May 9, 2008, 6:01 am

Autodesk Labs: You've got mail...

At Autodesk Labs we love hearing from customers. That's why we've set up an email alias for each technology or utility we make available.

We'd love to hear from you. In addition to the teams dedicated to each technology and utility, I read each and every message. Your early feedback helps us make improvements before these concepts go prime time. Alternatively your feedback helps us put to rest ideas whose time may never come. Either way, your feedback is critical.

Posted at 6:01 am in Weblogs | Comments (0)

May 8, 2008, 6:01 am

Ideas for redesigning the Autodesk labs home page

The Autodesk Labs web site has lots of technologies and utilities. We are in the process of looking at new designs for our home page to make things easier to find. One way of looking at the content is based on what Autodesk product you are using. I have loosely modeled this idea with a blog page called:

Some people are frequent visitors to the Autodesk Labs home page. These people want to know what's new. I have loosely modeled this with a blog page called:

These two pages contain links to the same Autodesk Labs information but presented in diferent ways. What are your ideas for our home page? I would love to hear them. Please send your feedback to TheLabs@autodesk.com.

Posted at 6:01 am in Weblogs | Comments (0)

May 7, 2008, 6:01 am

Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD relies on the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package

The Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD lets you publish your designs from AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architectural, AutoCAD Civil 3D, and AutoCAD Map. You can download this extension from:

PROBLEM: After downloading and installing, some people encounter a problem when they attempt to publish their designs to Google Earth. They see an error message that AeccDWGToGE.arx (AutoCAD Runtime eXtension) is unable to load.

WORKAROUND: This happens when the extension cannot find all of the supporting operating system capabilities it needs. The Google Earth Extension was developed by the AutoCAD team in C++ using Visual Studio 2005 SP1; hence, it relies on the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package. Users who encounter the problem can update their system DLLs (dynamically loadable libraries) to allow the Google Earth Extension to run by following the steps in the Microsoft article:

Identifying OS dependencies so you can give our technology previews a whirl is alive in the lab.

Posted at 6:01 am in AutoCAD Google Earth | Comments (0)

May 6, 2008, 8:01 am

Updated Inventor 2D to 3D Tool Now Available

Inventor Product Manager, Simon Bosley, provided me with an updated 2D to 3D Tool for Autodesk Inventor. I was happy to update the Autodesk Labs web site:

The updated version adds support for the 32-bit version of Autodesk Inventor 2009. It continues to support Inventor 2008 and Inventor 11. Please download it, convert some 2D data to a 3D model, and let us know what you think: labs.iv.2dto3d@autodesk.com.

Keeping technology previews compatible with our most recent products is alive in the lab.

Posted at 8:01 am in Inventor 2D to 3D Tool | Comments (0)

May 5, 2008, 9:01 am

Visual Search technology experiment reaches its end

We have ended our Autodesk Visual Search technology preview. Today I updated the Autodesk Labs site to unlink this capability. A form of this technologies continues to be available as VizSeek from Imaginestics.

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback we received with regard to searching for designs based on shape. Your feedback will be considered in planning future uses of this technology.

Posted at 9:01 am in Content Search | Comments (0)

May 2, 2008, 6:01 am

Gasoline Evaporation at the pump: full of hot air?

I don't usually read those emails that I get from friends that say "read this and pass it along." Normally I just delete them. But I got one the other day that I do not believe. It concerned the cost of gasoline. Basically this long-winded email made the following points.

TIPS ON PUMPING GAS

1. Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. All service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. As such, the colder the ground, the more dense the gasoline gets. When it gets warmer, gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening, your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.
   I live in Arizona where it gets to be 115 degrees. This can't be real.

2. When you're filling up, do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has 3 stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less for your money.
   Great. Now I can wait in line 3 times as long while people fill their tanks.

3. Fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL (or HALF EMPTY depending on how you look at it). The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank, the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.
   It has not been my experience that miles per gallon goes down as my tank empties.

4. If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up - most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.
   This one seems a little more plausible; however, if it were significant, stations would close their pumps when their storage tanks were being refilled.

See why I normally just delete these things. This can't be real, can it? The union of concerned scientists does not mention these things in their green tips for helping save the planet at the pump. As Labs scientists, we want the truth. And despite what Jack Nicholson's character said in A Few Good Men, we can handle the truth. So what's the truth? Let's hear from some chemists out there: TheLabs@autodesk.com.

Hoping to lay this urban legend to bed is alive in the lab. Other sites list this one as "undetermined."

Posted at 6:01 am in Weblogs | Comments (2)

May 1, 2008, 8:01 pm

Check out the DWF Community Updates

Check out the recent updates to the DWF Community:

Autodesk Labs has been a community since May 1, 2007. Autodesk has many communities and Labs was certainly not the first:

1. Autodesk.com
2. Autodesk Developer Network
3. Autodesk Labs
4. Autodesk University
5. ATC - Authorized Training Centers
6. AUGI - Autodesk User Group International
7. Civil Engineering Community
8. DWF Community
9. Impression Community
10. Industrial Design Community
11. Manufacturing Community
12. My Feedback
13. Student Community
14. The Area - 3D Animation Community

So wander over to the DWF Community and see what's up. Making a DWF is the first step in using Project Freewheel. Actually if you use the 3D/2D ShareNow Add-in, then even that step happens behind the scenes.

Posted at 8:01 pm in Weblogs | Comments (2)

May 1, 2008, 6:01 am

Autodesk and FIRST Robotics - Another Success!

In December I posted See winning Cybersonics robotics entry without installing additional software. In March I posted FIRSTbase: The Autodesk Source for FIRST Robotics Competition Teams. PR Manager, Channel and Education, Angela Simoes, filed this report:

"Robot coming through! Robot coming through!" We heard this countless times throughout the four-day FIRST Robotics Competition National Championships in Atlanta, Georgia. Pictures and stories really do not do this event justice. Everyone should go to FIRST at least once to experience the genius that is our youth.

Autodesk has been a proud sponsor of this competition since it began in 1992, and in total has provided more than $106 million in free software, training, mentoring resources, and funding. This year alone our support totals $17 million.

We often get mention of the fact that we are sponsors, but the more important message is the WHY. So why is Autodesk involved? The answer is very simple and is best summed up in one line from an article in metromode media, a local Detroit online news outlet that covered the Detroit regional competition:

As part of our support, Autodesk held two speaking engagements:

1. Brenda Discher, Senior Director of Marketing, Manufacturing Solutions, emphasized the need for more engineers at the FIRST Tech Challenge Judged Awards Ceremony.
2. Senior Director, Worldwide Education Programs, Paul Mailhot, reminded everyone why engineering is cool and why Autodesk is committed to engineering education at the FIRST Robotics Awards Ceremony.

Paul gave out the awards for the prestigious Autodesk Design Competition.

1. Team 234, Cyber Blue of Indianapolis, Indiana, was awarded the Autodesk Inventor Award.
2. Team 867, Absolute Value of Pasadena, California, won the Autodesk Visualization Award for their 30 second animation that best reflected this year’s theme, "Designing an Invention for their Community."

We created our own home-made B-Roll of students working on their robots, utilizing Autodesk software, and the competition itself and have posted it to Autodesk’s YouTube Channel. As part of our FIRST "Championship" sponsorship, Autodesk staffed a booth in the middle of the FRC pits area where teams worked on their robots. Educational presentations were conducted all three days of the event on both Inventor and 3DS Max by Phil Dollan and Ted Boardman. Expert Autodesk staff members were available at kiosks in the booth for one-on-one questions and demos on Inventor, 3DS Max and Education. Ted and Phil also hosted their 9th annual show where they highlighted entries from the Autodesk Design Competition and awarded teams Teddies and Phillies for their work. (See Flickr photos.)

FIRST Robotics continues to be a key event as part of Autodesk’s overall commitment to providing students and teachers with the resources and technologies to increase the number of qualified engineers that graduate globally every year.

Thanks Angela!

Posted at 6:01 am in Technology | Comments (0)

April 30, 2008, 6:01 am

AU 2009: Vote for Your Favorite Session

Manager AU Program Development, Joseph Wurcher, notes that we're doing something new this year—we would like you to help us select the best 500-plus sessions.

We have uploaded all of the sessions (that were submitted by the deadline) to AU 2008 Session site, and we need your input. Topics are organized under 19 tracks, which are either an industry or a product. If you are considering attending AU, please take a few minutes to vote for sessions that you absolutely want to see.

Over the next few weeks, we will review all those submissions and whittle them down to the number we can actually physically accommodate in the Venetian Conference Center in Las Vegas. Registration for AU will start on August 15th, and one week earlier for AU members. Class schedules will be available for review by August 1st.

Thank you in advance for helping us select the most interesting classes. The deadline for voting is Saturday, May 3, 2008.

Posted at 6:01 am in Autodesk University 2008 | Comments (0)

April 29, 2008, 7:01 am

FORA.tv: a video you need to watch

The FORA.tv motto is that the world is thinking. Join the brilliant ideas network for discourse and debate. There is a video on FORA.tv that I wish to call your attention to. It covers Architecture for Humanity and its Open Architecture Network. We are working with AFH/OAN with regards to Project Freewheel.

I encourage you to join the FORA.tv network and participate in the discussion. Looking for feedback, even on sites and forums not directly part of Autodesk Labs, is alive in the lab.

Posted at 7:01 am in Project Freewheel | Comments (0)