Category Autodesk Labs

Creating an Animated 3D Crowd Animation & Hacking It

Autodesk Project Geppetto is the result of over 5 years of research called “People Power”. The basic idea is to try to assemble all the components you would need to create, manage, and control large crowds of characters. Imagine using several unique 3D characters that can avoid obstacles as well as each other in your rendering to add an additional level of realism to your animation. Project Geppetto is also quite fun to create crowds of people and may in the future be expanded to allow even more realistic bipeds, actions, and customization. This motion technology in the future might be applicable to other characters such as dogs, snakes, etc…

AutoCAD Quick Send to 3ds Max

If you have the Autodesk Design Suite or both AutoCAD 2012 and 3ds Max 2012 or 3ds Max Design 2012 then this new Autodesk Labs posted technology preview might be a really interesting. This Quick Send to 3ds Max combines or links the workflows of AutoCAD and 3ds Max Design.

From iPhone 4S Photo to 3D Model

As you know I am a huge Project Photofly freak as the technology to capture photos from a digital camera and transform them in to 3D models is a game changer. There are several solutions out there but nothing comes even close to the free technology Project Photofly preview hosted on Autodesk Labs. You can take photos using your point and shoot camera or DSLR then upload in Project Photofly and you get a 3D textured model and that can be exported to many industry formats or even a video to YouTube.

Capture the Great Pumpkin in Eye Shattering 3D

One of the great things about Project Photofly is that you can use your own digital camera and the free Project Photofly software to capture things around you in 3D. You can share this 3D model with others in images, avatars, or a video posted to YouTube direct from Photofly. You could export an .IPM file and view on your mobile device using Inventor Publisher mobile or export to .FBX , .OBJ, or .DWG file to use it in AutoCAD, 3ds Max or Maya. Just imagine the fun making your captured 3D creations come to life in Max or Maya perhaps produce that indie blockbuster film short “The Pumpkin that ate Miami”.

Quickie Update with Zombies and What a Way to Start the Day

I had a great time in Seattle speaking at the AUGIO CAD Camp on Monday in Seattle. In addition to showing Project Photofly live and other great Autodesk Labs technologies I also showed a live demo of the new Project Geppetto in 3ds max 2012.

Project Geppetto is an early technology preview available free from Autodesk Labs that allows you to create animated people in 3ds Max 2012 either following paths or idle and look different and have different actions. This technology answers the need for moving characters in your animations instead of just frozen people of the same character used over and over in a scene. The best part is that some of idle people appear to have zombie characteristics.

AUGI CAD Camps Seattle and Minneapolis

I will be speaking at the Seattle and Minneapolis AUGI CAD Camps the next two weeks. I will be the lunch entertainment showing some sweet Autodesk technology desserts.

In the presentation we will take a sneak peek into the some Autodesk technologies from Autodesk Labs. See where Autodesk's technology might be going and how you can get involved.

Photofly Wiki Launched

A few weeks ago I held a Google+ Hangout a casual live webcam and audio discussion with some Autodesk Labs Project Photofly technology preview users. One of the requests from that discussions was to please create a wiki so all tips, tricks and known issues could be found in one place.

We now have Photofly Wiki for everyone to share their collective knowledge of Photofly and tips, tricks, and pitfalls

Wednesday Open Mic

In eight years of blogging I have received several questions on AutoCAD on this blog in comments and tried to answer each one. There is not real formal method to ask a question that is not related to a specific topic of a specific blog post and some have posted their questions to random other post comments. It is for this reason I am experimenting with a Open Mic post for AutoCAD & Autodesk Labs related questions or perhaps just a general comment about this blog, me, my hair, you looking for a job, or the upcoming Autodesk University.