AutoCAD 2011 - Installed and running on Window's 7 64bit OS

Finally! First 2011 product downloaded and installed. The better products release in a couple weeks, but for now I'll have to make do with AutoCAD. Also, for those on subscription, you can download AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD MEP and a few other AutoCAD based products from within the subscription center.

My first observation - Autodesk must have listened to the users and turned the drawing window back to a dark color instead of that off white they have been doing for the past few releases. Anyways, I'm off to the South Coast Revit User Group to see Scott Davis present the new features of Revit 2011. It should be a record turnout - over 130 individuals have confirmed their attendance!

Another way to do hardware rendering

Well, looks like Autodesk has been cooking with a new way to produce renderings using 3ds MAX 2011 much faster than with the current mental ray engine afterall...
Ken's blog on Area

I highly recommend reading the full post - its very insightful and informative!

3ds MAX 2011 and other M&E products talked about on the "area"

So, somehow M&E products don't fit into the March 25th embargo date...
http://area.autodesk.com/products

March South Coast Revit User Group

Next week’s South Coast Revit User Group (SCRUG) will be one that many individuals should be interested in attending. First off, its March, secondly new products are about to be released and third, Scott Davis from Autodesk will be presenting a “fresh Revit topic”. Last year around this same time for a SCRUG, they did a preview showing of Revit 2010 - even though it had yet to be released. Hmm... I plan to go - will you be going? Anyone that wants to go should view and respond to the Evite below.

Evite Invitation!

Did someone sign me up for a webcast?

I must have missed the memo...
Autodesk Webcast

Ocean's 7

Yesterday I upgraded my work laptop OS to Windows 7 64bit. So far its been alright. Found my printer drivers fine - including my home printer. I was able to install most Autodesk 2010 applications and just finished installing AutoCAD Architecture 2009. So far that list includes AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD MEP, Revit Arch/Struct/MEP, Navisworks, Maya, Motion Builder, Mudbox and of course Design Review. Also just installed the latest version of MachStudio Pro (v1.4), Photoshop Elements 7.0 some Google apps and a slew of other unrelated apps. So far the only bust was trying to install Star Wars: Empire at War. It didn't like the key I input. It could be I've installed it too many times with that key or a problem with the OS. I'll research that later - I don't play it that much anymore so its not that important. But for now I'm rather happy.

Startup times for my laptop before ran in the 10 minute range before I could sit down and start opening apps and working. Now its booted, logged on and ready to go in well under 5 minutes. Plus everything just seems so much snappier - windows open/close faster, etc. A couple programs toss up an error message upon launch, but they don't seem to affect things so far. We will see how they go. The real test will be to see if I can install AutoCAD Architecture 2008. For now I'm going to save that for another day...