Autodesk University (AU) 2012 is over and it ended as one of the most comprehensive and exciting conferences in AU history. Missed it?Don’t fret; we’re here to fill you in.
The first day kicked off with the keynote speeches from Jeff Kowalski, CTO of Autodesk; Dezso Molnar, CTO of Molnari, Inc.; and Christine Furstoss, Technical Director of Manufacturing & Materials Technologies at GE. Jeff’s speech was titled “Beyond Form: The Whole Design Process" while Dezso explained his company’s innovative Gyrocycle; and Christine spoke about the “Third Industrial Revolution.” The audience was then treated to a surprise guest: Schuyler St. Leger, a 12 year old prodigy in online 3D printing. Autodesk Technologist, Shaan Hurley, joined Schuyler in a very entertaining presentation called “3D Printing is a Toy.” There was even a cage match!
Day two of the conference kept up the momentum. A lunch event was held to acknowledge top participators in the Autodesk communities and social media. The Expert Elite program, which highlights members of the Autodesk information sharing community, was launched and Carl Bass, President and CEO of Autodesk, was a special guest. The annual AUGI Meeting and Beer Bust were also held later that evening. The final day of events was filled with many informational classes and ended with a celebration at the Hard Rock Hotel.
DLT sent three representatives. Here are their respective event highlights:
Kristen Savino, Sales Representative: The Exhibit Hall at Autodesk University was a great place to see all the different technologies within our industry. The FullCircle SmartSolutions Suite was a hit. Customers related to seeing and holding a SmartPen that they could take out in the field, write down all their notes on a SmartForm, and upload immediately to have the information sent back to the office or uploaded right into AutoCAD.
Veronica Hohenstein, Sr. Sales Representative: While 3D printers have been around for years, this year was the first time I saw scalable, cost-effective results. Government officials can now produce 3D models exactly to scale from their CAD or BIM data without breaking their budget. Although the majority of the models I saw were plastic, companies are developing tools to print with wood, concrete, and metal. Imagine a world where you model your building in AutoCAD then click “Crtl+P”, all the pieces that make up a building are simply printed and a construction team merely assembles them like a giant Lego set.
Jamie Jones, Sales Representative: Geospatial and mapping technology has really come a long way. The ability to zoom into grainer levels and still maintain pixel-perfect imagery is amazing and applicable for public sector AutoCAD users. For instance: If there is an issue you need to fix in the city, you can zoom in on the problem area and know what it looks like without leaving the office. This allows you to better prepare during the planning stage and enhance your understanding of potential problems. Newer versions of the software even allow you to use LiDAR technology.
For more information on this year’s conference, click here. See you in 2013!
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