Those famous last words: Road Trip! Usually followed by "Shotgun!", rarely eneded well for me in college. Luckily I've grown up... a little and they now let me out of the country for a little road trippin. More odd is that they keep letting me back in.
Where am I off to you ask? (In your best Beavis and Butthead voice) Hehehe, Sweden. Keep your TP jokes to yourself. Sweden and Denmark to be more clear. I have four reseller launch events in four days between Denmark and Sweden and I'll be sure to pass along pictures on my Twitter page for your enjoyment.
So how long have we known each other now? Long enough to know that I'm probably the most impatient person here at the 'Desk, right? As such I can't wait to tell you guys about some of the changes that are afoot that will definately have a positive impact on your ability to ask questions, discover new functionality within our portfolio, and get to know the product and industry experts we have here on staff at Autodesk!
So here's what's happening - I've recruited some of the most experienced, knowledgable, quircky, funny, informative experts on staff here at Autodesk and asked them if they wanted to play with us. So far, nobody has said no! I've recruited experts in Alias, Inventor, Moldflow, CF Design, Autodesk Simulation, Product Data Management... in other words all things Digital Prototyping.
These changes are going to roll out over time, but nothing bad can come from more people sharing their insight, experiences, and piping in on some of the great conversations we've had over the last couple of years.
Now before some of the infastructure changes are made, let's get a head start meeting some of these guys shall we?
Steve Bedder - Norhern Europe
Steve once hijacked my YouTube channel:
He's so money he doesn't even know it. Plus, dude has a Brittish accent and by default 10% more credible. So, start following along Steve's efforts here:
I'll be introducing you to more of the folks on the team over time and ultimately you'll start to see a few changes to the MFG Community Site so that you don't have to go all over the place to find us. Until then, get to know Steve and make him feel welcome!
If I were a smarter man, I'd be back to having status when I fly - but alas, I am not that man. Trying to keep a sharp eye on costs prevent me from sticking to a single carrier... And for the effort, I'm stuck in the back of the bus. I know I complain a bit about this on Twitter, but trust me once you've had almost automatic first class upgrades due to status alone - it's tough to be a nobody again. And now that I've been doing quite a bit of travel over the last couple of weeks, and more to come the ever elusive status is still beyond my reach, teasing me with its extra leg room and special security line. See, you didn't know about the special security line did you...?
Anyway, where have I been off to you ask? Visiting customers and filming the next two episodes of OTJ with Rob. I had the pleasure of visiting the 2009, and 2010 winners of the Autodesk Inventor of the Year, Dynamic Structures and RND Automation. This makes four so far, and with many more to come I was starting to worry about repeating myself - telling the same story over and over and after last week, I'm not really worried about that.
This series isn't at all about Autodesk, Inventor, or any one of our products - it’s all about the customer. Dynamic Structures for example - they manufacture bridges, telescopes, and amusement park rides. And not just any bridge, telescope, or ride. Bridges that are self-supporting during construction yet look elegant, the world’s largest telescopes that rival Hubble in the images, yet placed firmly here on the ground, and amusement park rides that are so revolutionary and innovative that their customers don't allow them to talk about it. And by watching it, hopefully you're getting insight into how companies are utilizing technology to solve their engineering challenges, share best practices, and learn unique applications of our products from the voices of the customers.
RND Automation has an interesting story as well. A couple of guys saw an opportunity, combined experiences and industry knowledge, and again creating systems that provide their customers with automation solutions so unique, that it becomes a competitive differentiator. So over the next couple weeks we will be editing together the episodes, and of course planning new episodes.
I can't make any huge announcements just yet, but I can kind of allude to the direction we are heading. Imagine the Inventor of the Month program combined with OTJ...? So, who wants to share their story?
I know I'm behind the ball a little bit here, but good things come to those that procrastinate. I just wrapped up my first of many to come...Highlight Reels of Autodesk Inventor 2012. This one focuses primarily on the new UI that I blogged about in my last post.
I considered just running this without voice, but had to add a little take on what was in the video. Somebody told me recently I didn't meet a camera or a microphone that I didn't like... Ok, guilty.
Much more to come as the weeks roll out. I do take requests so if anyone wants me to dive into anything specific with 2012, let me know.
Ah, you feel that? That's the burn in my legs and lungs from the fourth trip this morning up and down 5 flights of stairs. I brought my dog to work today and since we aren't the only ones in the building we have to take our dogs up and down the stairs. So here he is, Murphy the golden retriever.
And before you think it - yes there is no shame in my game. I'm not too proud to feature a cute puppy to help drive awareness of our new products. So lets get into it shall we?
First things first - Inventor 2012. So much to write about here, I'll stick to some of my favorites and start with the new marking menu. Marking menus have been around the industry for a while and those that use them 8-10 hours a day flippin fly around never searching for commands or pallets to update. A flick of the wrist and off to the next command.
With the marking menu, muscle memory will eventually kick in. But with all changes, a transition period is needed to get used to the new menu. Some of you may have already turned it off, but seriously give it a try.
There are two modes you can use the marking menu with. The first is as you see it here on the right, a typical pop up style menu, but with radial access to commands.
The other way is through gesturing. Gesturing allows you to right click and hold, drag your cursor in the direction of the command toward its position. So for example, here if I want to call up the Fillet command while editing a part, I'll right click, hold and drag my mouse toward a 12:00 position, 3:00 for parameters, 6:00 for sketch and so on.
This will change the way you access commands and for power users, finally something that will speed up our productivity from a UI standpoint. I know some of you aren't going to like it so as per usual we give you options and also allow you to customize it.
If you want to customize the marking menu go to the tools tab and select Customize. This will allow you to edit the position, and features you want based upon your environment. So if you always want the same commands to display in the marking menu regardless of environment, customize it here. I don't see huge value in that, but then again to each their own and better yet, we built this tool to be flexible - except for the German version. No customizations allowed! Follow ze prosses!! JUST KIDDING - joke guys... you can customize the German version too. You just have to know ze password... ok, I'm done. Next I'll make fun of how Americans are overzealous and brash... equal opportunity guy here.
Back on track - here's what the customize inteface looks like:
So have a go at this, let me know what you guys change and if you like it better than the default after using it for a while. Next post will be about the expanded mini-toolbars. We did some great work here - if I go the rest of my life and never have to use a standard pop up window to control command options, it will be too soon.
Update 4-21. Added a video to this post for your viewing pleasure.
Ah, you feel that? That's the burn in my legs and lungs from the fourth trip this morning up and down 5 flights of stairs. I brought my dog to work today and since we aren't the only ones in the building we have to take our dogs up and down the stairs. So here he is, Murphy the golden retriever.
And before you think it - yes there is no shame in my game. I'm not too proud to feature a cute puppy to help drive awareness of our new products. So lets get into it shall we?
First things first - Inventor 2012. So much to write about here, I'll stick to some of my favorites and start with the new marking menu. Marking menus have been around the industry for a while and those that use them 8-10 hours a day flippin fly around never searching for commands or pallets to update. A flick of the wrist and off to the next command.
With the marking menu, muscle memory will eventually kick in. But with all changes, a transition period is needed to get used to the new menu. Some of you may have already turned it off, but seriously give it a try.
There are two modes you can use the marking menu with. The first is as you see it here on the right, a typical pop up style menu, but with radial access to commands.
The other way is through gesturing. Gesturing allows you to right click and hold, drag your cursor in the direction of the command toward its position. So for example, here if I want to call up the Fillet command while editing a part, I'll right click, hold and drag my mouse toward a 12:00 position, 3:00 for parameters, 6:00 for sketch and so on.
This will change the way you access commands and for power users, finally something that will speed up our productivity from a UI standpoint. I know some of you aren't going to like it so as per usual we give you options and also allow you to customize it.
If you want to customize the marking menu go to the tools tab and select Customize. This will allow you to edit the position, and features you want based upon your environment. So if you always want the same commands to display in the marking menu regardless of environment, customize it here. I don't see huge value in that, but then again to each their own and better yet, we built this tool to be flexible - except for the German version. No customizations allowed! Follow ze prosses!! JUST KIDDING - joke guys... you can customize the German version too. You just have to know ze password... ok, I'm done. Next I'll make fun of how Americans are overzealous and brash... equal opportunity guy here.
Back on track - here's what the customize inteface looks like:
So have a go at this, let me know what you guys change and if you like it better than the default after using it for a while. Next post will be about the expanded mini-toolbars. We did some great work here - if I go the rest of my life and never have to use a standard pop up window to control command options, it will be too soon.
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