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 02/14/07 by Todd Hunter Impression Technology Preview 4 is Now Available!
- Keeping up our aggressive build cycle as we round the final corner before we release Impression for sale to the public, Technology Preview 4 is Now Available!
Our development team has been hard at work making improvements at the very core of the application. The improvements this time around are not as visual as last time, but they'll make a big difference in the way you work. You will find Technology Preview 4 to be more stable, with much better performance overall.
If you downloaded Impression prior to February 14, we encourage you to come back to Labs, download the latest version of the application and take it for a spin. We think that you'll be quite happy with how Impression is now performing. You will also find some new entourage in the form of people figures. These entourage blocks are modeled after real Autodesk employees in candid poses.
Also, if you have been meaning to give us a piece of your mind regarding a preview you have downloaded, now is your last chance. You can still be instrumental in shaping the way this product works but be advised, speak now or forever hold your piece, because this is the LAST PREVIEW you will be able to comment on for our first release of Impression.
Previous Posts
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Substance Abuse in the Design Studio
Posted 02/09/07 by Todd Hunter
Though the shape and form of some modern structures may make us think the Architect was on drugs, substance abuse in the AEC industry is becoming a big problem for many design firms and is causing large drops in productivity. Many of the architects designing these buildings have become addicted to marker pen fumes. During a deadline crunch, Jason Flugelhorn of KMDRNLSOM&Q Architects was found passed out in the fetal position next to the copier machine with a Crimson colored marker lodged in his left nostril and a brand new Azure pen he was apparently about to open. “This is the third one since we started this project” the managing principle of KMDRNLSOM&Q told us. “We thought the oderless pens would help. The worse part is, we still need three different design options ready to present tomorrow, and that was the only Crimson marker we had”.
Though it has not been approved by the FDA, clinical studies at Autodesk Labs have proven that Impression will not only prevent a dependence on the fumes but also eliminates the need to be exposed to the markers that create them. Preliminary studies also show great promise for Impression helping to actually cure the marker fume addiction suffered by so many architects. When I visited Jason at the Gerry Garcia Clinic in Woodacre, CA, he was but a shell of his former self. Nurse Emily Puffwelder, head of Jason’s ward, told me Jason is a very talented designer. “He just wants to colorize CAD files all day. He does well with finger painting but he keeps sniffing the Tempra. Also, cleaning the paint off the computer monitors is becoming a problem”. I sat down next to Jason and put my laptop PC next to him with Impression running on it. He removed the colored marker pencaps that he had placed on his fingertips and immediately began to create styles and apply them to layers. His eyes became aware and the color seemed to come back to his pale complexion (except for the crimson stains around his nose). I told the staff at the clinic to download the latest Technology Preview of Impression and install it on all of the PCs at the clinic. The clinic administrator refused and said that this type of rehab brings them $30k a month per patient, and that actually curing people would be bad for the clinic's business. At that point, I grabbed Jason and my laptop and though he was only wearing a diaper, I put him in my car and got out of that place.
Less than a week later, Jason was back to his old job at KMDRNLSOM&Q and deftly using Impression to prepare for presentations.
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Beware The Miltant Marker Activist
Posted 02/01/07 by Todd Hunter
It's like we are all walking on eggshells these days, trying not to offend someone or some group of oversensitive numbskulls. The history of progress in this country is based on offending people, so that they might rise to the challenge and advance themselves, or become competitive, thus perpetuating progress. The inventor of the wooden pencil, Lothar von Faber, was so offended when Charles Marie de la Condamine invented the eraser, he challenged him to a duel, citing that Condamine intended to wipe out everything he had worked for. A business man himself, Conamine accepted the challenge and the men met for a duel with pistols. When the duel commenced, each man fired simultaneously and each man was mortally wounded by the other man's bullet. Both men were so enraged that before they died, they grappled and fought with each other hand-to-hand. It appeared that Faber would be the last to die from his gunshot wound when he had Condamine by the throat against a rock, but in his last gasp, Condamine pulled one of Faber's own wooden pencils from Faber’s jacket pocket, and jabbed it into Faber's eye, killing him instantly. Condamine died moments later.
The artisan and writing community soon got word of the horrific sight of the two men dead on top of one another on the dueling field. This group was so offended by the mere thought of such barbarism over to two very useful tools, that they lobbied their local governments to decree that all pencils will also have an eraser affixed on the opposite end to both commemorate the two inventors Faber and Condamine, and to symbolize that not everyone draws it right the first time.
In the days before political correctness, when things actually got done and no one was sued for doing those things, being offended actually resulted in useful advancements. Sure someone is always going to take a pencil in the eye but in the name of technology, is it really that big of a deal?
Fast forward to 2007… Of course Autodesk is a large target when it comes to opportunistic whiners needing to claim to be offended by someone. Here we are trying to develop a tool that not only helps designers be more productive but is also fun to use, giving the user feelings of enormous satisfaction and fostering creativity in a whole new medium. Well you can never please everyone (which is the greatest American attribute) and so a new group of whiners has emerged: The Global Marker Alliance. We at Autodesk got wind of the GMA right after Impression went live on Autodesk Labs. We’ve tried to contact them on a number of occasions, but for some reason, they are not responsive. We are not sure at this point who was initially offended and initiated the GMA but we have evidence that the GMA is funded by large marker manufacturers. There is speculation that the ACLU will back them. You can read about this subversive group at this link http://www.savethemarkers.com I recommend that you forward this link to as many designers that value their productivity as you can. People need to be aware of this potentially dangerous group.