Autodesk
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Today marks the first public day of this year's Geneva Motor Show. After having spent time on Monday setting up the configurator Autodesk provided to Morgan Motor Company, on Tuesday I went along to make sure everything was working well. It wasn't exactly smooth sailing, but we got there. To start with, the connection from the iPad to the system performing the rendering work locally using Autodesk VRED – the iPad connection is the only part of the system that requiring wifi, we don't actually use it for the rendering itself – was intermittent and very slow. I whipped out…
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It seems there's more and more support traffic from developers going through the Autodesk Community, these days – I know the ADN team has been encouraging use of the developer-centric forums, which appears to be having some effect – and the site itself has just been on the receiving end of a much-welcomed redesign. The redesign is intended to improve the "findability" of community content as well as providing a more personalised experience for users. Here's a screenshot of my own welcome page on the Autodesk Community, for instance: Yes, it's been a while since my last forum post. Must…
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I was chatting with a colleague in Tel Aviv, yesterday, and he gave me the heads-up on a project that was about to be launched on Autodesk Labs, developed by the Autodesk Research team based in his office (thanks, Benny! :-). I checked this morning and there it was… The project is called Project Shapeshifter – accessible via shapeshifter.io – and here's what it says in its About box: Project Shapeshifter is a free technology preview by Autodesk. It provides an easy way to create complex 3D Printable models in your web browser. With a simple tweak of sliders, you…
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I had a reminder from the Autodesk Developer Network team about their upcoming DevDays tour (of which I'm currently planning on attending the sessions in Las Vegas and Munich, although I'm not 100% sure I'll get to Munich). One thing I didn't fully appreciate when I wrote my previous post is that the ADN team is very actively looking to engage with non-ADN members who would like to attend this tour. If you're interested in attending a session – and aren't currently an ADN member – then please get in touch with a member of our ADN team. There isn't…
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My successor over in the ADN team (and long-time friend and colleague), Stephen Preston, has just pointed me to an online posting for a member of the DevTech team to be based in the Bay Area (meaning either of our San Rafael or San Francisco offices). They're looking for a developer with AutoCAD experience who would be able to take a senior role within the DevTech organisation, interfacing with the local product teams and assuming some leadership responsibilities for DevTech's worldwide, AutoCAD-focused workgroup. These positions come up very infrequently, so I strongly recommend applying if you're interested. The position has…
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I recently sailed past my 18-year anniversary at Autodesk. Part of me finds this scary – in this world of post-millennial job-hopping – but then I really enjoy what I do. Long may it last. The company has grown a great deal since I joined (I had to look it up, but it seems that over this period we've gone from around 1,800 employees to around 7,500, with an additional 1,000 or so temps and contractors), so it should go without saying that I haven't met or interacted with the vast majority of the people who work at Autodesk. But…
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This is the second part of the two-part interview with Morgan Motor Company's Head of Design, Jon Wells. Here's the first part, in case you missed it. How long has Morgan been using Autodesk software? I introduced Autodesk software to the company when I joined. I was the link between the aesthetic designer that had just joined the company – who was very visual-based – and the engineering team. With my technical background and understanding of 3D and surfacing, I was able to understand both the aesthetics and how that would interpret into an actual, physical component. And to enable…
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A few weeks ago I visited Morgan Motor Company in the UK. The highlight of the visit for me was getting the chance to sit down with Jon Wells, Morgan's Head of Design, to talk about the company and their use of Autodesk software. I'm a huge fan of this company and the way they meld the traditional – cars are built in much the same way as they have been for 100 years – with the modern – aside from their advanced use of software they're also pushing boundaries in terms of materials science in the automotive industry. The interview…
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I've been involved at some level in Autodesk's annual Developer Days tours for as long as they've been happening (at least in a coordinated, worldwide fashion), although for the last few years it's been purely as an attendee (and last year only in Las Vegas). This is the first year I can remember the event being publicised more broadly than to our existing ADN members: many non-ADN (or ADN Open) members may not realise that this tour is a benefit available to Standard and Professional members, so we're helping spread the word. DevDays is a great way to get a…
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This one came as a (very nice) surprise: Autodesk has collaborated with Circuits.io to provide a new tool called 123D Circuits. Here's the announcement along with some media coverage. 123D Circuits is a handy, web-based tool that allows you to create, share and collaborate on circuit designs such as those you'd use with an Arduino microcontroller. And if you're using an Arduino in your circuit, you can even code inside the embedded IDE and simulate its behaviour directly inside your browser – with almost no risk of blowing it up! You can also embed these circuits into web-pages, which is…