AU 2011 General Session Keynote on AU Virtual

The AU 2011 General Session Keynote is now available on AU Virtual under AUTV.

I finally got the chance to see the crowd sourced edition of the legal disclaimer.

For more on the legal disclaimer visit Between the Lines.

Turn point clouds into pipes in AutoCAD and Revit

ClearEdge3D has a pretty groundbreaking technology for extracting features from laser scan point clouds.  Their clients are reporting time saving in their modeling workflows of more than 50%. The company is exhibiting at Autodesk University where they are debuting their plug-in for AutoCAD and Revit, which will allow users to extract geometry from point cloud data directly in the AutoCAD and Revit platforms.  Check them out at booth number 919.

Autodesk 360 for BIM

Autodesk Showcases Project Collaboration, Data and Lifecycle Management to More Than 8,000 Autodesk University Attendees in Las Vegas according to this press release.

Autodesk brought the power of the cloud, mobile computing and its industry-defining Building Information Modeling (BIM) portfolio together at Autodesk University. The design, engineering and entertainment software leader showcased a BIM solution to dramatically improve how AEC project team members connect, collaborate and communicate on building projects.

Autodesk’s BIM offering is part of Autodesk 360 solutions: flexible, easy to use and affordable solutions developed to streamline product and project business processes. The solutions are capable of scaling from individual users connecting to a regional office, up to larger teams working on projects across continents.

“Today’s AEC projects are often hindered by widely dispersed teams relying on inefficient communications and collaboration services,” said Jim Lynch, vice president, Architecture, Engineering and Construction Solutions, Autodesk. “Autodesk 360 for BIM is a powerful and comprehensive set of cloud-based and on-premise tools that can have project teams up and running with collaboration and data management in a matter of days. It represents a significant step toward enabling a BIM workflow from design through to construction.”

The Autodesk 360 for BIM solution is designed to handle multi-discipline models, thousands of drawings and other project information. Autodesk 360 for BIM comprises:

• Autodesk Vault Collaboration AEC ― Currently available, Autodesk Vault is an on-premise data management solution that lets project teams manage and track digital models without leaving their BIM design tools, including Autodesk Revit Architecture, Autodesk Revit MEP, Autodesk Revit Structure, AutoCAD Civil 3D and Autodesk Navisworks. Complete project documents and content are centrally managed and integrated with enterprise systems like Microsoft Outlook and SharePoint. Integration with the Autodesk Buzzsaw cloud service provides more complete external collaboration and mobile access.
• Autodesk Buzzsaw ― The Autodesk Buzzsaw cloud-based project collaboration solution provides for secure exchange designs and documents with external partners and distributed teams from any location. Autodesk Buzzsaw Mobile enables users to have the most up to date information, wherever it’s needed. Autodesk Buzzsaw is enabled by Autodesk Cloud technology and integrates with AutoCAD WS for DWG review and edit workflows.
• Autodesk 360 Nexus — Autodesk 360 Nexus, introduced today initially for the manufacturing industry, is also planned to support configurable AEC workflow and business process management needs.

About Autodesk 360

Enabled by Autodesk Cloud, Autodesk 360 solutions provide a powerful and complete digital view of information and processes, combined with the ability to securely manage data, so that the right information is accessible wherever and whenever it is needed. Easily accessible to both technical and non-technical professionals within or outside the enterprise, Autodesk 360 represents an intuitive way to view business information, manage and share data, and integrate with existing systems and software. The low up-front and ongoing costs of cloud-based solutions present the most affordable path by virtually eliminating largely unnecessary capital expenditures and deployment costs. Autodesk 360 also provides customers with built-in security and regular back-ups. For more information about Autodesk 360 solutions, see today’s related announcement “Autodesk Introduces Cloud-based Product Lifecycle Management.”

A related press release says:

Autodesk Agrees to Acquire Horizontal Systems

Autodesk, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Horizontal Systems, a provider of innovative cloud-based Building Information Modeling (BIM) collaboration solutions for the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry.

Horizontal Systems technology will be an important contributor to the Autodesk 360 for BIM vision for collaboration, data and lifecycle management, which was announced yesterday at Autodesk University (see related release). The acquisition of Horizontal Systems will help accelerate the movement of BIM to the cloud by providing users with the ability to more easily access and coordinate multi-discipline project data wherever and whenever it is needed throughout the entire project lifecycle.

“Horizontal Systems technology will help accelerate our Autodesk 360 for BIM capabilities by allowing multi-discipline teams to more easily communicate and synchronize information--helping reduce waste and errors during the design and construction of AEC projects and leading to faster, more efficient project delivery,” said Jim Lynch, vice president, Architecture, Engineering and Construction Solutions, Autodesk. “The integration of Horizontal Systems technology with other Autodesk BIM solutions will streamline business processes and workflows for increased efficiency, improved profitability, and higher quality outcomes for both Autodesk and Horizontal Systems customers.”

Horizontal Glue brings BIM to the cloud with technology that supports multi-discipline model collaboration and intelligent object data exchange for the building and infrastructure industries. This approach enables architects, engineers, owners and builders across the globe to collaborate in real time in over 40 different 3D formats, while providing a solution to distribute BIM data into external business systems.

“Autodesk has long been a valued business partner, sharing our dedication to advancing BIM across multi-discipline teams, workflows, and projects,” said Jordan Brandt, CEO and Cofounder at Horizontal Systems. “Our customers will experience the benefit of ‘gluing’ together Horizontal Systems’ cloud technology with the comprehensive portfolio of Autodesk BIM software. The Autodesk 360 for BIM vision is a perfect fit for our customers, as this integrated and flexible strategy makes it easier than ever for everyone to collaborate.”

Autodesk intends to integrate Horizontal Systems solutions into its Autodesk 360 for BIM solution. During the transition, Autodesk will continue to fully support existing Horizontal Systems customers.

About Horizontal Systems

Horizontal Systems is a global cloud technology company focused on the needs of design firms, construction companies and building owners. Through unique web streaming Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology, Horizontal unites all project stakeholders in a live collaborative 3D environment for more effective and efficient coordination. With accessible, intelligent BIM data hosted on an open platform, Horizontal Systems’ clients leverage seamless workflows across project and facilities management systems for a truly integrated building enterprise. Horizontal Systems was incorporated in 2009 and is based in New York, New York.

Autodesk 360 for PLM

Autodesk unveiled this new PLM Offering at Autodesk University 2011.

According to the press release Autodesk previewed a new solution designed to transform how manufacturers manage the entire lifecycle of a product--from its conception, through design and manufacture, partner and supplier management, procurement, quality, compliance, service and more. Autodesk is tapping into the cloud to deliver a new approach to product lifecycle management (PLM), which enables companies to capture and manage product information and processes to continuously improve the products they manufacture.

Autodesk’s new PLM offering, which is expected to be generally available early next year, is part of Autodesk 360 – a set of secure, easy to use and affordable solutions developed to streamline product and project business processes. Autodesk 360 for PLM is for companies of all sizes, from small companies eager to deploy PLM for the first time to large enterprises that have become disenchanted by PLM, due to the complexities and high costs associated with traditional PLM implementations.

“Our approach to PLM is a sharp contrast to the decades old technology in the market today,” said Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. “Autodesk 360 for PLM will enable customers of all sizes to achieve the full promise of PLM with a scalable, configurable and intuitive solution. We believe it will help our customers achieve a measurable competitive advantage through better, more accessible collaboration and business information management.”

Building upon the company’s leadership with cloud-based solutions, Autodesk 360 for PLM is geared for manufacturers that need to manage business processes throughout the entire lifecycle of a product — from the earliest concept to retirement. Autodesk 360 for PLM will comprise:

• Autodesk 360 Nexus — Autodesk 360 Nexus is a new, cloud-based solution that will anchor Autodesk 360 for PLM with affordable, easy-to-use and simple-to-deploy software as a service that helps make the benefits of PLM business applications available to users anytime, anywhere — with less cost and risk.
• Autodesk Vault — Currently available, Autodesk Vault provides on-premise product data management software that enables engineering workgroups to organize, manage and track their entire designs, engineering bills-of-materials and change processes. Autodesk Vault will work seamlessly with the Autodesk 360 Nexus.
• Autodesk Buzzsaw ― Enabled by Autodesk Cloud, Buzzsaw’s cloud-based supplier collaboration allows customers to securely exchange designs and documents with external partners and distributed teams, regardless of their location. Autodesk Buzzsaw Mobile ensures that users have the most up to date information, wherever it’s needed.

Global research firm IDC* estimates the PLM software applications market will grow to $20.5 billion by 2015. The processes required to commercialize and maintain products are increasingly complex and dispersed. Frequent interactions result in an overload of design, process, and business information that decision-makers and distributed teams must sort, prioritize, and manage over the lifecycle of their products.

Unlike the expensive, complicated, engineering-centric, and difficult-to-deploy PLM systems available today, Autodesk 360 Nexus is more readily and easily configurable to meet customer-specific product lifecycle process needs across the enterprise. Employees in a range of roles from planning to product development to supplier management, quality and compliance, service and more will have greater ability to eliminate bottlenecks and access product and project-related information more quickly regardless of their location.

Until recently, PLM has been the near-exclusive domain of large businesses, mainly due to the high cost and expertise related to deploying and maintaining the systems. “No company should be excluded from the benefits of PLM technology,” commented Kross.

An IDC Manufacturing Insights report released in June 2011** revealed that manufacturers identified the top three business benefits of cloud systems as: reducing total hardware spend; improving IT staff productivity and end user service levels; and reducing total spend on software licensing and maintenance. Autodesk 360 Nexus will better enable customers to start small but scale fast to meet demand, and fit easily within their existing business environment.

About Autodesk 360 solutions

Enabled by Autodesk Cloud, Autodesk 360 solutions provide a powerful and complete digital view of information and processes, combined with the ability to securely manage data, so that the right information is accessible wherever and whenever it is needed. Easily accessible to both technical and non-technical professionals within or outside the enterprise, Autodesk 360 presents an intuitive way to view business information, collaborate, manage and share data, and plan throughout product lifecycles, while integrating with existing systems and software. The low up-front and ongoing costs of cloud-based solutions present a more affordable path by eliminating largely unnecessary capital expenditures and deployment costs. Autodesk 360 solutions also provide customers with built-in security features and regular back-ups. For more information about Autodesk 360 solutions, see today’s related announcement (“Autodesk Takes BIM to the Cloud at Autodesk University”).

Having seen a few 360 products from different vendors maybe it’s time for JTB 360 next.

AU Virtual 2011 today

If you haven’t yet signed up on the free AU Virtual 2011 there is still time. Today more than 150 more classes goes live.

Among the classes is Autodesk® Network License Manager that I’ve put together. To find it visit AU Virtual 2011, sign up and search for “license” or “Autodesk® Network License Manager” to quickly find it.

Do I need to watch virtual classes at a certain time or reserve a space?
No. For AU Virtual 2011, all classes will be available on demand. No reservations are necessary, and you can view the class anytime after it is made available.

Here are more classes available at AU Virtual 2011:

• 24/7 on 6 Continents: 1 Ford, 1 Team, 1 Goal = 1 CAD Standard
• 45 Autodesk® Revit® Tips in 45 Minutes
• A Crash Course in AutoCAD® for Mac®
• Add Needed Information to an Autodesk® Revit® Structure Schedule in 45 Minutes
• AEC Team Collaboration with Project Bluestreak
• Affordable Training Alternatives: Virtual CADLearning™ Centers
• All in the Family: Creating Parametric Components in Autodesk® Revit®
• An Overview of Cloud Computing
• Animation of Autodesk® Inventor® Assemblies Using Autodesk 3ds Max® Design
• Applying the Top 10 New Features and Functions in AutoCAD® 2012
• Are You STILL Not Using AutoCAD® Civil 3D®?
• Are Your Buildings Floating in the Air? Site Work in Autodesk® Revit®: Piece of Cake!
• AutoCAD LT® Tips and Tricks
• AutoCAD® Certification Preparation, Part 1
• AutoCAD® Certification Preparation, Part 2
• AutoCAD® Civil 3D®: Workflow for Visualization Using Civil View and Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design
• AutoCAD® Map 3D Functionality in AutoCAD Civil 3D®: How to Use Geospatial Data in Civil 3D
• Autodesk® 3ds Max® Certification Preparation, Part 1
• Autodesk® 3ds Max® Certification Preparation, Part 2
• Autodesk® Digital STEAM Workshop
• Autodesk® Inventor® iLogic™ Made Simple
• Autodesk® MapGuide® Assists Australia's National Telecommunication Carrier after Natural Disasters
• Autodesk® Maya® Certification Preparation, Part 1
• Autodesk® Maya® Certification Preparation, Part 2
• Autodesk® Network License Manager
• Autodesk® Revit® 2012: Compatibilización de Disciplinas
• Autodesk® Revit® Architecture Certification Preparation, Part 1
• Autodesk® Revit® Architecture Certification Preparation, Part 2
• Autodesk® Revit® MEP: Classy Construction Documents
• Autodesk® Revit® MEP: Create MEP Systems Like a Mad Man
• Autodesk® Revit® MEP: Not Enough Content—What is the Problem Again?
• Autodesk® Revit® Rendering Tips You Can Use
• Automating Autodesk® Revit® Server
• Be a Hit: Work on your A.I.M. with Autodesk® Infrastructure Modeler 2012
• Become an Autodesk® WikiHelp Wizard
• Best Practices for Add-In Programming and Design Patterns Applied to the Autodesk® Inventor® API
• Better Infrastructure Planning with AutoCAD® Map 3D
• BIM for Infrastructure: Show Me the Money!
• BIM for Interiors: Making Autodesk® Revit® Work for You
• Capitalize on Corridor Improvements in AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2012
• Change How You Access Your Autodesk® Vault Data with Vault Links
• Civil 3D Survey: What Is Behind the Curtain?
• Conflation or Deflation: Tips for Conflating Your Data to Another Landbase
• Connecting the "I" in BIM: Leveraging Information in Autodesk® Revit®
• Connecting the Dots: Implementing Autodesk® Revit® Server for Multi-Firm Collaboration
• Converting Existing Piping Specs
• Converting Subdivision Surface (SubD) Models into CAD Models: Autodesk® 3ds Max® to Inventor®
• Create a Geneva Mechanism with Autodesk® Inventor® 2011
• Creating 3D Primitives and Composites in AutoCAD®
• Creating Custom Autodesk® Vault Report Templates
• CUIs for Everyone
• Design Charrettes in Wood Construction: The New Preconstruction Meeting
• Design Process Improvement with Fast, Inexpensive 3D Printing
• Design Visualization 101: Making the Most of the Autodesk® Product Design Suite
• Design Visualization with Autodesk® Alias®, Part 1
• Design Visualization with Autodesk® Alias®, Part 2
• Design Visualization: From Concept to Reality
• Did Somebody Say CONTENT? Creating and Editing Electrical Content for Autodesk® Revit® MEP
• Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff: Make Received Drawings Conform to Your AutoCAD® Civil 3D® Standards
• DWG™ to the Cloud and Back
• Efficiently Find the Information You Want Using the Autodesk® Revit® API
• Electrical BIM: Beyond 3D
• Engineering to Order: Substation Design Process—High Potential by Using a 3D Model
• Everything in Place with Autodesk® Revit® MEP Programming
• Evolution of Utility Workflow
• Extensions for Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2012 for the Precast Concrete Industry
• FDO 2.0: The Magic Grows
• Fiber-Reinforced Injection-Molded Plastic Parts: Efficient Calculation and Lifetime Prediction
• For Educators: Simple Steps into Autodesk® Inventor® and More
• From Concept to Published Document: Tips for Working Effectively with Autodesk® Inventor® Publisher
• Furniture Modeling in Autodesk® 3ds Max®
• Getting Started with Autodesk® Vault Programming, Part 1
• Getting Started with Autodesk® Vault Programming, Part 2
• Go-Go Gadget Mobile
• Going on the Road with HP Mobile Workstations
• Got Discipline? Managing a Multiple-Model, Multiple-Discipline Project
• Handy Nanny to the Rescue
• How to Teach Autodesk® Revit® Effectively: Reflections on Two Years of Teaching BIM at Hong Kong University
• I’m a Civil Engineer: Why Should I Care About GIS?
• Improving Business Process Management to Facilitate Global Collaboration and Compliance
• Incorporating Electronics into Product Assemblies Using Autodesk® Inventor®
• Incredible AutoCAD® Civil 3D® Users: Prove Your Credibility with Civil 3D Certification, Part 1
• Incredible AutoCAD® Civil 3D® Users: Prove your Credibility with Civil 3D Certification, Part 2
• Instant Video Assistance within AutoCAD®
• Integrated Electrode Design and Machining
• Integrating Water Elements and Fountains into Architectural Renderings Using Particle Flow
• IPD: Integrating my Project Design with Others—Let's Come Together Right Now!
• Is That a Photograph? Architectural Photography for 3D Rendering
• It's About Time: Migrating from AutoCAD® Land Desktop to AutoCAD Civil 3D®
• Lean Manufacturing with Autodesk® Factory Design Suite
• Loading It Up with Autodesk® Autoloader
• Make Sense of Autodesk® Product Design Suite: How It All Works Together
• Making Autodesk® Inventor® Work for Substation Design
• Managing Construction Phase Revisions with Autodesk® Revit®
• Managing Lifecycle States...from a Governor's Point of View
• Mastering Metadata with Autodesk® Vault
• Mastering the Skills: The Ultimate Autodesk® Certification Preparation Guide Revealed!
• Mission Impossible? Corporate Standards Are Not a Myth: The Path
• Modeling for Construction
• Multi-Project Management with Autodesk® Vault and ATEC Project Base
• Multithreading and Message Handling in Windows® Presentation Foundation (WPF) Applications
• New CAD = New Opportunity
• Optimizing Digital Drawing Files and BIM Models for Measurement and Estimating
• Physical and Digital Prototyping Belong Together
• Point Clouds and Design: What Do I Do with All of These Points?
• Practical Tips and Tricks for Autodesk® Revit® MEP That I Wish Someone Taught Me on Day 1
• Principles of Hydraulic Analysis for Fire Protection Sprinkler Systems
• Real Projects, Real Maths
• Revitalizing a Mapping Solution with AutoCAD® Map 3D Enterprise
• Rotary Wire EDM in Modern Manufacturing
• Roundabout Design: A Better Workflow
• Securing AutoCAD® IP in the in the Era of WikiLeaks
• Show Me the Money! Impress Your Customers with Great Presentations for Manufacturing
• Simplified 5-Axis Machining
• Standardize Away Problems and Save! (Virtual)
• Standards and Process and Vault, Oh My! Case Study of a CAD Modernization Project
• Step Up and Get Certified in Autodesk® Inventor®, Part 1
• Step Up and Get Certified in Autodesk® Inventor®, Part 2
• Strategic Planning 101: The Basic Tools for Success
• Surveying and Base Mapping Standards and Practices
• Swept Path Analysis for AutoCAD® Civil 3D®
• Taking the BIM Execution Plan Beyond a Spreadsheet
• Tales from the Road: Five Years of Corridor Modeling Lessons Learned
• The Compositing Power of Autodesk® 3ds Max®: Using Render Elements and the New 3ds Max Composite
• The Deliverable Is in What? Paper Trails from Autodesk® Revit® to AutoCAD®
• The Differences Between Us: How Generational Diversity Drives Technology Adoption and Learning
• The Parametric Advantage: High-Value, Low-Investment Software Deployment
• Tips and Tricks 2011: Getting Top Performance From Your Desktop and/or Laptop
• Tips and Tricks for Autodesk® Revit® Graphic and Visualization Techniques to Make Your Drawings Look Great!
• Tool Palettes: No Pain, Much Gain
• Top 50 BIM Bugs and Things to Avoid
• Turn All of Your Users Into Power Users (Virtual)
• Use Autodesk® Revit® Structure Levels and Spot Elevations
• Using Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design, Autodesk Revit®, and iray® to Render Compelling Photographic Scenes
• Vault Integration for Sheet Set Manager in AutoCAD®
• What the Heck is an API?
• What's New in AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2012?
• Which Autodesk® Plant Design Suite is Right for You?
• Wholly Sheets Batman! Plotting in AutoCAD® Civil 3D®
• Why Use a Workstation?
• Virtual Photography: Rendering Autodesk® Inventor® Designs Using Autodesk 3ds Max® Design and iray®
• Wood Framing Level of Detail: How Far Should You Go?
• Writing Your First Autodesk® Revit® Model Review Plug-In

AutoCAD WS with 3D, GPS and Print functionality

AutoCAD WS Blog talks about the next release of  AutoCAD WS.

3D - “View and share the 3-dimensional objects in your DWGs using AutoCAD WS”

GPS – “Position yourself physically inside your design when you are out visiting a site”

Print – “Send your designs to any compatible HP printer using Wi-fi…  Additionally you can plot your design directly as a PDF and send it to your email.”

Outlook not Moving Messages Solution

Problem: I had problem in Microsoft Outlook 2010 that not all selected emails were moved using either Quick Steps or Move.

Typically I reply to an email and mark it to be followed up and then select both the one in the Inbox and the one in Sent Items and move them to another folder. I either select the emails by expanding the conversation or through a search. Drag and drop is no problem but using Move or Quick Steps from the Ribbon does not work.

Solution: I wondered if it was some bug moving multiple emails but eventually found that “Don’t move flagged messages” in Outlook Options under the heading Conversation Clean Up was checked. When I unchecked it I got the emails moved as expected, problem solved.

500 Internal Server Error bX-7sd12g

Problem to post from Microsoft's Windows Live Writer to Blogger (blogspot): The server reported an error with the following web address: 500 Internal Server Error bX-7sd12g.
It is also problem to open posts from WLW.
Workaround for now is to use the the Blogger website.
It seems also to work to post a draft from WLW and then post it from the web interface in Blogger.
Hopefully Google comes with a solution to this bug soon.


Update: Another bug is that the url created contains the first words from the post and not from the title as it should.


Update 2: A intermediate fix that works with Windows Live Writer is to make the post as usual in WLW, including images and then click on "Post draft to blog", ignore any errors, then click on "Publish" and ignore the errors. This will solve both the url problem and the post will be posted to your blog.


This problem also exist with other blog applications and it might work with the same workarounds too.

Update 3: November 23 and the issue with posting and opening blogs is fixed as well as the issue with the url.

Imagine Design Create

This is a great book to read and view.

At TED 2011, Autodesk launched a new book that celebrates the impact of design. Featuring the work of dozens of leading designers, many of them TEDsters, Imagine Design Create tells stories of how technology is transforming the very nature of design.

Bringing together stories of good design happening around the world, Imagine Design Create shows how people are using fresh design approaches and new capabilities to solve problems, create opportunities, and improve the way we live and work.

Design as a verb: Collaborating, building, and testing to create solutions that address human needs and improve our world.

Design as noun: The intended physical and emotional meaning conveyed through the crafted qualities of an image, object, or experience.

Download this .pdf version of the first Autodesk design book to view on your computer or tablet device.

Download the iPad App from Apples’ App Store and get even more.

• More than 30 minutes of video
• 13 original video interviews exclusive to the app
• Interactive infographics
• More than 250 stunning images, including dozens seen only in the app
• Slideshows and interactive photo features
• Visual table of contents for quick and easy navigation

Via Autodesk Manufacturing Northern Europe and Between the Lines.

Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. — Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple

Make a wish for AutoCAD, Revit, Civil 3D or Inventor

AUGI Wish list is available 2 weeks more. What do you wish for?

You can add wishes for these products: AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Inventor, Revit, Revit Architecture, Revit MEP and Revit Structure.

Autodesk® Network License Manager Virtual Class at AU 2011

Now you can register and sign up for AU Virtual 2011.

My class is Autodesk® Network License Manager and will go live on November 29 as well as be available to view also after that. The handout and Power Point presentation are available to download already.

Class Audience

CAD/IT managers and advanced users with CAD/IT management responsibilities for network licenses

Class Description

This class is for anyone who wants to learn how to manage network licenses. You will learn the steps required to install and configure Autodesk Network License Manager and use the Options file to manage group license permissions. We will also cover command-line tools, how to troubleshoot and diagnose problems, optimization, limit borrowing, and upgrade licenses. You will learn how to list current users and create usage reports. This class will benefit everyone new to network licenses and those that want to learn more.

Key Learning

• Report license usage
• Install and configure Autodesk Network License Manager
• Troubleshoot network license issues
• Manage network licenses

This class can be viewed on YouTube and handout is found on the Autodesk Network License Manager page.

IE7Pro Google PageRank broken and solved

Google changed the lookup URL for the PageRank value for more than a month ago and that broke the IE7Pro Alexa rank/google pagerank plugin (searchstatus) that makes it possible to see Google PageRank in the status bar of Internet Explorer. Even though the name indicates something else IE7Pro does work in IE8 and IE9 too.

Old PageRank URL:
http://toolbarqueries.google.com/search?client=navclient-auto&features=Rank&ch=8f3b58e04&q=info:[URLHERE]
New PageRank URL:
http://toolbarqueries.google.com/tbr?client=navclient-auto&features=Rank&ch=8f3b58e04&q=info:[URLHERE]
The solution it to edit …\IEPro\plugins\searchstatus\plugin.js like this and Google PageRank work again.
Old code:
queryurl = "http://toolbarqueries.google.com/search?client=navclient-auto&ch=" + mGoogleCH + "&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&features=Rank&q=" + reqgre;
New code:
queryurl = "http://toolbarqueries.google.com/tbr?client=navclient-auto&ch=" + mGoogleCH + "&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&features=Rank&q=" + reqgre;

The Alexa rank has since been broken and only show 0 so the plugin.js needs to be edited.
Change the regex parsing of the xml result like this:
Change from
var re = /POPULARITY.*TEXT=\"(\d+)\"\/\>/i;
to
var re = /POPULARITY.*TEXT=\"(\d+)\"/i;

Free BIM application – view, clash check, measure, markup…

Tekla BIMsight version 1.3 is the current version and if you haven’t tried it, now might be a good time. Tekla BIMsight was first released in February 2011 and has improved since.

Here’s what Tekla says: "Tekla now offers the missing link BIM application for building information model-based project communication and management to everyone in the construction industry for free."

With Tekla BIMsight you can:

• Add and remove projects and models

• View, navigate and search in the models

• Change color and visibility of the objects and the models

• Check for conflicts visually and with conflict checking tools

• Measure in the models

• Add notes in the projects

• Add relevant project documentation and link it to model objects

• Add markups in the model view to highlight items

Currently supported model file formats:

• IFC (.ifc)
• IFC XML (.ifcXML)
• IFC ZIP (.ifcZIP)
• DWG (.dwg)
• DGN (.dgn)
• Tekla Web Viewer (.xml)

AEC Magazine reviewed version 1.2

Have you tried it? What are the limitations? Will you try it? What pressure does this put on other vendors with similar products?

Autodesk and AutoCAD news

AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 2012 SP1 Ribbon Hotfix

This hotfix is for users that have had an AutoCAD® 2012-based products become non responsive while navigating, saving or closing a drawing file. You must install Service Pack 1 before you apply this hotfix. DL18022638

AutoCAD Map 3D 2012 Service Pack 1

Get it here: DL18021295

Autodesk Shifts Industry-Leading R&D Budget Toward the Cloud

“We are devoting a larger percentage of our R&D budget to cloud computing, with a significant portion of our new product investments going toward products that are cloud-enabled,” said Paul Sullivan, a spokesman for Autodesk. “We expect that all of our major products will be available in the cloud within the next three years.” via Bloomberg

Autodesk has still not jumped on the Windows Phone OS train. My guess is that they will if Windows succeed with it’s mobile platform during next year.

Isometric Generation in the Cloud

The AutoCAD® Isometrics WS technology preview is an Autodesk® Cloud service for creating, storing, viewing, and sharing isometric drawings. You can design and collaborate on isometrics across multiple platforms - desktop, web, and mobile devices - with full DWG™ reliability and compatibility. Simply upload PCF files from AutoCAD Plant 3D, Autodesk Inventor, or 3rd party applications, and then generate isometric drawings without running any desktop software for isometric generation. You can then easily share and view the isometrics with your colleagues through the AutoCAD WS web and mobile applications.

www.autodesk.com/autocadisometricsws

Network Licensing Manager on the Mac

If you are setting up a license server on the Mac for Maya or AutoCAD, it's probably best to install the Network License Manager… read about it here.