Forge Developer Session

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PRESENTER 1: Please welcome, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President, Raji Arasu.

RAJI ARASU: Are you having fun? That was quite something this morning, isn't it? First of all, we didn't know Andrew was going to show up in that attire. So I was really surprised. I was like, who is that guy? And then I saw our CEO show up that way. But finally, I'm in a room full of developers. I'm finally home, OK? It feels like home.

It's been a thrilling year and a half since I joined Autodesk as a CTO. And it's been a rush to finally be in front of an audience, and a live audience, the last time we tried to get in front of you, and connect with you all face to face. My first survey to you, and I wanted to hear your stories, get your feedback, and share this excitement about our future together.

Earlier today, you heard Andrew share our grand platform vision. And I want to talk about how you play a critical role in that vision. As a fellow engineer, I don't need to translate for you Cloud, and connected data, and connected workflows. You live and breathe this thing. You are an entrepreneur. You are in inventor. And you want to understand the problem.

You want to pick up the LEGO pieces. You want to go create the solutions, if I know you right. I had the opportunity to talk to some of you. And I know you're working on some amazing and incredible solutions for our customers. We could not have imagined those solutions. You are the folks that our customers reach out to. And you help make magic happen.

Early in my career, I worked at a 4% startup providing tech services. These are fairly early days of building web applications and intranet portals and retail sites. This is all for different companies. We had more projects than people in this firm. So guess what? I played a lot of roles. On each project, I was a developer. I was a product manager and an account manager.

And that's me-- yes, a different version, a jacket that's very, very old now. It feels like I don't even have them. But did you see-- did you guys actually spot the desktop phone on that table? That's actually a desktop phone, OK? That's how it looked, those big ones. And that desktop was big. So this meant putting on my best jacket, whatever I had at that point, meeting with potential customers, writing down the requirements on a piece of paper.

I don't know, we didn't have fancy iPads at that point. We didn't have laptops. You don't really take all of those things into meetings. You have to listen to your customers. I return back to the office, hang my jacket up behind the door, design code. Who was a tester? Guess who? Test your code. And finally package the code, right? And there was no Cloud to deploy. There was no USB stick, even. I think it went on a cd-rom, I think, mostly.

And you take it back to the customer's office, and find their back office machines, and install it. Wow, that's not so secure, now that I think about it. But it all worked, right? When it didn't work, it was super stressful, super stressful. When it worked, it was an amazing feeling. I remember feeling such joy and pride when the customer was happy, and when we received the check. And maybe even we got repeat business out of it. It was just awesome, right?

I learned so many skills during this period. I learned to ask the right questions. I learned to deeply understand my customers problems. And I learned how to put technology together and create those innovative solutions. So I think I understand what motivates you. I definitely understand what you are all capable of. The power in this room is going to unlock those innovations, the skills, and the creativity. It is going to unlock value for our customers. It is going to unleash that tech in our industries that we need.

And we can think of all of them. I mean, you will make that happen. We can build this future together, with our platform vision and your ingenuity, a future where we will imagine, in a way, the workflows that don't exist today-- where we accelerate the digital transformation of our customers through our current products and our industry products that you heard about today: Autodesk Fusion, Autodesk Forma, and Autodesk Flow, and of course, Autodesk Platform Services, in case you missed that. I don't want you to miss it.

What you heard is we are re-branding Forge. Many of you love that name, I know. And there are some who are ready to move on, right? This is the foundation of our Autodesk platform. This was a time to elevate that name. We are calling it Autodesk Platform Services. And there is a reason behind it. It is foundational to all of the stuff that we're using for internal development.

Everything you heard about for the industry Clouds today, this is what powers it. This is the same capabilities and data we are giving you to build amazing things. So hence, this was the right time to re-brand this. You will get the same quality, the same scale, and the same commitment that you know, you believe in, and you trust in our products, you'll get the same in our Autodesk Platform Services going forward.

As we embark on this journey to connect all our customers through this platform, we have six million subscribers that need end-to-end workflows, workflows that are specific to their industries, their disciplines, the business model, and every other nuance you can think of. You can help them. We may build the APIs. But you create those solutions.

And in return, we are making a commitment to you. We are committed to making it easier so you can work with us, and to better enable and create that magic for our customers. To give you the details on how we are going to go do this, I want to bring on stage Ben Cochran, our Vice President of Developer Enablement, and a bold advocate for you. He started out as an engineer on AutoCAD.

And in the past two decades, he has solved collaboration and interoperability gaps in projects like Design Review, DW File, DWF file formats, PDF collaboration in the AutoCAD, and many other Forge foundational tools and services. Ben has been part of the Autodesk Platform Services from the beginning. He's passionate about shaping it for both our internal developers and for you.

He is your biggest champion, will help you grow your business. And my vision for you is you unleash the creativity for our mutual customers. And we can grow the impact that they can have on this world. So please join me in welcoming Ben. Ben, come on up here.

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BEN COCHRAN: Hello, developer community. It's great to see all of you here. I love the renewed energy we get from coming back together in person. We've been on this journey for quite a while. It's incredible to reflect on how far we've come and what we've built together. And it's been truly a joint effort. Everything we've created in the past, and everything we're going to do in the future as Autodesk Platform Services, it's for developers, our developers at Autodesk, and our developers and you.

As Raji said, we're building the Autodesk platform on the same APIs and services that you are using. So we're in this together. When I think about how to make the platform work for all of us, I always look at reducing toil, the time spent doing repetitive tasks. There's no value in toil. It's not creative. It's just the work. I'm always looking for opportunities to optimize: at work, at home, and personally.

Last year, Susannah shared a story about her rowing career. And maybe engineers are competitive because in the last few years, I've started running triathlons. I've come to appreciate the challenge of the swim, bike, and run. But core to preparing for a triathlon is training. Effective training requires more than just time spent. To truly get faster, I needed something else because I don't like fourth place.

I needed to uncover the toil in my technique, especially in the swimming leg, where I was working really hard, but not efficiently. You don't get better at swimming just by pulling harder. I needed changes in my technique to unlock big improvements. I needed to lengthen my stroke, adjust my head, and learn how to swim straight in open water. It's with these and other adjustments that my time invested in training improve my race times.

But I couldn't make these improvements on my own. I needed a coach, someone responsible for spotting the inefficiencies, giving me tools to race smarter and not harder. My coach immediately saw my short, choppy stroke, my inefficient head position. To my experienced coach, the toil was obvious. And his instructions had a huge impact on my swim time.

The same applies to the work that we all do. As we invest our time building new value, how do we determine where the toil is? How do we reduce the time spent learning new APIs, and updated APIs, debugging issues, building common SDKs and abstractions that we should all be sharing, or time spent sifting through huge payloads of data, just to find that one key element. This is the toil that we are focused on removing.

That's my team's goal for Autodesk, and for you. It's our job to look at every aspect of the platform, end-to-end, to find the toil and remove it. My job at Autodesk is leading developer enablement. I'm literally here to enable your success. My primary focus each day is how do we help developers do more? When running a race, I'm always looking at data. Post-race, I have my times. But I'm constantly monitoring my time, distance, cadence, heart rate, always making small adjustments.

In the same way, each day, I look at dashboards to monitor how productive developers are. We look at and measure time to Hello, world, our first API call, API calls and error rates, changes to API usage and developers, the health of the apps on the app store, NPS scores door metrics, and so much more. It's with this continuous monitoring of data that we've built an understanding of what we need to improve.

Just like in a race, we make these improvements and go directly back to the data to see the impact. It's key for us to have this continuous feedback loop, helping to direct our focus to best impact your development. But quantitative data only tells part of the story. It's missing the why. It's so critical that we sit with you and learn about your ideas. What is holding you back? As we talk to you and collect this qualitative data, we're learning.

We're learning that you need API improvements, more of the right APIs, easy to access resources, and support bringing your solutions to market. And I'm here to tell you we were doing just that. We have API updates. We have API updates to announce, the launch of the Autodesk Developer Hub, an updated app marketplace, two new marketing programs to get involved in. And all of this to unleash your innovation and grow your business.

First, the right building blocks, our APIs. Since we launched Forge in 2015, we've been growing the platform to include more than 30 APIs today, with six billion API calls already this year. Among our engineering teams, we are cultivating an API as a product mindset. We're continually investing in the Autodesk Platform Services APIs to unlock more opportunities.

We're improving on what already exists, such as updates to our popular Model Derivative API. We made it faster and more powerful. But we haven't just enhanced what our APIs are today. We've also released new APIs. Let's look at the Autodesk Construction Cloud ecosystem for example, where we're enabling workflows from integrations, from precon to hand-over-- released new Model Properties API, which opens up access to model data.

We released Takeoff Rate access for project settings and classifications. Our construction partner partner, Toric, has taken advantage of these APIs and tools to allow companies to integrate, transform, and clean the Autodesk Construction Cloud applications, including building and takeoff alongside data from over 40 other software platforms, ERP, and design tools.

Now, stakeholders can gain insights in real-time, driving better informed decisions across the enterprise. Our entire toolkit of APIs, including the new data APIs that I'll talk about shortly, were designed to give you options because we know that our industries are changing fast, and are more complex than ever. It's because of that complexity that we're committing to making your experience with us simple.

I'm so excited today that we're going to be launching Autodesk Developer Hub. We're building it out to be a one stop shop for all developer resources, a place where you can easily find Autodesk APIs, services, and documentation, that will reduce your toil and help you focus on innovation. We're centralizing resources to help bring new product experiences and workflows to market faster because speed matters.

And you'll need it to keep up with the opportunities. Raji mentioned that we have six million subscribers. That is already a rather large pool of potential customers for you. And it's growing. But how do they find you? Nearly half of them visit the App Store, which is the place for users to get apps and plug-ins that augment and improve existing workflows. With 4,000 of them today, the App Store has 2.3 million downloads each year. That's already incredible. But we want to do more.

This year, we're piloting our two new marketing programs to help with the visibility of your solutions. First, a pilot of our app developer partner program, it's about getting you noticed in the App Store and beyond. We'll be offering a range of possible opportunities to help you publish your apps in the store, sharpen your sales assets and landing pages, plus paid advertising and speaking opportunities at future AUs. With all of this, you'll have a chance to provide feedback that will influence how we shape the App Store and our APIs.

The second is the pilot of our Developer Influencer Program. Here, you'll have a chance to build your reputation as platform services experts. Together, we'll create engaging content that will bring customers to you. You'll be able to share your journey by posting articles and experiences on social channels. And we're with you, as we'll re-share your content and help you track your success.

The rate APIs that are easy to find and learn, with pilot programs targeted to reach your audiences, this is the formula for success. All of these new efforts are a direct result of your feedback. Together, we are creating a better developer experience from start to finish. But now, let's talk about data. As we strengthen the developer experience, we're improving on how you work with data.

It's about excellence in the fundamentals. Before you ever swim a mile in open water, you do drills in the pool. Before we build our platform, we're drilling all the way down to focus on data, as data is fundamental to the way of an idea becomes a product. It is the backbone for how projects come to life, how the seeds of an idea are shared, realized, and managed, how the mere idea comes and turns into a skyscraper or a massive blockbuster.

Too often, the problem is that data is trapped in fragmented file systems and storage systems, far from the structure we need to create connections, extensions, and apps with ease. You told us that access to data is key to removing toil. And we're changing the paradigm. We're ushering in a new era of open data. And to get there, we have a three part strategy.

We're going to make data granular, breaking down massive files into core data elements that you need. We're making data inter-operable so that it moves fluidly between services, and not just between Autodesk products, but connecting data across your solutions as well. And we're making data accessible, getting the right pieces of data to the right people at the right time. This data strategy is foundational to the Autodesk platform, and creating an environment to help you manage increasing complexity with better results in less time.

We heard from a lot of you at Forge Data Days. We talked to more than 340 developers in 15 cities around the globe. We shared our new data APIs and strategy, and listened to your feedback. There's one constant theme from everywhere we traveled, from San Francisco, to Munich, to Singapore. You were all in on data. Hear it for yourself.

MATTHEW BARTHEL: What excites me from it is just how easy access everything looks to be.

AVIVA TANG: Just the ability to connect and place disparate tools side by side, and make it web accessible. It's already going to help a lot of people.

STEFAN SCHAARSCHMIDT: What we need is persistent keys, for example. The new Forge data APIs provide that.

OLEG SHILOVITSKY: So data goes everywhere. So data is the most meaningful part that connects companies together.

JIRI JIRAT: You can use a different technology, and let's say, combine it to one unique application.

SUNJEET BAADKAR: It will definitely expedite a lot of the processes that I'm trying to put into place.

MILT CAPSIMALIS: There's going to be a whole new class of solutions that we can build, where we give access to aspects of data.

BRIAN NICKEL: I think the biggest thing that I can take away from today is that Autodesk does truly care about their partners. And they want us to ruffle their feathers a little bit during the process.

BEN COCHRAN: Ruffled feathers and data everywhere. I love it. We're hard at work building an open and fluid data environment. So let's start by talking about Fusion Data API that enables granularity. As you know, the models inside of Fusion are far more than geometry. They hold loads of valuable information, from the assembly structure, to individual components and properties. If only they could be accessed at that granular level.

And now they can be. The Fusion Data API opens up a bill of materials for easy connection to ERP, financial, and supply chain management systems. With this granular data, we can increase automation of workflows, reducing the time spent tracking down and interpreting data, controlling versions, and more. Helping us to develop the Fusion Data API so it works best for you, Cideon, a long-time Autodesk Systems Integrator that started using our Cloud-based APIs when it was first introduced with Forge.

They gave us early feedback on the data API while still in beta. This led to our decision to build it using GraphQL, providing a more robust solution that applies to a wider set of problems. Stefan Schaarschmidt from Cideon is here today to talk about how they got started with Forge, the solution they're building with the Fusion Data API, and where we're headed in the future. Please give a warm welcome to Stefan.

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STEFAN SCHAARSCHMIDT: Hi, Ben. Excited to be here.

BEN COCHRAN: It's exciting to be here, I know. It's great. So, welcome. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

STEFAN SCHAARSCHMIDT: Well, let's start with Cideon. Cideon is a longtime partner of Autodesk. We are based in Germany. We are a pretty large reseller and system integrator. And we provide services and solutions all around the Autodesk portfolio. And what's probably unique about us is that we are also an integration company. We have a close partnership with SAP.

And we provide some of CAD integrations, like the Inventor SAP Integration, or the AutoCAD SAP Integration. And I'm a development manager for Cideon. I am working with my team, mainly in the area of integrations. And this is both on-prem and Cloud.

BEN COCHRAN: I love it. You've been working with the Forge for a long time. Can you tell us a little bit about that journey?

STEFAN SCHAARSCHMIDT: Yeah, we started with Forge quite some time ago. And one of my earlier memories, and probably one of my favorite ones, is Autodesk University 2010, at the ADN Day. So when we entered the room, yeah, the room got filled up with smoke, fortunately from a smoke machine. I guess some of you have been there and remember this as well.

So I would say this was a very visual message from Autodesk to us. We are going into the direction of Cloud, and then encouragement to the partners to follow along. And yeah, we took that to heart. We started by using the Forge Viewer in some of our projects, or later, we looked at design automation to help us with configuration projects.

And then the biggest question for us in the end was, how would an integration look like if both sides are moving up to the Cloud? So we have Autodesk with Fusion 360. We have SAP with their public Cloud system. And well, one thing became clear to us quite early. We would use Forge APIs in order to access the data in the middle.

BEN COCHRAN: I remember the smoke effect. It was fun. Tell us how you got started with the Fusion Data API.

STEFAN SCHAARSCHMIDT: We started by looking at the existing APIs. And we found that we were missing access to some of the data we need. And so we were happy when Autodesk was announcing that they work on Forge Data, and when they announced the Forge Vanguard team-- so a group of people who want to get early access and have a look at the APIs. We were happy to join.

And yeah, we looked at the early betas. And what we found was the data we needed was there. And we could access it. However, the learning curve was quite a bit steeper than what we expected. So one could almost say that you had to be some kind of data scientist in order to use it. And I'm only slightly exaggerating. So we gave this as feedback to your colleagues.

And they were extremely interested in that. And we had some really good discussions all around it. And yeah, they came back with a new API a little bit later, way more user friendly, based on GraphQL, and the way closer to the Fusion data model. And we started using it. And it was quite a big change. It became an actual joy to use. And yeah, we used it for our integration. And I would say, let's have a quick demo here.

So we start in Fusion 360. And we have an assembly with their components. And in the end, we want to end up with a bill of material. So we use Fusion Data in order to navigate the data. And we can see what's inside the assemblies or the components. And the integration shows which components already have a connection to the SAP side.

Of course, we can also create new product data from it. And we use the data which is already on the CAD side. And there's no manual re-entry of information for that. And also, we can transfer document data to SAP, so things like a neutral file format, or maybe a preview. And we can also help the CAD engineer by displaying information from the ERP side, so that he sees the company data about his CAD component.

And in the end, we obviously want to create our bill of material. And here, it's quite important for the integration that it takes, really, care of the changes. And so change management is really important there. And then finally, we end up on the SAP side with all the CAD components and all the correct quantities. So that's where we are today.

BEN COCHRAN: I love seeing what you did. And I also love the story of feedback coming all the way back around to improvements into the product. That's something just-- I love that. So where do you see the future of the Fusion API?

STEFAN SCHAARSCHMIDT: So for us, this was a big step in order to make our portfolio more future-proof. So we have now a solution for our Cloud native customers, so to say. And we have more ideas, of course. And we are working on some of them already. And I know that Autodesk is working a lot on a lot of different functionality, additional functionality, in the whole Forge data family of APIs.

And so I can see quite well that in the near future, more and more integration and collaboration scenarios become possible by this data at the center.

BEN COCHRAN: I love it. We're dreaming big with you. Thank you so much.

STEFAN SCHAARSCHMIDT: Thank you. It was a pleasure being here.

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BEN COCHRAN: Our work with Cideon is a testament to the value we place on collaborations, working directly with developers on APIs, delivering tools that you can run with. Next, I want to look at data interoperability, the new Data Exchange API that we rolled out with Data Exchange is a complete out-of-the-box workflow, bringing interoperability, with Revit and Power Automate, and between Revit and Inventor.

You might remember last year's data exchange demo, where we shared how a Revit user could narrow a model to specific pieces of data, like a staircase, and share it with a collaborator using Inventor. That workflow was just the beginning because when we give you the right tools, you enable the interoperability across software solutions, and reimagine possible, just like CCTech is doing.

CCTech has been an Autodesk partner since 2010, and is one of our first systems integrators. CCTech is how Data Exchange could improve collaborations and workflows by building a PowerPoint in Rhino Connector. Joining us to tell their story and share more about how they're using the Data Exchange API is Sandip Jadhav. Sandip?

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Hi, Sandip. I hear you've been traveling around the US a bit.

SANDIP JADHAV: Yeah, thanks, Ben, for inviting me here. It's an honor to be present here. And I'm happy to visit US again, face-to-face, meeting people, all great.

BEN COCHRAN: Thank you. I'm glad you're here. So tell us a little about yourself and about CCTech.

SANDIP JADHAV: Yeah, sure. I am Sandip Jadhav, CEO and Co-Founder of Center for Computational Technologies, also known as CCTech. We are on a mission to transform human life by democratization of technologies. We help companies improve their productivity by automating the workflow. We work in a range of industries: AEC, manufacturing, and oil and gas sector.

Today, we are a company of 200 developers and subject matter experts working in our consulting and product team.

BEN COCHRAN: I love it. Can you tell us about your journey with Forge?

SANDIP JADHAV: Yes, sure. We were a development network partner as early as 2009. I guess it was 2013, I was sitting in the same audience attending the keynote by Jim Quanci. And for the first time, he showcased LMV Viewer, now known as Forge Viewer. It got me thinking, when we notice that stimulation has been rarely used in early design stage, and employed only when something goes wrong in the project.

For example, indoor air quality has become epidemic problem worldwide. Today, most of the houses, offices, and large commercial spaces are not well-ventilated. We develop autonomous HVAC CFD app to solve this problem and empower millions of building professionals with easy-to-use, accurate, and affordable solution. So the application is powered by Forge, or I would say, Autodesk Platform Services, especially Model Derivative, Revit Design Automation, Data Management, Data Visualization, and now Data Exchange API.

With our growing Forge expertise, we have also become one of the Forge system integrators. This helps us build digital transformation solution, consuming design, and make data across from five continents-- not just by architects and engineers, but also by sales, marketing, and techs and support staff of the organization. For that, I'm grateful to the Autodesk Platform Services, your team, for empowering a partner like us to bring our vision of democratizing technology into reality.

BEN COCHRAN: This is so great. I know you've had a great journey with us. And I know you've also been part of the Vanguard program. Can you share a little bit about that?

SANDIP JADHAV: Sure, last year around December, we signed up for the program. At the beginning, everyone had a lot of questions about how we could share such a large variety of building data using Data exchange. API. Interaction with Autodesk team helped us to unravel the beautiful abstraction underneath the Forge data platform. The platform architecture blew our mind, opening many possibilities we had only dreamed of earlier.

I'm glad to say in a short period of time, we have built the connectors for PowerPoint, Solar Configurator, and recently, Rhino read and write. This connector enables data to flow seamlessly between Revit, Inventor, Rhino, and PowerPoint, with a single click of a button. Let's take a look at our PowerPoint connector.

Around 500 million people make PowerPoint presentations every day to win new customers. Suppose we are working on a drilling fabrication project for an apartment. Now, you don't need to share your complete design with a contractor. Share only a subset of your design, that is balcony with a railing design, or other details, with the contractor. Typically, you would have multiple design discussions in such a project.

You don't need to share a screenshot in your presentation. You can directly share actual 3D model in your PowerPoint. The connector keeps presentation always updated. Using PowerPoint, you can communicate your design intent visually. But now, let's look at how you can communicate the design data between the applications like Rhino and Revit.

So moving the design data from one application to another is always a hassle. So the Rhino Read Connector enables user to read geometry and property data from an exchange. It helps designer to leverage the Rhino capability in the context of architectural Revit model. In this workflow, the user first creates an exchange from Revit to share a subset of building design. The Rhino connector can access this exchange natively in the application.

The connector provides option to add categories to better control categorization over the geometry that is being loaded. User can also decide not to map the categories into the layers, in which all the geometry will be loaded in the default layers. As you can see, this is a smart connector that gives you far more control than traditional CAD translator.

BEN COCHRAN: I love this.

SANDIP JADHAV: The Rhino connector is just one example. The AEC industry is a confluence of multiple stakeholders, vendors, and verticals. Therefore, data keeps flowing from one location to another. As a designer, you need to carry a lot of mental work. You need to remember a lot of things. With Data Exchange, you can communicate the smallest piece of information to the team across the globe without any worries. This will help the designer to build a connected workflows where mundane tasks are executed autonomously, so he can be creative, productive, and purposeful at his work.

BEN COCHRAN: You've done a lot of great work already. Can you tell us where you're going to go in the future with Data Exchange?

SANDIP JADHAV: We see Data Exchange going interplanetary. So let me explain this. Today, at the click of a button, we get Uber anywhere. Our digital world drives our physical life. Everything is instantaneous. We are living in a hyper-connected world. So it's natural the young new workforce that's joining-- the new workforce expects the same kind of convenience, even in the workplace.

This is just the beginning. I feel we are starting with small workflows that enhances the productivity of Data Exchange. But data engineering will be a major part of all of our life. So it's the right time to invest in this. In the coming years, the data exchange will happen across the countries and continents. But as humanity goes into space, we could see data exchange going interplanetary.

BEN COCHRAN: Thanks, Sandip. I love it, interplanetary data.

SANDIP JADHAV: Thank you. Thank you, Ben.

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BEN COCHRAN: We talked about granular data with the Fusion Data API, inter-operable data with the Data Exchange API. In our third pillar, I want to talk about data accessibility. We're enabling this through industry Cloud data models that Andrew and Raji talked about this morning. We built this on a framework that integrated the same integration we use for the Fusion CAD/CAM data environment. It gives you a really good idea of where we're headed with formative data for AEC and flow data for M&E.

In each of these industries, a common data experience will make data more accessible to the right collaborators, unifying contributions by unifying workflows, serving as a digital courier that helps deliver data to your doorstep across project phases, unique disciplines, and key industries. It'll be an environment where there's less friction and more productivity because everyone has the right data, right when they need it, all the time. I can't wait.

Granular data that's broken down into its components, inter-operable data that moves fluidly across systems, and data that's accessible to key stakeholders and collaborators, taken together, this data strategy will open a whole new world of business opportunities for you. You heard from developers at Data Days talk about the power they see in the data strategy.

You've heard Cideon talk about the power of working with Fusion data. And you heard CCTech talk about the power they see in connecting disparate systems with Data Exchange. We're investing in you by creating an ecosystem for you to drive your business successfully. I really hope you see where your business fits in to a strong future with Autodesk, and how you can take this incredible opportunity and run with it. We can't cross the finish line without you.

Next, let me invite up Jim Quanci, Senior Director of our Forge Partner Development. He's here to talk about one of my favorite parts of AU, the Hackathon, and the cutting edge that many of you have done in less than a week. Welcome, Jim.

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JIM QUANCI: Thanks, Ben. Wow! As Raji said, isn't it great to be here face-to-face? Developers, partners, and all the friends, I'll tell you, I'm struggling because there's a lot of friends here right now-- everybody I want to get some time with, yeah. But for those of you who don't know me, so I'm the Senior Director, Developer at Advocacy and Support. It's kind of like being a preacher, something along those lines.

I have a team of 40 people. Their whole job is helping software developers succeed. That's what they do. And something I heard a little earlier Stefan said about, he said, hey, that API wasn't good enough. And it was kind of mumbo jumbo. And what happened? GraphQL popped out. So I need to tell you, you need to be demanding. You need to push us.

Autodesk will only be as good as you push us. I don't know how many developers have come to me with a problem, and unhappy, and having thrashed for weeks. And I'm like, don't do that. Reach out. Ask for help. Ask for help early and often. I've got a big team. We are here to help. OK, now a key thing, and some of you have seen me do this before, is it's not just about getting help from Autodesk or from my team.

Sometimes the best help is from peers. It's from other people like you. And the other thing, you're here in New Orleans to see real people. So what we're going to do is I need everybody to stand up. And you need to introduce yourself to the people around you. And no cheating, introducing yourself to somebody you know already. Let them know who you are, what your company is, what technology do you work with?

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OK, have a seat. Have a seat. Hey, Michael! Love it, love the energy. Now, a lot of technical people are introverted. And it's hard. And you're going to be here for three days. But remember, you're here to meet people, to share, to talk. So I hope-- keep up the energy, engage. OK, you're here, hopefully, to leave educated, inspired, really learning to take on the next challenge.

And I hope what you saw from Stefan, and what Sandip showed, inspires you to do more to innovate. But I get, when it's new technology, it's a bit scary. I look at what Sandip and Stefan went through, it wasn't leading edge. It was bleeding edge. And I realize that takes courage. You work for companies. You've got to keep your boss happy. You got to keep your family happy.

And it takes courage to do something different, to break the mold, to use new technologies. Frankly, most of you are here to drive change. But I encourage you to have courage. But the other thing is, again I have a team of 40 people. We are there to stand by your side. You do not have to go through this alone. You know, when it's a little scary, don't go alone. Ask for help. Ask early, ask often.

But with that, while I'm really standing up here, this has to do with the Hackathon that took place last week. We had over 130 people from outside of Autodesk. We had about 50 Autodesk engineers supporting them. We had people across 24 countries, 24 hours a day, for five days. And it's pretty amazing what people can do from scratch.

So as part of the Hackathon, we were giving away six prizes. Now, the actual prize giving happened this morning at 7:00 AM, New Orleans time. So what we're going to do here is we're going to show you just a few of the winners, get you inspired, get you excited. And when you see what someone else has done in a week, and in some cases, like, a lone engineer working by themselves, hopefully that'll help you energize, and go back, and do something.

Push yourself. And the other thing I will point out, before we get into the Hackathon winners, we run a Forge accelerator, Autodesk Platform Services accelerator. Boy, that's a lot of syllables-- every month. So if you see something exciting here, and it's like, hey, I want to do that, every month, we have a week long, 24 hours a day engineers that can help you do the same kind of work, OK?

And with that, we are going to get to our winners here. But before we do that, again, we're going to show you three videos, three hacks. Now, before we start showing the videos, I really need you to watch these three because we're going to have the People's Choice Award. You're going to pull your phone out. You're going to go to Slido. And you're going to vote which one of these three's do you think was the coolest, the most fun, the most valuable, OK? So get ready.

So our first video is from Arif and his HackOverflow team from affiliated engineers in the US. This is a consulting engineering firm. They do high tech energy work. They do laboratories. They do a lot of cool work. And Arif's got a team of four developers spread across the country who worked on their hack. And it's kind of bonus points. It's like, not only did they do this cool, saving the planet, carbon footprint kind of hack. They integrated it with the Autodesk Construction Cloud. They did the whole thing in a week. So with that, let's play hack the planet.

There is an

PRESENTER 2: Area where you have registration of the models because calculations are made up of multiple models connected to ACC and BIM 360. You have the ability to view models, if you need to, for a project. You can run calculations. And we have specific activities designed for extracting engineering data. You can go ahead and run that activity. It runs and extracts data.

You need to enhance the data that's available from models by additional metadata for calculations, such as in material, EPD's, and in program. And essentially, dashboard that to see your calculation, and de-program and things. And this can be enhanced for other pieces.

JIM QUANCI: Way cool. So again, that's HackOverflow. Remember that. You're going to vote. Number two, a team from Equicad doing an absolutely cool digital twin. And it's design, fabrication, construction progress. We're here in New Orleans. This is kind of oil and gas territory.

I look at what they've done. And you'll see it here in a second. It reminds me of advanced work packaging. It's like, way cool. And it's, again, it's another one DSE those, they just cranked it out in a few days. So hit the video.

PRESENTER 3: This model, I can review, as well as I can give comments. So now to give a comment, I'll select Mark Up. And now you write that there is a clash. Please check and update. I can take a snapshot. And this snapshot, I can send it by email.

So same model, now I can check for review of fabrication status. Now, if I see that a total of 541 items in this model, out of which some items are already released by engineering. Some items already purchased. Some are under fabrication. And some already, inspection done. Now if I want to change the status, I can select any material. I'll say, material released-- material released. And save it. And you can see, the status is changed.

JIM QUANCI: Pretty cool stuff, pretty cool-- done in a weekend. No, done in a short week. And next up-- I'm laughing because Sandip was just up here. And there was a team at CCTech, they call themselves Forge Fighters. You know I'm at that age, is that like, Foo Fighters?

It's like, who is this? Bharat on his team pulled together a group. They're in Pune, India-- and put together this-- and they're kind of after the game prize. So it's kind of a game. But you'll see here in a sec, it's more like training, safety, firefighting. And with that, play the video.

PRESENTER 4: For this demo, let's assume that this room here is a starting point. The fire safety officer defines the tools for the occupants to pick. There are some tools here to help him or her do that. I'm going to use this button to mark this door as a forbidden exit because it leads further into the building. And I'm going to mark this door here as a good exit because it leads into the passageway, and this door here because it leads outside the property.

You can see a running list of actions that you've taken here on the left. I'm also going to start a couple of files for the occupant to deal with. I'm going to select this laptop here. I'm also going to select this server here, and set it on fire. So I'm going to start the fire safety demo. You can see that we are greeted by a laptop fire. I'm going to see if I can interact with the laptop by clicking.

I guess not, based on the feedback on the panel on the right. I'm going to make my way through this door and see what's going on. I can see a much larger fire here that I want to leave to the professionals. I am going to pick up this fire extinguisher here, and try and save my laptop. Now I'm going to make my way to the passageway, and make a dash for the exit.