Autodesk University General Session Keynote #AU2010

Lynn Allen opened the AU General Session and mentioning the new 60 minute AU session format. She also announced a repeat of last years challenge when the person who passes the most Certification Exams at AU2010 will get a free ticket to AU2011.

Carl Bass, Autodesk CEO, focused on “Innovation” as “Invention + Application”. This set the stage for a series of speakers who are applying design technology for this.

Examples ranged from Student Education Project H Design, Microwave ground powered space shuttles from Escape Dynamics, Civil Transport Project Simulations from San Francisco & Seattle, the Tesla Model S and some amazing “Bespoke Innovations” prosthetic legs made with 3D scanning, manufacturing and personal design. Then there was the prototype which became TRON Legacy. The real movie appears later today, in 3D & Surround, in a strict “no camera” session.

Jeff Kowalski, Autodesk CTO, introduced the concept of Infinite Computing. I suspect it will be the memorable theme of Autodesk University 2010 as Autodesk applications & the design industry embrace the cloud. It is already seen in Labs (like Homestyler, Showroom) and products like AutoCAD WS. Perhaps the only obstacle to unlimited processing and simultaneous design & analysis will be concerns around data security.