Inside the Factory

More fun with WebGL

I posted about a year ago about the rising trend in using WebGL to create hardware accelerated 3D graphics inside compliant browsers without the need for plugins. Well, this trend has really exploded. For some Friday fun I am posting some more examples of WebGL being used in innovative ways – but the keyword for 2012 is interactive. Developers are getting serious about making interactive 3D tools using this technology. Note: the latest version of Firefox 10 or Chrome is required. Sorry folks, no IE allowed here.

First up, Michael Dewberry, a Principal Software Engineer here at the Factory whipped up a WebGL exporter for Revit in just a couple of days. Unfortunately, this is not available publically (the devs here are using it to test new export APIs) but I got to play around with it, so I decided to export the geodesic dome I was working on last month.

3v version.  2v version. and the RVT file if you are interested.

Last year I played around a bit with WebGL myself and created this little “modeler.” It does not do much, but I was teaching myself Javascript and I wanted to see if I could create something semi-interactive.

 

123D Make, from our colleagues over in SF, is really fun. You can import a model and it will cut up the models into slices and lay them out on a template for cutting with a laser (through a service bureau) or by yourself (carpal tunnel alert!) Login required – but you can use your Autodesk services login. Worked better in Chrome for me.

 

TinkerCAD has come a really long way since I looked at it last year. Check out the breadth of projects people are creating with this fairly robust modeler. I also love the idea of “challenges” to help you learn. Login required.

 

I wrote about 3DTin last year. It also has come a long way from offering just blocks (ala Minecraft) to a new slate of really nice primitives.

 

Of these last three, Sunglass.IO has the slickest user experience. You can drag and drop your own models right onto the browser to load them. There is also a real-time collaboration aspect (which I have not yet tested.) However, I could not find out how to create new geometry. It seems like it is more like Design Review with real-time collaboration at this point.

 

I just ran across Shapesmith.net the other day (login required). Unlike 3DTin and TinkerCAD, it does not have direct manipulation of objects. But it DOES have some limited parametric control. Combine the two and you will really have something…

 

2011 Bike to Work Challenge Complete

Another challenge completed.

The participating offices, which when global this year, rode over 58632 miles during  9349 individual one way trips and saved approx. 5 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere!

The top three leader stats:

Miles Commuted By Office:

• Montreal    14895
• Waltham    7832
• Toronto      6146

Number of Round Trips By Office:

• Montreal     936.5
• Toronto      559.5
• Krakow     555.5

 

Thought the challenge is over some will continue to ride - a prospect that gets even more challenging given the climate of the top offices.  We had snow in October this year!

_erik

What I love (and hate) about my new Mac - Part 2

Or, "How I stopped worrying and learned to look in Preferences."

Last week I posted a list of some long running complaints I have been compiling on usability issues with Mac OS X. A big thanks to people that gave me some solutions and workarounds (online and off.) Here is a summary:

Tabbing through forms

This one is probably the most egregious to me. It turns out, this is really just the default behavior. In Safari, you can modify this from Preferences > Advanced and under Universal Access there is (ironically) a checkbox "Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage." Then they have a little descriptive text that tells you to use Option+Tab as a soft mode to go back to the default behavior.

In OS X natively, go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > and you will see a radio button at the bottom labeled "All Controls." This will tab through all controls in a dialog or form - not just text boxes.

Finder and Window management

Reader Gordon shows how to make Finder search default to the current folder: in Finder Preferences, under Advanced, you can set your search to search the Mac, the Current Folder, or the previous Search Scope. 

Also, Control + Down arrow is a good shortcut to show all current open documents in the app with current focus.

Gordon also points out the variety of touchpad gestures for shortcuts - something I have been missing out on with the iMac and Power Mac I have been using for the past few years.

Dock

From reader Rob: To avoid minimizing your window to the far right: In the Dock settings, checking the "Minimize windows into application icon" 

---

Why these are not the defaults? I have not the foggiest idea. But now that they are changed, I have a much happier Mac and a few less gray hairs!

What I love (and hate) about my new Mac - a user centered review

In the midst of the press storm around the passing of Steve Jobs, I received my brand new Mac Book Pro. Let me start out by saying what I love about my new machine, and Macs in general. First, I do a lot of video editing - in my work life and personal life - and NOTHING beats a Mac for video work. I have never found a Windows Firewire driver that does not give me a Blue Screen of Death. Also, no one can deny the hardware is just beautiful and wonderfully engineered. Nothing else in the market comes even close - but of course you pay for it. I also really love the smooth and intuitive gestures on the track pad. As beautiful as this aluminum monolith is, lets start our critique with hardware. The first thing I noticed as I laid my hands on my new Mac Book is, the beautiful hard edge of aluminum cuts into my wrists! After just a few minutes of work I had a line across my wrists. I am actually quite worried that this is going to be a major ergonomic issue long term. This could have been solved with just a slight, elegant bevel. Or, one can create their own bevel.

I should also say that I am an equal-opportunity computer user. I have multiple Windows PCs and multiple Macs at both home and work. I even have a Linux server in my garage (I know, Nerd Alert!) Nothing irks me more than Apple fan-boys that gush at everything Apple produces and fail to see the warts that are staring them in the face. Most of my issues lie with the operating system itself. And to be fair, I have begun to notice that Apple is addressing some of the items on my long-running gripe list. So let us take a look at the list (It's nice to be on the sending end of a "wish list" for once!)

Tabbing between controls

For some inexplicable reason, while tabbing between controls in a form in Safari, drop down lists and buttons, check boxes and radio buttons are all skipped. When I am filling out my address on-line for the 1 millionth time, I always press the tab key to quickly move through the form. In Safari, when I get to the ubiquitous "State" drop-down, the tab key skips right over it! BTW, this works well in Chrome - not sure about Firefox. Even worse than Safari, you cannot tab through controls in most OS X dialogs. This is really basic UI 101.

Alt - Tab does not show individual documents

This one is probably because I have been a Windows user most of my life. But the Alt-Tab interaction is really weak in OS X. If I have a bunch of images open in Photoshop, it sort of picks the last one when I Alt-tab to it. The dock provides a list of multiple open documents, I don't see why Alt-Tab does not.

Menu bar only across the top

I find myself going back and forth on this one. On one hand, having the menu bar across the top provides some level of placement consistency. It also makes individual windows a bit cleaner and shorter. However, it violates Fitts law which "predicts that the time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target."  In other words, the File menu, while always being in the same spot, is almost always farther away than if it was docked on the top of the active window.

Window management

Pressing the Plus sign does not really expand the entire window. This one always perplexes me. Probably because of my heavy Windows use, but I always expect the green plus sign to go full screen.  Also, I think Microsoft really outpaced Apple in Windows 7 when they greatly improved their window manager with the side-by-side docking, drag to top to maximize and 'shake' to isolate. That said, I really like Expose, especially some of the subtle improvements in Lion. 

You must resize windows from the bottom right corner only. Finally fixed in Lion! 

The Dock

The Dock is OK. But again, I think Windows is superior here. When you minimize a document in Windows it minimizes to it's parent icon on the dock. In OS X, it minimizes to this ghetto off to the right by the smelly trash can. I find that I do not minimize windows in OS X because I inevitably forget where they went. I know you can hold down the Dock icon to see the list, but I think this minimize behavior creates an unnecessary cognitive disconnect between the document and it's parent application.

The Finder

When I type a term into a Finder window it defaults to "My Mac" finding all files that match that word. This is fine behavior for the Spotlight seach in the menu bar, but when I am in a folder, I am usually searching for a file in that folder. Speaking of Spotlight, when I search for files across my entire Mac, it would be really nice if I could right click and go to the folder where that file lives. This is available in Finder searches, but inexplicably missing from the Spotlight search results. Sometimes I think that right-click behavior is the red-headed step child of OS X. Something they had to begrudingly adopt, but hidden behind a sleek one button door with no affordance of it's right-clickiness.

Copy/Paste does not work on files. Argh.

Delete key does not delete files. Double Argh!

iLife

 Ok, for this one I should just accept that I am not the target user for this suite and leave it at that and be happy with the fact that Picasa works on the Mac.

 

Hey look, I know I am coming across as grumpy...and trust me, I am not sending this thing back! But as with all of you Reviteers out there, it's all out of love of the product (right?) And of course, there is always Bootcamp and Parallels!

_tom

Student Showreel 2011 TU Graz

Today I'll share an uplifting video that came across my desk this morning.  Its a reel of student work at TU Graz.

 

I'm inspired.  I recall in school having to hide the tools I used because the use of technology was oft equated with the relinquishment of intent.  Since then it has been rewarding to work on Revit and teach it to local students. Things have changed. There are so many examples of real and imagined projects using these new tools.  Strong work all.

_erik

Off Topic: Engineering Stuff: Fast 14

For the enjoyment of my engineering audience...

"The bridges are coming, the bridges are coming" blinks on a portable LED construction sign.  What's this about?  It's a play off "The British are coming" evoking Paul Revere's Boston to Lexington ride of yore and refers to the replacement of 14 highway/freeway/motorway bridges north of Boston not far from my home.  During some recent government stimulus road paving it became evident that many of the bridge road decks were falling apart - stark evidence of the failing grade the American Society of Civil Engineers assigns to most of our nation's infrastructure.  After some emergency shoring up of the decks they proceeded to plan.

Potholes that swallow cars and motorbikes whole - not a myth

No problem.  "Fast 14" to the rescue.  All the newfound dangerous bridges will be replaced over a few weekends this summer starting June 3.  The plan is to redirect one direction of traffic at a time to the other side then swap out the old bridge sections with new ready-made modular sections using cranes.  More official info is listed here

Swap Process

 

Crossover

I'll take a photo or two next month.  Meanwhile back in Waltham, near the factory on I-95, there is a bridge they have been building since the time Revit was born.  They should just stop, cut their losses, and try this new technique.

_erik

Interactive Facades

Or "How to improve on a Gehry design."  Somewhat off-topic, but I have a thing for these animated facade projections that have been appearing over the past couple of years. This recent one is particularly cool:

The LightLine of Gotham from seeper on Vimeo.

File under "If and when I get some extra time:" Use a Revit model to design and simulate a facade projection using the new Analysis Visualization Framework. Then hook the visualization up to a hardware system using openFrameworks and arduino to drive the projection. Or, one could project real-time data visualization about the building's energy and/or solar performance right on the facade - a public display of green-ness (or lack thereof.)  One can dream.  

Here are some more fantastic examples:

Architect Simone Giostra talks about GreenPix - a media art LED wall that is powered by the sun. Extra cool: they have built a free tool for simulating your own videos. The user interface is kind of clunky, but it demonstrates how one could start to simulate these types of installations using a 3D model.

UrbanScreen does some amazing work 

555 KUBIK | facade projection from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

 

Also from a couple of years ago, this is a bit more fanciful (made with After Effects not actual projection) but I love the decidedly low-tech approach

 

Modules from endemic project on Vimeo.

_tom

 

Temporary Factory Shutdown

Following in the great traditions of the Great Recession, Autodesk is shutting down all offices for the following week. See you after a much needed of rest, relaxation, and colorful explosions in the night sky.

Until then, I will leave you with a couple fun links via Yammer from last week:

3D printing with concrete? Why not?

How fun would it be to go back in time to 1977 and "reinvent" the future?

Twitter and earthquakes (who even knew Toronto had an earthquake last week?? I guess I need to read the news more)

Yammers for the week

For the past year or so Autodesk has been experimenting with Yammer on our internal network. Think of its as a intranet version of Twitter, without the 140 character limit. Keeping with the theme of "inside the factory", I thought I would periodically cherry pick some links and tidbits that come across the wire from around the Autodesk globe:

• Wordpress 3D Theme made with CSS3.  I have to say, I am pretty excited about the coming age of HTML5 and CSS3, but this demo is not that exciting. It reminds me of some of the old VRML demos everyone got worked up over in the 90's.
• NY Times elegant - and damn scary - visualization of the BP Gulf oil spill.
• What UX can (and cannot learn from games) - a talk from UX Camp Europe on how to make user experience more fun. I know I will regret asking, but any thoughts on making Revit more fun?
• An finally, you think using Shared Coordinates is complicated? Take a look at this beauty.

Have a great weekend everyone.

_tom

Pedal Power to the People!

Last year we blogged about the friendly competition between our two New England Autodesk offices to see who could bike to work the most. I am happy to say we have gone global this year. So far the response and participation (not to mention level of competition) has been fantastic. Here are some stats to date:

• Number of months of the challenge: Six (May through October)
  
• Number of offices participating: 20
• Number of participants: 184
• Number of countries represented: Eight (on four continents!)
• Miles ridden in first two weeks: 6779!
• Office in the lead: Waltham - Go Factory!
  

There are two main metrics we are tracking: raw number of miles ridden (per individual and office - for bragging rights) and amount of carbon saved (calculated by what an individual's typical commute distance and mode of transport is.) We are currently calculating carbon savings per mile by dividing the pounds of carbon generated by burning a gallon of gasoline (19.4 lbs) by the average mpg for a passenger car in the US (in 2007, 22.5 mpg). We plan on refining this metric by segmenting by country and asking each participant to enter their car's average MPG.

Below are some graphs created by myself and Factory veteran Lilli Smith using an amazing free piece of software called Tableau. This warrants a separate how-to post because I think this software - and the larger trend of social info-visualization holds some intriguing implications in the context of BIM.

Total Carbon Saved (versus driving a car)

Powered by Tableau

Off Topic: Web Comics

I don't know how many of you have found this site yet but if you haven't go there now.  Trust me.  Just copy the link below and put it in your reader.

http://architexts.us/

I understand these folks are not that far from the factory and they have really tapped into something.  Great comedy has a ring of truth and life in a design firm is fertile territory.  An architect refuge this strip brought it all back in a blink.

To the creators:  Love the Modulor man character.  You could just release a single frame of him with no text and I would smile.

...also like the design.  Simple silhouette characters and office context.

_erik

Parallel topic: Factory Kitchen Interactions

 
Usability is everywhere.  Our factory conference rooms and offices have cool glass doors to let the daylight in. They have vertical pulls that are attractive yet offer little affordance as to whether you push or pull.  My architect brain tells me I push because its a left or right hand door into a room but the shiny vertical handle works on the lizard part of my brain that says "Its a bar not a plate.. pull it". Its minor yet its not uncommon to see peers tugging on door handles that won't yield.

 

Problems are often easy to identify but stepping back and noticing a successful design is worthwhile too.  The factory kitchen is full of examples of both.  Hours of coding and feature design requires caffeine which can be obtained via an automatic coffee machine and soda dispenser.

The coffee machine will make various styles with a few push buttons and grinds whole beans. It won't detect glass mugs but there are ways to trick it.  The buttons you can press light up and there are written instructions.  Occasionally it will display a cryptic message about water temperature but it usually snaps out of this state - altogether pretty good. The soda machine also has a thought out work-flow:

1. Insert money
2. Choose flavor: Coke 1, Coke 2, Diet Coke 1, Diet Coke 2, ect..
3. Retrieve beverage
4. Retrieve change (in the same place!)

Other than having to bend down to get my beverage (leveraging gravity is forgivable) its very smooth.

The snack machine is more of a jarring up and down, left and right process. The software equivalent to this is highlighting text when renaming objects to facilitate typing over or laying out a dialog in a logical order.

Out Kitchen Microwave...yikes. 

Its clearly a commercial model due to the fact its rated at 10 million watts and can convert a cup of water to vapor in 10 seconds.  The going theory is a commercial kitchen would label each number in the space provided and set it to a specified time for common things they need to nuke.  I know from experience that 4 = 00:45 seconds and 5 = 01:00.  We used to have a cheat sheet on the nearby whiteboard.  Clearly this is a case where the persona is someone other than a typical office worker.

_erik

What we're reading

Visualize your Revit project with the Unity3D game engine  - with dynamic updates. Cool.

Straight out of my adolescent day dreams: Bastards doing architecture. Just look at that cross section.

An excellent summary on empowering users to create their own software

And, while on the topic, Zach get's his robotic butt kicked by his kid

Bluestreak? that was so 2009 :) CASE launches WHObyYOU.

I have no idea what you are saying ... (Google Translator Added)

 

Happy New Year!

It may or may not be common knowledge but not all the work done on Revit these days is completed in the Waltham factory - the factory is global.  The keyboard shortcut feature is just one such effort where our friends in Shanghai did some good work.  In honor of our sister office lets celebrate Chinese New Year (first of 15 days started the 14th).  Happy New Year!

 

Boston's China Town Lion Dancers

Next year we must invite the lions to come into the Waltham factory lobby for some delicious lettuce and fruit to bring good luck and fortune....though on second thought the firecrackers might set off the fire shutter and sprinklers.

Oh. its also the year of the tiger.

_erik

Factory Commute

The factory is participating in a Bike to work challenge (May through October).  As of today 31 workers in the Waltham and Manchester offices have logged 6122 miles!

This translates to a savings of 5302 lbs of CO2.  (6122 miles / 22.4 avg. US vehicle MPG * 19.4 lbs. of CO2 per gallon of gas = 5302 lbs of CO2.)  See EPA site and DOE site for figures.

This assumes bicycling is entirely carbon neutral - not entirely true as riding a bike requires more food fuel (confirmed by our hungry riders). See: The Environmental Paradox of Bicycling.

The savings also assumes (a very sad) average mileage of 22.4mpg while many of our riders own much more efficient vehicles.

All caveats aside the factory is growing a dedicated staff prepared to work in a post peak oil environment! _erik   

Off Topic - Books

A short diversion from Revit.

I'm just finishing a great book The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition by James Howard Kunstler.  I read a few others of his in college, specifically Home from Nowhere (1996) and Geography of Nowhere (1993).  All are related in recording his thoughts on urban design in the U.S.

If your summer book pile is not too high The City in Mind its a good read and written in 2002 is prescient in some of its observations.  He covers some history in urban planning, such as Paris and London, and gives Boston fair marks for fixing some of its past mistakes.  Other cities...well..we will see.

Kunstler is controversial yet is good at writing on these building industry related topics.  Its often hard to read something these days and think "Yes!, I feel the same way".
Any other book suggestions relating to design, engineering, or architecture?

_erik