Autodesk University 2013 Opening Keynote Urges Attendees to “Go Outside”

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12/03/2013Autodesk University 2013 Opening Keynote Urges Attendees to “Go Outside”

Autodesk today opened its annual global user conference, Autodesk University, by urging the more than 50,000 event attendees (both in-person in Las Vegas and watching online via AU Online Live), to “go outside” and seek inspiration, tools, collaborations and projects beyond their traditional areas of focus.   

“One great reason to go outside for insight is that it helps us to go outside our blind spots,” said Jeff Kowalski, Autodesk senior vice president and chief technology officer. “When we focus on looking and going outside of our traditional tools, people, work, and insights, we can all increase our capacity to take things that were impossible, and to make them finally possible.”

Autodesk President and CEO Carl Bass then showcased Autodesk customers who are adopting new mindsets and toolsets to solve design challenges. These included:

Orphanage Guitars, a startup musical instrument manufacturerAutomaker Aston MartinPlastics company PorexBill Spracher of AMP'D Gear and Jeff Tiedekin of Monkey Likes Shiny and their collaboration on a prosthetic leg for injured soldier Katherine CrawfordThe Denver International Airport Hotel and Transit Center ProgramFilmmakers and robotics company Bot and DollyPortable stove manufacturer Biolite

Bass also spoke about how Autodesk is continuing to focus on access—by providing infinite computing power in the cloud and Autodesk software on-demand through the rental model—and how that access is changing how design and engineering work is done. 

“During the year, my favorite activity is visiting customers – I see such incredible work, such tremendous creativity, and incredible resourcefulness – and how customers are doing things differently,” said Carl Bass.  “Three years ago, we started talking about cloud, social and mobile computing and how it was going to enhance what we did on our desktops. Our customers are augmenting their tried and tested tools with new ones.  By trying new and different things, and by embracing new technology, they are having greater creative control and better commercial success.”

Autodesk University Series Reaches Tens of Thousands Worldwide

Autodesk University (AU) is an annual series of in-person and online customer conferences that inspire, challenge and energize attendees about the future of design and engineering. Now in its 21st year, AU attracts nearly 50,000 live and virtual participants annually and includes the flagship event in Las Vegas, which begins today; AU Live online; and regional events that occur throughout the year in Japan, Brazil, Russia, China, and Germany.  Although AU began purely as an Autodesk user conference, it has grown to include a broader focus, with attendance from throughout organizations, from CAD Managers to upper management and senior executives.  As AU has evolved beyond software training, there are now tailored sessions for this audience focused on solving business issues and taking advantage of industry trends.

A highlight of AU Las Vegas is the Innovation Forum program, a series of sessions focused on the future of design. This year, one forum focuses on “Design and Construction” and how technology can help do more.  This includes speakers from Tacit Homes, HNTB, the San Francisco City Design Group, and SimCity creators Maxis.  The other forum, “The New Industrial Revolution” explores how manufacturers can take advantage of emerging trends and highlights trailblazers who are changing the way we manufacture including Jen McCabe of the Vegas Tech Fund, Tesla, Quirky and Skylar Tibbets of MIT. 

Autodesk University provides attendees with a mix of presentations, instruction and social activities to network, share ideas with peers and meet industry leaders from around the world. Attendees have access to training on the latest Autodesk 3D design software as well as free certification exams to enhance their credibility by proving their level of expertise with Autodesk software.  Select content from Autodesk University, including an archive of the keynote address, is available for free both live and on-demand at AU online live. 

Posted at 09:30 PM in Corporate, Events | Permalink

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Introducing Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2014

Introducing Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2014 In The FoldHomeSubscribeAutodeskAbout the AuthorsAutodesk PR
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12/04/2013Introducing Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2014

New Software Aims to Help Address the World’s Urgent Need to Repair or Replace Aging Bridges

Today at Autodesk University, Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2014 was unveiled as one of several software updates and introductions aimed at expanding BIM workflows across the full lifecycle for buildings and infrastructure. 

Following closely on the heels of our Autodesk Vehicle Tracking 2014 announcement last month, the new Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2014 software will help address the urgent need to repair or replace the world’s aging bridges.

According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, within the next 15 years, almost half of America’s bridges will exceed 50 years of age, surpassing the life span for which they were designed.  Technological advancements may be the key to addressing this urgent bridge dilemma by helping to accelerate design processes and reducing costs.

Obviously, the urgent need to repair or replace aging bridges is not exclusively an American challenge, it’s one widely shared around the globe. To help bridge designers tackle the challenges they face, we’ve expanded our portfolio of transportation solutions with the launch of Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2014. 

Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2014 offers ability to conduct loading, analysis and code checking in a single environment. Shown here is an example using Eurocode Grillage 3D elements.

Based on field-proven technology acquired from UK-based Bestech Systems Limited, Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2014 software helps give engineers greater flexibility and efficiency in their small- to medium-span bridge design processes by integrating loading, analysis, and code checking in a single environment with the additional advantage of being able to generate full hand calculation style reports directly from analysis results. 

Shown here is an example of code checking using AASHTO PS Beam Tendon Definition

Key features and capabilities include:

Speed delivery of bridge designs to help accelerate project completion

Create detailed designs faster with productivity tools that help you define bridge components quickly, and easily incorporate them into the analytical modelHelp save time with automatic calculations of section properties for all shapes and materials, and allow for stages of construction where necessary Help speed the design process on small- to medium- span bridge projects with software that automatically generates optimized traffic loading in a fully integrated environmentRefine design options faster with automated design updates in a ‘define-analyze-code check’ loop whenever parameters are changed 

Improve accuracy and reliability with detailed bridge design calculations

More easily understand structural behavior with side by side graphical displays of data and results at all stages of analysis and designReview pass/fail criteria for beams from graphical displays of actual and limiting load effectsReview code check requirements with detailed hand calculation–style reports that are created with full formulae and code referencingUse embedded screen graphics within the calculation sheet to help clarify the reports and aid in the checking process

Maintain more consistent data, context, and processes across project lifecycles

Design sections and bridge beams based on a variety of international standards including Eurocodes, AASHTO LRFD, British Standards (BS 5400 and DMRB), and Australian and New Zealand StandardsDevelop a more economical solution using a single system that doesn’t require import, export, or need to convert data, helping to save timeHelp save money when you produce reports that require minimal editing throughout project development by generating calculations directly from the system  

Video title: Autodesk Structural Bridge Design Overview

For more information, including pricing and availability, please visit the Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2014 Product Center.

 

Posted at 01:30 PM | Permalink

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News for Building Designers - Updates to Autodesk FormIt and Autodesk Dynamo

Two announcements impacting the building design industry were showcased today at Autodesk University.  The first is an expansion of the Autodesk FormIt family of applications with a new beta version for Mac and PC web browsers (Chrome and Firefox). FormIt for web browsers joins previously available versions for Apple iPad and Android tablets, expanding the options for conceptual design anytime, anywhere.

Last year at AU, Autodesk Formit was released, making it the first BIM-based conceptual design tool for architects working with Apple iPads. Once a FormIt conceptual design is complete the model can be imported into Autodesk Revit for continued development within a BIM workflow.

This evolving product line provides architects and designers with more flexibility and options to create, collaborate, and share initial design ideas using sophisticated but easy-to-use tools and the power of Autodesk 360 cloud services.

FormIt for iPad has been redesigned to take advantage of Apple’s iOS 7. Users can now benefit from the use of Airdrop and Print functionality, plus new social sharing capabilities. New drawing features, including a spline tool, have been added to enable a larger variety of forms for users to explore.

The recently updated iPad version also includes groundbreaking mobile energy analysis tools powered by Autodesk Green Building Studio, which enable users to get a simple indication of their model’s potential building performance cost based on climate data, building type, and building size. This tool helps designers and architects bring energy analysis into the earliest stages of a design process.

Formit for iPad is now iOS 7 optimized and includes new energy analysis features that help users understand potential building performance cost.

What’s New in FormIt Mobile

Building Program in Autodesk FormIt Mobile

In addition, Autodesk today offered a glimpse of what the future holds in store for FormIt, including a demonstration of a forthcoming feature in the FormIt family of applications that supports real-time collaboration on projects. Utilizing the power of Autodesk 360 cloud services future designers will be able to simultaneously access and collaborate on models using their FormIt application of choice.  As teams work through design ideas models are instantaneously updated across all applications to reflect changes made by any user. This revolution in conceptual design will help to speed up iteration, promote creativity, and enable a smoother collaboration process between designers working in geographically dispersed offices, at home, or in the field.

See preview of forthcoming feature in the FormIt family of applications to support real-time collaboration on projects

Download the latest Autodesk FormIt offerings from the Apple App Store, Google Play, or visit www.autodeskformit.com to try it today.

In parallel with the expansion of the Autodesk FormIt family of applications, Autodesk also announced a major enhancement in computational design for the building industry with the merging of Dynamo with Autodesk DesignScript. 

Announced at the AIA Conference in June 2013, Autodesk’s open source Dynamo Visual Programming environment for BIM allows designers to extend the parametric capabilities of Autodesk Revit software by adding their own custom rules and relationships. Autodesk DesignScript is a powerful, compact programming language and computational engine intended to help designers build and analyze complex geometric models that would be difficult to model with interactive techniques.

Now both are coming together in Dynamo to deliver “computational BIM.”  DesignScript’s powerful computational engine and compact language are being integrated into Dynamo's Visual Programming environment on top of Revit. Designers familiar with Visual Programming and scripting can now control Revit models and work more closely with their BIM colleagues. 

DesignScript’s powerful computational engine and compact language are being integrated into Dynamo's Visual Programming environment to bring you computational BIM

For more about the new Dynamo 0.6.2 visit the Dynamo website.

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Autodesk and U.S. Department of Energy Team on Open Sourcing Major Update to EnergyPlus Engine

Autodesk and U.S. Department of Energy Team on Open Sourcing Major Update to EnergyPlus Engine In The FoldHomeSubscribeAutodeskAbout the AuthorsAutodesk PR
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11/20/2013Autodesk and U.S. Department of Energy Team on Open Sourcing Major Update to EnergyPlus Engine

At Greenbuild 2013, Autodesk Spotlights New Initiatives and Technologies for Sustainable Building Community

In a public handoff to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) at Greenbuild 2013 in Philadelphia today, Autodesk is donating completely re-written EnergyPlus engine source-code, to be made available under the DoE’s open source license.  

As a long-time contributor to the sustainable building design community and proponent of the democratization of building performance analysis tools, this initiative is just one of several Autodesk is spotlighting at the annual conference.  The company is also unveiling new Building Performance Analysis (BPA) Certificate and Credits programs. In the LEED realm, a Revit plug-in for reducing LEED daylighting analyses from weeks to hours is being released on Autodesk Labs.  In addition, Autodesk parted the curtains on two emerging technologies offered to a few select pilot customers -- a LEED Automation tool and a Revit Credit Manager for LEED®. Finally, Autodesk also announced an expanded Energy Analysis capability, which is now available for Revit 2014 through Autodesk Subscription.

 Updating EnergyPlus

The Department of Energy’s EnergyPlus software is a crucial energy analysis engine for the sustainable building community.  However, EnergyPlus has not achieved maximum adoption by either design practitioners or design and analysis software vendors like Autodesk.

One aspect of the problem has been the EnergyPlus code itself—not the calculations, but the language they are written in. As a physics engine, EnergyPlus was initially written in FORTRAN, a language aimed at scientific programs to be run by a select few for days and weeks on supercomputers. But nowadays, EnergyPlus needs to be run by many more architects, engineers, and energy consultants on multi-core, graphics-enabled desktops and in the cloud. It also needs to work with modern Building Information Modeling (BIM) design applications, auditing tools, and energy dashboards.

To address this limitation, Autodesk took the initiative to translate EnergyPlus—more than 600,000 lines of code—to C++, a modern object-oriented language that is better supported on mass-market hardware and software platforms. Autodesk is donating this new version of EnergyPlus to DoE under the terms of EnergyPlus’ current open-source license. Autodesk will also continue to work with DoE on improving the common EnergyPlus codebase, focusing on improving its speed and BIM support.

In 2011, Autodesk donated source code modifications that increased EnergyPlus’ execution speed, as reported here by the DoE.

New BPA Professional Certificate and Credits

The Autodesk Building Performance Analysis (BPA) Certificate program, launched in August for students and educators worldwide, is now open to professionals seeking continuing education credit. The expansion of the program to professionals aims to remove barriers to learning the skills necessary for an industry-wide transition to performance-based sustainable design. The free, self-paced online course teaches building science fundamentals and Autodesk building performance analysis software tools, including Revit, Vasari, and Green Building Studio.

New today are Autodesk BPA Credits, which are a spin off of the certificate program, specifically for the continuing education of professionals. Three free, online self-paced courses are now open and professionals are eligible to sign up to earn USGBC and AIA credits.  The pilot courses cover: Energy Literacy & Building Loads; Whole Building Energy Analysis; and Daylight Analysis.

Previews of New LEED Tools

Also at Greenbuild, Autodesk signaled its support for professionals working on LEED projects with early access and previews to new technology solutions:

Super-fast Daylighting Analysis for LEED® - Now available on Autodesk Labs, the new Daylighting Plug-in for Revit analyzes the entire model using Autodesk’s 360 Rendering cloud service in a matter of minutes. This Daylighting analysis tool streamlines LEED EQc8.1 calculations and credit documentation within Revit, and it can reduce time required for a daylighting analysis and documentation workflow from a couple of weeks to under a few hours.  The cloud-based Autodesk 360 Rendering service also provides advanced daylight and artificial lighting simulation capabilities directly from detailed Revit models. 

LEED Project Automation – Autodesk demonstrated its Project Automation App for LEED® certification that has direct access to LEED Online through USGBC’s LEED Automation Partner Program. The app based on Autodesk PLM 360 aims to drastically simplify LEED® documentation and project management. It helps a LEED team monitor tasks, teams, milestones, documents and action items, while providing insightful and actionable reports, charts and dashboards. The app will be offered to a few select pilot customers through the Autodesk Feedback Community. Please contact leedplmsupport@autodesk.com if you are interested in piloting this promising technology.

Revit Credit Manager for LEED®: Autodesk also demonstrated a Revit Credit Manager for LEED®. This Revit add-in aims to automate LEED calculations and improve design decisions for a number of LEED credits, right from within the design environment. With real-time feedback earlier in the project, it will make LEED submittals faster and more reliable. The emerging technology will be offered to a few pilot customers through the Autodesk Feedback Community.

Autodesk has invested in dramatically streamlining whole building energy analysis in Autodesk Revit 2014, which represents a major step towards easier, faster BIM-based building performance analysis.This new feature, ‘Energy Analysis for Autodesk Revit 2014,’ is available with Autodesk Subscription and is powered by the cloud-based service Autodesk Green Building Studio (GBS).  By eliminating the need to rebuild the Revit model or build an entirely separate model specifically for energy analysis, the new capability provides major savings in both the time and skill required to conduct Energy Analysis and is especially valuable at the early stages of the design process when Energy Analysis can have the greatest impact.

All of the initiatives and technologies described above build upon numerous other Autodesk efforts at democratizing software for energy efficient buildings in 2013, including a Potential Energy Savings tool introduced in May and Tally, a new software application from KieranTimberlake (for which Autodesk supported development and testing) that allows designers to measure the environmental impact of building materials directly in a Revit model. Greenbuild attendees can learn more and see demos of all the technologies discussed at the Autodesk booth at Greenbuild (#2237).

Posted at 02:00 PM in AEC, Sustainability | Permalink

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Autodesk 360 to Deliver Project-Centric Cloud Platform for Design & Engineering Collaboration

New Technology Preview Promises to Make Projects Open and Connected

Imagine a world where…

Everyone on the project team is aware of critical project detailsAll project information is searchable…like you currently search the webAll data is viewable… regardless of the design tools you haveYou can rent your tools like you do a movieNo training is required in order to become a contributorEveryone participates, not just those with the design toolsYou have time to focus on driving profitability and innovation in your businessYou get to spend more time with your families and can actually use your vacation time!

Previewed at Autodesk University Las Vegas 2013, the new Autodesk 360 Technology Preview delivers on this vision with a project-centric cloud solution that covers all aspects of the design and engineering workflow from within a single interface. 

While CAD cloud point solutions might address a single piece of the design process, Autodesk 360 Technology Preview covers the entire design & engineering workflow, from start to finish and includes the entire project team, not just the designers.  

In early trials of the new Autodesk 360, we have received some incredible customer feedback.  Dan Pohly, President, at US Technics Company, had this to say:

“My company provides engineering consulting to machinery manufacturers throughout North America who have customers all over the world.  The key to success is great communication of ideas, designs and data throughout the product life cycle.  Autodesk 360 creates an entirely new collaboration toolbox that allows everyone involved in a project to share and work with the same data as well as communicate in new ways, but using familiar methods.  During the trial, we have used Autodesk 360 as a repository of project files to assure everyone has access to current data; to ask, answer and document design questions and issues; and to share and review 3D assembly models.  The blog pages and wiki pages provide a way to discuss, resolve, and document design issues using tools that are familiar but previously not used for project collaboration.  And the future prospect of being able to share and collaborate on design and analysis work with Autodesk products such as SIM 360 and Fusion 360 using the same environment as Autodesk 360 is extremely enticing.  The Autodesk 360 tools are, to me, pointing the way to an entirely new way to bring together today’s decentralized product design and development teams.  And best of all, the Autodesk 360 capabilities are within reach of small businesses like mine.”

The new version of Autodesk 360 puts the project at the center, making all project data open and connected.

This continuous, unbroken workflow represents a significant productivity enhancement for users accustomed to working on a file with one app, saving it, converting it, and then opening it up with another app to perform the next step in the design process. The net result is that users in the Architecture, Engineering, & Construction; Manufacturing; and Media & Entertainment industries will be able to do more, achieve better results faster and collaborate more effectively.

As a hub for project and team collaboration, Autodesk 360 Technology Preview allows all project collaborators access from any device, including desktops, tablets and mobile phones. Upon logging in to Autodesk 360, users view a real-time “dashboard” rollup of all of the data, projects, people, tasks, discussions, activities, issues and alerts that are associated with design or architecture projects that they are working on.

The Autodesk 360 Tech Preview will feature the following capabilities:

Projects: The new Autodesk 360 puts the project at the center, connecting all data, activities and people in a single cloud-based user experience.  Social: Autodesk 360 connects people, data and projects helping teams interact, access and share information through an intuitive interface.Search: Autodesk 360 incorporates deep search functionality helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find critical design information within the context of the project.Collaboration: Autodesk 360 organizes and provides access to all project information –not just design data – to all project team members, via a great user experience on any device at any time.Viewing:  Autodesk 360 works with virtually any data type, not just Autodesk formats, including non-design data like documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Anyone involved in a project can view files without the need for special tools or software.Rendering: Take advantage of virtually infinite computing power in the cloud to create high resolution renderings in a fraction of the time, and without the need for expensive hardware.

In the future, Autodesk 360 will integrate with the broad set of Autodesk’s cloud products and services enabling users to leverage the near-infinite computing power of the cloud to easily tackle a variety of tasks, without tying up the desktop or requiring specialized, expensive hardware. 

To sign up for the Autodesk 360 Tech Preview, visit www.autodesk360.com.

In Autodesk 360 users can see all the projects they are working on in one place.  Because customers work on lots of projects, they can pin or unpin them, to indicate which ones are most important.

Using Search and filtering, users are able to quickly locate all of the places in the project data where their desired information appears. Autodesk 360 searches across all project information – not just design models.  It also searches DEEPLY within design models, so it also helps users get to exactly the place in the Revit model where the change was made.

With Autodesk 360 you get – interactive 3D viewingfor all 3D design data.  Visually Explore Complex 3D Interactive design Models with no special publishing workflow - great looking, high performance, only a web browser or mobile app

From the integration of web services like rendering and simulation, to remote access of traditional desktop tools, we see a future in which the Autodesk 360 becomes the center of a complete end-to-end project workflow, from concept to reality.

Here’s a scenario: an architect is travelling and has only his Mac laptop, when he realizes he needs to make a change to his source Revit model.  With Autodesk Remote, he is be able to edit that model directly within his browser…and will see the update to the model appear as activity in Autodesk 360. 

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