Arrival

Hello Las Vegas!

Blogger's Social 1

Entering the Autodesk Blogger's Social event held on Monday night. The entire bottom level of the Border Grill was wall to wall wih CAD bloggers. I got to meet almost all of the people who write the blogs I follow every day!

Blogger's Social 2

Blogger's Social 3

Blogger's Social 4

I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Mark Kiker who is not only a member of AUGI's board of directors but also the man behind the awesome CADDManager Blog.

Blogger's Social 5

Some of the awesome members of the Autodesk PR staff.

Blogger's Social 6

I had a chance to sit and chat with Mr. Rick Ellis and Mr. Russell Martin, the two men behind those great Cadapult Software books!

At AU 1

A few of the goings on at the AEC Lounge.

At AU 2

Some attendees relaxing at the Manufacturing lounge.

At AU 3

Meet Mr. Michael Ayers and his BattleBots team. Of course their BattleBot was also there.

At AU 4

Michael Ayers' bot beat this bot up. It's sort of a geek whooping.

At AU 5

Attendees using provided laptops to log in to complete class surveys and use the internet. These were some busy laptops!

At AU 6

If you want to get anywhere at AU, you had better be ready to walk.

At AU 7

Over in the Education area there were some baby BattleBots. Actually these bots were so small they may just be intended for minor disagreements rather than full battles.

At AU 8

At AU 9

At AU 10

During the off-hours they were pretty serious about keeping people out of the Exhibit Hall. As you can see, they placed their fiercest personnel on the job.

At AU 11

Lunch was a very calm and civil matter on the first day of AU.

At AU 12

At AU 13

The second and third days things were not so calm. As you can see, this crowd of CAD pros was ready to light torches and storm the gates to get in.

At AU 14

Can you believe this guy has an 18 year old daughter?!?! He doesn't even look 18!

At AU 15

Several branches of America's Armed Forces were present at AU. Here at Kung Fu Drafter we salute those who serve!

At AU 16

If you ever wondered what keeps 6,000 CAD pros going session after session then here is your answer. Snacks!

At AU 17

This was one damn good cookie!

At AU 18

It's been my pleasure to take classes given by Nancy Tremblay at both AU's that I have attended. You couldn't ask for a nicer person or more supportive instructor!

At AU 19

AU 2009 saw the 10th anniversary of Autodesk Inventor. Congratulation to the Inventor team! I'd be more excited if I had gotten some of this funky cake. But I didn't.

At AU 20

More snacks!

Certification

The people down in the Certification Labs were working double-time to get people certified this year! At last count I heard that over 1,500 certification tests had been taken in the 3-day period. That is fantastic. Congratulations to all those who took advantage of the opportunity and got their FREE certifications!

Design 2020 1

There was a fantastic project being conducted where Autodesk was asking attendees to speculate on the state of design in the year 2020. This was Day One.

Design 2020 2

Day 2.

Design 2020 3

Day 3.

Exhibit Floor 1

One of the big attractions at every AU is the exhibit floor. There is always something interesting going on and some fun happening!

Exhibit Floor 2

Autodesk always brings a wide selection of technical books at discounted prices for sale during AU. This was one busy booth.

Exhibit Floor 3

The first night of the exhibit is always a blast. Here we see attendees having fun playing Rock Band.

Exhibit Floor 4

Others prefer to play sports titles.

Exhibit Floor 5

What can I say? I love watching people play Rock Band. The good times never end.

Exhibit Floor 6

This little lady thought she was sheriff with this big foam hat on!

Exhibit Floor 7

Ms. Nancy Johnson, editor-in-chief of Cadalyst magazine. She was a real pleasure to meet. Especially since I grew up reading Cadalyst! 

Exhibit Floor 8

Not only did I not know you could rapid prototype a life-size model of an airplane engine, I can't imagine who would need to. But, apparently you can!

Exhibit Floor 9

I love models.

Exhibit Floor 10

Exhibit Floor 11

Exhibit Floor 12

This little model village would be perfect for some Warhammer 40k! Hey, I admit my geekieness.

Exhibit Floor 13

Exhibit Floor 14

More models!

Exhibit Floor 15

Last Night Party 1

I don't know what this guy was up to, but I took a picture anyway.

Last Night Party 2

Who doesn't love pinball?

Last Night Party 3

Booze!

Last Night Party 4

A trio of really great people. The two fellows were instructors and one really nice lady I met in class.

Last Night Party 5

Wow was this cartoon artist popular.

Last Night Party 6

Here is another odd fellow. I suspect shenanigans.

Last Night Party 7

A group of attendees sitting back and relaxing after a long week at AU.

Last Night Party 8

Susan was one of the friendly party-goers attending the last night party.

Last Night Party 9

I hooked up with this crazy group of mostly British people outside of the party. It started with me taking pictures of this guy taking pictures of other people. See, crazy.

Last Night Party 10

Last Night Party 11

Last Night Party 12

Last Night Party 13

Minus 5 Bar

The nicest bartender in Vegas.

Departure

So long Las Vegas.

Back in Houston 1

This machine at my luggage!

Back in Houston 2

The stack of business cards I collected at AU 2009.