Between the Lines

Creating 3D Models Using DJI Inspire 1 with X5 Camera and Autodesk ReCap

Recently we held a reality capture field test in Oakland California flying UAV/UAS with cameras to use photogrammetry where you convert photos to 3D textured mesh models using Autodesk ReCap 360. One of the UAV/UAS being flown was a DJI Inspire 1 with the hot new Zenmuse X5 micro 4/3 camera being flown by DJI’s Director of Photography Eric Cheng. Check out the video just released from the Field Test https://youtu.be/sF7wLmZ57RU Read more →

Architectural Sketching in the Modern Digital Age

Great article on ArchDaily on how sketching has become more digital and discusses Autodesk’s FormIt 360 architectural design tool and how it can be used to work and connect to BIM design workflows. Autodesk’s FormIt 360 is taking this kind of 3D digital sketch one step further by connecting conceptual design to Building Information Modeling (BIM). Available for free via web browser or app for iPad and Android FormIt 360 is a lightweight tool designed to capture ideas quickly and... Read more →

Share 3D in the New Autodesk Memento Gallery

In the past 24 hours Autodesk has launched a new Memento Gallery where you can publish your Autodesk Memento 3D models for others to view or even download. I published models up there to test it and it works very well. How to publish tot the gallery: Create or load a model in the free beta of Autodesk Memento for Windows (Mac version in testing now) I loaded a model of a Sea Cockroach I created from a series of... Read more →

Online Help “you do not have access to this resource”

You just hit this error message in the online Help when using Autodesk Inventor or Revit and wanted to find out how to fix it. The Issue: When opening the online help on a topic in the product you receive a page: “You do not have access to this resource. You can contact the Autodesk Feedback Community Team through the page on https://beta.autodesk.com or email [email protected] if you believe you have received this message in error.” The Solution: The most... Read more →

3D Preservation of the USS Arizona in Autodesk Memento

Over the past two years a team from Autodesk, the U.S. National Park Service, and multiple partners worked in Pearl Harbor Hawaii at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument and USS Arizona Memorial to undertake the first comprehensive survey of the ship in the latest technologies of reality capture. We used many methods to capture and digitally preserve and study the USS Arizona above and below the water including LiDAR above and below the water, photogrammetry,... Read more →

Autodesk Ember 3D Electronics and Firmware Released as Open Source

In keeping with our open approach, the Autodesk Ember 3D printer electronics and firmware are now available to download & modify. http://autode.sk/1FaV5nL Read more →

Tatjana Dzambazova - Recreating Reality

Learn about reality capture in this great short story by my friend and Autodesk colleague Tatjana Dzambazova. You may know Tatjana as the passionate powerhouse behind Autodesk Memento. See our AR/VR exhibit and Tatjana at the Future of StoryTelling conference next month Oct 7 & 8th in New York City. Check out this well told story illustrating how reality capture and photogrammetry changes the game and removes barriers of cost and technology allowing more to not just manually interpret and... Read more →

PDX Carpet Designs in AutoCAD DWG

I will never forget many years ago flying into Portland International Airport and seeing the iconic and sometimes visually loud carpet. Over the past 20 some odd years flying into the airport I always felt fairly nostalgic when seeing it and actually looked at carpets in airports around the world and nothing compared it. This last Spring I remember flying into PDX and doing the ceremonial photo of my feet on the carpet. It was that very day I knew... Read more →

We Stand With Ahmed!

Maybe you have been under a rock today or maybe you just don’t read the news or social media so let me tell you an amazing story that may anger you but make you smile when you realize people will not tolerate this and the incredible amount of support for this inspiring kid. Ahmed is a 14 year old kid in the ninth grade who created his very own own alarm clock to show his teacher at school because he... Read more →

How Do You Pronounce Oregon

I moved back to Oregon a couple months ago and the one thing I have noticed is people pronouncing it wrong. It is not pronounced like “Ory Gone” I fired up AutoCAD to visually explain how to pronounce my home state Oregon. Just say with me: Hexagon, Octagon, Oregon Read more →

Autodesk Feedback Community Autodesk Inventor Betas

I asked fellow Autodesk and Portland office colleague Chris Mitchell who manages our very successful Autodesk Inventor pre-release beta programs like the alpha and beta programs for our DLS division a series of 11 questions about the beta. Why 11, because 10 is just so average. My questions are in bold. Chris can you tell us a bit about your background, role, and how long you have been involved in beta management? I'll start by going waaaaaaay back; I have... Read more →

TBT Throwback Thursday AutoCAD 1.4 Floppies

AutoCAD 1.4 circa 1984. The floppies believe it or not are still readable provided you have a floppy drive. Read more →

AutoCAD 360 Makes an Appearance at the Apple iPad Pro Event

Just a few minutes ago Autodesk’s own AutoCAD 360 was just shown on stage at the Apple event running on the new iPad Pro. Looks great on the new \larger and higher resolution iPad Pro and described as “buttery.” Read more →

100 Days of GCC 2015 - Team OCTO Took 7th Place

Back in May Autodesk employees in teams of 7 started the competition in step counts internally among 406 teams and tens of thousands of other teams from other companies in the Global Corporate Challenge. This was the second year for me as team leader for the OCTO (Office of the CTO) Team and we did very well. Our “Team OCTO” of 7 covered 5105 miles in 100 days and placed 7th place in Autodesk and # 2016 overall among 42,498... Read more →

Calling All Armchair Scientist and Paleontologists

My good friend Dr. Louise Leakey has launched a new site to allow you to join in the exploration of fossils and be part of the most important scientific discoveries. They have developed a site that crowd sources the review of all the photos. It is simple and you don’t need to endure the 29 hours to fly there, 120 degree heat and cool 90 degree nights with no AC, deadly scorpions, friendly spitting cobras, or potential for malaria but... Read more →

Join the Autodesk Fusion 360 Hackathon

The world is moving to the Cloud. And mechanical design and manufacturing apps are going there too. Are you ready? Autodesk is taking mechanical design to the Cloud with Fusion 360. Tens of thousands of engineers that are Cloud friendly early adopters and aggressive users of new technologies are using Fusion 360 every day today. As are tens of thousands of engineering students around the world. Cloud based design and engineering is a different world – from apps being sold... Read more →

Reverse Engineering with the Autodesk Ember 3D Printer

A colleague in the Lake Oswego Oregon Autodesk office Ryan McMahon (Senior Product Manager for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Simulation) is experimenting with my Autodesk Ember 3D printer and some reverse engineering of consumer goods. The original part is on the left and the part reverse engineered on the right designed in Autodesk Inventor and printed on the Ember. Read more →

"I Love DWG" Meetup in Prague September 8

Read more about the event being held September 8th, 2015. "I Love DWG" meetup in Prague Working with DWG files using third party libraries? Querying? Viewing? Editing? Wrestling with how to expand your solutions to mobile and the web? And really want to avoid having to build different/new code bases to support desktop, mobile and web apps? Near Prague? Join us at the upcoming “I Love DWG” MeetUp in Prague on Tuesday evening September 8th. Read more →

Autodesk Fusion 360 Metal Subscription Cards

People purchasing hardware from some of Autodesk’s partners will be finding a very nice and shiny surprise benefit inside. Inside many packages, including Autodesk’s very own Ember 3D printer is a metal card good for free commercial subscription of Autodesk Fusion 360 of various lengths. I saw these classy metal cards in person yesterday with Justin Hoey who is the Fusion 360 Product Marketing Manager and located in the Autodesk Lake Oswego office. Read more →

Free Autodesk Software with Pumpkin Spice

It is now September and rapidly approaching Autumn/Fall which is the time of the year kids return to school. This is also the time pumpkin spiced everything is thrust upon us including the infamous pumpkin spice lattes that I believe started all this. This is a great time to mention the fact Autodesk gives almost all of its software free to students and faculty around the world. To get free Autodesk software (minus pumpkin spice flavor) for Students or Faculty... Read more →