As is typical, the big four CAD/BIM vendors all had the largest booths available in the software section of the show. These included Autodesk, Bentley, Graphisoft and Nemetschek Vectorworks. This year Autodesk’s booth was the same size as the others, where sometimes in the past it has twice as large. This may have been because many vendors said New Orleans last year was a big disappointment.

Getting Started

What we are going to do in this report series is run through the companies we have something to report about and post some show floor photos. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of waiting too long in the show to take photos and, as a consequence, the booths are not as busy as they were earlier in the show–a lost opportunity for us to comment visually about what many vendors were reporting was a better year than last year in New Orleans.

Graphisoft

We’ll start with Graphisoft. The Hungarian-based BIM leader was showing its brand new ArchiCAD 16 (which Architosh has a fairly large feature in the wings on) and especially touting its new Morph modeling tool and its EcoDesigner integration. The company was also showing BIMx, its iOS based BIM viewing tool. (see news report: BIMx gets updated for iPad’s Retina Display).

01 - Graphisoft was showing its new Morph Tool, the new direct-modeling technology offers architects powerful conceptual and final modeling capabilities beyond parametrics.

Autodesk

Autodesk was using a booth design we’ve seen a few times with its mini classroom setup directly on the aisle. (see image). The company had a good array of presentations for busy professionals to learn mostly about Revit and BIM process technology. Autodesk had just recently announced its 2013 products suites and so the company had no real new announcements at the AIA.

02 - Autodesk's booth was featuring various product demonstrations all day and as is typical was quite busy.

We did speak directly to Angi Izzi, Senior Industry Strategy Manager for Architecture at Autodesk who told us the company was showcasing its 2013 product suite for AEC and that there had been some additions made, such as adding Inventor to the Autodesk Building Design Suite Ultimate edition, which retails for 11.495.USD.

When we asked about Revit for the Mac Angi Izzi did admit it is the most asked about product customers seem interested in. Furthermore, the lead Revit product manager is now a Mac guy, she said, and Autodesk–from the inside–looks like a different company now. The presence of Macs and Apple gear is everywhere now. What was clearly communicated in response to the Mac question was that the company is very much focused on mobile and the cloud and taking Revit to the cloud is a higher priority. Does this mean the CAD giant will only provide a cloud-based version of Revit for Mac users? Angi Izzi wasn’t giving anything away to us. Right now the company is very focused on mobile and cloud trends.

Angi Izzi also noted that Autodesk customers are very interested in software services delivered to them on-demand from the cloud for things they may not want to purchase software suites on because they use them infrequently. One can think of cloud-based photorealistic rendering or energy calculations and verification for example.

Vectorworks Architect

The Nemetschek Vectorworks folks also had a busy booth and some excellent presentations in their booth theater space, including showcasing a brand new product named SimTread. The CADFaster folks were also showing CADFaster for Vectorworks at the show in the Vectorworks booth as well. (more on that later).

03 - The Vectorworks booth was showing the new SimTread app plus CADFaster for Vectorworks in addition to its flagship line of CAD/BIM software.

We had an in-depth conversation with Tuomas Holma of CADFaster, which is based in Finland, about the company, its products and the latest addition which is the support of Vectorworks. The company’s solutions work on desktop, iOS (iPhone and iPad) and on the web.

Currently CADFaster’s desktop solution–which is the most robust solution–is for Windows only but a Mac version is also planned. Tuomas Holma however could not comment on a time-line for that release. We have much more to say about CADFaster for Vectorworks so look for another report devoted just to that soon.

Unfortunately this year, due to so many requests from companies to speak to Architosh, including the AIA’s Documents software division, we didn’t get a chance to truly visit the Bentley booth. This marks the end of our BIM group for this first report on the show floor. Look for Report 2 for more pics and info.

In Brief

Adobe. The graphics software superpower released an interesting report that shows that people are increasingly accepting and viewing TV-like ad experiences on the Web. “Online video ad consumption is beginning to mirror that of traditional TV commercials”, says the report.  We find this interesting and note that companies doing marketing online should consider the ramifications of this news.

Adobe also previewed its upcoming Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium product, which includes major updates for Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects. Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 incorporates OpenCL support, a technology Apple invented and has embedded in its OS and promotes. To learn more.

G-Technology. Taking a giant leap for all Mac-Kind” says the news release, G-Technology announced at NAB it is shipping the industry’s highest capacity, two-drive Raid O, Thunderbolt storage solution. The drive is excellent for large file storage and is available currently in Apple Stores. A 4TB starting drive starts at 699.USD.

Avid. Honestly we are not sure what is happening with video on the Mac platform these days, with all the hoopla over the latest version of Final Cut. Avid has a new iPad tool getting notice called Avid Studio for iPad. And it looks good! Check it out (we have an image below).

01 - Avid Media Composer 5. Professional video editing software runs on Mac and Windows. (image courtesy of Avid)

02 - Avid Studio for iPad brings Avid technology to the mobile world of iOS. (image courtesy of Avid)

Avid of course still makes professional Mac video and audio software. Its Mac software line up looks to include: Media Composer 5.5 and version 6. With version 6 Avid is claiming it is the most versatile tool for professional video editing. Media Composer 6 is a true 64-bit app. And is a full open app thanks to Avid Open I/O. Additionally, it has support for working with stereoscopic 3D materials.

Avid Symphony 6 is also native for the Mac and the entire Symphony system is available in three ways now. As is its Pro Tools 10 audio software and its Sibelius 7 music notation software. And Musition 4 and Auralia 4, music theory software.  To learn more about Avid go here. http://www.avid.com/

Maxon. The CINEMA 4D folks were at NAB and showing CINEMA 4D R13 and all its abilities. We announced recently their Live video feeds so that users who could not attend NAB could watch their list of great artists talking about CINEMA 4D technology and how it fits into the studio pipeline.

Autodesk. Lastly, Autodesk was at NAB 2012 and introduced what they are claiming is a radically redesigned Autodesk Smoke video editing and effects software for the Mac. In fact, Smoke is just for the Mac and competes with tools such as Avid and Final Cut Pro.

With Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac, designers can freely explore complex complex shapes and forms, enabling rapid design changes with fewer limitations. This updated technology preview includes these capabilities:

• Surfacing Suppport – users can now work seamlessly between solids and surfaces, expanding their confidence and capabilities to tackle design changes. Translators for Parasolid, Rhino, IGES and AliasDesign have been enhanced
• Simplified Wizards – Simulation users now have one button simplification of designs. This makes simplifying common geometry fast and easy and ensures that mesh and solves times are as fast as possible
• Ease of Use Improvements – New menu marking, sketch ease of use and modeling ease of use have all been improved

01 - Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac. A new Mac-native ground-up mCAD modeling program for emerging mechanical engineers and design professionals.

Inventor Fusion for Mac Technology Preview 2012 is fully interoperable with AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor software, enabling customers to choose the modeling approach that is right for the task at hand. The Apple OS X compatible version of the technology preview expires on 1 January 2013. That means users can embrace and enjoy this new Mac MCAD product now until the end of the year.

To learn more and signup to get it go here.

What’s New

A big new feature in AutoCAD 2013 are the new tools to connect with Autodesk 360 cloud-enabled services. This will allow AutoCAD 2013 users to access their data anywhere and collaborate with colleagues in remote locations. Free-form modeling has become more robust and modeling in general enhanced across both surface, solid and mesh model typologies. Powerful point cloud support allows you to import scanned data with up to 2 billion data points, helping you start your project with existing environments.

01 - The new AutoCAD 2013 has been announced by Autodesk. The release is simultaneous on both the Mac and Windows platforms.

There are some interesting new social connection capabilities in AutoCAD 2013. Besides the Autodesk 360 options you can now bring in Inventor files and maintain intelligent and associative relationships between AutoCAD and Inventor files. AutoCAD 2013 gains new built-in Facebook and Twitter connection tools for sharing your designs. And you can import and aggregate 3D model data from the top CAD industry model formats including PRO/Engineer, CATIA, SolidWorks, NX, and Rhinoceros.

There is new AutoCAD Apps on Autodesk Exchange, a programming interface and full interface customization. Autodesk 2013 has built-in 3D rendering tools and the program support 3D printing capability for physical 3D prototyping.

The latest version has GPS integration so you can tap the power of location services in the iOS or Android operating system. You can setup geo settings for spatial orientation. Also new is 3D viewing.

01 - AutoCAD WS 1.4 is out and has several new features including printing capabilities.

AutoCAD WS 1.4 now allows you to access preconfigured or freestyle 3D views, which can be viewed in solid or wireframe mode. And you can plot your prints remotely from within the app using HP’s ePrint & Share service. Finally, there is the ability to plot your design to PDF or DWF and share them via email.

To learn more visit: https://www.autocadws.com/

AutoDesSys will be hosting a Bonzai 3D webinar today at 1pm-2pm EST. The free webinar is an introduction to the SketchUp competitor, a conceptual modeling tool with a Class-A NURBS modeling engine and the power of formZ’s legendary modeling capabilities, packaged into an easy-to-use conceptual tool.

Like formZ, Bonzai 3D has the ability to plug into the power of AutoDesSys’ RenderZone rendering software for photo-realistic imagery making. To register for this seminar go here now. To view previous webinars online, on-demand, go here.

Vectorworks News

Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., has some good news on its global CAD/BIM product line. For starters Vectorworks 2012 is now available in Japan through its Tokyo-based distributor, A&A Co. Ltd.. You can learn more about that here.

There is also some news about Vectorworks-based design firms winning awards, as in Lukas Schweingruber und Rainer Zulauf from Schweingruber Zulauf Landschaftsarchitekten.

For French-based architects and designers CESYAM is launching a Vectorworks 2012 Tour Across France.

No Autodesk Vista Support

In a surprising twist Autodesk is ending formal support for Microsoft Vista operating system-based computers with its new and currently shipping versions of its software. The new policy goes into affect January 1, 2012.

Autodesk will continue to support Microsoft Windows XP operating systems. Based on the company’s research there are a large amount of customers currently utilizing XP-based systems, while the same research reveals little reason for support of Vista. The company reports that most Vista customers have migrated up to Windows 7.

More information on this topic can be found here.

This week the company previewed Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac. As part of the Inventor product family, Inventor Fusion is primarily a 3D mechanical CAD modeler application designed to engage emerging young engineers and designers.

Kevin Schneider, Sr. Product Line Manager for Autodesk Design, Lifecycle and Simulation Product Group, noted that Inventor Fusion is the first dedicated mechanical CAD product from Autodesk that is a Mac product.

01 - Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac. A new Mac-native ground-up mCAD modeling program for emerging mechanical engineers and design professionals.

“When we look at the next generation of designers and engineers,” says Schneider “we see their expectations of choice and software is very different than the current generation.” Autodesk told Architosh that the company is adapting to trends that show that the future generation of engineers and designers are increasingly coming both to and out of college with an affinity for Apple’s platforms.

While Autodesk Inventor is the company’s Windows-only full-fledged professional mechanical CAD product, Inventor Fusion for Mac is a simplified entry-level product that has been written from the ground-up on Mac OS X. It has a ’state-of-the-art’ modern user-interface and advanced modeling functionality.

The formal release of the product is aimed for the first quarter of 2012. Professionals and students interested in the Mac-based Inventor Fusion can learn more at a special page on Facebook setup by Autodesk (http://www.facebook.com/InventorFusion)

Final pricing has also not been set but those who engage in the public technology preview can try out Fusion for the Mac for free. You can sign up here.

Architosh received word this morning from T-Splines leader Matthew Sederberg. No terms were disclosed in the deal. Sederberg reports in his email that he will be taking up the position of Product Manager at Autodesk in charge of T-Splines technology.

To read the brief press release visit here.

Architosh Analysis: We were a little surprised by this move on the part of T-Splines. This is a tiny software company compared to Autodesk, located a considerable distance up in Utah. T-Splines makes a plugin product for McNeel’s Rhino modeling software platform. Now that Autodesk has purchased this technology we are left wondering if the CAD giant will continue to develop and market this key plugin for a rival’s modeling software. Sederber writes, “Autodesk is currently investigating an approach to continued selling the T-Splines plugins.”

T-Splines actually makes two plugins, one for Rhino and one for SolidWorks. Our guess is that if anything provoked Autodesk to purchase this technology it was tsElements for Solidworks, a major rival to Autodesk in the product development markets.

What’s New in Mudbox 2012

Autodesk Mudbox 2012 continues to advance itself and in this year’s release the design software giant added support for 64-bit Linux in addition to Windows and Mac OS X 10.6.x support. In this update Autodesk touched on all three major areas of Mudbox (sculpting, painting and posing) adding useful improvements, but in general the largest updates are concentrated in the area of 3D painting and posing.

Before we get into those we’ll briefly touch on some general improvements. Version 2011 added 64-bit support for Mac and now as we mentioned we have the same for Linux. A big new improvement in this update is the ability to create and edit stencils. You can bring in images to use for stencils directly from the Mac clipboard.

Autodesk also has introduced new single-step “round-trip” workflows for other related Autodesk software, such as: Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Softimage. Imagining a scene origin from your DCC software of choice, you can export to Mudbox to add painting or sculpting effects and detail and then merge back to your digital content creation (DCC) software. That improves work flows for those working with Autodesk DCC suites. There is a new Send To option in the File menu.

Another useful and related new feature is the new Maya-like “Hot Menus” introduced in Mudbox 2012. Clicking the spacebar quickly creates a “heads-up” hot menu system. For whose who do not use such menu systems it may take getting use to. (see image 01).

01 - Autodesk Mudbox 2012 features new "heads-up" Maya-like hot menu system.

Some significant minor changes include the ability to use tools like Grab and Pinch to manipulate stencils to more closely conform to the shape of your model. There are new selection tools with region and lasso modes. This gives you more control over how you control your model. (see image 02).

02 - Mudbox 2012 features expanded selection tools with new lasso and region modes.

There are two new Grab brush options–Grab Silhouette and Follow Path–that allow you to create innovative new shapes. And this release vastly improves on texture data sets.

next page: Painting Improvements

Autodesk’s BIM solutions are part of Autodesk 360 for BIM, a comprehensive set of on-premise and in the cloud solutions that enable more efficient and document and project management of AEC projects.  These solutions consist of:

• Autodesk AEC Vault —  This solution lets teams manage and track digital models without leaving their BIM design tools, including Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, AutoCAD Civil 3D and Navisworks.
• Autodesk Buzzsaw – A cloud-based project collaboration solution that provides secure exchange of designs, documents and information with external partners.
• Autodesk AutoCAD WS – a web and mobile platform based solution for reviewing DWG documents with multiple particpants across a range of platforms, including Apple’s iOS devices like iPad
• Autodesk 360 Nexus — introduced this week at AU, and initially ready for the manufacturing industry, it is also planned to support AEC workflow and business process management needs.

To learn more about Autodesk’s new 360 BIM initiatives you can read the released information online here.

Architosh Analysis

We think Autodesk’s cloud-based solutions are aimed in the right direction but this announcement consists of existing solutions stitched together rather than a completely new and integrated new software offering. Make no mistake about it, these tools combined do amount to opportunities for AEC businesses to streamline complex scenarios and information. But the solution many may be dreaming of is centralized, efficient, simplified and truly platform open and neutral. Vault for instance only runs on MS Windows. Parts of the collection of tools work on certain platforms and not others.

Prominent to these sessions will be several on BIM (Building Information Modeling), including one titled “On CLOUD 9 with BIM 9: A BIM Manager’s Guide to Private BIM Clouds.”

IMAGINiT will also showcase new updates to its popular Scan to BIM product and highlight its brand new ProductivityNOW portal.

To learn more visit www.imaginit.com

Autodesk sees the maker movement as a key step in the next industrial revolution, whereby local manufacturing and product making becomes a growing industry. A Young and Rubicon study puts the DIY (do it yourself) market at $700 billion.

Autodesk 123D Make is Mac OS X only at the moment and allows you to slice up a 3D model into flat plates or sheets which can easily be cut out by hand or via a laser cutter or similar device. These flat plates are then assembled together to create a physical 3D model. Autodesk 123D Catch is the new name for the old Autodesk Labs Photofly technology and is only for Windows at the moment. With 123D Catch you capture photographs of an object you are interested in from various angles and create a 3D model from the photographic data. This is photogrammetry and we’ve written about such products here at Architosh in the past.

01 - Autodesk 123D Make for Mac. Allows you to produce cut-out flat-section physical models from your 3D model data.

All these new 123D tools are essentially quite young and Autodesk is pushing them out into the wild while they are still in Labs. The goal is to get people to use them and give them key feedback for their evolution.

You can download these tools for free today. Go here to get Autodesk 123D Catch (Windows) and here to get Autodesk 123D Make (Mac).

Autodesk has been acquiring many smaller software firms and so the inconsistent platform coverage is a reflection of where the tools have emerged from–which software teams and players working on such and such platforms–and not a reflection of the company’s OS coverage or organization. The goal is to make them work across multiple and even platforms as best suited to markets.

So What’s In Autodesk Cloud?

Autodesk Cloud will consists of a suite of web-based software products and services, enabling customer-subscribers to perform design optimization, visualization and collaboration with peers and clients from anywhere in the world.

01 - Autodesk Design Review software for Apple iOS provides the mobility tie-in solution for accessing documents and services at Autodesk Cloud.

The cloud service offering includes 3 GB of online storage for each software license on Subscription for greater access to design and engineering documents, around the clock from anyplace with Net access.

At the core of Autodesk Cloud are key mobile and desktop apps like Autodesk Cloud documents, AutoCAD WS and the new Autodesk Design Review mobile app for Apple iOS.

Rendering and Optimization

Additional cloud services exclusive to Autodesk Subscription customers give designers access to following cloud services:

• Autodesk Cloud Rendering – customers with Premium or Ultimate editions of Autodesk Design Suite or Autodesk Building Design Suite will have access to powerful rendering capabilities
• Autodesk Inventor Optimization – Similar to above, those same customers will have access to intuitive cloud-based simulation tools, enabling them to test multiple design options in the cloud
• Autodesk Revit Conceptual Energy Analysis – Revit subscription customers can extend beyond the desktop to cloud-based energy analysis capabilities, helping them to quickly gain insight into the energy consumption of building energy costs at early design stages
• Autodesk Green Building Studio – Building Design Suite customers can tap into this cloud-based solution for energy analysis
• Autodesk Buzzsaw SaaS – Customers with subscriptions to Autodesk Vault Collaboration AEC software now have access to cloud-based document, data and design management solutions for AEC.

Amazon and Citrix Backed

Autodesk’s new cloud services are backed by its partners, including Amazon and Citrix, to provide scalable cloud computing infrastructure. Autodesk has been working with Amazon Web Services for more than three years in order to securely host high-demand, scalable applications such as Autodesk HomeStyler software and Autodesk Seek web service.

02 - Autodesk continues to push Apple iOS for its mobility play in relationship to the cloud, further supporting the consensus view by leading CAD CEOs that the iPad is a cloud-computing device.

Amazon Web Services provide Autodesk with the flexibility to scale computing around the world with Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and resilient storage capacity with Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Elastic Block Store (EBS). Autodesk also teams with Citrix to provide customers more flexibility to their Autodesk applications. Delivering solutions to end users with Citrix XenApp can help reduce workstation costs while still providing the software performance they need.

To learn more visit Autodesk Cloud here on the Web.

The CadFaster plugins enable the export of highly efficient geometry models from various tool and upload to the CadFaster cloud service, which then enables collaboration between participants featuring annotation, co-viewing and distribution.

” Unlike traditional viewers that are often very slow on mobile applications and require a large amount of internal memory to open a stored file, the CadFaster mobile app allows users to easily and almost instantly view models that are exported from CAD programs using the CadFaster|Collaborate plug-in,” said Raimo Kuismin, chairman, CadFaster. “It’s also much more than a viewer. This application provides a free resource at anyone’s fingertips for accessing, sharing, marking up and co-viewing diverse, 3D CAD designs.”

01 - CadFaster for iPad is a new CAD solution for mobile professionals with iPads. It enables the viewing and collaboration with others with connected CAD assets hosted in the cloud.

CadFaster Collaborate is the company’s main product. Thus far their only versions are for Windows-only CAD systems with the exception of the iPad solution. The iPad solution is absolutely free and you can test it out with demo 3D models up in the CadFaster cloud. Go here.

What We Think

You heard it from our experts in our 2011 State of Apple in CAD series this summer. CAD in the cloud is a reality and we think CadFaster is offering a valuable set of tools to the market. We encourage them to widen their support of CAD systems and platforms. In the future we might expect support for other 3D file formats and for Android tablets as well.

To learn more visit them here.

AutoCAD LT for Mac is priced at less than 1000.USD and therefore fits under the price lid for the Mac App Store. Thus, it becomes the first highend professional CAD package at that price level to be sold through Mac App Store.

AutoCAD LT 2012 for Mac features numerous native Mac OS X features, such as support for Cover Flow, Multi-touch gestures, native OS X behaviors and more.

01 - Autodesk AutoCAD LT 2012 for Mac. First version of LT ever made native for Mac.

In addition to both the full and LT versions of AutoCAD, AutoCAD WS for Mac is being released for the first time today as well. To read our full report go here. Architosh will publish “notes” from a press event earlier this week later today. Stay tuned!

02 - AutoCADLT 2012 for Mac now featured on Apple's Mac Store.

The new products include: AutoCAD 2012 for Mac, AutoCAD LT 2012 for Mac, and AutoCAD WS for Mac. This marks the first time Autodesk has offered AutoCAD LT–it’s lighter weight version of AutoCAD–for the Mac platform as well as the first time AutoCAD WS as well.

“With AutoCAD 2012 for Mac, we’ve seen our productivity increase thanks to the stability of the Mac OS X operating system, and the fact that AutoCAD for Mac is a native application that doesn’t require switching back and forth between operating systems. One of my favorite Mac features is Exposé, which lets me see all the drawings I’m working on at once.” – Jim LaPier, lead designer at Chesapeake Design Group.

01 - Autodesk LT 2012 for Mac joins full version (also updated to 2012 version) and new Mac native AutoCAD WS for Mac.

The company also showcased these new products today on its AutoCAD Facebook page. That webcast will be available for those who have missed it later. Detailed notes from a private showing to the press will be published here on Architosh, stay tuned.

AutoCAD Expansions for Apple’s Mac Users

Autodesk has said that since the release of AutoCAD for the Mac customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. “Bringing AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD WS to the Mac shows our continued commitment to making design more accessible for an ever-greater number of people to shape the world around them,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk Platform Solutions and Emerging Business.

Autodesk has made the decision to bring AutoCAD LT to the Mac to help expand options for Mac users looking for quality CAD solutions. AutoCAD WS is the same application available for Windows but designed for the Mac’s key features and now on the platform for the first time.

AutoCAD 2012 Solutions Made for Lion

These latest solutions by Autodesk take advantage of the very latest software features in Apple’s Mac OS X Lion platform. Here are just some of the major features tuned around the Mac:

• Full native Mac OS X GUI (latest user interface design features)
• Apple Mac Cover Flow
• Apple Multi-touch gestures support throughout the application
• Native Mac OS X Behaviors

“Autodesk has done an incredible job bringing their apps to the Mac,” said Ron Okamoto, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “AutoCAD for Mac has been a huge hit with Mac users and we’re thrilled to see Autodesk offer AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD WS as Mac App Store exclusives.”

AutoCAD LT for Mac brings high end professional apps to the Mac App Store.

To learn more read the full press release here.

The new intelligent navigation technology automatically determines the optimal center of rotation based on the user’s point of interest. In addition, the center of rotation can be seen through an icon to give the designers a reference point when controlling spin, tilt, and roll motion, resulting in an extremely intuitive 3D navigation experience.

“Our innovative intelligence 3D navigation feature provides unprecedented levels of control,” said Antonio Pascucci, vice president of products, 3Dconnexion. “By automatically establishing and displaying the optimal center of rotation, designers are free to focus more on the creative elements of their designs without having to think about positioning the model or navigating the scene.”

Autodesk Maya users are free to switch between different intelligent 3D navigation modes including object mode, camera mode and target camera mode to suit their project or personal preference.

To learn more about 3Dconnexion visit them online here.

As many regular Architosh readers may be aware now, Autodesk has emerged as a major provider of Mac software tools for architects, designers and visualization professionals. In a string of acquisitions going back several years and in brand new code bases targeting both Mac and iOS, Autodesk has fast become one of Apple’s key software providers for professional and technical creative markets.

In this special interview Autodesk’s chief executive officer talks about the changing role the Mac and Apple are playing in CAD and 3D industries–those same industries that his company is largely responsible for serving and shaping. He also talks about iOS,  the iPad in particular and the nature of cloud computing.

The Interview

AFR: (Anthony Frausto-Robledo): The Mac and Apple in general have been exploding in growth over the past few years. Can you talk about what you see in the market and how this is affecting Autodesk?

(CB): (Carl Bass): It is highly desirable by a number of our customers, particularly in some specific segments, to want to work on Macs. One is architects, two is industrial designers and the third are creative digital artists. In all three of those markets we’ve made most of our products available on the Mac–not all, but most. I’d like to get more products there [on the Mac platform]. It is really all driven by what our customers want and they have spoken pretty loudly. They want to work on the Mac.

AFR: So that explains the markets and the demands. Can you talk about synergies between Apple’s technologies and maybe Autodesk’s technologies…and what that can do for your products in terms of differentiating them in the market place?

CB: In terms of synergies between them and us, going forward, it is with some of the new applications we are building for the iOS devices.  So, when you look at the tablets and the phones, for example. And there are two aspects that are really appealing to our customers. One is the sense of being able to take their data anywhere…because it has always been an issue with architects, engineers and designers–how do I take my work out of the office? And the second thing is the ability to use their data and design work with newer interfaces like Multi-touch. And we’ve built a number of applications to respond to that.  One is SketchBook Pro and the other AutoCAD WS. One is a true CAD application and the other an inking illustration application.  And both are incredibly popular and one of the things that sets them apart is the Multi-touch and the unique UI they employ.

AFR: Right, so iOS and the Multi-touch in particular. Things that Apple might bring to the table you are keen to take advantage of.

next page: Bass discusses acquisitions and cloud computing

In-house designer Dave Geist has been using Autodesk Revit Architecture to develop and create custom residential designs and construction documents.

“The ability to pan, zoom and rotate simultaneously in the middle of a command is so helpful,” says Geist, “specifically the ability to rotate the model to review without using the keyboard.”

01 - 3Dconnexion is the maker of award-winning 3D mice, like the SpaceNavigator shown here. Their 3D mice help 3D and CAD software workflows.

The 3Dconnexion SpacePilot Pro is just one of many 3D mice by 3Dconnexion, which aid dramatically in the workflows of CAD and 3D professionals across a variety of software applications. (You can read a product review of the SpaceNavigator from 2007 here.)

To learn more visit 3Dconnexion online here.

The company’s graphics solutions will be powering a range of new 3D and CAD applications useful to designers, engineers and digital content professionals. Industry leaders such as Autodesk, Adobe and Dassault Systemes will be on hand to highlight new tools and techniques that take advantage of Nvidia Professional graphics solutions.

Features and Events

There will be a range of interesting events taking place during the conference. These include:

• Nvidia-sponsored Autodesk Student Experience – Aug 7 , 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Held at the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel
• Nvidia Tech Talks – Aug 8 , 9:00 am – 5:30 pm. Held in the West Building, Room 220.
• Nvidia Innovation Theater – held all three days Aug 9, 10 and 11 in the booth.
• Nvidia Sketch Match. Sponsored by Dell, contestants race the clock to compete against fellow illustrators, animators and designers for great prizes.
• NVArt Competition. Nvidia and the CGSociety put this on

Nvidia will also be demonstrating and giving away three new just-announced ThinkPad Tablets from Lenovo in the Nvidia booth during SIGGRAPH.

To learn more about Nvidia go to: www.nvidia.com