Category Technology

Aerial Drones Capture the Matterhorn in 3D

Kean Walmsley a friend and colleague of mine here at Autodesk wrote a nice blog post on his Through the Interface blog about something near and dear to my digital heart - capturing 3D geometry with textures using a aerial drones.

Checkout Kean's blog article on the latest cool drone 3D capture involving the Matterhorn located in beautiful Switzerland as well as processing drone captured imagery in Autodesk ReCap Photo. Running drone-captured data through ReCap Photo

Windows XP End of Life Coming on April 8th 2014

April 8, 2014 is the official Microsoft End of Life date for what has been a very good Operating System (OS)Windows XP . Windows XP was launched on August 21, 2001 and after 12 years it will be unsupported by Microsoft and many others. This means official support will end and it would be a good idea to consider upgrading, if you have not already, or at least just knowing of this XP retirement so you can plan accordingly.

Most current software from Autodesk as well as most other software vendors has already been, or will be discontinuing official support for Windows XP as it is extremely difficult to program software to work on current OS and APIs and shoehorn in fixes or hack ways for new software and features to run on OS that did not have certain APIs and features. The support of older OS for software is a real cost of resources for software companies and the further they must support back the less they can implement new features. The other HUGE consideration is that OS security updates that will be stopping. As much as I loved Windows XP, it is no longer being updated or has the same amount of security built in for todays computer security threats and vulnerabilities.

Windows 7 is a great OS choice and the OS I use on my Windows PCs currently. If you can adapt to changes or your computer manufacturer only supplies the very latest release of Windows OS then Windows 8 and better yet Windows 8.1 may be your best option to enter the modern day of Windows OS. You can also look around at other OS flavors like Apple OSX, Linux, or Chrome OS and see if they meet your needs and the hardware and software you use.

Will the world end and your computer running Windows XP stop on April 8th, 2014, no but it will be much more difficult. In any case not upgrading your OS is tempting fate with all official updates, software support, and hardware and drivers making your computing life very difficult. It is every important you have the hardware and software current for what you so. I cant tell you how many times I get an email asking why a person cannot run their 1996 software on their year 2013 hardware or their 1996 hardware run their 2013 software. Both hardware and software need upgrading when you make the decision, not just one.

Autodesk ReCap Photo Updated & Spiral Tooth Shark 3D Model

An updated Autodesk ReCap Photo is now available. Create high quality professional grade 3D models from photos including high resolution TIFF images. http://bit.ly/12j2Zph. This is the product that is the professional higher resolution version of the extremely popular consumer focused Autodesk Photofly which then became the current Autodesk 123D Catch which is free.

Recently I visited with my friend Brock down at Fossilogic and captured some of his rare fossils in 3D using only my digital camera and then processing the photos using Autodesk ReCap Photo. One was of a Woolly Mammoth and the other a spiral tooth shark. Both of these as well as many others Brock works on for museums are the original fossils. The Spiral Tooth Shark (Helicoprion) was found stuck in a coal seam in a Utah coal mine and I am told many fossils are found in these coal mines after all coal is remnants of ancient plant material.

Spiral Tooth Shark Fossil 3D Model Created by Photos Processed in Autodesk ReCap PhotoSpiral Tooth Shark Fossil TIFF Photos to be Processed in Autodesk ReCap Photo

Using only 38 high resolution TIFF photos to automatically create a highly detailed 3D model and export the 3D geometry with textures to OBJ format and open in 3ds Max in minutes is amazing. There is no way I could accurately model some objects in 3D and texture them in the short time it takes to photograph and process them in Autodesk online image based modeling service Autodesk ReCap Photo.

Got Aereo Internet Streamed Live Local TV

Last night I attended the Utah launch of Aereo where the is the founder and CEO Chet Kanojia showed how Aereo worked and talked very candidly with attendees invited to the event. Aereo has been in the middle of many legal fights due to their innovative method of co-locating miniature antennas in arrays of 10,000 that people can subscribe to and get the over the air broadcasts of their local TV on their PC, Roku, Apple TV and mobile devices like iPad and iPhone with an Android version rolling out next month. You get a guide in an HTML5 compatible browser or Flash format on the PC and can schedule cloud based DVR recordings or watch live local TV but only when you are located in the broadcast area due to legal red tape currently.

Autodesk Remote Released for Subscription Customers

I showed this technology for the first time publicly in June when it was called Project Blink running Autodesk Inventor from an iPad but you can also use a PC to access another workstation. The one big benefit I noticed is the lower latency than any other remote solution I have used. So if you are an Autodesk Subscription customer go to the Autodesk Exchange and give Autodesk Remote a try.

From the Autodesk Digital Prototyping Blog:
http://autodeskmfg.typepad.com/blog/2013/07/autodesk-remote-launched-for-subscription-customers.html

“Anyone that pays close attention to the Autodesk® Exchanges Apps may have noticed a new addition in the last week. This new application is called Autodesk® Remote, and is available to download as a subscription only benefit, and is aimed at users who need to access their workstation and associated applications from a remote location without the traditional interface performance issues associated with it. Click here to go to the Autodesk Exchange Apps store.”

Toronto Meetup

I will be working in the beautiful city of Toronto Ontario Canada half of this week, and as I have often done in the past around the world hold a casual meetup. I love chatting about Autodesk, Autodesk’s products, design, industry, technology such as reality capture, blogging and social media, or just casual conversational topics and what you are doing with Autodesk products or looking for solutions to.
If you will be available Wednesday Morning for a morning coffee or tea meetup chat or Friday night email me.

Google Glass Explorer Invitation

Google Glass Explorer Edition.jpegI just read that those who were originally Google blessed with a pair of Google Glasses in the Google Glass Explorer program might have received a special email to allow you to invite another person to spend $1500 on a pair of uber geek glasses. Google Opens Invites To Google Glass Explorer Program

I wanted to make a case (beg & plea) for you contacting me with that one special invitation to share. I would really love to use these to explore ways to share experiences with other such as exploring ways they could be used in construction and design technologies and take all my readers with me on all the trails I hike every week and those crazy travel experiences like the time I got my butt kicked by a kangaroo. Google Glass would also be awesome when you meet as many people as I do and help you remember all their names. Wearable computing devices are only get more and more prevalent and advanced and open many new exciting possibilities.

I know chances are better to hit the lottery as there is such a small number of Google Glass Explorers, but I had to at least ask. I would offer my first born child but he is now 22 years old and can be a bit cranky at times. So if you have one of those special Google Glass invites, lets talk.

The New Industrial Revolution Is Coming In 3-D

This is a great article by the online Wall Street Journal on new digital manufacturing and how some of those technologies translate into new ways to manufacture products. We are not yet in an age of robot factories, but getting close as more digital fabrication methods in additive manufacturing like 3D printing are advancing in materials, quality, and the scale required.

Autodesk Project Blink Beta Opportunity – Run Remote Apps from PC & iPad

Project Blink gives you the power and flexibility to run software installed on your computer from a remote computer or tablet with lower latency than other solutions, and optimized for some Autodesk software. I wish I could say more, but this is a beta and you need to apply and get in the special beta to find out how amazing this cutting edge technology is compared to traditional remote hosted application technologies.