01 - NewTek's Lightwave 3D at NAB 2012 showing Voronoi shattering.

Maxon of course also now includes the Bullet physics engine. The company showed CINEMA 4D at NAB and has a new way of outputting data wherein the three RGB components of every pixel are used to represent that pixel’s coordinates in 3D space. Maxon calls this a “world position pass.”

You can learn more about CINEMA 4D’s latest features here.

Physics in 3D

To check out a really cool physics bullet plugin 3D video check out this YouTube video here: http://youtu.be/143k1fqPukk

Submissions will be accepted from 18 April 2012 to 16 August 2012, in the following categories:

• Rendering with Renderworks 2012
• Rendering with CINEMA 4D
• Monochromatic model (rendered in Renderworks or CINEMA 4D)

“We are excited to collaborate again with our sister company, MAXON Computer,” says Theresa Downs, communications director at Nemetschek Vectorworks. “It is evident that more and more designers are using both programs to create renderings, and we expect great things from the entries this year.”

01 - 2012 Inspired Visions Global Rendering Competition

The panel of judges includes Daniel Jansenson, principal at Daniel Jansenson Architect and author ofRemarkable Renderworks, from Santa Monica, Ca.; Tyler Littman, principal designer and owner of Sholight, LLC, from New York; Nicholas Dunand, freelance designer and sculptor, from Melbourne, Australia; Erik Recke, freelance architectural visualizer at Datenland, from Hamburg, Germany; Alejandro Nogueira, CEO at DECC Arte 3D from Tecamachalco, Edo. de Mexico, Mexico; and René Racz from Lichtmaschine Multimedia GmbH, Basel, Switzerland.

Prizes

2500.USD is on the line for the winner of each category and will be featured in official media releases from both companies and promoted on social media sites belonging to both companies. These include Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

In addition, there will a “Fan Favorite” winner from all the entries, which will also be posted on the competition’s website with the other winners. Voting takes place directly on the site.

Designers may enter multiple categories. However, all entries must be built on a Vectorworks model. Interested competitors who lack the current versions of the software can request a free, 30-day version of Vectorworks with Renderworks software at http://www.vectorworks.net/trial/form or http://student.myvectorworks.net (for students), or they can download a 42-day free version of CINEMA 4D at http://www.maxon.net/downloads/demo-version.html.

To learn more, enter or vote for Fan Favorite, visit the competition site at: http://inspiredvisions.vectorworks.net

To do so simply tune in on April 16-19, 2012 at www.C4DLIVE.com.  You can see the lineup and schedule at the link above.

Renato Candusso is a partner in Candusso Arquitetos. We learned that his rather good sized architecture practice was centered around a strong belief in 3D visualization as a key component of their design and business processes and we invited him to talk to us about his firm, their creative process, and how he uses key tools like Maxon’s CINEMA 4D as part of their workflow to achieve their consistently outstanding design.

The Interview

Anthony Frausto-Robledo (AFR): Renalto, tell me a little about your firm. How long has your architecture firm been in business, what is its background?

Renato Candusso (RC): Sure. We have been in business since 1976. Candusso Arquitetos has always stood out by the characteristics of our designs, which besides being bold and noticeable, seek to balance aesthetic appeal and functionality. Moreover, the constant concern we have to provide the best service to our clients, managing deadlines with organization and efficiency, the investments we make in new technologies, and the attention we apply to the development of construction processes, has all turned the office of Candusso Arquitetos into a reference between the professions and companies that make up the building industry in our country.

01 - The Brazilian architecture firm Candusso Arquitetos is an 80-person strong firm located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The firm is one of the largest in South America and one of the larger Mac-based architecture firms we have profiled here on Architosh.

AFR: And who makes up the leadership of Candusso?

RC: The partners are myself (Renato Candusso) and my father Roberto Candusso. We now lead a team of over 80 highly qualified professionals who are divided into eight teams: concept, legal documentation, execution, computer modeling, popular housing, special projects, partnerships, and administration. Together we have developed over 1500 successful projects in various segments of the architecture industry.

AFR: Speaking of segments, what types of building types does your firm specialize in designing?

RC: We work on single-family homes, condominiums, residential buildings and towers, commercial buildings, retail, hotels and housing developments. The office always meets the market demands and therefore we can fit into all segments.

02 - A condominium project (set of towers) in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Such projects are entirely visualized using 3D renderings along the entire design process. Candusso Arquitetos continues to seek markets outside Brazil and South America as its services become more capable.

AFR: Your firm is noted for its excellent use of advanced 3D visualization. Can you tell us about how 3D models and renderings are utilized within your practice?

next page: How Candusso Works with Cinema 4D

The company is touting its latest integrative rendering technologies and strategies for architectural designers to allow them to create world-class visualizations for their designs using a range of tools options within the Vectorworks – CINEMA 4D family. Because your Vectorworks and Class structures are preserved with you send your files to Maxon’s award-winning CINEMA 4D Visualize product suite, you will enjoy a level of design control that is impossible to match with competing products.

Focus on Getting Vectorworks Models Into CINEMA 4D Visualize

The webinar focuses on the fundamentals of getting your Vectorworks models into CINEMA 4D. Key items covered include:

• Exportation of Vectorworks and Renderworks files into CINEMA 4D Visualize using the Send to CINEMA 4D menu command
• Fine-tune your CINEMA 4D settings to create “unique” presentations
• Quickly create very sophisticated animations, walkthroughs and flyovers

This is a must event for Vectorworks based architects who either use Renderworks now or another tool for this kind of work. Today’s Vectorworks not only utilizes the Maxon CINEMA 4D rendering engine internally but has round-trip fidelity with the professional 3D package.

To sign up click on the banner ad for the event on Architosh or go here.

Aimed at bringing high-level production capable tools down to the little guy, IKinema, a UK animation technology company, has created WebAnimate.

WebAnimate is an all-in-one platform that can professionally retarget and customize through your browser. Based on the same IKinema technology that major studios use, like Framestore and 20th Century Fox, WebAnimate’s built-in toolset allows users to fashion rigs, manipulate bones, retarget/customize motion capture data and create animation all in the span of a few minutes. Best of all the price is free. To check it out go here

Maxon Re-Introduces Cineversity

The creators of CINEMA 4D have re-launched a brand new version of its premier educational online resource.  Introduced just before the holidays–which is a nice touch!–Cineversity is a redo of its online video tutorials website. The new site is designed around the latest web innovations and is aimed at simplicity and making it easy for artists to get the learning resources they need to master CINEMA 4D.

There are more online video tutorials than ever, a new searching capability and the ability for users to create playlists so they can customize their training. Maxon CEO Paul Babb stated: “We are committed to the CINEMA 4D community to provide educational material that will increase the artist’s proficiency and productivity.”

There are both free and paid membership levels. If you are a CINEMA 4D user or considering becoming one this is a must-see resource. To visit it go here.

Luxion updates KeyShot 3 Plugins

Also just prior to the holiday break, Luxion, the makers of KeyShot 3, introduced updated plugins allowing users of certain CAD and 3D applications to directly transfer 3D data into the GPU-based rendering application for Windows and Mac.

The world’s first real-time ray tracing and global illumination program, KeyShot 3 now has plugin support for the following applications:

• Creo 1.0
• Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3, 4 and 5
• Rhinoceros 4
• SolidWorks 2011 and 2012
• SketchUp 7 and 8

There are no costs for the plugins. The updated plugins can be downloaded immediately and installed within the modeling software supported. To learn more visit here.

In this review I am not able to address all of the improvements, added features, etc.  There are too many.   I am just going to sort of randomly pick out a few and comment on some that stand out at first glance.  The best way to see them all is to go to this site.  And you will notice that my comments are directed mostly towards the use of the features by an architect, because that is what I know best.

Working Planes: Handwriting is on the Wall

The first new feature that I noticed with affection is the ability to select a working plane by just clicking on it and then being able to work directly on it, adding text, cut outs, new parts and so on. (see image 01) I have up to now been too lazy to really use working planes choosing instead to sort of work around them.  This is a great new feature.  But on my computer at least I have noticed a bit of a time lag as the changes get updated in 3D.  This is one of the many issues that come up as a program gets more complicated.  Older computers have a harder time keeping up.

The handwriting in on the wall, that is if you select the working plan then type some text it will be on the wall or plane selected in 3D, this I believe could be done before but now it’s much easier.  Also dimensions can be added in a 3D view so it is much easier to show the height of an object for example.

Pushing and Pulling

This is not really new from 2011, but by easily selecting the working plane it also becomes easier.  One thing I thought would be fun and useful was to draw a curved line on a working plan in 3D and then pull it up to a height and turn it into a wall by extruding it.  That didn’t work.  Then I tried to change my curved object by offsetting it.  That didn’t work either.  What does work is to draw any shape in 2D then offset it using the close open curves (also works with straight lines) mode then use the push pull tool to stretch it up to whatever height you want.  It could also just be extruded at that point.  The thing that makes this interesting is the ability to easily create curvilinear shapes that can become walls or maybe areas of glass. (see image 01)

The Push Pull tool gains efficiencies despite it being fundamentally different because you simply do not have to select the working plane on an object now. That can be done in automatic mode, saving you many steps. You can also toggle that automatic mode off, a handy feature at times.

01 - Offsets and shape making in Vectorworks 2012. Note that text can be easily added to any plane by selecting it by just clicking on the plane, thereby making it the working plane and then typing text (see text on blue section, as well as imported image).

You gotta love the ability to change the size and angle of tiles and hatches on the fly; wow this one is cool.  It’s great for anyone who does layouts of paving for example.  I almost made myself crazy doing this a few versions back working on the design of a small piazza in Italy.

next page: Collaboration

Xfrog 5 is a procedural organic 3D modeler that allows you to create and animate 3D trees, flowers, nature based special effects or architectural forms. Xfrog 5 includes several bug fixes, performance optimizations, including an over 20 percent speed up over Xfrog 4.4, as well as full compatibility with CINEMA 4D R13.

Xfrog is one of the most popular plugins for Maxon’s C4D software because it enables even the casual user the powerful ability to create and animate organic models. Common uses include tree growth, blossoming flowers, complex nature-based effects and many other uses. Customers who have purchased Xfrog 4.4 in the past six months are eligible to upgrade for no additional cost.

01 - Xfrog 5 is now out ofr CINEMA 4D. The procedural organic modeler adds power to Maxon's flagship tool.

Xfrog Inc., is a world leader in organic plant modeling and ecosystem software research and development. To learn more visit: www.xfrog.com

Details

The CINEMA 4D export appears directly in the After Effects export menu and generates a .c4d file containing 3D layers, cameras, lights, solids, nulls and footage. Even nested compositions are supported. All major layer attributes including animations (rotation, position, parameter, anchor points, POI, etc.), expressions, layer parenting, layer locking and layer visibility are retained. Render and document settings in CINEMA 4D are adapted accordingly to the After Effects’ project settings.

“The After Effects-CINEMA 4D workflow is the proven choice for top motion design studios worldwide seeking to easily integrate their 3D and 2D workflows,” commented Harald Schneider, managing partner and CTO at Maxon. “We are pleased to offer our customers this new After Effects export plug-in so they can benefit by the increased speed, efficiency and tight integration between these two powerhouse software packages.”

“CINEMA 4D is a 3D package After Effects users have already come to know and love because of its seamless integration into After Effects,” said Steve Forde, product manager for Adobe After Effects. “The ability to bring assets the other direction as well will certainly enhance productivity and further solidify CINEMA 4D as an ideal 3D solution for motion graphics artists.”

Pricing and Availability

The new CINEMA 4D R13 exchange plugin compatible with Adobe After Effects CS3, CS4, CS5 and CS5.5 is immediately available as a free download from the Maxon website. (www.maxon.net/afterfx-e)

To learn more about CINEMA 4D visit Maxon online here.

Notes from the Press Chat

Growth and Market Questions

Responding to questions from the press chat were Sean Flaherty, CEO and Biplab Sarkar, CTO, along with Theresa Downs and Lisa Lance of marketing.

Early on in the Q&A a question was asked of market growth for Vectorworks. The company responded that there was growth and a follow-up question clarified that it was in the Mac segment of the business. Sean Flaherty stated: “I think Apple is penetrating widely with their retail and app store push now lifting all markets. My feeling is this also extends across our product line.” This, of course, does not surprise us at Architosh given what we are hearing in the market by talking to other software vendors.

Related to this was a question about selling Vectorworks in the Apple Mac App store just like Autodesk sells AutoCAD LT for Mac. Sean Flaherty again responded to this by saying that he felt that products like Vectorworks are not served well by the App Store because they integrate so deeply into customer workflows. Another analysts/journalist noted that Autodesk admits that the App Store is still an experiment for them as well. Sean Flaherty noted that BIM/CAD is complex and benefits from an expert channel.

BIM Orientation

The company was also asked to clarify how Vectorworks is seen in the market. A question was asked to clarify Vectorworks from products like Revit. It was noted that such products are often focused on DD&E (design documentation and execution) whereas Vectorworks can be seen as just focused on AD (architectural design). Sean Flaherty didn’t agree that Vectorworks is just a design tool but insisted that it has some of the strongest documentation features around. The difference these days is how we arrive at documentation given various BIM tool options.

Flaherty said: “We find the workflow in other BIM packages to be very restrictive in what and how they allow you to model.”

Biplab Sakar answered a question about whether the company would build or acquire an energy software package and is answer was: “we will do energy analysis using Open BIM (IFC).”

When Brad Holtz noted he doesn’t know how best to describe Vectorworks’ strengths to other BIM packages Sean Flaherty, CEO, answered by summarizing this way: “1) best modeler in the AEC business, 2) best presentation capabilities (transparency, NPR, etc), 3) best integrated renderer (CINEMA 4D engine) and 4) support for Open BIM (IFC) and a workflow that includes solutions from other vendors.

Flaherty also noted that in their view they believe, relative to BIM, that Vectorworks Architect allows a much broader range of geometry to be included in the model. Clarifying analysts’ questions further, Flaherty noted that: “I think until the model freedom is [fully] achieved, BIM will continue to be a contractor/owner technology.”

System Performance Questions

Biplab noted that they now recommend a system with 1GB of video ram and 2GB for OpenGL shadows. And do GPU’s get utilized in the software? Biplab Sarkar stated: “Yes, we do [support that] for 2D Navigation and OpenGL rendering.”

Vectorworks 2012 can take advantage of 64-bit platforms on both Windows and Mac. It was not clear in the presentation Q&A if this is new to 2012 or old. The company did clarify that Renderworks 2012 is now fully 64-bit. This means users can now handle the largest scenes possible as long as they have the onboard physical RAM. Also this version of Vectorworks now supports OpenGL 3.0.

Rendering and File Formats

During the session yours truly asked several questions aimed at rendering and deeper integration with other tools. While others were pointed at BIM types of integration (structural, MEP and energy analysis tools) I was interested in newer types of tools, with a special emphasis on early design tools expanding. I’m thinking of the types of technology showcased at the SmartGeometry Conference….tools that capture data, tools that bring in schematic or programmatic information and tools that enable other types of ways of creating the BIM geometry model or parts of it, such as generative modelers.

First, I asked if the new Vectorworks 2012 supports and includes the vary latest CINEMA 4D engine–which was an updated renderer. The answer was yes. I asked about any future plans for supporting other types of competing rendering tools such as Luxion’s KeyShot, Bunkspeed, modo and Maxwell for example. Biplab Sarkar answered they “have plans” for that kind of thing, noting that right now C4D supports many of those other tools.

In terms of evolving technologies in the industry, I asked about Autodesk FBX support or similar new file formats. The answer was that at the moment interoperability is highly focused on IFC and the Lightwrite format for entertainment. When questioned about the support of version 12.x for this release Sean Flaherty noted that part of that decision was based on customer requests but in particular a large customer in Japan. Nemetschek Vectorworks has client site locations in Japan with seats in the thousands, and these being non-academic. Again, Flaherty clarified that Japan alone is 1/4 to 1/3 of their global business.

Vectorworks Future

There were several interesting future-oriented comments in the session. Let’s recap on some of the things said overall. For starters, BIM is squarely aimed at Open BIM and IFC. Folks asked about built-in MEP, structural and energy analysis tools but the company wants to connect to others.

Rendering is looking to expand even beyond the superb CINEMA 4D integration. For those clients with render farms or access to them or GPU render tools, the company does seems to have plans in the works. This should please many who are also quite happy with its onboard raw modeling capabilities.

I asked a question about updating the user interface with Vectorworks and the answers were interesting. Biplab Sarkar said that at the moment they are updating UI items on architectural objects but after that work is done they will look at the main interface. Sean Flaherty replied: “Anthony, do you think the ribbon interface in other CAD packages have been popular.” From which I replied, “no.” Flaherty’s comment, of course, is squarely aimed at the reality that just because an OS vendor has created new UI standards doesn’t mean that they should be applied to everyone’s software program.

Random Comments

Edward Goldberg, CAD journalist opined: “As usual, in my opinion, the VW team has the best graphics in the industry.”

Biplab Sarkar: “there was a big focus on performance in this release–especially with viewports and sheet navigation. As well as general 2D navigation and pan and zoom.”

For more information on the new Vectorworks 2012 product line visit them online here.

“This competition shows the impressive results users can achieve in rendering Vectorworks models within Renderworks and/or CINEMA 4D,” explains Dave Donley, Rendering Manager at Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., “We are continuing to work on technologies which further strengthen this partnership.”

“We are extremely pleased with the results of this competition,” says Friederike Bruckert, Director of International Sales at MAXON Computer GmbH. “The winners invested a great deal of passion and energy into their entries, which serve as an inspiration to aspiring and seasoned designers.”

There entries were extensive and from around the world, representing talent in countries from Germany, the US, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy. All valid entries were evaluated by a jury and a panel of judges, and “Fan Favorite” was chosen by public vote. The winner in each category will receive a 2,500.USD Visa gift card. The Winners are:

• CINEMA 4D Animation Winner: “Modern ubook-kitchen” by Sina Grage. Grage is a student in northern Germany at the University of Muthesius Kunsthochschule Kiel, and she now works for Feuepfeil Design GmbH in Hamburg.
• CINEMA 4D Rendering Winner: “Dinner @ Panorama Tower” by Lmcad Estudios de Animacion. Located in the Dominican Republic, this firm specializes in architectural renderings and animations.
• Vectorworks Renderworks Winner: “Soundstone – house of music Render for a Master thesis” by Nicolai von Stromberg. Stromberg is a student at the Georg Simon Ohm Hochschule in Nuremberg, Germany
• Fan Favorite Winner – “Floating Olympic Village” by Julian Finke & Lena Dietrich, University of Applied Sciences, Detmold, Germany.

For images of the winning entries please visit this link. To view the winning animation go here on YouTube: http://youtu.be/tRlEzyqtWw0

Carbon Scatter Features Include:

• Automated Smart Scattering:  Carbon Scatter does not merely scatter the objects randomly across the underlying surface, but actually computes where to place them according to the relief of the underlying geometry. For example, as in nature, more trees will grow on flat terrains than on steep slopes, and no objects will be placed where they are likely to “fall down”.

• Paint Objects and Plants with the EcoPainter (3ds Max and C4D):  The EcoSystem painter tool (EcoPainter) lets the user interactively paint instances over any surface (or group of surfaces). Painted instances can be attached to the underlying surface so they move together with the surface, or they can be independent. Painting can be performed with a mouse or with a tablet, which gives you the ability to control additional parameters through pressure.

• Advanced EcoSystem Control:  Multiple plants can be dragged from the plant browser into the EcoSystem population list, making the preparation of complex EcoSystems much quicker. When painting EcoSystems, users can paint with the underlying EcoSystem material rules applied, so that, for instance, the influence of slope and altitude or the sizing rules are taken into account.

• Powerful Layered EcoSystem Materials and Function Graph:  EcoSystems behave just like regular materials. A single EcoSystem material can have any number of layers, each layer with its own population list and full set of controls.

Users can easily influence EcoSystem populations according to altitude, slope or orientation, or even take advantage of Carbon Scatter’s powerful function graph to control almost every aspect of the population. For example, artists can use a fractal noise generator to control the distribution instances, or use a bitmap to limit distribution to specific areas. On top of this, the population density can also depend on time.

And more: compatibility with SolidGrowthCS plant technology, over 100 SolidGrowthCS plant species available, free unlimited network rendering nodes, support for animated proxies…

A complete and detailed list of features

Carbon Scatter is available in English for Windows XP, Vista and 7 (32 and 64 bit), and on Mac OSX 10.5+ (Mac Intel only, 32 and 64 bit).

Carbon Scatter comes in 3 flavors: Carbon Scatter Single, Carbon Scatter Multi and Carbon Scatter Multi-CE (Content Edition).

Carbon Scatter Single (SRP: $195) can be used with one of the compatible applications installed on your system (choice of the host application is done upon order). It will work with all compatible renderers for the selected host application (e.g. mental ray and V-Ray for 3ds Max).

Carbon Scatter Multi (SRP: $295) can be used with all compatible applications and renderers installed on your system.

Carbon Scatter Multi-CE (SRP: $395) includes over 100 SolidGrowthCS plants and can be used with all compatible applications and renderers installed on your system.

Special offer until July 25, 2011, owners of Vue 6 through Vue 9 (Infinite or xStream) can save $200 on Carbon Scatter and get Carbon Scatter Multi-CE for $195 only!

For more info

It seems many have or are attempting to compete with Google’s phenomenally popular SketchUp modeling program. Autodesk’s new free modeling application Autodesk 123D is out in beta but there is no Mac version yet.

Is this going to be a huge error on Autodesk’s part?

Not likely. But the request for a Mac version is fairly strong. Thomas Heerman, the product manager for Autodesk’s 123D wrote on their support forum, “The Mac OS X platform is very pervasive among the makers, we are definitely looking into having 123D available on this platform.”

Forum users have jotted down some interesting comments too. They note that Rhino is on the Mac and “makers” using Rhino–on the Mac! A user also notes, interestingly, that creatives often use Macs at home but Windows at work because of the absence of certain software–like Inventor or AutoCAD LT. A user posted, “Would love to use this alongside Autodesk Alias on Mac; maybe even port Inventor to Mac while you are at it.”

Boy, they make it sound so easy, don’t they? That’s what I hear the Autodesk folks saying.

One final comment from a poster named Shaun. “Designers have Macs and designers have children who will more than likely become designers….”

OpenCL in CAD Article

Over at the blog CAD Speed, Tony DeYoung wrote an article (a series actually) on the potential of OpenCL in the CAD market.

OpenCL was invented by Apple and open-sourced. It is now managed by the Khronos Group, of which Apple is a member. We have done some writing on OpenCL here at Architosh a bit. DeYoung brings up some interesting aspects of OpenCL as it relates to CAD. We look forward to hearing more as the article series is completed. Read on to learn more.

25th Anniversary Sale on C4D Ends Soon

Maxon’s CINEMA 4D 25th anniversary sales ends 30 June 2011. The current sale offer gives you 25 percent off the retail price on this award-winning visualization software package that works hand-in-hand with sister BIM applications ArchiCAD and Vectorworks.

File transfer is easy with Vectorworks’ new Send to CINEMA 4D command, which converts the model structure, lights, and materials directly to CINEMA 4D format. You can also later merge model changes directly into the model in C4D.

To receive a price quote call or email at: sales@vectorworks.net or 888-646-4223.

Maxwell Render for SketchUp is now at version 2.5.15. It brings forth Maxwell Fire-based material preview and several changes and fixes. New auto-focus functionality has been added to the camera, new network rendering menu options, new output options and more. There are also several OS X fixes for those using SketchUp and Maxwell on Macs.

Maxwell Render for Cinema 4D is now at version 2. 5.1.6 is a minor bug fix only. The primary change here is the added support for QuickTime textures in Cinema materials. There were also several key fixes in this update, including a crash that occurred when creating a new material (on OS X/R11.5/R12/32-bit only) and a fix of redundant cameras during the exporting of animations.

Those are the latest updates for Maxwell Render. Also, back in late April Houdini was also officially supported with a plugin, compatible with Maxwell Fire as well. To learn more visit them online here.

The competition is open to all professional and student designers around the world, and entries will be accepted in three categories: rendering with CINEMA 4D, animation with CINEMA 4D and Rendering with Renderworks 2011.

Entries will be evaluated by a jury and a panel of judges, including Dan Jansenson, principal at Daniel Jansenson Architect and author of Remarkable Renderworks, from Santa Monica, Ca.; Tyler Littman, principal designer and owner of Sholight, LLC, from New York; Nicholas Dunand, freelance designer and sculptor, from Melbourne, Australia; Erik Recke, freelance architectural visualizer at Datenland, from Hamburg, Germany; Alejandro Nogueira, CEO at DECC Arte 3D from Tecamachalco, Edo. de Mexico, Mexico; Christoph Altermatt, Principal at raumgleiter, from Zurich, Switzerland; and Peter Hoste, founding partner at bmd, from Kalken, Belgium.

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with MAXON Computer through this competition,” said Stewart Rom, Chief Marketing Officer at Nemetschek Vectorworks. “The addition of the CINEMA 4D render engine has dramatically improved the capabilities of Renderworks, and we’re excited to see what our users submit as entries.”

“We want to encourage as many Vectorworks/Renderworks and CINEMA 4D users as possible to create exciting visualizations and renderings for submission,” adds Friederike Bruckert, Director of International Sales and Marketing, MAXON Computer GmbH. “This is an excellent opportunity for architects and designers from around the world to showcase their skills, and we look forward to seeing their fantastic work.”

Each category’s winner will receive a 2,500.USD Visa Gift Card and will be featured in official media press releases and featured on Nemetschek Vectorworks’ Planet Vectorworks news site. They will also be featured on Maxon and Nemetschek social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

To enter, vote or learn more about the competition, visit the Inspired Visions website here: http://inspiredvisions.vectorworks.net/

The company is therefore calling on CD4 and Maya users (on both Mac and Windows) to help them finalize plugin development by joining their internal beta program for Carbon Scatter.

What is Carbon Scatter?

For those C4D and Maya users not in the know, Carbon Scatter is e-on software’s plugin software tool that integrates e-on’s powerful EcoSystem algorithms directly into the host application, allowing users to populate native scenes with millions of instances, and render them within their renderer of choice.

01 - Carbon Scatter has powerful population technology, runs inside other 3D apps like Maya and Cinema 4D.

Notes on Carbon for Maya and C4D

• Carbon Scatter will initially work with the mental ray and V-ray renders for Maya only
• Carbon Scatter for CINEMA 4D will work with that program’s excellent native rendering engine
• Carbon Scatter will work within Maya 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 and C4D R 11.5 and R12 for 32 and 64-bit versions on Mac and Windows.

To learn more visit: www.e-onsoftware.com

First a Few Notes About Vectorworks

Vectorworks is the all-around CAD program for architects, landscape architects, civil engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, theater lighting designers and design in general. From the standpoint of graphics, Vectorworks can be a one stop shop for an architectural office.  It’s a design tool, a production tool and a rendering tool that can also be used for most of the graphic layouts an architect might need.

Vectorworks is well regarded for its short learning curve compared to other CAD programs. Design can be done all in 3D and those 3D drawings will be or can be the same drawings that become the 2D drawings making up the production drawing set.  Client presentations can be rendered printouts, animations, walk-throughs, or even real time views of a 3D model taken on one’s laptop to a client meeting.  And if one needs to do a graphic presentation, a competition board for example, pictures, text, 2D and 3D drawings can all be composed and printed right in the program.

Vectorworks 2011

Nemetschek North America changed its name last year to Nemetschek Vectorworks. Most in the industry, including its users, saw that as a good sign–a sign that they really want to identify with it (the Vectorworks brand) and thus make it the best they can.

The biggest bit of news in Vectorworks 2011 is that they have replaced the rendering engine in Renderworks with the Cinema 4D render engine.  And they have created an easy integration with the actual Cinema 4D program.  This is a really big improvement especially for anyone wanting to take their models to a very high level. The company claims a 5 to 7 times increase in speed. However, we did not verify this in any tests in this review.

The other big feature change is what they call 2D/3D integration.  Vectorworks has for a long time been a very flexible program allowing one to create just about any 3D form.  But now with this integration of 2D and 3D the program is even more flexible and easier to use for preliminary design.  I know there are people who design in SketchUp and import into Vectorworks. Vectorworks’ new modeling technology, with its improved Push/Pull tool, will begin to enable experienced SketchUp and Vectorworks users to simply model all in Vectorworks 2011. We will spend some time digging into the new 2D/3D integration and modeling features as well as many other improvements in the full review.

New Improved 3D Environment

There are some stunning improvements to the new unified 2D/3D environment in Vectorworks 2011. The most important is the way 2D objects can now be drawn in 3D views, complete with text creation and editing abilities.

Most experienced Vectorworks users will delight in the ability and flexibility to manipulate planar objects in various 3D views. Architects and engineers for example might develop connection details in axon views complete with dimensions and extruded connections and members. (see images 01 – 03)

01 - The new unified 2D/3D environment allows all 2D objects, including hatches, fills and gradients inside objects to be planar objects which can be displayed in 3D.

02 - In order to maintain associative dimensions one must associate the dimension to the 2D planar object prior to it forming the basis of a 3D object.

03 - This axon view was actually rotated. Notice how the text and leader lines exist in 3D. They were drawn on the workplane which was set to the face of the column.

Vectorworks 2011 allows you to work with text blocks in 3D just like in 2D. One caveat however. If you create a viewport of a 3D view or 3D object, you cannot place text in 3D in the annotation layer of the viewport. Therefore, you must first add that text on a design layer prior to the creation of the viewport. That is the method for establishing a detail like above. (see third image above).

Vectorworks 2011 now allows you to utilize, view and edit fills, gradients and hatches in isometric views. This will greatly expand the possibilities for presentation drawings.

MAXON Computer GmbH, Germany, the makers of Cinema 4D and BodyPaint 3D, intends to expand its presence in Singapore and ASEAN countries by establishing a new MAXON ASEAN Competence Centre.

MAXON co-founder and CEO Harald Egel explains: “Five years ago, we established the only ASEAN Authorised Training Centre (ATC) for CINEMA 4D in collaboration with IM Innovations and Temasek Polytechnic. We have examined the ASEAN market closely and have seen it grow steadily. Now is the perfect time to set up a Competence Centre in Singapore, the natural gateway to ASEAN countries.”

MAXON’s move in Singapore further strengthens their ability to serve the creative 3D markets with its award-winning Cinema 4D and BodyPaint 3D software. To learn more about IM Innovations visit here.

solidThinking parent Company Altair acquires ACUSIM Software

Altair Engineering, Inc., a leading global provider of simulation technologies and engineering services has acquired ACUSIM Software, Inc. of Mountain View, California. ACUSIM is a leader of massively scalable, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver solutions software. ACUSIM’s AcuSolve is a general purpose CFD solver and is the premier brand worldwide with companies such as Toyota, Chevron, John Deere and Proctor and Gamble.

ACUSIM technologies will be made available through Altair’s HyperWorks simulation platform. To learn more visit them here.

FileMaker News

FileMaker looks to be pushing hard on getting FileMaker Pro 11 onto Macs and Windows machines. The company currently has an aggressive and attractive offer. For a limited time only if you buy FileMaker Go you are able to then get FileMaker Pro 11 for half the price.

FileMaker Go is one way creative technical professionals like architects can take their business data with them on the go. Using an iPhone or iPad you can use FileMaker Go to connect to database files hosted on FileMaker Server and access your records. Modifications made within FileMaker Go are automatically made on the host machine, which would be the machine running back at the office running FileMaker Server.

For single-user applications you can also copy your FileMaker Pro files to your iPad or iPhone via iTunes. To learn more visit them here.

The Vectorworks 2011 product line includes major innovations and improvements, including:

• 2D/3D Integration – The true 3D modeling environment supports 2D planar elements so users can more easily work in 3D or 2D in any view orientation.
• Improved BIM – This latest version advanced BIM for Vectorworks users with greatly improved features in the areas of the space object, new 3D wall components and the new slab tool, among others.
• Best in Class Rendering – The new Maxon CINEMA 4D render engine integration brings RenderWorks up to world-class rendering quality levels. Not only is rendering faster but it is easier to setup high quality renders faster and with superior results.

Vectorworks 2011 also has over 70 improvements in all areas of the programs and perfect view text editing capabilities. There are also new tile fills and smaller file sizes.

To learn more about the Spanish-language version of Vectorworks please go here: http://www.nemetschek.net/espanol/

The company flew up three of its senior staff to meet me in Boston. And for several hours I was treated to a showcase of new features in the next release.

Summarizing Vectorworks 2011

The most important overall change in Vectorworks 2011 is that the program is now, more than ever, a true 3D modeling and 3D CAD environment. The company emphasizes the phrase “true 3D modeling” environment in its upcoming brochures which you can obtain on their website starting today, but the reality is this is both a true 3D CAD and 3D BIM environment. So why emphasize modeling?

Part of the answer is because Nemetschek wants you to know that there is no longer any reason to model anywhere else. No reason to model in SketchUp, Bonzai or formZ or whatever package you like to model in. Or at least that is part of the emphasis. Of course the company also recently announced a new partnership with Maxon about its integration of the CINEMA 4D rendering engine; because of that partnership there is also the excitement that more Vectorworks users will upgrade to the complete Maxon C4D software package. And inside that package there things you can do with modeling that you cannot do with Vectorworks 2011.

But that is another story. The story here is that Nemetschek Vectorworks has dramatically improved its software for serious schematic and final stage 3D modeling. And they did this by introducing a new and improved planar environment and by improving its existing Push/Pull tool. Up in Boston I spoke to Dr. Biplab Sarkar, CTO of Nemetschek Vectorworks.

Lessons from the MCAD World

AFR: Biplab, you guys have introduced serious changes to the 2D/3D workflow by affecting this new Planar environment where you can access and utilize all 2D and 3D tools regardless of what plane you are working on and whether or not that plane is parallel to the screen plane. Why such dramatic change? (see image 01)

01 - Vectorworks 2011 has a new integrated 2D/3D environment, enabling users to draft or model in any view orientation, using any combination of 2D or 3D tools.

DBS (Dr. Biplab Sarkar): Existing users were asking for tool consolidation where the 2D/3D cursor, 2D/3D reshape tool and other 2D/3D tools could work on any plane. They also wanted to draft on arbitrary planes and accomplish things like 3D hatching and 3D dimensioning. So now all the drafting operations can be achieved without changing any view, we took the active working plane approach–which is a well known workflow in the MCAD world.

AFR: So now you can draft and dimension and use symbols like the section cut symbol in 3D views?

DBS: Yes. And you can apply hatching in 3D views, which was very important to many of our customers.

AFR: Vectorworks uses the world-leading Parasolid modeling kernel. And it looks like you have truly added powerful Push/Pull capability in this release. Does it work on NURBS surfaces too? What does it not work on?

DBS: Yes it works on NURBS object or any planar object. This includes lines, arcs, polys as long as they are on the active working plane. The Push/Pull tool works on planar surfaces of almost all solid objects including, extrudes, sweeps, cones, fillets shells and more.

AFR: The new Face Selection Feedback is part of the new Push/Pull tool improvements. I can see how much easier it is to identify that you have selected the planar surface you want to affect with Push or Pull. Can you customize this color?

DBS: Yes, the face selection highlight follows the tool highlighting settings in the Interactive Appearance Settings dialog.

AFR: Is the program now 100 percent Parasolid-based?

DBS: Yes! All objects are now Parasolid based. Several of the newer features like the 3D wall components and slabs with components are making heavy use of the Parasolid modeling engine.

The new Vectorworks 2011 is not just 100 percent Parasolid-based it incorporates brand new features that take advantage of the other new features. One such new feature is the Extract Planar Objects, which can create instant planar objects from a 3D surface in the Extract Surface mode.