The Virtual Engineer

Project Falcon is now available as a stand-alone application

November 26th, 2011 Posted in autodesk

We just posted a brand new version of Falcon. This allows designers to leverage geometry from anywhere. As we stated before, Falcon initially was piloted toward Alias users. This was the plan from the beginning. We wanted to test the concept in a new market and the feedback has been fantastic.

Along the way, it became clear that everyone wanted access to Falcon. We now have a standalone version (same install as the Alias plugin). It provides the ability to read in models from anywhere via STL. Instead of spending Black Friday shopping, I was designing in Autodesk® 123D and simulating via Falcon.

The implementation is super simple. Take model of choice, export to STL and import into Falcon and sit back and enjoy. You can also snag models from the gallery on 123D and have a go. Simulation is evolving and the limits are being pushed by customers who are continuing to push the envelope. One of the most critical thing that I have noticed in today’s engineering world is competition is high, deadlines are tight and the pressure to deliver has never been higher. We, as engineers, must continue to self-evaluate our processes and stay 2 or 3 steps ahead of the pack.

cfd, falcon

Project Falcon: A fresh new look at CFD

November 25th, 2011 Posted in autodesk

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We have written about “upfront CFD” many times over the years. As the name implies, its allowing engineers and designers to perform FAST simulations early in the design process. Many companies have benefited from this approach to simulation, but Autodesk is taking it one step further.

They have simplified the approach to one-click to perform wind tunnel simulations. This Project is available on Autodesk Labs. It is called Project Falcon. The initial release of Falcon was targeted to Autodesk® Alias users. A tight integration with Alias, allowed designer with zero experience to visualize their designs. The key word is visualize. Although it is solving the same equations as traditional CFD, the emphasis on this project was to reduce the decisions an inexperienced user would need to make. Significant thought and energy was put into the design of the UI, the underlying technology as well as the workflow. Check out the workflow below.

The feedback from Alias users has been great. It’s really fun to visit some of the top automobile companies in the world and listen to their challenges and collaborate to make a solution without the baggage of legacy code etc. This is what Autodesk does really well. We have the flexibility to look at things differently. We have acquired significant amount of simulation technology over the years, as well as starting with a clean sheet of paper and building product that customers love.

There is a lot going on in the Simulation industry right now. We are taking it very serious and are open for your ideas. What challenges are you having today? Where can we help?

cfd, falcon

A brief perspective of being acquired by Autodesk

September 20th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized

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Where to even start. It’s been quite the journey over the last year. My last post was coming off of Autodesk University 2010. Next thing I know, my world was flipped upside down with the acquisition of Blue Ridge Numerics by Autodesk. As you can imagine, the news and feelings were mixed. I spent the last 6 years working with a group of the best people in the world. We were all aligned and loved what we were doing. I was fortunate enough to work in various roles, met some amazing customers and was exposed to some of the most mind-blowing technology in the world.

But, the fact is the world was changing. The economic climate was questionable, manufacturing was unstable in different geographies and the world of CAE was changing at the same time. In my early career there were numerous CAD/FEA/CFD/PLM/PDM vendors out there. Some big, some small. The market was ripe and there was plenty of business to be had. But over time, due to acquisitions and mergers the landscape was changing. The market became more aware of the tools out there, but at the same time the offerings became larger, more complicated and everyone was jockeying for a piece of the pie.

The market was evolving. Companies were selling “solutions”. A large array of products and technology to solve a particular list of problems. Connections were made and over the course of about a year, a deal was struck and what was once a small independent CFD company was now owned by Autodesk.

Over the course of the last six months we have been through quite the transformation. Some good, some not so good. But, I think in the big picture, it was the best thing that could have happened to the company, the product and the people. I’m not one that drinks the kool-aid as they say, but the above video is something that inspires me and makes me proud to work for Autodesk. We are all apart of something unique and the products that we make allow engineers, designers, architect and creative folks to build a better world. That’s what motivates me to get out of bed every morning.

autodesk

Infinite Computing–Autodesk’s take on “cloud” computing

December 1st, 2010 Posted in #AU2010

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Imagine a world where your interaction with computers and software is drastically different than it is today. Imagine the concept of “needing” more power for intense computation for visualization, simulation and rendering just vanished. Imagine the day where we look back and can’t believe we actually had those big old desktop machines not only in our offices, but in our homes. That day is coming sooner than we think.

Many people call it many different things. Some people have even taken to being cynical about the word “cloud” computing. Most of these people are the skeptics in the world where change is difficult to accept. These are also the people that avoid early adoption and probably, in most cases, rightfully so. They just aren’t ready. These are also the people that haven’t felt the pain of desperately needing more power, simplifying and compromising their work due to the lack of power at their disposal.

But if you have felt the pain. The answer is often not simple. Those of us that fall into that category don’t simply need another bigger machine. We don’t want the hassle of maintaining and upgrading and being semi-satisfied for a brief period of time before our purchase is now outdated. We need way more than that. We need…….infinite computing.

This is the phrase that Jeff Kowalski, CTO at Autodesk, dropped on us like a bowl of cloudy goodness at #AU2010 this year in Las Vegas. The presentation and delivery was spot-on. Traditional computing will be here for the forseeable future. But this idea of having a lightweight (iPad, netbook, notebook) tool as the viewing device and infinite amount of computing power out there securely in the “cloud” is a totally different way that we think about computing.

According to Kowalski, a mindset change is required for people to grasp the true potential of this idea. There will definitely require a toolset change, but more importantly, people have to be comfortable to look at the source of the problem and embrace that a totally different type of solution may be required. A different mindset will be required. Looking at computing differently. The landscape for computing has changed, therefore, the solution has changed.

Being a die-hard simulation guy where I have felt the pain from the first day I logged into a unix machine, it makes perfect sense to me. I am able to run models on my laptop today, that used to require a cluster of computers 15 years ago. But, it is still not enough, it will never be enough. Models are growing in complexity, in size and people want to push the limits of simulation to the point that it closely matches reality. AND…they want it immediately.

The power of simulation is not only getting an answer, but its getting the optimal answer. In order to achieve that, you have to run multiple what-if scenarios. Running these models in parallel, simultaneously is a simulation guy’s dream. It is 100% obtainable today to do that, but the barrier is computing resources. An infinite computing model breaks down this barrier and changes the mindset of how we think about computing.

Seems simple, right? As with everything in the world, there are some hurdles to getting us there. The two main hurdles are security and pricing. Security is being tackled now by folks like Amazon, Microsoft, Google and the like. It’s not perfect, but it will have to be close to perfect for it to become a reality.

Pricing is a totally different animal. Paying for the compute time is easy, there are models like AWS that are alive and well. But, how do you bundle software into the mix. Paying for hardware and software are two different animals that will have to coexist.

I’m convinced that simulation is the way of the future. We will look back in amazement that it took as long as it did to become mainstream. Infinite computing is one of the biggest breakthroughs and game changers in Simulation. I can’t wait to log-on and uncover the impossible.

cloud

Digital Prototyping in the Entertainment Business

November 30th, 2010 Posted in #AU2010

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Sitting in #AU2010 and in awe of what people in the deisgn community are doing. There is a list of projects presented from space exploration to city infrastructures.

The keyword that Carl Bass started the session with was “Impact”

It was not your typical software vendor commercial of all of their cool products. In fact, I’m not sure anyone ever mentioned a single product.

More to come, but I thought it was interesting that Cliff Plummer from Digital Domain, presented “digital prototyping” and how it was used to convince the Disney execs to move forward with the new Tron Legacy movie,

Here is a glimpse of the prototype.

Tron Prototype

CFD design studies driven by Autodesk Inventor & Fusion

November 27th, 2010 Posted in #AU2010, autodesk

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On the eve of Autodesk University, I wanted to give some insight to the Inventor community, how making flow and thermal design decisions are easier than you think. The true power of simulation is to make it a natural part of the design process. Tools, like CFdesign, put the power of the “what-if study” in the hands of the entire engineering team.

There are numerous companies in the world that are building products that have fluid flow and heat transfer design challenges. The status quo is to physically test the designs or use “rules of thumb”. The dangers are tremendous. Unreliable products are getting to market too late and the cost of goods is shooting through the roof.

There are many CFD vendors out there that promise to make all of the above go away.

The fact is in order for CFD to have a significant impact on your business the tool has to maximize the information provided and use the information to make better informed decisions. CFD codes produce a tremendous amount of data. Historically, its taken a CFD samurai to comb through it all and come out with the needle in the haystack.

Upfront CFD is different. It was built from day 1 to help answer the question “what-if”. Imagine if physical prototyping was instant and free. You would tweak and try innovative things to develop much better products, right? That is what upfront CFD is all about- numerous what-if scenarios AND the ability to specify only the information you want and compare the data side by side.

Check out how CFdesign works with Inventor and Fusion.

We are the Industry Preferred Partner for Autodesk Inventor and Revit. Stop by and see us at Autodesk University. I think you will be impressed.

upfront cae, upfront cfd

Prepping for Autodesk University–#AU2010

November 27th, 2010 Posted in #AU2010, autodesk, MCAD

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This weekend is becoming an annual tradition for me. A mixture of consuming more turkey than humanly possible and prepping for one of the best conferences of the year – Autodesk University. This is my third year in a row and I am as excited as ever. There is something to be said for 1000s of like minded folks gathering in Vegas a few weeks before Christmas. The week is jam packed with more information, buzz and excitement than anyone can handle. The goal is to retain as much of it as possible.

I am fortunate to be attending in two capacities- member of the media to represent this blog and a vendor representing CFdesign. I see the two roles as quite different, but at the same time very similar. I will have my ears wide open and will be taking copious notes to relay my take on the events.

As always, there is a short list of topics I am particularly interested in….

Web-based and Mobile Computing

Clearly, two totally different technologies but I am lumping them together as I think they are very related. They complement each other nicely. Whenever I listen to the Autodesk folks they tend to use the phrase “SaaS” all the time, obviously standing for Software as a Service. From the user community, SaaS is nothing more than a business or licensing model. What I care about from the user side is the flexibility of accessing my data as well as compute power from anywhere, any device, any time. Many of the tools being rolled out to the Labs site look promising. They are being used to educate and show proof of concept. I’m anxious to see one that changes the way we work. If anyone is listening, I have a list of ideas.

Inventor/Fusion Modeling Platform

This may or may not exist as a true product or platform. But, I can’t help but feel that one of the true unique advantages that Autodesk has in the market is a unified modeling system. Inventor is proving itself daily as a true player in the MCAD space. With the integration of Alias and Fusion and AutoCAD it is becoming a unique system that cannot be rivaled by Dassault Systemes or Siemens. Both of these powerhouses have a few solutions, one at the high end, one at the midrange as well as surfacing (ICEM) modeling that seems to be integrated in CATIA, but not SolidWorks. So there is a constant issue of interoperability. Too many tools that do not play nicely with one another, If they cannot share and cannot help drive the process, what’s the benefit?

The Simulation Roadmap to “true” Digital Prototyping

Simulation is still in it’s infancy when it comes to mass adoption. Most companies are far from realizing the true potential of simulation. It will need to be a natural part of the design process, not just a “module” that is added to a CAD seat. If we look at what SolidWorks did with COSMOS in the early days, it’s truly amazing. The number of FEA boxes that were pushed as well as the bundling of CAD and simulation is truly amazing. But ten years later, COSMOS is still viewed as a designer/CAD level tool. DS acquired ABAQUS (rebranded SIMULIA) but the technologies seem to remain separate. Vendors seem to treat designers, engineers and analysts separately. The problem in the engineering community is the lack of interoperability. It’s fine that the tools are developed for the particular user, but when data cannot be shared across the enterprise (or even across the hallway) we are not solving the problem, we are just contributing to it, Autodesk is in a prime spot to change the game in the simulation market. Not easy, but the pieces are falling into place.

Still lots to do before heading out, but the excitement is building. See you in Vegas.

cloud, modeling, upfront cae

Tools, I depend on daily…

October 11th, 2010 Posted in productivity

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What are the productivity applications that you use all day, everyday? I’m talking about the ones that you may even take for granted. But when you step back and think about it, these are the must haves. We all have our list. You know what I am talking about. Those that make you resent and even resist upgrading to a new computer. Whatever the reason, we all gravitate to our set of productivity tools that make us feel secure/productive each day. I will focus on the ones that rank high on my list for work purposes.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox is more than my default browser. It is the one program that is up and running on everyone of my computers constantly. The combination of add-ons and extensions makes firefox a universal environment that gives me access to the web. Add-ons give me access to twitter, gmail, evernote, itunes, amazon. The list goes on and on. One of the best add-ons or extensions (never sure which is which) is Sync. It allows you to login to the browser and it grabs all of your favorites, themes and you are instantly up and running. The one major thing that sync is missing is the knowledge of add-ons and extensions if I want to install Firefox on a different machine. Right now its manual and a bit painful. Another gem from the Mozilla folks is Firefox Home for the iphone. Gives access to bookmarks and pages opened on your “other” machine, Not the cleanest of workflows as it feels like it’s a browser, but its not. Many Chrome lovers out there. I’m sticking with Firefox and loving it.

Techsmith Snag-it & Jing

I use both, Jing and Snag-it to communicate image or video-based ideas. They have similar capabilities, but I use them quite differently. Snag-it is the defacto standard tool for capturing images on the desktop. They continue to add a ton of functionality (transparent filled backgrounds is my latest fav). Can’t say enough good things about Snag-it. At first, I thought Jing was the little brother to Snag-it. But, the more you dig in, the more you see that Jing is more of a favorite cousin. I use Jing primarily to create video snippets and I share them via the connection to Techsmith’s screencast.com. Amazing when a company can create two tools that on the surface look very similar. But once you get comfortable, you realize that they are more different than they are similar. In the end, you want them both and absolutely want them to be separate. I’m a big fan of using the right tool for the right job.

Skype

Skype is my main phone system for work. It allows me to simply connect to the internet and I’m all set. Above and beyond the free version of skype, I have a dedicated phone number and the World Connect package. It comes out to be about $10/month. That is $10/month for world-wide calling allows computer to landlines in almost every country around the globe. Mobile phones in many countries are included, those that aren’t there is a charge at a reduced rate. Skype keeps getting better and better. The iphone 4 now allows for multi-tasking, so when I am away from my computer, I simply login to my phone. If, I don’t want to be logged in for instant messaging, I simply forward calls to my mobile. Email notifications tell me when a voicemail is available, which I then sign into my phone to check. Solid system all around, big fan.

Evernote

Different people use Evernote differently. I am always intrigued to read their blog posts where the Evernote folks share ways that users are using their tool. I use it as a central database for web clippings, email archive, to-do lists etc. Email archiving has been my latest project. I try, obsessively, to keep my inbox at zero. Any email that I want to have as a reference (current projects etc) all get posted to Evernote. Any attachment I want to reference later- Evernote. I use the Evernote add-on for Outlook which works about 70% of the time. It still has major formatting issues. When in doubt, I forward emails to my Evernote account. I use the Evernote iphone app to access all of the files. The trick to using Evernote is defining a notebook, tagging system. My advice would be to keep it simple to start, as it can quickly grow out of hand. I use a combination of @, #, * to filter things quickly. Happy to share my somewhat bizarre system, but suspect you can define one you are comfortable with that suits your needs.

Dropbox

Think of Dropbox as a universal folder system that automatically syncs all of the files on your computer with the web AND any other computer/device that has dropbox installed. It’s instant backup and on-demand file access from anywhere. I consistently use a netbook, laptop, desktop and iphone. All of my files are a click away. If I am away from any of these devices, I can log onto your machine and instantly grab a file. If I have to upgrade to a new computer, no problem. I go to my existing machine, delete “my entire dropbox”. I then install the lightweight dropbox client onto the new machine and sync. It’s amazing!

These are just some of the staples in my arsenal.. All of these tools have a common theme. I want my stuff a click or two away from anywhere at anytime. I work in a virtual office and travel from time to time, so that is what sparked this lifestyle of on-demand access. But, I’d be surprised if others didn’t feel this way. The days of the external harddrive are gone. I still have a few laying around.

By the way, I am a software companies dream customer. I started off with the base freemium package on almost all of the above. I have Evernote Premium, Jing Pro, Screencast.com account, World Connect Skype package along with additional nuggets and the 100GB paid Dropbox plan. Each and everyone of these is valuable and the decision to go paid was a no-brainer. Freemium models do work, they work very well for a guy like me.

What tools could you not live without?

dropbox, evernote, firefox, jing, skype, snagit

Overall, the iPad disappoints a guy like me!

September 27th, 2010 Posted in computing

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For every cool thing the iPad does well, there are three things that it doesn’t do well. I will spare you the typical Apple fan boy praise. It’s slick and the overall user experience is slick. Especially, if you are used to the iPhone. In general, the very top-level stuff that it does – touch screen, prettiness of a UI, innovative App store- it does really well.

Once you get an hour or two after opening the box, you realize.

There is a laundry list of things it simply sucks at….

No caps lock – what???
The shift key stinks and doesn’t capitalize properly.
Keyboard is overall made for skinny fingers. Really skinny
Multi-tasking is non-existent. Try streaming music and switching over to another program.
Web browsing is painful – try copy/paste from one safari session to the next. Safari in itself, zero good things to say. Put Firefox, or even chrome on there, now we are talking.
I thought I would get used to the keyboard, but its not happening. The touch screen of the iphone is one thing and tolerable because its a phone and the space is small. For the larger iPad version its simply lame.
If its an extension to my computer/phone, why can’t I charge from my laptop.
Using this in a “work environment” is close to pointless for mainstream users. I realize, that I am referring to “mainstream windows” users, but this is 97% of the world? Where is easy VPN? Easy migration to MS Office? I’d settle for Google docs, still nothing? How about for dev folks- Visual Studio? I am far from a Windows zealot, but….
Facebook app is an iphone app? What!? I know this is not apple’s fault, but when you are trying to be top-dog, it’s your fault.
App for LinkedIn doesn’t include “group’ activities? Close to pointless without.
iPad wifi strength blatantly stinks and has required an additional $25/mo 3G plan. Works in 60% of my house, not the other- kid’s playroom on the 2nd floor, for example. But works, above and below that?
The one case I found, is mediocre at best. Why would I not read on a kindle? Because, I would hope to use it in bed and it’s too big, too heavy, too clunky for that. Thank you kindle!

The list goes on an on an on. What does it do well?

Overall, usability to what it does support is slick, flick of the finger and you are up and running.
The twitteriffic app is awesome.
With a good signal, netflix is amazing!
The evernote app is #1- EXCEPT I haven;t found any connection to email or web browsing via a clipper of sorts. So, other than searching, what’s the point?

Conclusion

I’m one of those in-betweeners. I love apple products for their design, beauty etc. But I am also a free-spirit open source guy that hates everything that apple stands for. In other words, I try to be open-minded. I love beautiful products that work awesomely. Those that exceed my expectations. Those that are just, WOW!. On the surface, the iPad is that device. Once you get into it, the iPad simply disappoints a guy like me. So….. I gave it to my wife, for the web browsing, netflix, kids gaming stuff that she uses it for, I’m a hero.

For the portability of an on-the-go supplement to my workday, the iPad is far from it.

I have bit the bullet and am awaiting a Dell mini10 with windows 7 starter installed. I know… yuck, right? I’m stoked. I need a portable machine for writing specs, email, web browsing, cruising web content on the fly in the evenings, when I’m travelling, sitting in coffee shops to get a breather.

With all of the negative comments above, there is a massive need for a portable device for engineers that are road warriors, field folks and those of us that thrive on portability. Ideally, I want a (ubuntu-powered) tablet that provides an extension to my day to day, I want a device that I can throw in my backpack, sit on my lap in the yard, click and pick on a train and prop up at a coffee shop. I don’t expect fully engineering 3D capability, but I want access to my models, I want to access my 3D data, monitor my CFD simulations via a browser, access email that replicates me sitting at my computer. I want the ability to access all of my files (dropbox), web browse (sync) as if was at my laptop or desktop or phone.

Let’s face it, all of the above is universal enough, that its not a matter of if, its a matter of when.

apple, ipad, tablet