NOVEDGE blog

Let's Connect!

NOVEDGE is much more than an online company: born out of the dream of two engineers to build the kind of online store they would buy from, it has grown to support creativity and innovation. That's why it is so important to us to stay in touch and to interact with you. We want to get to know you better and we want to hear what you are doing, what you love, how we can help you design and create.

We have an extensive presence on social media, so today I decided to take some time to list all the places you can find me, interact with my team and connect with other innovators and professionals like yourself.

THE NOVEDGE WEBINAR SERIES

We are very proud of our Webinar Series! You can find all 62 webinars on our YouTube and Vimeo channels and we add a new one every two weeks. And, starting in June, we will record a live webinar every Wednesday at 11 am. You can find all the details of the upcoming webinars and how to register on our website.

THE BLOG

Our blog features interviews with artists and innovators twice a week, like Chris Anderson and Joseph Drust, and occasionally our President and our CEO share their thoughts on a particular topic. We also introduce our new partners and update you on what's happening at Novedge.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Novedge is on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and Linkedin. If you are present on any of these social media channels, follow us and get in touch! My team and I will get back to you within 24 hours during the week.

On Twitter, you can keep up with the latest webinar announcements and you can ask questions during the live recording by using #NovedgeWebinar

We also use #NovedgePromo to remind you of some of the best specials we run on our website and #NovedgeTeam and #NovedgeBlog when we post inside news and articles.

And search #NovedgeReview to read the latest reviews on our website, from users like you.

NOVEDGE PULSE

If you are interested in the latest news, subscribing to Novedge Pulse is for you! Pulse shows news and posts from 350 blogs, and sources about 500 different authors. You can also read it on Twitter or Facebook.

ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Kevin Luu is our online community manager and does a great job of moderating our three online communities, Rhino Jungle. WikiCAD and Vectorworking. If you haven't already, I invite you to join the one that matches your interests and to get involved with other professionals. Each community is also present on Twitter and Facebook, so you can easily keep in touch.

Rhino Jungle is the place to learn and share about Rhino, plugins and complimentary products. You can also connect on Twitter and Facebook.

WikiCAD is the place for all Autodesk product users. You can also check it on Twitter and Facebook. 

And Vectorworking is the community for all Vectoworks users. You can also connect on Twitter and Facebook. 

THE WORLD IS 3D

We recently created The World is 3D, our community for Media and Entertainment professionals. You can join it on Twitter or on Tumblr. We also publish an interview with an M&E artist every Friday on our blog.

LINKEDIN

Finally, you can follow us on Linkedin and also join our Linkedin Group, The Novedge Network. We are still shaping this group, so I would love to hear from you what in your opinion would make a great topic of conversation.

NOVEDGE'S TIP OF THE WEEK

And last, but not least, we just started a series of short videos of tips on how to best navigate our website. Our site has great tools, including user's reviews and detailed licensing information. I plan on posting one tip every Thursday evening, check out the first Novedge's Tip of the Week and let me know what you would like to see in  future videos.

That's it for now. Please take a few minutes to leave a comment and let me know which social media channel you like the most and what we can do here at Novedge to connect and build community.

 

 

President and CoFounder of Novedge, Franco Folini, Talks with DataManager TV (Italian only)

Franco Folini, President and CoFounder of Novedge, was recently interviewed by the DataManager TV, an Italian online magazine that focuses on ICT news. The interview is in Italian. You can read the article here.

From our CEO Cristiano Sacchi: New Year, Same Wish

We asked Cristiano Sacchi, our co founder and CEO, to share some thoughts for the end of the year. Cristiano loves to look ahead and decided to write about a wish he has had for many many years...

"Another year has gone by and for the design community it was a very interesting one indeed. The fast spreading of desktop 3D printing alone makes 2012 a year to remember.

As we look forward to an even more interesting 2013 I have my usual, still unfulfilled, wish for the software development wizards out there: Will we finally see a good initial stage design concept tool? As a matter of fact, the back of any envelope, or a napkin, still beats any software for very early stage concept design. Can we finally do better than pen and paper to help creativity at every stage?

Over the years we have seen great progress in the conceptual design software space. Products like bonzai3d, Moment of Inspiration (MoI), and SketchUp offer good early stage creativity tools to industrial designers, architects and engineers, but they have not replaced the napkin yet.

The ultimate early-stage design tool would be something that you grab for an impromptu brainstorming session instead of pen and paper when pen and paper is readily available on your desk. If such a tool were available, the benefits would be incredible: the resulting draft model could be used downstream to create many things, such as accurate designs and 3D printouts. Early analysis tools (like like rendering and stress) and remote communication would also be very easy (e.g., you could Skype in a colleague from a remote location to have a quick opinion). And that would be just the start.

I have had this same wish for the past quarter of a century and one thing that gives me hope is that tablet computers have now gone mainstream. Will this new device finally inspire somebody to find a way to replace pen and paper for conceptual design? Maybe the lack of a proper device was the problem – as long as computers only sit on your desk and can only be operated with a keyboard and a mouse they might be intrinsically less appealing than pen and paper – and certainly you cannot bring them with you at breakfast or lunch when suddenly you start brainstorming about a new design idea. Will the tablet be the game changer?

So, will this be the year when I get my wish? Can I get my wish at all? Are napkins inherently better than today’s computers and software? What do you think?"

 

Novedge at the San Francisco Autodesk Gallery

Yesterday we had the pleasure of taking a tour of the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco, with Jeff Farr, Autodesk Senior Partner Manager. 

So much of what we use and interact with has been designed with CAD software and often with an Autodesk software.  We saw samples of designs from different applications, from architecture, to film and entertainment, from product design to 3D printing technology.

Below are some of the highlights of our visit.

Here's the model of the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California, by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SMO). 3D printed models were widely used to plan the building, making the use of natural light a central feature of the cathedral. Software used: AutoCAD, DWF Viewer, 3ds Max, CSI SAP2000 Nonlinear, CSI SAFE, form-Z, PTC Mathcad, Rhino3D, S-CONCRETE, SOM Proprietary Image Processor.

3D printed model of the Shanghai Tower by Gensler.

Applications for the gaming and entertainment industries, including a motion capture suit, used in movies like Avatar.

The Pi Cycle, by Pi Mobility, an electric bike that Cristiano couldn't resist trying! Software used: Inventor, 3ds Max, Showcase

More fun with a car driving simulator, taking Cristiano to a virtual Golden Gate Bridge.

At the end of the visit, we saw a 3D printer and some samples created with it.

From entire action figures printed all at once, to actual usable tools, 3D printing is an exciting new technology.

As a parting gift, we sat at the photo station to get our "3D" photo taken.

Here's Cristiano's photo in Autodesk 123D Catch, ready to be 3D printed!

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, take some time to visit the Autodesk Gallery. There's a guided tour every day at 12:30 pm, to hear more about each project. 

Grab this Kinemac Special! Best Value on Animation for Mac

For this week only we're having a special on Kinemac: only $124

For this week only we're having a special on Kinemac -- half price! Kinemac runs on Macs and is a powerful and easy-to-use 3D real-time animation and presentation software. If you're in the market for a Mac animation product at an extremely attractive price, or are looking specifically for a great deal on Kinemac, this is the time to buy. At only $124 per copy you should take advantage of this opportunity that will only last one week.

Cristiano Sacchi

Another RhinoJungle Successful Contest!

We want to thank everybody who designed banners and cast their vote

After the successful poll contest on RhinoJungle in May, we were excited to run another contest. If you are among the few who don't know yet, RhinoJungle is a free online community for Rhino 3D users and enthusiasts. The results of the poll gave us great inspiration for that new contest, since quite some of the RhinoJungle members didn't actually like the banner that was on top of RhinoJungle ;-). So a new contest was born: design a new banner!

For 2 weeks, members of the jungle could submit their designs. Six members took the time and effort, and gave it a shot by submitting several designs to us. One of the members even submitted 10 (!) different designs. After this submission period, it was time for everybody out there in the jungle to vote on their favorite banner. We found references to the voting page on Facebook and Twitter, and this resulted in a lot of votes, wow!

there was one winner: Kevin Stead from Scotland

It was great to see that a lot of different banners got votes, but there was also clearly one winner: Kevin Stead from Scotland, member of RhinoJungle since the very beginning (March 2009). His banner got by far the most votes, almost 40%, and is a great representation of RhinoJungle, with all the logos, a screen shot of Rhino and a mysterious jungle on the right hand side. Kevin will receive a copy of Ron K.C. Cheng book "Inside Rhinoceros 4" kindly offered by the author. You can see Kevin's banner on the top of every RhinoJungle page. The other banners are still visible online on the RhinoJungle contest results page.

Kevin will receive a copy of Ron K.C. Cheng book "Inside Rhinoceros 4"

We want to thank everybody who designed banners and cast their vote. You made this contest another success in the jungle, and inspires us to run contests on a regular basis! So check out the jungle (sign up if you haven't done so yet) and stay tuned for all the excited things that are happening in the jungle where all the Rhino animals live!

Mirjam Hart

Who are the Rhino Users? A Poll on RhinoJungle Gives Us Some Answers

I'd like to share with you some more results from a recent poll we did on RhinoJungle, the online Rhino 3D users community. The results will give us a better picture not only of the RhinoJungle community, but also of the average Rhino users. I'm not going to throw a bunch of numbers to you, instead I'll put it in happy colored graphs.

According to the poll, the average member of the RhinoJungle community is a male in between 26-35 years old. He is a designer and he is using Rhino 3D and AutoCAD the most. He found the community through the Novedge website, and he appreciates the videos and forum the most. Unfortunately we don't know what kind of car he drives or if he has a Golden Retriever, but we're glad to know our members a little bit better. Do you recognize yourself in the description as given above? Here you can find all the results, so you can make up a profile yourself.

By the way, we are running a new contest on RhinoJungle! The poll wasn't only intended to know our members better, but even more to get feedback about the functioning of the community. Based on that, we're having a contest where you can design a new banner to replace the one we're displaying now on the top of each page of RhinoJungle website (apparently some of our members don't like that banner too much). The lucky guy or girl will win a copy of the book 'Inside Rhinoceros' by Ron K. C. Cheng and of course will get eternal glory on the community. So check out RhinoJungle.com, sign up if you're not a member yet and get out your creative skills!

Mirjam Hart

What does the Poll on RhinoJungle Tell Us?

In 25 days, 30% of the members took the poll on RhinoJungle and we welcomed many new members.

Thanks you, and welcome!

We support RhinoJungle as a place where you can interact with other Rhino users and to find answers to your questions

To us, this poll has been a great success. We are happy with the response rate and we got some great feedback about how we can improve the community and what you value the most in this jungle. Some of the feature requests are easy to implement (like a gallery where you can post pictures of your work), some are a bit harder (like a different language). But with everything we do, we need your help! We host this community for you, our members, to offer you a place where you can interact with other Rhino users and as an informative resource to find answers to your questions.

One benefit of the many feature requests is this: you can do it yourself! Here are some examples from the poll:

• A product comparison section: several members would like to have the opportunity to compare products to help them decide which one they would like to use, or which product suits their needs best. I would say that the forum section could be an excellent way to do this. You can start a topic if you have a question about which product would be the best for you or if you want to write a review about a product. On the website of Novedge we also compare products, but we compare purely on technical specifications, since we don't want to favor one product over the other. For example, take a look at the Flamingo product page (Scroll down at that page or look at the screen shot I added to this blog post.)
• WiP/Final work section: as a designer, you like to show your work to other people. Through their feedback and comments they can give you inspiration or help with problems you may have encountered. So why not post your picture in the gallery and write something about it in the Me & My Work forum?
• More users and more participation: Did I already tell you can do it yourself? ;-) Invite your friends, colleagues, family, neighbors, or whoever you know who may be interested, and spread the word. Don't have a Rhino-related question at the moment? Start a social talk-topic and tell us about the great weekend you had, or a jobs-topic and tell us about the job opening at your company, or let everybody know you are looking for a job. It's all possible! Whether as a blog or a forum topic, or even as a video, we welcome all.

These are just some examples of things users would like to see at RhinoJungle. Unfortunately, there are also some things we cannot change ourselves, as we depend on Ning (the webhost of this community), like cropping pictures after you've uploaded them, using uploaded pictures as profile pictures, or letting the chat bar flash when there is any chat activity.

One last thing I want to mention about the poll: the header. We know, we're not perfect. But I strongly advise you to keep a close eye on the jungle, there has been perhaps a murmurr of something in 2 weeks or so that has something to do with a new header and a contest. Ooh, did I say too much?

Mirjam Hart

Join Novedge for an Internship in San Francisco

Novedge and San Francisco. Can you think of a better combination?

For the past few months, I've been interning here at Novedge in San Francisco. As a Dutch student this has been an amazing opportunity for me, and I'm still enjoying every day of it. Novedge is a great and inspiring company to work with, and San Francisco is just an amazing and interesting city. Can you think of a better combination? But unfortunately, all great things have to come to an end at some time, which is also the case of my internship. After my final presentation in July, I will be graduated and ready to start working, which I will do at home in the Netherlands.

The tasks I am doing here at Novedge cannot be discontinued, you just can't abandon a successful community right? Therefore Novedge is looking for another intern that can continue my job. American or not, it doesn't matter. The previous intern was Italian, I am Dutch, so you are....?

How does a tweet help grow a community?

The main tasks of this internship are taking care of all the social media that Novedge is involved in, like Facebook, Twitter, the blog and several online communities Novedge hosts. How do you build an active community? How can a Facebook page lead to more visibility for a company? How does a tweet on Twitter help grow a community? Just some thoughts that kept me busy, and that are still not fully answered.

some basic Rhino or 3D modeling skills are desirable

Novedge is the world's largest and most rapidly growing online CAD/CAM store. Their office is located in downtown San Francisco where you will be exposed to all the aspects of running a business, which is really interesting. Because managing RhinoJungle will be one of the main responsibilities, some basic Rhino or 3D modeling skills are desirable. You also have to be fluent in English, both in speaking and in writing. The internship will be unpaid (yes, the financial crisis has also reached the west coast), but some expenses, such as the flights, will be reimbursed. Ideally, the internship starts as of July 2009 and lasts for at least 2 months.

If you are interested in this position please send your cover letter and resume to info@novedge.com.

Mirjam Hart

Novedge in the World of Social Media

On March 2nd, Skittles shook the world by changing its homepage to a big social media playground; when navigating to skittles.com you found yourself in a stream of Twitter messages with the tag #skittles. For 24 hours this was a big hit, but there was no filter, and also abusive tweets from pranksters about the company and its products turned up at the homepage of Skittles. The following day, the homepage was redirected to the fanpage of Skittles on Facebook, with almost 600,000 fans. Via the menu option 'chatter' you could still enter the Twitter stream. Today (March 4th) the homepage of Skittles is redirected to the Wikipedia page about Skittles.

Many people expressed their opinion about this campaign; some called it a genius and innovative move (although risky), others called it an utter failure, 'the worst thing to ever happen to social media branding'. But the fact is that Skittles got huge media attention during these days, everybody talks, tweets, and blogs about it (including us).

Incorporating social media in companies is a hot topic nowadays. This doesn't mean that when you'll navigate to our website next week, you'll end up at Facebook or Twitter, but it is very interesting to see all the developments in this field! How far are companies going to attract people with the use of social media channels and to have them interact with each other and the company? What is the best channel to interact with your (potential) customers? There are so many options to choose from, just think of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Friendfeed, LinkedIn, (corporate) blogs, communities. So you subscribe to (some of) these channels, and then what?

Novedge is exploring the mysterious but wonderful world of social media too by launching a big campaign.

Novedge is exploring the mysterious but wonderful world of social media too by launching a big campaign. Novedge has a page at Facebook and LinkedIn, our news source Pulse already has 141 (and counting!) followers at Twitter as @_Pulse_, and our community SpaceClaiming has 580 members. And of course, we have this blog :-). But besides that, Novedge is also starting a new community, called RhinoJungle (with its own Facebook page). This community is set up especially for the users and fans of Rhino and all Robert McNeel products. With facilitating these communities, Novedge wants to offer an extra service to our customers, to create a platform for sharing ideas, questions and 3d-work.

With this adventure Novedge aims for more direct communication, growth of members of our communities and a growth in followers on Twitter. We believe that the world of social media is boundless.

Mirjam Hart

For more information on this topic, take a look at this foldier sPression, an online collection of the Novedge social media activities.