Thursday, June 26, 2008

Autodesk News...

Don't ask me what the big picture is with all of these aquisitions, but I thought you might want to know...

Autodesk Enhances Sustainable Design Capabilities with Acquisitions of Ecotect and Green Building Studio Analysis Tools

Autodesk Completes Acquisition of Assets of Square One Research and Green Building Studio

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., June 26, 2008 — As part of its on-going commitment to support the practice of sustainable design and green building in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today announced two acquisitions to improve building performance analysis in the building information modeling (BIM) process. Autodesk announced that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all the assets related to the Ecotect software tools for conceptual building performance analysis from both Square One Research Ltd. and Dr. Andrew Marsh. Autodesk also announced that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all the assets of Green Building Studio, Inc., a provider of web-based whole building energy, water and carbon-emission analysis software. Terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed.

“Buildings are a leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, so to combat climate change it is critical for the building industry to rapidly adopt sustainable design practices that will lead to buildings which are appreciably more efficient and eventually carbon neutral,” said Jay Bhatt, senior vice president, Autodesk AEC solutions. “The addition of these tools to our technology portfolio will help make it easier for architects, engineers and designers to understand the impact of their design decisions on building performance earlier in the design process so they can optimize for reduced environmental impact.”

The acquisitions of Ecotect and the Green Building Studio assets will support Autodesk’s vision to deliver software that enables architects and engineers to design more sustainable projects. With improved building performance analysis capabilities, Autodesk will be uniquely positioned to offer a comprehensive suite of software solutions for sustainable design and analysis, enabling a BIM process that can facilitate cost-effective design and delivery of high-performing, resource-efficient buildings and infrastructure.

Square One Research, Ltd. and Dr. Andrew Marsh, creator of the Ecotect environmental design and analysis tools, are based in Isle of Man. The Ecotect tools can measure how fundamental criteria, such as solar, thermal, shading, lighting, and airflow, will affect building performance in the conceptual and detailed phases of design. Their capability to forecast building performance over time better equips architects and engineers to deliver more energy efficient and sustainable building designs.

“Square One Research and Autodesk share a commitment to using technology to make the design and construction of sustainable, high-performance buildings easier and more efficient,” said Dr. Andrew J. Marsh, Co-Founder and Head of Research & Development, Square One Research. “We are pleased to join Autodesk and look forward to helping develop and deliver simple and effective building performance analysis to architects and engineers around the world.”

The Autodesk Green Building Studio analysis tools, now available at http://www.autodesk.com/greenbuildingstudio, provide improved design insight through whole building energy, water and carbon-emission analysis, helping architects and designers to maximize building economic and environmental performance. The tools are compatible with Autodesk design software as well as software from other industry providers through the Green Building XML (gbXML) schema and can now be directly accessed from within the Revit platform for BIM with a new plug-in now available for download. Green Building Studio Inc. launched the Green Building Studio web service in 2004.

To read more about how Autodesk and its customers are addressing sustainable design, please visit www.autodesk.com/green.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding the impact of the acquisition on Autodesk’s, product offerings and the performance of its business. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: difficulties encountered in integrating merged businesses; whether certain market segments grow as anticipated; the competitive environment in the software industry and competitive responses to the acquisition; and whether the companies can successfully develop new products or modify existing products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance.

Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of Autodesk are included in the company's reports on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2008, and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2008 which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.



Revit Resource

http://offers.autodesk.com/8/87216/

This is what you will find...

“Voices of Architecture Podcast Library” where you’ll find a series of podcast interviews including:


Bob Berkebile, BNIM – Bob
discuss the topic of Architecture and Public Identity and why it is a hot topic in the industry. Bob also describes one of the most interesting projects his firm is currently working on today, what he sees as a key trend in global architecture and the importance of BIM knowledge as a key factor when evaluating employee prospects.


Mark Dietrick, Burt Hill – Mark comments about the biggest new trends in the architecture industry, and what Burt Hill looks for in terms of BIM knowledge when searching for new employees.


John Moebes, Director of Construction for Crate & Barrel - Mark discusses how the Revit platform helps his company improve the design and build process, what Revit platform solutions they use, how Crate & Barrel has adopted integrated project management, and what he sees as the biggest new trend in architecture today.



Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Render Hotfix

Please see this article if you are having crashing issues when rendering...

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=11294295&linkID=9240618

ps, this applies to the AutoCAD renderer.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

The Revit Wave Has Hit!

I haven't been posting as much as I would like. It's not for lack of content but a huge wave of Revit implementations, training, support etc. Here's something....

IES Plugin for 2009
Some (including me) could not find the latest page for the IES plugin download for Revit Arch 2009.http://www.iesve.com/content/default.asp?page=s97_2Just download install and restart and you will see the IES toolbar right there.