AU
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AU 2023 class enrollment is now open for non-Autodesk attendees to register for their favourite sessions at the upcoming Autodesk University. (Autodeskers will get to do so nearer the event, once our customers and partners have had their pick.) I'm in the midst of preparing content for my two sessions. Thankfully I have friends like Jacob Small who send occasional suggestions, such as this one Jacob sent through for the VASA session: xkcd.com/2821 Don't be at all surprised if we end up featuring some logic to help people use VASA's pathfinding to route via ice cream stands. Keep them coming,…
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I've just come back from 2 weeks off work. We didn't go very far, but did enjoy the Swiss countryside, as well as the national day on August 1st. Anyway, it's back to the grindstone, with some looming deadlines around preparing content for AU 2023. The class schedule is now live, so you can head on over and search for or browse your favourite classes. Be sure to bookmark any that interest you, as you'll be able to register from August 24th. Here are the two classes I'll be presenting as primary speaker: My first class is bright and early…
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Just a quick note to say that you can now log in to the Autodesk University website (this guidance has changed, please see below) from today – June 23rd – to see the status of your class proposals and learn whether or not they were accepted for AU 2023 in Las Vegas. I was very happy to learn that the two proposals I submitted this year were accepted: I'm sure there'll be an email sent very shortly, but I just thought I'd share this in case anyone's impatient to find out their situation relative to classes at this year's event.…
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The CFP period for this year's AU has simply flown by – mainly because it's turned out to be a busy period between personal milestones and work travel – and today (May 15th) is the last day to submit your proposals for the event. Over the weekend I went ahead and finalised last-minute changes to mine and clicked submit. The titles (as shown above) are: Monitoring and visualizing data from the MX3D and Dar Smart Bridges Channeling Minecraft to analyze architectural spaces with VASA and Dynamo Both are variations on proposals I submitted for last year's event (but obviously weren't…
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I'm packing my bags soon for another trip across the pond for our annual, Autodesk-internal geekfest, TechX 2023. This year's event is being held in Dallas, Texas, a city I haven't visited in perhaps 20 years. I'm sure a lot has changed – we'll see! Photo credit: Robert Hensley, CC license. In any case TechX isn't about the venue – or even about the technical content, which, while often really interesting, is also watchable remotely during and after the event – as much as the chance to (re)connect with people. In that sense it's similar to the Autodesk University experience,…
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It's that time of year again: the Call for Proposals for AU 2023 is now open! This year's event is back in Las Vegas – it's being held at The Venetian from November 13th-15th. Interestingly this is a Monday to Wednesday slot, presumably to avoid overlap with the Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix. I expect it's going to be very hard to find a hotel room in Las Vegas after AU is over, this year! I always find that the best way to be sure to get to AU is to get a class accepted, something that didn't happen…
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Now that my head is briefly back above water following Autodesk University 2022 and some time off with the family, I thought I'd revisit the Dar 5m Smart Bridge project to share some of the things I learned about it during AU in New Orleans. As a reminder, I was not heavily involved in the building of the bridge itself – although I did track it with great interest from a distance – as my role really only came into play in the final stages of the project, when we were looking to get the data from the bridge into…
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That's it for another whirlwind AU! This year's AU was a very different one for me. Normally I'm delivering a class or two and end up spending several hours in meetings with customers – I almost never get to spend time in the Expo. In contrast I spent almost all of my time at this year's event in the Expo standing on or talking about a bridge, so I can't give any meaningful commentary about the broader event, sadly. One thing I will say – beyond whatever takeaways people have related to the change of venue (New Orleans over Las…
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In a recent post I hinted at a really impressive project that is being unveiled today in the exhibit hall of AU 2022. (My involvement was as usual pretty minor, primarily relating to data visualization, while the really impressive work was around designing and printing it.) The project is a 5 metre long single-cantilevered (in terms of the printing – it's supported at both ends when in use) smart bridge, 3D-printed from recycled PETG and glass fibre in our Boston Technology Center for Dar. Here's a video shared via LinkedIn that describes the project and a photo of Steve Blum…
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In a recent post, I mentioned that I've been asked to help lead our efforts in a particular area of research. I was deliberately vague at the time. Now, with Autodesk University 2022 around the corner, it seems a good time to say more about this. I hope it stimulates some interesting discussions at the event. As a company, one of Autodesk's core interests is to enable the design and creation of healthier, safer, more resilient spaces. We want to explore tools for designers and architects that help them create buildings with more attention to the occupants. In the past,…