It is Alive in the Lab

Autodesk Gallery at One Market: Social Media

As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, I am one of about 40 Autodesk Gallery Ambassadors who conduct tours of our gallery at our One Market office in San Francisco. In addition to being a great place to physically... Read more →

Hugh Dubberly: Guest Lecture on Design

Jon Pittman is our VP of Corporate Strategy and Engagement - reporting to the CTO. In addition to working at Autodesk, Jon is a Lecturer at the Haas School of Business of the University of California at Berkeley. On Monday... Read more →

Happy 30th Birthday Autodesk

Today is or 30th birthday as a company. It was on April 26, 1982 when our founders formally incorporated as Autodesk, Inc. Autodesk has grown considerably from a handful of employees meeting in John Walker's garage to ~7800 employees today... Read more →

Technology Preview Download Counts by Industry

Autodesk primarily serves 4 industries: AEC - Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (e.g. buildings) MFG - Manufacturing (e.g., automobiles, appliances) M&E - Media and Entertainment (e.g., movies, TV commercials, games) ENI - Engineering, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure (e.g., bridges, roadways) As... Read more →

User Interfaces: Testing the new Apple iPad

As part of testing 123D Catch, I just got a new iPad. I decided to see how easy it would be to compose and post a blog article. The device seems great as a way to receive content, but entering... Read more →

Project Scout for Simulation Mechanical/Multiphysics Available Once Again

Project Scout for Simulation Mechanical/Multiphysics rides again... The previous technology preview of Project Scout for Simulation Mechanical/Multiphysics Technology Preview was for users of Simulation Mechanical 2012 and Simulation Multiphysics 2012. The team has decided to collect more feedback with a... Read more →

Eiji Nakatsu: Lecture on Biomimicry as applied to a Japanese Train

Dr. Eiji Nakatsu next to 500 Series Shinkansen train Who would you have guessed that the design of an electric passenger train had been influenced by animal biology? Biomimicry is a branch of science that looks to leverage the results... Read more →

YouTube: John Cleese on Creativity

And now for something completely different... Do you wish you were more creative? If so, check this out. If not, why not? Autodesk Design Review WS Architect, Jeff Klug, is my friend in life and on Facebook. He recently posted... Read more →

Updated Windows version of Inventor Fusion technology preview now available

Are you an Inventor Fusion technology preview user on Windows? If so, get the update. If not, the tech preview is free, so you can start right now on Windows or the Mac. The Autodesk Inventor Fusion technology preview is... Read more →

Use Autodesk Freewheel instead of Project Freewheel

We launched Project Draw on October 1, 2007. We retired it on January 21, 2010 but left the servers up. The other day we actually updated our DNS so draw.labs.autodesk.com now navigates to AutoCAD WS. To misquote a line from... Read more →

Project Simulus Now Available

Project Simulus is our free technology preview that demonstrates a number of innovative approaches to mechanical simulation. This technology preview provides geometry modification capabilities by embedding Inventor Fusion along with an intuitive simplification environment used to prepare CAD models for... Read more →

Free technology preview of Inventor Fusion for the Mac Now Available

You asked for Inventor Fusion on the Mac, and we heard you. Inventor Fusion is a free technology preview that enables creation of designs through intuitive direct manipulation tools. Our aim is to set a new standard for Assembly design,... Read more →

The POV Interview: Scott Borduin on Autodesk, Then and Now

Bill O'Connor is one of our Corporate Strategists. I recently blogged about Bill's interview of our CEO Carl Bass. As part of his work on the Corporate Strategy and Engagement team, of which Shaan Hurley and I are also members,... Read more →

Answer for "What is that thing?"

On August 28, 2009, as an allusion to an old Saturday Night Live skit where Steve Martin repeatedly asked "What is that? What the heck is that? What is that thing?" I created a blog posting entitled: What is that... Read more →

Dates for Autodesk University Events

For those of you doing your Autodesk University planning, here is some information: The date for AU China has not been finalized yet. Travel agents are alive in the lab. Read more →

Free technology preview of Inventor Simplification Now Available

"Everybody wants an egg from the Golden Goose. I wonder just how many eggs are in that Golden Goose." -- Todd Rundgren The Shrinkwrap Add-in for Inventor started out as a technology preview on Labs. So when Inventor Product Manager,... Read more →

Jon Pittman on Where do Great Innovators Come From?

Kindergartener, Kerry Ann Levenhagen, explains the probability of a dog actually eating homework. As mentioned in last Thursday's blog posting of Jon Pittman's review of Standing on The Sun, Jon is our VP of Corporate Strategy and Engagement - reporting... Read more →

Free April ADN Plugin of the Month: Material Profiler for Inventor Now Available

Better late than never. We held this one because we wanted to get it right before posting for download. The ADN plugin of the month is Material Profiler for Autodesk Inventor. You can download it for free from the Autodesk... Read more →

April 2012 Issue of Autodesk Labs Newsletter Innovation Edge

The Autodesk Labs newsletter is called Innovation Edge, coined by Senior Strategic Designer, Doug Look, and is published every other month. Users who opt in will only get 6 email messages a year - that's all. We don't want to... Read more →

TED Talk: Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone?

"If I have to be alone, it will be on my own terms. I could never talk about it, ever show it, even though the world is watching while I squirm alone." -- Todd Rundgren It's Good Friday, so let's... Read more →

Book Review by Jon Pittman: Standing on the Sun by Christopher Meyer

Jon Pittman is our VP of Corporate Strategy and Engagement - reporting to the CTO. He has a BS in Architecture from the University of Cincinnati, a MS in Computer Graphics from Cornell University, and an MBA from the University... Read more →

2012 Expiration Dates for Technology Previews

As I have mentioned before, some technology previews are like milk cartons. They have expiration dates on them. When a technology preview expires, the technology preview no longer operates. A preview has a time bomb in it that makes it... Read more →

Season Finale: Last Project Vasari Talk is Tomorrow

Project Vasari is our free technology preview of an expressive design tool for creating building concepts. Project Vasari includes integrated analysis for energy and carbon via cloud services as part of Autodesk 360. Project Vasari on Autodesk Labs The Project... Read more →

Trying it, liking it, but not telling us, is like not trying it

Autodesk Labs is all about feedback. We take technologies from our various divisions and share them via the Autodesk Labs web site. You can see a comprehensive list of the active and past technology previews to the left. Feedback determines... Read more →

Peruvian Children Smoke Marshmallow Challenge in Six Minutes

I first blogged about Autodesk Fellow, Tom Wujec's, marshmallow challenge in October of 2010. So I was thrilled when I read a letter that Tom shared with us the other day. Dear Tom Wujec, or to whom it may concern:... Read more →

Between the Lines: 3D Print Your Autodesk Products as a DVD

I know today is Sunday, but Shaan Hurley and I have a busy week ahead, and we worried he would not have time to get to this post. So he decided to bang this out today while he had time.... Read more →