Autodesk Research
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While preparing for one of my upcoming AU classes, I decided to explore how someone could use VASA - our Voxel-based Architectural Space Analysis toolkit - with Forma. Right now Forma is largely focused on conceptual design - taking into account the surrounding urban context - so this thinking was largely focused on how VASA might be used at the urban scale. This is something we've looked at before in the context of FormIt and Dynamo. While a tighter integration is likely to be possible at some point - I'll talk a little more about our work on a WebAssembly…
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I received an email from Rick Webb - whom I've met a few times on trips to Amsterdam, and mentioned in this previous post - telling me some news about the project. Rick was walking through the city on his usual route and came across the MX3D bridge being removed from its location in the heart of Amsterdam. It will presumably be replaced by a more traditional bridge at some point over the coming months. I mentioned after my last visit that this day was coming: the bridge was only ever intended to be in place for two years as…
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I'm very excited that our partners at The Bentway have announced the upcoming exhibition they're hosting that will showcase work being done by Autodesk Research. Here is some information on The Bentway from their web-site: Anchored under Toronto's Gardiner Expressway and guiding its complex future, The Bentway is a growing public space, and much more. We are a new type of civic organization: a not-for-profit, powered by vital partnerships with the City of Toronto, residents, supporters, artists, city-builders, and dreamers. The Bentway is a creative catalyst rooted in experimentation, leading a creative movement to re-imagine the opportunities of urban spaces.…
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It has been a really busy but important week for our team. We had a fantastic virtual offsite where we spent a significant amount of time using LEGO to conceptualise some of our planning for the coming year. A friend of mine was all set to become a LEGO practitioner - to assist with team-building events - before the plans were de-railed by the pandemic… independently my colleague Dagmara suggested we try "Serious Play" for this offsite and I said yes before she'd finished her sentence. We've made great strides for our upcoming exhibition in Toronto (formal announcement coming soon)…
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A number of colleagues from Autodesk Research have participated (as have I) in an activity to help people learn more about our organization, who we are are and what we do. Here's the video about me: It's part of a playlist on the Autodesk Research YouTube channel, so you can hopefully see the others once mine has played (or just skip mine to watch the others :-). If you're interested in getting to know more about our work, then I also recommend visiting the Autodesk Research blog. There are posts on there highlighting work by interns who have…
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This is a two-part series covering last week's Autodesk DevCon in Munich. I ended up choosing to write the series chronologically - so readers get a sense of the event's flow - and found it was long enough to split into two: there was just so much to talk about! On Sunday of last week I once again hopped on the train to Zurich and then the Flixbus to Munich, heading across for the European instance of this year's Autodesk DevCon series. Children in Bavaria headed back to school last week, so there was quite a lot of traffic as…
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As mentioned in the last post, it's now possible for people to sign up for their AU classes. And it's really worth taking the time to do so, as some classes are filling up quickly. Despite being held at a ridiculously early time on the first day of the conference, my first class is already 88% full, for instance (there are 141 registered and the capacity of the room it's currently assigned to is 160). I see that 300+ people have this session in their list of favourites, so if you do want to attend then I recommend signing up…
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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 posted in the past about work done by Autodesk Research – in particular by Rhys Goldstein – to implement a more natural-seeming (but still direct and efficient) pathfinding algorithm. This is the algorithm at the heart of our Space Analysis package, and you can find details on how it works in these previous posts: A paper on our space analysis algorithm in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research Explaining how path counting helps simulate natural navigation Visibility in space analysis: an explainer The above posts reference these articles/papers that have been published elsewhere: Path Counting for Grid-Based Navigation A…
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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…