IMSI/Design has released its first version of software for Apple’s rival mobile platform, Google Android. The company, which spoke about such plans in executive interviews published here on Architosh, said, “It’s no secret that Android’s momentum has been astounding.” That state by Royal Farros, CEO and chairman of IMSI/Design added, “just as we did in the iPad and iPhone world, we’re the first to bring native 3D DWG viewing to the exploding Android platform.”

The free version of TurboViewer is now available for Android and can be found at the Android Marketplace. For more information on TurboViewer go here.

SketchUp News

Google’s SketchUp newsletter had some interesting tidbits of news. The makers of SU Podium, a rendering plugin for SketchUp for Mac and Windows has a new plugin called SketchUp Walk. The plugin is only available for Windows at the moment but allows users to easily create walk-thru rendering animations of their  SketchUp models.

In more apps news for SketchUp users, 3DOn ARchitecture is a new app for the iPad or iPhone for viewing SketchUp models on Apple’s popular mobile devices. There are three unique modes for viewing your models on this application, which was created just for architects. One of these modes lets you view your SketchUp model while it is superimposed over an image of the site taken from the camera on the iPad or iPhone. To learn more about this application, visit the website now.

Autodesk News

Autodesk has released 123D Make apps at Technology Preview. Autodesk 123D Make was previously only available on the Mac. Now Autodesk’s Technology Preview version is available through a Web browser. 123D Make is a modeler technology application that assists users in creating physical 3D models by creating a pattern of flat panels that be cut out and put together to create your model. You can learn more about 123D Make applications at Autodesk here.

Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD 15 won Construction Computing Magazine’s BIM Product of the Year in 2011 and now the company has released a white paper titled, “Get There Faster with ArchiCAD.” The white paper examines five critical areas to explore before making final BIM software selection. The sole purpose of the white paper is to provide accurate, reliable information about critical issues related to BIM and how ArchiCAD technology addresses these issues.

The key issue areas are:

• Improve profitability
• Enable agile and competitive workflow
• Provide real-time collaboration
• Easy-to-learn and simplfied 3D workflow
• Optimizes use of computer hardware power
• Keeps IT costs low
• Is a secure and proven BIM product

The white paper shares expertise from six design leaders. The company says, “we want to teach and educate in an effort to help architects make informed technology decisions.”

You can download the BIM white-paper here.

Tyler Barns, Senior Product Manager of Inventor and Kevin Schneider, Senior Product Line Manager for Design, Lifecycle and Simulation Product Group, of Autodesk, spoke to us through a virtual meeting and presented their new Mac solutions.

Mechanical CAD on the Mac? Really?

First off, we were really surprised by this turn of events–to see Autodesk release a full native version of a mechanical CAD product for the Mac platform. Our wager was on the release of a Mac native version of Revit (used in the architectural market, where the Mac is popular) before something like Inventor would ever be released. So we asked them to explain why this product now.

Kevin Schneider of Autodesk stated that the company is very focused on the next-generation of designers and engineers in schools and colleges. “Autodesk is always looking ahead and aims to serve our educational customers well,” stated Schneider, explaining that in a recent program inviting students to explore careers in design and engineering students came with different platform expectations when they brought their own equipment to class.

“Of the ten students who came in with computers, nine of them brought in MacBook Pros,” said Schneider. “When we [Autodesk] look at the next generation of designers and engineers we see their expectations of choice and software is very different than the current generation.“

01 - Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac is a brand new mechanical entry level CAD application from Autodesk coming out very soon.

Schneider explained that the next-generation has a different type of computer fluency and will be expecting to work with their data on a variety of platforms and devices, from things like the Mac, on to the cloud…and on smartphone platforms like iPhone.

next page: Technology Preview

LumenRT 2 for SketchUp on Mac and Windows has an entirely new, state-of-the-art real-time rendering engine. The program boasts a complete physical simulation of light, physical and accurate reflections, time-of-day (TOD) real-time rendering adjustability, precise anti-aliasing and motion-blur, software shadows, superb water and underwater effects, realistic skies and advanced material rendering.

01 - LumenRT 2 has stunning real-time lighting rendering capability. (image courtesy of e-on Software)

Some specific new features in version 2 include:

• Standard quality mode generates fast lighting using global illumination
• Accelerated processing of scenes with visual feedback
• Export SketchUp time-lapse animations support
• LumenRT material editor lets you adjust materials directly inside SketchUp
• Create animations of unlimited length
• Low-quality real-time rendering mode for slower graphics boards

e-on Software said the product, currently compatible with SketchUp, is being ported to other 3D platforms, but did not announce which ones. For this major release the company is publishing a free trial version or LumenRT 2 for Mac and Windows, immediately available for download at: try.lumenrt.com

LumenRT is the only solution that combines real-time rendering with a full, physical simulation of light, letting architects and their clients accurately experience the true volume and lighting of their designs.

LumenRT 2 is a plugin application for SketchUp and works on both the free and Pro versions of SketchUp. The product retails for 295.USD with an introductory price of 195.USD. It is supported on SketchUp on Mac OS X platforms (10.6+) and Widnows XP, Vista and 7. Users of LumenRT are eligible for a free upgrade to LumenRT 2 until February 29, 2012. The free trial version is fully functional for up to 15 days. Output for the trial version is watermarked.

To learn more visit LumenRT here.

AutoDesSys will be hosting a Bonzai 3D webinar today at 1pm-2pm EST. The free webinar is an introduction to the SketchUp competitor, a conceptual modeling tool with a Class-A NURBS modeling engine and the power of formZ’s legendary modeling capabilities, packaged into an easy-to-use conceptual tool.

Like formZ, Bonzai 3D has the ability to plug into the power of AutoDesSys’ RenderZone rendering software for photo-realistic imagery making. To register for this seminar go here now. To view previous webinars online, on-demand, go here.

Vectorworks News

Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., has some good news on its global CAD/BIM product line. For starters Vectorworks 2012 is now available in Japan through its Tokyo-based distributor, A&A Co. Ltd.. You can learn more about that here.

There is also some news about Vectorworks-based design firms winning awards, as in Lukas Schweingruber und Rainer Zulauf from Schweingruber Zulauf Landschaftsarchitekten.

For French-based architects and designers CESYAM is launching a Vectorworks 2012 Tour Across France.

No Autodesk Vista Support

In a surprising twist Autodesk is ending formal support for Microsoft Vista operating system-based computers with its new and currently shipping versions of its software. The new policy goes into affect January 1, 2012.

Autodesk will continue to support Microsoft Windows XP operating systems. Based on the company’s research there are a large amount of customers currently utilizing XP-based systems, while the same research reveals little reason for support of Vista. The company reports that most Vista customers have migrated up to Windows 7.

More information on this topic can be found here.

The new book provides solutions for setting up projects through the phases of Planning, Tender, Construction, Interiors and As-Built drawings. It is based on ArchiCAD 14 but can be adapted to suit older versions of the software as well.

Vaneshrie Sullivan has sold and trained ArchiCAD in the sub-saharan region of South Africa almost ten years ago and worked in interior design and architecture practices using ArchiCAD both in South Africa and the United Kingdom, as well as training architects in those countries as well as the US, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Kuwait and India.

01 - New ArchiCAD interactive training book by Sullivan.

The book sells for 195 British Pounds and can be ordered here. You can also preview the table of contents on this site.

This week the company previewed Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac. As part of the Inventor product family, Inventor Fusion is primarily a 3D mechanical CAD modeler application designed to engage emerging young engineers and designers.

Kevin Schneider, Sr. Product Line Manager for Autodesk Design, Lifecycle and Simulation Product Group, noted that Inventor Fusion is the first dedicated mechanical CAD product from Autodesk that is a Mac product.

01 - Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac. A new Mac-native ground-up mCAD modeling program for emerging mechanical engineers and design professionals.

“When we look at the next generation of designers and engineers,” says Schneider “we see their expectations of choice and software is very different than the current generation.” Autodesk told Architosh that the company is adapting to trends that show that the future generation of engineers and designers are increasingly coming both to and out of college with an affinity for Apple’s platforms.

While Autodesk Inventor is the company’s Windows-only full-fledged professional mechanical CAD product, Inventor Fusion for Mac is a simplified entry-level product that has been written from the ground-up on Mac OS X. It has a ’state-of-the-art’ modern user-interface and advanced modeling functionality.

The formal release of the product is aimed for the first quarter of 2012. Professionals and students interested in the Mac-based Inventor Fusion can learn more at a special page on Facebook setup by Autodesk (http://www.facebook.com/InventorFusion)

Final pricing has also not been set but those who engage in the public technology preview can try out Fusion for the Mac for free. You can sign up here.

formZ 7 has a new modern user interface with a lot of new functionality and enhancements to existing formZ functionality. Many steps have been automated with the new UI. There is less picking and more doing, the company says.

01 - formZ 7 has bold new features and a modern interface

Discovering formZ 7 – Seminars

January 18, (which is today) there will be a new webinar titled: What’s new in formZ 7, Part 1: Parametric modeling in a modern fluid interface. This free event takes place at 1pm-2pm EST and you can register for it here.

Part 2: Visualization, rendering and fabrication and presentation, takes place on January 25, 2012, and is at 1pm – 2pm. EST. You ca register for it here.

There are also Webinars On Demand covering bonzai 3D and formZ. A full list is here.

The new ArchiCAD STAR(T) Edition 2012 is based on the robust BIM technology of ArchiCAD 15, but with a feature set and price tailored to the needs of small architectural practices, home builders, and building contractors.

ArchiCAD STAR(T) Edition 2012 is a full-featured BIM program, containing all the tools necessary to creating a building information model of your design and then documenting the project fully as well as generating a list of materials. The latest release features the core functionality of ArchiCAD 15 plus:

• Intelligent Element Connections – automatic connections between building structures and elements to help create the creation and maintenance of the BIM model while preserving the flexibility architects need
• 3D Design Space – 3D guidelines and editing planes to help the creation of the BIM model in the natural 3D environment including axonometric and perspective views
• Latest DWG-DXF file exchange capabilities with the 3rd party applications of consultants

ArchiCAD STAR(T) Edition 2012 is available in International English, German and Austrian versions. Other localized versions will follow during Q1, 2012. To learn more visit them online here.

After reviewing TurboViewer 2.0, our previous view that Farros was already speaking our language, was further confirmed. It is not just that he is making a bold prediction about the impact of a game-changing device–anyone can do that! But rather that IMSI/Design is clearly showing what they mean by “inflection point” in the CAD industry.

The Key is Immediacy

On a personal note, I’ve been toting around an Apple iPad 2 since it came out. I couldn’t wait to use it as a tool for practicing architecture. I was very excited about what I could possibly do out in the field and what older processes could be replaced by this new tool. I was particularly interested in “speeding up” work flow processes that normally were tied down to limitations in the field or repetition back at the office or both. But here is what I learned: if the new process on the iPad isn’t fast enough to keep up with the old analog process, it doesn’t matter all that much if you are speeding up workflows downstream.

Let me explain it more clearly. Say you typically take field meeting notes on a pad of paper. Then you type up those notes back at the office. Say you often sketch up details and ideas for the client or the contractor as part of those notes on paper. Now you have an iPad. And you want to do all this work directly in the field and not burden yourself with the conversion from analog to digital back at the office. In theory, you should save time. But here is the rub. If the process on the iPad is anywhere more than 25 percent slower than the old analog process, you will not find the reward you are looking for. And if the process needs to keep pace with the flow of meetings, then it must be just as fast as analog or faster.

As it turns out, not a lot of iOS apps for AEC professionals meet this criteria yet. They offer streamlining by “everywhere access” and elimination of “double data entry” back at the office, but if you can’t keep up with others or an existing workflow it doesn’t matter how great the tool is–eventually you will stop using it.

Why TurboViewer Pro Succeeds

Given that criteria then, the reason why TurboViewer and TurboViewer Pro succeed as top notch tools in the new mobile app space is this: They are simple viewers that provide the market with CAD file viewing needs that normally have been served with mobile laptops. But they exceed laptops because they view the data faster, provide easier mobility, and also provide unique “one-of-a-kind” viewing experiences.

01 - Pixar's Wall-E robot is the star of this CAD file. The Views menu is shown in TurboViewer Pro 2.0. Selecting a view choice switches to that saved view.

Let’s start with the uniqueness factor. With TurboViewer and its Pro sister app you have the power to spin 3D models around effortlessly with your finger tip. It is like having the object in your hand. The combination of Apple’s Multi-touch user-interface and CAD/3D is wonderful when it is delivered this smoothly. And it is very smooth! Take the Wall-E.dwg file shown in the image above. (see image 01). TurboViewer Pro gives you an excellent Views menu with easy to understand icons and viewing options. It is so easy to reach out and touch the object on the screen and start spinning little Wall-E around.

If you get to where you have lost control and spun the model around in a way you don’t like (sometimes that can happen) you simply re-choose a typical view from the Views menu. (image 01) From there you have the option of axon, and all the various sides of an object. And with the Pro version you get Perspective options as well, giving you preconfigured lens starting at 28mm Landscape mode up to 50mm Object mode. (see image 03)

02 - Visual styles are available and the Pro version features X-ray mode, which is very useful for architecture urban design model files. You also have Perspective as an option.

03 - In the Pro version you have "Perspective" in addition to side and axon views. Camera options are available, including Custom.

Other unique things that are not so easy to do in a CAD application on a laptop are the simple way you can switch to various visual styles. You can easily toggle between line view, hidden line view, X-ray mode, shaded openGL and more. The X-ray mode is particularly cool for buildings; SketchUp users in particular with be at home with this viewing method. (see images 02)

next page: Other Details & Closing Comments

Updated features in TurboViewer V2 include such items as AutoCAD SHX font support, TrueType font support, Tactile sound feedback (confirmation for button and UI item selection), and performance memory optimizations.

This adds to the excellent features already included in the free version of TurboViewer. There is a professional version of TurboViewer also available. The professional version retails for 19.USD.

IMSI’s TurboViewer is a native 3D Autodesk DWG file viewer. You can acquire the application on the Apple App Store or learn more here. Be sure to read this Feature article on Architosh.

Shade 12 and 12.1 have excellent new features. A new Shade 12 Workflow UX (user-interface) is based around task-based tool groups which allow the user to configure tool parameters within a single window. Users can also customize these tool groups as well. The professional version allows advanced material handling, including animated normal maps to create powerful environmental effects such as oceans.

01 - All new Boolean engine in Shade 12.x

Version 12.1 includes photometric modeling. You can turn your digital camera into a 3D modeling aid. There is also volumetric lighting, a totally revised boolean modeling engine and Sketch modeling.

02 - Shade 12.x supports Volumentric lights.

Version 12.1 provides improved stereoscopic rendering for 3D playback on monitors, television sets and devices. Support has also been added for Sony Head Mounted 3D display and Sharp 3D smart phones. New FBX support adds pipeline flexibility. Plus there is new PoserFusion support.

Shade 12.1 Professional retails at 749.USD, Standard at 349.USD and Basic at 99.USD. Shade can be obtained at Mirye Software online.

Under communist law, it was actually illegal to own a personal computer, according to Gabor Bojar, the company’s founder, who remarked: “A real entrepreneur is never afraid to take a risk.” Gabor risked a prison sentence by taking a strictly embargoed product (the Mac) onboard a plane from the West to Budapest, so that six months later they could unveil ArchiCAD for the Mac.

Gabor’s remarks during the unveiling are partly included in the blog post here. They are a wonderful testament (to Jobs and Graphisoft itself) and an illuminating story for people of the West in particular to read.

Read the blog post here.

Architosh received word this morning from T-Splines leader Matthew Sederberg. No terms were disclosed in the deal. Sederberg reports in his email that he will be taking up the position of Product Manager at Autodesk in charge of T-Splines technology.

To read the brief press release visit here.

Architosh Analysis: We were a little surprised by this move on the part of T-Splines. This is a tiny software company compared to Autodesk, located a considerable distance up in Utah. T-Splines makes a plugin product for McNeel’s Rhino modeling software platform. Now that Autodesk has purchased this technology we are left wondering if the CAD giant will continue to develop and market this key plugin for a rival’s modeling software. Sederber writes, “Autodesk is currently investigating an approach to continued selling the T-Splines plugins.”

T-Splines actually makes two plugins, one for Rhino and one for SolidWorks. Our guess is that if anything provoked Autodesk to purchase this technology it was tsElements for Solidworks, a major rival to Autodesk in the product development markets.

ArchiFlash Details

ArchiFlash runs on iOS for iPhone and contains over 1,160 flash cards covering all multiple-choice sections of the ARE. Besides the flashcard based question format the cards contain timesaving charts, essential definitions, diagrams, drawings, key equations and a whole lot more.

You can choose to study in various ways, including studying by division, study by content (eg: plumbing, wind forces, architectural history, etc) or study by question type (eg: definitions, drawings, charts or diagrams).

01 - NALSA's ArchiFlash 2.0 is fully updated for latest ARE 4.0 architect's exam and runs on your iPhone or iPad.

ArchiFlash 2.0 for ARE 4.0 allows you to shuffle the deck, save your place, bookmark cards and perform searches on terms.

The program runs on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, though it is designed for the iPhone sized format. It requires iOS 4.0.1 or later. The program is 149.99.USD and is available from the iTunes Store. To learn more visit NALSA online here.

A webpage dedicated to the planned event states: “Graphisoft considers Steve Jobs the greatest hero of the information age. We believe such superlatives are warranted: indeed, we cannot be entirely objective with respect to Steve Jobs, because to a large extent, Graphisoft ArchiCAD owes its global success to him. In 1984, Apple was willing to give Graphisoft a chance.”

BIM Begins on Apple Lisa

ArchiCAD is largely considered the very first true BIM (Building Information Modeling) software program, inventing and coining the term “virtual building” in the process of developing 3D CAD for architects which enabled them to literally build the building, completely, in 3D on the computer. “The first version of ArchiCAD ran on a Lisa computer, the immediate predecessor to the Macintosh,” reports the company. “We exhibited this program at the 1984 CEBIT in Hannover, where Steve Jobs saw it and decided to give Apple’s full support to its development and distribution. Apple gave us cash and computers at a time when Graphisoft was a young company with very limited resources; the technology represented by those computers was not even available in our part of the world.”

01 - Ark-Coca-Cola skyscraper wins fifth design excellence award. The project is a BIM achievement in Australia and was designed using Graphisoft ArchiCAD.

ArchiCAD quickly became available on the Mac and remained an exclusive on the Mac well into the 1990’s. Apple introduced the young Hungarian company to its global distribution network, which the company relies on to this day, helping sell and represent ArchiCAD in countries around the world.

“In 1985, after Steve Jobs left Apple, the company lost its soul,” states Graphisoft on this webpage. “At the time, many of our partners said that Graphisoft was the guardian of Apple’s spirit and soul. Some even said that we were the ‘real Apple’ at that time. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple 12 years later, the company again began to create miracles.”

“The working environment at Graphisoft Park embodies the spirit of Steve Jobs, which strives for excellence in every detail. Our built environment aims to inspire and promote this passion for quality in the talented people who work here. Graphisoft Park is indeed a fitting location for a statue commemorating Steve Jobs and his legacy.”

To learn more about Graphisoft’s thoughts on Steve Jobs and its view on Apple and the Graphisoft connection, click here. The event takes place in front of the Graphisoft building, 1031 Budapest, Zahony u, 7, G Building, at 3:00PM CET.

Those who wish to attend can RSVP by contacting Julianna Gulden, Graphisoft PR at: jgulden@graphisoft.com

ForceEffect provides an intuitive drawing environment for drawing, constraining and simulating concepts using free body diagrams by simply tapping objects to select, move, rotate and scale. Real time solving capabilities provide immediate feedback on the performance of a design, enabling users to bring engineering to the point of the problem–whether they’re in the field, at the office or in the class room.

01 - Autodesk ForceEffect for iPad is a statics solver, useful for engineering students, architects and DIYers.

A Static Problem Solver

ForceEffect for iPad solves static systems analysis using free-body diagrams. Users simply create diagrams by leveraging existing design images or by creating new systems from scratch. You scale images, create joints, support loads, and compute reaction forces.

The program is free and can be obtained through the Apple iTunes Store.

What We Think

Autodesk is seriously on a roll with Apple iOS based applications, and it is delightful to see. Sure, some of the i-apps they have created are more fluff and fun than serious work apps but the simple fact is they are making apps for the iPad and iPhone and that experience programming for iOS works for them–not against–in all future mobile endeavors.

Although we have not reviewed it yet, ForceEffect seems useful. This app compliments a range of other professional or practical iOS apps such as: Buzzsaw, Constructware Field, Design Review Mobile, SketchBook Express and SketchBook Pro for iPad, and AutoCAD WS. And that is not the c0mplete list. You can check out all iOS apps through the iTunes store by searching for Autodesk.

Graphisoft also took home the award for Environmental Project of the Year for Rural Regeneration Centre at Hadlow College, the UK’s first certified Passivhaus educational building.

To learn more about Graphisoft’s BIM solution ArchiCAD 15 go here.

What’s New in Mudbox 2012

Autodesk Mudbox 2012 continues to advance itself and in this year’s release the design software giant added support for 64-bit Linux in addition to Windows and Mac OS X 10.6.x support. In this update Autodesk touched on all three major areas of Mudbox (sculpting, painting and posing) adding useful improvements, but in general the largest updates are concentrated in the area of 3D painting and posing.

Before we get into those we’ll briefly touch on some general improvements. Version 2011 added 64-bit support for Mac and now as we mentioned we have the same for Linux. A big new improvement in this update is the ability to create and edit stencils. You can bring in images to use for stencils directly from the Mac clipboard.

Autodesk also has introduced new single-step “round-trip” workflows for other related Autodesk software, such as: Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Softimage. Imagining a scene origin from your DCC software of choice, you can export to Mudbox to add painting or sculpting effects and detail and then merge back to your digital content creation (DCC) software. That improves work flows for those working with Autodesk DCC suites. There is a new Send To option in the File menu.

Another useful and related new feature is the new Maya-like “Hot Menus” introduced in Mudbox 2012. Clicking the spacebar quickly creates a “heads-up” hot menu system. For whose who do not use such menu systems it may take getting use to. (see image 01).

01 - Autodesk Mudbox 2012 features new "heads-up" Maya-like hot menu system.

Some significant minor changes include the ability to use tools like Grab and Pinch to manipulate stencils to more closely conform to the shape of your model. There are new selection tools with region and lasso modes. This gives you more control over how you control your model. (see image 02).

02 - Mudbox 2012 features expanded selection tools with new lasso and region modes.

There are two new Grab brush options–Grab Silhouette and Follow Path–that allow you to create innovative new shapes. And this release vastly improves on texture data sets.

next page: Painting Improvements

Lightwave 3D 11 features tons of new features. Instancing enables you to create mass duplicates of objects in a scene with very little overhead. These “virtual” polygon counts will not cause your machine to run out of memory. Instances are not mere clones they can be randomly different via scaling, position, rotation and even surface complexity.

Flocking enhances natural motions with such things as schools of fish, birds, et cetera. Fracture is a new modeler tool and was designed specifically to compliment Bullet dynamics in the Lightwave Layout. It allows the 3D artist to “pre-fracture” an object ready for destruction. Bullet is a fast, production-proven, open-source physics engine that does what you think it does. Lightwave 3D 11 features the Bullet engine directly in Layout.

Lightwave 3D 11 now has a much enhanced Virtual Studio Tools, allowing the user to configure various third-party device controllers (e.g.: SpaceNavigator, Playstation Move). GoZ is a new interchange technology in this version that enables users to send model and texture data to and from Pixologic’s ZBrush.

Rendering is improved thanks to new improvements in the Render Buffer. Saving and viewing various buffers produced by the render engine to make up an image is now more powerful and easier to use. This improves renders out for compositing.

Version 11 now includes Python scripting. Python is an industry standard for scripting and further allows the customization of Lightwave 3D. FiberFX has a new volume rendering mode called Stroke. Version 11 allows you to now make very realistic fibers. FiberFX now uses the new instancing technology as well.

Other Improvements

The user interface has been enhanced, especially in the area of the node editor. There are IK rigs improvements, huge speed boosts in areas such as loading scenes, many modeler optimizations and enhancements. Items can now be modeled off axis. There are OBJ file format support improvements, shader improvements and a whole lot more.

Lightwave 3D 11 is offered today for registered current users as a pre-release advanced beta. The full final release is scheduled for end of year.

To learn more about the new Newtek Lightwave 3D 11 visit them online here.