Autodesk Insight 360 Survey

I have no idea how many readers of this blog are active users of this product. Just in case...

The Autodesk Insight 360 team has put together an industry marketing survey. The survey itself is HERE and THEIR BLOG POST provides more information.

What's in it for you? Take the survey, enter your email address and you’ll be entered to win one of ten (10) $50 Amazon gift cards. The survey closes on the 31st of May.

If this product is part of how you do your work take the survey now so you don't forget. If it isn't then consider taking the survey anyway; offer up your insight regarding why you don't use it now (see what I did there?).

Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Book is Available

Ken Marsh published his first book dedicated to Autodesk' Robot Structural Analysis Professional 2013 (it's also the first book for it). He intends it to be your essential introduction to its features, functions, and workflow. He's confident that you will be able to master the tools you'll need to make Robot work for you.

Some of its highlights include:

• Demystify the interface
• Manipulate and manage Robot tables like a pro
• Learn how to use Robot's modeling tools
• Master loading techniques
• Harness Robot automated load combinations
• Decipher simplified seismic loading
• Discover workflows for steel and concrete design
• Gain insights to help troubleshoot issues

He's prepared easy guided exercises to help get you up to speed quickly.

Ken is a structural engineer and was, until recently, the Revit Structure Quality Assurance Analyst at Autodesk. He works hard to be a champion of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology for the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry. In addition to writing this book he is currently working to promote fully integrated structural analysis, design, and documentation by developing custom Revit API add-ons, providing software training, and consulting services for firms as they transition to a more fully BIM-centric process.

I appreciate and admire his willingness to write about a topic, that must be a niche among niches, catering to structural engineers. I was also curious about whether a 2014 edition is going to be available, he replied that he's working on the 2014 edition now.

All the best with the book Ken!

Conceptual Energy Analysis

In my earlier posts I didn't get into the details of the new features revealed in the Subscription Advantage Pack that just became available. A post today at Inside the Factory means I can be lazy and just point you in their direction. That is, assuming you haven't already watched them?

Autodesk is getting quite proactive about explaining features with video. The only trouble with this is figuring out where to find information on a given feature. Pulling it all together so the average user can find it all will be the ongoing challenge, I think.

Here's the links to each video, just to be a little bit redundant:

Choosing the Project Location and Weather Station
Using Automatic Form Rationalization
Changing Energy Settings
Customizing Form Rationalization
Performing Conceptual Energy Analysis