From the Ground Up

Photo montages with the Infrastructure Premium Suite - Preview

Been working on how to work up a photo montage today and actually found it very easy to do.

So here's a preview of what I will write up for next week.

Yes it looks a bit tame compared to augmented reality in Infrastructure Modeller, however these are images you have to provide in environmental statement reports.

To be continued...

Jack Strongitharm

Point Cloud Feature Extraction in Revit

If you are a user of Revit, there is now some of the same capability to extract to Revit objects like we have had in Civil 3D for a little while now

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/scan_to_BIM/overview/

Here is a little test I just did with some Faro data around a motorway bridge where the resultant surface ignored the bridge structure and the passing noise.

Jack Strongitharm

Project Inspire hits Autodesk labs

Need an Inspire-compliant client to query and publish metadata?  Check out Project Inspire for AutoCAD Map 3D on Autodesk Labs.   http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/inspire/

For those new to Inspire, it’s an EU directive aimed at promoting the sharing of spatial data between agencies. It uses the OGC’s web service standards to ensure that the various software tools connect to data in a standard way and means users don’t need to spend valuable time searching for data and converting between file formats.  More on Inspire here: http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

Kudos to this goes to Anthony Neal and co in Autodesk Consulting for leading the development of this important tool for customers across Europe!

John Allen

A new alliance

I see Jack beat me to it to blog the news that Autodesk and Pitney Bowes Software have entered into a strategic alliance agreement, but, having worked for both organisations and knowing both product portfolios well, I thought I’d add some views.

For those that don’t know PBS, it is the software division of post-room giants Pitney Bowes was formed following PB’s acquisition of MapInfo, Group1 Software and a few others. The interesting part for most of our customers will be the MapInfo product line, which specialises in Location Intelligence (essentially GIS with a focus on analytics) and asset management, as well as back-end tasks such as geocoding and routing. 

For users of AutoCAD Map 3D out there, you will see that these areas are not things we at Autodesk have traditionally focussed on, and I would argue that our strengths of precision design in geographic context and GIS/CAD integration are not things that the MapInfo products handle particularly well.  The good news is that we both have similar outlooks when it comes to open access to data so the products have always been able to co-exist well in combination with a common data store.

I’m sure there will be more to come as we explore this alliance further but for me this is a great start to the new year and should bring some exciting prospects for our combined customer base.

John Allen

Autodesk and Pitney Bowes software enter strategic alliance agreement

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/autodesk-and-pitney-bowes-software-enter-strategic-alliance-agreement-2012-01-10

 

Jack Strongitharm

How the Cover & Slope Pipe Rule Works

When working with pipe rules, specifically the cover & slope rule, you may be surprised with the end results after drawing your network, or applying the rules. There is quite a bit going on in the background when this rule gets applied, so after this is understood you may have a clearer picture of the results that are shown in your design.

via beingcivil.typepad.com

3D Stereo viewing in Navisworks

Long gone are the days of red and blue glasses and Jaws 3D being the cutting edge of technology.

via beyonddesign.typepad.com

I like viewing in true 3D but only in short doses!

Jack

Augmented Reality research with Project Galileo Online and Infrastructure Modeler

Some people who have tried out the Labs projects have asked us when we are going to add Augmented Reality into the IPad viewer.  Well... it's already there!

via atlandsend.typepad.com

Tried this myself and it works. Just best to use built in 3G versions of the iPAD2 for the best positional accuracy.
I used one with a MIFI device and it was a bit off.
Either that or get a GPS add on device to plugin.

Very cool though!

http://atlandsend.typepad.com/at-lands-end/2011/12/augmented-reality-research-with-project-galileo-online-and-infrastructure-modeler.html

Jack Strongitharm

AutoCAD Civil 3D Profile Optimisation on the Cloud – Project Silverstar

About time we got a cloud application to use for design purposes.

Not necessarily a magic button for design, but this tool can work out a solution based on a number of parameters for vertical slope, tie ins, volumes etc.

It is a PVI solution, so I would like you to give it a try and give some feedback based on your requirements to make this fit your design needs.

 

Anyway, download it from here

 

Once installed you run it from the toolbox

Choose what alignment and surface profile you want to use

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Add mass haul information if you have any

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Choose some maximum and minimum values

Choose how intense you want the solution

 

Within a short space of time a result is emailed to you

A PDF of the output

Then use the Profile from file option or LandXML file to import the result

There you have it

 

Put your head in the clouds

 

Jack Strongitharm

Belated thoughts from AU

A wise man once told me never to start with an apology.  But this is really quite late, especially by blogging standards, so, er… sorry.

Carrying on regardless, I thought I’d share a few notes and thoughts from Autodesk University, which I was fortunate to attend in Las Vegas a few weeks back.  To save you from too much prose, some bullets:

• Inspirational main stage presentations, ranging from Jeff Kowalski’s 5 stages of disruption through to the 27 year old sending his designs to the moon.  If you haven’t already, I encourage you to register and watch on AU Virtual http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=auv2011_event.  Jack’s images even made it to main stage!

• The cloud is coming to Autodesk customers and what I like best is that we’re not just talking about it, we’re already delivering great solutions ranging from collaboration & Autodesk 360 to some pretty cool iPad apps.
• Good news coming with future product developments… to be continued in 2012!
• Interesting developments for AutoCAD Map 3D customers, including the ability to work with immersive, street level 3D data from Earthmine, who even bought a truck!

• It’s not often I am shocked by new technology, but the online and iPAd clients for Infrastructure Modeller just look awesome.  See Jack’s post http://fromthegroundup.typepad.com/from_the_ground_up/2011/12/infrastructure-modeleronline-and-on-the-ipad.html and look out for some cool Augmented Reality videos coming soon!
• And finally… I was amazed at the scale of AU, not only the numbers of attendees and classes and not just the way in which Las Vegas seems to feed the 8000 in less than an hour, but mostly the importance our customers place on attending.  The loyalty and enthusiasm was great to see and I hope those that attended gained as much value as I did!

Until next year….

John Allen