IMAGINiT Manufacturing Solutions Blog

AU in AU - Australian Autodesk University Summit: Melbourne

The last leg of the Australian Autodesk University Summit took us back to the beautiful city of Melbourne for the last event.  What I have loved about this trip is the actual face time with clients half way around the world.  What our clients have loved about this event is the new perspective Scott and I have brought over the Pacific with us.  I also had quite a few clients that mentioned that other resellers in the area were actually having their customers PAY to come to this type of shin-dig.  When I asked what these other events were about I was told they just played recordings off the website and then sat around and talked about them.  Wow, how awesome is it to actually talk to the presenter of the class and other experts in the field rather than watch the recording online which anyone with the free account can already do.  Oh did I mention we did free Autodesk certifications at these events and got some new Australians certified in Autodesk Inventor at the same time?  Who loves ya?

What I found out about the Australian market is that users of Autodesk CAD products are just as thirsty as this little kangaroo here I got the pleasure of meeting.  Just like the rest of us back home in the states too but with a smaller economy and tighter deadlines and competition, you can't skip on the training and most efficient methods.

 

Having events like these really helps user break away from the routine and experiment with other methods of design such as Multi-Body design.  I can't tell you how many folks in the three events I presented at had never thought of doing Multi-Body design in Inventor to the point where I was introducing it to the users for the first time in most cases even though they have been using Inventor 2010 and 2011 for some time now. 

On that note, here is another hand out we discussed at the event on just that topic...

Download MA126-1R That's Solid! MB

Did I also mention that we had a ton of fun at the Vegas style events too?  Here is some of the extremely valuable money we used during the blackjack, roulette, and poker tournaments we had at the Adalaide and Melbourne events.

This next picture has been edited for all audiences.  I heard somewhere you should hide alcohol with cats or other domestic animals.  Here I chose a local varmet.  Say hi to John, Grant, and Max from our Melbourne office playing some good old Texas hold'em.  And yes we had to teach a few of them how to play that.

So as the sun sets on the Australian summits, I just want to thank all those that helped put this together for our clients as well as Autodesk for providing the free certifications.  To my Australian conterparts, the next shout is on me.

Autodesk to Aquire Blue Ridge Numerics, Maker of CFDesign.

Autodesk has announced its intended acquisition of Blue Ridge Numerics for $39 million in cash, which I can't say I am surprised by.  Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been a little bit of a hole in the Autodesk lineup of Simulation software.  Nothing against ALGOR, but their CFD is not quite up to the level of CFDesign.  Those that have used CFDesign know the power behind the software.  The steep price tag alone is evident of the development that goes into the software.  Now we all remember how much Moldflow, Alias, and ALGOR cost before Autodesk aquired them as well.

I think one of the biggest takeaways here is the dedication Autodesk has to their user base in technology.  They have done a fair amount of growth over the last 5 years in the Manufacturing portfolio whereas their competition has tightened their belts.  Some of these competitors don't consider their products flagship, others have let their programs lack in improvements to point of stagnation whereas Autodesk has held a very impressive R&D budget that is about 4-5 times larger than their closest competition.   A lot of that budget goes towards product acquisitions and new Inventor flavors (Inventor Factory, Substation Design, and Inventor Publisher to name a few).  If you still think Inventor may be the number two in mid-level modelers you just need to wake up or start a 12 step program.  Either way the proof is irrefutable.

If history is any indication I think the mainstream acquisition will not only bear fruit directly to the Inventor user, but also to the current user base of CFDesign.  The other interesting aspect we see here is that CFDesign will stil be available to the other 3D CAD systems much like the development of the Moldflow product.  Now you know Autodesk will put an emphasis on their flagship product Inventor too, but just what functionality remains to be seen.  With Moldflow they added the part fill analysis lets hope they add some of the CFD to the Stress Analysis Environment as well.

Here is a look into the current integration of the CFDesign package in Autodesk Inventor (they are a certified add in and have been on the developer network with Autodesk for years).

 

 

For a deeper review of CFDesign by Develop3D magazine...click here.

AU in AU - Australian Autodesk University Summit: Adelaide

The next leg our Australian AU Extension tour took us to the city of Adelaide which is in the state of South Australia.

Here is a town out of the cities we visited that I would call home.  The city is busy enough for my liking with a robust central business district but quiet enough urban sprawl.  The architecture of the city alone shows roots to a simpiler time rather than the more modern Melbourne or Brisbane. 

This is also the site of Gorge Wildlife Park where I was able to experience some quintessential toursit bucket list items such as feeding a Kangaroo and hugging a Koala.  I have to thank Phil Amato (a tribute to Australian hospitality) from our Adelaide office for taking Scott, his wife, and myself though the mountains to this fantastic place.  Here is a video he put together for our time in Adelaide and Brisbane areas as well as some from the actual AU event we put on at the Oval (large sports stadium), which by the way has some really weird dress code rules.  We'll take that offline if you really want to know.

 

Now for some learning...

Koala Facts:

• Koala comes from an Aboriginal word that means "doesn't drink" since they never drink water, they injest all their hydration from the leaves they eat.
• They are born about inch and half long and the Joey spends the rest of the time in the pouch like a Kangaroo.
• They have two opposable thumbs on each paw.
• They move around more less than my two lazy fat cats at home.

Now for the Inventor learning...

Here is a class we did at the events on Inventor Drawing Templates.  Enjoy!

Download MA234-5 Build the Foundation

 

Watch your Assets: Inventor Factory Asset Builder

Factory seems to be a hot topic here in Australia as many of the larger firms out here are jumping over whatever information they can find on the topic.  I was faced again with a client today that has been evaluating the product for some time and has had some difficulty in creating Assets for their User Library.

The first thing you need to know about Factory is that you NEED to install Service Pack 1.  Now that is not service pack 1 for Inventor, AutoCAD, and Navisworks seperately, but the dedicated Factory Suite Service Pack located here.  WIthout doing this you may have trouble with the connectors on the assets working correctly.  I have also found that this is not addressed in the normal Inventor Professional service pack.  Other than that, here is a nice little guide to get you started on Inventor Factory Asset creation...

Download Creating Inventor Factory Assets

AU in AU - Australian Autodesk University Summit: Brisbane

After my client visits in Melbourne (Victoria) I traveled to the city of Brisbane (Queensland) which over the course of the last couple months has had quite the challenges between floods and cyclone weather.  Luckily, the cyclone (that's a hurricane to us) named Yasi missed Brisbane which was severely damaged by the recent flooding.  I was able to get a helicopter ride (that's a blog post for another day) above some of the damaged areas.

If you look in this picture, imagine the bridge +8 meters above and that is where the water level was.

Despite the conditions of the area, we had a very high turnout with 90% attending of the registered users for the summit.  This just goes to show you how much the Ozzies like Autodesk software.  We held the event at the Brisbane convention center (below) with two speaking rooms, one for the Inventor and Publisher and the other for Revit and AutoCAD.  Our friends at ADA CADPartners did a great job putting on the event.

...and since I told you Yanks (pardon me, I have spent too much time down under already), North American audience that I would supply my handouts, here is the first one on Top-Down Design with Inventor.  It covers Skeletal Modeling, Multi-Body Assembly Design, and Layout Design.  Keep in mind that the webcast on this is free on the Autodesk University website.  The live attendees got treated to some nice live Q&A, tangent discussions, user examples from the crowd and a nice little flash drive to take it home on.

Download MA322-2L A View from the Top

Download MA322-2L A View From the Top Dataset

On arrival I had a glimpse at some fantastic architechure in the CBD (central business district).  Here are some sights that caught my eye...

The Brisbane night city view with the Kurilpa bridge...

The Kurilpa bridge...

Gardens at South Bank...

Two metal balls in their natural habitat...

A Bell 47 helicopter Capt. Mike and I looked over in his garage, would you believe the tail fins themselves are 10,000 dollars a pair?  He showed me a pair of damaged ones from a previous mishap.  We didn't fly in this one (we took the Robinson R44), this is his other helicopter he uses for aerial photography.  I was lucky to get a lift from him as he has been helping out a lot with the relief effort in Australia.

This was a mob (thats the technical term) of kangeroos and wallabies (smaller breed of kangeroo) we saw outside a prison just outside of Brisbane.  There must have been about 40 of them grazing here like cattle.

Autodesk Tinkerbox - Providing Edu-tainment for our young minds

Autodesk just released Tinkerbox to the iTunes marketplace.  I was lucky enough to see this product  first hand at Autodesk University about two months ago and I was quite impressed with it.

Some of you gearheads might not want to think playing with an Autodesk "game" is that fun.  But what whould you say if I told you it had motors, gears, switches, and more in it?  Now I got that interest of the little boy/girl inside you that played with Erector sets and Legos growing up don't I?

The price point alone warrents you to take a look if you have an iPad since it is a free app.  I have seen other apps do half of what this one does for around 10 dollars alone.

 

iTunes Description:

"If you can imagine it, you can build it with TinkerBox.

TinkerBox is a fun, free-to-play physics puzzle game. While it is full of interesting science facts and teaches basic engineering concepts, TinkerBox is more than just educational!

Take the tools in your hands to explore your creativity and imagination with Invent mode. Build outrageous machines, share them with your friends, or download popular inventions online at http://www.tinkerboxnews.com.

Stretch your brain through the devious Puzzle mode. Get immersed in physics-based puzzles and mechanical concepts, where your only hope for success is your creative problem solving.

Dream. Build. Share. TinkerBox."

A recent survey conducted by Autodesk polled more than 1,000 American teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 about their attitudes toward academic subjects that help prepare them for careers in engineering and found that:

• More than half of all teens surveyed believe science and technology (54 percent) and engineering and math (53 percent) are important to their careers and future prosperity.
• Students don’t find the subjects boring or nerdy, but rank engineering and math doubly hard compared to any other subject.
• 28 percent of teens say “cool technology,” including websites and games, would make the subjects easier to learn.

So go get it, but make sure you leave some time for your kids to play with it too!