RobiNZ CAD Blog

#AU2009 – I’m (finally) here!

Auckland – Terminal kerb to aircraft in a mere 7 hours…

Perhaps it was my fault, maybe posting the Savage Chicken baggage claim hell toon wasn’t such a good idea. The trouble started long before LAX baggage claim, in fact before check in at Auckland!

I arrived nice and early, about 12:30, to avoid the possible Sunday afternoon rush only to find the QANTAS check in line went beyond the ziggy zaggy queue area and halfway along the departure hall. That seemed a bit strange three hours before departure. I joined the end only to be told that the check in system was down and, due to a mechanical delay, the L.A. flight check in would not start for an hour.

Time to bail out and go get a coffee & muffin, with my Mum who’d dropped me off, to fill the gap to until dinner on the plane. About an hour later the screen showed “QF25 Check in” so I headed back to the departure hall. The line was now the ziggy zaggy queue area and the entire length of the departure hall, and then some. Strange thing was it didn’t appear to be moving very much. Turns out they hadn’t started checking anyone and there would be another 20 minutes before they did.

As I was waiting the curious sight of “Est Dept Time’ changing from 15:40, !6:40, 17:40 and then 20:05 kept me entertained. When I finally got to the desk the lovely, really she was in spite of getting hassled by irate people, told me the aircraft had an fault, would not be flying anywhere today and replacement was on its way from Sydney. Although a pain, I was far happier to wait than set out on a 12-13 hour flight, nearly all over open ocean, in a broken aircraft!

As I write it’s 18:20 and there is no sign of another QANTAS plane anywhere near here apart from a 737-800 that just arrived from somewhere. I hope we aren’t going on that! Best case would be the sight of a nice new A380 touching down to collect us but I suspect we will get a recently dusted 747, with a slight mothball aroma. It will be interesting to see how they get on sorting out a connecting flight, given Thanksgiving Sunday is hardly a quiet time. More to follow…

Hello and Goodbye L.A., Viva Las Vegas!

Well, that was interesting! By the time we took off it was 21:30, so I arrived into L.A. over an hour after my connecting flight departed. QANTAS had rebooked the flight so I had to scoot, with bags, around the L.A. concourse to US Air for a flight but had a couple of hours to do that so wasn’t a panic.

The aircraft arrived, a little regional jet, and they seemed rather keen to get us on board, slowed by having to tag a lot of “cabin” baggage for storage in the hold as the overhead bins in the aircraft were rather tiny.

Once on board not a lot seemed to happen only to get an announcement that “due to traffic over Vegas and need to arrange a slot” we wouldn’t be leaving the gate for another 40 minutes. Seems the rushed departure wasn’t rushed enough!

Arrived in Vegas to a fairly empty airport, one advantage of being late, and the luggage arrived really fast. After a short shuttle trip to the Mandalay Bay, first drop off, it was a relief to check in!

I didn’t get far before meeting some AU people as Robert Bell got into the same elevator! After a long hot shower I headed down to register which was easy and very quick due to few people being there.

A first look at City Center

In an effort to stay awake, to get in sync with local time, I went for a wander down the strip past City Center. That’s not a quick exercise as it stretches from Monte Carlo to the Bellagio. This 68 acre mix of hotels, condo, casino and shopping is a huge development. The shopping and some hotels open this week so I hope to get down there on Friday before heading to the airport, for a look inside.

The leaning Aria Towers are spectacular and have a finish which changes with the lighting around the. A nearby lit fountain created rippling bands of gold light across the facade.

I headed back to the hotel to get some sleep as tomorrow is a day out to see some sights and photography.

While sitting around airports isn’t much fun it is a small price to pay for the chance to attend Autodesk University!

Ferrari World, looks CGI but it’s real

This is off topic but I thought worth sharing. Looking at the image (right) of Ferrari World, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi it seems a bit “computer render” but this is a photograph. The shrine to all things Ferrari was recently closed in and certainly stood out in the coverage from last weekends inaugural  Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix. It doesn’t fully open until 2010 but was used for some support events, concerts and the has the worlds largest Ferrari store.

I have been to Disney’s world but suspect Ferrari World will be more fun for big boys. Imagine GM Test Track done with Italian style and no budget limitations.

To give some idea of scale: the yellow prancing horse emblem on the roof is 66m (216ft) diameter and the structure encloses 200,000m² (2,152,782 ft²). I wouldn’t want the job of brushing the sand off that roof!

While it wouldn’t match a visit to the Maranello Factory for history it is the perfect stopover on the way to collect your new Ferrari for a European tour. So, what are the odds of winning Lotto?

From Ferrari World Abu Dhabi - www.ferrariworldabudhabi.com

The iconic sleek red roof directly inspired by the classic double curve side profile of the Ferrari GT body covers a surface area of 200,000m² and features the largest Scuderia Ferrari “prancing horse” emblem in the world, measuring 66m in diameter. 35,000 tonnes m³ of concrete, 12,370 tonnes of steel, 29,000m² of facade glazing and 165,000m² of roof cladding were used to create the park’s superstructure which was completed in 14 months.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will be an intense multi-sensory experience and a must-visit venue for enthusiasts, fans and families. It pays tribute to the passion, excellence, performance and technical innovation that Ferrari has established over the years and represents today.

The Park will host over 20 state-of-the-art attractions, each designed to bring to life a different part of the Ferrari story. This includes the world’s fastest rollercoaster, travelling at speeds exceeding 200 km/h emulating the thrilling sensation of being in a Ferrari F1 car, the G-force experience that takes passengers on an adrenaline-pumping ride up over 62 m through the roof and back down again, as well as an aerial voyage over Italy, following a Ferrari. The unique experiences offered at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will be complemented by a wide variety of Italian delicacies and unique shopping experiences…

Autodesk Gallery - The technology toy box

A few weeks ago I blogged about the design related displays in the Autodesk Gallery at One Market Street - their San Francisco Customer and Technology Showcase. That is just one aspect of the space. The real fun part begins when you get to the technology previews.

Autodesk Labs have a range exhibits showcasing user experiences, possible technologies and input devices that must be seen, touched, felt to be believed. Autodesk Labs Software Engineer John Schmier was our guide backing up functional explanations with some of the challenges, technological and human interaction, being explored in these prototypes. What we have today is pretty good, but the future is going to be amazing!

Multi-touch and design:

First up was Mudbox, a Kiwi made Autodesk acquisition, running on an awesome Perceptive Pixel Multi-touch screen. I would have the paid the excess baggage to get it home but I suspect they'd notice if it went missing! John explained some of the challenges that are faced when you try & do more than just zoom, pan or move objects around as seen in most touch demos.

The screen/software has to interpret gestures used to change settings, edit objects and change views/orientation while the user works. Decoding that mix and generating the intended result demands precision sensing and complex interpretation of the human input. Aside from that, it was also my first real look at Mudbox and how it allows virtual sculpting, with this screen, literally hands on!

 

This YouTube shows Hans Kellner, Autodesk developer, demonstrating the display with Mudbox.

Augmented Reality - What the?

The Autodesk Labs team have a collection of technology demonstrations which explore various methods of viewing and interacting with virtual models. This goes beyond the touch screen bringing the model, or objects representing it into the real world. I saw the Boom Chameleon at AU 2007 (below) but it was fun to try it again. Moving the screen allows you to see a model "in the round". The Labs have developed that further by getting rid of the boom and using objects with shape markers whose location/orientation is sensed by web-cam. As you manipulate the shape marker your virtual model follows. The possibility of applying this to retail layout design certainly got my attention.

  

Brian Pene demonstrates Augmented Reality

Mixed reality Interface (MRI) showing interaction with the 3D model of a house created in Autodesk Revit.

3D Printing:

Although it's been around a while 3D printing is going from exotic to almost mainstream. Desktop printers are starting to become viable and AutoCAD 2010 has integration with external 3D printing services. I saw a couple of printers and a table full of samples demonstrating many uses. Although often used for form prototyping some techniques are robust enough for functional testing. It's impressive to see printed forms that would be rather difficult to fabricate without this technology!

 

I also saw, but for some reason didn't photograph, the full size 3D printed motorcycle seen at Autodesk University 2008. In fact The Gallery is like an permanent AU Main-stage that you can participate in. The bike is huge, virtual prototyping made very real!

Autodesk Gallery at One Market Street, the name tells you where to find it and if you're visiting San Francisco it's worth checking out.

For more info and contact details see: www.autodesk.com/thegallery

Autodesk Gallery - Design on show

Having seen "The Gallery", on Scott's Labs Blog, I was keen to visit and delighted to find it was the location for the AutoCAD 2010 Backstage Pass Event. When I arrived much of the display area was packed with people and equipment to support the web-cast. If you thought this just required a web-cam, a PC and plugging in a microphone think again! Later in the day they had all disappeared and I had a chance to see some of the impressive displays.

 

What is "The Gallery at One Market"?

Autodesk's San Francisco Customer and Technology Showcase features projects designed with Autodesk applications and the latest in design technology. It really is CAD Geek heaven!

  
The building (right) in Market Street,San Francisco - Aircraft Engine in the lobby.

The range of work is breath taking from giant civil projects to tiny medical products, Industrial Technology to Fine Art. Even this long post can only show a few items that caught my eye. It's certain nobody will leave this building thinking Autodesk just means AutoCAD! However, it's also surprising to see how many projects used AutoCAD, alongside other platforms, as part of the design/documentation process.

California Academy of Sciences, the model!

When I visited the California Academy of Sciences, earlier in the week, I didn't realise I'd see it again in the Gallery. The displays of real, as opposed to virtual, projects feature physical objects, design/documentation and often encourage interaction. Below you see models of building elements alongside my photos of the finished project.

 
Curtain Wall/Canopy Structure over the central Café

  
A design model (also this months banner image) of the living roof

 
Model Detail and Design Technology used

This Autodesk Video shows the objects, design documents and back projected wall displays that support the display models.

 Lego at this scale isn't child's play, but they still can!

"Maxine" is a Legoland Mega-Model Dinosaur which is taller than me! OK, I'll admit I'm not very tall but it is 9ft high made of 70,000+ Lego Bricks! Her (?) internal structure, including steel tube support skeleton, is revealed as part of the body has been left incomplete. There is also a box of bricks which allows kids, of every age, to get involved and help complete the model.

 

Transports of delight, from cars to bridges:

Transport related displays include the aero engine, concept and production cars and infrastructure projects like the new Bay Bridge.

 

This Autodesk Video shows the construction, including how they got the Mustang up there!

Cathedral of Light:

This SOM project impressed with stunning wooden design models. The detail is amazing. (All images in this post link to full resolution photos on Flickr).

  

The design displays are impressive but, for me, the real fun begins when you get to the technology previews. More on those in a future post!

Autodesk Gallery at One Market Street, San Francisco.

If you want to visit - virtually or physically - see details at: www.autodesk.com/thegallery

Tags: Autodesk+Gallery

Happy Birthday 747 - First flight +40

Last week I flew about 22,000km in a Boeing 747 for the AutoCAD 2010 Launch Event. I didn't realise, until today, that the 747 celebrated forty years of flight while we were in the air on the flight home. Happy Birthday Jumbo! Thanks to Joe and the team who, literally, allowed millions to see the world.

First flight +40 - boeingblogs.com

First takeoff – Paine Field, February 9, 1969. (photo from the Boeing Blog)

The 747 which got me there, Air New Zealand NZ0008

 

My flight home, Air New Zealand NZ0007, landed 05:00 February 9, 2009.
This is in San Francisco just before we boarded.

 

A day with CAD Bloggers; Shaan & Steve

I spent the day with Shaan Hurley & Aussie Blogger Steve Johnson. Shaan showed us Marin County - around Muir Woods, Mt Tamalpais & Stinson Beach - and we made a quick stop at the Autodesk Offices in San Rafael. We intended to take the traditional "AutoCAD Sign Photo" shot (mine from 2004 has the old logo) but there was NO sign!

Then we dropped Steve off at the Airport with a very scenic tour, several laps, of Golden Gate Park along the way. Thanks to Shaan for an enjoyable day with great, and some unusual, San Francisco sights.

  

  

 

As I write Steve is beginning his epic (30 hour?) trek back to Perth, Western Australia. I fly tomorrow but at least it's only 13 hours to New Zealand.

Tags: AutoCAD+2010

Meeting other AutoCAD Bloggers at an AutoCAD Event

One benefit of working for The Warehouse is you get your birthday off. I usually defer mine to make the Auckland Anniversary long weekend even longer. That's why, a couple of weeks back, I finished work on Thursday anticipating a long lazy weekend at home with no plans to fight the holiday traffic. I was also going to finally decide what to do for a summer holiday. For the past several years this has been sorted long before summer as I've joined a cycle tour in New Zealand or elsewhere. I'm not doing that this year and had put off making any plans; procrastination due to indecision!

Then I got home and opened email inviting me, and a few other CAD bloggers, to meet with the AutoCAD team in San Francisco for a special event to be held at the Autodesk Gallery at One Market. My "Birthday Day Off" became a scramble to replace a nearly expired passport (I had no international plans till AU 2009 in November, if then) and revising my New Zealand Summer Holiday to become a Winter holiday in San Francisco! I travelled early and took the opportunity to meet some bloggy contacts and cycle touring friends in the Bay area.

It's a 13 hour non-stop trip from New Zealand, this time much more pleasant as there were only 180 people on a 747. Although flying cattle class I got a whole row to myself and could lie down and sleep like the folks at the posh end of the plane. I must thank the Air NZ Cabin Crew who rescued me from my own stupidity, forgetting to check my Bose Headphones had a battery. I hadn't used them since they were replaced after my Viet Nam trip and got on the plane to find no power, which means no sound or quiet! One advantage of the older, bigger, Bose QC2's is they run on a standard AAA battery rather than the special rechargable later models require.

Right now I can't share much about the AutoCAD event because I'm not entirely sure what it is going to involve. However, if you’d like to see part of it there is a live web-cast tomorrow:

Thursday February 5, 12:00 (midday) USA PST, 20:00 UTC (GMT)
Friday February 6, 09:00, New Zealand

Launch AutoCAD Backstage Pass Event Webcast

It will be great to meet the AutoCAD team and fellow bloggers, some for the first time and others I've met before at Autodesk University. More to follow!

Disclosure: Flights and event related accommodation provided by Autodesk.

PS: Until today I've been staying at the Holiday Inn Express Fisherman's Wharf. I've stayed here on previous trips and can recommend it. It's got a good location, affordable rates and brilliant free fast broadband! My Flickr uploads have been testing that!

Another Bloggy, not foggy, day in San Francisco

I've been accused of photo-shopping the extremely good weather into my pictures but it isn't so. I'm just not that good at image editing! Today yet another "photo-shopped day" but I had a bit of a lazy one compared to the last few days cycling.

I woke surprisingly early for me, time zone or what?, and caught up with my Feeds, Email and Twitter before breakfast. I even had breakfast which is rare as usually can't cope with food that time of the day, an apple or something on the way to work is about it. The plan was to wander along the Embarcadero, waterfront, and catch the Larkspur Ferry to meet Michael Scherotter.

  

 

It's the third time I've been to Larkspur to see Michael S. (you'll see why the "S." later). It started when he was with Mindjet, their offices were there, but has become a regular journey when I visit San Francisco. He met me at the ferry and it was great to catch up over lunch. His current role with Microsoft involves evangelising media and communication platforms, like Silverlight, showing how they can solve business problems. It's apparent he loves it, a perfect fit with his personal "brand": Synergist - Combining Software in Amazing Ways.

If you're a developer interested in learning more he is speaking this Thursday (5 Feb 09) at the new Silverlight User Group in San Francisco, details and RSVP here.

 

 

I had planned to visit Mindjet (MindManager) at some stage and Twitter, which I only recently started using, helped organise that. Michael Deutch, their Chief Evangelist, saw my Tweet* about biking San Francisco and Tweeted that I should call in. After I got off the Larkspur ferry and consumed a "small", which meant about a litre, Gelato Berry Smoothie I wandered back along the Embarcadero to the Mindjet Offices in Battery Street.

As with TypePad the other day, I met more "previously only virtual" people. It was great to see Gaelen O'Connel, Michael D. (see why the S. earlier) and some of the Asia Pacific Team. Michael D. gave me tour of their offices which are much larger, and nicer, than the old Larkspur ones. They are arranged like a MindManager Map in plan with a cafe area as the "central topic". No sign of Manuka Pekerangi here!**

I have some more bloggy meet-ups in the next few days, lets hope the foggy weather stays away!

 

* A new platform, a new vocabulary!    ** Those at work will understand.

Biking San Francisco again: The California Academy of Sciences and a few hills

After zipping along the Embarcadero to see Six Apart I headed back towards Golden Gate Bridge again. I wanted to visit a special building I'd seen in on Extreme Engineering - one of those "mega build" shows - on Discovery Channel. The day was another stunner with just a hint of sea fog in the morning. I stopped for a photo of the Bay Bridge, the other one, which is a more spectacular engineering achievement than Golden Gate. Sadly it doesn't have cycle access though, like Auckland Harbour Bridge, there are some moves to change this. After a coffee & bagel at Fort Point I headed over Lincoln Park towards Golden Gate Park and the California Academy of Sciences.

 

 

de Young Museum of Fine Arts

Approaching from the West, you see this building before the Academy. It opened in 2005 and was designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and Fong & Chan Architects in San Francisco. The de Young looms above the park looking something like a Vogon space ship which has recently landed. Brutal, but also somehow elegant, it has a skin of of copper, stone, wood and glass which is supposed to change as it ages. Unfortunately I didn't have time to look inside, a reason to return, but the elaborately perforated exterior hints at the art treasures within. A current feature exhibition was a tribute to designer Yves Saint Laurent. I suspect my mum (a dressmaker) would love to see it. The next will be Andy Warhol.

  

 

The California Academy of Sciences

This is the building I saw on Discovery, and architecture & eco web sites, and was drawn to visit. Keeping with it's environmental theme I arrived by bicycle which qualified me for a discount on the entry. I didn't mention last weekends trans-Pacific flight!

The first impression is its total contrast to the de Young, which it faces across a sunken garden. While that dominates Renzo Piano's Academy blends in to the surroundings. It's a large structure but floats above the gardens with the planted domes and solar panel roof displaying it's environmental ideals.

Inhabitat » The New Green California Academy of Sciences Unveiled!

  

  

Perhaps the iconic feature is the green roof. You may not think roofs very interesting but this one attracts hoards of curious people. It's a complex mix of recycled material - concrete and blue jeans - with thousands of soil filled coconut fibre trays to hold the plants on the slopes until established. Although only recently completed they said the local wildlife have discovered it and are moving in. However I must admit the rolling green forms did have me wondering if Teletubbies might appear soon.

  

 

Inside the rain forest and planetarium are housed in giant domes. In the rain forest exhibit you ascend spiral ramps from forest floor to the tree tops, then descend to the subterranean aquarium. It gave me a good chance to try out the zoom on the new camera which proved quite effective, even captured an ant from about 10 metres away!

  

 

The aquarium has two sections. First you enter a tunnel which looks up into the rain forest you recently departed. The effect of sunlight filtering through the dome roof lights as large fish swim over is quite magical. Then you walk on to separate aquarium showcasing local and exotic fish in their enviroments, both freshwater and marine.

  

 

On leaving I had to snap the giant placemark by the entry. It was funny considering how I'd found the location back in New Zealand. I was impressed with the exhibits, Darwin featured due to the upcoming anniversary, but to be honest I had come to see the building. It's stunning!

  

 

Up Twin Peaks, several times...

Then it was back on the bike to find a way up the Twin Peaks hills. I hadn't planned to do this and my printed maps, or the bike rental one, didn't show the area. My GPS only has major streets for the USA so the tactic was to ride around the peak trying to find the road up. On the third attempt... I did. The actual climb wasn't too bad and the two dead end attempts were much steeper! It did seem higher than 922 feet (281 m) but maybe that was just because I did most of it three times!

On the way back I was racing the setting sun as didn't have high viz clothing or lights. I loved the old houses in the Pacific Heights area but found going down the steep streets rather tiresome as you don't get much chance to build up speed. The constant Stop signs mean lots of braking, aware not to overheat the rims, and aching hands. I think I prefer the, San Francisco steep, stop sign free 79.3km/h hill in Oamaru, New Zealand!

  

 

 Where I went (red line)

Visiting Six Apart, the TypePad Blogger goes home

When I started blogging there was no great plan, I wasn't even sure it would last, and certainly no idea where it would lead. One thing I did get right, with valuable advice from Shaan Hurley, was choosing the right platform.

In those days there weren't that many options but it seemed TypePad offered the right mix of ease of use and customisation. I also liked having the hosting provided and support when I broke stuff. I've been happy with TypePad but also want to help it evolve which is why I was privileged to be involved in their Customer Advisory Group (CAB).

It's also why, since I was in town, it was great to visit the Six Apart offices. It's the company behind TypePad, Vox and a whole load of other platforms & services for Bloggers. I was on the bike but had no trouble finding it thanks to Google Streetview. It's kind freaky to ride along a street on the other side of the world you've never been in before and recognise it!

My involvement with the CAB is mostly email based but there are also web meetings. For me they happen at about 6am which is good, because it's all over before getting ready for work, and bad because I don't do that end of early mornings very well. This is mainly because I do late nights very well as can be seen by the time most of my posts appear!

It was great to see the "home" of my blog and meet some  of the TypePad team who have previously been voices on the web-ex. They gave me a "TypePad Loves Me" shirt, which was great, but it should really read "I love TypePad"!

Tags: TypePad, Vox, six+apart

San Francisco: Biking the Bay (again)!

My regular, OK not as regular as it should be, Sunday ride is around the Auckland Waterfront and under the Harbour Bridge. This weeks ride was different: It was Sunday here (but Monday in NZ): a different waterfront and a different bridge.

I can't visit San Francisco without doing the iconic "Bike the Bay" ride which takes you along the waterfront, over Golden Gate Bridge and back to the city by ferry. In the past I've rented a standard bike and extended the loop a little with a loop around Golden Gate Park or up the Marin Hills.

This time it was supposed to be a bit more serious, proper road bike (Giant OCR2 from Bay City Bike) and my own shoes/pedals. The main reason for that is after riding forever with clip-ins I found riding without them to be rather tiresome. Last time I only did about 60km but could hardly walk the next day. So armed with a decent bike I hit the streets of San Francisco to checkout the sights.

   

It's supposed to be winter here but didn't look like it today. I only managed about 70km as it was so awesome I stopped to take heaps of photos. I did get to some parts of the Marin Headlands (North of the GG Bridge) which I hadn't seen before, the downhill run to Rodeo Beach was fun and the climb to get out wasn't too bad. It was great to be on a proper bike, one with a triple chainset. On other trips I've caught the ferry back, from either Sausalito or Tiburon, but this time rode home. It was getting toward sunset as I crossed GG heading south and the clear fine weather made for spectacular views. Isn't this place supposed to be cold & foggy?

 

I have the bike tomorrow, Monday, so can explore more of the city, get run down by a cable car, that sort of thing. I also have a blog related meeting. I hope they don't mind me arriving looking quite a bit like a cyclist...

All the photos are at Flickr.com - RobiNZ San Francisco 2009 Set (about 1 gazillion of the Golden Gate Bridge it appears)

Killer sheep over the Pacific

This post was written 11,297m above the Pacific, about halfway between Auckland & San Francisco. One advantage of a long haul flight is you get to catch up on those movies you wanted to see, but never got around too. Suddenly with thirteen hours and nothing else to do it's time to hit the entertainment system. This post is not really CAD related but this film deserves an international audience. Besides, Weta Digital supplied the special effects so it's possible CAD, maybe even Autodesk, applications were used...

It could only be a Kiwi movie. The green rolling hills, clear blue skies and a flock of pretty white sheep disembowelling terrified agricultural investors. You may gather Black Sheep (2006/7) isn't quite "Mary had a little lamb". A quiet rural setting and some woolly genetic engineering creates the only horror movie in history with sheep in the leading roll.*

The action is pretty graphic, but in a surreal cartoon-like way, especially as mutant sheep snack on the living and it's also funny. I mean come on, killer sheep?

There are some great comic lines and brilliant special effects during the human/sheep transformations.

The story centres on the battle between two brothers -  Henry and Angus - who have inherited the family farm. One wants to create the best sheep in history, by making it, the other just to run a normal farm. The leads, Matthew Chamberlain & Peter Feeney, were new to me but gave great performances with a Jonathan King script dripping in bloody irony.

Supporting characters include a couple of eco-activists trying to expose the evil being done. Oliver Driver, as Grant, goes from tree hugging vegetarian greenie to a mutant half man, half sheep snacking on living entrails in a role that he obviously enjoyed. Danielle Mason plays "Experience", a vegan protester with a conscience who "is not his [Grants] girlfriend" .

Henry: What's that?
Experience: Geranium: aromatherapy for uplift and hormonal balance.
Henry: Do your hormones really need balancing?
Experience: Considering I've been attacked by genetically-engineered monsters, jumped off a moving vehicle, been chased across a paddock, dragged into a torture chamber, pulled into a mountain of rotting flesh--yes, my hormones need balancing.

Tammy Davis is the Kiwi bloke Fram Manager who pulls the whole story together with a cheeky grin. Glenis Levestam is Mrs Mac, a straight shooting Aunt un-phased by a few naughty sheep.

Although Black Sheep is a horror movie, it's a comedy horror movie with sheep. Perhaps the only, certainly the best.

Black Sheep The Movie - www.blacksheep-themovie.com

Black Sheep at IMDB

* That is a guess, I suppose you could argue "Bad Taste" had sheep but only in exploding supporting roles.

A memorable holiday

They now have a Kiwi Cap
Originally uploaded by RobiNZ

I've been off-line while cycling around Viet Nam but I'm now back in New Zealand and catching up with things*.

Will be sharing more of my holiday but, by far, the overwhelming memories I have of Viet Nam are of wonderful people and scooters!

Everywhere you go there are happy smiling faces and the ever present hum, beep beep, of small engined scooters carrying the most incredible loads...

Some of the holiday snaps are now on Flickr


* Have released some comments which were being held and turned off moderation. If you posted/emailed a question will be in touch as I get the chance.

RobiNZ @ Autodesk University 2007 - A day across the bay...

Today I travelled across the bay to Larkspur to meet with Michael Scherotter. I arrived at the ferry terminal to find the first one left about 90 minutes later than I thought so thanks to Michael for rearranging his schedule at short notice. It was a grey day so the ferry trip scenery wasn’t spectacular but I spent about half the trip getting a lesson in aerodynamics. A solitary gull worked out it could get a free ride across the bay by gliding in the “slipstream” just off the stern of the ferry. It was like one of those nature documentaries showing bird flight close-up as was within a metre or two of the stern, doing 10–15 knots, for 20–30 minutes without flapping it’s wings once. It reminded me of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the fable about a gull who was fascinated by flight, which I read years ago. It was a strange mystical book and I must admit I found Richard Bach’s books on his real aviation life as a barnstormer far better.

Last time I did this trip I visited Michael at the Mindjet Office (MindManager) near the ferry terminal. I got to know Michael via his blogging for Mindjet and was impressed by his enthusiasm for combining technologies to create new solutions. He developed a prototype combining MindManager and Autodesk DWF which was of interest to me. It was great to see him again and learn about his current role as a “Synergist” for Microsoft. It’s great to he’s still “Combining Software in Amazing Ways” and excited about using new combinations of technologies to help people solve problems. As you can imagine there are lots of technologies at Microsoft to keep him busy!

Synergist Blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/synergist/default.aspx

I wandered back to the hotel via downtown at dusk looking at some of the architecture, including The Transamerica Pyramid, and Christmas decorations. Tomorrow  it’s off to Vegas, to get ready for Autodesk University.

     

    

RobiNZ @ Autodesk University 2007 - San Francisco

I arrived here Friday and the weather was very similar to Auckland. When I left Auckland was experiencing an early summer and San Francisco is having a late one!

I had a late, very late, lunch or early dinner with Helga who I met on an Adventure South cycle trip. It was great to see her again. After dinner we checked out a recent art installation in the form of a huge spider!

Today I rented a bike and went around the bay cycle trail, over Golden Gate Bridge, which I’d done before but was happy to repeat. It’s a stunning structure and not to be missed, especially on a bicycle. Last time I’d spent too much time time exploring the south side, towards Ocean Beach & Golden Gate park, and had to rush to meet the ferry at Sausalito. This time I explored the Marin Headlands, towards Rodeo Beach, then carried on past Sausalito around Richardson Bay to Tiburon. It was a great ride on a near perfect day. It was strange riding a bike without the clip in pedals I’m used to at home and remembering to ride on the wrong (right) side of the road but had no problems. I thought I was being clever going around to Tiburon as there were hundreds of cyclists waiting for the Sausalito Ferry. It wasn’t as busy at Tiburon but then the Ferry carried on to pickup the mob at Sausalito before returning to the city. First on meant last off, not so clever eh!

       

There’s more photos here

I know what it means, to miss New Orleans, nearly...

It was ironic that I chose the Qantas/American Airlines option over Air New Zealand/United for the trip to New Orleans because the timing and connections in the USA worked out better (and it was cheaper!). The plan was to arrive late Tuesday night, have a peaceful nights sleep to recover from 21 hours of flying, a leisurely morning, maybe a look around, then wander across the road for the conference kickoff at 3pm Wednesday.

Qantas did their part, Auckland to L.A., fine but then things started to go wrong…

Leaving Auckland about 6pm Tuesday means arriving in L.A. about 13 hours later at 10am Tuesday (thanks to the dateline). I was heading for Dallas, then New Orleans but found my anticipated 4 hour stopover extended to 5 hours due to rough weather at Dallas. Then after several additional 1 hour delays all the flights through Dallas were cancelled as thunder storms had settled in for the evening and the airport was closed.

That meant a frantic call (so glad I had a charged cell-phone) to re-book with seemingly all of America flying that way doing the same. The lines at the terminal counters and free-phones were hours long. While I was on the phone planes were filling up so fast they were losing seats in the time it took to ask if the route was OK then confirm. At one stage I was going to via San Francisco, Washington DC(?), Orlando then New Orleans but that evaporated and the next best offer was “sometime Saturday”. Not much use for a conference on Wed/Thur, a Jazz Fest on Friday/Saturday and when I was leaving on Sunday! 

It wasn’t anyones fault and the American Airlines call centre were great trying all sorts of alternatives over more than 30 minutes to get me there on time. Thankfully a single seat came free on a flight that would work so I went from L.A. (about 10pm) to Miami, sat around there till 11am, then back to New Orleans. It added a couple of thousand kilometres flying & the result was the planned 21-hour trek actually took 39 hours, 18 of them sitting around in airports! Luckily I had taken a good book but I didn’t expect to read the whole thing on the way there! 

I got to New Orleans less than 1 hour before the conference started, just time check-in, have a shower and get to the venue which was in another hotel a short walk away. I nearly missed New Orleans, but am glad I didn’t!

The rest of the photos are here.

Tags: New+Orleans

A short holiday from blogging

I had a bit of un-connected, from everything, time this week. Click thru to the “What I got up to on my holiday post” for a few photos…

New Zealand from the Space Station

Excuse the cross posting but I think this image of New Zealand, NASA’s picture of the day, justifies it!

RobiNZ Personal Blog: Stunning Space Station view of New Zealand
Has details and link to Hi-Res Version

Trip Route Mapping with MindManager & Microsoft Virtual Earth

Mindjet Labs will soon (Monday 31/7/06 US Pacific) release an extension that allows you to easily find route information while planning travel thanks to a clever combination of MindManager & Microsoft Virtual Earth.  The process uses MindManager topics and relationships to specify the route and it’s easy to do;

• Create two topic with addresses or place names in the topic text.

• Draw a relationship from one topic to the other, with the arrow specifying the direction of the route.

• Select the relationship, right-click and select Get Route from the context menu.

• In a few seconds, a callout topic will appear with a hyperlink to the Microsoft Virtual Earth map

• Click the hyperlink to view the map and the driving directions.

Since Microsoft recently added our street data to Virtual Earth it works well in New Zealand. How cool is that for planning your next holiday… or business trip!

Update 30–07–2006: Trevor Claiborne has posted a neat video demo to The Student Tablet PC Blog

Korean Trip Photos Online

I've just posted my Photos from the Seoul Trip

http://rcd.typepad.com/photos/travel_2006_seoul/index.html

Can you help with some local knowledge?

• What is this (cool) building?
• Why would this map in the COEX Mall show New Zealand & Aussie at the top?

Autodesk + Skidmore, Owings & Merrill BIM Presentation

Today I’m heading to Seoul, South Korea, to hear how Skidmore, Owings & Merrill are applying BIM techniques to projects like The Freedom Tower and other significant buildings around the globe. It will be an interesting trip. If any readers are attending it would be great to meet up, contact me via the Blog Email Me link or COEX Intercontinental.

• Agenda
  • Transforming Building Process: Ideas Realised
    • Phil Bernstein, Vice President, Industry Strategy & Relations, Autodesk Inc.
  • Realising the Freedom Tower: Pioneering Process Change
  • If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a visualisation is worth a million
    • Darren Rizza, Associate AIA, Firmwide Director of Digital Design, SOM

Disclosure: Travel & Accommodation provided by Autodesk Building Solutions Division, Asia Pacific.

Auckland to Seoul?

Will be interesting, especially given recent events…

Auckland to Seoul 9595 km  324° true – unless dodging missiles

Visual Power Points: Learning from Down Under

Presentation Zen uses recent Aussie and Kiwi tourism promotion videos to introduce the impact of applying bold images and “The rule of Thirds”, a photographers favourite, to improve presentations.

The comments on the “100% Pure” are interesting to read. I’ve seen it screening on Discovery and wondered what sort of impact it has when you don’t already live here!

Presentation Zen: The power of the visual: Learning from Down Under promotion videos

Back to Orlando?

It’s more than bizarre that only a couple of months after making the 28,000km return journey to Orlando for AU 2005 I’m about to do it again.

Advanced Visual Technology are a U.K. based company and their first ever user conference is at Disney Resort – The Yacht Club. It’s on Crescent Lake, near Disney's BoardWalk, and just a few minutes walk from the AU 2005 Venue!

It’s a small world after all.

What to do - 10 Hours between flights at L.A. International....

I’m soon off to another conference which happens to be at “The Yacht Club” – about 300 metres from the AU Venue in Orlando.

Any ideas on how to fill a 10 Hour gap between flights at L.A. International?

It will be 12 hours to get there followed by another 5 hours to Orlando…

On my way to Autodesk University in Orlando

Blogging will be a bit tricky for the next few weeks as will be travelling without a computer.I’m attending Autodesk University in Orlando.

If possible I will be posting to the CAD Autodesk University category on my CAD Blog and adding photos to the Travel 2005 (Autodesk University Trip) Photo gallery.

If you are going, see you there!

Standards New Zealand to adopt XML

Standards NZ are moving to XML format. They have their catalogue now as PDF and in a database format with its own viewer but the move to XML is interesting. For AEC perhaps this means there will be potential to integrate & reference standards information directly in the relevant BIM object style/family.

Computerworld - Standards body to adopt XML

Standards New Zealand, the body that oversees the development of industry standards, is to convert its catalogue of more than 3,000 standards to XML…

San Francisco Day 2: Biked the Bridge

Apparently it was cold this morning but I don't know as slept in. About 10am I picked up a rental bike and headed for Golden Gate. Needed some film so popped into a camera shop near where I'm staying. The Chinese owner asked if I was Kiwi and it turns out his brother runs a superette in St Heliers, Auckland where I top up for "fuel" on some of my bike rides. Small world.

Anyway, with my usual luck, the bike got (out of a zillion rental bikes) started creaking a little when I put pressure on the pedal. No problem, i thought, they do that for miles. About 2.5 km later the entire crank and pedal dropped off. The creaking was not a loose crank as it appeared the bolt had failed....

After a nice walk around the waterfront pushing and scooting the one pedal bike I got back and set out again with a thoroughly checked new bike - no problems this time!

I headed out to the bridge but then over the hill to El Chimino, then through the Golden Gate Park (saw a bison), back through Presidio and headed over the hill to the bridge. The wind of the last few days meant no smog/fog and it was stunning. Got some great photos but not digital so will have to wait till I get home to see them - H'mmm Digital SLR....

Then rolled down the hill to Sausalito, had a lovely Gelato ($10NZ though), and jumped on the ferry home. By this time the winds had gone westerly and the fog that SF is famous for had started to roll in. According to my Garmin I biked, walked and scooted 52km today so think I've earned dinner tonight!

NZ GPS Maps

Brent's New Zealand Street Maps for Garmin GPS are now available via his new site.
I use them with my Garmin Legend and Mapsource software but they also come with a DOS loader if you don’t have Mapsource. Until Brent made these available Garmin Worldmap was the only up-loadable mapping for Garmin GPS in NZ. Compare the level of detail in the screenshot from Worldmap with Brent’s Street Map (Version 3).
The street data is based on the LINZ database and with the assistance of partners at Where Are We Brent is also adding extra Points of Interest and other data. The older versions are still available to use with low memory GPS. The Legends 8mb memory can hold all the street maps for NZ. Adding the search data (find streets and intersections, POI) reduces this to about 1/2 of NZ. You can decide what to take as the data is split into different map sections so this isnt a big deal

NZ GPS Maps Website

GPS NZ Mapping

Own a Garmin GPS?
For a fantastic New Zealand road map suitable for Garmin units look at NZ GPS Maps Website
Thanks to some wonderful work by Brent this is a great resource for NZ land based GPS use.
I took my Etrex Legend for a 5500 km drive and about 300km cycle around the South Island using this map extensively. Even the most remote roads were accurate. I didn't even get lost in Christchurch!