If you’ve ever wonder who’s integrating with Autodesk’s BIM360 Platform there’s a list online. This is more important than ever with the number of solutions out in the market. When you select one, you’ll want to know if you’re creating another digital silo. Autodesk integration list is a good way to see if your net solution can be leveraged with your existing BIM360 accounts.Â
https://integrations.bim360.autodesk.com/
While applicable to my career over a decade ago, I normally wouldn’t cover news on ArtCAM. It’s not relevant in my current professional life. However I find this interesting and noteworthy which is why it caught my eye.
In 2014, Autodesk acquired a CAM software developer named Delcam. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delcam) Delcam was based in the United Kingdom and wasn’t as widely known as some of the big players like MasterCAM, Gibbs, Esprit or any number of others. Delcam was different. Instead of a few well selling products, they had a vast portfolio of CAM smaller solutions for niche markets like jewelry and footwear.
Autodesk on the other hand is a large volume software company. They don’t do “niche” very well. The smart play was to leave Delcam alone. This lasted for a few years but that recently ended.
One of their more popular products was ArtCAM. I supported it at one of my past employers over a decade ago. Earlier this year, Autodesk announced they were discontinuing ArtCAM to the dismay of it’s users. This was no surprise as Autodesk has a long history of acquiring software and companies and realigning or discontinuing products. You can see a list of most of them on Steve Johnson’s blog here…https://www.cadnauseam.com/autodesk-graveyard/
What I do find noteworthy, and I’m just getting around to write about it now despite being month old news, is that they made the decision to sell it off. ArtCAM will continue but from a new company. This typically doesn’t happen. You either take the hit and migrate to what Autodesk wants or you find another product. This time, the product will continue but with a new company and name…Carveco. http://carveco.com/
Why do I find this interesting? It’s no surprise that Autodesk has pretty much abandoned new development of Fabrication CADmep, ESTmep and CAMduct. All their efforts are focused on Revit’s Fabrication parts. While that eliminates the need for CADmep for many, there’s still no clear public strategy on ESTmep or CAMduct. It would be nice if they took those products and found a way to spin them off. Granted, it’s harder in this case. They share a common data platform (the Fabrication Configuration) and content with Revit now. None the less, I’m sure there’s a lot of smaller firms that could make a good run of it. They’d just have to partner with Autodesk a little differently than in typical.
What do you say Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost? You’re company helped fracture the MEP industry with your purchase of MAP software in 2012. Only now do we see several 3rd parties emerging and targeting the MEP contractor. How about giving one or two of them a shot…to continue with the value we see in these products?
Today, Autodesk announced their acquisition of PlanGrid. You can read the press release from Autodesk here…http://adsknews.autodesk.com/pressrelease/autodesk-to-acquire-plangrid.
This doesn’t really seem like a surprise. PlanGrid has a large and active user base where as competitor Fieldwire seems like they’ve had trouble competing and gaining significant market traction.
What is a surprise to me, is that typically these types of “big” announcements are typically given in Las Vegas during Autodesk University, not the week following. I suspect that in this case, an announcement of this type would have distracted from the other BIM360 related messaging Autodesk was trying to deliver.
What made PlanGrid strong in the market is the ease of use and field adoption of their platform. Plain and simple, field personnel liked it and used it, It doesn’t really matter what something costs if it doesn’t get used. PlanGrid had a platform that was used. My guess is they sold because what better way to finish than on top. In the end, what were they doing that Autodesk couldn’t do, or soon do with their BIM360 Docs platform? I know several companies that pay more annually for PlanGrid than their entire Autodesk product lines. In some cases PlanGrid renewals were double Autodesk. And for what? Storage and viewing?
As Autodesk continues to build out their BIM360 platforms, and users increasingly adopt services like BIM360 Design (formerly Collaboration for Revit), it wouldn’t take long before people started asking why they were paying so much when BIM360 Design published to BIM360 Docs already and seemingly did the same thing?
Where would PlanGrid differentiate itself? When we take an intelligent model and publish it to a PDF, we’re loosing a lot of information. Any more intelligence PlanGrid would try to add is attempting to recreate what was once there but lost. Not to mention, adding more functionality would start to move PlanGrid away from the core principals that made it strong…simplicity. In the end, I think PlanGrid chose to end on a high note before an eventual decline.
When Autodesk acquires a company, they do it for one or more of the following reasons…
For Autodesk, I don’t really think they care about PlanGrid’s technology or development teams. Not that they aren’t good tools and people, but Autodesk has their own. Instead of having to OCR PDF’s to automatically hyperlink them, you should be able to create the PDF from this intelligence already in Revit. There’s really no point in trying to recreate lost intelligence (PlanGrid) when you already have it captured (BIM360).
Instead, I think Autodesk wanted the user’s. It’s the quickest way to increase your BIM360 Docs usage which is where I think the users will be migrated to. If not BIM360 Docs, perhaps a more streamlined tool for field communication that uses BIM360 Docs as it’s storage platform.
Lower software costs. I know, I know. They’s not something you typically get from an Autodesk acquisition but paying double for a PDF sharing platform than all your other Autodesk services certainly won’t continue. I predict the price will drop, they’ll then “realign” duplicate platforms and move everyone to BIM360 because PlanGrid no longer “makes money” and they’re done. That’s what happened in the past in similar situations like Autodesk Fabrication being acquired from MAP software. We in the MEP world know how that worked out…new development halted, fixes released at a glacial pace and updates almost non-existent. Move to Revit or fall behind. I think you’ll see that dynamic play out w/PlanGrid as well.
For now, I’ll enjoy not paying double to share PDF’s because PlanGrid says we have tens of thousands of sheets on a project we use when the reality is we’re only looking and a handful of sheets for a project team that’s using PlanGrid. While a good product which we do use, our usage numbers have never been what they’ve suggested. I wonder if Autodesk fell prey to some of those technically accurate but misleading usage stats as well.
Autodesk released update 2018.3.0 for Revit on 2018.04(Apr).08. Click here to see a listing of the issues fixed in this and previous updates for Revit 2018,
To download and install the update, refresh your Autodesk Desktop App and updates should appear if you have an active subscription (maintenance plan or annual subscription). The Autodesk Desktop App icon is located in your Windows System Tray if it was installed.
You can also access them from the Product Downloads section of the Autodesk Accounts portal if you are a contract manager or software coordinator in your account.
On May 15, 2018, Autodesk will be removing the Device Management functionality from the Accounts Portal. The idea behind Device Management was a place where you could tell Autodesk’s Desktop App (formerly App Manager) if it should allow access to software and updates on a particular computer system.
In theory, it was a good idea. In practice however, it never worked well. For starters, for Autodesk to have your device listed the Desktop App needed to be installed. That seems obvious. But for this to happen, you had to allow access to all devices or the Accounts Portal wouldn’t see the device.
From an enterprise management perspective, it would be logical that all devices be blocked from application and/or service pack downloads except the systems of a CAD/BIM Manager, IT or Power User tasked with vetting the the update. They could test or choose when to roll-out new versions or updates and when ready, the devices could be allowed access. You may even want to use the Desktop App to install the updates to a certain point for a new system but for that to work, you had to enable it for everybody for it to pickup the new device. Now, all your users see all updates and software even if you didn’t want them to and some of your users may be updating past where you want them. You’d have to then disable everyone again after the new device showed up in the list and re-disable them,
Another problem was that it the Desktop App (or former App Manager) was ever uninstalled and reinstalled, your device would show up again. Uninstall and reinstall 5 or 6 times like I had done over almost 2 years of working with their support team to fix the issues and you would have your device listed 5 or 6 times with no way to remove them short of another support ticket.
Ultimately, I don’t think anyone will care. I don’t believe most companies used this feature. With the move to subscription software, everything is based on the user anyway making device management less important. None the less I do wonder, if Autodesk actually understood what companies really needed to manage their enterprise (especially large enterprises), they may have designed the functionality differently. It just may have had more adoption by customers. I highly doubt they consulted any large or small customers when designing Device Management as it was a dismal failure,
For more information on the retirement of Device Management from Autodesk’s Accounts Portal, click this link to see their support article.
It’s that time of year where Autodesk releases new versions of their desktop products. For companies with network licenses, it’s also strongly recommended to upgrade to the latest version of FlexLM for you license server.
Current Version: 11.14.1.3
You can download the latest version from Autodesk’s web site here.
A few things to note…
To determine which version of FlexLM you’re running, browse to the folder where your license server is running and Right-Click on LMGRD.EXE. Using the properties dialog, the Details tab will tell you the version you’re currently using.
I’m amazed at how many people aren’t aware of or don’t use Autodesk Screencast. It’s a free, screen recording utility from Autodesk but it;s also a lot more.
While Screencast will record any application, a number of Autodesk applications have a lot tighter integration. Here’s some of the additional things Screencast will do that most other screen recording applications miss when you capture from an Autodesk application…
Not all Autodesk applications have as much details as others (AutoCAD records a lot of data, Navis less data).
While you can use Screencast for the typical uses of any screen recording software like training, where I think it really shines is in support both internal and external, If you’ve ever had your users unable to reproduce a problem while you were looking, this gives them a good way to get that information to you. Additionally, you can see exactly what they are/are not typing and picking in the even there’s a very nuanced user interface interaction they’re missing that you pickup on or that they are having a hard time communicating.
I especially like using Screencast when submitting Support tickets to Autodesk. They are easily able to see what I see and what I type and pick eliminating a lot of unnecessary Email communication about steps to reproduce. This alone makes Screencast worth it’s weight in gold because it cuts down on the non-value added time spent during the support process. The Autodesk tech immediately sees everything and can jump start their troubleshooting and/or research.
You can download and learn more about Screencast from this link.
Ever wish you could have access to Autodesk software at home? Well, you can. There’s several ways depending on your situation. Here’s how…
Free: 30-Day Trial
Most Autodesk software allows you to download and install a 30-day free trial. Simply go to Autodesk’s web site and download what you’e looking for.
https://www.autodesk.com/products
Free: Licenses for Students and Educators
Autodesk allows students and educators free access to Autodesk software. You can find more information from your school or from Autodesk’s web site.
https://www.autodesk.com/education/home
Free: Home use Licenses from your Employer.
Autodesk allows employees home use licenses of software to use at home while that are not at work. Your company’s contract manager or software coordinator will need to work with you to get you access. I they are unsure of the rules, your Autodesk reseller can help answer their questions. More information can be found on Autodesk’s web site.
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/account-management/software-downloads/home-use
Low Cost: AUGI Professional Membership w/ADN Access
The Autodesk User Group International (AUGI) has negotiated and agreement with Autodesk where you can get an Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) Standard membership when you purchase a $100 AUGI Professional Membership.
Autodesk Developer Network is the program where commercial developers, corporate developers and independent developers can get access to Autodesk’s software for development purposes. Note that you may need to Email AUGI after signing up to get details on how to apply for the Autodesk ADN membership. This information was not provided proactively by Autodesk when I signed up. Because the ADN membership is geared toward developers and authors, the application process asks for a lot of information that’s not relevant in the case of those gaining access from AUGI so you’ll want to follow AUGI’s instructions for applying and fill out the information as best you can. You can get more information from AUGI’s web site.
Lynda.Com is offering a 30 day free trail for over 350 different Autodesk related courses. You can sign up here…
https://www.lynda.com/Autodesk-training-tutorials
Lynda also as a lot of other courses for many topics. Before you spend you money on a subscription, check with your local library. Many library systems have agreements with Lynda.Com to offer courses for free to their members. King Country Library System (Seattle Washington), Multnomah County Library (Portland, Oregon) and the Salt Lake City Library (Utah) are just some of the many libraries offering these courses on Lynda.Com for free.