For those of you who were or weren't at Autodesk University this year, I thought I'd share my experiences with you here.
 

First, I believe the AU is becoming the premier event for things Design Visualization related. With the VisMasters Design Visualization Conferences on hiatus, and Siggraph being Siggraph, when it comes to focusing on the art and function of Design Visualization, AU is the place to be. Not that the others are not worth attending. You'll see me there as well. But, if DV is my world, I think AU would be the top of my list.

Having said that, I can assure you I have nudged those involved to add even more DV energy in the future. But let's take a look at the week that was for 2009.
I arrived Sunday got unpacked and dragged Gary Davis from Autodesk down to Eye Candy to start to acclimate myself to the Vegas environment. For those of you who don't Gary, he is the premier Autodesk expert on all things max and compositing. His book on Combustion did more for me than all the others combined. You can find his latest work in the 3DATS book "3ds Max 2010 Architectural Visualization - Advanced to Expert". There we met up with some other early arrivals.
 

To set the tone this year, while sitting there at Eye Candy, When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature dude, and eight tiny reindose. He in his Public Enemy jacket and adorned with a clock, I knew in an instant who had entered the block. When it came to putting hose in a house, he was a fav', Why it must be the man that is Flava Flav!
 

Sure Gary had met him before, but now was my turn. So we grabbed a camera and a couple others and asked for a photo. Whatever your experience has or will be with Flav, he was gracious and appreciative to our request. With one of our group shaking his hand and commenting "It's a pleasure to meet you sir" (ala Veruca Salt in Charlie in the Chocolate factory) all the was missing was the little curtsy at the end. We all giggled at her and took our pictures.

Monday had more of you joining the party, I was kind of stuck in my hotel room doing Autodesk stuff most of the day, but that night it was back down to Eye Candy. The crowd had swelled but the music had distilled down to a Top 40 playlist. Flav was back but I had had my time with him, I was gonna share.

Tuesday was the official start of the event and as early as it was, I started my AU 2009 in a "Showcasing your ideas" lab. Stephan Gabriel got bit by the AU technical gremlin, but the class was great for those of you starting your Showcase journey.

Then we all piled into the Auditorium for the Keynote address. My brain still begging for coffee, I was truly inspired by the guest speakers they had this year. Jon Landau the Producer of "Avatar" and Amory Lovins from the Rocky Mountain Institute. While I would have switched the presentation order,(it's always hard to follow the 10' blue aliens) both filled me with so much inspiration and excitement I no longer needed any coffee. It was also apparent that this year's catch phrase was "sweet spot".

Tuesday ended with me in the Autodesk Booth for Design Visualization and another stop at Eye Candy. While the music still wasn't rising to Sunday nights level, tonight there was a group of young ladies celebrating a birthday for one of them. The events that followed will be in my memoires someday.
 

Wednesday was the Autocad and M&E (Media and Entertainment) keynote. I love how we assume you guys know what our divisions mean. Here the guest speakers were from Marriott and again Jon Landau of Avatar. Security was tighter than a Presidential Ball, which I guess isn't saying much, but you'll hear why in a minute.

The folks from Marriott made an excellent case for power of DV in any design workflow. Even though my V.P. got the name of product wrong a few times, it hasn't been "3D Studio" since the 90's, I wanted to give a standing ovation at the end. Design iterations, rendering to experience before it's real, faster time to market. When people ask what DV does, THAT'S what the answers should be. While I know many that still think it's all about "pretty pictures" and "marketing materials", DV is a workflow accelerator few take advantage of.

Then....the doors were locked...the lights went down...Jon Landau got up on stage...we put our 3D glasses on...  and for 20 minutes Jon shared previews of James Cameron's "Avatar". OMG! Just from what I saw, I predict this will be the biggest grossing movie ever and a multi-Academy award winner. Again, Cameron has done a great job of interweaving a love story into a action packed, CG funfest. I hope the rest meets what we saw in those twenty minutes. If it does....

Still spinning from the Avatar experience I headed to Louis Marcoux's "12 Principles of Animation" class. Louis won last year's AU presenter of the year award. For those of you who don't know Louis, he is to 3ds max and Max Design to what Yoda is to the force. Also a contributor to the 3DATS book, he can make max do things the developers didn't know it could do. You must check out his blog here as well.

Wednesday ended with AUGI beer bust and more time at the Autodesk Booth. No Eye Candy? Not tonight, tomorrow is all business.

Thursday was class day. It started early with Gary Davis's NonPhotoReal class. While I didn't get to enjoy the whole thing, the room was at standing room only.

Then it was my turn for "Welcome to the New Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2010 and 3ds Max Design 2010". In a room so far off the beaten path, I was concerned we were no at the Luxor, many of you managed to find it. This was my seventh year doing the "What's new" class, and EVERY year 2 things happen. I have some major technical malfunction and I ALWAYS run out of time.

This year's malfunction came courtesy of a presenter mouse I bought for . It was interfering with my system mouse making max over-responsive. Stuff started flying off the screen with a simple move. This led to a couple of brain locks. Hehe , another year at Autodesk University. The timing thing is always my fault. There is so much goodness to talk about and NO, I won't try to cut back. Next year's class will need to 3 hours.
 

From my class, I ran to a conference room where Shane Griffith, Product Manager for 3ds Max, was conferencing in with a number of you in a Virtual AU environment. You can see Shane's blog here on the area as well.

And then the highlight of my AU 2009. Ken Pimentel, Director of Visual Communications, was conducting a User Advisory Board meeting for the future direction of 3ds Max and Max Design. By invite only, we got to see some of the future technology they're working on for max/Design. All I can say is "Holly Expletive". While I'd love to tell you what I saw, doing so might cost me my job. Besides, Ken's not the greatest with secrets, so most of it will be in his "Maxed out" blog sooner or later. I can tell you that, if they can accomplish half of it, it will make for many more years of DV bliss.

AU ended for me with the traditional AU Party. Not to be a wet blanket, but If ever elected President of these United States of America, my first act would be to make Karaoke illegal. So this year was not for me. Luckily, the Shark Tank at The Mandalay Bay was open to the party. The line was long, but the sharks agreed to stay until everyone went through, true professionals.

From there it was dinner with my boss's boss. I only bring it up for two reasons.
1) With all of the fabulous restaurants in Vegas, we ended up at a chain restaurant ordering off a plastic menu. Whatever.
2) More importantly, during dinner, he shared that DV will get even more attention and funding in the future.

So, we've now entered that "sweet spot" for Design Visualization. Technology is matching our needs. Customers like Marriott are recognizing it for its value beyond "pretty pictures", and your skills are growing to meet there demands.
 

You can complain about lunches from silver carafes or "Why is it in Vegas EVERY year", (What city could handle 6,000 nerds descending on it like locusts, emerging from our freezing conference rooms?) or Karaoke, but for me...
 

God, I love AU.