Join GATE for a guided tour of Autodesk Gallery at One Market Street #200 in SF, on Wednesday 5/23 from 3:00-5:00pm.

The Autodesk Gallery at One Market celebrates the design process that takes a great idea and turns it into a reality. With more than 20 different exhibits regularly on display that showcase the innovative work of Autodesk customers, the gallery illustrates the role technology plays in great design and engineering.

Our group will have a one hour tour led by an Autodesk docent, then free time to explore. Kids receive a “coffee table” format book.

Founded in Mill Valley thirty years ago, Autodesk is Marin County’s largest tech company and the world leader in design software. The new Bay Bridge, the biggest engineering project in California history — that’s one of theirs.

Complete tour details here. Register here.

UPDATE: Holy cow, that was just amazingly cool and important.  We just glimpsed the world our kids will live and work and compete in.  Our tour was made even better through the much appreciated presence of GATE parent Mark Davis, who is a director at Autodesk Research!  Mark accompanied our group, adding color along the way.  He also kindly provided a list of Autodesk iPad Apps [png], many of them free or cheap in the iTunes Store, and recommended several as especially well-suited for our kids:

• Tinkerbox – This is a free physics based game that his kids love. Autodesk is updating it all the time and it is really compelling.
• 123D Catch / Make – These are the 3D capture (catch) and print (make) applications. They are first versions, so still a ways to go in terms of functionality, but still really interesting, even to play with the sample files.
• The Imagine, Design, Create e-Book. This is a electronic version of the Gallery coffee table book, with really great customer stories and imagery. It is large to download, but is available for iPad and as an e-book for some other devices.

Jeff recommends two more:

• SketchBook Ink – This is the iPad sketching app that was used to create the dozens of lovely pieces we saw hung on the walls.
• Homestyler (website) – This free web-based app gives you a lite version of Autodesk’s classic architectural software, allowing even kids to create photo-realistic renderings of homes and landscapes. His kids no longer watch TV, they’re so enthralled with designing architectural spaces in this application.

Again, our thanks to Autodesk Gallery and to Mark for a particularly thought-provoking event.  We have got to do this again.

Working on a life-size Lego dinosaur

An organic car chassis

The new Bay Bridge was done with their software