Patents Assigned to Autodesk, Inc.
  • Automated systems for composite part fabrication
    Patent number: 9796140
    Abstract: A method includes: providing a matrix material and a fiber material separate from the matrix material to a fused deposition modelling (FDM) three dimensional (3D) printer; and delivering the matrix material and the fiber material to a printing location of the FDM 3D printer while maintaining separation of the fiber material from the matrix material up to the printing location of the FDM 3D printer, wherein the delivering includes melting the matrix material and embedding the fiber material within the matrix material. Further, a system includes: a build platform; and two or more tools associated with the build platform; wherein the two or more tools are configured and arranged with respect to the build platform to add matrix material and fiber material in non-planar layers to build the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventor: James Sherwood Page
  • Pen-mouse system
    Patent number: 9792040
    Abstract: The disclosed pen-mouse is a tracking menu that tracks the position of the pen. A pen cursor that corresponds to the pen is moved about within the pen-mouse graphic by the pen and the pen-mouse remains stationary. The pen-mouse is moved when the location of the pen encounters a tracking boundary of the pen-mouse. The tracking boundary coincides with the graphic representing the mouse. While moving within the pen-mouse, the pen can select objects within the pen-mouse body, such as buttons, wheels, etc. The selection of a button or other virtual control causes a corresponding computer mouse button function to be executed. The execution is directed at any object designated by a pen-mouse tracking symbol, such as an arrow, that is part of the pen mouse graphic. The pen-mouse emulates functions or operations of a mouse including single button clicks, double button clicks, finger wheels, track balls, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventors: George Fitzmaurice, Gordon Paul Kurtenbach, William A. Buxton, Robert J. Pieke
  • 3D print adhesion reduction during cure process
    Patent number: 9782934
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus include computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, including a system for reducing adhesion during cure processing for a stereolithographic 3D printed object. The system includes resin tank for maintaining a liquid photopolymer resin. The system further includes a light source. The system further includes controller for selectively exposing the liquid photopolymer resin to form a solid object in the resin tank. The resin tank is constructed of a rigid material that has an oxygen permeability that is above a first threshold so as to reduce a separation force required to remove the solid object from the resin tank after curing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventors: Karl Willis, Eric Jamesson Wilhelm, Pierre Pascal Anatole Lin, Arian Aziz Aghababaie, Qiang Zheng
  • AUTOMATIC REGISTRATION
    Publication number: 20170286430
    Abstract: A method, system, apparatus, article of manufacture, and computer-readable storage medium provide the ability to merge multiple point cloud scans. A first raw scan file and a second raw scan file (each including multiple points) are imported. The scan files are segmented by extracting segments based on geometry in the scene. The segments are filtered to reduce a number of segments and identify features. A set of candidate matching feature pairs are acquired by coarsely registering features from one scan to features from another scan. The candidate pairs are refined by improving alignment based on corresponding points in the features. The candidate pairs are scored and then merged based on the scores.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2017
    Publication date: October 5, 2017
    Applicant: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventors: Oytun Akman, Ronald Poelman, Seth Koterba
  • Presenting object properties
    Patent number: 9778828
    Abstract: The present disclosure includes, among other things, systems, methods and program products for presenting object properties by receiving selection of a component of a model presented in a graphical user interface (GUI) of a computer aided design tool, the GUI including an interactive display element having an arrangement of property fields related to the selected component, determining property values associated with the property fields based on the selected component, and providing the determined property values in corresponding property fields of the interactive display element for presentation in the GUI in conjunction with the model, such that responsive to receiving selection of a different component of the model, the property fields are updated with property values corresponding to the different component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventors: Todd Christopher Nicol, Jeff Maisano, Josh Dagg
  • DRAINAGE PIPE NETWORK DESIGN
    Publication number: 20170277824
    Abstract: A method, system, apparatus, and computer program product provide the ability to design a drainage pipe solution. A profile of a surface segment (that includes a surface slope) is acquired. A first pipe size and a first pipe slope or calculated based on a proper velocity. A second pipe size and a second pipe slope are calculated based on the surface slope. A first pipe covering and a second pipe covering for the first pipe size and the second pipe size, for the surface segment is computed. A lower of the first pipe covering and the second pipe covering is selected as the drainage pipe solution.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2016
    Publication date: September 28, 2017
    Applicant: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventors: Xiaoming Fei, Jianwen Huang, Lei Hua, Yimeng He, Weihua Zhong, Lijun Zhang, Zeyi Xia, Matthew Carl Anderson
  • Image selection using automatically generated semantic metadata
    Patent number: 9773023
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for method for selecting visual subject matter stored in a database includes receiving user input that indicates a first region of a first image that is stored in the database and, based on metadata associated with the first image stored in the database, determining at least one visual feature in the first region of the first image stored in the database. The method further includes, based on metadata associated with other images stored in the database, selecting a second image from the database that includes a visual feature that correlates with the visual feature in the first region of the first image, wherein the metadata associated with the first image stored in the database and the metadata associated with the other images stored in the database include image correlation information received from a remote server device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventor: Francesco Iorio
  • Nesting using rigid body simulation
    Patent number: 9767233
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for nesting objects in 2D sheets and 3D volumes. In one embodiment, a nesting application simplifies the shapes of parts and performs a rigid body simulation of the parts dropping into a 2D sheet or 3D volume. In the rigid body simulation, parts begin from random initial positions on one or more sides and drop under the force of gravity into the 2D sheet or 3D volume until coming into contact with another part, a boundary, or the origin of the gravity. The parts may be dropped according to a particular order, such as alternating large and small parts. Further, the simulation may be translation- and/or position-only, meaning the parts do not rotate and/or do not have momentum, respectively. Tighter packing may be achieved by incorporating user inputs and simulating jittering of the parts using random forces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventors: Saul Griffith, Martin Wicke, Keith Pasko, Geoffrey Irving, Samuel Eli Calisch, Tucker Gilman, Daniel Benoit, Jonathan Bachrach
  • SIMULATED ANNEALING TO PLACE ANNOTATIONS IN A DRAWING
    Publication number: 20170262418
    Abstract: A method, system, and computer program product provide the ability to optimize placement of annotations in a drawing model. A drawing model that has annotations and objects is acquired. An annotation (to be moved) is randomly selected. A new position for the selected annotation is randomly selected. The selected annotation is moved to the new position. A new quality score of a resulting drawing model is computed. The resulting drawing model is accepted or rejected based on the new quality score. The above steps are iterated, wherein over time, a probability of accepting the resulting drawing model based on a worse new quality score decreases. The final resulting drawing model is output (e.g., for display).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2016
    Publication date: September 14, 2017
    Applicant: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventor: Jorge Rafael Lopez
  • Generating informative viewpoints based on editing history
    Patent number: 9754421
    Abstract: One embodiment of the invention is a collage engine that generates informative viewpoints of a 3D model based upon the editing history of the 3D model. In operation, the collage engine processes an editing log to identify segments of the 3D model that include related vertices. For a given segment, the collage engine selects a viewpoint used by the end-user to edit the 3D model and a viewpoint used by the end-user to inspect the 3D model. The collage engine may then present the informative viewpoints to the end-user for inclusion in a collage of 2D renderings based upon the informative viewpoints. Generally, the viewpoints used while editing and inspecting the 3D model are of importance in the overall presentation of the 3D model. Therefore, collages of 2D renderings based upon the informative viewpoints can be generated effectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventors: Hsiang-Ting Chen, Tovi Grossman, Wei Li-Yi, Ryan Michael Schmidt, Bjoern Hartmann, George Fitzmaurice, Maneesh Agrawala
  • Techniques for slicing a 3D model for manufacturing
    Patent number: 9754412
    Abstract: One embodiment of the invention is a slicing engine that generates two or more slices of a virtual 3D model given a slice plane. The slicing engine then determines connection points on each of the slices that indicate how the 3D model is to be reconnected by the user when the 3D model is fabricated. The slicing engine also determines an optimized layout for the various slices of the 3D model on fabrication material for minimal use of the material. The user is then able to “print” the layout on the fabrication material via 3D printers, and connect the various printed slices according to the connection points to build a physical representation of the 3D model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventors: Johnathan Bachrach, Saul Griffith
  • Automatic explode based on occlusion
    Patent number: 9754054
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products feature providing a rendering of a three-dimensional assembly of components. An explosion sequence for separating first components of the assembly is determined. The explosion sequence comprises stages in which each stage represents a different spatial relationship between two or more of the first components. A first input is received from an interactive control. A first stage in the explosion sequence is selected based on the first input. The rendering of the assembly is updated, responsive to the first input, to show the first stage of the explosion sequence. A second input is received from the interactive control. A different second stage in the explosion sequence is selected based on the second input. The rendering of the assembly is updated, responsive to the second input, to show the second stage of the explosion sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventors: Shi-Qing Xin, Ying-Guo Zhang, Ke Li
  • HARD COPY STATUS CHECK
    Publication number: 20170249348
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, and system provide the ability to determine a validity of a file. A static image of a first version of the file is output. The outputting includes determining first identifying information that identifies the first version of the file, generating a first reference identifier that is associated with the first identifying information, storing the first reference identifier, and generating the static image that includes a visual representation of the first reference identifier. A second reference identifier (that is associated with second identifying information that identifies a second version of the file) is received. Based on the second identifying information, a determination is made regarding which version of the file is more recent. A validity or invalidity of the second version of the file is confirmed based on the determination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2016
    Publication date: August 31, 2017
    Applicant: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventors: James Brian Souder, Wayne Gavin Fisher
  • Technique for filling holes in a three-dimensional model
    Patent number: 9747721
    Abstract: A mesh repair engine is configured to repair a hole in a three-dimensional (3D) model by (i) filling the hole with a rough mesh, (ii) refining the rough mesh, (iii) collapsing the refined mesh, (iv) refining the collapsed mesh, (v) flattening the refined, collapsed mesh, and then (vi) deforming the flattened mesh into a 3D surface that smoothly fills the hole in the 3D model. One advantage of the disclosed repair engine and associated hole repair technique is that the mesh repair engine is capable of generating polygons that fill regions of a 3D model that are not defined. Consequently, an end-user of the mesh repair tool is able to generate watertight 3D models from previously incomplete and non-watertight 3D models.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventor: Ryan Michael Schmidt
  • Electro-mechanical 3D printing design system
    Patent number: 9744727
    Abstract: A computer-implemented layout tool includes a mechanical design engine for configuring mechanical design components to be included in a design, an electrical design engine for configuring electrical components to be included in the design, a constraint engine for identifying a 3D printer to be used to print the design and to provide design constraints including feedback for inoperative or impermissible configurations of one or more mechanical components or electrical pathways associated with the design; and a simulation engine for simulating, at least, electrical performance of the design based on one or more electrical components added to the design after printing and proposed electrical pathways.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventor: Karl Willis
  • Automatic registration
    Patent number: 9740711
    Abstract: A method, system, apparatus, article of manufacture, and computer-readable storage medium provide the ability to merge multiple point cloud scans. A first raw scan file and a second raw scan file (each including multiple points) are imported. The scan files are segmented by extracting segments. Features are extracted from the segments. A set of candidate matching feature pairs are acquired by registering/matching/pairing features from one scan to features from another scan. The candidate pairs are refined based on an evaluation of all of the matching pairs. The candidate pairs are further refined by extracting sample points from the segments (within the matched pairs) and refining the pairs based on the points. The feature pairs are scored and then merged based on the scores.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventors: Oytun Akman, Ronald Poelman, Seth Koterba
  • Techniques for slicing a 3D model for manufacturing
    Patent number: 9740989
    Abstract: One embodiment of the invention is a slicing engine that generates two or more slices of a virtual 3D model given a slice plane. The slicing engine then determines connection points on each of the slices that indicate how the 3D model is to be reconnected by the user when the 3D model is fabricated. The slicing engine also determines an optimized layout for the various slices of the 3D model on fabrication material for minimal use of the material. The user is then able to “print” the layout on the fabrication material via 3D printers, and connect the various printed slices according to the connection points to build a physical representation of the 3D model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventors: Johnathan Bachrach, Saul Griffith
  • Photograph localization in a three-dimensional model
    Patent number: 9741121
    Abstract: A photo localization application is configured to determine the location that an image depicts relative to a 3D representation of a structure. The 3D representation may be a 3D model, color range scan, or gray scale range scan of the structure. The image depicts a particular section of the structure. The photo localization application extracts and stores features from the 3D representation in a database. The photo localization application then extracts features from the image and compares those features against the database to identify matching features. The matching features form a location fingerprint, from which the photo localization application determines the location that the image depicts, relative to the 3D representation. The location allows the user to better understand and communicate information captured by the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventors: Ryan Schmidt, Ramtin Attar, Azam Khan
  • Real-time scrubbing of videos using a two-dimensional grid of thumbnail images
    Patent number: 9736526
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for traversing a video file includes populating a two-dimensional array with representative images corresponding to a portion of the video and causing the two-dimensional array to be displayed. The two-dimensional array includes a location indicator configured to traverse the two-dimensional array in a direction parallel with one dimension of the two-dimensional array in response to navigation information associated with the portion of the video. The location indicator is further configured to indicate a position in the video by highlighting one of the representative images populating the two-dimensional array. Because an end-user is provided with a large set of statically displayed representative images during navigation of a video timeline, the end-user can visually identify a desired target scene, even when traversing a the timeline relatively quickly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventors: Justin Frank Matejka, Tovi Grossman, George Fitzmaurice
  • Animating sketches via kinetic textures
    Patent number: 9734618
    Abstract: A sketch-based interface within an animation engine provides an end-user with tools for creating emitter textures and oscillator textures. The end-user may create an emitter texture by sketching one or more patch elements and then sketching an emitter. The animation engine animates the sketch by generating a stream of patch elements that emanate from the emitter. The end-user may create an oscillator texture by sketching a patch that includes one or more patch elements, and then sketching a brush skeleton and an oscillation skeleton. The animation engine replicates the patch along the brush skeleton, and then interpolates the replicated patches between the brush skeleton and the oscillation skeleton, thereby causing those replicated patches to periodically oscillate between the two skeletons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventors: Tovi Grossman, George Fitzmaurice, Rubaiat Habib Kazi, Fanny Chevalier, Shengdong Zhao