Thursday 23 June 2016

Autodesk Forge Conference

I attended the Forge Conference last week to have a good look at the latest technology on offer from Autodesk.

Some interesting stuff, a collection of useful links and videos below...

In a nutshell, Forge is the name that is used for the core components that Autodesk are building their next generation cloud products on. It is a common base of components that is used by their AEC and their manufacturing products. However, the big difference is that these components are being packaged up so that other organisations can build software using these building blocks (for a pay-per-use fee).

The main man from Autodesk leading the activities was Jim Quanci who is definitely worth a follow on Twitter. Even though there were over 1,000 delegates at the conference, Jim seemed to be somehow finding the time to walk the floor and talk to every single person.

To watch the opening presentation from Amar Hanspal on the vision, please see below:


To watch the presentation from Ben Cochrane on some of the technology behind the scenes, please see below:

In terms of websites to explore to see the viewer in action - have a look at...

https://bldng360.com/ - 3D model repository from The Netherlands...

http://lmv.rocks/ - Scaled back, clean, promo site...

The AEC case study was from Mark Stocks from JE Dunn who have developed their bespoke Sharepoint site with Autodesk Forge viewing and data management components within. This promotional video is worth a watch - the story from a napkin sketch from the architect through to the finished building is quite a nice one:


A couple of other impressive items included the Forge technology that takes in drone 2D photographs and converts these on the cloud to a 3D model of the building envelope and surrounding landscape and the virtual reality work from Kean Walmsley.




See http://www.vrok.it/ for the latest on the Virtual Reality work from Kean.

Over and above the conference, it was fantastic to get a tour of the Autodesk offices in San Francisco and also the Pier 9 Autodesk 'factory' on the bay. Thanks to those who looked after me and made me so welcome over in the States.
Shanghai Tower model
3D printing - software and hardware at pier 9
Developers wanting to know more please check out...

1 comment:

  1. Hi Stephen,

    Thanks for the great insight into this event, it is a good summary of what technologies autodesk are looking into.

    I particularly enjoyed the promotional video created by JE Dunn along with the drone video which allows you to scan a site from a drone and a simply app...

    It is truly exiting to see what the future holds for the industry especially with these new technologies being released.

    I think that drones will really become useful to our industry when they can scan a site and turn that into a 3D point cloud which can be used for BIM or Virtual Reality! - The 3DR Solo defines that technology.

    I have recently created a post of my own on similar topics, you may want to check them out...

    Feedback is always appreciated!

    Either way, Keep up the good work!

    You can check the content out here:
    http://construct-digital.uk/latest/10-ways-use-drones-construction/
    http://construct-digital.uk/latest/virtual-reality-construction/

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