Creating an add-in for AutoCAD software using Microsoft Visual Basic .NET is a simple and straightforward task when you know the steps to follow. This hands-on class will teach you exactly what you need to know and only what you need to know to begin writing your own add-ins for AutoCAD software. We will begin by discussing and following the steps to creating an add-in. After taking some time to practice that skill, we will see how easy it is to take some existing code and modify it to meet specific requirements. You won't believe how much you will learn in 90 minutes. No prior programming experience is required.

This class will provide details about the improvements we have made to the AutoCAD.IO software API since it first debuted. The AutoCAD .IO V2 API includes improvements that were requested by developers like you and make the service easier to use and understand.

Cybercrime and espionage have increased dramatically since 2012, and the types of cyber threats are profoundly more dangerous and effective. Learn how you can protect yourself and your business from this relentless assault. This session features AutoCAD. AIA Approved

Most real-time rendering programs that let you bring in your Revit projects show amazing graphics-however, they are limited to one "moment" in time and therefore capture only a near-static project with very little physics or interaction-until now. With Autodesk Live (Revit software's real-time rendering viewer) and a little spice from the Stingray game engine, your projects will become living, breathing buildings as they were meant to be. And it's possible to easily add "the extra spice," such as moving elevators, people, and medical equipment, and supporting vehicle construction equipment. In this class, attendees will learn to use the real-time rendering of Autodesk Live, and learn how to bring Revit models into it. Also, attendees will learn how to bring Autodesk Live models into Stingray to add that extra spice to projects by using real-time rendering and real-time physics.

By now you've probably heard about the latest trend to take technology by storm: augmented reality (AR). And from what you've read in tech magazines or seen on YouTube, you probably geek out about it like the rest of us. Yeah, virtual reality (VR), AR, and mixed reality (whatever that means) sound and look really cool, like everything we've seen in sci-fi movies is becoming REAL reality. We're approaching the point where we've accepted this idea, but how can we use the technology in a practical sense and actually get some value from these expensive headsets, other than just explaining to owners that it's "super cool?" That is what this session will be all about. We're going to demonstrate the ways and methods that you can use your design models (Revit software), use real information that is updated through BIM 360 software, and take them into an AR or VR environment (using the Stingray gaming engine) and actually view the stuff that matters in the field.

This class will discuss the benefits of the cloud for software developers and look at a concrete example of moving desktop functionality to the cloud. We will look at issues related to the architecture of software destined for the cloud. We will compare commercial cloud offerings such as Amazon Web Services™ and Windows Azure™ and will take an look a several client-side environments for consuming this data, such as AutoCAD® software , Unity 3D, Android™, Apple® iOS, and HTML5.

The class will go through the different steps of developments of a virtual-reality (VR) experience applied to the field of architecture and real estate. The class will discuss planning, scripting, storyboarding, prototyping, shooting for VR content, shooting aerial content for VR, producing 3D computer-generated content, and tracking live-action spherical content for VR. We’ll also discuss visual effects, compositing, and post-production for VR content. We’ll cover the planning and implementation of the experience—the distribution of the experience. This session features 3ds Max and Autodesk Stingray. AIA Approved

This session will cover collaboration between architects and design visualization specialists within the Live Design network. Once a Revit software user generates an Autodesk LIVE project, any design visualization specialist can jump in and take that project to another level. Using knowledge from 3ds Max software and Stingray game engine, let’s see how we can easily add dynamic content to create an immersive presentation. Game engine technologies can really enhance the design visualization process—it’s all about real-time storytelling! This hands-on lab will give an overview of the power of each software system when they’re combined. During the lab, we will go from Revit software, to Autodesk LIVE software, to Stingray game engine, then finally close the loop and send the project back into Autodesk LIVE. This session features Autodesk Stingray, Autodesk LIVE, and 3ds Max. AIA Approved

This session will introduce architects and designers to the world of modernizing installations with artistic designs using software. Whether creating modern wave walls, artistic cladding, wall dividers, or something more traditional like corbels, appliques, inlays, and reliefs, this session will show you how to not only visualize the artwork but also how to manufacture the final design. This session features ArtCAM. AIA Approved

This class will be an in-depth look at one firm's road into virtual reality (VR) and how we use it as a design tool. The road was unpaved and littered with skeptics and the unknown. Pushing forward led us somewhere unexpected. We'll run through a case study involving upwards of 10 active projects that benefited from and pushed our knowledge of VR. Using a live Vive demonstration, we'll go inside these projects and show how they benefited from this new technology. There will be time at the end for questions, and the opportunity for attendees to get hands-on with our builds. This discussion will include a basic understanding of our workflow, translating models from Revit software into 3ds Max software then into the Stingray gaming engine and also Unity.

Once you’ve created a 3D model, you still need to produce 2D drawings. In this class you will learn how to use AutoCAD software’s model documentation tools to create annotated orthographic, section, cutaway and detail views; how to control their scale and appearance; and how to ensure that views and annotations update properly if the 3D model changes. We will work with 3D models created in AutoCAD software, Inventor software, and other CAD programs, and see firsthand how to solve problems such as disassociated annotations. You will also learn how to create multisheet drawings documenting multipart assemblies. This class will help you develop best practices and timesaving techniques to capitalize on the power of AutoCAD software’s model documentation tools to create smarter 2D drawings. This session features AutoCAD. AIA Approved

Find out how to create a compelling and visually appealing VR experiences with great interactivity using the Autodesk Stingray game engine.
Bring your design visualization projects to life with the Stingray design engine, which offers a direct connection to 3ds Max and real-time rendering. Add scene interactivity with user-friendly, node-based tools.
VR brings us one step closer to complete immersion into virtual worlds. In this session, you will learn how to optimize your 3D Projects for VR, how to add interactivity and turn VR into a powerful story-telling utility.

During this presentation, you’ll learn how to start using the Arnold rendering engine that is part of 3ds Max software. Lighting is a crucial element in architectural design. Based off an imported Revit file, you’ll learn what kinds of lights Arnold offers to help tell the story of your design. Besides exploring different Arnold lighting techniques, you’ll get a much better understanding of the most important Arnold render settings. This will include the advantage of NVIDIA’s RTX-based technology, which will help denoise your image in a split second. We’ll also explain the Arnold standard surface material to give you a much better understanding of the next step in the world of 3ds Max materials. The presentation will end with some smart vegetation techniques that don’t slow down your Arnold rendering at all.

In this class, you’ll learn how to approach creation challenges in a procedural manner. We’ll use the creation of a roller coaster ride to see how fast you can iterate when procedural tools are built to help model complex systems such as roller coaster models. We’ll also see how to create virtual reality (VR) experiences from the roller coasters that we’ll create. We’ll see how fast we can experience, change, and experience again the rides, enabling for quick in-context turnarounds at the design level. We’ll use 3ds Max software’s creation graph to create procedural models and animations, then we’ll use Stingray game engine to build the VR experience. And since experience is key in VR, we’ll study some tricks to enhance the environment with various types of animated assets. This session features 3ds Max and Autodesk Stingray. AIA Approved

Virtual Reality is the hot new thing and everyone is rushing to find where it fits in their business and how to leverage it. The reality of virtual reality is if you're already designing in 3D your half way there. In this session we will cover several methods to move data from practically any 3D design system into Virtual Reality. Using Stingray (3ds Max Interactive) and a VR headset such as an Oculus or HTC Vive see your designs in a whole new light.

The construction industry is implementing virtual reality (VR) for planning, design, and construction of projects. This presentation will showcase how VR is helping owners, designers, and contractors better visualize and implement design. Examples that show how VR can make a difference in the industry include planning high-security buildings, jails, airports, and complex medical centers. End users can give feedback on the design and construction of their facilities, which is an important innovation. By using VR, clients get the ability to make changes virtually for free well before actual construction has begun. We'll show how the embrace of VR in construction planning is improving design-it leads to faster project approvals, decreases in the number of change orders, and better projects.

FormIt software connects 3 elements of the early design process that are relevant to every project: contextual information, building performance simulation, and parametric modification. Learning to connect these pieces quickly and efficiently in the architectural, 3D sketch style environment of FormIt enables quick design iteration opening new modes of design thinking. This session will illustrate a process that we're teaching architecture design students: First, how to quickly build design context (both from data acquisition sites like Flux and the creation of custom models) of buildings and topography. Second, how to develop predesign simulations to inform decisions and create a baseline standard for building performance. And finally, how to develop formal strategies by using parametric processes with Dynamo software connecting design ideas and simulation data. In closing, the session will cover predesign visualization beyond FormIt, pushing the file to fabrication (3D printing and computer numerical control) and virtual reality.

The media and entertainment industry is faced with increased demand for high-quality visual effects—and shrinking production schedules and budget. Studios need to provide graphics applications for employees and freelancers from any location, foster collaboration, and minimize IT and real estate costs, while ensuring that IP is secure. To provide a native workstation-like experience for artists, companies are looking toward virtual desktop infrastructure powered by NVIDIA virtual GPU technology and Teradici cloud-access software. Learn how two leading visual effects and animation studios are meeting the demands of artists performing computer animation and modeling on Maya software from anywhere, while maintaining a high-quality user experience. See how you can use the latest NVIDIA RTX technology that lets Arnold boost performance for interactive rendering as compared to rendering with CPU only, along with the added security of Teradici PCoIP protocol.

Over the last several years virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality have really taken hold within the visualization and AEC fields, but the future of this technology and how it evolves are far from set in stone.The speed at which developments in software and hardware are happening make this one of the most exciting and challenging technologies of the last several decades. In this panel, we will discuss the current state of the XR (x Reality i.e VR, AR, MR etc)industry, strategies for keeping up with the latest advancements, balancing creativity and technology through storytelling, collaborative design, new technologies that could help our industry in marketing and design, how to find the right people to manage XR projects and much more.Join us for this open talk about the future of XR and how it will change the industry.

In the wake of the second digital turn in architecture (Carpo, 2017), this talk questions the opinion of Gershenfeld (2012) that ‘’a new digital revolution is coming, this time in fabrication.’’ It questions the widespread use of digital fabrication from industry and investigates the impacts on architecture and society. It's not a pure architecture lecture but multidisciplinary research which tackles the 3D printing industry as we know it today. Specific examples from digital software such as processing would be given in order to demonstrate how the new tools give computational power to architects and produce a new architecture. The lecture debates the above phrase through different approaches towards digital materiality, the use of digital tools in fabrication, the goal of mass customization-collaboration and the relation of design with making. Moreover, It searches the origins and the development of the idea of digital fabrication from antiquity to 21st century. Specific examples are presented towards the prospects of digital fabrication regarding its opening to the society, its further development of embodied technology, and the overcoming of temporal limitations of cost, speed, and quality. Finally, it concludes with useful findings and questions for further research in the field.