RobiNZ CAD Blog

Autodesk & Instructables?

My first reaction to “Autodesk Acquires Instructables” was ”Why would they buy an old Pixar movie?”. I then realised it wasn’t “Incredibles”, duh!, but still had no idea what an Instructables was. Phillip Torrone’s post on Make, which I found via tenlinks.com, is a nice summary of the Instructables community, how it could fit with Autodesk products and speculation on why Autodesk have acquired it. It also has some useful examples of the perils of other corporate community acquisitions: MAKE | Autodesk Acquires Instructables: What It Means for Makers The big news this week was “Autodesk Acquires Instructables.” It’s taken... Read more →

The Autodesk 2012 Launch Aquatic with Salesoft CAD Solutions

It takes something special to lure you into an underground bunker filled with sharks. After a photo at the door (easier to ID the remains?) it was quite a trek, stopping to observe the Penguin Colony, to the Antarctic Hut and an auditorium lined tanks of huge stingray & fish. A welcoming drink & tasty finger food satisfied the appetite although you wondered if the seafood watching from the tanks realised some of what we were eating was seafood. No chance of a quick exit as it was guarded by sharks and, anyway, we were here to see design software:... Read more →

AEC Systems Auckland Technology Solutions Day

Recently I spent a day at SkyCity Convention Centre with a bunch of other CAD/BIM users for the AEC Systems NZ Technology Solutions Day. I couldn’t see everything as after a few shared sessions the day split into tracks covering Civil, AEC and Manufacturing. It was a little bit like Autodesk University in that the challenge is not deciding what to see, but what to miss! This post covers the sessions I attended, a fraction of what was on offer. Adobe: PDF and content aware image magic The day kicked off with a demo of Adobe applications including Acrobat 10.... Read more →

I feel old; remember when Lego had printed assembly guides?

Check out the YouTube below or download the free app & data to your iOS device here. Design tech meets the new consumer generation. There is more to Inventor & Publisher Mobile than Industrial design & documentation. Check out Autodesk 3D Instructions for LEGO® Harry Potter™ Hogwarts™ Castle To celebrate the season, we're spreading Holiday cheer – Autodesk style! The LEGO® Harry Potter™ Hogwarts™ Castle Set #4842 is flying off the shelf and to add to the fun we've created 3D interactive instructions for the Inventor® Publisher Mobile Viewer… Read more →

I want to ride my Pi Cycle? #AU2010

Inventor helped the Pi Cycle designers optimise the size of it’s dominant physical feature, the arching main frame, and featured in the Manufacturing Keynote. The Pi Cycle main tube is important as in addition to usual bicycle frame duties it houses the battery & controls which make the Pi Cycle more than your average bike. It’s also the first, that I know of, Wi-Fi enabled bike and can communicate with the Pi Service network should service or repair be required. I’m not entirely convinced about the need for electric bikes but Pi Cycle may be the machine to change that.... Read more →

It’s Autodesk 2011 time

It’s the time of year when Autodesk unleash new versions of their applications. I just finished watching a webcast announcing the AutoCAD, AEC, Manufacturing and Visualisation products. “With the release of these powerful applications, the 2011 Autodesk product line is truly the best-in-class,” said Autodesk President and Chief Executive Officer Carl Bass. “Building on our long history of making complex technology more accessible to a broader audience, we made our portfolio of 3D design and engineering tools both simpler and more powerful". Full details about the 2011 products are available now at www.autodesk.com (Source Autodesk Press Release) There is certainly... Read more →

Un-Inventor LT Technology Previewing

I removed the Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview from my machine as it expired May 1st. Important announcement for Autodesk Inventor LT users (posted March 1st) Un-installing, via add/remove programs, was trouble free* except for one aspect. I found the file association for .dwg files was still trying to use Inventor when a file was opened from Explorer. Changing the association from Explorer didn't seem to help so I tried a repair install of AutoCAD Architecture which restored it's .dwg association. Now it's not free, would I buy Inventor LT? That's complicated by the rather strange product offer in our... Read more →

Inventor Wizard, Inventor LT Preview & 3Dconnexion connections

Jürgen emailed me last September* in response to a post about Inventor LT . It got my attention because I wasn't aware of many Inventor blogs/sites, even now I still follow more SolidWorks blogs!... Read more →

CAD advertised on the radio, is this a first for New Zealand?

I've never heard a New Zealand Autodesk reseller use radio advertising until today. Radio Live had a CADPro advert for AutoCAD Inventor. It got my attention but I wonder what their audience, it's a ta... Read more →

The death, or retirement, of a desktop - RIP Mechanical Desktop 1995 - 2008

I remember going to the launch of AutoCAD Designer. Mechanical Desktop replaced it and now, although some with much more knowledge than me might argue this, Inventor has replaced MDT. Engineering... Read more →