The support for 3Dconnexion’s 3D mice is built into the newest service pack for modo 601 (SP1) which is currently available for download.

“modo users now have a powerful new option for navigating within the application,” said Brad Peebler, president and cofounder, Luxology. “Our 3Dconnexion 3D mouse implementation provides a very granular level of control to ensure a natural user experience.”

01 - 3Dconnexion's 3D mice are now supported in Luxology's newest modo 601.

To learn more about 3Dconnexion and their 3D mice go here.

Meet Solidoodle

Now a company out of Brooklyn, New York, Solidoodle LLC, has put together a professional 3D solids printer that retails just under 500.USD. The Solidoodle 3D printer produces 6×6x6 parts (in inches) and is the brainchild of Samuel Cervantes, former COO at MakerBot, a leading low-end 3D printer company.

01 - The Solidoodle 3D printer produces 6x6x6 (in.) parts and runs on Mac, as well as Windows and Linux.

The printer produces solid plastic parts by melting the plastic and building up 3D parts one strand of plastic at a time. The printer works with 3D files in STL format, which is the leading 3D file format supported by solid 3D printers and numerous 3D CAD software.

Solidoodle runs on an open-source software that be installed on any Windows, Mac or Linux computer, opening up barriers of entry for the home and professional market.

To learn more visit this link: http://www.solidoodle.com/

SketchUp has become one of the most popular 3D programs worldwide but its momentum sped up only in Google’s reach not in its progress as a software application. Prior to the acquisition by Google the pace of new versions was rather quick and then slowed dramatically under Google’s ownership. Nevertheless, the 3D modeler has advanced well and tapped the power of Google’s brand and technology.

Under Trimble the SketchUp developers feel they will have a stronger wind at their back. Trimble is a AEC software company and it will be able to take SketchUp in interesting directions for architects, engineers, construction professionals and others.

To learn more about this change for SketchUp read here.

Analysis

We think this change of hands for SketchUp is very interesting. It is certainly not what we expected and we ponder how the SketchUp folks put this together. One thing we will want to ask them is why Trimble? If they desired deeper pockets behind them why not approach a larger software company in AEC like Autodesk or the Nemetschek Group of Germany or Bentley?

We look forward to learning more about this change and we will be sure to report it to you here.

The latest localizations demonstrate over 17 years of commitment a growing community of users interested in its 3D character software.

“For artists who invest their time and creativity mastering animation software, being able to count on their software provider for support, enhancements and rapid corporate responsiveness is critical to their craft,” said Steve Cooper, Senior Product Manager of Graphics Solutions for Smith Micro Software, Inc. “For 17 years, the Poser team has demonstrated our commitment to making Poser the most robust, easy to use, exciting graphics software on the market. And that same dedicated team will continue innovating Poser and serving the global, expanding user base well into the future.”

Poser 9 SR2

SR2 provides substantial improvements for rendering, animation, rigging tools, the Content Library, as well as Cloth and Face Room. There is support for new PoserPython Methods. Poser Python support has been expanded to enable even more third party support products.

01 - Poser gets updated with SR2.

Poser SR2 is available now in English and the Japanese and German localizations will be available in May 2012.

Poser Pro 2012 is 499.USD and Poser 9 2012 is 249.USD. You can buy them directly from the Smith Micro website.

Installing SR2 is highly recommended for all current users. To learn more about this service pack read the ReadMe file linked to on this page.

A T-Splines Challenger

“Organic NURBS surfacing is no longer strictly the domain of T-Splines,” said Branden Coker, 3D artist and Power SubD-NURBS beta tester. “When you can model in modo and export at will to your CAD package of choice, you gain a powerful workflow. modo and NURBS are two great tastes that taste great together.”

The Luxology folks have tapped the power of IntegrityWare, a San Diego, California-based geometry modeling kernel and 3D API provider. Power SubD-NURBS bridges the worlds of highly flexible Subdivision surface modeling and CAD-accurate NURBS representations.

With the new plugin in modo industrial designers in the early stages of the design process can quickly create concept models that can be exported and refined within the users’ CAD systems.

Power SubD-NURBS comes on the heels of another CAD-centric Luxology product; the CAD Importers for modo. While CAD Importers provides new tools for loading CAD data into modo; Power SubD-NURBS addresses the other side of the equation–the export of parametric surface data from modo into CAD systems. Together, these products allow designers to effectively integrate modo into the design process as both a flexible organic modeler and as a high-end visualization tool.

Pricing and Availability

Power SubD-NURBS for modo 601 is available immediately for Mac OS X and Windows (32 and 64 bit) at 595.USD. The plug-in can be purchased on the Luxology website or via authorized Luxology resellers worldwide.

What’s New in Cheetah 3D 6

This new Cheetah also has support for Isosurfaces (Metaballs), the keying of mesh vertices and spline control points, improved iBooks Author compatibility, an upgrade to FBX SDK, support for 16-bit textures and many more improvements.

01 - Cheetah 3D version 6 features Bullet physics engine.

To make Cheetah 3D available to an even wider audience the price of Cheetah 3D has been cut from 149.USD to 99.USD. An upgrade from an older version cost 69.USD. For customers who bought Cheetah 3D 5.x after 12 December 2010, the upgrade to Cheetah 3D 6 is free.

There are other new features worth listing here:

• New Parametric object types — capsule, fractal, isosurface, line
• New Mesh modifiers — smooth, shell, crumble
• Global Scene Search Field
• Greatly extended Javascript API
• OS X Lion full-screen app mode

To learn more visit Cheetah 3D here: www.cheetah3d.com

Nemetschek Vectorworks has had a flurry of news this past two weeks and now the company has announced it is shipping its first native Chinese-language version of their entire product line for the mainland Chinese market. Previously, Nemetschek had an English-language version available in Hong Kong. The new Simplified Chinese language Vectorworks product line-up will be useful to international users who are doing work in China abroad as well. There will be a series of Vectorworks Chinese Launch events starting on 16 April 2012. We will publish more news on the matter soon. For more info now, visit them online.

Dashwood Expands Stereo3D CAT Products

The award-winning Stereo3D CAT 3D calibration and analysis software from Dashwood Cinema Solutions has been updated to version 1.1, with new features and both reduced price and free versions.

“We are very excited to bring elements of this professional tool to the masses at absolutely no charge,” said Tim Dashwood, founder of Dashwood Cinema Solutions. “The full version of Stereo3D CAT has been used on major Hollywood and IMAX 3D projects with amazing results and now a free subset of those same features are available to anyone with a Mac, a compatible capture device and an HDMI1.4a 3D camera. Customers will experience a dramatic improvement in the quality of their 3D work, and I think it will also become a valuable training tool for budding stereographers.”

The free version of Stereo3D CAT includes the same parallax line guides, left/right solo, anaglyph, split displays, QuickTime playback and Stereo3D Visualizer of the full version; however, it limits resolutions to HD and screen sizes to 3DTV or mobile devices. There is much more news on this so read more on Dashwood’s website here.

Lightworks Design News

Lightworks, the world’s leading supplier of rendering solutions for developers has announced a new partnership with Design Simulation Technologies, a developer of educational software for the design and analysis of complex mechanical assemblies.

SimWise 4D is an analysis tool for design and engineering professionals which combines rigid body dynamics simulation and FEA (finite element analysis) into a single, integrated environment. Simulation Technologies has licensed the Lightworks Author product and integrated it with its recent software releases. For more information about SimWise visit: www.design-simulation.com

Some of the new features include items such as Vector Displacement Maps, FiberMesh, the NoiseMaker plugin support, and MicroMesh capabilities. Let’s look at some of these new areas of improvement in detail.

Vector Displacement Maps.  You can now benefit from the ability to displace the surface in any direction, including undercuts. And you can export sculpted details from your model to other third-party applications and make use of various file types such as .tiff. and .exr (32-bit). ZBrush 4 R3 comes fully equipped to handle both 16 and 32 bit displacement map output.

01 - The new ZBrush 4 R3 has a new NoiseMaker plugin which can help you create a wide range of 3D noise using parametric generators.

FiberMesh. Now you can apply textures to fibers. You can manipulate and customize fibers to achieve amazing affects. There are now Fiber Presets which will guide you to build a personal library of custom presets as well as allow you to enjoy the creative freedom of a vast library of custom resources built by you. And there are new capabilities with exporting in relationship with fibers, utilizing numerous industry standard file types.

NoiseMaker. This plugin will allow you to create 3D noise with a wide variety of parametric generators. You can take the surface detail of your models further with camouflage, scales and hex tiles and more.

Micromesh. Lastly, this feature enables you to take your FiberMesh and MicroMesh details and render them with the BPR rendering system. This converts your BPR rendering information generated with FiberMesh and MicroMesh to real geometry.

ZBrush 4 Release 3 is available now for both Mac and Windows platforms. To learn more about ZBrush go to Pixologic’s website here: http://www.pixologic.com/

Siemen’s Parasolid Based Technology

CAD Loaders for modo 601 are based on the Parasolid geometry modeling kernel technology from Siemens, an industry-leading software technology that powers numerous Siemens and non-Siemens CAD and 3D software packages around the world and accounts for over 40 percent of all 3D model data stored worldwide.

01 - Luxology's new CAD Loaders for modo 601.

As models are loaded into modo 601, the CAD surfaces can be dynamically tessellated for optimal use in modo’s modeling and rendering operations. Real-time rendering previews and dynamic editing tools in modo can then be used to turn based designs into immersive, photorealistic graphics.

“Exchange of CAD data is absolutely business-critical to our customers,” said Brad Peebler, president and co-founder of Luxology. “CAD Loaders for modo offer users a flexible set of controls for optimizing incoming CAD data that goes beyond simple file importing. This opens up a world of CAD data for designers and other 3D artists who want to tap the power of modo for concept design and advanced visualization.”

CAD Loaders are now available and the advanced version retails for 695.USD while the basic loader is 495.USD. Both Loader products are available for Mac and Windows. To learn more visit here.

modo 601 is now a full pipeline solution for professionals working in media and entertainment, engineering and architectural design visualization.

01 - A rendered image from Luxology's new modo 601.

modo 601

“modo 601 is our most significant release ever,” said Brad Peebler, president and co-founder of Luxology. “With new feature and workflow enhancements, modo now offers an end-to-end production solution that is both powerful and highly useable by artists and designers.”

02 - modo 601 has new character animation capabilities with full body rigging support.

03 - modo 601 also has available new CAD Loaders which enable the support of Parasolid-based CAD formats.

modo 601 features a number of compelling summarized below:

• Character Animation – modo offers a complete character animation functionality, from easy to use posing tools to fully rigged characters with inverse kinematics solver support and layered deformers
• Dynamics – modo supports rigid and soft body dynamics, based on version 2.97 of the Bullet Physics engine. These are now standard with modo 601 and provide realistic simulations of mechanical and organic motion
• Retopology Modeling – Focused on tools and a new dedicated retopology modeling layout that simplify the creation of clean models on top of imported geometry
• Rendering and Shading – New photorealistic rendering capabilities include volumentric rendering, render booleans, hair and skin shaders, and rounded edge control for hard surface models.
• 3D Paint – modo features a multi-purpose paint system for vertex maps and meshes
• Rendering Workflow – The Preview Renderer can now be used for final image production as it will progressively render an image to the desired resolution at full quality. A comprehensive render pass system, plus new interactive image processing and comparison tools, speed image refinement.
• Modeling – modo’s Pixar Subdivision surface modeling now includes the ability to crease individual vertices and control display resolution while rendering at full quality

“Throughout my 18 years in the 3D business, I’ve never seen a 3D software application become so powerful, so fast,” said Dan Ablan, President, AGA Digital Studios, Inc., “The additions to modo 601 are mind blowing, and the render boolean function, blobs, and new deformer tools are absolutely invaluable.”

Architosh Analysis

We were one of the first publications to dig into modo in the early days (see for instance our interview with Brad Peebler from 2006 talking about modo 202) and we’d have to agree with Mr. Ablan above. We are astonished at how quickly modo has grown up and become a full-fledged member of what we might call the “Elite  4″ (Maya, C4D, Lightwave, Softimage) making modo really the 5th member of that high-end 3D professional app group, along with 3ds Max and Houdini as well.

So what distinguishes modo from some of the others? Well, for starters, modo from the beginning supported the Mac and Windows simultaneously with more or less full parity. Maya for instance was ported to the Mac and Softimage to this day still has no Mac version.

Another distinguishing feature is modo’s UI. Their award-winning app was lauded by Apple for instance for its beautiful but powerful user interface. While many of the elites mentioned above have improved their UIs in recent years modo’s was superb from the beginning.

What is impressive about modo 601 today is its rendering technology. The boolean rendering features are incredibly powerful. The new and updated character tools really advance modo as a full-fledged studio production tool and good citizen within an existing pipeline. And like Maxon Luxology has done a good job of reaching out to CAD companies to tie-in modo as a CAD visualization tool of choice.

Pricing and Availability

modo 601 is available now and is 1,195.USD new or 495.USD for existing modo users who want to upgrade. Exising modo users can upgrade for only 395.USD for the next two weeks only as a special promo. And also for a limited time, a cross-grade is available for 795.USD for users of Maya, 3ds Max, Softimage, Houdini, CINEMA 4D and LightWave 3D.

To learn more visit: www.luxology.com

Verto Studio 3D 1.0

On the official Verto Studio 3D website the developer states clearly that Verto Studio 3D is a fully-functional 3D modeling program designed to rival over-complicated studio modeling software. The goal is to “push the boundaries of what is capable on the Mac while retaining as simplistic of an interface as possible.”

01 - Verto Studio 3D. Popular iOS modeling app comes to Mac OS X.

The program has robust support of model file formats, including the import of OBJ, 3ds, Blender 3D, AutoCAD DXF and 33 other file formats. This allows users to download thousands of available wire mesh models out on the Internet or produced in other programs.

Highlights include:

• Real-time Gouraud shading
• Dynamic lighting and self illumination
• OBJ file import/export
• DropBox file exchange in addition to email
• Mesh Generation and Mesh Augmentation
• Vertex Editing
• Multiple Camera Views
• Multiple Document Interface (open as many files as you need at same time)
• Drag and drop texturing

Verto Studio 3D can employ hardware-powered full scene anti-aliasing. Despite it’s power the UI features just 11 simple buttons in the upper tab bar of the modeling window. Apple was so impressed with Verto for the iPad that they featured it in one of its TV commercials.

02 - Verto Studio 3D for Mac has capable vertex editing features and drag and drop texturing.

Verto Studio 3D for Mac can be found on the Mac App Store and is 49.99.USD. The product requires Mac OS X (10.6 or later) and only requres 4.9 MB of space. To learn more visit: http://vertostudio.com/mac/

In this release Boolean operations have been advanced with new “Carve” Booleans. The boolean modifier now uses the “Carve Library“, which is a C++ library that is developed and tested in parallel on Windows, Mac and Linux. As a result complex modeling operations in Blender 2.62 are much faster and with improved results. While this is a new library for booleans for Blender the general workflow and options for boolean modeling remains unchanged.

01 - New Blender 2.62 update. (image courtesy Blender.org)

There is also new updated UV tools in 2.62. There is now an advanced interactive stitch tool, to align and join together UV islands. There is seam marking in the UV editor and a subdivision surface aware UV unwrapping to reduce stretching problems.

02 - New Carve Boolean library added to Blender 2.62.

Recent important updates include the Cycles Render engine with support for render layers and passes, multi-GPU support and much more. To see all the updates to Blender in version 2.62 go here.

Blender is available for free on Windows, Mac and Linux, including PowerPC based Macs. Go here now.

Moi (or written MoI) stands for “moment of inspiration” and its developer says its perfect for anyone who has been frustrated with the complexity of existing CAD tools. Its toolset features advanced Boolean functions and enables rapid creation of mechanical or man-made objects.

MoI sports a unique polygon mesh export that generates exceptionally clean and crisp N-Gon polygon meshes from CAD-based NURBs models. Its developer is a guy named named Michael Gibson who, according to this interview over at Novedge, also developed the initial Rhino at RMA.

01 - MoI 3D 2.5 is now Beta for Mac. The relatively young 3D modeler is aimed at being the new SketchUp for mechanical CAD.

What Makes MoI Special

MoI 3D is like SketchUp for MCAD users, according to others. It features a novel interface, simplicity to tasks, and it can be controlled with a pen tablet. It also uses the same Rhino file format and is built on the Solids++ geometry kernel by Gary Crocker at IntegrityWare.

What’s possible with MoI is pretty impressive, judging from the gallery on its website. The good news here in this post is that MoI 3D 2.5 is now in beta for Mac users. This makes the second interesting MCAD-news related addition to the Mac space in as many months. (recently Autodesk announced Inventor Fusion for Mac).

For those on the Mac who want to try out MoI beta for Mac now go here to download it. For those who just want to learn more about it visit: http://moi3d.com/index.htm. MoI for Windows currently sells for 295.USD.

LightWave 11 is ideal for all 3D markets: film and broadcast visual effects production, game design, illustration and architectural visualization. Mikael Burman, technical supervisor at Massive, a Ubisoft Studio based in Sweden, says, “Our cinematics team works in a mixed 3D pipeline most of the time. And the updated I/O tools in LightWave 11 (FBX and MDD/GeoCache)–combined with the new Unified sampling, colorspace-aware Adaptive sampling, and updated shaders, such as the reflection blur–allows me and my team to deliver fast, artistic, and adaptable content.”

01 - LightWave 11. Has powerful new features including Instancing and improved IO support.

The new LightWave 11 retails for a suggested 1,495.USD, and is available for Mac and Windows. You can learn more here.

Architosh has an interview article with Dan Farr, Co-Founder of DAZ and its Chief Strategy Officer, about why the company is giving away its software this month. You can read that here.

Part of a strategy to bring 3D software tools further down field to non-professional users as well as future professional users, the goal is to expand the use and market for its Genesis character platform.

01 - DAZ 3D's amazing give-away includes DAZ Studio 4 Pro, Bryce 7 and Hexagon 2.5.

And There’s Bryce and Hexagon

In case you are not much into 3D character modeling, illustration or modeling, the company also has Bryce Pro 7 and Hexagon 2.5 tools to give you as well. So let’s take a quite look at why you might want to obtain this software for free right now.

Hexagon 2.5. This program is a fairly sophisticated surface modeling tool with Boolean operations, Gordon surfaces, Coons surfaces in addition to sophisticated vertex modeling commands. You can export and import to many other 3D and CAD file standards, including: OBJ, 3DS, A3D, DXF, DWG and Illustrator (imports) and CAR, A3D, OBJ, 3DS, DXF, DWG and STL (exports).

Hexagon 2.5 also has a construction history that is fully editable. They call it Dynamic Geometry. Many users use this tool to work with DAZ’s other software packages. You can take models from DAZ Studio to Hexagon and back again. And you can work between Carrara and Hexagon as well.

This is just a brief summary of this organic modeler with subdivision surface capabilities and high-level 3D modeling tools. If you are more interested in designing toothpaste bottles or furniture, Hexagon can also assist you very well. Click here to see some movies of it in action.

Bryce Pro 7. This is one of the 3D legends. Bryce has been around for well over a decade and is a premier landscape creation tool. These days many people use Bryce to create scenery for DAZ Studio characters, creating entire worlds for their characters to live in.

Highlight features include its new Instancing Lab, improved Light Lab, sky rendering improvements, a particle emitter, better import and export and the DAZ Studio Bridge.  The Pro version also supports Bryce Lightning Network Rendering. Import and export options include: COLLADA, FBX, DAZ Studio format, 3DS, Lightwave, OBJ, and many others.

You can learn more about DAZ Studio here in the interview feature. While this software is free and there is literally no catch (again see the interview) system requirements include some important notes.

Hexagon 2.5 is currently not compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. This is likely because the program supports PowerPC processors going all the way back to the G4. The G5 processor is actually recommended. If you are Mactel you can run anything from 10.2 up to 10.6 (Snow Leopard, the last version which supported Rosetta).

Bryce too is not yet compatible with Lion. For likely the very same reasons. Bryce supports Mac OS X 10.4 or higher and will run on both Intel and PowerPC.

Finally, for those wondering, DAZ Studio Pro 4 itself supports both 32 and 64-bit Macs (OS X 10.5 or above and this would include Lion).

To download this software go to DAZ online here.

DAZ 3D, for those who are not familiar, is the company behind the famous Victoria 3D software character. DAZ Studio Pro 4 is its flagship product for working with this character platform. It is a 3D figure illustration/animation application and is now known as Genesis in its latest technology advancement. The company has acquired other software tools from others along the way to support its core focus.

Most notable among these is Bryce, currently at version 7, which is a long-time leader in 3D computer-generated landscape creation. The other notable products in the hands of DAZ are Hexagon and Carrara, the latter being well known to those with experience in the 3D world.

Genesis is largely the reason why DAZ Studio rocks. The new character platform is endlessly innovative, allowing 3D artists of all types to explore body and figure shapes across a female-male spectrum (yes, you can actually create a human basically in between) and even create creatures. (see figures 02-03)

Dan Farr spoke to us about his company, its current plans and products, and his thoughts about mobile apps.

01 - DAZ 3D's amazing give-away includes DAZ Studio 4 Pro, Bryce 7 and Hexagon 2.5.

The Interview

AFR: (Anthony Frausto-Robledo) Why are you doing this now…giving away so much excellent software?

DF: (Dan Farr) Since the beginning of our business we have a history of sometimes going against convention. And when we have stepped outside the box–despite how scary it can sometimes be–it has always come back really positive for us.

AFR: What are you really hoping will happen by doing this?

DF: We are hoping to expand our Genesis platform, by tapping the growing market interest in 3D. We want to bring tools down to a lower more accessible point. There is such interest in people to learn 3D. But the challenge has always been the price tag. Sure, a possible solution to that problem is to go with something like Blender. But then another roadblock emerges–ease of use.

02 - DAZ Studio Pro 4. With Genesis technology you can create creatures or humans. (image courtesy of DAZ)

03 - Human creation is completely flexible, enabling slider-level control of female and male body shapes. (image courtesy of DAZ)

AFR: That is the classic problem to 3D adoption you speak of. People want to do amazing stuff, but both the complexity and the price of the tools makes it hard for new adopters. How will you reach this emergent audience for 3D…who are these people?

next page: Expanding market and Hexagon – interview continues

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.

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.

There is no additional charge for French and German language options.

To learn more visit the e-on software website here.

formZ 7 Highlights

The whole program has been dramatically updated, including a streamlined user-interface (UI). formZ 7 has some new dramatic dynamic modeling tools with new parametric capabilities.

There is a new roof tool that quickly builds simple and complex roofs. And the parametric stairs tool has been updated as well. There is also a new Contour Doctor tool that helps clean up contour line data.

formZ 7 features non-destructive clipping planes (sectioning planes) just like SketchUp and you can model directly inside these clips. formZ 7 has a top class-A NURBS modeling engine and can produce dramatic shapes and forms. While SolidSmack remarks that formZ has always been a great architectural modeler the new formZ 7 will bring powerful new tools to the product design market.

This is significant for AutoDesSys because the “maker” market and digital prototyping are both powerful new trends in design. formZ 7 will feature tools helpful for digital fabrication makers.

To read the article and see some of those YouTube videos go here.