Autodesk University 2014 Experience

December 1, 2014 It was a sunny cold morning when I walked all the way to Mandalay Bay from MGM Grand Hotel. I managed to register in the morning at Level 1, South Convention Center, Bayside A. This was taken over the bridge to Excalibur from MGM.

Luxor Hotel (Pyramid) and Delano Hotel (Jacob stays)

Going to register at AU. A right turn from this view will lead you to Event Center Complex, North Center.

This is going to the Event Center Complex, North Center where the Opening and Closing Keynotes, Innovation Forum Talks, was held.

Going straight is the Exhibit Hall while turning right is to the Registration Area.

Info boards.

` Finally, after a very long walk I did register. Not much crowd yet.

I went back to my hotel in MGM to take some rest, lunch since I still have some time before I go back to take a Certification exam in Inventor at 2pm. Here’s a view of Mandalay Bay from my room.

There was a long line before the start of the Certification exam. Unfortunately, I did not pass the exam.

This is the Answer Bar lounge, one of the many lounges where you can hang out with the Autodesk and other industry experts. On the other side of the column is the place where we, Brian, Jacob and Catarina used to meet up before we go to eat our breakfast.

This is where the Freshman Orientation was held at South Pacific C, North Center Lower Level at 5 pm. Right after this event, I went up to meet Brian in front of Fleur but we end somewhere to eat our dinner together.

December 2, 2014 Finally, we had a group picture during breakfast. The lady was Catarina Parsons (GPNA, Hudson). It was a good breakfast.

My first class what’s new in Vault 2015. Just getting ready. Check the recorded video online.

. This is at the Meet-up lounge where some are still working; others are waiting for the next class, some to rest and take a nap.

Here’s my first Inventor session. I saw Brian in a different seat so he is my classmate . You can check the recoded video online.

Next Inventor class was by Norman Roith from Germany. Check the recorded video online.

One of my classes is where we have hands on lab exercise about Inventor Professional.

` This is in the Exhibit Hall. I managed to talk to Ryan (not in picture) and Alexis to discuss about our GlobaleTraining courses.

Still in the Exhibit Hall, an ongoing design battle in the final round for Fusion 360.

December 3 This is the first of series of Innovation Forums. The challenge of sitting in the front row was you can’t get the whole picture plus your neck gets strained because of the giant screen in front. In short, it’s not the best seat. More information on this AU page.

In the late afternoon, it was a session in “What’s Happening with AUGI”. Everyone got a beer mug at the end of the session.

December 4, 2014 Last day in Autodesk University. This is inside the shuttle on the way to Mandalay Bay.

One of the big updates in Inventor 2016 is in the area of integration with other CAD software. It means that any changes from the other CAD software (model – say a hole size, cut out, etc) will automatically update in Inventor drawing or assembly. Other update will be in the drawing view modifications, freeform shape design, visualization enhancements.

There’s another session on Innovation Forum about Mindset as shown below. This is an interesting session about designing in extreme environment in space, ocean and land. Two of the speakers were stuntmen from Hollywood, a world class racer and was awarded the Guiness Book of World Record at 2012 X Games. This time I like my seat better. You can check a recorded video at AC6207.

These were the 2 amazing stuntmen.

This car is made from 3D printing.

This is taken from the closing keynote address (click the link for the recorded video) by Amar Hanspal Autodesk Sr. Vice President of the Information Modeling and Platform Products Group.

Wow so many Job titles.

Dec 5 Time to say goodbye to MGM at an early morning.