Autodesk Labs - A Brief Tour in San Francisco

While I was at Autodesk’s office in San Francisco, I was fortunate enough to have been given a tour of many of Autodesk’s Labs projects. John Schmier, Autodesk Labs Engineer and Evangelist, was very happy to show off several of the Labs Projects. In this tour there were many examples of 3D printing. The ability to send a file to a 3D printer right out of AutoCAD was added to AutoCAD 2010. It processes and sends your model to a 3D printing service. You will receive your model in the mail after a few days time! With the cost of 3D printers around $30,000 apiece (that price various greatly depending on what it does, etc.), it can very difficult for firms to have this ability in house.

Here are some photos of what Autodesk had on display.


If you went to Autodesk University 2008 you will probably recognize the motorcycle in the photos. Every part was created via 3D printing technology.

Many of you might recognize the Touch Screen from AU. It is a giant screen that has touch interface. Depending on which program you are running, you can use a certain amount of touch points to manipulate your files. This display had touch enabled version of Autodesk Design Review and Autodesk Mudbox. Using different combinations of touch points and movement you can navigate through a DWG file or you could render a 3D object in Mudbox. Autodesk is studying ways humans can interface with computers. The software is there, but making it so it can run on different hardware is evidently the issue.

Windows 7 is supposed to support touch technology, so we should be seeing more and more hardware and software available with touch interface technology. HP also has hardware out that can handle up to four touch points, but Autodesk’s software has been developed to work with eight to ten. The software and the hardware are still in need of coming together before this technology type becomes more mainstream.

One of the other pieces of technology highlighted in my tour featured other ways of interfacing with the computer. Autodesk is looking for more ways to take everyday hardware that is relatively inexpensive and apply it to new ways for humans to interface with computers. In this example, Autodesk took a remote control from a Nintendo Wii (download the driver here) and was navigating through a Design Review file. Another device was nothing more than a cardboard cube. A basic web cam was looking at the device and could recognize which side was up! It was using a form of Augmented Reality. To turn the drawing object on the computer screen so that the back was displayed, rotate the cube in your hand until the back was showing. It works just like the View Cube in AutoCAD and Design Review, but it is a physical object that a person can hold in his or her hands. It can make presenting a drawing more simple for those that are not as familiar with the display controls inside Autodesk products.

Using a simple web cam, the Labs had a display that can easily be applied to spatial planning. This was also using Augmented Reality (click the link to see a YouTube video of this tech being demonstrated.) There was a computer, large screen and a web cam that was viewing a flat display on a table in front of the screen. The display was flat and had tiles on it. Each tile had a picture of a building, parking layout, or other equipment or buildings. The tiles on the display mat were read by the web cam and recognized to represent 3D models on the screen. The software running could then analyze the data shown and conduct process like light studies or airflow around the buildings. This tool is meant to aid spatial planners of all sorts to be able to look at objects and see how they interact with each other. City Planners and warehouse designers could quickly throw down some tiles and see where they can fit, how they affect the surrounding area, and more.

The last bit of technology shown that I want to talk about was the Boom Chameleon. The Labs department has been displaying this bit of tech for some time now and I was glad to get a chance to see it in person. There are many different applications that can take advantage of this device. The Boom Chameleon demonstrates how car manufacturers can save millions of dollars working on prototypes for new car designs. The Boom on display takes a 3D model of a car (in this case, but it could be anything) and allows the user to walk around it, inspecting it in real time and size. The device consists of a platform with a tower and boom. There is a screen at the end of the boom that can be lifted, lowered, and spun to simulate a person looking at a real car. Where you move the boom and screen will determine where you are looking. It replicates a physical car. Evidently it take about a million dollars for a car company to create a full scale model of a new car. With the technology of the Boom Chameleon, they no longer have to create as many real models. They can conduct inspections of the new design and get a good feel of how the car will look before it exists. It is estimated that this technology could reduce the amount of models created by 50%.

This technology can also be applied to building inspections and constructions. Using the Chameleon and BIM, users can take the boom out to an existing building, move it around a room and "see" what is inside the walls, floor and ceiling before they start punching holes and destroying whats inside. Very useful, as long as the data is correct!

There was a lot of exciting technology on display by Autodesk Labs at the San Francisco office and I greatly appreciated John’s tour. If you haven't, visit Autodesk Labs and Scott Sheppard's Blog. You may be surprised by what they have available. Oh, and here is a link from Scott's blog about the event I attended.

Happy CADDING.

New Features in AutoCAD 2010

AutoCAD 2010 has several new features in it as well as enhancements to old features. I would like to present a “quick” list of some of the new features.

Dynamic Blocks
• Easier to author dynamic blocks
• Easier to understand and later edit authored behavior
• More flexible and powerful dynamic blocks with Constraint Parameters
• Test block without exiting Block Editor
• More compelling authoring environment

Deployment
• Added the ability for a CAD Manager to create Advanced User Profiles
• Dynamic paths in the registry
• All user-customizable support files should be installed to Roaming AppData by default
• Allow choice for support content location

Performance
• Improved graphics fidelity, stability and performance through GS Architectural projects
• Unified precision and temporary graphics for a consistent user experience in 2D and 3D
• Layer Manager Performance improvements

Hatch
• Red Circles indicating areas where invalid boundary were detected for area being hatched
• Stretchable, resizable hatching using grips
• Improvements to hatching large coordinate objects
• Performance increase

External References
• The ability to attach PDF’s as underlays (including OSnap capability to the PDF file)
• Inverse X-Clip for all reference files (Image, DGN, DWF, DWG, PDF)
• Reference files Fading/Dimming (XDWGFADECTL)
• Show but don’t print the frame of reference files capability
• General Reference commands on Ribbon for Attach, Clip and Adjust
• XREF: XCLIPFRAME (2 displayed not plotted)

Printing and Publishing
• Improved PDF publishing
• including reduced file size
• True type fonts
• ability to print file with PDF
• quick export to single or multi-sheet PDFs from Ribbon Panel
• Improvements to the Publish Dialog box
• Performance improvements when publishing to DWF and DWFx with layer information

3D Enhancements
• Enhanced Section Plans (can now generate one layer in block per layer in drawing)
• Point filters ( for Vertices, faces or points)
• 3D Gizmo improvements
• Added the new Scale Gizmo
• Right click brings up all gizmo options for Rotate, move and Scale
• Align Gizmo to World USC, Current USC or face of an object
• Ability to relocate Gizmo
• Larger graphical representation of the Rotate, Move and Scale gizmos
• Conversion of polyface mesh coming from 3ds max and Image Modeler into solids (via converting them into a level 0 SubD mesh first).

Ribbon Enhancements
• 3 rows of icons
• Sticky panels
• Improved performance
• Introduction of Contextual tabs
• Express Tools on the ribbon
MLeader Enhancements
• Per Segment Leader Properties
• Multileader attachment updates
Sheet Set Manager Updates
• Sheet and Subset Level Publish Control Improvements
• Insert Sheet list table updates
Action Recorder Updates
• Fix tooltip when using key and new task dialog
• Changes to Request User Input & User Message task dialogs
• Insert Macro (Set Base point)
• Action Macro Manager
MText Enhancements
• MText column default
• Change Mtext corner grips to match table corner grips
Seek Integration
• Ability to upload drawings or blocks to Seek

Misc. Design Enhancements
• AUGI Wishlist #5 : Rotating a Viewport Rotates the View in the Viewport - The ability to rotate a rectangular or non-rectangular viewport and have the view of the objects rotate with the viewport.
• MEASURE: Enhanced Measurement Tools
• QUICK VIEW: Model Space Thumbnail Cache
• PEDIT - Reverse Polylines
• SPLINE: Convert SPLINE to PLINE
• Rotating a Viewport Rotates the View in the Viewport
• Quick Properties: Palette Close Issue
• Spell Check: Add Undo Button in Check Spelling Dialog
• ETRANSMIT- Added option to include unloaded references
• PURGE: Erase unreferenced unnamed objects
• Color dialog improvements
• Ability to change color from swatch in layer drop down list in Ribbon
• Ctrl+Click a pline to select just a portion of it
• Polylines can now be sub-selected i.e. segments of plines (also called as sub objects) can be sub selected using CTRL key
• Users can sub select the segments of Polylines during 2D editing commands such as move, rotate etc.
• STLOUT: Ability to select multiple solids
• Find and Replace Usability Enhancements
• Display Model and Layout tabs by default
• Add Preview Checkbox to Insert table
• Enabled Attsync; batman; eattedit; Refclose; RefEdit; -Refedit; refeditname; refset; xclip; xfadectl; xopen; xrefnotify in AutoCAD LT 2010
• Command line and GUI effect name for -3dconfig command now match
• Allow an option to have all horizontal dimensions read left to right and vertical dimensions read bottom to top
• Additions to the CER log: list of stuck modules
• Expose Bind type in eTransmit
• Provide an API to specify that the current drawing being eTransmitted should be opened in the Editor
• Support for Geographic Location in AutoCAD Xref Attach and Insert
• Redo support in RealDWG API
• Better ACA Object support and visual fidelity with export layout
• Introduce a new protocol extension that refedit checkin() can use to determine if a particular object type should get the swapid processing.
• Plot components cleanup
• Allowed an option to have all horizontal dimensions read left to right and vertical dimensions read bottom to top
• The dimension object will support dimension less than 1m with the prefix of “0.” Or “.”.
• Mechanism to allow for vertical Publish add-ons to demand load along with publish
• Exposed bind type in eTransmit
• Provided an API to generate a Thumbnail on a side database
• Provide an API to specify that the current drawing being eTransmitted should be opened in the Editor
• Layer Manager Performance improvements
• Support for Geographic Location in AutoCAD Xref Attach and Insert
• PEdit and JOIN command enhancements
• Turn on SSE2 Instructions
• CUI image editing updates
• CUI performance increase
• Added Ribbon tab for Express tools
• -SPLINE: Convert SPLINE to PLINE (Splinedit)
• PEDIT - Reverse Polylines (Pedit)


And more. There are so many new features and improvements that I can’t cover them all in one post, but I plan on covering them all, eventually. Which one of these features do you like the sound of best? I borrowed this list from Shaan Hurley's blog, Between the Lines.

The Future of AutoCAD-Bridge Up and Bridge Down

I was invited to Autodesk’s office in San Francisco on February 5th to be present at their unveiling and live webcast of AutoCAD 2010. I was invited for three reasons; I was/am a member of the beta team that tested AutoCAD 2010, I have a blog that discussed AutoCAD, and I created new dynamic blocks, templates and sample files for AutoCAD 2010. Now that I have patted myself on the back, let’s talk about some of the items and topics that were discussed at this event.

One question I had going into this event was the future of AutoCAD? Would it eventually be orphaned, falling prey to the verticals? Or would it remain a staple product for Autodesk? How did Autodesk look at it? Was it too old to make better? What does the future hold for AutoCAD? Most of these questions were answered for me by Eric Stover, AutoCAD Product Line Manager. He is in charge of AutoCAD. He had his main team there and they too answered many of my questions and concerns. They are; Kathy O’connell, Guilermo Melantoni, and Diane Li. These three individuals are the AutoCAD Product Managers. They are the eyes and ears for the AutoCAD product.

Together, through their presentations, taking our questions, and through asking us questions I came to the conclusion that AutoCAD is here to stay. Autodesk sees AutoCAD as their main product with all other products stemming from it and pointing back to it. I was glad to hear that. They want to fit the needs of every user and they feel that AutoCAD can fit a wider range of needs than any one vertical can. The verticals (Inventor, Revit, Civil3D, etc.) serve specific purposes, where as AutoCAD can fit the needs of all of these and more. There are so many uses for AutoCAD that they can’t possibly make a vertical for every field of use, so they want to make AutoCAD as diverse as possible. They also want to make it a stepping stone to more industry specific verticals. The two main features added to AutoCAD 2010 reflect this philosophy and was one of the major reasons it was decided to be put them in. Those two features are Geometric Constraints and Free Form Modeling. They are fantastic. Once you use them you will love them too. I do.

Parametric and Geometric Constraints are nothing new to CAD, but they are new to AutoCAD. Inventor has had these for years. Adding them to AutoCAD will give more power to its users and make a transition to Inventor a little but easier. At the event, Lynn Allen (AutoCAD and Inventor Evangelist for Autodesk) said that she took an inventor example project and tried to do it with the new constraints in AutoCAD. She said she was able to get quite far, though admittedly Inventor does this type of thing better than AutoCAD. These new constraints will give a little bit of Inventor Power to AutoCAD users.

The Free-form Modeling that is now in AutoCAD came straight from Maya, mostly. The programming Architects told me that they took that code, and made it work for AutoCAD. Great! I have recently begun modeling in AutoCAD so I understand the frustrations that users have in its limitations. Now with free-form modeling, users can create organic styled models. AutoCAD can create solids, surfaces, and mesh objects now! There are several new gizmos and enhanced gizmos that allow users to smooth a surface, crease it, turn it into a mesh and into a solid object for documentation. Great enhancement.

Eric Stover said that these two main features are stepping stones for other products, but yet give enough power to AutoCAD users to do even more. They (Autodesk) want AutoCAD to fit the needs of everyone they can, but also want to make products that fit specific industry needs. They see AutoCAD as a bridge up and a bridge down to the other software. Users can start in AutoCAD and move those files up to a vertical. They also want their users to take the vertical and go back to AutoCAD with their data. That process is not perfected yet, but is a major goal they want to achieve. They also see AutoCAD as the “Front End Ideation Tool.” They see AutoCAD as a starting point for ideas, concepts, and derivations. The verticals are to do more industry specific projects in a more precise manner that is appropriate. AutoCAD can’t do everything perfectly, but they want it to do many (if not most) things well.

In a nutshell, Autodesk seems to want to keep AutoCAD around for a long time and use it to fill the needs the verticals can’t. This is good, because many users are still using AutoCAD and don’t have the means or need to transfer to a vertical. If you are worried about becoming obsolete because all you know is AutoCAD, don’t worry it’s here to stay. But, according to Autodesk, it will eventually be only one tool in a vast supply of design tools available. I recommend you stay on top of AutoCAD, but also learn one of the other verticals because in the future we won’t be using just AutoCAD, or just Inventor, but will be using them both and more to get our work done.

AutoCAD 2010 - Initial Setup

It’s that time of year again when Autodesk starts to unleash upon us its latest versions of AutoCAD and other products.

There are several new features in AutoCAD 2010. The main three features that Autodesk is strongly promoting are: Freeform Modeling, Parametrics, and PDF Support. That being said, there are so many more enhancements and additions that without the above mentioned new features, AutoCAD 2010 would have much to offer.

The two biggest updates are the Free-Form Modeling and the Parametrics. They will therefore require the most scrutiny and discussion. I will cover them right after I discuss the User Interface changes. Don’t worry; the UI is not new, just better.

Initial Setup

When you start AutoCAD for the first time there will be an extra step. That step is called the Initial Setup. The Initial Setup is essentially a workspace wizard that you can use to set your interface environment to your specific industry. It will also allow you to pick certain workspace and drawing templates. This process will create a new and unique workspace for you to work in called Initial Setup. You can still use the 2D Drafting, 3D Modeling, and Classic AutoCAD workspaces that come out of the box or any migrated workspaces that you may have. You are not forced to use the Initial Setup Workspace, but you may find that you like it. This step can be skipped with no harm done whatsoever. If you feel that you missed out by skipping the process, just go to the Options Manager, User Preference Tab, and click the Initial Setup button on the bottom left to start it again. If you used it once, you can use it again to create a second (or third) workspace. I recommend renaming your first Initial Workspace because when you create a second one, AutoCAD 2010 will use the name Initial Workspace 1, then 2, then 3, etc. I would name your workspace according to the Industry and any specific details you included while setting it up. But of course, feel free to name it whatever you want to. This tool can help you create new workspaces quickly that are industry, template, and tool pallet specific with little effort.
Happy CADDING!

Spot's Trip to San Francisco

Well, as you may have read I spent a few days in San Francisco last week. When I got there, I found a note in my bag from my daughter. She added a little toy lizard, named Spot, and asked me to take pictures of him on "his" trip. So I did and here they are.

In his first picture shown, Spot is sitting on the ledge of the balcony from his room. This view is looking towards the bay at the ferry station in downtown San Francisco. Spot enjoyed his stay there and looks forward to going back.


The next picture shows Spot looking out the window at the same view. He enjoyed looking out at the city of San Francisco.
On the left, Spot is looking out yet another window at his hotel towards downtown San Fran. The picture he took is a little blurry, but in his defense, it was raining that day, as it was most days he was there.


You can see the busy lifestyles that many San Franciscians (spell check doesn't know what to do with that word) live. Spot comes from a little town, so he was fascinated by the "big city." But he loved it and wants to visit again.









It was raining a lot on Spot's trip, but he braved some of the elements on his last day. He didn't know where he wanted to go so he checked out a local map. Should he go to the Golden Gate Bridge or visit "The Rock"?
Before he set out on the town, Spot needed nourishment. He loved all of the local shops and restaurants. There were so many that he had difficulty choosing. He settled for a nice place that wasn't as busy as some of the others. He was not disappointed.
There were so many things to see just outside the hotel. The city has several pieces of art on display for visitors to see and enjoy. This is but one of them.




Spot hitched a ride with me on my visit to Autodesk's office in San Francisco. He met several other "lizard" folk and quickly made new friends. The picture on the left is Spot's new friend. He didn't get his/her name, but it is one of the exhibits on display in Autodesk's office. There are many, but Spot particularly enjoyed seeing this giant Lego block Dinosaur. It is a fine work of engineering and tons of fun to create.








Spot made a second friend at the office. During our tour of the Autodesk Labs products, we met and made a new friend on their Touch Screen Display. We were able to interface with this fascinating technology using Autodesk Mudbox to manipulate a model of a lizard. Spot couldn't reach the screen to try it himself, but he cheered me on when I manipulated the model and when I changed it's colors, etc. Touch technology is fantastic and exciting. It holds a lot of potential for thhe design world.

Well, the rain finally got to spot. He's a lizzard and prefers the dry heat, not the soggyness of a constant drizzle. In fact, for a minute, it strated to rain very hard and he needed to check his e-mail. He uses Mozilla by the way, evidently it's a lizzard thing.

He also likes coffie, so we ducked into a local Starbucks for some shelter and a mocha. It wasn't hard to find a Starbucks because as Donnie gladfelter said "there's one at the top and bottom of every hill, and in the middle." We kept getting lost because of them. We thought we were walking in circles because every corner had a Starbucks. Spot thought he was walking in circles and kept seeing the same one over and over again, but he wasn't. One word of advise when visting San Francisco, don't use Starbucks as a landmark!




Spot wants to thank you all ofr sharing his trip pictures with him. He had a great time and wants to visit again.