AU


  • Sign up for AU2024 classes today! Here are some suggestions.

    The class catalog for Autodesk University 2024 has been live for a week or two already, with attendees being able to bookmark sessions ahead of the ability to enroll fully. Well, today's the day that enrollment opens properly, so have at it! Classes often fill up quickly, so doing it sooner can certainly be better than waiting. I also have a few suggestions if you're at a loss for what to choose. These are all classes that I or my research team are involved in, of course. That's just how things work around here. 🙂 It turns out there's one…


  • Using web workers to run intensive browser-side analyses in Autodesk Forma

    The topic for this post relates to a project I've been working on for a few weeks, now. We've taken a complex set of spatial analyses - that use our favourite voxel-based architectural space analysis Dynamo package, VASA - and have translated them to work directly in the browser. (This translation process isn't really the subject of this series, but it's pretty interesting, nonetheless, and it's mostly what I was working on during the recent trip to Munich for the DevCon. Most of the Dynamo code was fairly easy to translate, although things like the automatic lacing of nodes meant…

  • A quick post today to shamelessly plug the company I've spent so much of my life working for, and more specifically for the organization where I've worked most recently, Autodesk Research. This video was compiled from - among other footage - interviews done at Autodesk University 2023. It also happens to include quite a bit of footage for the From Steps to Stories exhibit we created in partnership with The Bentway.     If you're interested in coming to work at Autodesk, you can search through the currently open job postings via our careers site. Thanks for watching. 🙂


  • Last chance to submit your class proposal for AU 2024!

    Tomorrow is April 30th, which brings to a close the Call for Proposals for Autodesk University 2024, which is being held in San Diego from October 15-17. To get you excited, here are a few images taken by one of the official AU photographers. And yes, it's at least as cool as it looks in the photos, so do make sure you submit your proposal before tomorrow's deadline. I've kindly been included as a co-speaker on one proposal, this year, which - if accepted - will talk about the Extension API to Autodesk Forma. Let's see if it makes the…


  • The AU 2024 Call for Proposals is open

    It's that time of year again: the Call for Proposals (CFP) for Autodesk University 2024 opened on April 2nd and will stay open until the end of the month (April 30th, 11:59 PM Pacific Time, to be precise). I'll be proposing at least one class, all being well, with the hope of getting to travel to San Diego from October 15th-17th for this year's event. It'd be interesting to see AU in a new city. Fingers crossed! If you're a software developer who is thinking about submitting a proposal, then I recommend checking out this post on the Autodesk Platform…


  • A tale of unconscious bias

    This post is a bit different from my usual fare. Susanna Holt, a colleague I've known for more than two decades - and have a huge amount of respect for - recently posted on LinkedIn about an encounter we had soon after we first met. She was amazing throughout the process of sharing the information: she made it anonymous, was unnecessarily complimentary and even made sure I was fine with it being posted. So I have no idea why I feel the need to post something here. It's just a bit of an itch I feel like scratching, I suppose. I'll…


  • AU 2023 class materials: Monitoring and Visualizing Data from the MX3D and Dar Smart Bridges

    After yesterday's post pointing folks to the material for my first class at AU 2023, here's the material for the second one, which I co-presented with Pete Storey. I only have this photo from outside the classroom for this session: But I did get to hang out with Pete before we flew back to our respective European ports on the Thursday after AU was over. Here's the summary without audio: Here's the material posted for the class on the AU website: Class recording Presentation slides Handout


  • AU 2023 class materials: Channeling Minecraft to Analyze Architectural Spaces with VASA and Dynamo

    The recordings and other materials prepared for the two classes I helped present at AU 2023 are now available online. In today's post I'll point you to the first class, entitled "Channeling Minecraft to Analyze Architectural Spaces with VASA and Dynamo". This one was one of the first sessions of AU 2023, and had a very good crowd in attendance. Here are a few photos from the live session. Thanks again to Fernando Malard for snapping them. I already posted a quick summary of the content (without audio) - here that is again.     Here is the material posted…


  • Capturing the human experience of the built environment

    Now that the dust has settled on another Autodesk University (the best one ever?) it's a good time to revisit what brought our team to AU, this year. I realize that I've posted a lot of pictures of people wearing helmets and high visibility vests without really explaining what it was all about. Our team at Autodesk Research has been very focused on understanding the human experience of the built environment, with the ultimate goal of making our software tools better at helping our customers design human-centric spaces. Spaces that emphasize occupant well-being in its various forms. Humans are tricky:…


  • AU 2023 Day 3

    The last day of AU started, once again with me checking out the Sphere. I have to say that since the Las Vegas Grand Prix has been getting really close the quality of the content has become a bit meh, at least from my perspective. (I think I really like the AI-based art rather than endless commercials for brands I don't care about.)The expo opened earlier on Day 3 - at 10am - and with no general sessions to compete with the flow of people to the stand - and the participation in the study - was very steady throughout.…