Autodesk Aquires The Wild

 Worked with Autodesk in the enterprise when they were helping us maintain machine and device blueprints for key processes.   Now they are going beyond.

Autodesk Acquires Enterprise Collab Platform The Wild

It follows The Wild’s acquisition of IrisVR last year.

BY PETER GRAHAM, MARCH 24, 2022

While all the focus might be on virtual reality (VR) gaming, the enterprise side of the industry is a hotbed of advancing tech and ever-evolving workflows. Another nod to that fact arrives today with the reveal that AEC (architecture, engineering, construction) software specialist Autodesk has acquired immersive collaboration The Wild.

The Wild

Thanks to its own acquisition of IrisVR in 2021, The Wild is also heavily involved in the AEC sector, allowing Autodesk to gain an even stronger foothold as businesses look towards XR to help deliver projects in a world becoming more attuned to remote working practices. Integrating with tools such as Revit, SketchUp, and BIM 360, The Wild’s cross-platform ecosystem integrates with Meta Quest, HP Reverb, Pico Neo, HTC Vive, PC and even AR (on iOS devices) to make it easily accessible to all co-workers.

Between The Wild and IrisVR, both platforms serve over 700 customers worldwide which Autodesk will now be able to build upon. No acquisition sum has been revealed and there’s been no mention of how this will impact the current teams going forward.

“Our acquisition of The Wild reflects the rapid transformation taking place in the building industry, from the complexity of projects to the geographic diversity of teams who design, construct, and operate them,” said Andrew Anagnost, CEO and president, Autodesk in a statement. “XR is a must-have business imperative for today and an important part of Autodesk’s Forge platform vision.” .... ' 

On Autodesk Tandem

My continued look at Autodesk's Tandem Digital Twin Solution.  Look for more posts here on digital twins.

DIGITAL TWIN FOR SMARTER OPERATIONS

Autodesk Tandem

Autodesk Tandem™ digital twin solution is here to free the data, to organize the data, and to standardize the data. The platform enables project teams to deliver an effortless handover, resulting in smarter operations for owners.

What is Autodesk Tandem?

This platform harnesses BIM data to create a digital twin of a facility. At the end of a project, your team can deliver to owners a comprehensive digital handover of easily accessible and insightful data that makes for ready-to-go operations.

Diagram of building phases: plan, design, build and operate.

How does Autodesk Tandem work?

It federates the data created during a project into one comprehensive digital replica. From planning to operations, it enables project teams to specify and capture data throughout a project’s lifecycle, so they can deliver a digital handover to the owner for better facility operations.

How does Autodesk Tandem help your project teams?

The digital solution empowers AEC firms to harness data. About 80% of the lifetime cost of a facility is in operations. By harnessing all the data created during a project, you deliver more value to customers. Autodesk Tandem enables more efficient operations, reduces waste, and lowers maintenance costs.

What goes into creating a digital twin handover?

Autodesk Tandem allows for a more integrated workflow involving the following stages:

1. Specify  Set up, track, manage, and define the data requirements most relevant to your project and organize them to best suit your needs.

2. Capture  Collect and aggregate the data required for your digital handover from all involved project teams and contributors into one digital hub.

3. Verify Validate that all the data is complete and accurate for an effortless digital handover.  ... '

Autodesk and Digital Twins

 Have been connected with Autodesk when it primarily advanced drafting and visualization capabilities, via a number of tools we used.  See now that they are working with the concept of Digital Twins, launching the Tandem platform.   https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/digital-twin/autodesk-tandem     

 A natural connection, visualization is a form of modeling to better understand something complex.    We even used their drafting programs to support simulation applications.  ...  As you can see Digital Twins.  

Autodesk has been on a tear,  in Venturebeat, expanding its support for digital twins across the building industry. For starters, Autodesk launched Tandem, a digital twin platform that promises to connect the dots between project owners and architectural, engineering, and contracting (AEC) teams. The company hopes these initiatives will make it easier to convert mounds of disorganized data into a comprehensive digital replica of the components, systems, and spaces in a facility.

“We believe an increased demand for digital twins by owners and operators of buildings and infrastructure will create new market opportunities for digital technologies and digitization of the AEC industry,” said Bob Bray, senior director and general manager of Autodesk Tandem.

The company also acquired Innovyze, a water infrastructure modeling and simulation tool leader, for $1 billion. Innovyze software helps over 3,000 water agencies model fundamental components of water infrastructure. Better simulation tools are growing in importance as water agencies grapple with the impact of droughts accelerated by climate change.

“The acquisition accelerates Autodesk’s digital twin strategy and creates a clearer path to a more sustainable and digitized water industry,” Bray said.

The company’s overall direction was further amplified last month when Autodesk acquired Upchain, which makes product lifecycle management (PLM) and product data management tools. This partnership could also make it easier to manage digital twins of the products and systems that get integrated into new construction projects.

Notably, this move also allows Autodesk to expand beyond construction into the market for other types of digital twins solutions that is led by PLM giants like Siemens, PTC, and Dassault.  ... '

AVA Does Customer Service

As part of a look and conversation regarding conversational agents for both engagement, loyalty and enhanced customer service for Autodesk.  Does such a solution have to look like a human?   Note below Watson services are being tested to model customer sentiment.   Videos at the link.  Thanks to Walter Riker. 

This Chatbot Is Trying Hard To Look And Feel Like Us    In FastCompany

Modeled on a real person and equipped with a virtual “nervous system,” Autodesk’s AVA is built to be a font of empathy, no matter how mean a customer gets.without the nicotine/content.
Among the attributes credited for Apple’s famous customer loyalty is a network of stores where curious or frustrated consumers can meet the company face-to-face.

The 3D design software maker Autodesk is trying to achieve something similar online with a help service that allows people to interact with what sure looks like an actual human. The company says that next year it will introduce a new version of its Autodesk Virtual Agent (AVA) avatar, with an exceedingly lifelike face, voice, and set of “emotions” provided by a New Zealand AI and effects startup called Soul Machines. Born in February as a roughly sketched avatar on a chat interface, AVA’s CGI makeover will turn her into a hyper-detailed, 3D-rendered character–what Soul Machines calls a digital human. ... " 

Future of Product Design

The Future of Product Design   (Free EBook via Autodesk with registration)  How Emerging Technologies Are Disrupting the Product Lifecycle By Jonathan Follett

Design and production considerations change throughout any product's lifecycle—from prototype to market introduction, through growth and maturity, and finally into decline—with each stage introducing its own set of challenges. But emerging technologies such as 3D printing, robotics, wearables, the IoT, and genomics are disrupting every stage of this lifecycle as they reinvigorate existing categories and create entirely new ones. ..... " 

Autodesk's Robotics Lab

We worked with Autodesk.    Good to see what they are doing with a broad area of current and future industrial robotics. A tour via Fast Company.

Autodesk Prints 3D Virus

Did not know that Autodesk had a genetic engineer.  Worked with them in the area of displaying marketing data for the enterprise.  From 3D Print: " ... Weaving his way through a virtually invisible and widely unknown world of microscopic cells and futuristic technology, Autodesk’s genetic engineer Andrew Hessel is working to fight cancer on a new level: a personalized, affordable one, using 3D printed oncolytic viruses, which literally break cancer cells apart.

He makes fighting cancer sound very simple with the idea of viral engineering, which encompasses using software to design and make viruses — and 3D print them. Obviously, there is quite a body of research and work that goes into making that a reality. ... "

AutoDesk and 3D Printing

Used to commonly work with Autodesk.  They were the first company to provide PC based  drawing management.  More mentions in this blog about Autodesk. Later we worked with them to do advanced image interaction.    Now they are doing some interesting things with remote manufacture.   In FastCodesign: 

 " ... How Autodesk Helped Create An Incredible New Technique For 3-D Printing Metal In Midair ...  Autodesk and desiged Joris Laarman are introducing the next wave in manufacturing large scale, affordable, digitally fabricated metal structures ...   " 

Autodesk 123D

My previous note led me to Autodesk 123D.  Available as an App on the iPad.  Taking ordinary photos and turning them into 3D models.   See their blog for instructive examples. We worked with Autodesk from the early days of using them for CAD design and analysis.

3D Copying - For Sculpture and more

The example here is in art, but I can see this happening much more broadly.  Consider too, its potential integration with remote manufacturing.  " ... using a free program called Autodesk 123D Catch. Then he used the maps to print miniature plastic replicas on the $2,000 MakerBot 3-D printer in his home office. And he made one of his best scans freely available, uploading it to the Thingiverse site where MakerBot enthusiasts share digital plans.... "