What is Alias Sketch?

You may have heard of one of our new products Autodesk Alias Sketch, but have you seen what it can do? Possibly not, so we thought it would be useful to link these videos, which are from the Alias Design Website, to give you an idea.

LABS - Project Neon

Project Neon is a rendering service that offers greater productivity and a faster turnaround of photorealistic renderings by leveraging the power and compute capabilities of the cloud. Rendering is a time and hardware intensive process that translates 3D models into photorealistic images that allow the design team to optimize the results they deliver to their clients. By harnessing the power of the cloud, customers no longer you have to wait for long periods of time to generate single or multiple views of their designs, The Project Neon service eliminates the need for customers to purchase and maintain expensive hardware for their rendering needs. Providing a realistic view into designs during the entire design process delivers superior results for your customers.

To see more visit Autodesk LABS: http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/neon/

LABS - Project Snap

Project Snap is a unified browse and search platform for Autodesk design applications that connects Autodesk users to their design data regardless of where it resides. With Project Snap, you can search and connect with your design content wherever it may be. Project Snap creates an index of your design content based on where you instruct it to look. That index is used to instantly locate design content (e.g. blocks) while working in AutoCAD without leaving AutoCAD. Think of it as a possible improved version of Design Center.

LABS - Inventor 2011 Mesh Enabler

The Inventor 2011 Mesh Enabler is a technology preview that enables Inventor users to work with imported Mesh data. Autodesk Inventor 2011 can import mesh data from Catia V4 and V5 files including CGR. The Mesh Enabler adds the ability to convert selected mesh features to Base features. The resulting base features can then be used for further operations including drawings and measurements.

This preview is available until January 31, 2012 at which time the license expires and the function will be disabled. It is not known if this technology will be incorporated into a commercial product.

Nvidia Quadro and AutoCAD 2011

AutoCAD 2011 adds powerful new 3D features and visual styles to help explore your ideas. To take full advantage of AutoCAD 2011, experience superior image quality, and realize true interactive performance, you need a NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics solution. Quadro lets designers dial up the complexity of their designs, visualize them in software and work out any issues before moving to production, thereby increasing productivity and eliminating waste.

Each year, NVIDIA and Autodesk together spend over 2,000 engineering hours to test, certify, and optimize the latest Quadro and AutoCAD solutions. This collaborative development process reduces the likelihood of issues that could interrupt your workflow causing down time.

Flat Pattern Spiral Sheet Metal Parts

You want to know how to Flatten a Spiral Shaped Sheet Metal parts in Inventor.

• Create a new 3D Sketch inside a Sheet Metal Part, then define a Helical Curve of type Spiral.

Quick Access Selection Menu

This is a very quick, but potentially useful Tip, if you regularly change between Selection Types within Inventor.

• If you hold down the Shift key and then Right Click within the Inventor Part, Assembly or Drawing environment.

• Then you will be presented with a Selection Menu, which is contextual depending on the environment you are currently working in.

4GB Limit Hit in SQL Express

SQL Express 4GB limit reached? How To Buy Some Time Before Having To Upgrade To Full SQL

Microsoft SQL Express 2005 and Microsoft SQL Express 2008 have limits on the size of the databases that they can Read/Write to. Once the limit has been reached, the database is put into read-only mode. This means that you can Login and get information/data, but you cannot make any changes to it (i.e. No Checkin/Checkout, No New Users, No New Items, No State Changes).

It will eventually become necessary to upgrade SQL from an Express version to higher version (Workgroup, Standard or Enterprise). However, you can buy some time by performing some of the following:

• Delete unwanted files/folders
• Purge unwanted versions
• Change the Thumbnail property to Not In Use and Reindex Properties
• Change any other unwanted Properties to Not In Use and Reindex Properties
• Delete unwanted Obsolete Items (Productstream/Vault Manufacturing/Vault Professional Only)
• Run a Maintenance Plan as per the Advanced Configuration Guide

This is an extract from the Cracking the Vault, Manufacturing Community Blog

Open Multiple Files from Vault

In the Open From Vault dialogue, users can now select Multiple files to load into AutoCAD. Simply use Shift-select or hold the Ctrl key and open Multiple files:

Within Inventor, you can take advantage of Multiple file open from two areas: Open From Vault and Place From Vault using the same selection process as described above:

This is an extract from the Under the Hood, Manufacturing Community Blog

Purge Zero Length Geometry and Empty Text Objects

A new option has been added to the PURGE command in AutoCAD 2011, this is Purge Zero Length Geometry and Empty Text Objects. This new option deletes geometry of zero length (lines, arcs, polylines and so on) in non-block objects. Also, deletes mtext and text that contains only spaces (no text) in non-block objects. This can be useful when trying to tidy your drawing and remove empty text boxes etc, which you were perhaps not aware of.

Note: The PURGE command will not remove zero-length geometry or empty text and mtext objects from blocks or locked layers.

Improved Measuring Tools

The visual measuring tools in AutoCAD 2011 will make quick work of finding valuable information from your drawing. The Utilities panel of the Home tab contains these updated Measure commands (also found using the MEASUREGEOM command).

Distance

Used to measure the distance between two points, AutoCAD 2011 now visually displays the distance, delta x, delta y and the angle (in the xy plane). The Multiple option allows you to continue to pick points as AutoCAD displays a cumulative distance. If you need to include an Arc in the distance you can easily switch to Arc mode.

LABS - Project Krypton

Project Krypton Technology Preview provides early stage design advice to plastic part designers. Seamlessly integrated into the Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk Inventor LT environment, it provides real-time feedback on a plastic part’s manufacturability, cost efficiency, and the environmental impact of the selected material. Project Krypton helps designers make better decisions to ensure their products can be properly manufactured, are more cost-effective, and are produced using materials with a lower environmental impact.

Project Krypton Technology Preview automatically assesses the part after each design modification and raises alerts regarding potential concerns. Users can review details of each concern and view problem areas highlighted directly on the model. Design advice is offered, which helps the user make appropriate design changes to address the concerns.

Project Krypton Technology Preview is only applicable for injection molded plastic parts designs. The Project Krypton Technology Preview executable will operate until November 20, 2010.

Autodesk Wikihelp Website

You're invited to share your expertise with other authors who provide information for Manufacturing documentation. If you have a specialty and want to share your knowledge, you're in the right place. Join our writers and subject matter experts to improve the learnability of our products. We're all in this together and your ideas help us improve the content for everyone.  Not sure what a Wiki is? Watch Wikis in Plain English, a video created by Common Craft.

Ready to get started?

Take a look at our rules, and then start contributing. Add comments on the specific content pages. Consider adding a new page. Help us tag content to make information easier to find with our Search tool. Create your own My Page. There are many ways to participate. Wiki Help is available if you have questions about how to use this Wiki.

Rules

We have simple rules. We want to maintain a constructive, informative, and helpful environment for sharing ideas about Help content. Your use of, participation in, and submissions to this Wiki Help Site are subject to these Rules, the Autodesk.com Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.

This Wiki Help Site is created by the community of users, and Autodesk makes it available "As Is" and with specific disclaimer of any warranties of merchantability, fitness for purpose, title, and/or non-infringement. Autodesk cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or availability of information available from this site.
An Autodesk moderator may, but is not obligated to, monitor, modify, remove, or decline to publish submissions without notice or attribution.

Note: All the Ground Rules from our Discussion Forums apply on our Wiki Help project site.