used by Project Vasari are compatible with Autodesk Revit, so the work done... Read more →

Why I Am Staying At Autodesk

Greg Smith's OpEd piece, "Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs," in the New York Times is receiving lots of attention today: Greg provides his reasons, in embarrassing-for-the-company detail, as to why he is leaving Goldman Sachs. Having read it, I... Read more →

Happy Pi Day

Since pi is approximately 3.14, and today is 3/14/2012, it's pi day. Irrationality is alive in the lab. Read more →

Project Galileo Online extended to September 30, 2012

Project Galileo Online is our free technology preview that allows users of Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler to collaborate on and share infrastructure-scale models with their stakeholders by publishing models to the Autodesk Cloud, and inviting others to access, download, and commit... Read more →

Software makes me look 20 years younger

In his workflow from 123D Catch Beta to 123D Make, Technology Evangelist for the Office of the CTO, Shaan Hurley, has been using meshmixer. // Learn more about meshmixer What does meshmixer do you say? Check out this email. As... Read more →

Interactive Terrain Shaping for AutoCAD Civil 3D plus AutoCAD Map 3D

Interactive Terrain Shaping for AutoCAD Civil 3D / AutoCAD Map 3D is our free technology preview that provides users with a unique workflow for developing grading proposals. A holistic approach to terrain shaping allows users to proceed from concept to... Read more →

Point Cloud Feature Extraction for Revit is what you should try

On February 2 I posted a blog article that documents all of the details behind the ending of the technology previews related to point clouds: Three Technology Previews Come to an End (for now) At this time the LEICA CloudWorx... Read more →

The Rock Boat XII was music to my ears...

Scott, Sheryl, and Marie Barrios (photos compliments of Tim Barrios) While our other teammates from the Office of the CTO were finishing up at TED, I was on The Rock Boat. The Rock Boat is a 5-day Carnival Cruise from... Read more →

Updated HierarchyClone for Inventor Now Available

The Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) Plugin of the Month program is intended to: Introduce everyday users to programming. Encourage would-be programmers to get started. Provide generic functionality that can be customized to meet specific needs with a little bit of... Read more →

free ADN Plugin for the Month for March: Pipe2Pline for AutoCAD Civil 3D

source: The Treachery of Images, René Magritte, Wikipedia.org Recently Shaan Hurley announced some training materials on how to create a plugin for AutoCAD: Check out the self-paced guide "My First Plug-in" The self-paced guide can definitely get you started. You... Read more →

Next Project Vasari Talk is Tomorrow

Project Vasari is our technology preview of an expressive design tool for creating building concepts. Project Vasari also includes integrated analysis for energy and carbon via the Autodesk Cloud. Project Vasari on Autodesk Labs The Project Vasari team is conducting... Read more →

We could use some more AutoCAD Isometrics WS test cases (PCF files)

Recall my November 1, 2011 post about AutoCAD Isometrics WS: The motto of AutoCAD Isometrics WS is "Give me your designs, your output, your PCF files yearning to breathe free." Let's see if this technology can handle them? Learn more... Read more →

Plugins of the Month: Past, Present, and Future

The character of Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future in Charles Dickens' classic story of A Christmas Carol. You can visit the catalog page to download Plugins of the Month Past, Present, and... Read more →

Autodesk at TED: Social Space and Farewell - next up BIL

As I have mentioned for five days in a row now, TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. The conference was held in Long Beach this week. I blogged about Autodesk's participation every day. TED DayBlog Posting Topic... Read more →

Autodesk at TED: TED Prize

It's TED week here at the It's Alive in the Lab blog. Today's schedule includes: As I have mentioned for four days in a row, "TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading that started out as a conference... Read more →