The CAD Insider

Autodesk University 2023: Conferences and Las Vegas Back in Full Swing

Autodesk University is back in Las Vegas after somewhat of a misadventure in New Orleans. There were rumors of attendees being assaulted. It may be that Autodesk and its customers prefer the seedy and the snaz of Las Vegas over one of my favorite cities, but why should that matter? 

Autodesk University, with attendance of as much as ten thousand, is easily the biggest event in the CAD world. The rest of the Big Four (Dassault Systèmes, PTC, Siemens) have conference half that size, as measured by attendance. The recent Trimble conference, same place last week, had about 4,000 attendees. 

Autodesk may not have known that the city of Las Vegas was going to host the Formula 1 race, the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, this Saturday and that road closures would be starting on the last day of the conference. The straightaway will be the Strip. My Lyft driver last week was dreading the event and vows to stay off the road. I wonder how we will be getting to the airport. 

The crowds in the casinos, for AU, for F1, for Trimble last week, make me think that the city is back in full swing for the first time since COVID. And perhaps also are CAD conferences.

 

 

Conferences in Las Vegas. Let’s Stop the Madness.

Every year, hundreds of Autodeskers leave San Francisco, the most beautiful city in America, for a big party in Las Vegas, the urban sprawl in the middle of the desert. They are joined by over 10,000 users and hundreds of vendors, making Autodesk University the largest CAD gathering in the world. AU has been held in Las Vegas every year since 2000.

Outside The Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas rendition of Venice may be drier, cleaner than the real thing, but it’s still fugazzi.

It is my second Las Vegas conference in two weeks, having just come back from Trimble’s Dimensions conference. It was also on the Strip, as Las Vegas Boulevard is called—also in the Sands Convention Center, in fact. It’s the third time in Las Vegas this year. I realize I may have visited Las Vegas a hundred times and always for business.

Outside of the conventions, the businesses of Las Vegas are ones that are illegal, banned or controlled everywhere else. The city is best known for vice. Gambling is pervasive. Slot machines greet you as you get off the plane. The convention center where AU is held sits between the Palazzo and Venetian, both massive casino hotels. The half-mile walk between my room and the conference is through an acre of black jack tables, craps, bars and slot machines. In the early morning, most of the tables have only a croupier, but some of the slots have some action—if you can call it that. Almost lifeless old people, dejected as if their machines haven’t paid out all night but hopeful that morning brings the jackpot, still wearily push the button. Slot machines haven’t had handles for years, an energy saving move, no doubt.

Their cigarettes burn unattended in ash trays. The smoke reminds me of the fires back home. It seems like all of California is on fire. One fire has burned down the town of Paradise, and the smoke has engulfed the San Francisco bay area. Stores have run out of masks, but my family was lucky enough to get some. Is Las Vegas the last place in the U.S. you can smoke indoors?

The seedy and snazz, the shoeboys and the satins,

like a throne made of gilt that too many johns have sat in.

-Alice by Mott the Hoople
(about Manhattan, but in my head going down the Strip in Las Vegas)

I escape later and get outside. I see other conventioneers, some still wearing their AU badges. Some are posing with close-to-naked show girls who seem to have popped up on every corner of the Strip this year. In between are gauntlets of card snappers, men and women try to get you to accept cards with a picture of a naked girl who will come to your room.

Drinking in Las Vegas may be the law. By evening, most everyone seems to have a drink in hand. Some have glasses as long as their arms. I’m feeling out of place.

On one end of the Strip is the last big casino, the Mandalay Bay. A year ago, a gunman using bump-stocks opened rapid fire on a country music concert across the street. There were 58 dead and over 500 wounded. It was the most destruction by guns in America ever, unless you include the Civil War. The city held a candle light vigil Oct. 1.

Why Las Vegas?

They say it’s cheap. The city has indeed made it appealing for conventioneers and travelers with low upfront costs. Airfare from San Francisco can be under a hundred dollars. Five-star hotels are under $200, a third of the cost of rooms in San Francisco and New York. My rooms at the Palazzo and the Venetian were suites with a sunken living rooms. I hear the conference booking costs are also low. Casinos may be giving convention away in the hopes of emptying the pockets of conventioneers at the gaming tables, restaurants and shops. Every other shop in the Grand Canal of Shops seems to be a restaurant. The Strip may have more high-end steakhouses than anywhere else. A steak can cost over $70. Don’t even think of opening the wine menu.

View from the top. The High Roller, Las Vegas' answer to the London Eye, includes an open bar in some of the gondolas.

“Could you just keep AU in San Francisco?” I ask one and all. It’s a selfish request, I admit. It’s my home. I could drive over. It is also home for Autodesk. The company would save a million dollars in airfare and hotels by holding the conference on its home turf. Before it was branded Autodesk University, the annual user meeting was called CAD Camp and held next to the company’s headquarters on the grounds of the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael. An early AU was held in the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco.

Many Autodeskers live in San Francisco or its environs. Many of them are young. Who could blame them for the chance to get out and away to Las Vegas, the quintessential party city? It may be their one fling a year. This year AU’s party may have the biggest and best. It included free rides on the High Roller, a 550-foot tall Ferris wheel with “passenger cabins” and open bars.

May I Suggest San Francisco?

Sitting on the dock of the Bay. San Francisco, the No.1 draw for tourists in the United States, a natural venue for future Autodesk Universities.

AU has grown, they say. “There’s no place big enough to hold a conference this size,” is Autodesk’s pat answer when asked, “Las Vegas?” It is a good answer and speaks well of the public relations staff who have to hear me whining year about coming to Las Vegas year after year. PR is all about putting a positive spin on unfortunate circumstances. Las Vegas is a test for them, but the answer needs fact checking.

Many other cities hold much larger conventions than AU. Over 20,000 architects convene for AIA conventions in New York, Orlando and Philadelphia. A 175,000 sales people came to San Francisco for the SalesForce.com convention. IMTS is attended by 130,000 in Chicago. The biggest industrial fair of all in Hannover, Germany, and draws over 200,000 people.

The word around AU is Las Vegas had a 10-year contract, and we are nearing its end. One can only hope that is true.

What Are We…Bastards?

Autodesk users who bought for keeps find themselves in a new class of customer.
(Characters from Game of Thrones, picture from Overpowered Entertainment, meme created on ImgFlip.com)

Users come to Autodesk University to sharpen their skills, learn from instructors and each other. Many are already power users, having used Autodesk software for decades. In a time when few users get to go anywhere, much less Las Vegas, those that have attended multiple AU wear their badges proudly, many decorated with ribbons attesting to their skills and associations. This year, it cost $2,175 for the full conference pass. They are used to some gratitude from Autodesk for their attendance and years in service.

At AU2017, things were going to be different. There was a new sheriff in town. Andrew Anagnost had risen to the top, replacing the avuncular Carl Bass. Andrew was the architect of Autodesk’s total switch to term licensing. Many of those in the audience have paid up front for their software and expect to not keep paying. They were about to feel less welcome.

“Someone who is not paying us is not a customer,” said Andrew.

Not a happy customer. Autodesk critic, Steve Johnson, reacts to Autodesk CEO definition of customer as one who keeps paying.

For many, it was like children who learn they are adopted. Do Mommy and Daddy still love them? If they weren’t customers, what were they? Bastards?

On Twitter, Autodesk critic Steve Johnson (also in attendance) felt the burn. Having spent thousands of dollars on Autodesk software, was it only the newborn of noble blood who remained in Autodesk’s good graces?

 

You Won't Like What the New Autodesk CEO is Saying – But You Need to Hear It

Good morning, America… or is it? CEO Andrew Anagnost kicks off Autodesk University with thoughts of an overcrowded earth and the impending loss of jobs. Not yours, though --  if you pay attention. (Picture from Autodesk video of AU2017)

Autodesk University, named for the classes it offers, is where 10,500 of Autodesk’s faithful have converged, crowded into the Sands convention center in Las Vegas, waiting for the show to begin. It may be record attendance. Strange when you consider the city’s biggest attractions seem to be gambling, drinking and prostitution. Only a few weeks ago, a shooter in the Mandalay Bay hotel rained bullets from on high, like the angel of death, over a music concert across the street -- the worst mass shooting in US history.

We're here in spite of that. The show must go on. It’s 10AM Tuesday morning and it is about to go down. A deejay charges the atmosphere with electronic music. The crowd is pumped. The new CEO, Andrew Anagnost, addresses the crowd.

“Good morning,” says Andrew. But immediately he questions himself. “Or is it?”

Andrew won’t mention the massacre specifically – but he will take the take the gloom that hangs over Las Vegas and apply it to the world at large. It is a world of robots taking your jobs, of a crumbling infrastructure, an unrestrained population. We’re projected to have 10 billion people by 2050 (it has 7.5 billion now). Infrastructure is crumbling.

“While we are having parties, were we dangling our feet over the chasm of job destruction?” He is talking about the upcoming robot revolution.

The new CEO is obviously not afraid of shocking a crowd to its senses. This is not like previous Autodesk Universities. The crowd is hushed.

It was Andrew’s wake up call to the Autodesk faithful. He was going to build on that, deliver his view of the world, provide solutions, build hope…

But we’re going to need to recover. The message just delivered weighs heavy. It is a reminder of our anxieties. Users all feel the pressure of trying to keep up and a fear of falling behind. AU is their chance to reenergize, to jump ahead into the lead, once again. Take a bunch of classes, taught by the best instructors, get certified, fill up with the latest software and technology, and emerge once again: top dog.

Too Many People? We Can Help with That

Not a cause for alarm -- an opportunity. Autodesk, the design, simulation and manufacturing software vendor that refers to itself as an "automation company,” suggests its products can help house, move and improve the lives of the billions we will be adding to the Earth over the next couple of decades.

After the crowd is properly subdued comes the message of hope. To house the billions yet to come, we’re going to have to build a thousand buildings a day. Software applications can be automated the design process. The current AEC process is flawed, full of one-off designs, painstakingly and wastefully built on site, outdoors. Why can’t they learn from what manufacturing has known for years? Bring it inside, use robots, automate the sh*t out of it.

We see an architect using generative design, able to make customized living arrangements, using pre-built walls.

The Dutch firm Van Wijnen hunkered down during the recession, armed themselves with the latest tools and technology, then jumped back in with digital workflow. It serves as an example of what companies can do when they make the jump, catching the next wave of technology.

The waves that are coming with increasing frequency. You might be afraid the wave will take you under…and it might. But let’s look that the bigger picture, Autodesk is telling us.

ATMs Make for More Tellers

The ATM machine, first introduced in 1967, was going to get rid of bank tellers. It didn’t. In the 20 years after 1995, when ATM machines quadrupled to 400,000, the number of bank tellers actually increased. Why? Automation let banks do more with less, the banks thrived, opened more branches. So, more tellers.

Publishing: Andrew acknowledges many journalists are wondering about their future. Everybody can publish now, The amount of written material online has skyrocketed. The technology has actually made more of us into content creators.

Movies, instead of a few movies at a $100 million each, there are countless movies and video by independents. There has never been more to watch. And more of us are watching. The market has expanded.

Manufacturing, if you think robots are going to cost jobs, you’re wrong. Technology makes more jobs. Robots need people to take care of them. “China will have a shortage of 3 million skilled robot operators.”

“Autodesk is not only going to help you survive it, we’re going to help you thrive in it.”

 

Microdesk Is in Your Future with AEC, Civil Engineering Services

LAS VEGAS, NV (Autodesk University 2014) — Microdesk has been busy exploring how it can be of help to architects and civil engineers now and in the future.

Traditionally an Autodesk reseller with roots in the Boston area, Microdesk has grown to offices nationwide and plans its own future as a supplier of services. It is positioning itself as an enabler of some of the most advanced technology available — from Autodesk and others.

Microdesk will flies a camera-equipped UAV to create a 3D model of a building complex

Part of it is survival. Microdesk sees the writing on the wall. Software is going to the cloud. It was a theme hammered home at Autodesk University, as Autodesk speaker after speaker spoke of online applications, such as Autodesk's 360 series. I am hard pressed to remember mention of the software suites, those with Revit for AEC and Inventor for product design, that have long been the revenue mainstay of Autodesk resellers. More and more, vendors are selling directly to end users. Resellers are getting cut out of the picture.

With licensing revenue diminishing, Microdesk is banking on the need for its services. Microdesk offers services for a firm's current needs. It recently helped staff up for a large project in New York, putting a dozen Revit-trained operators immediately at the service of a firm that had no time to recruit and train on its own. It is also investing in the technologies that may have the greatest payoffs — technologies such as virtual reality, 3D scanning, aerial photography and photogrammetry.

Microdesk is an established provider of cutting-edge, large-scale model creation. Able to fly UAVs (drones) with cameras, it can quickly and cheaply (compared to old-school LIDAR scans from piloted aircraft) create the contextual model for your next office building.

Microdesk showing Oculus Rift VR at Autodesk University. While TenLinks' Kristin Halligan may be batting balls in the air at the moment, she was looking at a building site a moment ago. Really.

At Autodesk University, Microdesk was showing the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Put it on and see yourself immersed in a Revit model. You thought it was just for gamers, but Microdesk has made it useful for professionals. You can see a design come to life, see what is overhead, see sight lines, see what a building might look like as you walk up to it, walk inside, look up to see the skylights . . . you won't want to take it off and face that you had been living a lie, fooling yourself into thinking you were working in 3D. What were you thinking . . . how can a 2D monitor even pretend to show 3D?

Laura Guzman, COO of Microdesk, admits virtual reality may be a bit ahead of the game for most architects, but she's smart enough to show it as proof that Microdesk is established in future technology and will be there for them when they are ready.

For more information

• See Microdesk website www.microdesk.com
• Microdesk Shows 3D AEC, BIM Scanning Service at New San Francisco Office - The CAD Insider, Oct 2, 2014

 

Advance2000 Will Put Your AEC Firm On the Cloud

LAS VEGAS, NV (Autodesk University 2014) — Advance2000 will set up a cloud environment for an architectural firm or AEC division of your company, as they have done already for Disney, Canon, and others.

Architecture is a focus, explains Adam Glass of Advance 2000. The company can have you using Revit on your iPad while you are accessing BIM data on private BIM clouds, so your data is safe. With the Advance2000 AEC Collaboration Hub, your private BIM cloud can connect with other BIM clouds, say from other design or construction teams, wherever they are. Its Cloud 2.0 product claims to do better than your typical cloud operation (which probably has your drawings and models being shared in Dropbox) by being more secure and faster.

More information

http://www.advance2000.com/

Epson's Latest Large Format Printers

LAS VEGAS, NV (Autodesk University 2014) — Epson showed up with its latest wide-format printer, the SureColor T5270D. Epson Product Manager Timothy Check gave me a rundown:

• Features the Epson PrecisionCore TFP print head and Epson UltraChrome XD pigment ink.
• A multi-function printer (MFP) module can turn it into a scanner.
• D-size print in as little as 25 seconds.
• Connects to Wi-Fi.

Timothy tells me about Epson’s inks, which he claims give it an edge over rivals. Timothy pulls massive cartridges of inks from the T5270D. The largest size is 0.7 liters. Having just paid $30 for a relatively miniscule cartridge for my home printer, I ask how much and brace myself. But it’s only $279.

Gorgeous. Epson creates realistic skin tones with the T5270D and its proprietary inks.

The SureColor T5770D can be had for as little as $3,995 for the single roll to as much as $10,495 fully equipped (dual roll, multifunction).*

Epson was daring us to check out the resolution of its printer with this USB microscope. The new T-Series printer can achieve resolution of up to 2880 x 1440 dpi; but the ink that seeps along paper fibers actually limits the perceived resolution.

---

*List prices per website

More information

http://www.epson.com/

Epson Launches SureColor T-Series Large-Format Color Printers - press release posted July 16, 2014 on TenLinks.com

Eagle Point Online Training for Civil Engineers

LAS VEGAS, NV (Autodesk University 2014) – Eagle Point was on hand once again to demonstrate their Pinnacle software.

Eagle Point had its beginnings in civil engineering. Its first product was RoadCalc for surveyors and engineers. Led by President and CEO John Biver, a degreed civil engineer, Eagle Point now concentrates on educating users on Autodesk products. It still holds live classes, but usually promotes its Pinnacle series, which for $750* gives a user access to all of their training material for their industry (civil, architecture structural and MEP). Eagle Point is eager to be viewed as process-oriented as it expands beyond mere CAD and into the business of the enterprise. This echoes similar intentions heard from a few CAD companies, from big ones like Dassault and those as small as IronCAD.

Eagle Point’s tutorials appear extensive on the software it covers. The Pinnacle Series Personal Edition lists over 150 tutorials, live online instructor-led classes and “cheat sheets” with shortcuts. You also get unlimited access to live support with phone, chat and email — which may be unique among training vendors.

Eagle Point tutorials run on iOS and Android devices. Eagle Point counts Jacobs, Siemens and HOK as customers.

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*Personal edition, according to website: 

More information

http://www.eaglepoint.com/

Review of Eagle Point’s Pinnacle Training and Support System, John Evans, CADdigest.com, February 28, 2014

Contex Maintains Leadership in Large Format Scanning

LAS VEGAS, NV (Autodesk University 2014) — Contex has maintained its position as the most respected name in large-format scanners for CAD use with a combination of state-of-the-art hardware. If you think your scanner is better, check under the hood. Contex licenses its hardware to other manufacturers (like HP). Its software is not bad, either. Michael McMillen, western region channel manager for Contex, shows me the company’s top-of-the-line HD Ultra with Nextimage and Wiseimage software at Autodesk University. This software applications can:

• Reprocess an image without having to find and feed it the drawing. It works off the original image it has stored. Smart.
• Sense markups on a drawing and stores them on different layers so the drawing can be shown with and without markups.
• Condense a 15MB image to a 1MB file with no apparent loss of fidelity.
• Be trained to recognize title block information and store it as metadata text.

Ultra control panel: Contex HD Ultra scanner uses an all-in-one touch screen PC for its control panel.

Contex is one of those companies that is reluctant to list its prices, only saying its scanners are available from $4,000 to $27,000. A quick look on the web found a nicely configured (42-inch wide, 17-inch touchscreen) HD Ultra for a little over $13K. The Nextimage software costs an extra $650 (list).

More information

http://www.contex.com/en-US/Contex-Large-format-Scanning-Solutions.aspx

CL3VER Makes AEC Models Into Product Showcases

LAS VEGAS, NV (Autodesk University 2014) — Fairly new to the scene is the oddly named CL3VER. It has already lined up heavyweight customers. CEO and Founder Viktor Nordstrom shows me how CL3VER is being used at BASF to highlight the company’s products in models of a sports stadium. CL3VER creates interactive 3D presentations, taking 3D models (be they buildings, product designs, or even whole cites) and creating walk-throughs, complete with markers showing objects of interest. To call it a 3D rendering program does not do it justice, as it does much more. The presentation can be published on the Web and viewed on iPads and Android devices.

BASF is a producer of chemicals, not typically associated with BIM projects, but its application of CL3VER creates a potentially lucrative use of building models. Complex 3D models of buildings are created at great cost by architectural firms only to be archived after the project is over. Thousands of hours of labor and intellectual property shelved. Why not license the model to subcontractors who could use it as a showcase for their products or services? The CAD model has already been paid for as part of the project. The firm would only have to learn and apply CL3VER to its CAD model, but once that is done, the result could generate revenue years after the project has been completed, especially with something as impressive as a sports stadium, cited with pride by hundreds of contractors.

As are most modern programs, CL3VER is a cloud-based application. Despite appearing a robust and sophisticated application, Viktor says it takes only one to three days to learn how to use it. "3dx Max tend to be the fastest, picking up CL3VER as quickly as 4 hours,"adds Viktor. "An expert Revit user needs a day and a SketchUp and SOLIDWORKS users with no rendering experience can take up to three working days." CL3VER offers a one day onsite training.

Cost is based upon a project, and is not limited by number of users. The company does not publish prices on its site. You must contact them for a price quote.

Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, CL3VER intends to jump the Atlantic, having launched marketing and sales in the U.S. after a landing an $800K investment. Wired magazine has taken notice, calling it one of Europe’s hottest startups.

More information

http://www.cl3ver.com/