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An early start, and a cruise around the M25 brought Dan and Dan from Studioworx to infamous Brands Hatch racing circuit.

As part of the on-going Studioworx collaboration with GPR Motorsport and our new and very exciting Sponsorship deal with 888 Race Engineering, the trip to Brands was intended to meet all the people involved, and understand how the work that is put in on the design end, turns into the reality of a High Performance Championship British Touring Car!

The weather was fine, the atmosphere was intense, and all the BTCC teams were gearing up for the 3 rounds of racing that day.... (Continued...)

Studioworx has been an Autodesk Authorised Training Centre (ATC) since early 2011, enabling us to provide a considerably enhanced training programme to our customers, featuring official courseware, materials, support and the latest software suites.

So it was with this partnership in mind that Autodesk visited earlier this year to film a promotional video. This video showcases the benefits of Authorised Training, Autodesk Certification, and Autodesk ATCs (including Studioworx); featuring the opinions of providers, customers, and employers; along with footage filmed at Studioworx and locations across the UK. So, here's the challenge, can you spot us?

Studioworx are always updating our site with new content and features on Autodesk products and engineering focussed news. So why not subscribe, sign up to our newsletter (on the right), or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

Related Links:
Studioworx's Autodesk Authorised Training Courses
Studioworx's Autodesk Certification Options
More on Autodesk ATCs

We were eagerly anticipating the releases of AutoCAD and other 2013 products, which continue to bring great new features to the manufacturing and engineering industries; So last night’s news that Autodesk have announced their brand new version of AutoCAD, AutoCAD 2013 was particularly welcome. This release brings a host of new features to the well-established program including some of the following:

• New welcome screen including resources and links to the fast growing Autodesk Exchange App Store letting you add many new functions to AutoCAD.
• Tight integration with Autodesk 360, Autodesk’s new cloud service (formerly known as Autodesk Cloud) allowing you to perform functions like sync settings, save and open documents on multiple devices over the cloud.
• New unique tools for creating views and projections of objects for your drawings.
• New annotation monitor, highlighting those associative annotations that become invalid when you make changes.
• New enhancements to the command line, enhancing many functions added previously and allowing you to customise the information display.

This Autodesk video gives you a great demonstration of some of the new features in action, along with a few more features that I haven’t mentioned here…

Want to try AutoCAD 2013? Autodesk have various downloads of the new software for Windows and Mac OS X available on the AutoCAD website. Don't forget that if you're a student or an existing subscription customer you can get the latest software for free, or at no extra charge respectively.

If you're interested in training in the new features of AutoCAD 2013 or any other 2013 Autodesk products, take a look at our new 2013 Update Training Guide, contact us on 01234 488123, or use our contact page. We’ll have more about the new 2013 applications over the next few weeks from our technical experts, so feel free to subscribe (links on the right), or follow us on Facebook or Twitter for the latest from Studioworx.

Related Links:
AutoCAD Essentials Training from Studioworx
Between the Lines on AutoCAD 2013
AutoCAD Website

You may recall we posted about Autodesk's 123D Catch enabling even complete novices to create compelling 3D models and objects from their photographs. This app is just one of several from Autodesk set to make 3d modelling and printing much more accessible to the masses; and now Autodesk is taking these technologies one step further with 123D for iPad.

Autodesk have already released 123D Sculpt for iPad, but are now set to release 123D Catch and 123D Make (which enables you to print and make your 3D objects real) for the platform in April. As Autodesk have seen a massive boost in customers due to their iOS Sketchbook applications, this could be a massive step in bringing their 3D technology, and particularly 123D to those who may have otherwise overlooked the apps on the PC.

Studioworx are particularly excited about the implications these apps may have for education. Making it simpler for future engineers and architects see their ideas turned into reality is a goal we just can't argue with.

For more on this story, you can read this story from The Next Web.

If you want to stay up to date with these posts and what we're doing at Studioworx, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

You may or may not have heard of Windows 8. This new operating system from Microsoft will be built-in to new computers from later this year. We've got a copy of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and thought we should try it out from an engineer's point of view. Sometimes these kind of upgrades don’t matter an awful lot to normal users, but this one will. Here’s why.

Windows 8 has got a radically new look and feel, known as ‘Metro’ which has taken a lot of influence from Microsoft’s work in mobile devices. Metro makes a big bet on most consumers wanting a touch screen/tablet computer in the near future.

So how does this effect Windows? Well, the most obvious change is that when you start the computer, you’re not taken to the desktop. You’re instead taken to this… the Start Screen.

This takes over the whole of your screen, much like pressing the home button on a modern tablet or phone. The fully customisable Start screen lets you launch any of your favourite “apps” on Windows. Apps is the new name for programs, and they come in two very different varieties, "legacy" desktop apps like Autodesk Inventor (the ones we’re used to using), and new ‘Metro’ apps which run full screen or tiled separately from traditional desktop. Take a look at these two examples to see what I mean:

A traditional desktop app, Autodesk Inventor, notice the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. The Start button has disappeared from here, but you can still mouse to the bottom left to find the Start Screen.

Desktop apps work in the normal desktop environment we’re used to from computers in the past, whereas Metro apps work either full screen or tiled alongside other apps, they aren’t in ordinary windows and don’t appear on your taskbar. It's important to note that you'll have to get your Metro apps from the "Windows Store", and won't be able to load them from other sources; though for the time being this doesn't apply to desktop apps.

Metro application: The finance application shows just how great a Metro application can look, taking advantage of the full screen. You can't see the taskbar with any Metro apps, instead a sidebar pops up when you mouse to the top left, showing your apps and desktop.

Because of this distinction between Metro apps and Desktop apps, for the time being at least, working on CAD in Windows will be much the same as it’s always been for design engineers, since you’ll spend most of your time working on the usual desktop with the taskbar.

This may change if Inventor or AutoCAD are changed into ‘Metro’ apps; Autodesk like to adopt new technology and user interfaces, and are already producing very popular applications for iOS and Android, so it’s not that unlikely.

Microsoft has already made this leap with some of their key applications, so if you use Internet Explorer as your default browser, that will be a metro application, and programs like Word and Outlook are likely to be Metro by default for their next versions too.

It took us a little while to get to grips with the various tricks which make working with Metro easier, for instance there are a huge number of keyboard shortcuts which power users will find useful.

You can tile metro apps alongside each other, or in this case alongside your desktop. Here the Metro "Weather" app is ‘tiled’ alongside Inventor.

If you have a spare computer and you'd like to try Windows 8 on, you can try the Windows 8 Consumer Preview yourself. We don't advise you install this on a production machine , and if you do, a clean install will work better than an in-place upgrade. We're going to explore Windows 8 a bit more over the next few weeks and months, and we'll let you know our progress. Please let us know your reactions in the comments, and let us know if you've got any questions!

We’re always going on about how great Autodesk Inventor’s 3D CAD is, we know it makes creating manufacturing designs so much faster and more efficient. But these and other 3D images are still displayed on a flat screen in two dimensions, and we were starting to think it would always be that way (maybe with some 3D glasses thrown in).

The 'real' 3D and holographic displays we’d love to use Inventor on seem like something reserved for the realm of movies like Iron Man and Star Trek, created using visual effects.

We thought they'd stay there, until we saw this startling video from Microsoft Research...

Keep watching for a sneak peak at this technology as it stands today, it looks pretty basic at the moment; but we’re pretty sure we can see some real perspective when the camera moves around.

So are real translucent 3D displays for engineers, architects and gamers on the way? We’re starting to think so, what do you think? Would you use one?

Studioworx's training manager takes some time out from his busy schedule to give his view on traditional Inventor training, and what we are doing to make it better. - Ed.

The search for quality Autodesk Inventor training can be difficult. Many of the courses may seem the same, with the same names and titles, and cover many of the same topics. We find that sometimes candidates come back to us after using another provider, needing to learn the same topics over again.

This is often no fault of the training provider, 3 or 4 day intensive training courses have become the norm, and Studioworx believe these can still work well for many companies, but customers attending these courses don’t often validate what they have learnt and are under a lot of pressure in-between their training days to carry on producing drawings.

Immersive Training: A Better Way

What we hear is that following 4 days training (often split into 2+2) employees are expected to “know it all”, but in truth they may only retain 30% of what they have learnt. Candidates are under this pressure because there is usually no way of validating what candidates have learnt on a traditional training course. A course completion certificate is not necessarily an official certificate of competency nor is a hallmark stating the quality of training delivered has been to a set standard.

We believe there is a better way, ensuring customer get the highest quality of training while also having their skills validated by a recognised qualification. This is what our new Immersive Inventor training is designed to do. Immersive Inventor training not only teaches candidates the essential Inventor skills they need to get started, but also works towards the goal of becoming an Autodesk Inventor Certified Associate by the completion of the course.

Why get Autodesk Certified?

Well, when you get a Inventor Certified Associate qualification through our Immersive training course, you not only prove to employers and peers that you have the skills in Inventor that you set out to learn, but also that you are professional in the way you conduct your work.

After you have gained more experience using Inventor, you may feel comfortable becoming an Inventor Certified Professional. For more on this, see our page on Autodesk Certification.

You need no prior experience of Inventor to take part in an Inventor Immersive training course, so it's a great course for new users, and those with limited experience in the product alike. We've also thrown in a multitude of benefits for users enrolling on the course, including our new & exclusive online training courseware (with training video and downloadable sample files), and lifetime training support for candidates.

If you're interested in finding out more about our Autodesk Inventor Immersive course, you can read more about it here. or if you’re interested in Autodesk Certification in general, you can read more about that here. Remember, if you’ve got any training or certification queries, don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01234 488123, or use our contact form.

Saturday, 10th December: The Sun was out and the excitement was growing around Milton Keynes. Red Bull Racing were bringing something special to the local community and all their fans to celebrate their double back to back F1 Championship wins.

The official Red Bull video from the Milton Keynes Home Run (© Red Bull)

I and Dan Doleman from Studioworx were there with our families, soaking up the atmosphere and sharing the experience with the 60,000 strong crowd on Midsummer Boulevard and we must say, well done Red Bull Racing and Milton Keynes Council for a well organised and very enjoyable event. In fact we're pretty certain it must be the first time the centre of Milton Keynes has been shut down on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, especially for 200mph+ Formula 1 cars!

We’re looking forward to the 2012 F1 Season kicking off on the 16th March 2012 with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne! Home turf for Webber, and a start to what is undoubtedly going to be a great season ahead for F1 and Red Bull Racing!

For more of the event check out this fan's video, they seem to have gotten a little closer to the action than we did!

At Studioworx we've always got our eye on the latest technology, so when we heard that Autodesk Labs had yet another graduate, we had to investigate. We knew a bit about Project Photofly, but now the application has metamorphasised into a full Autodesk product, 123D Catch!

123D Catch is designed to take a selection of photos, and enable the creation of a 3D object using the power of the cloud. The process is surprisingly simple and we’re itching to try out the product. Check out the Autodesk video below to see what Autodesk 123D Catch can do…

123D Catch joins a host of other simple and free 3D tools from Autodesk under the 123D brand, so if you haven’t seen them already we urge you to check them out at 123dapp.com. If you’re as excited as we are about 123D Catch, you can download the Beta version here, and we hope you enjoy making real 3D models from your photographs!

Alternatively you can read more about 123D Catch on Autodesk's Between the Lines blog.

Incase you missed it, last week saw the first of hopefully many Studioworx events! Studioworx Open Doors, held in co-operation with our friends at Autodesk and Dell, gave visitors a chance to get Autodesk Certified for free.

Autodesk Certification is fast becoming the industry recognised accreditation for AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor and many other applications; and we are pleased to say that as part of the event we have added several new members to the Autodesk Certified community.

Studioworx exceeded the average Training Centre pass rate for the Autodesk Open Doors event by almost 10%, giving away tons of goodies from Autodesk and Dell to visitors in the process.

If you missed out on our Open Doors event, or wish to learn more about Certification, please visit our Autodesk Certification page. Even though it was free this time, these accreditations can be highly cost effective all year round, so please do take a look, and contact us if you'd like to take an exam.

At the event we were also able to show off some fantastic technological kit from Dell and 3dConnexion, including the new Dell M6600 and M4600 mobile workstations, both available through Studioworx at very competitive prices.

We're hoping to hold many more events over the coming months, so if you're interested in when our next one might be held, simply sign up for our Worxpace newsletter below!

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