AUGIWorld Magazine - May/June 2008 - (Page 24)

What’s Cooking at Autodesk Labs? For Autodesk product users, a trip to Autodesk Labs is always worthwhile. Handy utilities, tools, and much more await you there Available now at Autodesk Labs Status Active Active Active Active Active Active Active Type Technology Technology Technology Technology Technology Utility Utility Name Autodesk Inventor LT Technology Preview Project Draw Project Freewheel Project Showroom Visual search 2D to 3D Tool for Inventor 3D/2D Share Now Add-in for AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, and Design Review Command Complete Bonus Tool for AutoCAD Drawing Cleanup for AutoCAD DWG Export for Maya Feature Recognition for Inventor Frame Generator Customization Tool for Inventor Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD Translator Add-ins for Inventor and Inventor LT XVL Translator Add-in for Inventor Autodesk Impression Technology Preview Content Search Autodesk DGNV8 Translator Technology Preview Autodesk Vault Mirror w w w. A U G I . c o m To help companies in their quest to reach the highly prized competitive edge, which can often be facilitated by technology, Autodesk® offers Autodesk Labs (http://labs.autodesk.com). Perhaps many of you are already familiar with Autodesk Labs, but for those of you who are new to this domain, I’ll explain. Autodesk Labs is an independent group within Autodesk, charged with listening to customers about issues, pain points, and so on. After listening comes action. Autodesk Labs’ reply to user feedback comes in the form of new software tools, which are either provided as add-ons or are integrated with the associated software. Autodesk Labs is a web portal that gives Autodesk customers and others access to beta applications and technologies. Autodesk Labs provides plug-ins for existing products and some web services for new tools. In one of the planning sessions, Brian Mathews of Autodesk Labs shared his vision: “One of the goals of Autodesk Labs is to be influenced by our customers. A typical software development process has ‘black out’ periods where the customer and developer do not interact. These periods can precede the development of a Marketing Requirements Document (MRD) or Product Requirements Document (PRD) or follow it. With documents like these as a guide, developers tend not to hear from customers again until the Beta period begins. They certainly hear from customers, often via sales, after release when defects need to be addressed through Hot Fixes. “Further, Autodesk Labs is intended as a vehicle to provide communication throughout these periods. It is not a replacement for requirements documents. It is not a substitute for a beta period. Instead it is intended to allow customers to provide feedback very early in the process—way before enough words have been written down or code has been developed to constitute a beta. It is a chance for Autodesk development and adoption of technology to be influenced in a big way by what customers have to say. To substantiate this statement Autodesk Impression was developed in this fashion. With this in mind, development is very much alive in the lab. “Moreover, users need not be Autodesk customers to try out the technology available at Autodesk Labs. Autodesk Labs was started by Autodesk employees Eric Stover and Shaan Hurley. The website was live in May 2007, and since then we have had over 150K unique visitors with over 140K downloads.” 24 Active Active Active Active Active Utility Utility Utility Utility Utility Active Active Active Graduated Graduated Graduated Graduated Utility Utility Utility Technology Technology Utility Utility http://labs.autodesk.com http://www.augi.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AUGIWorld Magazine - May/June 2008

AUGIWorld Magazine - May/June 2008 Table of Contents The CAD Manager From Drawing to Display: The Value of Autodesk Impression Designing for Auto-Dimensioning The Proof Is in the Footing Managing Customization and Profiles Getting to Know the Display Manager What's Cooking at Autodesk Labs? On the Back Page

AUGIWorld Magazine - May/June 2008

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