It is Alive in the Lab

I am making a list and checking it twice

Autodesk is getting more involved with social media. Project Bluestreak is a great example. To try to make some sense of our increased involvement, I updated our social media page on the Autodesk Labs site to list the various social meda resources that Autodesk Labs is involved with:

http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/showroom/social_sites/

I will keep this up to date as our running list.

Being sociable is alve in the lab.

Autodesk Labs Community Login unavailable due to system maintenance tomorrow

Sign In and Registration functionality will not be available for discussion groups due to systems maintenance tied to our Disaster Recovery testing of our Enterprise Applications.

Saturday, Nov 21 from 12:00 AM – 3 PM PST

Creating new threads or replies, and other functionality dependent on sign in will be restricted. This includes saving diagrams on Project Draw, uploading files to Project Freewheel or participating in collaboration sessions, saving room customizations on Project Showroom, and trying our design applications using the cloud (Project Twitch).

Thank you for your patience and continued interest in Autodesk Labs.

Autodesk Labs Community Login unavailable due to system maintenance tomorrow

Sign In and Registration functionality will not be available for discussion groups due to systems maintenance tied to our Disaster Recovery testing of our Enterprise Applications.

Saturday, Nov 21 from 12:00 AM – 3 PM PST

Thank you for your patience and continued interest in Autodesk Labs.

Product Support Subscription Advantage Pack Videos

BYOP - bring your own popcorn and leave the rest to us

Social Media Manager, Brian Kling, shared this with me.

Overview - Product Support has created "deeper dive" videos reviewing the 2010 Subscription Advantage Packs for:

AutoCAD
Civil 3D
Inventor
Map 3D
Revit

These videos cover features/functionality from a different angle than traditional Marketing introduction videos and should provide users with a deeper understanding of how it is useful for them as well as anticipate/answer some questions users may have.

Goal - We are trying to increase visibility of our content to better assist our customers.

Location - The Autodesk YouTube channel collects these videos into a single play list.

So go ahead and join a Technical Lead from Autodesk Product Support as they walk through the features and functions of the new Subscription Advantage Packs, anticipating frequently asked questions and showing you how these features will be useful for you. Not on Subscription? Review the videos and then assess the many benefits of Subscription via the video.

Thanks Brian.

Helping spread the latest Product Support news is alive in the lab.

Product Support Subscription Advantage Pack Videos

BYOP - bring your own popcorn and leave the rest to us

Social Media Manager, Brian Kling, shared this with me.

Overview - Product Support has created "deeper dive" videos reviewing the 2010 Subscription Advantage Packs for:

AutoCAD
Civil 3D
Inventor
Map 3D
Revit

Goal - We are trying to increase visibility of our content to better assist our customers.

Location - The Autodesk YouTube channel collects these videos into a single play list.

Thanks Brian.

Helping spread the latest Product Support news is alive in the lab.

Project Bluestreak Now Available

Up, up, and away with Project Bluestreak

At one time I was the Software Development Manager for Buzzsaw,so I find collaboration in the construction industry very exciting. So I am happy to report that a team in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction division has been thinking about how their customers collaborate on design problems. They have started building Project Bluestreak -- a web-based collaboration environment for accelerating building information modeling through the open exchange of design information and ideas between desktop applications, web-based services, and people. How cool is that?

The basic building blocks needed to collaborate with your team -- user profiles, self organized private groups, file sharing, activity streams, notifications and comments -- are available on Autodesk Labs now for your testing and feedback. The team has decided that the best way to build a collaboration environment is to do it collaboratively! So they are asking you to get involved:

They say there's no "I" in team, but it's also true that there's no "U" in apathy. So "you" should get involved. To get started and help build the next generation of AEC collaboration:

Navigate to the Project Bluestreak page on the Autodesk Labs site.
Click on the Try It Now image.
Click on Sign Up icon to create your account and a project group, and try it out!
Use the “Feedback” button within the application to give us your feedback and discuss the application with other members of the Bluestreak user community.
In addition, you can always send comments to labs.bluestreak@autodesk.com.

With this initial release, you can:

Create and join project groups
Communicate with your project group members
Share project designs and documents
Quickly respond to project activities

More incremental releases will come Alive in the Lab as more features are developed, and your feedback is incorporated.

Social networking in the AEC world is alive in the lab.

Project Bluestreak Now Available

Up, up, and away with Project Bluestreak

They say there's no "I" in team, but it's also true that there's no "U" in apathy. So "you" should get involved. To get started and help build the next generation of AEC collaboration:

Navigate to the Project Bluestreak page on the Autodesk Labs site.
Click on the Try It Now image.
Click on Sign Up icon to create your account and a project group, and try it out!
Use the “Feedback” button within the application to give us your feedback and discuss the application with other members of the Bluestreak user community.
In addition, you can always send comments to labs.bluestreak@autodesk.com.

With this initial release, you can:

Create and join project groups
Communicate with your project group members
Share project designs and documents
Quickly respond to project activities

More incremental releases will come Alive in the Lab as more features are developed, and your feedback is incorporated.

Social networking in the AEC world is alive in the lab.

Project Dragonfly Update Now Available

This blog posting is 2 hours late. Boy is my face red.

The Project Dragonfly team has been busy. Today they unveiled an update. Try it now:

Project Dragonfly Information on Autodesk Labs Site

As a software as a service solution, this means the update is available to you right now. No download. No install. No nothing. Some of the big features in this update include:

Landscaping - you can plan your outdoors the same way you plan indoors
Levels - you can create multi-story floor plans
Appliances - you can pick from a multitude of Dacor appliances that were added with this release

So check out Project Dragonfly and engage in a bit of floor planning. Create a design and submit it to the gallery. Your friends will be green with envy.

Extending the functionality in the technology preview of our software as a service offering is alive in the lab

Project Dragonfly Update Now Available

This blog posting is 2 hours late. Boy is my face red.

The Project Dragonfly team has been busy. Today they unveiled an update. Try it now:

Project Dragonfly Information on Autodesk Labs Site

As a software as a service solution, this means the update is available to you right now. No download. No install. No nothing. Some of the big features in this update include:

Landscaping - you can plan your outdoors the same way you plan indoors
Levels - you can create multi-story floor plans
Appliances - you can pick from a multitude of Dacor appliances that were added with this release

So check out Project Dragonfly and engage in a bit of floor planning. Create a design and submit it to the gallery. Your friends will be green with envy.

Extending the functionality in the technology preview of our software as a service offering is alive in the lab

Autodesk University Extension - A Free Training Event

Senior Manager, Corporate and Channel PR, Angela Simoes, shared this with me.

The Autodesk University (AU) conference held each year in Las Vegas is the world’s largest learning and networking event for Autodesk product users. But not everyone can travel to Las Vegas. So this year, Autodesk is extending the benefits of AU by sharing classes and content from the event with Authorized Training Centers (ATC®). The result is a new worldwide initiative called Autodesk University Extension.

From December 4 – 11, 2009, there will be over 100 free training events, held in 35 countries hosted by over 90 Authorized Training Center sites, so chances are there may be an event near you! This is a great new opportunity to upgrade your skills and connect with peers and experts—without the cost of traveling to Las Vegas. Our program is free and we invite you to join us.

The Autodesk University Extension event combines expert-led class content from AU in Las Vegas with face-to-face interaction with local instructors and other users. At the event, you will receive:

Free training, including classes recorded at AU in Las Vegas
90 days of free access to 350 classes recorded at AU, archived on AU Online, and available to you on-demand

Plus, you may purchase additional training and certification (where available) at significant discounts. To find out what’s available, select a participating country and an Authorized Training Center (ATC) to view event details. http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=event_autodesk_university_extension.

Thanks Angela.

Revving up for AU is alive in the lab.

Autodesk University Extension - A Free Training Event

Senior Manager, Corporate and Channel PR, Angela Simoes, shared this with me.

The Autodesk University Extension event combines expert-led class content from AU in Las Vegas with face-to-face interaction with local instructors and other users. At the event, you will receive:

Free training, including classes recorded at AU in Las Vegas
90 days of free access to 350 classes recorded at AU, archived on AU Online, and available to you on-demand

Thanks Angela.

Revving up for AU is alive in the lab.

Something new to blog about - Autodesk University Virtual

Sales Programs Contractor, Daniel Teeter, shared this with me.

It’s official, customers from around the world can now attend Autodesk University "virtually"!

While the flagship event (AU 2009 Las Vegas, Dec 1-3, 2009) remains a not-to-be-missed experience, many are not able to physically attend. To that end, Autodesk University Virtual promises travel-challenged customers, "some of the best of AU right to your desktop."

Complete details are on the AU Virtual website, but here are the highlights:

Event date: December 1-4, 2009.
50+ Classes and Sessions- streamed "live" http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=virtual_class_listing.
A "Premium Pass" (full access) is only US$99.
All Subscription customers receive a free "Premier Pass".
A "Free Pass" (limited access) is available to anyone.
How AU Virtual compares with AU "On-Site"

Thanks Daniel.

Getting ready to be virtually at AU is alive in the lab.

AU: Register so as not to miss Advanced Design Integration for Radical Energy Efficiency by Amory Lovins

Brian Mathews, VP of Autodesk Labs, shared some cool information with me about Autodesk University.

Autodesk has been very fortunate to sign up Amory Lovins to be the keynote speaker at AU. Autodesk Labs has been involved in his selection. What is great is that beyond the Keynote address at the General Session on main stage, Amory has been gracious enough to teach a 90 minute class before the general session! As his class was added at the last minute, many attendees are unaware of his class and may have signed up for other classes. It's Alive in the Lab readers would be particularly interested to know that we have such an influential person at AU and would want to attend his class.

From the AU web site:

Amory Lovins, cofounder and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute joins Autodesk CEO Carl Bass and Autodesk CTO Jeff Kowalski at this year's General Session. Lovins, author of Winning the Oil Endgame, is among the world’s leading innovators in energy and its connections to resources, development, security, and the environment. His latest awards include the National Design Award (Design Mind), an Hon. AIA, Foreign Membership of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, and selection by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Lovins will also be teaching "Advanced Design Integration for Radical Energy Efficiency," a look at how integrative design—optimizing a whole system for multiple benefits, not isolated components for single benefits—can yield radical energy efficiency, often at lower capital cost, while giving the designers competitive advantage, bigger profits, and more fun.

As a precursor, check out these videos:

Date: Monday, December 1

Time: 8:00 AM (getting up early will be worth it)

Register: http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=e_class&session_id=5566

Thanks Brian.

AU: Register so as not to miss Advanced Design Integration for Radical Energy Efficiency by Amory Lovins

Brian Mathews, VP of Autodesk Labs, shared some cool information with me about Autodesk University.

From the AU web site:

As a precursor, check out these videos:

Date: Monday, December 1
Time: 8:00 AM (getting up early will be worth it)
Register: http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=e_class&session_id=5566

Thanks Brian.

Something new to blog about - Autodesk University Virtual

Sales Programs Contractor, Daniel Teeter, shared this with me.

It’s official, customers from around the world can now attend Autodesk University "virtually"!

Complete details are on the AU Virtual website, but here are the highlights:

Event date: December 1-4, 2009.
50+ Classes and Sessions- streamed "live" http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=virtual_class_listing.
A "Premium Pass" (full access) is only US$99.
All Subscription customers receive a free "Premier Pass".
A "Free Pass" (limited access) is available to anyone.
How AU Virtual compares with AU "On-Site"

Thanks Daniel.

Getting ready to be virtually at AU is alive in the lab.

Join the Autodesk Seek team for a lively discussion about product content at AU, and earn CE credits along the way

Lively but maybe not this lively

Autodesk Seek Marketing Manager, Jim Wilson, asked me to post this. I was happy to do so.

You’ve heard of BIM. Maybe you’ve even worked with BIM. Now’s your chance to let building product manufacturers know how they can build the product information that you need, when you need it, where you need it. We’ll debate standards, content development best practices and your requirements for how best to deliver manufacturer-specific content for your workflow. This lively and interactive content panel – hosted by the team from Autodesk Seek, a recent “graduate” of Autodesk Labs in 2008 - will be of particular interest to sales and marketing executives for building product manufactures in the AEC industry, and design professionals from top firms who are regular users of Autodesk® Revit® and AutoCAD® in the AEC industry.

We hope to see you at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino for Autodesk University. Please register below to reserve a seat now. Oh, by the way, your attendance at the Autodesk Seek panel discussion qualifies for AIA learning credits.

Customers Are From Venus and Manufacturers Are From Mars: Connecting the Dots with Content

Class ID: AB308-3

Class Type: 90-Minute Panel

http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=e_class&session_id=5357

Just like the commercial for Ginsu knives - But wait, there’s more! If you’re interested in learning about how to maximize 3D visualization content for online commerce and web-based services using 3ds Max, Autodesk’s 3D modeling, animation, and rendering solution, you’ve found your class. Register below. We look forward to seeing you.

Best Practices: Using Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design to Build Content for Online Commerce

Class ID: DV318-1

Class Type: 90-minute class

http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=e_class&jid=29034&session_id=5199

Thanks Jim.

Join the Autodesk Seek team for a lively discussion about product content at AU, and earn CE credits along the way

Lively but maybe not this lively

Autodesk Seek Marketing Manager, Jim Wilson, asked me to post this. I was happy to do so.

Customers Are From Venus and Manufacturers Are From Mars: Connecting the Dots with Content
Class ID: AB308-3
Class Type: 90-Minute Panel
http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=e_class&session_id=5357

Best Practices: Using Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design to Build Content for Online Commerce
Class ID: DV318-1
Class Type: 90-minute class
http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=e_class&jid=29034&session_id=5199

Thanks Jim.

My first week back

Well it's been my first week back. I would like to thank Amanda Collins, Ben Cochran, Brian Mathews, Douglas Look, and Frederic Loranger who looked after the blog during my sabbatical and guest authored articles. During my six weeks off, my wife and I:

Saw our son off to boot camp at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. I helped him get his car ready for sale. He sold it to CarMax - a very disappointing experience in terms of the price he received.
Moved from Scottsdale, Arizona to Alameda, California. We got to go to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. As part of registering my car, I asked "Are front plates optional or required?" The clerk's response was "No." (Excuse me but that was not a "yes" or "no" question.) Although Arizona only requires a rear license plate, California requires both front and back. I also had the pleasure of opening new bank accounts, setting up new services, dealing with damage caused by the movers, and becoming familiar with the rules for my Homeowners Association.
Oversaw progress on the remodeling of our town home. We are getting a new kitchen, new shower, organized closets, tankless hot water heater, new fireplace, and painting throughout. This started in September. We're not done yet. The goal is to be done by Thanksgiving. We have made so many trips to Home Depot and Lowe's that the employees know us by name.

The day we drove from Scottsdale to Alameda was October 13. It rained the whole way. In fact, Alameda had its hardest rain since 1962. When we arrived, we saw that our garage had a leak. In addition, the painters had painted the rooms the wrong colors. Welcome to California. It was a very productive time in our lives. I am glad to be back at work.

My first week back

Saw our son off to boot camp at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. I helped him get his car ready for sale. He sold it to CarMax - a very disappointing experience in terms of the price he received.
Moved from Scottsdale, Arizona to Alameda, California. We got to go to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. As part of registering my car, I asked "Are front plates optional or required?" The clerk's response was "No." (Excuse me but that was not a "yes" or "no" question.) Although Arizona only requires a rear license plate, California requires both front and back. I also had the pleasure of opening new bank accounts, setting up new services, dealing with damage caused by the movers, and becoming familiar with the rules for my Homeowners Association.
Oversaw progress on the remodeling of our town home. We are getting a new kitchen, new shower, organized closets, tankless hot water heater, new fireplace, and painting throughout. This started in September. We're not done yet. The goal is to be done by Thanksgiving. We have made so many trips to Home Depot and Lowe's that the employees know us by name.

Bridge Modeler for AutoCAD Civil 3D Now Available

When Dave Simeone and Yoshihiko Fukuchi approached me about making a technology preview available on Autodesk Labs, I couldn't help but think about Led Zeppelin's "The Crunge." At the end of the song Robert Plant sings "I'm just trying to find a bridge." to which Jimmy Page retorts "Where's that confounded bridge?" Dave and Yoshihiko have an extension to AutoCAD Civil 3D for bridge modeling:

Free Download of Bridge Modeler Technology Preview for AutoCAD Civil 3D on Autodesk Labs

Please give it a try, create a bridge you'd like to sell me, and let us know how it turns out at labs.civil3d.bridge@autodesk.com. You have until March 15, 2010 to do so.

Building bridges is alive in the lab.

Bridge Modeler for AutoCAD Civil 3D Now Available

Free Download of Bridge Modeler Technology Preview for AutoCAD Civil 3D on Autodesk Labs

Please give it a try, create a bridge you'd like to sell me, and let us know how it turns out at labs.civil3d.bridge@autodesk.com. You have until March 15, 2010 to do so.

Building bridges is alive in the lab.

Piping Design Technology Preview Now Available

Product Manager, Ravi Akella, contacted me a while back about a new Piping Design Technology Preview he wanted to get feedback on from the Autodesk Labs community. Now that I am back from my sabbatical, I was happy to update the Autodesk Labs site:

Free Download of Piping Design Technology Preview on Autodesk Labs

Please give this a try and let us know what you think at labs.algor.piping@autodesk.com. You have until June 30, 2010 to do so.

Looking forward to a flurry of feedback regarding this new technology preview is alive in the lab.

Piping Design Technology Preview Now Available

Free Download of Piping Design Technology Preview on Autodesk Labs

Please give this a try and let us know what you think at labs.algor.piping@autodesk.com. You have until June 30, 2010 to do so.

Looking forward to a flurry of feedback regarding this new technology preview is alive in the lab.

Try AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit on your Windows 7 system without installing them

Autodesk Labs just released an update of its Application Trials Service. Also known as Project Twitch, this technology preview lets you try our flagship products over the internet without the need to download or install them on your computer. Right now, users can try AutoCAD 2010, Inventor 2010, Revit Architecture 2010, and soon Maya 2010 (stay tuned for the next update of the service).

This update provides the much anticipated support for Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit) along with some core improvements to the technology. Please give it a try and tell us what you think at labs.trials@autodesk.com.

Frederic Loranger, Autodesk Labs

Try AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit on your Windows 7 system without installing them

Project Twitch Down for a small Maintenance Window Today

Project Twitch will be unavailable at 9:30 am Thursday, November 11, 2009 PT for an upgrade to the application service. Stay tuned for more details about the upgrade…

Project Twitch Down for a small Maintenance Window Today

Project Twitch will be unavailable at 9:30 am Thursday, November 11, 2009 PT for an upgrade to the application service. Stay tuned for more details about the upgrade…

Updated Moldflow UI Technology Preview Now Available

AutoCAD has a ribbon interface. Inventor has a ribbon interface, etc. The ribbon interface has become standard for Autodesk design applications. To see how this would apply to the Moldflow product line, we have a technology preview of a ribbon interface. Your feedback (labs.moldflow.ui@autodesk.com) will help determine the final implementation. The technology preview originally allowed you to patch

to have the ribbon interface. Yesterday we updated the technology preview to also include:

Autodesk Moldflow Insight

You can download the UI technology preview from the Autodesk Labs site:

Free download of Moldflow UI Technology Preview

So now if you use any of the Moldflow applications, we invite you to experience the ribbon interface. "Do not fear the ribbon." Let us know how it works or does not work for you.

Expanding technology previews to cover all of the bases is alive in the lab.

Updated Moldflow UI Technology Preview Now Available

to have the ribbon interface. Yesterday we updated the technology preview to also include:

Autodesk Moldflow Insight

You can download the UI technology preview from the Autodesk Labs site:

Free download of Moldflow UI Technology Preview

So now if you use any of the Moldflow applications, we invite you to experience the ribbon interface. "Do not fear the ribbon." Let us know how it works or does not work for you.

Expanding technology previews to cover all of the bases is alive in the lab.

Noble Studios: 2009 Silver Davey Award – Winner for Interactive Multimedia for Corporate Image

What's a Silver Davey? An award. What's a Greek urn? About $9/hour. [old joke as in "earn"]

One of the partners we work with is Noble Studios. For example, they helped us with some of the Autodesk Labs site redesign we completed in August. Jarrod Lopiccolo of Noble Studios recently shared some good news with us. Noble Studios was recently awarded a 2009 Silver Davey Award. Read about it here:

5th Annual Davey Awards

The award gets its name from the story of David versus Goliath. Like the small boy who brought down the big giant with a slingshot and a rock, awards are given to small firms with big ideas.

Congratulations to Noble Studios.

Noble Studios: 2009 Silver Davey Award – Winner for Interactive Multimedia for Corporate Image

What's a Silver Davey? An award. What's a Greek urn? About $9/hour. [old joke as in "earn"]

5th Annual Davey Awards

The award gets its name from the story of David versus Goliath. Like the small boy who brought down the big giant with a slingshot and a rock, awards are given to small firms with big ideas.

Congratulations to Noble Studios.

November Plugin of the Month: Screenshot for AutoCAD Now Available

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - so share your beautiful designs as images.

I was on sabbatical until yesterday, so I am a little bit tardy with the November plugin of the month. This month's Autodesk Developer Network plugin comes to us from our own Kean Walmsley and provides a screenshot capability for AutoCAD.

Free Download of Screenshot for AutoCAD on Autodesk Labs

From the read me: "This plugin can be used with AutoCAD to simplify the process of capturing images of parts of drawings, or the entire drawing or application windows. It optionally allows you to remap the background to white and the foreground to black, and convert the entire image to grayscale, as well as sending the capture image directly to a printer."

The plugin works with AutoCAD 2007 and later versions. This applies to vanilla AutoCAD as well as AutoCAD-based products. So please give it a shot and let us know what you think at labs.plugins@autodesk.com.

Celebrating the sharing of another plugin (including its source code) is alive in the lab.

November Plugin of the Month: Screenshot for AutoCAD Now Available

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - so share your beautiful designs as images.

Free Download of Screenshot for AutoCAD on Autodesk Labs

Celebrating the sharing of another plugin (including its source code) is alive in the lab.

2D to 3D Tool and Feature Recognition on Autodesk Labs Compatible with Autodesk Inventor LT 2010

Please pardon my omission

Thanks to Autodesk Inventor Product Manager, Sam Antos, who did the research to let me know that

are compatible with Autodesk Inventor LT 2010. I have updated the Autodesk Labs site pages accordingly. Now Autodesk Inventor LT users are aware that they too can send us suggestions at labs.iv.2dto3d@autodesk.com and labs.iv.feature.recog@autodesk.com.

Looking forward to feedback from Autodesk Inventor LT users is alive in the lab.

2D to 3D Tool and Feature Recognition on Autodesk Labs Compatible with Autodesk Inventor LT 2010

Please pardon my omission

Thanks to Autodesk Inventor Product Manager, Sam Antos, who did the research to let me know that

Looking forward to feedback from Autodesk Inventor LT users is alive in the lab.

Back to Work on Monday

Ducks in a row outside our bedroom window

Today is the last day of my sabbatical. I had better get all of my non-work "ducks in a row" as it is back to work on Monday.

-- Scott Sheppard, Autodesk Labs

Back to Work on Monday

Ducks in a row outside our bedroom window

Today is the last day of my sabbatical. I had better get all of my non-work "ducks in a row" as it is back to work on Monday.

-- Scott Sheppard, Autodesk Labs

What You Can Do With Project Cooper

Using Project Cooper, Autodesk employees have created a host of precise drawings and plans. Every so often, we take a minute to sketch out other, more whimsical subjects. Take a look at what two team members shared with us today. Fun is alive and well in the Labs.

"Woman” by Zushun Zhan

"Sneaker” by Kevin Ke

What You Can Do With Project Cooper

"Woman” by Zushun Zhan

"Sneaker” by Kevin Ke

Cloud Services You Need

[This is Ben Cochran again writing for Scott while he is on Sabbatical.]

For years now, languages, tools and platforms have been making the creation of web-based services easier and more robust. Some of these are IIS, Apache, Tomcat, Java, .NET, WCF, PHP, Ruby on Rails and the list goes on and on and …

Until recently deploying and hosting these services had been difficult and expensive. This is because any service of value needs to be dependable. Otherwise, who would use it? I personally have come to expect web services to be highly available. For example, I love on-line banking, but if my bank had flaky on-line services, I would change banks without thinking twice. Thankfully, that is not the case for my bank.

Cloud based services are generally a collection of connected dependent systems that include storage, databases, security, auditing, monitoring and more. The whole system is only as reliable as the weakest link. Traditionally, making these services reliable required lots and lots of hardware. Each server needs to have redundant power supplies, redundant disks, redundant network, redundant load balancers and redundant storage. Then the data-center that houses all this equipment needs to be redundant. Does this sound a little redundant? With all this equipment, hardware failure is inevitable, requiring teams of IT people to keep everything running smoothly.

The result is that many companies think twice about building scalable reliable services. Companies that do have the needed IT infrastructure are often times not flexible enough to try out new ideas. They require a retooling to support different and out of the box services. All of this makes the cost of exploring new web based services expensive and risky, for many too risky to try the next crazy idea.

This is changing! With cloud hosting services from companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google providing the backend systems on an as-needed bases the initial cost is a fraction of what it was. For example, servers, load balancers, network, reliable backed up storage and databases are rented by the hour or gigabyte. Instead of buying truckloads of expensive redundant hardware in hopes that a new cloud service idea is successful, companies can spend almost nothing to try out new ideas. If the new idea takes off, the backend systems scales up for the demand. Companies need only pay for resources that are actually used.

Labs had been experimenting with new and interesting cloud services like:

http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/dragonfly/

http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/draw/

http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/freewheel/

http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/showroom/

and more recently http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/trials/

What new cloud services are useful to you? What are your crazy ideas?

- Ben Cochran

Cloud Services You Need

[This is Ben Cochran again writing for Scott while he is on Sabbatical.]

Labs had been experimenting with new and interesting cloud services like:
http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/dragonfly/
http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/draw/
http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/freewheel/
http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/showroom/
and more recently http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/trials/

What new cloud services are useful to you? What are your crazy ideas?

- Ben Cochran

Random Bridge Ramblings

Autodesk Labs Software Developer, Gyorgy Ordody, submitted this.

As we now know in the Bay Area, it’s not easy to maintain and build bridges. We have the Bay Bridge (or James "Sunny Jim" Rolph Bridge) trouble going on as this is being written (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/30/BAU91ACT27.DTL&tsp=1), while the new eastern span is being built. In fact, the Autodesk Gallery (http://usa.autodesk.com/company/autodesk-gallery) has a model of the new span, as you could see in a previous post (http://labs.blogs.com/photos/autodesk_gallery_at_one_m/bay_bridge_jpg.html). For more about the new eastern span, you can check out http://baybridge360.org/ while you can see a panoramic view of the actual Bay Bridge here: http://bata.mtc.ca.gov/bridges/sf-oak-bay.htm.

The Golden Gate Bridge is also continuously maintained, painted and the lane configuration are changed several times a day to accommodate the traffic. In fact there are plans to implement a “zipper-like” solution for that problem (http://www.goldengatebridge.org/projects/mmb_aug08.php).

Other bridges are also being earthquake retrofitted (http://www.mtc.ca.gov/news/transactions/ta1205-0106/rsr.htm, were widened (http://bata.mtc.ca.gov/bridges/sm-hayward.htm) added to (http://bata.mtc.ca.gov/bridges/ben-mar.htm) replaced (http://bata.mtc.ca.gov/bridges/carquinez.htm).

To learn about these bridges, check out the Bay Area Toll Authority page: http://bata.mtc.ca.gov/bridges/index.htm and the homepage of the Golden Gate Bridge: http://goldengatebridge.org/ (which is under different jurisdiction from the previous ones.)

To build bridges is not easy. To start to warm up to the idea, you can just play (highly addictive) games. The grandfather of all bridge building games is Bridge Builder. You can learn more about this game/download it from a fan page, check out: http://www.bridgebuilder-game.com/ or http://www.stopgeek.com/featured-download-bridge-building-game.html You can also buy it its (3D) sequels at the source: http://www.chroniclogic.com/

The popularity and addictivity might be due to the (mostly) realistic physics, and the ability to test the bridges with actual traffic on them. In fact, there is even a wiki page about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_Builder, where you can learn that among many others, the equally addictive and physics based Word of Goo (http://www.2dboy.com/games.php) and Armadillo Run (http://www.armadillorun.com/). And while you’re sitting in traffic, waiting for the Bay Bridge-related traffic jams to clear, you can play a Bridge Builder clone on your phone! (Actually, please don’t do that.)

After playing these games, only a few years of college and practice separates you from designing real bridges! And if you do so, maybe you’ll use Civil 3D. And maybe there will be an add-on to Civil 3D that will help to model those bridges. So, check back to the labs webpage at http://labs.autodesk.com to see if there are any new tools in the coming weeks.

Thanks Gyorgy.

Random Bridge Ramblings

Autodesk Labs Software Developer, Gyorgy Ordody, submitted this.

Thanks Gyorgy.

Project Cooper: You Name It!

[Amanda Collins writing for Scott Sheppard while he is on sabbatical]

Have you tried Project Cooper with Win 7, Vista or even XP? Be sure to email labs.cooper@autodesk.com with any comments you might have.

What do you think it should be called? Help us give Project Cooper a permanent name! Take this short, multiple-choice survey. Should take less than 2 minutes, and we appreciate your input.

SurveyMonkey survey link is live at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=sDjZfumZmi14Uu4E2e3VWA_3d_3d

Project Cooper: You Name It!

[Amanda Collins writing for Scott Sheppard while he is on sabbatical]

Have you tried Project Cooper with Win 7, Vista or even XP? Be sure to email labs.cooper@autodesk.com with any comments you might have.

What do you think it should be called? Help us give Project Cooper a permanent name! Take this short, multiple-choice survey. Should take less than 2 minutes, and we appreciate your input.

SurveyMonkey survey link is live at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=sDjZfumZmi14Uu4E2e3VWA_3d_3d

MFG Community Wiki Help Beta

[Ben Cochran here, while Scott Sheppard is on sabbatical]

On Monday, the Manufacturing (MFG) Wiki Help went live. The MFG Wiki Helps enable community collaboration by enhancing and extending Autodesk Help content. You can share and edit videos, add instructions, add tips, ratings, tags, comments, and much more.

Users can use their profile information from autodesk.com and login using single sign-on. If you don’t have an autodesk.com profile, now is a good time to register. All autodesk.com users will have “contribute” access by default.

The first MFG Wiki Help project is Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview 2. After trying out Fusion, check out the MFG Wiki Help.

Personally, I love Wiki’s. Traditional documentation becomes stale fast. Regardless of how much effort is put into traditional documentation it can always be improved and added to, it is never done. New samples and workflows always enhance existing documentation. Check it out!

-Ben Cochran, Autodesk Labs

MFG Community Wiki Help Beta

[Ben Cochran here, while Scott Sheppard is on sabbatical]

The first MFG Wiki Help project is Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview 2. After trying out Fusion, check out the MFG Wiki Help.

-Ben Cochran, Autodesk Labs

More on Project Cooper

[Amanda Collins writing for Scott Sheppard while he is on sabbatical]

One of the divisions at Autodesk is named Platform Solutions & Emerging Business (PSEB). Autodesk Labs is part of the “emerging” area. Another Emerging Business team in PSEB, led by Product Manager Lisa Crounse, has been working on technology to make it easier for the average person to create polished drawings. Not technical drawings like those produced from AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, but drawings that are to scale, and accurate enough to hand off to an engineer or architect or city planning office.

Get a jump-start with sample

drawings and symbols in Project Cooper.

Today Lisa’s team released a technology preview of Project Cooper, an easy-to-use drawing application that lets you create quick designs without sacrificing quality. Now contractors and ordinary people like me, who don’t necessarily “speak CAD”, can create accurate, detailed plans and layouts to scale. It’s a godsend to those of us with a great idea (like that dream kitchen) but lack the ability to pencil it out. With the sample drawings and library of content included in Project Cooper, I don’t even have to start from scratch. I can take a sample drawing and use that as a first step toward building the customized layout I have in mind.

Project Cooper is great for architects and engineers too, because they can include original sketches in their technical drawing sets. Architects tell us that omission errors resulting from misunderstood conversations are one of the key challenges to getting projects in on time and on budget. Project Cooper can help in those situations. Better communication; less rework.

Use Project Cooper to get ideas on paper,

then save the drawing as a DWG and

share it with your architect or designer.

You can sketch a host of different things with this software. So far, my best effort has been a porch-to-sidewalk ramp, but this is from a person who has trouble drawing a simple stick figure, so it’s quite an accomplishment! Hats off to the Project Cooper team for taking rough sketches to a higher level. And thanks for developing an application that can help an average person like me get what’s in my “mind’s eye” … down on paper for the rest of the world to see.

Project Cooper is available at no charge. Try it! And watch for exciting news to come.

Building for tomorrow is alive in the Labs today.

Amanda Collins, Senior Marketing Manager, Autodesk Labs

More on Project Cooper

[Amanda Collins writing for Scott Sheppard while he is on sabbatical]

Get a jump-start with sample
drawings and symbols in Project Cooper.

Use Project Cooper to get ideas on paper,
then save the drawing as a DWG and
share it with your architect or designer.

Project Cooper is available at no charge. Try it! And watch for exciting news to come.

Building for tomorrow is alive in the Labs today.
Amanda Collins, Senior Marketing Manager, Autodesk Labs

Inventor Fusion Update

[Ben Cochran here, while Scott Sheppard is on sabbatical]

I wanted to let you know the Autodesk® Inventor® Fusion Technology Preview has been updated. It now includes Inventor Fusion change manager functionality. I am excited about Fusion because the preview enables direct manipulation of 3D models in Inventor. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Inventor Fusion Update

[Ben Cochran here, while Scott Sheppard is on sabbatical]

Project Cooper evaluated on CNET

Rafe Needleman from CNET evaluates Project Cooper on Win7 with multi-touch. If you remember a few years ago, multi-touch on the desktop was obscure and unsupported. Now you can see how multi-touch is entering the desktop environment. Check it out!

Project Cooper evaluated on CNET

Looking for programs to install with Windows 7? How about Autodesk Project Cooper?

[Amanda Collins writing for Scott Sheppard while he is on sabbatical]

As you probably know, Microsoft launched Windows 7 on Thursday with a big event in New York City. Autodesk announced its support for Windows 7 here.

If you have a chance to read through the press release, you’ll see that Project Cooper, now on Autodesk Labs and on Autodesk.com, was part of Autodesk’s announcement. Project Cooper was demo’d at the Win 7 launch. Rafe Needleman, at CNET, covered Project Cooper last night: http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10380845-12.html

Project Cooper is a simple, hassle-free software that lets you create polished drawings, layouts, and plans. We hope you’ll install the Project Cooper tech preview with your other Win 7 applications. Take it for a test-drive and let us know what you think. Gathering feedback is alive in the Labs.

Looking for programs to install with Windows 7? How about Autodesk Project Cooper?

Introducing the Project Cooper Technology Preview

[Amanda Collins writing for Scott Sheppard while he is on sabbatical]

In an earlier blogpost, Scott hinted about an exciting new technology preview coming your way: Autodesk Project Cooper. Drum roll, please .. it has arrived! Check out this easy-to-use drawing application and let us know what you think.

Download Project Cooper from Autodesk.com

Find out more about Project Cooper on Autodesk Labs

Read the announcement

Introducing the Project Cooper Technology Preview

[Amanda Collins writing for Scott Sheppard while he is on sabbatical]

Download Project Cooper from Autodesk.com
Find out more about Project Cooper on Autodesk Labs
Read the announcement

Project Twitch now runs on Windows XP x64 and Vista x64

[Frederic Loranger here as a guest writer while Scott Sheppard is on sabbatical] ®

Project Twitch is a technology preview that lets you try AutoCAD® 2010, Inventor® 2010, Revit® Architecture 2010, and soon Maya® 2010 over the internet without the need to install these applications on your computer. A small application called the Autodesk Trials takes care of the communication between our servers and your computer. This small client originally supported only Windows® XP and Windows Vista™.

Since we first launched Project Twitch, many of you have asked our team to consider adding support for other flavors of the Windows Operating Systems. After doing some preliminary testing, we are happy to announce that we have now added Windows XP x64 and Windows Vista x64 on the list of available platforms.

Please give it a try and tell us what you think at labs.trials@autodesk.com

Frederic Loranger, Autodesk Labs

Project Twitch now runs on Windows XP x64 and Vista x64

[Frederic Loranger here as a guest writer while Scott Sheppard is on sabbatical] ®

Please give it a try and tell us what you think at labs.trials@autodesk.com

Frederic Loranger, Autodesk Labs

Solar Radiation Technology Preview Update

[Ben Cochran writing for Scott Sheppard while he is on sabbatical]

People using Revit® Architecture 2010 Update 2 and Revit® MEP 2010 Update 2 have been asking about the Solar Radiation Technology Preview on Labs. The previous preview supported Revit® Architecture 2010 Update 1, but not Update 2. Based on feedback received, the Solar Radiation Technology Preview has been updated to support Update 2. So if you have Revit® Architecture 2010 Update 1 or Update 2 and are interested in Solar Radiation Technology Preview, visit Solar Radiation Technology Preview

Keep the feedback coming,

Ben Cochran, Autodesk Labs

Solar Radiation Technology Preview Update

[Ben Cochran writing for Scott Sheppard while he is on sabbatical]

Keep the feedback coming,

Ben Cochran, Autodesk Labs

Project Twitch Coverage – Update

[Frederic Loranger here as a guest writer while Scott Sheppard is on sabbatical]

When we first launched Project Twitch – an internet delivery of application trials – we enforced that participants be within 1000 miles from our data center located in Santa Clara, California.

We recently relaxed our pre-screening to include the entire USA and Canada to allow more people to download and try the Autodesk Trials Service. We are still making sure that your connection to our data center is fast enough and won’t let you in if your network connection is flaky or slow. The closer you are to Santa Clara, California, the better your chance of trying this new technology preview.

If you are not able to use the service from an Enterprise Network (LAN), make sure to read the FAQ to find out if your IT department is blocking access to specific traffic and/or ports our service is using.

Please give it a whirl (I feel twitchy) and tell us what you think at labs.trials@autodesk.com

Frederic Loranger, Autodesk Labs

Project Twitch Coverage – Update

[Frederic Loranger here as a guest writer while Scott Sheppard is on sabbatical]

When we first launched Project Twitch – an internet delivery of application trials – we enforced that participants be within 1000 miles from our data center located in Santa Clara, California.

Please give it a whirl (I feel twitchy) and tell us what you think at labs.trials@autodesk.com

Frederic Loranger, Autodesk Labs

Interview With An Idea

Diagram: State Transition of an Idea

IDEA
AS ARTIFACT: Interview with an Idea

This exercise
comprised tracking an idea as an artifact, from its initial inception and over
the course of a few weeks, its transformation and journey through life. As a method for thinking from the point of
view of the artifact, I "interviewed" the artifact with ethnographic
interview techniques to gain a unique perspective.

Q:
Mr. Idea, could you tell us a bit about yourself, how you got started in life?

A: Well, I guess you could say that the seed of
me, as an idea, started before I was born.
A team of video ethnographers captured some observations of a family
shopping experience as part of their research project. This video tape eventually found its way back
to a design research company, where a project manager and a designer viewed the
tapes.

Q:
So, when were you born exactly?

A:
That's kind of hard to say, but I believe I came into the world as the
project manager and the designer were coding the video--looking for bytes of
information in the observation data. It
may have happened simultaneously, but I do recall showing up in at least two
forms in the beginning: as a thought in
the project manager's head, and also in the designer's imagination.

Q: What did you look like at the time?

A: Well,
I didn't actually have physical form yet, at least not until I felt myself
being expressed as some handwritten notes in a notebook, and then soon after, I
also took the form of a quick sketch on a small, square piece of paper that had
a semi-sticky surface on the back. Very
soon after, I remember that I also took form as words in a discussion about me
between the designer and project manager.

Q: That sounds pretty exciting, could you
describe your journey from there?

A:
Sure. I sat there in the notebook
and on that square note pad for a while, then I remember someone else coming in
the room and documenting me as words on another sticky note--I think they
called them post-its. I was part of a
general discussion for a while.

The designer took me
and kind of repositioned the post-it note that I was on, kind of forming the
notes into a grid--so I guess I was sitting on the table alongside another
bunch of ideas. I'm pretty sure there
were some relatives of mine, related ideas who were residing in the notebook
and also on adjacent post-its.

Then the designer took
the post-its and placed me on a big wall surface, and started moving us around
in relation to one another. There were a
few other people in the room who stared at me, made comments, and sometimes
suggested that perhaps I be moved to another location.

Q: Did you stay there on the wall for long?

A: Not
really. After the meeting was over, the
part of me on the notebook was carried to the project manager's desk, where a
bunch of stuff was piled on top of the notebook (with me inside). The part of me on the post-it note was
carried by the designer back to their team area, where I was transferred to
another wall. I think I remember seeing
a bunch of other pictures, print outs, schedules also on the wall.

Q: Could you describe what happened next at the
project manager's desk?

A: Well,
eventually the project manager opened up the notebook and looked at me
again--but this time he started to scribble some additional notes in the
margins and he also started typing me into his laptop computer--so I really
transformed again, this time into bits in computer word processing
program. I'm not sure I remember all the
places I traveled, because I was starting to exist in so many places all at the
same time. I do recall being sent off as
bits in a digital file to be saved in a centralized computer server.

Q: How about the activities as the post-it
board?

A: After
the designer posted me up there, he just kind of left and didn't really take
much notice of me for awhile. In fact,
no one really noticed me again for a few days--it was pretty interesting
though, as there was a constant influx of new pieces of information being
posted, and new ideas were being generated all the time. Well, except between the hours of 9pm and
about 8:30am--though once I think I popped up as a part of another thought,
linked together with another idea in the designer's imagination--he may have
been home at the time.

Q: Any other exciting activities?

A: Well,
I guess I was pretty excited when one day I popped out on an 8-1/2x11 sheet of
paper--turns out the project manager printed me out as part of a
storyboard. Then I was posted alongside
other print outs in the project team space.

Eventually, I was
included with some other ideas into a digital slideshow and was projected on a
wall. Designers, researchers, and some
other folks sat around and made comments about me--some were nice, some were not
so nice. In fact, some folks didn't
think I should exist at all! I did see
some other ideas rejected and thrown away--that was scary. I guess I was lucky that the project manager
and the designer felt I still played a role in the overall project.

Q: So far, what's been the highlight of your
life as an idea?

A: I
guess I'd have to say I'm most proud of the role I played as part of a
presentation to a group of about a dozen clients. I was formatted nicely, accompanied by some
great looking pictures, and the project manager talked about me in very
positive ways--that was fun, especially when the clients seemed to appreciate
me for what I believe I am, a great idea.

Q:
What happened after the meeting?

A: Well,
it was back to the project space again.
This time I got moved around on the post-it sheet a bit. New ideas joined in as well. I think somebody even scrawled some
additional information on me with a thick black pen.

Q: Thanks so much. Is there anything else that you'd like to
tell us? Did we forget to ask about
anything important?

A: I
think we've covered it pretty well. I
would say that it's pretty exciting and yet sometimes frustrating to be an
idea. I think it's particularly hard to
have to be part of so many people's thoughts, taking so many forms, and even
sometimes getting lost in with a bunch of other (bad) ideas. Anyway, it's fun being an idea, especially in
this environment, where ideas are accepted, nurtured, and developed.

Thinking about ideas from multiple points of view, it's what we do at Labs--Douglas Look, Senior Strategic Designer, Autodesk Labs.

Interview With An Idea

Diagram: State Transition of an Idea

IDEA
AS ARTIFACT: Interview with an Idea

Q:
Mr. Idea, could you tell us a bit about yourself, how you got started in life?

Q:
So, when were you born exactly?

Q: What did you look like at the time?

Q: That sounds pretty exciting, could you
describe your journey from there?

Q: Did you stay there on the wall for long?

Q: Could you describe what happened next at the
project manager's desk?

Q: How about the activities as the post-it
board?

Q: Any other exciting activities?

Q: So far, what's been the highlight of your
life as an idea?

Q:
What happened after the meeting?

Q: Thanks so much. Is there anything else that you'd like to
tell us? Did we forget to ask about
anything important?

Thinking about ideas from multiple points of view, it's what we do at Labs--Douglas Look, Senior Strategic Designer, Autodesk Labs.

We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives: An OK Book

Scott prepares to attend a friend's surprise 50th birthday party that has a Beatles theme

With time on my hands during my sabbatical, I was able to read Paul Shaffer's book We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives in practically one sitting. As someone who grew up watching Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman, I could personally remember much of the content contained in this book. I am also the right age to read this book as I have an appreciation for celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Buddy Hackett. Some interesting tidbits from the book include:

When Paul met Bob Dylan, IMHO he said all of the wrong things. When I meet famous people, I separate the person from their work by saying "I enjoy your work" instead of "I love you man." After Paul gushed all over the place, Dylan's retort was "Paul, do you think you could introduce me to Larry 'Bud' Melman?" Larry "Bud" Melman was a minor character on the Letterman show played by Calvert Deforest.
When Ray Charles hosted SNL, he had to memorize all of his lines. Unlike all of the other hosts, he could not read them off of the cue cards.
Jerry Lewis is fascinated by the show Law & Order: SVU.
James Brown got the idea for his famous cape routine by watching the wrestler Gorgeous George.
Paul cowrote "It's Raining Men" with Ron Dante.

Though I enjoyed the book, I wish it would have contained more anecdotes about musical guests who appeared on SNL or Letterman. Surely interesting things happened during rehearsal or on-air.

Relaxing with a good book is alive in the lab.

-- Scott Sheppard

We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives: An OK Book

Scott prepares to attend a friend's surprise 50th birthday party that has a Beatles theme

When Paul met Bob Dylan, IMHO he said all of the wrong things. When I meet famous people, I separate the person from their work by saying "I enjoy your work" instead of "I love you man." After Paul gushed all over the place, Dylan's retort was "Paul, do you think you could introduce me to Larry 'Bud' Melman?" Larry "Bud" Melman was a minor character on the Letterman show played by Calvert Deforest.
When Ray Charles hosted SNL, he had to memorize all of his lines. Unlike all of the other hosts, he could not read them off of the cue cards.
Jerry Lewis is fascinated by the show Law & Order: SVU.
James Brown got the idea for his famous cape routine by watching the wrestler Gorgeous George.
Paul cowrote "It's Raining Men" with Ron Dante.

Though I enjoyed the book, I wish it would have contained more anecdotes about musical guests who appeared on SNL or Letterman. Surely interesting things happened during rehearsal or on-air.

Relaxing with a good book is alive in the lab.

-- Scott Sheppard

Facebook at Work?

This is Ben Cochran. Scott is on sabbatical, and I've been invited to be a guest writer while he is out.

Facebook is great! If you are like me, you have multiple e-mail addresses. One for work, one for personal things and the one you use when signing up for some new on line service. The result is lots and lots of e-mail. Yuck! Along came Facebook, now with Facebook I keep in touch with my friends without writing yet another e-mail. It is a community of friends, many of whom I see when I am not at work. Some of my Facebook friends are also people I work with, but we never talk about work related things on Facebook. I still like to use e-mail for work related communication, but I prefer to use Facebook for personal communication.

Due to the popularity and connectivity of Facebook many new applications and ideas are floating around the Internet attempting to leverage Facebook for work related activities.

Is integrating Facebook at work a good thing? What Facebook applications do you use? What Facebook applications would you like to see?

- Ben Cochran

Facebook at Work?

This is Ben Cochran. Scott is on sabbatical, and I've been invited to be a guest writer while he is out.

Due to the popularity and connectivity of Facebook many new applications and ideas are floating around the Internet attempting to leverage Facebook for work related activities.

Is integrating Facebook at work a good thing? What Facebook applications do you use? What Facebook applications would you like to see?

- Ben Cochran

Technology, Business, and Design

Entropy carpet tile from Interface, Inc.

Last week I attended the Rocky Mountain Institute 2009 Conference in San Francisco, where I saw some great examples of how technology, business, and design can be combined to yield effective sustainability solutions.

Technology: Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk, Inc. described his vision for software solutions that can enable designers and engineers to visualize, simulate, and analyze different options before they're real--to be able to optimize and make selections of types of materials, window-wall components, and building orientation early in the design process. In this way, Autodesk can potentially have a profound effect on the way things are designed, created, and manufactured in the quest for a sustainable future.

Business: Ray Anderson, Founder and Chairman of Interface, Inc. inspired the audience by recounting how he had an epiphany after reading Paul Hawken's book The Ecology of Commerce, then set out to completely change how his company Interface did business, striving to embed sustainable ways of doing business into their corporate culture. Dispelling the notion that sustainable practices cost more, Interface has been able to use fewer resources and be more profitable--in other words, sustainable practices make good business sense.

Design: Amory Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute shared his thoughts around the power of Integrative Design--taking a multi-disciplinary approach to design and engineering. RMI has used this integrative approach with their consulting engagements to create effective solutions like the Empire State Building Retrofit, that is expected to achieve up to 40% energy cost savings. Janine Benyus, Co-Founder of the Biomimicry Guild, pointed out the power of applying principles from biology, from the world around us, to creating sustainable solutions. Inspired by principles of random, non-repeating patterns found in forest floors in nature, the design team at Interface developed the successful Entropy line of carpet tiles. Good design makes good business sense as well.

I came away from the RMI Conference inspired and motivated to continue working on the technology parts of the solution--finding ways to enable designers and engineers to optimize their designs with better tools, more robust digital content, and supporting services.

Continuing to explore new approaches to design technology, it's what we do at Autodesk Labs.

Guest Contributor: Douglas Look, Senior Strategic Designer, Autodesk Labs

Technology, Business, and Design

Entropy carpet tile from Interface, Inc.

Continuing to explore new approaches to design technology, it's what we do at Autodesk Labs.

Guest Contributor: Douglas Look, Senior Strategic Designer, Autodesk Labs

Got a design challenge? Ask Nature, Thank a Genius!

RMI 2009

This past weekend I [Brian Mathews] attended the excellent RMI 2009 Conference. RMI is the Rocky Mountain Institute, which is a non-profit think-tank formed in 1982 concerned with promoting an economically favorable path towards sustainable design and energy efficiency. As founder Amory Lovins puts it: "It is cheaper to save fuel than to buy fuel, and your investment returns are guaranteed."

Autodesk's CEO, Carl Bass, was on an all-star panel with Amory Lovins, and several other luminaries I'll blog about later.

Asknature.org

One panelist was Janine Benyus, a founder of the Biomimicry Institute (third from the right in the picture). What is Biomimicry? it is the idea that many of the design challenges you face every day have already been solved by 3.8 Billion years of evolution. Janine's great idea is that while biologists have tons of information about organisms, that information was organized by organism rather than by function. She started the non-proffit Ask Nature to organize the biology world's data in a form more useful to designers, engineers, and architects: by function for industry.

Need a non-toxic way to color the outside of your home? Need a way to deal with rainwater? How do I keep pipes from clogging? What's the most lightweight shape for a car that is still strong? All these questions can be answered by gaining inspiration from organisms who have field tested the approach for 3.8 billion years. So if you have a design challenge, why not Ask Nature? And if you find a solution, be sure to thank a Genius (a living organism who gave you the inspiration).

After the panel, I got to spend 90 minutes talking to Janine and hearing the most incredible examples of how vairous organisms have solved industrial problems. One client of theirs had industrial pipes that were eventually clogging due to scale that formed inside. She helped them learn how seashells form, and more importantly how organisms stop their shells from growing once the desired shape is realized. The chemistry in pipes is almost the same, and now there is a natural protein that keeps the pipes clear.

Every time I meet Janine I come away energized and inspired. Check out her TED videos too.

Project Twitch Range Expanded: can YOU connect?

[Brian Mathews here as a guest writer while Scott Sheppard is on sabbatical]

Originally when we launched Project Twitch (internet delivery of Application Trials), we had a requirement that participants be within 1,000 miles of our Santa Clara data center. Our intent was to provide a desktop-like experience of doing a product trial of AutoCAD, Inventor, or Revit.

Now we have eliminated the 1,000 mile limit and replaced it with a network latency limit. We have found that some people up to 2,500 miles away had network latencies that were better than people only 900 miles away. So rather than base our requirement on distance, we are now using a more useful network test to measure your actual network latency to our data center. The further you are from Santa Clara, the less likely the system will allow you in: but some of you will succeed.

This is the reason for Autodesk Labs: we want your feedback to help us improve the service for you!

If you haven't been able to try Project Twitch before, take 2 minutes out of your day and see if it lets you connect. Take it for a spin. Let us know what you think and send us an email at labs.trials@autodesk.com Thanks!

[Update: ...and the answer is "no", you can't connect because I typed in the wrong URL! I've now fixed it, sorry.]

Project Twitch Range Expanded: can YOU connect?

[Brian Mathews here as a guest writer while Scott Sheppard is on sabbatical]

This is the reason for Autodesk Labs: we want your feedback to help us improve the service for you!

[Update: ...and the answer is "no", you can't connect because I typed in the wrong URL! I've now fixed it, sorry.]

Got a design challenge? Ask Nature, Thank a Genius!

RMI 2009

Autodesk's CEO, Carl Bass, was on an all-star panel with Amory Lovins, and several other luminaries I'll blog about later.

Asknature.org

Every time I meet Janine I come away energized and inspired. Check out her TED videos too.

Solar Radition Technology Preview Not Compatible with Revit Service Pack 2

The Solar Radiation Technology Preview for Revit is available for download from:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/ecotect/

With the recent release of Service Pack 2 for Revit, the combination of the technology preview and the service pack results in:

Since I am on sabbatical right now, my participation is limited; however, rest assured that I did pass this information on to the Solar Radiation Technology Preview team. For the moment, you may wish to complete your evaluation of the technology preview and send resulting feedback to labs.revit.ecotect@autodesk.com before applying Service Pack 2. Ideally the team would provide an update, but I am not sure of their plans (since I am out of the office).

-- Scott Sheppard

Solar Radition Technology Preview Not Compatible with Revit Service Pack 2

The Solar Radiation Technology Preview for Revit is available for download from:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/ecotect/

With the recent release of Service Pack 2 for Revit, the combination of the technology preview and the service pack results in:

-- Scott Sheppard

The Informant Is a Bad Movie

Yesterday my daughter and I saw the new Matt Damon movie The Informant. This could be the most uninteresting movie both of us have ever seen. It's not that the acting was bad. Although the film looked like a film from the 1970's based on its cinematography (on purpose), that was only a minor distraction. The real kiss of death was that the plot was just completely unengaging. So if your are still a theater-goer in this DVD-multimedia age, save your money and go see something else.

-- Scott Sheppard

The Informant Is a Bad Movie

-- Scott Sheppard

The Latest Labs News

Hello - this is Ben Cochran. Scott is on sabbatical, and I've been invited to be a guest writer while he is out.

I wanted to let you know the latest additions and changes to Autodesk Labs.

I just learned that the RDB Link Tool for Revit Family technology preview, originally set to expire on September 30, 2009 has been extended until January 1, 2010. Keep the feedback coming.

UI Technology Preview for Autodesk® Moldflow® just posted to Autodesk Labs Today. Check out this streamlined UI.

The Multi-threaded Solver helps Autodesk® Robot™ Structural Analysis take full advantage of multi-core systems.

- Ben Cochran

The Latest Labs News

Hello - this is Ben Cochran. Scott is on sabbatical, and I've been invited to be a guest writer while he is out.

I wanted to let you know the latest additions and changes to Autodesk Labs.

I just learned that the RDB Link Tool for Revit Family technology preview, originally set to expire on September 30, 2009 has been extended until January 1, 2010. Keep the feedback coming.

UI Technology Preview for Autodesk® Moldflow® just posted to Autodesk Labs Today. Check out this streamlined UI.

The Multi-threaded Solver helps Autodesk® Robot™ Structural Analysis take full advantage of multi-core systems.

- Ben Cochran

Moldflow UI Technology Preview Now Available

"Seasons don't fear the [ribbon], nor do the wind, the sun, and the rain. We can be like they are. Come on baby, don't fear the [ribbon].

"The Reaper," Blue Oyster Cult, Agents of Fortune, 1976.

We learned a great deal when we gathered your thoughts on the Autodesk Inventor UI Technology Preview. Your feedback shaped the implementation that made its way into Inventor 2010. The process was so valuable to us that we decided to do it again.

Free Download of Autodesk Moldflow UI Technology Preview on Autodesk Labs

The Moldflow User Interface Preview provides an updated interface that highlights the work flow required to run Moldflow products. For each of the products a central Home tab guides you on the functionality available, whether it’s to display results in Autodesk Moldflow Communicator or run a filling simulation in Autodesk Moldflow Adviser or Autodesk Moldflow Insight. It also groups commands based on your current task allowing you to enter as much information as you wish. In the case of Adviser, it allows novice users just interested in a filling pattern to do everything they need from the Home tab so aren't presented with unwanted options, while more advanced users can delve in to access relevant functions in a logical location. It makes many of the standard Autodesk functionalities available to the Moldflow products so users familiar to Inventor should be able to pick it up quickly.

If you have Autodesk Moldflow Communicator 2010 or Autodesk Moldflow Adviser 2010, you can take the ribbon interface for a test drive and let us know your thoughts at labs.moldflow.ui@autodesk.com. Perhaps the process can repeat itself? We are looking forward to your feedback.

Collecting user feedback to shape the future of our technology is alive in the lab.

Multi-Threaded Solver for Robot Structural Analysis Now Available

Doing things in parallel is faster than doing them serially. So with this in mind, the Robot Structural Analysis team has provided an add-in that leverages the multicore architecture of computers to allow your analyses to proceed with more concurrency. In other words, more happens in parallel, so the end result should be determined sooner. We'd like you to test this theory:

Free Download of Multi-Threaded Solver for Robot Structural Analysis on Autodesk Labs

This add-in soups up your Autodesk RobotTM Structural Analysis 2010 or Autodesk® RobotTM Structural Analysis Professional 2010. You must have already installed Service Pack 2 to be able to give this technology preview a try. Please let us know your results at labs.revit.rsa@autodesk.com. We look forward to your feedback.

Stomping on the accelerator is alive in the lab.

Moldflow UI Technology Preview Now Available

"Seasons don't fear the [ribbon], nor do the wind, the sun, and the rain. We can be like they are. Come on baby, don't fear the [ribbon].
"The Reaper," Blue Oyster Cult, Agents of Fortune, 1976.

Free Download of Autodesk Moldflow UI Technology Preview on Autodesk Labs

Collecting user feedback to shape the future of our technology is alive in the lab.

Multi-Threaded Solver for Robot Structural Analysis Now Available

Free Download of Multi-Threaded Solver for Robot Structural Analysis on Autodesk Labs

Stomping on the accelerator is alive in the lab.

TR2N: December 2010

Hello - this is Brian Mathews. Scott is on sabbatical, and I've been invited to be a guest writer while he is out.

Sorry for the long post, future posts will be short. This topic involves childhood passions.

The Under-appreciated TRON

I've always been interested in computers and electronics since I was a little kid. I remember being small enough to sit on my Dad's back while he was laying on the floor studying for an exam. He was busy but wanted to spend time with me, so he read his college level physics textbooks out loud to me. I wasn't really paying any attention, I was probably 4 years old, and was just happy to be with Dad. But I do remember about protons and photons and neutrons and electrons. Lots of -trons. Those -trons got into my blood and shaped my interests: electronics, computers, etc.

Fast forward to high school where I was interested in computer graphics: a relatively new field with lots to discover and invent. I spent hours after school programming a DEC VAX 750 (probably the only public high school to have one) that was hooked to a primitive VT102 terminal with a raster graphics attachment. I was able to draw shapes like epicycloid's and hypocycloids. Such fun.

At that time all the technical magazines were writing about a new Disney movie: TRON. Way beyond my VAX line art, the articles showed fantastic computer graphic images based on something amazing called Ray Casting. TRON was the first movie containing mostly computer graphics renderings. One frame of TRON animation could take days to compute on the machines available then.

In 1982 the movie released, and I was blown away. For others, the movie was a flop: most people had no appreciation of the computer imagery or understanding of the symbolize. Many critics dinged it for a light plot and some bad acting by supporting actors. Not everyone hated it: years later Roger Ebert, bless him, selected TRON as his first pick in the Overlooked Film Festival and the movie attracted a cult following in computer graphics circles.

The main character was played by none other than "The Dude": Jeff Bridges! Mr. Bad Ass himself. Back then Jeff wasn't the Big Labowski star he is today, but he was great in TRON. [An aside: it's interesting that my high school classmate Philip Seymour Hoffmanended up in The Big Labowski along side my favorite TRON actor Jeff Bridges. Phil thought I was a nerd in high school, and he ends up acting along side the nerd's idol! Ha!]

TRON Legacy (aka TR2N)

Fast forward again to the present day. After a decade of rumors, Disney wowed a crowd at the COMI-CON conference with a conceptual trailer of TR2N, later renamed to Tron Legacy. The release date is December 2010 and I don't know how I'm going to be able to wait over a year to see it. I'll be in a sleeping bag outside waiting to buy the first ticket.

Check out the Movie Trailer, and see the surprise actor playing a lead role...

Looking at that trailer I'm convinced that Autodesk software is playing a big role in the production. The motorcycle characters are rendered (not real actors) and my guess is that Autodesk Motion Builder is being used with a bunch of motion capture technology (mo-cap). Looking at the explosion it sure looks like the Maya particle solver from the Autodesk two-time Oscar winning scientist Jos Stam.

Best of all, Disney announced that the new TR2N vehicles are being created by the amazingly talented designer Daniel Simon. [There are a lot of hyperlinks in this article, but make sure you follow the one on Daniel Simon: you've never seen a vehicle designed like his!]. Daniel uses Autodesk AliasStudio and Autodesk Maya in a lot of his work.

Any other TRON fans out there? Leave a comment on the blog...

-Brian Mathews (guest writer while Scott's on sabbatical)

TR2N: December 2010

Hello - this is Brian Mathews. Scott is on sabbatical, and I've been invited to be a guest writer while he is out.

Sorry for the long post, future posts will be short. This topic involves childhood passions.

The Under-appreciated TRON

TRON Legacy (aka TR2N)

Check out the Movie Trailer, and see the surprise actor playing a lead role...

Any other TRON fans out there? Leave a comment on the blog...

-Brian Mathews (guest writer while Scott's on sabbatical)

Be our guest, be our guest...

Today is day 1 of my sabbatical. As I mentioned on Thursday, there will some guest authors on this blog during my absence. As a way of introduction, I thought I would tell you who they are.

Brian Mathews	Vice President, Autodesk Labs	I have known Brian since July of 1990. I was employee 13 at Ithaca Software after it relocated to Alameda. I had no prior association with the company when it was at Cornell University. As "the new guy," I knew the least about computer graphics and specifically our product HOOPS (Hierarchical Object Oriented Picture System). Brian came on as employee 14. I thought to myself "Great - I will no longer be the new guy." To my dismay, Brian had worked with HOOPS during his years at Cornell. Though no longer the newest employee, I was still the dumbest guy in the room. Many years later our daughter, Stephanie, babysat all of the guests' children at a hotel in Napa for Brian and Lauren's wedding.
Ben Cochran	Software Architect, Autodesk Labs	Ben Cochran is the reason I am an Autodesk employee today. While working as a software development manager for Océ Reprographic Technologies on Océ Plan Center, our solution processed DWF files. Ben was our technical contact back to Autodesk regarding DWF files. As I found developing software for a hardware company less fun than developing software for a software company, I asked Ben if Autodesk had any openings. He told me that Brian needed another DWF Technical Evangelist. I subsequently interviewed and got the job. Brian was working for me when he invented DWF. Does anyone remember *WHIP!*? I was an evangelist for a year before moving on to project manager and then back to software development mangaer.
Douglas Look	Senior Strategic Designer, Autodesk Content Network	Doug Look almost needs no introduction. You've seen him on many of our multitouch videos and other Labs items. When I was a software developer for Ithaca Software in Alameda, I wrote graphics drivers for the DOS and HP Unix platforms. As a platform-independent graphics solution, HOOPS had drivers for everything conceivable, e.g. DOS, Windows, AIX, VAX/VMS, HP-UX, X11, PEX, Apple, Sony, Sun, etc. There were more drivers to be written than we had developers. As such we contracted some of the driver development out. A programmer named Anh Look previously worked for Ithaca Software when it was still in Ithaca, New York with its close association to Cornell University. I worked with Anh on a 3D driver for a Matrox graphics card. In those days, DOS had no standard - a different driver was needed for every device. Years later when Doug returned to Autodesk after getting another degree from the Institute of Design in Chicago, he knew about me from my work with his wife.

These are 3 of the smartest peopel I know. Autodesk has many like them. I am looking forward to their posts. Gazing out on the horizon of pending journalistic variety is alive in the lab.

Be our guest, be our guest...

Today is day 1 of my sabbatical. As I mentioned on Thursday, there will some guest authors on this blog during my absence. As a way of introduction, I thought I would tell you who they are.

Brian Mathews	Vice President, Autodesk Labs	I have known Brian since July of 1990. I was employee 13 at Ithaca Software after it relocated to Alameda. I had no prior association with the company when it was at Cornell University. As "the new guy," I knew the least about computer graphics and specifically our product HOOPS (Hierarchical Object Oriented Picture System). Brian came on as employee 14. I thought to myself "Great - I will no longer be the new guy." To my dismay, Brian had worked with HOOPS during his years at Cornell. Though no longer the newest employee, I was still the dumbest guy in the room. Many years later our daughter, Stephanie, babysat all of the guests' children at a hotel in Napa for Brian and Lauren's wedding.
Ben Cochran	Software Architect, Autodesk Labs	Ben Cochran is the reason I am an Autodesk employee today. While working as a software development manager for Océ Reprographic Technologies on Océ Plan Center, our solution processed DWF files. Ben was our technical contact back to Autodesk regarding DWF files. As I found developing software for a hardware company less fun than developing software for a software company, I asked Ben if Autodesk had any openings. He told me that Brian needed another DWF Technical Evangelist. I subsequently interviewed and got the job. Brian was working for me when he invented DWF. Does anyone remember *WHIP!*? I was an evangelist for a year before moving on to project manager and then back to software development mangaer.
Douglas Look	Senior Strategic Designer, Autodesk Content Network	Doug Look almost needs no introduction. You've seen him on many of our multitouch videos and other Labs items. When I was a software developer for Ithaca Software in Alameda, I wrote graphics drivers for the DOS and HP Unix platforms. As a platform-independent graphics solution, HOOPS had drivers for everything conceivable, e.g. DOS, Windows, AIX, VAX/VMS, HP-UX, X11, PEX, Apple, Sony, Sun, etc. There were more drivers to be written than we had developers. As such we contracted some of the driver development out. A programmer named Anh Look previously worked for Ithaca Software when it was still in Ithaca, New York with its close association to Cornell University. I worked with Anh on a 3D driver for a Matrox graphics card. In those days, DOS had no standard - a different driver was needed for every device. Years later when Doug returned to Autodesk after getting another degree from the Institute of Design in Chicago, he knew about me from my work with his wife.

These are 3 of the smartest peopel I know. Autodesk has many like them. I am looking forward to their posts. Gazing out on the horizon of pending journalistic variety is alive in the lab.

Look for Guest Authors on It's Alive in th Lab

We will fully relocate during my six weeks off.

Autodesk has a sabbatical program where employees earn a 6-week sabbatical for every four years of continuous service. In turn, our vacation remains at two weeks per year regardless of years of service with the company. In other companies, weeks of vacation grow with seniority. We get to enjoy a long break! It's a great company benefit. We come back recharged and ready to work twice as hard.

I start my sabbatical on Monday and will return to work on November 9. I may post a blog article here and there about my time off. There is an old Cheech and Chong routine about a student who had to write an essay about how he spent his summer vacation:

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

The first day, I got up. I went downtown to look for a job. There were no jobs, so I hung out at the drug store. The second day, I got up. I went downtown to look for a job. There were no jobs, so I hung out at the drug store. The third day...

I will try to avoid that. In the mean time, other members of the Autodesk Labs team will be posting here as guest authors. It will be great to get their perspectives on the world of Autodesk Labs.

Two More Blogs enter the Autodesk Blogosphere

Two new blogs launched this week:

Vault customization/development blog by Doug Redmond:

It’s All Just Ones and Zeros

Northern Europe (German) geospatial blog by Matthias Liechti and Marcus Briglmeir:

The Geospatial Navigator

Check them out.

For an alphabetical listing of Autodesk blogs, see http://labs.blogs.com/its_alive_in_the_lab/autodesk-blogs.html.

October Plugin of the Month: Clipboard Manager for AutoCAD Now Available

We have our second plug-in of the month. Following in the footsteps of the Offset in XRef plugin, this month we bring you the Clipboard Manager for AutoCAD. This plugin was written by Mark Dubbelaar and edited by Kean Walmsley for publishing on his Through the Interface blog. The plugin can be used with AutoCAD to manage multiple clipboard entries, storing and renaming them for later use. Once loaded, the CLIPBOARD command displays the Clipboard Manager palette. When using Ctrl-C (or COPYCLIP) inside AutoCAD, this palette displays each new set of AutoCAD objects added to the clipboard.

You can download the plugin from the Autodesk Labs site:

Free Download of Clipboard Manager for AutoCAD on Autodesk Labs

For those who wish to download last month's plugin, the Offset in XRef plugin, you can find a download link to this plugin on the Plugin of the Month Updates page under the HISTORY section. As we add a new plugin to the main page each month, we will move the link to the previous plugin to that page. This way the main page features the plugin of the month, but you can still access all of the previous plugins if you need to. That's how we roll.

So please try out the Clipboard Manager for AutoCAD and let us know what you think at labs.plugins@autodesk.com. We're particularly keen on hearing about development of other plugins that were inspired by looking at the source code for the plugins we've supplied.

Keeping the plugin of the month train rolling is alive in the lab.

Two More Blogs enter the Autodesk Blogosphere

Two new blogs launched this week:

Vault customization/development blog by Doug Redmond:

It’s All Just Ones and Zeros

Northern Europe (German) geospatial blog by Matthias Liechti and Marcus Briglmeir:

The Geospatial Navigator

Check them out.

For an alphabetical listing of Autodesk blogs, see http://labs.blogs.com/its_alive_in_the_lab/autodesk-blogs.html.

October Plugin of the Month: Clipboard Manager for AutoCAD Now Available

You can download the plugin from the Autodesk Labs site:

Free Download of Clipboard Manager for AutoCAD on Autodesk Labs

Keeping the plugin of the month train rolling is alive in the lab.

Look for Guest Authors on It's Alive in th Lab

We will fully relocate during my six weeks off.

Facebook Nexus Site is Fun

My Facebook friend network depicted as a constellation

Are you a Facebook user? If so, you might want to spend 5 minutes and play with a neat little tool I read about. Its called Nexus. If I recall my 6th grade vocabulary correctly, the word nexus means touch point or common ground. This site shows a map of your Facebook friends and their friends. Clicking on a node highlights the friend name.

Example of how I am connected to blogger Deelip Menezes

It's simple to generate, fun, and shows who knows whom.

Facebook Nexus Site is Fun

My Facebook friend network depicted as a constellation

Example of how I am connected to blogger Deelip Menezes

It's simple to generate, fun, and shows who knows whom.

Football is a game of inches; SaaS is a game of miles

You too can help us test AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit in the cloud.

On Saturday my undergraduate alma mater, University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL), played its rival school, Louisiana State University (LSU), in college football. LSU defeated ULL 31 to 3. That was to be expected since LSU is a larger school and is nationally ranked. What was unexpected is that ULL had the ball on the LSU 4 yard line with a first and goal and failed to score. ULL ran four plays up the middle and was stopped on the last play just inches from the goal. They say football is a game of inches, and I guess they are correct.

Re: system requirements for Project Twitch

I have seen many blog postings about the 1,000 mile limit for Project Twitch. The goal of Project Twitch is to let you run applications like AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, and Maya remotely using the internet. In responding to some of the feedback we have received at labs.trials@autodesk.com, Autodesk Labs VP, Brian Mathews, has pointed out:

The only reason for the distance requirement is to make sure you have a good user experience: you are dealing with the laws of physics on network latency with distance. Other services often use more bandwidth than our solution, have more latency, have lower frame rates, and therefore might not give the same immersive experience. Other services work at any distance but have a degraded user experience that is more of a “remote desktop” experience rather than feeling like you are running locally. We believe (and are testing with customers) that our Project Twitch experience is much more like the real deal: higher frame rates, lower latency, more realism, less bandwidth. Rather than aiming at the convenience of remote access for occasional file access, we are shooting for a high quality experience. Thus the 1,000 mile limit essentially keeps your network latency around 35ms.

By the way, when I drew the green circle around the Bay Area to show the radius of allowable connections, it was not to scale. It was only to make a point. So yes I don't really expect anyone to test Project Twitch from a boat in the Pacific 999 miles off the coast of the Bay Area.

Keep that feedback coming in. We're learning a lot. As Shaan Hurley says "Are you twitching to try it?"

Evaluating internet latency while running design applications remotely is alive in the lab.

Football is a game of inches; SaaS is a game of miles

You too can help us test AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit in the cloud.

Re: system requirements for Project Twitch

Keep that feedback coming in. We're learning a lot. As Shaan Hurley says "Are you twitching to try it?"

Evaluating internet latency while running design applications remotely is alive in the lab.

Cloud Computing is Like Electricity

Autodesk Labs Software Engineer, Frederic Loranger, submitted this article.

The Computing Cloud Infrastructure

One of the big tasks of the Obama administration is to upgrade our outdated electric grid infrastructure to support, manage, and distribute renewable energy generated with wind and solar. The technology is ready, but unfortunately the infrastructure is not.

For instance, a solar power plant with thousands of panels is capable of generating and storing electric energy only during the day. How do you make sure that this energy gets distributed back to the grid during peak hours in the evenings? The storage and distribution of the energy across the grid is a huge challenge since the power output is not deterministic. Some days are sunny while others are cloudy. Demand can be high or low based on unforecastable conditions.

We have a similar problem in the Cloud Computing World. There are a lot of untapped computing resources sitting in the cloud that are burning fossil fuel when utilization is not at peak; whether it be the servers at Amazon or Microsoft, the servers of private enterprise, or even your own computers at home. Service providers were quick in realizing that they could make money out of the unused computing resources and the technology they developed, so much so that they have built an entire business around it.

So how could we make sure that all this computing power gets used efficiently? By sharing the resources of all these different Cloud Computing Providers the same way we do it with the electric grid. By developing a Cloud Computing Infrastructure Standard, Cloud Providers will be able to tap into other pools of Computing Resources when they reach their own peak usage.

Thanks Frederic. Thinking green is alive in the Lab.

Cloud Computing is Like Electricity

Autodesk Labs Software Engineer, Frederic Loranger, submitted this article.

The Computing Cloud Infrastructure

Thanks Frederic. Thinking green is alive in the Lab.

Autodesk Single Sign-On System Maintenance

Project Draw, Project Freewheel, Project Showroom, and Project Twitch rely on the Autodesk Single Sign-on login. This provides the convenience of having one user name and password for all things Autodesk. The other side of the coin is that when the Single Sign-on login is down, capabilities on these Labs services are reduced.

You cannot save your diagrams on Project Draw.
You can view your designs on Project Freewheel but cannot upload or delete designs.
You cannot save rooms on Project Showroom.
You cannot evaluate AutoCAD, Inventor, or Revit using the internet via Project Twitch.

The scheduled maintenance window will last until Sunday at 8:00 PM Pacific time. Enjoy your weekend. Read a book.

Autodesk Single Sign-On System Maintenance

You cannot save your diagrams on Project Draw.
You can view your designs on Project Freewheel but cannot upload or delete designs.
You cannot save rooms on Project Showroom.
You cannot evaluate AutoCAD, Inventor, or Revit using the internet via Project Twitch.

The scheduled maintenance window will last until Sunday at 8:00 PM Pacific time. Enjoy your weekend. Read a book.

Try AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit without installing them

What if your design application was in the cloud?

Autodesk Labs team members Eddy Kuo and Frederic Loranger have been hard at work creating an environment where you can run trial versions of AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit on remote servers. At this point in the technology preview, we are looking for feedback on using our applications in this fashion. You can take one of our applications for a spin at:

Project Twitch: Autodesk Labs Application Trials Technology Preview

To try our design applications, you will need to download and install a small client application that is much smaller than our design applications. It is used to access our server. So although Project Twitch is not totally install-free, it does allow you to try AutoCAD 2010, Inventor 2010, and Revit Architecture 2010 without downloading these applications or requesting a DVD. You will need an Autodesk Labs Community login (a.k.a. Autodesk Single Sign-on also used for subscription and other communities) to participate in the technology preview.

The technology preview is not intended for production use. As such, you cannot upload your own files or save your work. Instead you fire up an application remotely, load a sample file, and view/modify it. Based on the technology involved, you need to be within 1,000 miles of the San Francisco Bay Area to participate in the technology preview - any farther than that and there would be too much internet latency for a pleasurable experience. (Hey I relocated just in time, but actually my old house was 725 miles from the data center so it worked there too.) You can let us know how it worked for you at labs.trials@autodesk.com.

I feel twitchy, oh so twitchy... Like a canary in a coal mine, evaluating software as a service is alive in the lab.

Try AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit without installing them

What if your design application was in the cloud?

Project Twitch: Autodesk Labs Application Trials Technology Preview

I feel twitchy, oh so twitchy... Like a canary in a coal mine, evaluating software as a service is alive in the lab.

Architecture for Humanity: And the winner is...

I got an email from Kate Stohr - Cofounder of Architecture for Humanity. Kate was happy to let us know that the winner of the 2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom had been announced.

http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/competitions/challenge/2009/awards

Congratulations to all of the contests for this worthy cause.

User Interfaces and Connectivity Make the World Seem Flat (but it's round)

Quiz: Quick, what's the city associated with area code 778? Not sure - read on to learn more about our AT&T Wireless horror story.

Our son Steven has an iPhone. Our daughter has an iPhone. I have an iPhone. My wife may get one someday. We are on an AT&T family plan and are long time AT&T customers. In fact I looked back, and here is what our family has spent just on cell phone services:

YEAR	AMOUNT
2001	$791.53
2002	$1,006.81
2003	$1,416.46
2004	$1,767.94
2005	$2,419.71
2006	$2,086.62
2007	$2,502.83
2008	$2,777.46
2009 (so far)	$3,059.04
TOTAL	$17,828.40

These totals do not reflect the plethora of phones we purchased at their ever-changing AT&T, then Cingular, then back to AT&T stores over the years. Right now we have plenty of rollover minutes. Fear not, as part of our relocation to the Bay Area, we are now cell-phone-only people - no land line. We will use the extra minutes over the years.

Our son met the cousin of a friend. They met in Phoenix, but the cousin was visiting from out of town. They texted each other. As teenagers are wanton to do, over the course of Saturday 07/18/2009 to Thursday 07/23/2009, he sent her 233 text messages. Although he has unlimited text messages in the United States, unbeknownst to him, the cousin was from Canada. Although she was in Phoenix at the time, these communications were considered international text messages. Each cost 25 cents.

This part of the bill I got the other day caught my eye:

When we got the bill, my wife immediately went to our neighborhood AT&T store:

AT&T offers an international text messaging capability available for an extra $9.99 per month, but my wife explained that we do not need this service since this scenario is unlikely to occur again. The visiting cousin of the friend has since returned home. All of our son's regular friends reside in the United States. Our son will enter the US Marine Corps in a month. In the event that he gets stationed outside of the United States and is allowed to take his cell phone with him, then this service may be of use. We may opt for it at that time.
After 10 or so of these charge-inducing messages, we were surprised that we were not contacted. AT&T has our cell phone numbers. We too have unlimited text messaging. They could have sent me a text message via an automated process. Our bank certainly contacts us when it sees "unusual activity" on our VISA card.
While in the store, the AT&T staff helped my wife place a call to an AT&T customer representative who was unable to waive or reduce these charges. She even spoke to the representative's supervisor who was less than helpful - rude in her tone. She was surprised that given what we have spent over the years, we received no consideration at all.
The local store staff asked us to contact the store manager in the event we could not work this out with "the home office." I am happy to say that local AT&T store manager, David M. Perlman, understood our plight and issued us a $58.25 credit. Thanks David! Our story has a happy ending.

I know we all act as if Canada is part of the United States, since phone lines do not have to pass over water to get there, but it's not. :-) Beware. Texting a Canadian phone number does not require a country code, but the rates act like it does. If I want to call or text France, I have to enter 1 plus 31 (country code for France) plus the phone number. In contrast, the user interface for United States phones does not require a country code for Canada. Perhaps there should be alignment between the billing process and user interface?

Pondering how a user interface which emphasizes convenience can lead to problems is alive in the lab.

P.S. By the way, the correct answer is that 778 is associated with the Canadian Province of British Columbia.

Vault + Firefox = Desirable?

That Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey really gets around. He was recently using the Firefox Add-on for Autodesk Design Review and noted that it did not work from Autodesk Vault. So he inquired.

Software Architect, Kumar Mettu, responded to him that: Currently the Firefox add-in is available only as a technology preview to embed DWF and DWFx files in web pages working in multiple browsers. The plug-in does not work with Vault WebClient as Vault WebClient is using Response Flush to open/download the file stream rather than embedding the data in a web page. Allowing Autodesk Design Review to integrate with Vault via Firefox is something that could be considered for a future release.

We don't often hear from vault users. tell us your stories. What can Labs do for you? Let us know at thelabs@autodesk.com.

Listening to users for capabilities to develop in the future is alive in the lab.

Announcing Autodesk SketchBook Mobile for the iPhone and iPod touch

Product Line Manager, Thomas Heermann, shared some good news with us today. We’re excited to announce that Autodesk is the first major design software company to offer an iPhone app for industrial designers and the creative community. Autodesk SketchBook Mobile is a professional-grade paint and drawing application designed for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. The App is available for download for US$2.99 on the iPhone App Store worldwide.

SketchBook Mobile offers a full set of sketching tools and delivers them through a streamlined and intuitive user interface. With the same paint engine as SketchBook Pro, SketchBook Mobile delivers sophisticated brushes and fluid pencils for digitally capturing ideas as napkin sketches or producing artwork on-the-go.

Check out this YouTube video: SketchBook Mobile iPhone App from Autodesk which demonstrates:

Multitouch Navigation
Double-Tap Corner capability
Over 20 Brushes
Synthetic Pressure Sensitivity
Dynamic Resizing
Customizable Brushes
Gallery
Save Work-in-Progress
Directly Email Pictures
Import Images from Library or Camera
Full Palette of Colors
Interactive Color Wheel
Store Custom Colors
On Canvas Color Picker
Landscape and Portrait Symmetry
Layers with Reordering and Merging capabilities

Based on the iPhone App user culture, we also offer a ‘free’ version called ‘SketchBook Mobile Express’, but for $2.99, I want the real deal. I am buying it now.

Extending design to multitouch handheld devices is alive in the lab.

Announcing Autodesk SketchBook Mobile for the iPhone and iPod touch

Check out this YouTube video: SketchBook Mobile iPhone App from Autodesk which demonstrates:

Multitouch Navigation
Double-Tap Corner capability
Over 20 Brushes
Synthetic Pressure Sensitivity
Dynamic Resizing
Customizable Brushes
Gallery
Save Work-in-Progress
Directly Email Pictures
Import Images from Library or Camera
Full Palette of Colors
Interactive Color Wheel
Store Custom Colors
On Canvas Color Picker
Landscape and Portrait Symmetry
Layers with Reordering and Merging capabilities

Based on the iPhone App user culture, we also offer a ‘free’ version called ‘SketchBook Mobile Express’, but for $2.99, I want the real deal. I am buying it now.

Extending design to multitouch handheld devices is alive in the lab.

Vault + Firefox = Desirable?

We don't often hear from vault users. tell us your stories. What can Labs do for you? Let us know at thelabs@autodesk.com.

Listening to users for capabilities to develop in the future is alive in the lab.

User Interfaces and Connectivity Make the World Seem Flat (but it's round)

Quiz: Quick, what's the city associated with area code 778? Not sure - read on to learn more about our AT&T Wireless horror story.

YEAR	AMOUNT
2001	$791.53
2002	$1,006.81
2003	$1,416.46
2004	$1,767.94
2005	$2,419.71
2006	$2,086.62
2007	$2,502.83
2008	$2,777.46
2009 (so far)	$3,059.04
TOTAL	$17,828.40

This part of the bill I got the other day caught my eye:

When we got the bill, my wife immediately went to our neighborhood AT&T store:

AT&T offers an international text messaging capability available for an extra $9.99 per month, but my wife explained that we do not need this service since this scenario is unlikely to occur again. The visiting cousin of the friend has since returned home. All of our son's regular friends reside in the United States. Our son will enter the US Marine Corps in a month. In the event that he gets stationed outside of the United States and is allowed to take his cell phone with him, then this service may be of use. We may opt for it at that time.
After 10 or so of these charge-inducing messages, we were surprised that we were not contacted. AT&T has our cell phone numbers. We too have unlimited text messaging. They could have sent me a text message via an automated process. Our bank certainly contacts us when it sees "unusual activity" on our VISA card.
While in the store, the AT&T staff helped my wife place a call to an AT&T customer representative who was unable to waive or reduce these charges. She even spoke to the representative's supervisor who was less than helpful - rude in her tone. She was surprised that given what we have spent over the years, we received no consideration at all.
The local store staff asked us to contact the store manager in the event we could not work this out with "the home office." I am happy to say that local AT&T store manager, David M. Perlman, understood our plight and issued us a $58.25 credit. Thanks David! Our story has a happy ending.

Pondering how a user interface which emphasizes convenience can lead to problems is alive in the lab.

P.S. By the way, the correct answer is that 778 is associated with the Canadian Province of British Columbia.

Architecture for Humanity: And the winner is...

I got an email from Kate Stohr - Cofounder of Architecture for Humanity. Kate was happy to let us know that the winner of the 2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom had been announced.

http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/competitions/challenge/2009/awards

Congratulations to all of the contests for this worthy cause.

It's a done deal: Working in San Francisco

Today is my first day working at our One Market office in San Francisco. We purchased a town home in Alameda. I successfully commuted to work using public transit. After nearly five years of being remote, my work will now involve face time.

It's a done deal: Working in San Francisco

My Temporary Home Office

Yesterday I drove from Scottsdale, Arizona to Alameda., California The trip took 11 hours and 10 minutes. There was construction in Goodyear, Arizona where all cars merged into one lane and came to a full stop several times. There was heavy traffic in Los Angeles, California but other than that, it was smooth sailing. Tomorrow I will take the ferry to the One Market Office in San Francisco.

My Temporary Home Office

Loads of Downloads So Far This Year

Since we were on a company furlough from August 31 through September 7, Kean Walmsley and I decided to get the September ADN Plugin of the Month ready a few days early. As a result I posted it to the Autodesk Labs site a few days early - August 27. Lo and behold that when I got the download statistics for August, the only-days-old plugin has been downloaded 64 times. This was a welcome surprise since Kean's and my respective articles didn't appear on our blogs until September 1. So some of you found the new utility simply by navigating around the Autodesk Labs site. Well done.

This got me to look at the download statistics for the year.

Click to enlarge

You can see that the popular items are: Google Earth Extension, Inventor Fusion, Inventor LT (which has since graduated), 2D to 3D Tool for Inventor, and Feature Recognition for Inventor. These heavy hitters aside, it's nice to see some of the smaller utilities like the Offset in XREF plugin of the month getting some action. The feedback provided on all of our tools helps shape their future.

Looking back across the year is alive in the lab.

Loads of Downloads So Far This Year

This got me to look at the download statistics for the year.

Click to enlarge

Looking back across the year is alive in the lab.

Updated iCopy Installers Now Available: Is It My Name?

Todd Rundgren in concert. Photo courtesy of Tim Barrios.

I just got back from Akron, Ohio where my wife, friends, and I attended a concert where Todd Rundgren performed his A Wizard, A True Star album in its entirety. One of the songs is titled "Is It My Name" which covers the musician's struggle with his record company to get his albums promoted. Rundgren is a Swedish name that means "round branch," and is not the easiest word for the record-buying public to pronounce nor remember.

So imagine my sense of coincidence when I return to work to receive the following comment on my blog:

Dear Scott,

It's good that Autodesk listens to their customers, so let's see how fast you can fix this: The names of the installers are wrong. I tried the Fabrication_2010.msi installer and that seems to be the installer for the 2009 version. Some others are also wrong... Why is it called Fabrication anyway? Nevertheless, keep up the good work!!

Regards,

David

In response, the iCopy team created new installers which I zipped up and placed on the site. The ZIP file now contains:

You can now download the new zip file with the aptly named installers at:

Free Download of iCopy for Inventor on Autodesk Labs

So yes I guess the problem was our name. To quote Kenan Thompson from Saturday Night Live, "It has been fixed!"

Updated iCopy Installers Now Available: Is It My Name?

Todd Rundgren in concert. Photo courtesy of Tim Barrios.

So imagine my sense of coincidence when I return to work to receive the following comment on my blog:

Dear Scott,
It's good that Autodesk listens to their customers, so let's see how fast you can fix this: The names of the installers are wrong. I tried the Fabrication_2010.msi installer and that seems to be the installer for the 2009 version. Some others are also wrong... Why is it called Fabrication anyway? Nevertheless, keep up the good work!!
Regards,
David

In response, the iCopy team created new installers which I zipped up and placed on the site. The ZIP file now contains:

You can now download the new zip file with the aptly named installers at:

Free Download of iCopy for Inventor on Autodesk Labs

So yes I guess the problem was our name. To quote Kenan Thompson from Saturday Night Live, "It has been fixed!"

What's Your Recommendation for New Hardware?

I was contacted by Dan Bayer of Miron Construction. They inquired about new technology:

They have questions surrounding the use of multi-touch technology and how to position their organization's hardware technology for potential upcoming Autodesk technology. Their initial thoughts were looking at more of a 3D stereo immersive environment; however, they have re-thought their approach and are now focused on the tools they use to communicate and coordinate. At Autodesk University 2008, they tried out all of the tools that Autodesk Labs had available and were blown away by the interaction these tools afforded and immediately saw the value for internal as well as external presentation uses. Miron is interested on your thoughts or opinions on potential hardware based on the likelihood Autodesk products will interact with miltitouch technology. They use nearly all of the Autodesk building solutions tools as part of their 3D and 2D communication tools for buildings.

I shared with them the prospect of Microsoft Windows 7. Windows 7 will be multitouch enabled. We at Autodesk Labs anticipate a variety of devices being available when this operating system is released. An example will be the HP TouchSmart that we featured a special Autodesk Labs version of Autodesk Mudbox on at Autodesk University. When considering multitouch, something to take note of is the number of simultaneous inputs a device allows. The Perceptive Pixel device allows virtually an infinite number of devices. As such at Autodesk University, we used 10 inputs (10 fingers at once) to reset a model in an Autodesk Labs version of Autodesk Design Review. Such a gesture would not be possible on a device like the iPhone which only allows 2 inputs.

I am curious as to what other Autodesk Labs visitors think about available devices. What are your thoughts? Please let us know at thelabs@autodesk.com.

Inquiring minds wanting to know your thoughts are alive in the lab.

What's Your Recommendation for New Hardware?

I was contacted by Dan Bayer of Miron Construction. They inquired about new technology:

I am curious as to what other Autodesk Labs visitors think about available devices. What are your thoughts? Please let us know at thelabs@autodesk.com.

Inquiring minds wanting to know your thoughts are alive in the lab.

Happy Labor Day

We'll be getting back to the lab.

Autodesk employees have the day off in honor of Labor Day. As noted on Wikipedia, Congress enacted the holiday in 1882 as "a day off for working citizens." The holiday signals the end of summer. Many educational institutions start the new school year immediately after this holiday. We will get back to work on Project Showroom, application virtualization, and the other projects we have going on in Autodesk Labs.

From the This Day in History site, on this day, September 7, in:

1533: Queen Elizabeth I of England, daughter of Henry VIII, was born. She reigned as queen from 1558 to 1603.
1936: Early rock and roll singer, Buddy Holly, was also born. His biggest hits were "Peggy Sue," and "That'll Be the Day."
Speaking of singers, in 1950 Chrissie Hynde of the rock band, The Pretenders, was born on this day in Akron, Ohio. I am in Akron, Ohio today.
1822: Brazil declared independence from Portugal. Happy National Day to all our Brazilian It's Alive in the Lab readers.
1927: Philo Farnsworth demonstrated the first use of TV in San Francisco.
1936: Boulder Dam (now called Hoover Dam) began operation.
1948: First use of synthetic rubber in asphaltic concrete in Akron, Ohio. This helps reduce traffic noise.
1963: First United States TV appearance of the Beatles on a show called Big Night Out which aired on ABC. The Pro Football Hall of Fame was also dedicated in Canton, Ohio on the same day.
1976: US courts find George Harrison guilty of plagiarism. His song "My Sweet Lord" sounded too much like "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons.

Getting nostalgic from Akron, Ohio is alive in the lab.

How do I make an angled wall in Project Dragonfly?

Showing his prowess with the latest in ASCII graphics, a Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey recently asked the Project Dragonfly team,

I'd like to create a room that looks like:

Product Manager, Patrick Aragon, was quick to show him the way:

Showing shining examples of how we respond to feedback is alive in the lab.

How do I make an angled wall in Project Dragonfly?

Showing his prowess with the latest in ASCII graphics, a Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey recently asked the Project Dragonfly team,

I'd like to create a room that looks like:

Product Manager, Patrick Aragon, was quick to show him the way:

Showing shining examples of how we respond to feedback is alive in the lab.

Happy Labor Day

We'll be getting back to the lab.

From the This Day in History site, on this day, September 7, in:

1533: Queen Elizabeth I of England, daughter of Henry VIII, was born. She reigned as queen from 1558 to 1603.
1936: Early rock and roll singer, Buddy Holly, was also born. His biggest hits were "Peggy Sue," and "That'll Be the Day."
Speaking of singers, in 1950 Chrissie Hynde of the rock band, The Pretenders, was born on this day in Akron, Ohio. I am in Akron, Ohio today.
1822: Brazil declared independence from Portugal. Happy National Day to all our Brazilian It's Alive in the Lab readers.
1927: Philo Farnsworth demonstrated the first use of TV in San Francisco.
1936: Boulder Dam (now called Hoover Dam) began operation.
1948: First use of synthetic rubber in asphaltic concrete in Akron, Ohio. This helps reduce traffic noise.
1963: First United States TV appearance of the Beatles on a show called Big Night Out which aired on ABC. The Pro Football Hall of Fame was also dedicated in Canton, Ohio on the same day.
1976: US courts find George Harrison guilty of plagiarism. His song "My Sweet Lord" sounded too much like "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons.

Getting nostalgic from Akron, Ohio is alive in the lab.

Updated iCopy for Inventor Now Available

User feedback points us in the right direction.

The iCopy for Inventor team has released an update. You can download the updated version from

Free iCopy for Inventor Download on Autodesk Labs

This new version corrects a problem where a crash could occur when you: Start a New Drawing, Start Base View Command and source file, Select Custom View Orientation, and Right click in the Graphics Window. Thanks to Mark Flayer of RAND Worldwide for this test case.

Making things better based on your feedback is alive in the lab.

Browser Wars: MSIE 8 is not winning

I have upgraded to Internet Explorer 8. Looking at the browsers of people who have visited the Autodesk Labs in the last 30 days, I am in the minority:

What is preventing you from upgrading to Microsoft's latest browser? We'd like to know at thelabs@autodesk.com.

Asking questions by following the data is alive in the lab.

I'm in Cleveland, Ohio

In observance of the company furlough, this week my wife and I along with friends have been in Cleveland for two days. We got to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. As a long time musician Todd Rundgren fan and New Orleans Saints fan, both were a thrill. We also visited family in Indiana. On Sunday we will attend a concert. So if I have been remiss in responding to your inquiries - I apologize. Monday is a regular holiday, but it's back to work on Tuesday afternoon (traveling in the morning). Hi ho. Hi ho. It's back to work I go.

I'm in Cleveland, Ohio

Browser Wars: MSIE 8 is not winning

I have upgraded to Internet Explorer 8. Looking at the browsers of people who have visited the Autodesk Labs in the last 30 days, I am in the minority:

What is preventing you from upgrading to Microsoft's latest browser? We'd like to know at thelabs@autodesk.com.

Asking questions by following the data is alive in the lab.

Updated iCopy for Inventor Now Available

User feedback points us in the right direction.

The iCopy for Inventor team has released an update. You can download the updated version from

Free iCopy for Inventor Download on Autodesk Labs

Making things better based on your feedback is alive in the lab.

First Plugin of the Month: Offset in XREF

Our first plugin of the month was written by our own Kean Walmsley. He first published it on his blog at:

Through the Interface

Mark Doel, from RMJM Hong Kong Ltd., provided the inspiration for this plugin and provided preliminary testing. The Offset in Xref plugin can be used with AutoCAD to enable the OFFSET command to work with externally referenced drawings. Once loaded, the standard OFFSET will work with external referenced content: instead of responding "Cannot offset that object.", the plugin will automatically copy the selected object into the current drawing, allowing it to participate with the OFFSET command.

You can get your hands on the plugin at:

Free Offset in XRef Plugin Download on Autodesk Labs site

Please let us know how it works out at labs.plugins@autodesk.com.

Getting this plugin party started is alive in the lab.

First Plugin of the Month: Offset in XREF

Our first plugin of the month was written by our own Kean Walmsley. He first published it on his blog at:

Through the Interface

You can get your hands on the plugin at:

Free Offset in XRef Plugin Download on Autodesk Labs site

Please let us know how it works out at labs.plugins@autodesk.com.

Getting this plugin party started is alive in the lab.

Autodesk Furlough for US Employees This Week

Taking some vacation time in 2009

Autodesk is observing a company furlough this week. With the exception of staff dedicated to manning our critical systems, all United States employees will take the week off with our vacation time. So although it may seem like something's amiss with the RSS feed for this blog, it really just us relaxing. And if you don't get an immediate response to your Autodesk Labs feedback request like you normally do, fear not, we'll reply as soon as we get back. We will return ready for action.

Autodesk Furlough for US Employees This Week

Taking some vacation time in 2009

What is that thing?

There was an old Saturday Night Live skit where Steve Martin repeatedly asked "What is that? What the heck is that? What is that thing?" I am asking the same question: What is that thing?

While looking for a place to live in Alameda, we came across this is in a potential neighbor's yard. I know lots of engineering and sustainability minded people read this blog. So perhaps one of you could enlighten me?

What is that thing?

There was an old Saturday Night Live skit where Steve Martin repeatedly asked "What is that? What the heck is that? What is that thing?" I am asking the same question: What is that thing?

Second Highest Visitor Total for Labs Site in July

We are happy to see that the Autodesk Labs site is quite popular. When we look at unique visitors per month, July 2009 was our second highest month ever.

Last month was only topped by October 2008 where we introduced the UI Technology Preview for Autodesk Inventor 2009. Your feedback helped that functionality make its way into Inventor 2010. With the Labs site redesign completed at the end of July, it will interesting to see how August turns out.

Appreciating the traffic and help we get shaping our technologies for the future is alive in the lab.

Second Highest Visitor Total for Labs Site in July

We are happy to see that the Autodesk Labs site is quite popular. When we look at unique visitors per month, July 2009 was our second highest month ever.

Appreciating the traffic and help we get shaping our technologies for the future is alive in the lab.

AU2009 YouTube Contest: Lights, camera, action!

Autodesk is sponsoring a YouTube video contest. Upload your own video to YouTube that explains reasons to attend Autodesk University 2009. How about a Top 10 Reasons to Attend Autodesk University a la Late Night with David Letterman? You can find out more about the contest at:

The Autodesk University 2009 YouTube Contest

You could be one of three winners to receive an AU 2009 Las Vegas 3-Day, All-Inclusive Pass (includes conference, classes and hands-on labs, hotel, meals, and social events).

Hopefully cameras will be alive in your lab.

AU2009 YouTube Contest: Lights, camera, action!

The Autodesk University 2009 YouTube Contest

You could be one of three winners to receive an AU 2009 Las Vegas 3-Day, All-Inclusive Pass (includes conference, classes and hands-on labs, hotel, meals, and social events).

Hopefully cameras will be alive in your lab.

Request for Suggestions for Google Earth Publishing Enhancement

Yesterday I posted the list of top downloads for July. You can see that the Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD is a popular download. One of our Autodesk Labs visitors, a Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey, recently noted:

I'm using the Google Earth extension into AutoCAD 2008 - 2010 and I've been working with custom line types with width and gradient hatches. So, when export to Google Earth, line types are always continuous and the hatches lose the gradient.

Software Architect, Thomas Inzinga, replied:

Currently the Google Earth Extension does not publish custom line types nor gradient hatches to Google Earth with the AutoCAD characteristics maintained. I will add that to the wishlist for the feature.

Do It's Alive in the Lab readers have any other use cases for which maintaining drawing attributes would be useful? What other suggestions do you have for our Google Earth publishing capabilities? Please let us know at labs.acad.google@autodesk.com. Thanks!

Seeking out your suggestions is alive in the lab.

Request for Suggestions for Google Earth Publishing Enhancement

Software Architect, Thomas Inzinga, replied:

Seeking out your suggestions is alive in the lab.

Top 5 Downloads for July

We are grateful that many of you download uitilities from Autodesk Labs. Your experience shapes the future of our technology. In terms of what was popular last month:

So please keep it up.

Top 5 Downloads for July

We are grateful that many of you download uitilities from Autodesk Labs. Your experience shapes the future of our technology. In terms of what was popular last month:

So please keep it up.

AutodeskChannel is all aTwitter

My Twitter ID is AutodeskLabsScott. I also use Twitterfeed to share blog postings via tweets. Autodesk PR Channel and Education Manager, Angela Simoes, let me know that the Autodesk Channel team is getting its official own Twitter account - autodeskchannel.

This Twitter account will be owned by the Channel PR team and coordinated closely with the WW Channel Communications Team. The emanating tweets will contain:

Autodesk channel news
Updates about channel programs
Product rebate programs
Channel partner news
News/updates about channel events
Channel Partner Best Practices
News about New Customers

So go ahead and add autodeskchannel to your follow list.

Getting twitterpated is alive in the lab.

AutodeskChannel is all aTwitter

This Twitter account will be owned by the Channel PR team and coordinated closely with the WW Channel Communications Team. The emanating tweets will contain:

Autodesk channel news
Updates about channel programs
Product rebate programs
Channel partner news
News/updates about channel events
Channel Partner Best Practices
News about New Customers

So go ahead and add autodeskchannel to your follow list.

Getting twitterpated is alive in the lab.

Theme Songs for Autodesk Labs Technologies

This post was inspired by Shaan Hurley who emailed me when he heard a song on the radio entitled "Dragonfly" by Shaman's Harvest. What if Autodesk Labs technologies had theme songs?

2D to 3D	"3-D" by Cheap Trick
ShareNow	"Share My World" by Mary J. Blige
CATIA Import	"Catia" by Gianni Almani
DWG Export	"Export" by Hass
Feature Recognition	"Pattern Recognition" by Sonic Youth
Firefox Add-on	"Fire Fox" by Tristy Nesh
Google Earth Extension	"Earth Song" by Michael Jackson
iCopy	"Copy" by The Broken Beats
Fusion	"Freeway Jam (fusion)" by Jeff Beck
JT Translator	"J.T." by David Sanborn
Navigation Tool	"Navigation" by Patrick Nagel
Plugin of Month	"Plug-in" by Doksigen
Project Dragonfly	"Dragonfly" by Shaman's Harvest
Project Draw	"Draw" by Count Basie
Project Freewheel	"Free Ride" by The Edgar Winter Group
Project Newport	"Newport Waltz" by Dave Brubeck
Project Showroom	"Karn Evil 9: First Impression" by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
RDB Link	"Mumbo Link" by Paul McCartney and Wings
Rhino Import	"Rhino" by Big Green Rabbit
Shrinkwrap	"Shrink the World" by Yellowcard
Solar Radiation	"Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles
STL Export	"Export" by 4 Promille
Sustainable Materials	"Where the Green Grass Grows" by Tim McGraw
Multitouch	"I Have The Touch" by Peter Gabriel
Graduates	"Graduate" by Third Eye Blind

Have I missed any? Do you have any suggestions for something better? Let us know at thelabs@autodesk.com.

Having a little bit of fun on a Friday is alive in the lab.

Theme Songs for Autodesk Labs Technologies

This post was inspired by Shaan Hurley who emailed me when he heard a song on the radio entitled "Dragonfly" by Shaman's Harvest. What if Autodesk Labs technologies had theme songs?

2D to 3D	"3-D" by Cheap Trick
ShareNow	"Share My World" by Mary J. Blige
CATIA Import	"Catia" by Gianni Almani
DWG Export	"Export" by Hass
Feature Recognition	"Pattern Recognition" by Sonic Youth
Firefox Add-on	"Fire Fox" by Tristy Nesh
Google Earth Extension	"Earth Song" by Michael Jackson
iCopy	"Copy" by The Broken Beats
Fusion	"Freeway Jam (fusion)" by Jeff Beck
JT Translator	"J.T." by David Sanborn
Navigation Tool	"Navigation" by Patrick Nagel
Plugin of Month	"Plug-in" by Doksigen
Project Dragonfly	"Dragonfly" by Shaman's Harvest
Project Draw	"Draw" by Count Basie
Project Freewheel	"Free Ride" by The Edgar Winter Group
Project Newport	"Newport Waltz" by Dave Brubeck
Project Showroom	"Karn Evil 9: First Impression" by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
RDB Link	"Mumbo Link" by Paul McCartney and Wings
Rhino Import	"Rhino" by Big Green Rabbit
Shrinkwrap	"Shrink the World" by Yellowcard
Solar Radiation	"Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles
STL Export	"Export" by 4 Promille
Sustainable Materials	"Where the Green Grass Grows" by Tim McGraw
Multitouch	"I Have The Touch" by Peter Gabriel
Graduates	"Graduate" by Third Eye Blind

Have I missed any? Do you have any suggestions for something better? Let us know at thelabs@autodesk.com.

Having a little bit of fun on a Friday is alive in the lab.

Mirroring in Inventor Fusion

A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey wrote in:

The Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview with the boss / base feature cannot mirror; however, the same process hole / cut feature mirror can. Is that true?

Software Quality Assurance Engineer, Alan-Zhenyu Gao, responded swiftly with the answer:

Thank you for contacting us. You are correct in that it is a limitation in our Technology Preview 1. I will pass this issue to our development team. A work around for this scenario is to: Create a base body for the Boss feature and then Mirror the boss on the base body. After the Mirror is created, select a face of the base body, Press Pull, and cut it through. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Responding to customer feedback is alive in the lab.

Mirroring in Inventor Fusion

A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey wrote in:

The Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview with the boss / base feature cannot mirror; however, the same process hole / cut feature mirror can. Is that true?

Software Quality Assurance Engineer, Alan-Zhenyu Gao, responded swiftly with the answer:

Responding to customer feedback is alive in the lab.

Alias Direct Reader Add-in for Inventor Graduated from Autodesk Labs

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback since April 2008 on the technology preview of the Alias Direct Reader Add-in for Inventor.

This feedback was used to incorporate the functionality into Inventor 2010. Future comments and suggestions should be made through the product support channels. For those of you still using Inventor 2009 SP1, the add-on is still available for download from the Autodesk Labs Graduates page.

Alias Direct Reader Add-in for Inventor Graduated from Autodesk Labs

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback since April 2008 on the technology preview of the Alias Direct Reader Add-in for Inventor.

Computer Graphics World: Pictures in the Cloud

Freelance Writer, Kenneth Wong, has a thorough write-up of Software as a Service (SaaS) as it pertains to Project Showroom and Project Dragonfly:

Pictures in the Cloud

Check it out.

Computer Graphics World: Pictures in the Cloud

Freelance Writer, Kenneth Wong, has a thorough write-up of Software as a Service (SaaS) as it pertains to Project Showroom and Project Dragonfly:

Pictures in the Cloud

Check it out.

Email Address for Subscription Questions

Autodesk Labs is all about feedback. We have email aliases for each technology (e.g. labs.iv.fusion@autodesk.com) or utility. We also have a generic email email address for thelabs@autodesk.com. In a similar fashion, for those of you with inquiries about your subscriptions, you can email subscription.questions@autodesk.com. Channel and Education PR Manager, Angela Simoes, let me know that we now have a regular Q&A section on Cadalyst.com that focuses on customer questions around Subscription. Check it out.

Email Address for Subscription Questions

Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Expands to South Africa

Like most companies who host technology previews, we start slowly and get bigger. As such the Inventor Fusion Technology Preview was originally limited to the following geographies:

Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
New Zealand
Singapore
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States

We are happy to announce that we have added another location to the list:

South Africa

Some fun facts about South Africa (source) include:

South Africa has three capitals: Cape Town (legislative), Pretoria (administrative), and Bloemfontein (judicial).
The Kruger National Park, one of the world´s most beautiful national parks, is one of the most popular tourist spots in all of Africa.
South Africa produces almost half of the world's gold.

We're looking forward to additional feedback from this geography as well as continued feedback from all users. Keep those cards and letters coming in to labs.iv.fusion@autodesk.com.

Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Expands to South Africa

Like most companies who host technology previews, we start slowly and get bigger. As such the Inventor Fusion Technology Preview was originally limited to the following geographies:

Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
New Zealand
Singapore
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States

We are happy to announce that we have added another location to the list:

South Africa

Some fun facts about South Africa (source) include:

South Africa has three capitals: Cape Town (legislative), Pretoria (administrative), and Bloemfontein (judicial).
The Kruger National Park, one of the world´s most beautiful national parks, is one of the most popular tourist spots in all of Africa.
South Africa produces almost half of the world's gold.

We're looking forward to additional feedback from this geography as well as continued feedback from all users. Keep those cards and letters coming in to labs.iv.fusion@autodesk.com.

It's All About The Commute

Last weekend we were in the Bay Area looking for a place to live. The goal is to optimize the commute to the Autodesk office at One Market in San Francisco. There is a passenger ferry that goes from Alameda to San Francisco.

Alameda Ferry Terminal

The Ferry Building is just across the street from the Autodesk office. The departure and return schedules look very promising.

The site has ample parking and a nice structure.

The ramp entrance to the ferry has a sign that lets you know how many minutes until the next ferry.

The ferry ride is about 20 minutes as San Francisco is not far away.

We happened to be there while they were dredging to deepen the bay for large ships such as the one in the background.

Although there was nothing walking distance from this location, there may be something that is bicycling distance. As Autodesk works on company initiatives to be environmentally friendly and makes solutions available such as the Sustainable Materials Assistant and Green Building Studio, we as employees try to do our part in our own ways.

Considering the environment is alive in the lab.

It's All About The Commute

Alameda Ferry Terminal

The Ferry Building is just across the street from the Autodesk office. The departure and return schedules look very promising.

The site has ample parking and a nice structure.

The ramp entrance to the ferry has a sign that lets you know how many minutes until the next ferry.

The ferry ride is about 20 minutes as San Francisco is not far away.

We happened to be there while they were dredging to deepen the bay for large ships such as the one in the background.

Considering the environment is alive in the lab.

Sample July Feedback to Autodesk Labs

Autodesk Labs is all about feedback. Every once in a while I get an email that says "I have downloaded the utility from the site. I have been using it. What kind of feedback are you looking for?" To give you an idea as to what others are saying, like what I did for June, here is a sampling of some feedback we got in July.

Febri

I've used Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD to publish KML from DWG file. I want to store this KML (by retrieving the coordinate-series) to a database (Postgis) using PHP-XML DOM. When I checked the KML file, it used tetrahedron type for the coordinate-series. Is it possible to create KML with polyhedron type for the coordinates-series using this extension?
Jason Kroll

Great work on the DWF Add-on for Firefox however I have one question. Is there any reason why the following path works OK for IE but not Firefox? I am creating an html index of DWFs that will only ever be viewed on the local network or on a CD. I really don't want to specify the absolute path as it could be anything and it would be great to be able to have it work for both IE and Firefox.
Teresa Sá da Bandeira

I've recently sign-up to Autodesk Project Dragonfly. It seems a very good project for us architects, mainly to communicate with clients, because sometimes they have some difficulties understanding our 2D drawings. It's fast and easy to use, congratulations!!! I would like to know if I can import 2D plans from AutoCAD 2009 to Dragonfly?
Aqilah Khasbullah

I would like to ask about your Project Draw application. Is there any chance that you can customize the application so it can have shape editor and math equation editor as well in it?
Steve Gegerson

Does Project Freewheel supports embedded URL links to other files like PDFs served on the web within my DWF?
William Hunter

Feature Recognition is a fantastic tool and really useful, I use it often and frankly I would be a little lost without it at times. I have three questions/requests if you don't mind: Q1) Is it possible to update the icons to higher resolution versions for the ribbon UI (or where are they stored so that one can do it yourself)? Q2) Can you add a return button to the ribbon? Q3) Will this add-in make it the next version of IV?
Dan Banach

Using Inventor Fusion, I'm trying to create a sweep along the top edges of the part shown. I used the Topological Neighbor Selection to select the top edges for the path but I cannot create the sweep. After clicking on the loop option and specifying the Add Boolean I cannot click OK to create the sweep as shown here. What step am I missing?
Michael van der Knaap

When I Activated iCopy in the main assembly and select the assembly within the adaptive skeleton the inventor breakdown. The skeleton is not full constraint. Can you tell me is this a wrong workflow problem or is this a program problem?
Kocher Tilman

I am an Administrator for Inventor (~ 120 Users). I install the Shrinkwrap Add-In (I do this silent with Install-Parameter /silent) and also I need to display the Shrinkwrap-Toolbar without any User-modification after the installation (e.g. Flag in Toolbar Options).Is it possible to prepare the registry or something else to take effect?
Michael Waugh

I am looking at the Sustainable Materials Assistant for IV2010. Reading the.pdf that is zipped with the files, I read that carbon data is available on the internet through various sources, could not find, and so am wondering if you could share some of these sites. Thanks in advance.
Ian Waters

Is there a Mac version of the DWG Export for Maya plug-in? I need to export some curves out of Maya, and was told this is the only solution.
Eric Peabody

The Solar Radiation Technology Preview for Revit Architecture and Revit MEP seems to respond to project north instead of true north. Obviously only the true north orientation is going to be useful.
Alan Klauss

I have been looking into the RDB Link Tool as a way to import some client information into a Revit model. I am able to export and import from a Microsoft Access database. However, running RDB Link in the actual model I want to modify I get the error message in the attached html file. We've tried to clean up any issues in the model that seemed likely causes. We ran the audit, purged, and tried to clean up Warnings that seemed potentially relevant. Are there any suggestions on likely causes and fixes? Any help will be appreciated.
Stephen Williamson

I would very much appreciate the opportunity to speak with you or the relevant person about Project Showroom. Briefly I purchased Houseplans.com 2 years ago believing the internet would change the way people go about designing and building a house.
Duncan Anderson

There is one bit of technology that is needed within the Inventor Drawing Manager environment and which could be provided by Labs - a properties console similar to what is found in AutoCAD.

Sharing what we've heard to spur you to send in your own feedback is alive in the lab.

Sample July Feedback to Autodesk Labs

Febri
I've used Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD to publish KML from DWG file. I want to store this KML (by retrieving the coordinate-series) to a database (Postgis) using PHP-XML DOM. When I checked the KML file, it used tetrahedron type for the coordinate-series. Is it possible to create KML with polyhedron type for the coordinates-series using this extension?
Jason Kroll
Great work on the DWF Add-on for Firefox however I have one question. Is there any reason why the following path works OK for IE but not Firefox? I am creating an html index of DWFs that will only ever be viewed on the local network or on a CD. I really don't want to specify the absolute path as it could be anything and it would be great to be able to have it work for both IE and Firefox.
Teresa Sá da Bandeira
I've recently sign-up to Autodesk Project Dragonfly. It seems a very good project for us architects, mainly to communicate with clients, because sometimes they have some difficulties understanding our 2D drawings. It's fast and easy to use, congratulations!!! I would like to know if I can import 2D plans from AutoCAD 2009 to Dragonfly?
Aqilah Khasbullah
I would like to ask about your Project Draw application. Is there any chance that you can customize the application so it can have shape editor and math equation editor as well in it?
Steve Gegerson
Does Project Freewheel supports embedded URL links to other files like PDFs served on the web within my DWF?
William Hunter
Feature Recognition is a fantastic tool and really useful, I use it often and frankly I would be a little lost without it at times. I have three questions/requests if you don't mind: Q1) Is it possible to update the icons to higher resolution versions for the ribbon UI (or where are they stored so that one can do it yourself)? Q2) Can you add a return button to the ribbon? Q3) Will this add-in make it the next version of IV?
Dan Banach
Using Inventor Fusion, I'm trying to create a sweep along the top edges of the part shown. I used the Topological Neighbor Selection to select the top edges for the path but I cannot create the sweep. After clicking on the loop option and specifying the Add Boolean I cannot click OK to create the sweep as shown here. What step am I missing?
Michael van der Knaap
When I Activated iCopy in the main assembly and select the assembly within the adaptive skeleton the inventor breakdown. The skeleton is not full constraint. Can you tell me is this a wrong workflow problem or is this a program problem?
Kocher Tilman
I am an Administrator for Inventor (~ 120 Users). I install the Shrinkwrap Add-In (I do this silent with Install-Parameter /silent) and also I need to display the Shrinkwrap-Toolbar without any User-modification after the installation (e.g. Flag in Toolbar Options).Is it possible to prepare the registry or something else to take effect?
Michael Waugh
I am looking at the Sustainable Materials Assistant for IV2010. Reading the.pdf that is zipped with the files, I read that carbon data is available on the internet through various sources, could not find, and so am wondering if you could share some of these sites. Thanks in advance.
Ian Waters
Is there a Mac version of the DWG Export for Maya plug-in? I need to export some curves out of Maya, and was told this is the only solution.
Eric Peabody
The Solar Radiation Technology Preview for Revit Architecture and Revit MEP seems to respond to project north instead of true north. Obviously only the true north orientation is going to be useful.
Alan Klauss
I have been looking into the RDB Link Tool as a way to import some client information into a Revit model. I am able to export and import from a Microsoft Access database. However, running RDB Link in the actual model I want to modify I get the error message in the attached html file. We've tried to clean up any issues in the model that seemed likely causes. We ran the audit, purged, and tried to clean up Warnings that seemed potentially relevant. Are there any suggestions on likely causes and fixes? Any help will be appreciated.
Stephen Williamson
I would very much appreciate the opportunity to speak with you or the relevant person about Project Showroom. Briefly I purchased Houseplans.com 2 years ago believing the internet would change the way people go about designing and building a house.
Duncan Anderson
There is one bit of technology that is needed within the Inventor Drawing Manager environment and which could be provided by Labs - a properties console similar to what is found in AutoCAD.

Sharing what we've heard to spur you to send in your own feedback is alive in the lab.

YABC - Yet Another Boot Camp

I have alluded to boot camp as part of entering military service in the United States. There's also boot camp for the Macintosh environment that lets you run Windows applications on Apple hardware. Well I got a message from Director of Worldwide Education Marketing, Alissa Perlstein. There's another boot camp.

This week in San Francisco, we're hosting a number of young people in the Gallery and on the 2nd floor. No, these aren’t our newest employees, they are college students from around the US here for a week of technical training. Every year, the Education team trains students to become advocates for our technology on campus – the Student Expert program. On this Monday, the Gallery became the training ground (or boot camp) for this preparation before these students go back to school.

Our boot camp roster includes:

Approximately 20 students in Mechanical Engineering & Architecture discipline: Students from Carnegie Mellon, University of Illinois, Penn State, Georgia Tech, Purdue, and other fine institutions,
Primarily Juniors who will be able to offer Autodesk mentorship on campus for two+ years.

Boot camp is designed to:

Provide hands-on software training to Architecture and Mechanical Engineering students;
Foster the passion students have for design while building loyalty for Autodesk software;
Prepare students in becoming a resource and mentor for their peers on campus and to facilitate workshops, with the assistance of Education Solution Specialists, throughout the school year;
Enable students to hone their leadership skills in preparation for a career in design.

Watching others pick themselves up by their boot straps (metaphorically) is alive in the lab.

YABC - Yet Another Boot Camp

Our boot camp roster includes:

Approximately 20 students in Mechanical Engineering & Architecture discipline: Students from Carnegie Mellon, University of Illinois, Penn State, Georgia Tech, Purdue, and other fine institutions,
Primarily Juniors who will be able to offer Autodesk mentorship on campus for two+ years.

Boot camp is designed to:

Provide hands-on software training to Architecture and Mechanical Engineering students;
Foster the passion students have for design while building loyalty for Autodesk software;
Prepare students in becoming a resource and mentor for their peers on campus and to facilitate workshops, with the assistance of Education Solution Specialists, throughout the school year;
Enable students to hone their leadership skills in preparation for a career in design.

Watching others pick themselves up by their boot straps (metaphorically) is alive in the lab.

Updated Project Dragonfly Now Available

The Project Dragonfly team has been busy at work. Yesterday the team released an update. Recall that Project Dragonfly is our software as a service approach to floor planning. All you need is your browser to create your own floor plans.

According to the What's New Feature Guide for this release:

New and Improved Features for Doors and Windows
- Resizable Doors and Windows
- Doors and Windows Finish Options
- Duplicate Doors and Windows
New and Improved Wall Features
- Expanded Paint Options for Wall Surfaces
- New Curved Walls Feature
- New Wall Treatment Options
- New Accent Wall Feature
New and Improved Ways to Explore and Manage Designs
- Featured Designs Filter in the Autodesk Project Dragonfly Gallery
- New "Save As" Option for Existing Designs
Performance and Ease of Use Improvements and New Features
- New and Improved User Assistance
- More Performance and Ease of Use Improvements
More Ways to Learn About Autodesk Project Dragonfly
- Project Dragonfly Playlist on YouTube
- Follow us on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- View our Photostream
You can see the Social Sites page on the Autodesk Labs site for more information.

There's also an updated Known Issues List which you can find on the Updates page along with a link to the What's New Feature Guide itself.

Thanks to everyone who pour in the feedback at labs.dragonfly@autodesk.com.

Adding functionality to our software as a service technology previews is alive in the lab.

Updated Project Dragonfly Now Available

According to the What's New Feature Guide for this release:

New and Improved Features for Doors and Windows
- Resizable Doors and Windows
- Doors and Windows Finish Options
- Duplicate Doors and Windows
New and Improved Wall Features
- Expanded Paint Options for Wall Surfaces
- New Curved Walls Feature
- New Wall Treatment Options
- New Accent Wall Feature
New and Improved Ways to Explore and Manage Designs
- Featured Designs Filter in the Autodesk Project Dragonfly Gallery
- New "Save As" Option for Existing Designs
Performance and Ease of Use Improvements and New Features
- New and Improved User Assistance
- More Performance and Ease of Use Improvements
More Ways to Learn About Autodesk Project Dragonfly
- Project Dragonfly Playlist on YouTube
- Follow us on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- View our Photostream
You can see the Social Sites page on the Autodesk Labs site for more information.

There's also an updated Known Issues List which you can find on the Updates page along with a link to the What's New Feature Guide itself.

Thanks to everyone who pour in the feedback at labs.dragonfly@autodesk.com.

Adding functionality to our software as a service technology previews is alive in the lab.

What Might Interest Me?

Autodesk Labs has a variety of technologies for you to try:

Autodesk has many products:

I decided to connect the dots:

http://labs.blogs.com/mapping.htm/

This page depicts "If you use this application..., you might be interested in this technology from Labs." I got the Excel-like freeze pane functionality from the JavaScript Grid Tutorial. Let us know at thelabs@autodesk.com if you have suggestions for other ways to provide this data.

Cataloging our technologies/utilities is alive in the lab.

What Might Interest Me?

Autodesk Labs has a variety of technologies for you to try:

Autodesk has many products:

I decided to connect the dots:

http://labs.blogs.com/mapping.htm/

Cataloging our technologies/utilities is alive in the lab.

Not a Bad View

My wife and I are in the Bay Area today shopping for a place to live. We are staying with friends. They have a nice view.

It's a little bit hazy today, but that place looks like a city you could leave your heart in.

Not a Bad View

My wife and I are in the Bay Area today shopping for a place to live. We are staying with friends. They have a nice view.

It's a little bit hazy today, but that place looks like a city you could leave your heart in.

Two Quick It's Alive in the Lab Blog Statistics

Like yesterday's post inspired by an email from Eddy Kuo, I get help with this blog. Between what I write and other members of the team, we are able to post about 30 blog articles a month. We've been pretty consistent from the start.

As a result, about 10,000 unique visitors read our postings every month.

We are thankful we have garnered your attention. We are even more thankful for the feedback that we get via Autodesk Labs. Your experience shapes our future technology.

Two Quick It's Alive in the Lab Blog Statistics

As a result, about 10,000 unique visitors read our postings every month.

We are thankful we have garnered your attention. We are even more thankful for the feedback that we get via Autodesk Labs. Your experience shapes our future technology.

Point. Snap. Print. - a world of Star Trek possibilities

Eddy Kuo is one of our developers who has worked on technologies like Project Freewheel, multitouch, augmented reality, and virtualization via the cloud. So it's no wonder he went ga-ga when he encountered a series of articles.

Perhaps one day connecting these dots will be as easy as 1-2-3? Point your camera at a CAD part, snap a picture to capture 3D data, and print to a 3D printer. Now that might be considered rapid prototyping but it is not design. I think its as close to the Replicator on Star Trek as we will ever get.

Pondering possibilities for the future is alive in the lab.

Point. Snap. Print. - a world of Star Trek possibilities

Pondering possibilities for the future is alive in the lab.

New Autodesk Labs Site Design Unveiled

The new Autodesk Labs site redesign went live last Thursday night. Thanks to Marketing Manager, Amanda Collins, who lead our efforts and Senior Strategic Designer, Doug Look, who created the new "look" for the site. We'd also like to thank Prem Wongsaichua and Zuki Ndulo who develop the community platform upon which Autodesk Labs is based and Grant Coulombe and Jarrod Lopiccolo who created many of the images that decorate the new site.

If you use the way back machine, you can see our humble beginnings:

July 2006

May 2007

July 2009

We are all very happy with the new site and hope you find it easier to use. You can tell us what you think (good, bad, or ugly) at thelabs@autodesk.com.

Designing for feedback is alive in the lab.

Updated Solar Radiation Technology Preview Now Available

Based on your feedback, on Friday of last week we released a minor update to the Solar Radiation Technology Preview:

Free Download of the Solar Radiation Technology Preview on Autodesk Labs

Keep those emails coming in. You have until January 13, 2010 to make your feelings known. The heat is on.

Updating technology previews is alive in the lab.

P.S. We are aware of the issue related to true north. We especially want you to keep feedback like that coming in.

Updated Solar Radiation Technology Preview Now Available

Based on your feedback, on Friday of last week we released a minor update to the Solar Radiation Technology Preview:

Free Download of the Solar Radiation Technology Preview on Autodesk Labs

Keep those emails coming in. You have until January 13, 2010 to make your feelings known. The heat is on.

Updating technology previews is alive in the lab.

P.S. We are aware of the issue related to true north. We especially want you to keep feedback like that coming in.

New Autodesk Labs Site Design Unveiled

If you use the way back machine, you can see our humble beginnings:

July 2006

May 2007

July 2009

We are all very happy with the new site and hope you find it easier to use. You can tell us what you think (good, bad, or ugly) at thelabs@autodesk.com.

Designing for feedback is alive in the lab.

Project Draw down time: 9 AM to 12 PM Pacific Time

One of our developers, Frederic Loranger, is visiting our Petaluma Data Center this morning to upgrade some of our DELL PowerEdge servers. He will need to power off the physical server running the virtual machines that host Project Draw.

The downtime will happen between 9:00 am and noon on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009.

We thank you for your patience and continued interest in Project Draw.

Updated Autodesk Freewheel Service Now Available

Recall that version 1.0 of Autodesk Freewheel was fully released as an Autodesk service on April 10, 2007. Project Freewheel continued its technology preview path by extending its capabilities. On July 20, 2009 Autodesk Freewheel was updated to include elements from Project Freewheel based on your feedback.

Item
Name	Project Freewheel®	Autodesk® Freewheel®
URL	freewheel.labs.autodesk.com	freewheel.autodesk.com
Version	1.0.9.59	1.0.10.60
Strategy	exposure of viewing and other technologies that may or may not eventually be incorporated into Autodesk® Freewheel®	reliable DWF-based viewing without the need to install additional software
Monitoring	monitored by the Autodesk Labs team	monitored 24/7 by the same Autodesk IT Operations team that maintains the Buzzsaw/Streamline servers
Emphasis	exploration of sharing design data over the web to a variety of platforms	software as a service - in this case, a free service
Features	Upload via ShareNow, File Open (DWF, DWFx), Email, Print, consolidated login, My Designs, My Sessions, Zoom (In, Out, Fit), Pan, Full Screen/Restore, 3D Orbit, Navigation Wheels (3D and 2D), Collaboration (Share, Join, Markup List) Markup (Sketch, Highlight, Callout), DIV-based mashup, watermark, Customize UI (mode, CSS, UI, TOOL), JavaScript API, Project Draw integration	File Open (DWF, DWFx), Email, Print, Zoom (In, Out, Fit), Pan, Full Screen/Restore, 3D Orbit, Navigation Wheels (3D and 2D), DIV-based mashup, watermark, Customize UI (mode, CSS, UI, TOOL), JavaScript API
Support	Autodesk Labs Project Freewheel® email address Labs.Freewheel@autodesk.com or Freewheel® discussion group http://discussion.autodesk.com/ forum.jspa?forumID=251 or news://discussion.autodesk.com/ autodesk.freewheel	Freewheel® discussion group http://discussion.autodesk.com/ forum.jspa?forumID=251 or news://discussion.autodesk.com/ autodesk.freewheel
Blog	It's Alive in the Lab http://labs.blogs.com Scott Sheppard	Beyond the Paper http://dwf.blogs.com Volker Joseph

Graduating functionality from our technology preview to our production service is alive in the lab.

Going to California with an aching in my heart...

Made up my mind to make a new start,

Going to california with an aching in my heart.

Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams,

Telling myself its not as hard, hard, hard as it seems.

"Going to California", Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin,Led Zeppelin IV, 1971.

My dream of being a San Francisco One Market Street employee instead of a remote employee got one step closer. Assuming our buyers get their financing, the appraisal comes in near the selling price, and all of the punch list items are fixed by the walk-through, we have sold our Scottsdale, Arizona home. We have converted our living room / dining room area into a packing center.

We will rent a condo until our son goes to Marine boot camp in October. In the mean time, we will search for a place in the Bay Area.

Through the Interface: Plugin of the Month

Our pal Kean Walmsley has a post on his blog:

Coming soon to Autodesk Labs... Plugin of the month

Check it out.

Expanding our nexus from tool users to tool developers is alive in the lab.

Project Cooper Technology Preview Coming Soon

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Julliet, William Shakespeare, 1594.

Project Cooper is our easy to use sketching tool that allows consumers to communicate their visions. I have to admit that every time I type Cooper, I have to work real hard not to type Copper. Maybe its because I am from Arizona which is the Copper state? That got me to thinking, how did Cooper get its name?

Technologies on Autodesk Labs have a variety of sources for their names.

Project Freewheel got its name from being free from having to install Autodesk Design Review.
Project Draw got its name from its origin as Cumulate Draw.
Inventor LT followed in the footsteps of AutoCAD LT in that it is a Limited Technology version of Autodesk Inventor. By the way, the cognoscente all say "el-tee" instead of "light."
Project Dragonfly got its name from Product Manager, Brian Souder, who thought they were interesting and nimble little insects.
The Boomless Chameleon took its name from the Boom Chameleon developed by the Autodesk Research team. It provided similar functionality but without the boom.

So what about Cooper? Is it in honor of Gary Cooper? No. Actually Project Cooper gets it name from Product Manager, Lisa Crounse, who was inspired by the small size of the Mini Cooper automobile. Think of Cooper as a mini AutoCAD. :-) That's not 100% accurate, but you get the idea. Wherefore art thou Project Cooper? I will post an announcement on this blog when the technology preview is open to the public.

Pondering the origins of our monikers is alive in the lab.

An Introduction to Autodesk Systems

Image courtesy of Organika

Image courtesy of Ace Digital House

Image courtesy of Smoke&Mirrors

Seeing is believing

I never thought I'd be here

Is this really real

Or am I dreaming?

No way of knowing

"Seeing is Believing," Andrew Lloyd Webber, Aspects of Love, 1989.

Kristen Pearce is Americas Field Marketing Manager for Systems. She works in our Media & Entertainment (M&E) Division. Systems software is an award winning suite of interoperable market leading creative tools designed for the creation of high value content. If you watch television and movies, you've seen the Systems products in action. Since many members of the Autodesk Labs team have been involved with AutoCAD, Inventor, or Revit, we asked Kristen to share some information about the products in the M&E division. Here is what she told us.

Purpose	Product	Capabilities	Used for	Used by
Visual Effects	Autodesk Inferno	3D compositing software, Superior visual effects for advanced graphics, High speed - allows for client interactivity	Television, commercial, and film projects	Inferno has a strong Japanese following. In the Americas, Inferno is used primarily in large VFX film pipelines (i.e., ILM).
	Autodesk Flame	3D compositing software, Superior visual effects for advanced graphics, High speed - allows for client interactivity	Television, commercial, and film projects	Commercial post houses (both large and boutique firms), Broadcast
	Autodesk Flint	Visual effects and motion graphics software based on Flame technology, Real time HDTV and SD video capabilities	Promotions and brand graphics, station ID packages, Commercials	Broadcasters, Post production facilities
	Autodesk Flare	Creative companion to Inferno and Flame, Scalable way to expand business offerings and develop in-house talent, Features Batch and Action 3D procedural compositing tools of Inferno and Flame - allows for clients to work concurrently on the same project	Television, commercial, and film projects	Commercial post houses (both large and boutique firms), Broadcast
Editing and Finishing	Autodesk Smoke	Creative editorial system, Features an integrated set of finishing tools: keying, color correction, tracking and stabilizing, Features many of the visual effects tools found in Flame	Television (broadcast design and long-form), commercial, and film projects	Commercial post houses (both large and boutique firms), Broadcast
Color Grading	Autodesk Lustre	Creative toolset allows colorists to create looks previously impossible to create in film/television, Stereoscopy tools to produce refined 3D color graded products, Multi-point tracking allows for fast and accurate animation of shapes and stabilization of images	Film, growing into television (primarily for long-form production)	Commercial post houses (primarily large firms), Colorists

Thanks to Kristen we all have a better understanding of what Autodesk software is used to make television and film ideas become reality.

Sharing some info about Autodesk products is alive in the lab.

San Francisco Gallery at One Market Pecha Kucha

Autodesk is hosting Pecha Kucha Night tomorrow in the Gallery at One Market Thursday, July 30 (Doors open at 7:30 pm; Show starts at 8:20 pm). Recall that Pecha Kucha is a presentation format where a presenter tells a story using 20 slides where each slide is visible for 20 seconds.

All employees and friends are welcome to join the local design community for this event! $5 donation requested but not required at the door.

The theme is “Counterpoint”.

For more information about Pecha Kucha SF, visit http://pechakucha-sf.com/.

Autodesk Gallery

One Market St. 2nd floor

San Francisco

Crash Proof: Precision of Silver as Compared to Gold

Last week I read Crash Proof by Peter D, Schiff. Having already shared an excerpt from the book about gold, I thought I would mention silver.

The United States dollar was first defined by the Mint Act of 1792 as 371.25 grains if fine silver which was exactly the weight of the Spanish mill dollar. In 1792, the Spanish mill dollar was the most common coin in colonial America. It was so popular that it was allowed to circulate in America until 1857 - 70 years after the signing of the constitution. [Crash Proof, page 53]

Well if gold had been the standard of money since the beginning of civilization, how did silver enter the monetary picture?

The reason silver was used in addition to gold was because it was easier to transport. Silver coins represented smaller amounts of money and could be carried around on one's person, whereas an amount of gold equal to the value of a silver dime (one tenth of a dollar) would be so small that you couldn't see it in your hand. [Crash Proof, page 222]

...Just another interesting snippet of the book I thought I would share.

Autodesk Labs Site Down Time for New Facelift

At the urging of Robin Capper, I have replaced the image of the wrenches in a coat pocket.

As previous mentioned, Autodesk Labs Marketing Manager, Amanda Collins, has been leading our efforts to give the Autodesk Labs site a makeover. We want to give videos more prominence and use fewer words where possible. It's like she always says: "Why use a big word when a diminutive one would do?" With this in mind, there may be some down time while we convert to our new site content:

Date: July 30, 2009
Time: 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM Pacific time

When the site comes back up, it will have a new look that we hope you will enjoy. Thanks for your continued interest in Autodesk Labs. Without you, there is no labs.

It was 28 years ago tomorrow...

Tomorrow is our 28th wedding anniversary. Sheryl and I dated through high school and college and got married 3 months after graduation. John Schmier took this picture a while back. Those really are my fingers on the keyboard. We were at an offsite meeting, and he had just gotten a new camera. He wanted to check out its MACRO capabilities. I thought it was appropriate to share today.

It was 28 years ago tomorrow...

San Francisco Gallery at One Market Pecha Kucha

All employees and friends are welcome to join the local design community for this event! $5 donation requested but not required at the door.

The theme is “Counterpoint”.

For more information about Pecha Kucha SF, visit http://pechakucha-sf.com/.

Autodesk Gallery
One Market St. 2nd floor
San Francisco

Autodesk Labs Site Down Time for New Facelift

At the urging of Robin Capper, I have replaced the image of the wrenches in a coat pocket.

Date: July 30, 2009
Time: 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM Pacific time

When the site comes back up, it will have a new look that we hope you will enjoy. Thanks for your continued interest in Autodesk Labs. Without you, there is no labs.

Updated iCopy for Inventor Now Available

The iCopy team has a new iCopy install available on the Autodesk Labs site. It has been verified by the Inventor QA team.

Free Download of iCopy for Inventor Technology Preview

Just like the original install, there are 4 flavors of the new add-in: 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Inventor 2009 and Inventor 2010. The updated add-in has a fix for a crash we got via CER (CER #28223437, #28078597). Here is the description of the problem that will be fixed from George Hudetz, the iCopy Product Designer:

“I am not sure how many customers may have seen this so far, but it affects a fairly common workflow. Basically, the user does not even have to use iCopy functionality – as long as the add-in is installed, the system will crash if the user creates a new weldment subassembly and then right-clicks the weld node. Since iCopy is very frame-centric, and since frames are welded, it seems like a good candidate for a (iCopy) hotfix.”

Responding to internal feedback with defect corrections is alive in the lab. To share your own thoughts or defect reports, please let us know at labs.iv.icopy@autodesk.com.

Autodesk Announces Expanded Support for Mac Users via Boot Camp

No, not that kind of Boot Camp.

Senior Public Relations Manager, Noah Cole, shared some interesting news with Autodesk bloggers,

Autodesk is now officially supporting Apple Boot Camp, a component of the Mac OSX operating system that enables customers to run Windows on their Apple Hardware, for users of AutoCAD 2010 software, 3ds Max 2010 software, 3ds Max Design 2010 software, Autodesk Inventor 2010 software, Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 software, Autodesk Revit Structure 2010 software and Autodesk Revit MEP 2010 software. A growing number of Autodesk customers are working in environments with Apple hardware and have requested support from Autodesk to use our design and engineering applications on that platform. With Autodesk support for Boot Camp, customers can now run their favorite Mac applications and Autodesk applications on the same computer. This will also enable customers to run Autodesk applications at full speed on a Mac and leverage its native graphics capabilities. We know some customers have been successfully running their Autodesk software under Boot Camp for years, so we’re pleased to finally offer official support. See www.autodesk.com/mac for more details.

Boot Camp is a utility included with Mac OS X v10.5 (aka “Leopard”) that allows users to run Windows-based applications on their Macs. Users can run their Windows applications at native speed with full access to the Mac hardware processors, accelerated 3D graphics, and I/O connections. Users need to have an Intel-based Mac (ex: MacBook Pro, Mac Pro), Mac OS X Leopard, and a copy of the Windows OS (Windows XP 32 or Vista 32/64).

At this time Autodesk support for users on Apple hardware for these products is limited to Windows versions of these applications running via Boot Camp. In contrast, Autodesk currently offers seven native OS X Applications: The Alias family of products, Sketchbook Pro, Maya, Mudbox, Toxik, ImageModeler, and Stitcher. Autodesk is currently working to extend support for the same products currently supported via Boot Camp to a virtualization environment. This will enable users to operate their Autodesk applications alongside their Mac applications without requiring a reboot of their computer. We are considering a technology preview of a virtualization environment via Autodesk Labs.

Project Draw down time: 9 AM to 12 PM Pacific Time

The downtime will happen between 9:00 am and noon on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009.

We thank you for your patience and continued interest in Project Draw.

Engineering a Man on the Moon

Yesterday we got an email from Brian Mathews, VP of Autodesk Labs. With his permission, I thought I would share it with you.

From: Brian Mathews
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 9:35 AM
To: Autodesk Labs Dev
Subject: Man on the Moon: being an engineer

With all the media buzz about the 40 year anniversary of putting a man on the moon yesterday, a lot of attention was put on the brave astronauts that risked (or lost) their lives.

One thing that didn't get much coverage was the engineers it took to put those astronauts on the moon. While the astronauts were brave, from one perspective you could argue that their job was made possible by the process and procedures created by engineers behind the scenes. When Apollo 13 got into trouble, it wasn’t the astronauts that saved the situation: they didn’t have the knowledge. Engineers made the difference.

The average person has a hard time understanding how incredible the task was from an engineering perspective and the talent required. Consider the available electronics and programming languages of the time. There was no Mathmatica to do engineering calculations, no Google to find spec sheets or wiring diagrams, and no AutoCAD to aid in manufacture. The CPUs of the day used a lot of power for very little performance. Running a finite element analysis of the reaction chamber dynamics was impossible. Beyond the significant intellectual aspects of the science were the very practical skills of managing a large and complex team, building an amazingly complex craft, and then testing the system somehow on the ground.

I congratulate the many engineers who put a man on the moon 40 years ago. I congratulate you all for your accomplishments today as engineers and your dedication to apply the intellectual discoveries of science to practical reality for the betterment of mankind. We can make a difference.

Brian P. Mathews
Vice President, Autodesk Labs

I have an autographed copy of Buzz Aldrin's book The Last Man on the Moon. I read it years ago. I recall that the lunar lander touched down on the surface of the moon with only seconds of fuel left. Imagine the horror if the fuel had been spent minutes earlier. Now do the calculations to make sure that doesn't happen using a slide rule. We owe the engineers of that era a great deal.

Celebrating mankind's achievements as truly a team effort is alive in the lab.

Updated Autodesk Freewheel Service Now Available

Item
Name	Project Freewheel®	Autodesk® Freewheel®
URL	freewheel.labs.autodesk.com	freewheel.autodesk.com
Version	1.0.9.59	1.0.10.60
Strategy	exposure of viewing and other technologies that may or may not eventually be incorporated into Autodesk® Freewheel®	reliable DWF-based viewing without the need to install additional software
Monitoring	monitored by the Autodesk Labs team	monitored 24/7 by the same Autodesk IT Operations team that maintains the Buzzsaw/Streamline servers
Emphasis	exploration of sharing design data over the web to a variety of platforms	software as a service - in this case, a free service
Features	Upload via ShareNow, File Open (DWF, DWFx), Email, Print, consolidated login, My Designs, My Sessions, Zoom (In, Out, Fit), Pan, Full Screen/Restore, 3D Orbit, Navigation Wheels (3D and 2D), Collaboration (Share, Join, Markup List) Markup (Sketch, Highlight, Callout), DIV-based mashup, watermark, Customize UI (mode, CSS, UI, TOOL), JavaScript API, Project Draw integration	File Open (DWF, DWFx), Email, Print, Zoom (In, Out, Fit), Pan, Full Screen/Restore, 3D Orbit, Navigation Wheels (3D and 2D), DIV-based mashup, watermark, Customize UI (mode, CSS, UI, TOOL), JavaScript API
Support	Autodesk Labs Project Freewheel® email address Labs.Freewheel@autodesk.com or Freewheel® discussion group http://discussion.autodesk.com/ forum.jspa?forumID=251 or news://discussion.autodesk.com/ autodesk.freewheel	Freewheel® discussion group http://discussion.autodesk.com/ forum.jspa?forumID=251 or news://discussion.autodesk.com/ autodesk.freewheel
Blog	It's Alive in the Lab http://labs.blogs.com Scott Sheppard	Beyond the Paper http://dwf.blogs.com Volker Joseph

Graduating functionality from our technology preview to our production service is alive in the lab.

Going to California with an aching in my heart...

Made up my mind to make a new start,
Going to california with an aching in my heart.
Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams,
Telling myself its not as hard, hard, hard as it seems.
"Going to California", Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin,Led Zeppelin IV, 1971.

We will rent a condo until our son goes to Marine boot camp in October. In the mean time, we will search for a place in the Bay Area.

Through the Interface: Plugin of the Month

Our pal Kean Walmsley has a post on his blog:

Coming soon to Autodesk Labs... Plugin of the month

Check it out.

Expanding our nexus from tool users to tool developers is alive in the lab.

An Introduction to Autodesk Systems

Image courtesy of Organika

Image courtesy of Ace Digital House

Image courtesy of Smoke&Mirrors

Seeing is believing
I never thought I'd be here
Is this really real
Or am I dreaming?
No way of knowing
"Seeing is Believing," Andrew Lloyd Webber, Aspects of Love, 1989.

Purpose	Product	Capabilities	Used for	Used by
Visual Effects	Autodesk Inferno	3D compositing software, Superior visual effects for advanced graphics, High speed - allows for client interactivity	Television, commercial, and film projects	Inferno has a strong Japanese following. In the Americas, Inferno is used primarily in large VFX film pipelines (i.e., ILM).
	Autodesk Flame	3D compositing software, Superior visual effects for advanced graphics, High speed - allows for client interactivity	Television, commercial, and film projects	Commercial post houses (both large and boutique firms), Broadcast
	Autodesk Flint	Visual effects and motion graphics software based on Flame technology, Real time HDTV and SD video capabilities	Promotions and brand graphics, station ID packages, Commercials	Broadcasters, Post production facilities
	Autodesk Flare	Creative companion to Inferno and Flame, Scalable way to expand business offerings and develop in-house talent, Features Batch and Action 3D procedural compositing tools of Inferno and Flame - allows for clients to work concurrently on the same project	Television, commercial, and film projects	Commercial post houses (both large and boutique firms), Broadcast
Editing and Finishing	Autodesk Smoke	Creative editorial system, Features an integrated set of finishing tools: keying, color correction, tracking and stabilizing, Features many of the visual effects tools found in Flame	Television (broadcast design and long-form), commercial, and film projects	Commercial post houses (both large and boutique firms), Broadcast
Color Grading	Autodesk Lustre	Creative toolset allows colorists to create looks previously impossible to create in film/television, Stereoscopy tools to produce refined 3D color graded products, Multi-point tracking allows for fast and accurate animation of shapes and stabilization of images	Film, growing into television (primarily for long-form production)	Commercial post houses (primarily large firms), Colorists

Thanks to Kristen we all have a better understanding of what Autodesk software is used to make television and film ideas become reality.

Sharing some info about Autodesk products is alive in the lab.

Project Cooper Technology Preview Coming Soon

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Julliet, William Shakespeare, 1594.

Technologies on Autodesk Labs have a variety of sources for their names.

Project Freewheel got its name from being free from having to install Autodesk Design Review.
Project Draw got its name from its origin as Cumulate Draw.
Inventor LT followed in the footsteps of AutoCAD LT in that it is a Limited Technology version of Autodesk Inventor. By the way, the cognoscente all say "el-tee" instead of "light."
Project Dragonfly got its name from Product Manager, Brian Souder, who thought they were interesting and nimble little insects.
The Boomless Chameleon took its name from the Boom Chameleon developed by the Autodesk Research team. It provided similar functionality but without the boom.

Pondering the origins of our monikers is alive in the lab.

Crash Proof: Precision of Silver as Compared to Gold

Last week I read Crash Proof by Peter D, Schiff. Having already shared an excerpt from the book about gold, I thought I would mention silver.

Well if gold had been the standard of money since the beginning of civilization, how did silver enter the monetary picture?

...Just another interesting snippet of the book I thought I would share.

Updated Sustainable Materials Assistant for Inventor Now Available

Oh, mercy mercy me
Oh, things ain't what they used to be
Where did all the blue sky go?
Poison is the wind that blows
From the north, east, south, and sea
Oil wasted on the oceans and upon our seas
Fish full of mercury
Radiation in the ground and in the sky
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying
Oh, mercy mercy me
"Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)", Marvin Gaye, What's Going On/Let's Get It On, 1980.

Software Development Manager, Feiqi Zhang, provided me with an update of the Sustainable Materials Assistant. I was happy to put it on the Autodesk Labs site:

Free Download of Sustainable Materials Assistant

This updated version now supports Inventor 2010. To continue support for Inventor 2009, the ZIP file contains both installers. I'd like to welcome the Inventor 2010 users to the party! Now 2009 and 2010 users can provide problem reports, insights, and success stories on their efforts to improve the sustainability of their designs with the assistance of this technology preview. Please share your feedback with labs.iv.sustainable@autodesk.com. Oh, mercy mercy me.

Keeping our technology previews current to keep the feedback coming is alive in the lab.

Sample Autodesk Labs Feedback from June

Autodesk Labs is all about feedback. Every once in a while I get an email that says "I have downloaded the utility from the site. I have been using it. What kind of feedback are you looking for?" To give you an idea as to what others are saying, here is a sampling of some feedback we got in June.

Nichole McCarty
With regard to Project Cooper, I had a few suggestions you guys might want to think over. I was thinking it would be really cool if you could select separate text boxes and edit them together so that one click changes all the text boxes to one font and size you want. I wanted to change the text on the labeling and dimensions of my dog house, and I had to click each text box individually, which you could imagine was time consuming.
Iain Howell
I like dragonfly! My thoughts and feelings are it is a well designed, fairly complete offering. My only real frustration was the limits 'resizable' objects and that you couldn't actually specify the dimensions and are forced to select the closest value to the desired specs. A larger collections of items would also be fantastic...
Jui Hung Yen
Dear Project Draw team, I was totally amazed by your work when I stumbled into it while searching for a suitable tool for a project that I'm trying to build. Knowing the difficulties and challenges involved in developing such a tool as Draw, your work impressed me deeply.
Torben West Jensen
[After reporting a problem where Outlook is breaking up the long email URLs...] Is it not possible to make the Freewheel program use something like the: http://www.shorturl.com/ to get a short hyperlink?
Martin Sedlar
iCopy seems to be great tool. I´ve tried to use iCopy for frame where base subassembly was created by Frame generator. Skeleton sketch of base subassembly changed according to iCopy rules, but Frame subassembly didn´t. Does it work with data created by Frame generator, anyway? Or would I use these tools together with some particular technique only? I think that time which could be saved by iCopy and Frame generator cooperation, shouldn´t be lost by long time subassembly data preparation without Frame generator.
Jean-Paul Trehen
Many thanks for all your great job around our solutions. Please, please again, AEC and especially Revit Architecture needs direct Rhino import. We need a real import translator which each Rhino form, primitives, lines, splines per points, points (etc) would be (re)create in the Conceptual Design 2010 template.
Emy McGann
Revit RDB Link is an exciting tool! I’m already imagining the possibilities with this! When you use the Custom Parameters tool, it looks like it puts the parameters in its own txt file. Is there any way to get the parameters to be placed in an existing shared param .txt file? It also doesn’t look like it gives me all the units for mep (i.e. electrical, hvac, etc units). I’m daydreaming here, but it would be really powerful if you could map the parameters on a connector in a family to a shared parameter thru this tool. One of the hardest things with managing schedules in RMEP is ensuring all the families being used in the project have the connectors mapped to a shared param (and mapped to the same shared parameter especially if you download content from manufacturers) (i.e. duct size, pipe size, voltage, load, etc).
Alejandro Gaete
The most cumbersome part of a project is trade coordination. This is where the five prime contractors come together to make sure there are no conflicts with each other’s work that is to be fabricated and installed. Most of this coordination is still done on paper... I am seeing a shift in the mindset of owners and general contractors which I believe is going to result in a dramatic increase in the NavisWorks role for coordination. My idea is to see a multi-touch computer simultaneously running NavisWorks and AutoCAD where at a coordination meeting, any trade can modify their 3D model and instantly update the overall model in NavisWorks. Currently we have each trade set up a laptop, then the modeler has his PC running NavisWorks. That’s six computers, five too many if you ask me.

Sharing what we've heard to spur you to send in your own feedback is alive in the lab.

Autodesk Revit Solar Radiation Technology Preview Now Available

Solar radiation analysis is one of the ways architects can consider ecology when creating their designs.

"Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right."

"Here Comes the Sun," George Harrison, The Beatles, Abbey Road, 1969.

Product Manager for Sustainable Design in the AEC community, Vidisha Salunke, got me a new utility for Revit users. I was happy to place it on the Autodesk Labs site. She also gave me the following blog article. Read on.

Designing for sustainability requires many analyses, and an understanding of the incident solar radiation on a building façade is one of those analyses. It is particularly compelling to be able to do this analysis from within Revit. The new Solar Radiation Technology Preview allows users to study incident solar radiation on a building form within the conceptual massing environment available to all Revit Architecture and Revit MEP users. There are many examples of how the information can be used, but some of the common ones are:

Studying how incident solar radiation on the façade of a specific form differs by orientation. This could be as simple as analyzing a basic rectangular form. It is easy but important to look at incident solar radiation on pitched roofs to understand the impact of various roof pitches and nearby shading elements early in the design process if solar panels are being considered.
To understand the relative importance of glazing for daylighting and solar heat gain of the building, it is useful to quantify the difference between the incident solar radiation that occurs on the lower floors vs. the higher floors of a tall building. This is especially significant in an urban context. Studying incident solar energy is one step towards understanding what types of glass might be appropriate different façades or floors. If the solar radiation on the north façade or lower floors is much lower than the flux on the southern or high floors, varying glass type and performance by face may be appropriate.
Much of the analysis associated with low carbon building design and sustainability is very numerical and not visually compelling. The solar radiation add-in is a great way to provide visual feedback within the context of a design whether as a means to communicate a design choice, or as part of a presentation.

It is worth repeating here that analyses for sustainability, including solar radiation analysis, should be done very early in the design process, and then repeated as needed when the form and design evolves. This new technology preview is available within the massing environment, which facilitates its early use.

The user chooses a weather file which contains the raw solar data required for the analysis, then chooses a date and time range for the analysis, and finally selects the surfaces to be analyzed.

The user has the ability to set the number of divisions or tiles that a surface gets sectioned into for the analysis, with the associated computation time implications. The results can be displayed as cumulative, peak or average values in user chosen units. The computation time varies depending on the calculation resolution, but examples shown here take approximately 10 seconds for the simplest analysis for the simplest form, to approximately 20 seconds for the more complicated form.

Finally, once the users are satisfied with their analyses, they can choose to publish the results in the form of images or output to a printer.

To help get you started, there's a video that accompanies this release:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfv1eEvnAas
non-YouTube: http://labs.autodesk.com/files/1801_1900/1811/file_1811.mp4

Thanks Vidisha. So take the solar radiation add-in for a whirl and let us know what you think at labs.revit.ecotect@autodesk.com.

Looking forward to your feedback in regards to our sustainability efforts is alive in the lab.

Updated Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Now Available

On Thursday, July 9, we posted an update to the Inventor Fusion Technology Preview. This update corrects some of the crashing defects you have reported to labs.iv.fusion@autodesk.com. Thanks for the defects. Please keep the feedback coming. This is exactly why we make technology previews available on labs.

Updated Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Now Available

Autodesk Revit Solar Radiation Technology Preview Now Available

Solar radiation analysis is one of the ways architects can consider ecology when creating their designs.

"Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right."
"Here Comes the Sun," George Harrison, The Beatles, Abbey Road, 1969.

Studying how incident solar radiation on the façade of a specific form differs by orientation. This could be as simple as analyzing a basic rectangular form. It is easy but important to look at incident solar radiation on pitched roofs to understand the impact of various roof pitches and nearby shading elements early in the design process if solar panels are being considered.
To understand the relative importance of glazing for daylighting and solar heat gain of the building, it is useful to quantify the difference between the incident solar radiation that occurs on the lower floors vs. the higher floors of a tall building. This is especially significant in an urban context. Studying incident solar energy is one step towards understanding what types of glass might be appropriate different façades or floors. If the solar radiation on the north façade or lower floors is much lower than the flux on the southern or high floors, varying glass type and performance by face may be appropriate.
Much of the analysis associated with low carbon building design and sustainability is very numerical and not visually compelling. The solar radiation add-in is a great way to provide visual feedback within the context of a design whether as a means to communicate a design choice, or as part of a presentation.

The user chooses a weather file which contains the raw solar data required for the analysis, then chooses a date and time range for the analysis, and finally selects the surfaces to be analyzed.

Finally, once the users are satisfied with their analyses, they can choose to publish the results in the form of images or output to a printer.

To help get you started, there's a video that accompanies this release:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfv1eEvnAas
non-YouTube: http://labs.autodesk.com/files/1801_1900/1811/file_1811.mp4

Thanks Vidisha. So take the solar radiation add-in for a whirl and let us know what you think at labs.revit.ecotect@autodesk.com.

Looking forward to your feedback in regards to our sustainability efforts is alive in the lab.

Project Freewheel will be down on Monday from 9 AM to 12 PM

Our IT department will be performing some routine maintenance on Monday. As such, the Project Freewheel servers will be down from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Pacific time. We thank you for your patience and your continued interest in Project Freewheel. We're always glad to hear Project Freewheel usage stores at labs.freewheel@autodesk.com.

Request for Survey Participation: Graduate School of Design at Harvard University

Dear owner, architect or energy consultant,

You are invited to participate in an online survey on the use of building energy simulation during design, construction and operation. A special emphasis of the survey is to better understand who on the design team owns and gets access to the energy model of a building, what role the model currently plays during building design and construction, and how the use of the model could be extended to the overall lifetime of a building.

The survey is being carried out by the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University in collaboration with the Office for Sustainability. The survey is funded through the Harvard Real Estate Academic Initiative. The goal is to develop recommendations of how owners of large real state should interact with their building design teams to get maximum benefit from their building performance analysis contracts. The hope is that your input will help develop recommendations that are acceptable, fair, and profitable to all members of the design team.

To participate in the survey simply go to:

A Survey on the Use of Building Energy Models during Design, Construction and Operation.

Thank you for your participation! Please forward the survey link to your professional networks. We will be keeping the survey open until August 15th.

Request for Survey Participation: Graduate School of Design at Harvard University

Dear owner, architect or energy consultant,

To participate in the survey simply go to:

A Survey on the Use of Building Energy Models during Design, Construction and Operation.

Thank you for your participation! Please forward the survey link to your professional networks. We will be keeping the survey open until August 15th.

Project Freewheel will be down on Monday from 9 AM to 12 PM

Twitter Status: Tweets, Following, and Followers

I will follow you. Will you follow me?
All the days and nights that we know will be.
I will stay with you. Will you stay with me?
Just one single tear in each passing year there will be.
"Follow You, Follow Me," ...And Then There Were Three..., Genesis, 1978.

My Twitter account is:

http://www.twitter.com/scottsh115/

To get a perspective on what others in the Twitter community had to say, in June I expanded my list of people I was following. In Twitter terms, "following" someone means that their updates, called Tweets, appear on my Twitter page.

Actually I use a program called TweetDeck, so what I really see is their Tweets in nice columns.

Once I follow someone, in turn many of these people reciprocate by following me. At the start of July my Twitter status looked like:

Twitter only allows me to follow up to 2,000 other people. I also use a service called Twitterfeed to share It's Alive in the Lab blog postings with people who follow me on Twitter. I have found that if I fully follow 2,000 people, Twitterfeed stops working, It's best to keep one's follow list at no more than 1990. So I will be spreading things around. I will unfollow some people to make room to follow others.

On a side note, it was really cool to see our Autodesk Gallery mentioned as one of the top 11 3D companies and artists to follow on Twitter. 11? I guess the author has seen This is Spinal Tap.

Sharing what the deal is with this "Twitter thing" is alive in the lab.

Twitter Status: Tweets, Following, and Followers

My Twitter account is:

http://www.twitter.com/scottsh115/

Actually I use a program called TweetDeck, so what I really see is their Tweets in nice columns.

Once I follow someone, in turn many of these people reciprocate by following me. At the start of July my Twitter status looked like:

On a side note, it was really cool to see our Autodesk Gallery mentioned as one of the top 11 3D companies and artists to follow on Twitter. 11? I guess the author has seen This is Spinal Tap.

Sharing what the deal is with this "Twitter thing" is alive in the lab.

thinkdigit: The Online Desktop Experience: Autodesk Project Dragonfly

Product Manager, Patrick Aragon, alerted me to a recent review of Project Dragonfly. Recall that Project Dragonfly is our software as a service approach to floor planning. For the review, see:

thinkdigit: The Online Desktop Experience: Autodesk Project Dragonfly

This is one of the more comprehensive reviews that I’ve read since our June update. It even covers Project Dragonfly's object placement rules and our Amazon implementation. The article also contains several embedded videos from YouTube. This is the first article in a series which will “explore the blurring lines between desktop and web applications." Check it out. To take Project Dragonfly for a test drive yourself, please see:

Autodesk Project Dragonfly

Let us know what you think at labs.dragonfly@autodesk.com. Do you agree with the review?

Sharing expert evaluations of our software as a service floor planning solution is alive in the lab.

Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline: Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco

Marketing Communications Manager, Julie Hayes, let me know that recently, the award-winning broadcaster Dave Graveline, host of the technology talk show “Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline,” interviewed Autodesk leaders and customers at the Autodesk Gallery at One Market. A sampling of topics ranged from mixed reality interfaces (Technical Evangelist, Brian Pene), how technology has a positive impact in the classroom (Alhambra High School), Autodesk’s response to demands in the gaming world (Senior Games Industry Manager, Mary Beth Haggerty), and how we are helping to provide our 9 million customers with the tools to make sustainable decisions.

Julie invites you to take a watch/listen:

Into Tomorrow: Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco

Check it out.

Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline: Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco

Julie invites you to take a watch/listen:

Into Tomorrow: Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco

Check it out.

thinkdigit: The Online Desktop Experience: Autodesk Project Dragonfly

Product Manager, Patrick Aragon, alerted me to a recent review of Project Dragonfly. Recall that Project Dragonfly is our software as a service approach to floor planning. For the review, see:

thinkdigit: The Online Desktop Experience: Autodesk Project Dragonfly

Autodesk Project Dragonfly

Let us know what you think at labs.dragonfly@autodesk.com. Do you agree with the review?

Sharing expert evaluations of our software as a service floor planning solution is alive in the lab.

Return from Feature Recognition in Inventor 2010

In 1962 Elvis Presely had a hit entitled "Return to Sender." The song tells the story of unrequited love as demonstrated by a letter being returned unopened by its recipient. I couldn't help but have that song play through my head as a I read a recent email from a Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey:

There apears to be no return tool to exit the feature recognition in Inventor 2010 back to the main part modeling enviroment unless you manualy create a custom toolbar.

In response to Richard's question about the Feature Recognition Tool for Inventor, Software Engineer, Shekar Sub, noted that although it is small, the ability to return is indeed present:

The UI element is highlighted in red. Thanks Shekar. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

Sharing customer feedback is alive in the lab.

Return from Feature Recognition in Inventor 2010

There apears to be no return tool to exit the feature recognition in Inventor 2010 back to the main part modeling enviroment unless you manualy create a custom toolbar.

In response to Richard's question about the Feature Recognition Tool for Inventor, Software Engineer, Shekar Sub, noted that although it is small, the ability to return is indeed present:

The UI element is highlighted in red. Thanks Shekar. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

Sharing customer feedback is alive in the lab.

It's Gold I Tell Ya, Gold

On our vacation, I have been reading Crash Proof by Peter D. Schiff. One of the anecdotes in this book is a quote from the author's father who was also a writer. Irwin Schiff published a book entitled The Biggest Con in 1977 where he described how gold because our standard for currency:

...It had a rich and warm color and was capable of being highly polished. It was the only metal that neither tarnished nor rusted. It could be extruded to the fineness of hair and beaten to the thinness of tissue paper. Since gold concentrated considerable value into a small area, it made transportation of one's wealth relatively simple. Imagine having to leave a country hurriedly when all of one's wealth was in cattle! Since gold was malleable, it was easily divisible and could accommodate exchanges of lesser value. Gold could easily be measured and its quality could be readily determined. These latter qualities made loaning money possible since it was easy to establish that the loan was repaid in the same type of money that had been loaned.

I found this interesting and thought I would share.

It's Gold I Tell Ya, Gold

I found this interesting and thought I would share.

Happy Fourth of July

Tomorrow is the day America celebrates its independence. As they have been all week, our Autodesk offices in the Unites States are closed today. Tomorrow we will spend the day with family, eat hot dogs, and watch fireworks at night. Regardless of what country you are in, working or not, enjoy the day.

Happy Fourth of July

I Thought You Might Like A CAD Application Like This

Eddy Kuo is one of our Autodesk Labs developers. Eddy has worked a great deal on multi-touch. Eddy worked with Hans Kellner to integrate the multi-touch capabilities into our demo version of Autodesk Design Review. Many of you have gotten your hands on this version at the past two Autodesk Universities. If I had to put my finger on it, I'd say that based on his research and development, Eddy is interested in human-computer interaction in general - not just multi-touch. So it was no surprise to me last week when Eddy shared some of his thoughts on brain-based interaction with computers.

Stepping into Future of Human Computer Interface NOW with Brain Computing

Imagine using brain computing technology to control a design application.
You could convert visual feedback quickly and make adjustments, e.g., The wall is too thick, make it thinner.
The application would materialize abstract concepts from the brain.
This would perhaps even bring out the unconscious? Secretly I do want the walls to be lime green.
It would provide immersion beyond the visual feedback. Sight and sound are easy. What about touch and smell?
A brain-based approach would provide the most intuitive interface yet (when it is working). Oops I just sneezed. The application interpreted that as an AutoCAD wipe-out. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to "undo" by thinking "undo."

To see that this is not total science fiction, there are two companies selling brain–computing hardware, for more info please visit:

And games that are currently using this technology:

Thanks Eddy. Technologies like this would really put the "aid" in computer aided design. Thinking about our friend, the brain, is alive in the lab.

I Thought You Might Like A CAD Application Like This

Stepping into Future of Human Computer Interface NOW with Brain Computing

Imagine using brain computing technology to control a design application.
You could convert visual feedback quickly and make adjustments, e.g., The wall is too thick, make it thinner.
The application would materialize abstract concepts from the brain.
This would perhaps even bring out the unconscious? Secretly I do want the walls to be lime green.
It would provide immersion beyond the visual feedback. Sight and sound are easy. What about touch and smell?
A brain-based approach would provide the most intuitive interface yet (when it is working). Oops I just sneezed. The application interpreted that as an AutoCAD wipe-out. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to "undo" by thinking "undo."

To see that this is not total science fiction, there are two companies selling brain–computing hardware, for more info please visit:

And games that are currently using this technology:

Thanks Eddy. Technologies like this would really put the "aid" in computer aided design. Thinking about our friend, the brain, is alive in the lab.

Autodesk Labs Graduates Page under construction

Today is our third day of vacation, so I can't fix this right now. When a technology or utility graduates from Labs, I create an entry on the Graduates page:

http://labs.autodesk.com/graduates/

Our graduating class for Labs has outgrown the number of items that are displayed on the graduates page. So currently you can't find a complete list of what has graduated. I do maintain a list of what has graduated on:

http://labs.blogs.com/its_alive_in_the_lab/labs-items-by-application.html

but the hyperlinks on my page are intended to go back to the Graduates page. This way you can get information like date added, date graduated, what application the technology or utility worked with, and where you can get more information. Hopefully I can get this fixed when we get back from our vacation.

Autodesk Labs Graduates Page under construction

Today is our third day of vacation, so I can't fix this right now. When a technology or utility graduates from Labs, I create an entry on the Graduates page:

http://labs.autodesk.com/graduates/

http://labs.blogs.com/its_alive_in_the_lab/labs-items-by-application.html

Project Showroom 1.0.20 Now Available

We're on vacation this week.

Today is the first day of our company-wide vacation, so I will be brief. On Friday we released Project Showroom 1.0.20. Recall that Project Showroom is our software as a service approach to kitchen and bathroom design software. You just use your browser to configure a room with items you can actually purchase. Project Showroom uses a bank of computers in the cloud to show you what your choices look like by rendering the room photorealistcally. If you did this yourself on one computer, it would take minutes. With a bank of computers, it takes seconds. Project Showroom is in the technology preview stage, but you get the idea.

Whereas Project Showroom 1.0.19 had some dramatic UI improvements, release 1.0.20 is really "under the hood." Many of you have provided direct feedback to us at labs.showroom@autodesk.com with your thoughts on Project Showroom. We appreciate that. Release 1.0.19 is more about indirect feedback. We have improved our metrics gathering. So that our efforts have not gone to waste, please visit Project Showroom today and take it for a spin:

http://showroom.labs.autodesk.com/

It would be great to see if we can get visits from 6 of the 7 continents. Actually if someone visits from Antarctica, maybe we should send him/her some sort of prize. I am also curious as to what operating systems and browsers people are using. These metrics will help shape the future of Project Showroom. If you would also like to see what an integration of Project Showroom into a manufacturer site might look like, here is a mock-up we did for the K/BIS show in Atlanta for Jenn-Air:

http://jennair.showroom.labs.autodesk.com/

Getting even more analytical is alive in the lab.

Example Analytics from It's Alive in the Lab

Today is our second day of vacation. Yesterday I mentioned how we beefed up our analytics for Project Showroom release 1.0.20. We want to answer some usage questions more precisely. When I look at some of the analytic results for It's Alive in the Lab for this month, I see some interesting data.

There were over 15,000 visits that used 64 languages. As the blog is written in English, English was by far the most popular.
These visits came from 128 countries/territories with the United States being the most popular.
By a giant majority, It's Alive in the Lab made a lot of new friends this month.
Internet Explorer and Firefox are the most popular choices used by It's Alive in the Lab visitors:
Windows is the preferred choice for operating system:
Screen resolutions are fairly well distributed:

Data like this for Project Showroom will certainly be pertinent to Project Showroom in that time to render a room photorealistically is related to the number of pixels.

Project Showroom has collected metrics from its onset. Build 1.0.20 improved its precision. As you can see from the data collected for this blog, metrics like this can help shape how software as a service applications are developed.

Example Analytics from It's Alive in the Lab

There were over 15,000 visits that used 64 languages. As the blog is written in English, English was by far the most popular.
These visits came from 128 countries/territories with the United States being the most popular.
By a giant majority, It's Alive in the Lab made a lot of new friends this month.
Internet Explorer and Firefox are the most popular choices used by It's Alive in the Lab visitors:
Windows is the preferred choice for operating system:
Screen resolutions are fairly well distributed:

Data like this for Project Showroom will certainly be pertinent to Project Showroom in that time to render a room photorealistically is related to the number of pixels.

Project Showroom 1.0.20 Now Available

We're on vacation this week.

http://showroom.labs.autodesk.com/

http://jennair.showroom.labs.autodesk.com/

Getting even more analytical is alive in the lab.

Need Help Identifying A Painting? Revit3D.com to the rescue...

"Corps à corps bleu" by Gerard-Fromangert

Isn't technology a beautiful thing? Isn't the community we have formed using a the internet like a family? In response to my posting Need Help Identifying a Painting, I received this email from Gregory Arkin who mans the Revit3D.com blog.

Dear Scott:

I always love a challenge, so after failing at Google image searching for words like silhouette, bicycle, Paris, artwork, etc. for a very long while (thank goodness for Firefox autopager), I decided to go a different route. Instead of searching for the image using Google, I used Google to search for a tool that would be of assistance. I Googled "upload image search," found a website called TinyEye.com, uploaded your image, and came up with five results within 15 seconds:

http://tineye.com/search/a35254b1e5003017472218a4e6bbf53e3801aa87

None of the results were very helpful, and one was a non-existent website, but alas, one did return a clue. The file name had "Gerard-Fromangert" in the name. A little more research uncovered http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9rard_Fromanger and there you have it.

"Corps à corps bleu" is the name of the piece of art and it was housed at Paris-Sienne (2003-2006) Centre Beaubourg, Paris

I am not having so much luck finding the availability of reprints, but I'll keep looking. I hope I'm the first to come up with the information for you. It was well worth the effort for the appreciation I have of all you've done in "The Lab." Keep up the great work. I love what you guys are doing.

Good luck finding a copy for your daughter.

Gregory

Thanks Gregory! As this is the kind of investigatory work that Gregory does, you Revit users should check out Revit3D.com to garner the tips and tricks Gregory has unearthed. I'm sure you'll be as grateful as I am.

Appreciating the help from our Labs family is alive in the Lab.

Need Help Identifying A Painting? Revit3D.com to the rescue...

"Corps à corps bleu" by Gerard-Fromangert

Dear Scott:

http://tineye.com/search/a35254b1e5003017472218a4e6bbf53e3801aa87

"Corps à corps bleu" is the name of the piece of art and it was housed at Paris-Sienne (2003-2006) Centre Beaubourg, Paris

Good luck finding a copy for your daughter.
Gregory

Appreciating the help from our Labs family is alive in the Lab.

Request for Help Identifying a Painting

A few semesters ago our daughter studied abroad in France with the ASU honors program. While visiting a museum in Paris, she took a picture of a painting she really liked. I was going to surprise her and try to get a reprint of it, but I do not know the artist nor the name. Can anyone identify it? Please send information to scott.sheppard@autodesk.com. Thanks so much.

Request for Help Identifying a Painting

Autodesk Shutdown for US Employees Next Week

Taking some vacation time in 2009

Autodesk is observing a company shutdown next week. With the exception of staff dedicated to manning our critical systems, all United States employees will take the week off with our vacation time. So although it may seem like something's amiss with the RSS feed for this blog, it really just us relaxing. And if you don't get an immediate response to your Autodesk Labs feedback request like you normally do, fear not, we'll reply as soon as we get back. We will return ready for action. We do have Project Cooper and other technologies on deck.

Autodesk Shutdown for US Employees Next Week

Taking some vacation time in 2009

YouTube Project Showroom Overview Video

Electrolux kitchen appliances with Behr wall paint

Electrolux kitchen appliances with a different Behr wall paint

Project Showroom is a technology preview that establishes a vision for a service for home furnishing suppliers to enable their customers to visualize their products in real-life room settings. It is our software as a service approach to kitchen design software and bathroom design software. The basis of Project Showroom is photorealistic rendering using a farm of computers that are "in the cloud." Accessibility to numerous computers in the cloud makes solutions like Project Showroom practical. Typical consumers would never buy 120 computers just to see a synthetic photograph rendered in 8 seconds. Normally users have one computer and wait 960 seconds (16 minutes). On the other hand, manufacturers might be willing to rent 120 computers for 8 seconds. Eight seconds later, it could be another user's turn. You get the idea.

A tenant of Project Showroom is photorealism. Consumers and manufacturers have to get the sense that they are experiencing something before it is real. The products are real. The manufacturers are real. The computer rendering looks real. Our Product Manager, Noah Kennedy, was keen to point out how blue wall paint reflections appear on white cabinets in his YouTube video:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i15PcjMGLqo
non-YouTube: showroom_overview.mp4 (5957.0K)

The video also features a demonstration we participated in with Jenn-Air at the Kitchen/Bathroom Industry Show in Atlanta.

Keeping it real is alive in the Lab.

YouTube Project Showroom Overview Video

Electrolux kitchen appliances with Behr wall paint

Electrolux kitchen appliances with a different Behr wall paint

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i15PcjMGLqo
non-YouTube: showroom_overview.mp4 (5957.0K)

The video also features a demonstration we participated in with Jenn-Air at the Kitchen/Bathroom Industry Show in Atlanta.

Keeping it real is alive in the Lab.

Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Now Available

Fuse history-based modeling and direct editing like colors in a rainbow

The Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview allows you to combine parametric modeling with direct model editing. It's the best of both worlds. Based on your location, you can find out for yourself by taking a test drive:

Autodesk Labs Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Free Download

As we did with the Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview, to ensure the best experience for those participating, the technology preview is limited to the following geographical locations: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States. We hope to expand to other locations in the future. Try it and let us know what you think: labs.fusion@autodesk.com. You have until January 1, 2010 to do so - that's when the executable for the technology preview expires. You can get started by watching some videos on YouTube (or its alternative for locations where YouTube access in unavailable):

YouTube (Intenet Explorer and Firefox)	non-YouTube alternative (Internet Explorer WMV)

At this point in the technology preview, having Autodesk Inventor 2010 and the Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview on your system lets you experience the best of both worlds. The Autodesk Inventor Fusion Technology Preview is a 32-bit application that will install and execute in a 32-bit or 64-bit environment. Exploring new ways to design mechanical parts and assemblies is alive in the lab.

Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Now Available

Fuse history-based modeling and direct editing like colors in a rainbow

Autodesk Labs Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Free Download

YouTube (Intenet Explorer and Firefox)	non-YouTube alternative (Internet Explorer WMV)

Pondering Password Possibilities for Autodesk Labs

Gyorgy Ordody is one of the software developers in Autodesk Labs. In response to our consideration of requiring Autodesk Labs login to download utilities, Gyorgy wrote this blog article.

Modern browsers have "remember password" features:

Firefox - Password Manager (Options/Security/Passwords)
Chrome - (Options/Minor Tweaks/Passwords)
IE6,7,8 - "Remember Passwords"

However, there is more: some sites support Yahoo Login, some support Google Login, Microsoft LiveID (formerly Passport), and there are independent initiatives like OpenID. The goal of all these to make it easier to log in, however they are not well adopted and their security features are not fully trusted. Mozilla Labs is trying to help this. They state the problem well here:

The current state of identity on the Web is not so great. Much of the ongoing discussion and efforts around user identity on the Web focuses on tying identities to new or existing networks and using various protocols for federating it. User experience in general suffers as protocols for federation (e.g. OpenID) involve complex redirects which jump the user from page to page and leave them open to phishing attacks-not to mention other "ajax" methods which are even worse from a security standpoint. So last week the Weave team took advantage of the Mozilla all-hands, and decided to sprint on the Weave Identity component to open it up to the Web. After only a few days of hacking we came up with some very exciting stuff to share!

The Mozilla Labs solution is Weave. It gives users more control over their information in the browser. For example, it syncs user preferences between Firefox instances. One feature, Weave Identity, securely shares login information among browsers of the same user on different computers. (Almost like user profiles in Windows.)

Advantages: 1 password controls all passwords and all preferences, works with the password manager.
Disadvantages: Only in Firefox, the users still have to sign up and sign in everywhere.

However, the Weave team reflects on a real problem: "The current state of identity on the Web is not so great." The biggest problem seems to be that security and user friendliness are in conflict: the simpler it is to login, the easier it is to phish. For example, banks employ the following solutions: The login window has images chosen by customers, no auto password can be used with randomized password field names, etc. Some banks hand out Secure ID key fobs as well. This might be anti-phishing, but it’s anti-user friendly as well: you have to remember all the user names and all the passwords for all the sites and type them in every time, too.

Another solution for this is Roboform a for pay product that keeps track of all passwords and logins and even synchronizes them between computers. The disadvantage is that it’s a Windows-only application that fully supports Internet Explorer but only supports Firefox to some extent.

There are other initiatives to achieve the single login on the web though. The foremost one is OpenID. "OpenID is a free and easy way to use a single digital identity across the Internet."

How does it work?

The user establishes an identity, at an independent and secure provider, that can be the user itself (http://willnorris.com/openid-support).
There are a set of well known, established OpenID providers, like Google, Yahoo, Wordpress, etc. or smaller, better known, simpler providers, like ClaimID, MyOpenID, VeriSign Labs, myid.net and myvidoop. You can compare the feature sets: http://willnorris.com/openid-support. Finally, here’s some info about how to create your own: http://www.intertwingly.net/blog/2007/01/03/OpenID-for-non-SuperUsers.
After the identity is established with a provider, that provider is used to verify users by the sites that support OpenID.

Question: Would you be interested in an Autodesk provided OpenID implementation? Would you use it? Let us know at thelabs@autodesk.com.

There is a problem with the adoption of these mechanisms: users are now accustomed to creating a new login for every site for which they sign up. Questions arise frequently about trust and security, and it’s a question what happens if the provider’s server goes down? For answers, here are some OpenID resources:

The last one is on http://blogs.com - the host of http://labs.blogs.com- that is running on the blog software Moveable Type, which also supports OpenID.

We could also use a trusted 3rd party login that comes with an API: the Google login, the Yahoo login, Live ID, Facebook connect. (you can see a comparison between Live ID, OpenID and Facebook Connect here: http://identity20.com/?p=153). This article brings up a good point about the benefits of Facebook Connect:

The killer feature though is something that will be hard for other potential platforms to do. Facebook strives to only have real identities. In the participatory web, the enemy has been the lack of accountability. Trolls pollute the conversation, spammers fill the web with garbage, and promoters try to game the system. Facebook kills off accounts that are not real people. I know. We had an account for Sxipper on Facebook. Sxipper only lived a few weeks. With the rich profile and feed data that a real user has, the barrier to creating what appears to be a legitimate account is very high. For many Facebook users, losing their Facebook account would be a catastrophe - so the motivation to behave is high for many which is why there is little spam in Facebook. Put this in sharp contrast to the barriers to creating an OpenID at Yahoo!, Blogger, AOL or MySpace. (There is little, Orange being an exception for OpenIDs associated with their customers.) Other social networks such as MySpace, Orkut etc. can’t provide the same level of assurance of accountability.

Facebook will support OpenID to a certain extent (http://www.secpoint.com/Facebook-Becomes-More-Open-with-OpenID-Support.html): "New users of Facebook will now be able to make accounts using their Gmail ID, while existing users should be able to link their ID with their Facebook accounts and therefore log in with their Gmail ID or any other OpenID account that supports 'automatic login'."

There are competitors to OpenID as well, for example SlashID: (http://www.slashid.com) - "SlashID stores an encrypted personal profile for each user and encrypted credentials for every site the user is registered with." However, it’s revenue based, one company is trying to manage your personal info (even though it’s encrypted). If the service goes down, the user will have to fall back to the old login/password.

Question: what would the readers feel comfortable with?

Thanks Gyorgy.

Pondering Password Possibilities for Autodesk Labs

Gyorgy Ordody is one of the software developers in Autodesk Labs. In response to our consideration of requiring Autodesk Labs login to download utilities, Gyorgy wrote this blog article.

Modern browsers have "remember password" features:

Firefox - Password Manager (Options/Security/Passwords)
Chrome - (Options/Minor Tweaks/Passwords)
IE6,7,8 - "Remember Passwords"

Advantages: 1 password controls all passwords and all preferences, works with the password manager.
Disadvantages: Only in Firefox, the users still have to sign up and sign in everywhere.

There are other initiatives to achieve the single login on the web though. The foremost one is OpenID. "OpenID is a free and easy way to use a single digital identity across the Internet."

How does it work?

The user establishes an identity, at an independent and secure provider, that can be the user itself (http://willnorris.com/openid-support).
There are a set of well known, established OpenID providers, like Google, Yahoo, Wordpress, etc. or smaller, better known, simpler providers, like ClaimID, MyOpenID, VeriSign Labs, myid.net and myvidoop. You can compare the feature sets: http://willnorris.com/openid-support. Finally, here’s some info about how to create your own: http://www.intertwingly.net/blog/2007/01/03/OpenID-for-non-SuperUsers.
After the identity is established with a provider, that provider is used to verify users by the sites that support OpenID.

Question: Would you be interested in an Autodesk provided OpenID implementation? Would you use it? Let us know at thelabs@autodesk.com.

The last one is on http://blogs.com - the host of http://labs.blogs.com- that is running on the blog software Moveable Type, which also supports OpenID.

Question: what would the readers feel comfortable with?

Thanks Gyorgy.

Added home listing on Zillow - is Twitter next?

As previously mentioned, real estate sales are more than just putting up a sign in front of the house. Our realtor created a virtual tour of our house:

7231 E Whistling Wind Way Virtual Tour

The time honored Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is also available:

7231 E Whistling Wind Way MLS listing

To be part of the social media craze, our house is also listed on Zillow:

Zillow: 7231 E Whistling Wind Way, Scottsdale, AZ

Hopefully I will be a Bay Area Autodesk employee soon.

Added home listing on Zillow - is Twitter next?

As previously mentioned, real estate sales are more than just putting up a sign in front of the house. Our realtor created a virtual tour of our house:

7231 E Whistling Wind Way Virtual Tour

The time honored Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is also available:

7231 E Whistling Wind Way MLS listing

To be part of the social media craze, our house is also listed on Zillow:

Zillow: 7231 E Whistling Wind Way, Scottsdale, AZ

Hopefully I will be a Bay Area Autodesk employee soon.