Autodesk Inventor software is the most frequently downloaded software program by students, followed closely by Autodesk Civil 3D and Revit Architecture. Mechanical engineering is the most popular field of study among student members (32%), followed by architecture (31%), civil engineering (19%), and industrial design (8%).

Autodesk created the Student Community as part of the company’s effort to provide students with access to technology and innovative programs in order to inspire the next generation of design professionals, preparing them for future academic and career success. It is a truly global effort, with student and faculty members representing more than 80 countries.

Enhancements in AutoCAD Map 3D 2009, Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise 2009
and AutoCAD Raster Design 2009 software applications build on the solutions’ fundamental properties of open data access and interoperability with other design, GIS and IT systems.

In addition, the new products offer a user environment and new tools to help organizations quickly capitalize on their staff’s expertise with AutoCAD software and with existing spatial data.

“Global infrastructure is falling farther behind the needs of emerging and developed nations, and the organizations and agencies that must address the issue are grappling with a shortage of experienced workers,” said Lisa Campbell, vice president, Autodesk Geospatial. “Autodesk geospatial solutions combine design and geospatial information without requiring difficult customization, so that users can make fast, insightful decisions and improve engineering standards –and ultimately, accelerate project completion.”

With its 2009 geospatial solutions, Autodesk is expanding on two key principles that address customers’ needs: an open, flexible and interoperable geospatial platform, and tools that are easy to learn and use. The latest enhancements build on an open architecture that preserves data integrity and helps ensure that vital design and spatial asset information moves in and out of systems easily. The software applications and their open application programming interfaces serve as the basis for solutions purpose-built for utility companies by Autodesk and third-party software developers.

Both versions will offer new rendering capabilities and improved interoperability with other products like Revit, as well as additional time-saving animation and mapping workflow tools.

Its entertainment branded version will include a new Reveal rendering toolset to streamline iterative workflows, a ProMaterials material library for simulating real-world surfaces, as well as numerous biped enhancements and new UV editing tools. It will also include Recognize, a new scene-loading technology which it says will significantly improve the inter-application workflow with Revit Architecture 2009.

Its design branded version will include all features of the entertainment branded version, with the exception of an included software development toolkit, used primarily in game and video markets to to integrate software into a production pipeline and develop in-house tools to be used in conjunction with the 3ds Max. The design version will also include “Exposure technology,” to simulate and analyze sun, sky, and artificial lighting to assist with LEED 8.1 certification.

“Autodesk 3ds Max now comes in two distinct flavors to better meet the specific needs of our entertainment and visualization customers. 3ds Max 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009 provide users with tailored online experiences, user interface and application defaults, tutorials, samples, and more. This simplifies the learning process and makes it easier for users to find the information that’s most relevant to them”, said Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment.

More than 6,000 science, technology workers, as well as scientist-turned-entrepreneurs on met recently to discuss issues such as energy saving and environmental protection. Among them were more than 100 members from Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), the highest palaces for scientific research achievements and engineering progress.

While addressing opening of the annual conference of China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) in Wuhan, the most important industrial city in central China, CAST Chairman Han Qide said resource and environmental factors had become two prominent problems hampering social and economic development in China.

For a period of time ahead, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology will make active, dedicated efforts with other related government departments to press ahead with work in several major fields, so as to provide a strong, technical prop for energy saving and emission reduction in the country.

Arcaic and polluting industries will receive stricts guidelines toward energy savings: China recently published the nation’s first energy-saving standards for cement manufacturing plants to further increase the industry’s energy efficiency.

Published by the Ministry of Construction, the standards covered every aspect of cement manufacturing, including plant construction, manufacturing technology, power systems and equipment use. Some articles are compulsory.

The standards are a part of the End-Use Energy Efficiency Program of the Chinese government, run in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program. The project aims to dramatically improve the efficiency of China’s major energy users: commercial and residential buildings, and heavy industries, such as iron, steel, cement and petrochemicals.

“By using the new standards, cement plants can reduce energy use by about 15 percent,” Vice-Chairman of the China Cement Association Zeng Xuemin said

The development of rural China is also pressing the energy consumption. In 2006, energy consumption in China’s rural areas amounted to about 900 million tons of standard coal, or one quarter of the total commodity energy consumption in the country, so the task for energy conservation and emission reduction in the Chinese countryside is very grave. At present, the rural areas in China yield more than 4 billion tons of farm throwaways, including 2.6 billion tons of human and livestock excrement and some 700 million tons of straw each year.

This means a big source of pollution as well as a great resource of biological materials. So it is imperative for China to step up its effort to develop biogas and other new rural energy sources by making an all-round use of rural throwaways with advanced cycle economy technologies.

Urbanization is another challenge. By 2020, with its urban population expected to exceed 900 million, China will have to handle the demands of its cities and all varieties of emissions in the country are very great. So, the country should acquire as fast as it can the advanced, appropriate technical-how in such major spheres as urban development and building materials, the all-round use of urban wastes, garbage power generation, public transport and communication, and car exhaust, and the establishment of urban monitoring networks for energy saving and emission reduction should be hastened.