Autodesk builds out and in: Autodesk University helps its CAD and manufacturing users expand their knowledge base.(CAD)(computer-aided design)(Company overview)

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Along with Autodesk itself, Autodesk University (AU) has grown enormously in the 16 years of its existence. It has grown from a homey little conference with a few tracks to a large conference and trade show. And, over that same period, Autodesk has grown and changed so that it's a completely different company--as it should be. CAD is a different discipline, and no one has stood still in the industry.

The way Autodesk sees it, the point of differentiation is digital prototyping. It's not a new idea, and Autodesk, for one, has been preaching the doctrine for some time now. For Autodesk, though, digital prototyping has become the club with which to whack competitors in the project life-cycle management (PLM) business--the idea being that better methods of building and manufacturing are the true concerns of CAD, as is project data management--and not the squishy concept of PLM.

Autodesk has developed the idea of digital prototyping broadly so that it encompasses every product the company makes. Even its technology for entertainment content creation is gradually getting sucked into the digital prototyping lineup. Autodesk sees digital prototyping as the ability to plan, create, validate, and document a design before building it and then for maintaining it after production. So, it includes conceptualization tools, including a newly revived AutoSketch and Alias Studio, as well as more flexible sketching, drafting, and modeling tools in products like AutoCAD, Revit, and Inventor.

On the other side, digital prototyping encompasses better visualization, and thus includes Showcase, a version of 3ds Max that is tuned for CAD visualization in 3ds Max Design, and a program still in the Autodesk Labs skunk works called Newport, which uses a game engine to enable fast visualization to try out ideas and collaborate.

And last but not least, because digital prototyping means creating an absolutely accurate and manufacturable digital version, the data can be used to actually create an object in the real world using CAM/ CAE, rapid prototyping machines, or maybe hammers and saws. The design information that went into building a product can be used to create documentation, to provide service documents, and it might even be used when it comes time to recycle or tear down what was designed and built in the first place. These are great ideas, but so far we're not living in a world where very many companies really take advantage of the cradle-to-grave approach.

The Big Push