Carl Bass wasn't taking this Autodesk University lightly. He was wearing a nice new suit. Those who knew him from the early days in shorts and Birkenstocks would not recognize him. This was his first AU as CEO of Autodesk. It is customary for the CEO to welcome the users at the opening keynote address. I wondered if he would work the crowd differently than his predecessor, Carol Bartz.
It's all about 3D at the keynote address at Autodesk University. Click for larger image -- you won't believe what is being shown is a modular home.
Already, Lynn Allen a perennial AU favorite, had informed us that this was the biggest AU ever. 7,500 were in attendance of which probably 5,000 were users, or 'agents of change' according to our badges. She had introduced Carl, but hardly gave herself any time, no doubt disappointing her huge fan base. Carl mentioned his company's contribution to "experiencing things before they are real." Autodesk was going to waste no time in showcasing customers with and several "gee-wiz" projects. Among some of the highlights:
- The entire central London --high rises, residences, bridges, the river Thames, etc.--modeled with enough detail to include chimneys, even the cameras on the bridges--giving new meaning to the word supermodel. Done with aerial photography and 3Ds Max by GMJ Design.
- US Army uses a virtual model of Baghdad, complete with buildings and interiors, for its missions: planning attacks, escape routes and mapping lines of vision
- A modular home that would forever change your view of modular homes. Built on site in a mere 8 hours, it's interior and exterior looked fit for Architectural Digest (see www.livinghomes.us)
- Parsons Brinckerhoff, a firm that specializes in infrastructure supermodels, showed 3D images of subway tunnel project. Also coined a new term 5D. I realize 4D is 3D plus time but what is 5D? Get some 3D glasses and check out the gallery at http://www.pbworld.com/imagine/
- Autodesk also mentioned it's Impression program, a 'non-realistic' renderer, available at Autodesk Labs.
Autodesk CEO Carl Bass protests having to wear a suit by donning his own style of eyewear.
Lynn Allen introduces the main speaker, Carl Bass. (Lynn, more jokes next time, please)
Overall summation: Carl's presentation was a soft sell, a welcome contrast to hard sells at previous AUs that seemed to reach a fever pitch at last year's event. Instead of insisting that we were to buy Autodesk's higher priced 3D vertical programs immediately upon our return to our offices, Carl preferred to let the customers and their applications dazzle us. And dazzling they were! 3D applications of Revit, Inventor.3ds Max were presented in a nonstop visual banquet. 2D application, a market Autodesk seems to have saturated with AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, were conspicuously absent. The only floor plan I saw appeared briefly and only on the wall of a 3D virtual building model. I'm sure any 2D-only user present (of which there are still many) would have left the presentation with a singular purpose of looking seriously at 3D upon their return to the office. Thousands will have left the packed room in lock step, having effectively become the 'agents of change,' and maybe not even realizing it. Now, that's how to do it. For Carl, a mission accomplished.
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