This year marks 35 years since AutoCAD first started – can you believe it? I sure can’t. You may have seen Shaan’s recent recapsof how Autodesk isgoing about celebrating and in case you missed it, we are also highlighting some of the next generation of AutoCAD designers with our 35 Under 35 Young Designers list.
March also marked the launch of AutoCAD 2018. To celebrate the occasion as well as some incredible design work by our AutoCAD customers, we hosted an event in the Bay Area with some of our most influential AutoCAD personalities (many of whom, coincidentally, have also become good friends of mine over the years). The day at our Autodesk One Market office in San Francisco included a Gallery tour, followed by an up close and personal overview of the exciting new features introduced in AutoCAD 2018 by the AutoCAD product team, as well as a glimpse into future using the AutoCAD crystal ball. Spoiler alert: The road ahead promises great things!
We were fortunate to have some back-and-forth dialog with the AutoCAD product team during lunch, after which we headed over to the amazing Autodesk space on San Francisco’s Pier 9 for a guided tour. As you can see below, Heidi Hewett enjoyed a little ad-hoc ziplining (with a little push from yours truly).
After Pier 9, we boarded a bus to one of my favorite wineries, Silver Oak (in Northern California’s famed Napa Valley) to hear from a couple of AutoCAD customers who used our software to make the vineyard LEED Platinum certified! Shout out to Andy Souza from TEP Engineering, and James Munden from Marta Fry Landscape Associates — thank you!
The AutoCAD marketing team worked hard to pull this amazing Influencer Day together, and here’s a pic of some of them getting some well-deserved downtime at Silver Oak Vineyard at the end of this long but very productive and exciting day.
I had a ball hosting this event and am even more thrilled to be able to share what we did with all of you!
Looking forward to many more reasons to celebrate AutoCAD in 2018 – including your great design work. We’re always interested to learn about how our customers are using AutoCAD in new and creative ways so please don’t hesitate to tell us about your cool project by leaving a comment below.
