Inside Hues
Product Marketing Manager Lisa Crounse takes you on a behind the scenes tour of what goes into developing a new technology for Autodesk Labs. Lisa introduces you to members of the Impression development team and shares their unique ideas and insights.
Latest Post
- posted 01/30/08 by Lisa Crounse Impression e_learning Courses are Live!
- Whether you are just getting started with Impression or are an experienced user, we bet that there is something for you in the new e_learning lessons.
Those of you who are on subscription will recognize the interface and the lesson format, as its the same one used for lessons offered on the Subscrption Center for other Autodesk products.
BTW - we're having a little issue getting the lessons to display in the "prescribed" order. That said, the lessons are designed to be indivual components, so its easy to take them in any order. That said, if you are starting at the very beginning, here is a reccommended order:
1.Getting Started
2.Appearance Styles
3.Layer Styling
4.Area Styling
5.Using Blocks and Block Substitution Maps
6.Working with Drawings
7.Working with Layers
8.The Toolbox
Enjoy! and let us know what you think!5 comments In Inside Hues >
Previous Posts
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New Galleries posted
Posted 01/28/08 by Lisa Crounse
I just posted two new galleries to the Finished Renderings gallery. Check them out (and of course, keep those submissions coming)!
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Team Spotlight: Linda Saldana
Posted 01/17/08 by Lisa Crounse
Have you taken a look at the Help system in Impression? Or maybe the Quick Start Guide? If so, then you have experienced the handiwork of Linda Saldana from our User Assistance team. I got to know Linda better when we frequented the same yoga class here at the Autodesk gym (yes folks, this is California!). There I learned that Linda is very flexible and has good balance. That, of course, extends to her work on the Impression team. Here's a bit more about Linda...
Q: What is your position?
A: The Impression Technical Writer – which means I create art and write text for Help, Quick Start Guide, and readme.
Q: Who are you and why are you here?
A: I worked as a newspaper reporter for a couple of years before I discovered that you can actually make a living wage with tech writing. Before coming to Autodesk 14 ½ years ago, I created pictorial manuals for educational kids games, wrote C programming tutorials, and instructed people on how to use travel agency accounting systems and word processing programs. At Autodesk, I’ve worked on AutoSketch, AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, and now my favorite program of all time – Impression.
Q: What do you do during an average day, or do you even have such a thing?
A: Read email, play with the latest version of Impression, read specs, go to meetings, write, and play with Impression some more—in no particular order.
Q: What has been the most exciting part of working on Impression?
A: It’s great to work with a small, motivated team that is creating something new. The product is visually stimulating as well. Sometimes I have to stop myself from fooling around with it. The “people” block sets were taken from photos of people who worked on the product, and it was quite thrilling to see myself strolling across a customer drawing recently.
Q: You must have a lot of stats – how many topics are there in the Help system?
A: The Help system currently has 388 topics, 632 unique pieces of art or screenshots, and 2,271 hyperlinks. This equates to about 870 printed pages, including the index.
Q: You take a creative writing class outside of work (at least I think that you do ), how does this influence the way you think about your work as a UA writer?
After spending the entire day trying to adhere to the facts, I like to go home and write fiction. I’ve written about 50 short stories, a screenplay and have just completed a novel. I try not to let my fantasy life creep into the Impression documentation, but that does give me an idea. Maybe my next novel should be about a CAD user who escapes his humdrum monotone world by converting everything around him into colorful, Impressionistic scenes that make him rich and desirable. Of course, it will be loosely based on actual events!
An "impressionistic" portrait of Linda!
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Happy New Year!
Posted 01/04/08 by Lisa Crounse
It is pouring rain here in San Rafael, but clearly it is snowing many places in Impression-land. Happy new year everyone!
Thanks to Ged Trias for sharing this fun image!