Outside the Lines
Technical Marketing Manager Todd Hunter provides his colorful views, opinions, and expertise on Autodesk Impression, remote controlled helicopters, Triumph motorcycles, and everything in between. Read his blog and chances are you’ll learn more about treble, bass and oil filter maintenance.
Latest Post
- posted 12/13/06 by Todd Hunter AUGI CAD Camp, Cincinnati
- Everyone told me to wear my long-johns and gloves if I am traveling to Cincinnati. I like to travel light so I did not bring any of those things but that is okay because Cinci was in the 50s and sunny when I got there Monday afternoon. It was actually colder and wetter in Vacaville, CA where I live. The Autodesk User Group International (AUGI) runs the series of CAD Camps every year with great success. The “camps” are one day events with non-stop classes and seminars that allow CAD professionals to stay current on the technology they use day to day and to get previews of new Autodesk technologies that are yet to come. In 2005 CAD Camps attracted over 7500 attendees on four different continents. The return attendee registration rates are a good indication of how valuable the training given by AUGIs’ Matt Murphy and his staff of professional instructors is.
I asked Matt if I could present Impression at some of the scheduled CAD Camps to show off the new Autodesk Impression project. The camps always have a catered lunch and Matt likes to make good use of the attendees’ time so he plans sessions during the lunch break called Lunch-and-Learn sessions where folks can sit and eat and get some extracurricular info, usually in the form of a future product presentation. We felt this would be a great time to show off Impression because attendees from all industries go to the lunch and learn sessions and Impression is not just for any one single industry.
There were about 100 in the lunch time presentation in Cincinnati and everyone seemed very excited to see that Autodesk has come out with a product like Impression. It fills a niche and solves a problem that virtually every designer encounters, some on a daily basis.
Next year will be an exciting and busy year for the Impression team and I will be teaching Impression classes at many of the CAD Camp events. Go to www.cadcamp.com to see next years’ schedule and register for one near you.
Previous Posts
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Great Review on Impression on AECmag.com
Posted 12/08/06 by Todd Hunter
I love this quote:
“It’s kind of difficult to explain but easy to use and I promise you will have a lot of fun when you download it.”
Autodesk Impression
AEC Magazine
December 7, 2006
http://aecmag.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=139&Itemid=32
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15 Minutes of Fame (minus 10)
Posted 12/01/06 by Todd Hunter
Sitting in the front row, in a chair hopelessly locked to the adjacent chairs so that my elbows are fused to my stomach, the giant sub-woofers on either side of the stage ten feet directly in front of me are vibrating my intestines, enhancing the queasy nervousness that is beginning to well up, as my que to go onstage gets closer and closer. Eddy sitting next to me was surely thinking, "what have I done?".
When our que comes, we stand and walk to the edge of the stairs that lead to the stage and it seems as if I am not even controlling my own legs. Like some external force is moving me to my mark to wait for the second que to climb the stairs. In a numb and almost surreal state, I notice my heart is beating as though I had just run up a mountain and I have to concentrate to remember I have legs. Whatever it was that I was supposed to do once I got onstage, the thing that Eddy and I had rehearsed (unsuccessfully) several times the night before, was nowhere in my mind. I wanted to find my happy place but instead found that Earth's gravity had somehow amplified with every step I took toward the stage and I now was made of lead. Carl introduces us, its time……….
The Keynote presentation at Autodesk University this year was one of the best I have ever seen and I was fortunate enough to be a part of it. Autodesk customer Eddy Krygiel of BNIM in Kansas City was kind enough to devote some of his time to endorse Autodesk Impression as a keynote speaker, along with Your's Truly at the "demo pod". Together we demonstrated how illustration and presentation graphics are an integral part of any design process and that Impression can be a useful tool during that process. We had exactly five minutes to do so……
I found myself standing on my mark taped on the stage in front of the demo computer. I must have climbed the short flight of stairs to get on stage but I don’t remember doing it. In front of me were seated the thronging masses of designers, drafters, CAD managers, IT professionals, geeks, dweebs, nerds, architects, and engineers. 7500 of them. I could not see them because I was blinded by the brilliant white, trillion candela arc-light projector and spot lights coming from the production stand at the back of the enormous room, but I knew they were there. My part was easy and as soon as it started it was over. There was applause from the crowd so we must have done something while up on stage. The next minute we were seated in the uncomfortable chairs in the first row again and I was thinking whatever we did must have gone well.
I have made hundreds of public presentations to thousands of people over the years but never to 7500 in one room. We told Eddy that it was going to be a large crowd but neither of us expected the 7500 people in a room you could fit two jumbo jets in.