AU


  • Reliving AU in Amsterdam

    As the festive season is upon us, I've decided to start each post with a seasonal photo. Here's me with a reindeer/dog (reindog?) in the lobby of the hotel we stayed at in Hoofddorp. As mentioned in the last post, Sander Lijbers made the most of my vague suggestion to meet with a customer or two during my visit to the Netherlands by inviting many of the accounts he manages to a one-day event in our Amsterdam office. Everyone accepted – with some even flying in from the UK – so we had a really good, engaged group! Sander had…


  • Wrapping up Autodesk University 2019

    Wednesday and Thursday were my busy days at this year's Autodesk University in Las Vegas. After a breakfast meeting with a colleague from Toronto, I had my first class of AU2019 to deliver. It was a live-streamed class that was focused on advanced visualization (primarily of IoT data) using the Forge viewer. Somewhat unfortunately the class was scheduled at the same time as the AEC mainstage (more on this later), but that basically just meant that the room wasn't completely full and that most of the attendees were Forge-focused. As it was live-streamed the class recording is already available: Since…


  • Forge DevCon and AU 2019 Day 1

    On Saturday I headed over to Las Vegas for Autodesk University 2019. The journey started with the train to Geneva. From there it was a short flight to London, which amazingly arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule. I had a 3-hour connection at Heathrow, so my old friend Simon picked me up from T5 and we had a nice pub lunch at The Ostrich Inn in Colnbrook before he dropped me at T3. And people say that Heathrow airport transfers aren't enjoyable! It was a really strange onward flight to Las Vegas. I'm so used to this flight being full…


  • Not coming to Las Vegas? Watch two of my AU2019 sessions from the comfort of your armchair

    Or at your desk, or from the train. Just please don't watch them while driving. Anyway, the point is that this year two of the three sessions I'm presenting at Autodesk University 2019 are part of the event's livestream schedule. The first is on Wednesday at 10:30am Pacific: The second is on Thursday at 3pm Pacific (I have a 15-minute segment at some point during the hour timeslot): I'm not sure what's happening with my third class – which is focused on Project Rediscover – but if that doesn't end up getting recorded I'll make sure equivalent material is posted…


  • Project Rediscover - version 2 of the MaRS graph is now available for download

    In advance of next week's AU2019 class entitled "Hands-on with Project Rediscover: generatively designing Autodesk Toronto's office", I'm happy to announce that version 2 of the MaRS graph is now available for download. (Many thanks to Simon Breslav for all his work on the graph, as well as to both Simon and Rhys Goldstein for their hard work making Space Analysis what it is: a cornerstone of Project Rediscover.) While version 1 was about "getting something out there that works", the focus for version 2 was to have something that's more discoverable and understandable. We've done a few things to…


  • Research study at AU on "Generative Design in VR for Structural Engineering"

    Colleagues in Autodesk Research are working on some really interesting technology that you can try out at AU2019. There's an Idea Exchange study entitled "Generative Design in VR for Structural Engineering" being held at these times during the conference: Tuesday November 19th, 12pm–3pm and 3:30pm–6pm Wednesday November 20th, 3:30pm–6pm Those interested just need to swing by the Idea Exchange (it's a big space on the way to exhibition hall and will be hard to miss) during these timeslots and let the recruiter know they want to participate in the study. It takes about 15 minutes to complete, and will be…


  • Counting down the days to AU2019

    I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my material for Autodesk University 2019. To encourage a few last-minute sign-ups, here are a few teaser GIFs from my classes. The first is from the class on Project Rediscover (which is apparently now full at 109 sign-ups, so in quite a small room). I used Capturefinery to create a GIF of quite a large Refinery study, but this time highlighting the congestion in a more 3D context. The second is from the class on Project Dasher – and using Forge for advanced data visualization – which still has 36 spaces in the…


  • Knee-deep in AU prep

    Things have been quiet on this blog, since my return from Scotland. Mainly because I've been heads-down dealing with preparation for Autodesk University 2019, which I'd love to say was on the horizon, whereas it's – more accurately – coming at top speed around a nearby streetcorner. In less than 3 weeks many us us will be flying to Las Vegas for the latest installment of my favourite annual conference. Today was the deadline for AU speakers to submit class handouts: I managed to submit something for both my classes, so I can now switch focus to the various presentations…


  • Ramping up for Autodesk University 2019

    The summer is pretty much over (boo) so it's now time to start thinking about AU (yay). If nothing else it's a welcome distraction from the craziness of UK politics (which I'm following from Switzerland, making it presumably slightly less intense than it is for most of my fellow Brits). Before getting more into specific AU plans, a quick reminder that registration for AU 2019 – and the Forge DevCon that precedes it – is open. The Monday pre-conference (this year's is on November 18th) is always chock full of great information: I'm very much looking forward to attending it…


  • A visit to Geneva with Brunet Saunier Architecture

    On Thursday I had the pleasure of meeting with Jacques Levy-Bencheton and Antoine Kersse from Paris-based Brunet Saunier Architecture in Geneva. Back in July I'd been asked by Jacques and Jerome Brunet to participate in a project they were working on relating to architecture for hospitals: they're creating a book based on a series of interviews – and their Phylum H work, which Jacques presented at AU 2018, do check out the recording – that will look at architecture of hospitals, both retrospectively and prospectively. My role would be to participate in an interview alongside Jacques – run by Antoine…