AutoDesSys has three job posts listed and given that they are still posted we assume that these positions are still available. The company may be in the process to hire as it expands its product offerings with the rollout of the updated formZ 7.0–a major modernization to a highly regarded and heavily used 3D software tool.

One position is focused on just 3D Rendering. This person will be responsible for helping to set future directions for 3D rendering across its product offerings. There is mention of experience with rendering API’s like OpenGL and Direct 3D, which are OS-oriented. There is also mention of API’s like Mental Ray, LightWorks, Vray and others. It may be interesting to see if AutoDesSys expands formZ to support other renderers. In the past the company has had a long-term relationship of sorts with Electric Image, but that company and its famous and quick rendering and animation solution has fallen behind in both public attention and studio use.

These days integration with newer renderers is a vital consideration for any powerful product design, architectural modeler or general modeling application like formZ or bonzai 3D. Such tools should integrate with the newer generation of rendering tools, with new generation GPU tools and possible with the four main professional 3D suites.

Mobile – Android and iOS

AutoDesSys may be looking to not just modernize formZ’s user interface–which it did with version 7–but update other tools. A new opportunity exist for an application OS interface engineer. The advert mentions Android and Apple iOS operating systems experience in addition to Windows. This person will be responsible for the integration between our application suite and the operating systesms on which they run.

There is a third position open for a modeling expert or programmer. This person will joint the formZ development team.

All of these positions seem like good opportunities. It will be interesting to follow this company has it wraps up and rolls out formZ 7 and how it moves forward from here now that both its longtime flagship program and its newer bonzai both have been modernized.

To learn more about these positions click here.

On October 12, 2011, at the Manhattan Edit Worshop headquarters on 80 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm, film makers will be able to gather for a great course on stereo 3D. Stereo3D: Fixing It In Post, will be presented by Tim Dashwood, who is an award-winning expert on the subject of stereo 3D in film.

“In this exclusive three hour, soup-to-nuts workshop, attendees will learn the principles of stereoscopic 3D acquisition, as well as how to identify and repair common issues when working with stereoscopic 3D in post, and a wide-range of mastering techniques for the delivery of quality 3D content to broadcasters,” stated the press release.

All attendees will walk away with a free Stereo3D Toolbox LE license from Dashwood Cinema Solutions, valued at 99.USD. To register for this event please visit this page. The cost of the workshop is 59.USD.

Manhattan Edit Workshop was founded in 2002 by NYC based filmmaker, Josh Apter, with the goal of providing cutting-edge training and instruction in the art of editing. With expert editing instruction and unique artistic guidance on Apple, Adobe(R) and Avid(R) platforms, Mewshop quickly grew into NYC’s top training destination for editors, cinematographers and filmmakers of all types.

Strata Design 3D CX is a modeling and animation software suite for creatives who desire superior results and usability. It provides an end-to-end 3D workflow, with a simplified learning curve and a familiar toolset developed to help 2D designers easily transition to the world of 3D design. The program also provides deep tie-ins with Adobe Creative Suite, improving the workflow between 2D and 3D environments.

Key New Features in Strata Design 3D v7 for Mac

• Faster rendering and advances for blurred effects, anisotropy and more
• Sun and Sky feature for natural lighting effects
• Native UV editing environment for perfect texture control
• New texture features, including channels for Normal and Anisotropy maps
• Subdivision surface modeling enhancements, with pro level features
• New Boolean modeling engine
• Grid Templates that act like ‘virtual tracing paper’ for modeling from images
• Match Motion features for putting 3D design work into video
• Project templates with ‘predefined’ lighting, environments and backgrounds
• Customizable shortcuts and user sets
• Compatible with Mac OS X Lion (10.7)

“Everyone at Strata is really excited about this major update to our flagship product,” said Ken Bringhurst, Strata President. “We set out with an ambitious plan to update the program with the most requested enhancements from our customer base and I think we nailed it with this effort. Even our most discriminating pro users have been raving about the new features and improved functionality.”

Options for Suites

The Strata 3D CX Suite can include Design 3D CX and also Strata Foto 3D, Strata Enfold 3D and Strata Live 3D, all at 50 percent less than regular price in conjunction with the suite. Strata Design 3D 7 for Mac is available immediately at the Strata website. There is an introductory price of 545.USD available now. Regular price for a new license is 695.USD.

To learn more visit them online.

01 - Strata Design 3D CX 7 for Mac. New flagship 3D product suite includes numerous feature improvements in the areas of modeling, rendering, animation and workflow. It is also Lion ready!

Their views also paint a specific picture for us about their companies–and sometimes products–how they may see things differently from others or the industry in general.

We’ll start this trek by looking at Apple’s growth, in general and in specific….to the Mac and the wave of key software CAD or 3D tools that have been released during the past decade. We were very excited to produce the key graphic of this article (see image 01 below). It was the first time we laid out a timeline image of such software releases. Superimposed over Apple’s revenue and Mac growth picture it clearly stimulates our imagination while providing a soothing sense of accomplishment.

In this article we’ll touch on the growth question which touches aspects such as what developers actually need on the tools side as well as market pressures and business opportunities. The next-generation is always important and Apple has been said to hold the zeitgeist for the young. We’ll briefly cover university changes as we head into the cloud, iOS and the Mac. This article–nor the series–would not be complete without some captured criticism. And we’ll have even more of that in the final articles of the series.

Where are the opportunities for Apple? Where is Apple trying to take the industry and how does it affect CAD and 3D markets? This is what we get into in this special feature, and as always we hope to hear from you below. We start with growth.

Gauging Growth: The Mac in CAD/3D Today

There are some pundits, bloggers and old-school journalists who still find it hard to believe this is all happening. Not only do they find the Mac’s still minority share a sign of its low importance but they struggle contemplating the popularity of Apple’s iOS devices in CAD and 3D industries as well.

01 - Apple's Annual Revenue in billions and Mac shipments in millions at each forth quarter of the year with key software arrivals on the Mac CAD or 3D markets. Apple's Mac shipments have essentially quadrupled from about 1 million per quarter to 4 million per quarter. The Mac market is four times larger now than ten years ago.

But things really have changed. The chart above is both revealing and subtle. Yes, Apple’s revenues have truly taken off (and largely due to iPod, iPhone and now iPad) but during this ten year period Apple has more than quadrupled Mac shipments. More importantly, it essentially did most of this growth during the years its revenue picture began to steeply rise. And it has never been steeper.

While the Mac may not yet be the dominant platform in many CAD and 3D segments, make no mistake about it, many segments have changed dramatically over the past decade. As Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk explains, “It is highly desirable by a number of our customers, particularly in some specific segments, to want to work on Macs. One are architects, two are industrial designers and a third are creative digital artists.” (more Carl Bass views here)

“It is really driven by what our customers want,” says Bass, “and they have spoken pretty loudly. They want to work on Mac.”

The rise and interest in the Mac may be best validated by Autodesk’s CEO but some critics and competition could argue that such a view is doubly optimistic and reflective of the company’s recent investment into the platform. In fact, when speaking to two of the industry’s most respected company heads with longtime investments and support of the Mac in CAD, we found more moderate, but still positive, views.

For example, Sean Flaherty, CEO of Nemetschek Vectorworks, the longtime leader in CAD on the Mac platform, didn’t directly say they see continued growth but instead answered: “We’ve been the CAD leader on the Mac for 15 years so a boost in popularity for the Macintosh definitely propels Vectorworks sales forward.” Interestingly, he remarked that Apple’s Mac popularity has aided CAD and 3D developers by improving the development tools and graphics environment.

“Toolkit developers now more commonly develop Mac versions of their technology,” says Flaherty, “so we have a greater breadth of technology to choose from for integration into Vectorworks.” Flaherty made was some saw as a brilliant decision of choosing to integrate Parasolid, arguably the world’s most advanced modeling geometry kernel, into Vectorworks several years ago. His point about toolkit developers cannot be taken lightly. Like other types of developers, the pressure on toolkit developers to support Apple’s Mac OS X platform is another sign that software developers are in need to bring their software to the Mac platform.

Other newer Mac developers may have a hard time gauging interest in the overall CAD and 3D market for the Mac. Bob McNeel of McNeel and Associates, the makers of Rhino, remarked about the verticality of his company’s application. “Since we are only in the 3D design for fabrication world, we have a pretty narrow view of the whole 3D market,” he said. “In general,” McNeel notes, “it [3D to fabrication] is growing quickly because the cost of 3D fabrication tools is dropping quickly.”

While many segments within the design markets are growing or even exploding in interests–like the “makers market” for example–there is often an assumption that if you are going to develop for any kind of “creative” market you need to support Mac too. “The Mac has always been the platform of choice for the ‘creative’ designer,” says Bob McNeel, “but it seems like the Apple brand has been much enhanced by their mobile product offerings in many of our market segments.” McNeel is referring to the use of Apple laptops often running in Boot Camp to run Rhino and other “maker” tools and 3D prototyping software. “I don’t have any idea how many also boot in OS X.” he said.

The high-level view about the growth question requires a two-fold approach. Firstly, as the chart (see image 01) above shows there has been explosive growth and interest in Apple, generating immense focus on iOS and a steady four-fold expansion of the Mac market. However, and secondly, there are clearly challenges in recognizing what segments are growing, how to identify them, and sometimes technical challenges in counting or measuring them.

Dr. Chris Yessios of AutoDesSys explains that the same application can be installed on either platform. “The ‘renewed’ popularity of the Mac has definitely affected our sales,” he said, “even though we cannot really tell who buys for the Mac and who for the PC.”

next page: Academia: The Next Generation Wants Apple

Vue Users Compete

Designed to showcase the capabilities of 3D technology for CG environments, this competition is open to Vue users, to gain recognition as well as over 11,000.USD in prizes!

Contestants can use any version of Vue – including Pioneer and the Personal Learning Edition (PLE), stand alone or in combination with any other 3D application. They may also use Carbon Scatter, e-on software’s instancing plugin for 3ds Max, Maya and Cinema4D.

e-on software announced earlier this week, that Vue 9 and LumenRT both being nominated, respectively, in the Software Update of the Year, and Plug-in of the Year categories, at the 3D World CG Awards 2011.

So this is a very exciting time to showcase users and Vue-fans’ skills. Submissions have started July 6, 2011 and end August 31, 2011. The winners of the competition will be announced on September 8, 2011.

World Class Judges

The judges, all leading figures in the world of 3D graphics, across industries from film to media, will be:

Paul Huston – Senior Digital Matte Artist, Industrial Light & Magic
Dark Hoffman – Freelance Digital Artist, Pixomondo
Mikael Genachte – Lead Environment Painter, Rhythm and Hues
Eran Dinur – Compositing Supervisor, Brainstorm Digital
Stephane Belin – Senior Concept Artist, Blizzard Entertainment
Susumu Yukuhiro – Matte Painting Supervisor, Whiskytree
Tom Greenway – Editor, 3DTotal.com
Steve Jarratt – Editor, 3D World magazine
Paul Hellard – Editor, CGSociety.org

The winner of the “3D Environment Competition 2011″ will receive over $6,200.USD worth of prizes including: Vue 9.5 xStream ($1,495), 3D Total Mega Bundle (>$1200), Cinema 4D Prime Release R12 ($995), Pixologic Zbrush 4 ($699), Google SketchUp Pro 8 ($495), Carbon Scatter Multi CE ($395), LumenRT Review for SketchUp ($295), d’Artiste Character Modeling Volume 1, 2 & 3 ($225), 1 year subscription to 3D World magazine ($150), 1 year subscription to 3D Creative and 2D Artist magazines ($81.2), $100 voucher for Cornucopia3D content, Realism in Vue Training book, ($59.95), and a 1 year CGSociety Membership ($29.95).

The first runner up will receive Vue 9.5 Infinite ($995), Pixologic Zbrush 4 ($699), Google SketchUp Pro 8 ($495), LumenRT Review for SketchUp ($295), d’Artiste Digital Painting Volume 1 & 2 ($150), 1 year subscription to 3D World magazine ($150), 1 year subscription to 3D Creative and 2D Artist magazines ($81.2), $75 voucher for Cornucopia3D content, Realism in Vue Training book ($59.95), and a 1 year CGSociety Membership ($29.95).

The second runner up will receive Vue 9 Complete ($599), Google SketchUp Pro 8 ($495), LumenRT Review for SketchUp ($295), 1 year subscription to 3D World magazine ($150), 1 year subscription to 3D Creative and 2D Artist magazines ($81.2), d’Artiste Concept Art ($75), Realism in Vue Training book ($59.95), $50 voucher for Cornucopia3D content, and a 1 year CGSociety Membership ($29.95).

More information and submission guidelines

For more info on E-on Software

AC3D 6.8

Briefly, AC3D has a particularly strong suit in its ability to import and export to a huge range of other 3D file formats. Some of the more popular file formats supported include:

• Autodesk 3D Studio Max (import/export)
• Collada (import/export)
• Autodesk DXF (import/export)
• Google Earth (export)
• Autodesk Inventor (export)
• Lightwave 3D (import/export)
• OBJ (import/export)
• Pixar Renderman (export)
• STL (import/export)

AC3D supports booleans, SubDivision Surfaces, the ability to model organic shapes, a UV unwrapper/mapper, polygon reduction, unlimited multi-view screen setups and more.

01 - Inivis Limited has introduced AC3D version 6.8 with new features. (image courtesy of Inivis Limited, copyright Thor Danielsen, 2011)

New features in 6.8 include a texture coordinate editor. Now you can simply select the texture parts in the TCE, then select Edit > Select > Select TCE Surface and the surfaces that have the selected mapping are no isolated in the main AC3D selection.

Divide Loop, a plugin by Supercoldmilk, is now included with all versions. This plugin slices a strip of 2 or more surfaces along its length. It also works well with clusters of surfaces and is useful for adding extra detail to an object.

AC3D 6.8 retails for 89.95.USD and there are upgrades available. There is also a downloadable trial, as well as site and network licenses. To learn more go here.

solidThinking Design Competition 2011

The competition has no category restriction. Design something that solves a problem. Any type of product design can be submitted. 

Here is what is really special about this competition. Each application entered will receive a full license of solidThinking Inspired 8.5 for preparing the entries for the competition. You read that right! Free software from now until November 30, 2011. 

01 - solidThinking user Emanuele Rodella used the latest version in beta to develop this creation.

Deadline for submission is September 30, 2011 (11:59 PM EDT). 

Prizes

The solidThinking Design Competition 2011 is open to all students who qualify (see above and here). Prizes are worth over 20,000.USD. 

To register and learn more go here.

Presented by Eric Gilbey, RLA, ASLA, Prof. Member APLD, and Landscape Industry Product Specialist at Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., along with Tamsin Slatter, residential garden designer and Vectorworks Trainer and Industry Expert in the UK, at Design Software Solutions, Ltd.

In this event the presenters will teach you how to remove some of the mystery, which surrounds the Site Modeling tools found within the Vectorworks Landmark and Architect software products. This is a very useful presentation for anyone who has ever wanted or attempted to model sites in Vectorworks and found difficulty achieving particular tasks (for example, roads and retaining walls).

01 - Site modeling in Vectorworks 2011.

Items covered will include:

• Learn how information a surveyor can provide can be used to create a site model
• Discover how to build a model and analyze sites
• Examine how to use basic site modifiers to set designs into models, such as lakes/pools and steps
• Create sections and understand cut and fill.

To register

To register for Site Modeling with Vectorworks 2011: Removing the Mystery, go here and sign up.

Maxon reported an earnings increase of 23.3 percent in 2010 compared to 2009’s results, marking unprecedented growth and market penetration. The company is celebrating its 25 years in business.

Award Winning CINEMA 4D Package Leads Results

A major factor impacting Maxon’s strong results was the reorganization of the company’s award-winning, professional 3D software application, CINEMA 4D. The new product portfolio makes it easier for re-sellers and customers to select the best product suited for their industry needs. Maxon has also done exceptionally well increasing the number of Maxon Service Agreements (MSA) among its user base, with nearly a third of all customers electing for annual licensing, which includes all updates at no charge.

01 - An image from Maxon's Architectural Reel

Uwe Bärtels, Managing Director and co-founder of MAXON, noted, “The standout results are even more significant given that MAXON’s price structure remained practically unchanged last year. MAXON continues to view our customers as partners and strives to assess and anticipate their digital creative experiences. Delivering top-quality products and excellent service at a fair price is a winning combination that is favorably fueling our growth from a product and financial standpoint as we continue into 2011.”

Hollywood Loves Maxon

Over the past 25 years Maxon has evolved into a major software developer serving film and special effects studios around the world. Hollywood’s biggest names–like Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney ABC Studios, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, MTV and Pixar Animation Studios, to name a few–all rely on CINEMA 4D in their production pipelines.

Maxon sells CINEMA 4D and its related products through resellers in over 80 countries, from its headquarters in Germany. In 2011 Maxon will be opening its 5th international office, this time in Singapore, Asia. It will join the ranks of Maxon’s other international offices in the USA, Great Britain, Japan and France.

Maxon’s parent company, Nemetschek AG, of Germany–the same parent company of Graphisoft Inc. and Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc.–is pleased with Maxon’s 2010 results. Ernst Homolka, CEO, Nemetschek AG commented, “Maxon’s record turnover in 2010 is a strong indication that the company’s strategy and groundbreaking technologies will continue to track towards profitability, reflecting positively on Nemetschek’s planned growth for 2011.”

To learn more visit them here.

Dashwood Cinema Solutions, developer of 3D solutions, introduced a new line of cutting-edge Mac-based stereoscopic 3D products at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in the 3D pavilion. The products are designed to accelerate 3D productions from camera lens to mastering.

“Our products address gaps in typical 3D workflows. They remove complexities of working in 3D and significantly reduce the downtime during 3D production,” commented Tim Dashwood, founder of Dashwood Cinema Solutions. The new Stereo3D CAT offers users fast and flawless camera alignment and analysis.

Feature Highlights: Stereo3D CAT

• Alignment Tracker for lightening fast alignment
• Stereo3D Visualizer – calculates dimensions of a scene, renders a representation of objects in the scene (including similitude), and warns against settings which may cause the viewer discomfort
• Sync Checker – to confirm appropriate shutter sync between cameras
• Parallax Inspector or “magnifying glass” to confirm that positive parallax will not cause divergence of the eyes
• Stereoscopic Preview Modes, including anaglyph, difference, side-by-side, line-by-line, and top/bottom
• Depth Analysis Tool
• Discreet or Muxed stereoscopic input
• External Output in side-by-side, top/bottom or anaglyph
• Transmits slate and disparity dta to iPad for display in Dashwood 3D Chart
• Support for most Blackmagic and Matrox IO cards
• Compatible with most Mac Pro and Macbook Pro models

To learn more about Dashwood’s breakthrough 3D technology visit them online here:http://www.Dashwood3D.com/

Chris, who works at Charlotte’s Norman Sound & Products, will receive a professional license of the 2011 version of Vectoworks Spotlight with Renderworks software.

Rick Rudolph, Chair of the Behind the Scenes Committee, commented, “We are extremely grateful to Nemetschek Vectorworks for their wonderful ongoing support of Behind the Scenes. Spotlight has always been one of the most popular prizes at our annual raffle, and we are delighted to have it as our grand prize this year.”

To learn more about Vectorworks Spotlight 2011 visit here: www.vectorworks.net

The latest version of solidThinking has over 900 improvements, ranging from small user-interface changes and workflow improvements to significant new features and capabilities in both the core product and the Inspired version with morphogenesis technology.

solidThinking 8.5, we will remind readers, is one of the world’s top class-A NURBS modeling programs. As Alex Mazzardo noted, “solidThinking is a real idea generator that promotes innovation due to its powerful modeling, easy-to-use rendering environment and interoperability with leading engineering applications.”  The product is aimed at product designers, industrial designers, style centers, marketing departments and architects and engineers.

New Capabilities

Version 8.5 is now a faster modeler, with up to 3x performance speed. Loading time with models, especially larger complex models, is halved. Frames per second shading of the model in real-time is 3x faster and select and deselect are quicker as well. There is a new improved Round tool, in most other similar applications known as a fillet tool. With the improved Round tool you get better handling of overflow and overlapping rounded surfaces, plus advanced options for shape control. (see image 01)

01 - solidThinking 8.5 has a new and improved round tool, with advanced options for dealing with overlapping rounded surfaces.

Another new feature is a new Face Extraction tool, for the creation of new faces from existing objects. There are now more snap shortcuts and construction aids, including a revised snap to tangent tool. These all make modeling faster and easier.

A new feature we really liked was the three-level selection methodology. Now in solidThinking 8.5 the first double-click on an object selects objects. A second double-click allows you to access parameters for those objects, and a third double-click allows you to edit vertices or control points.

The user-interface has been simplified for better navigation and scene organization. It is now possible to visualize if the selected objects are part of some groups in the Hierarchy Browser. And there is new and improved selection technology through the use of selection filters with the ability to sort for curves, surfaces, polymesh and pointmesh, et cetera, as well as clarifying selection of dependent and source objects for easier scene organization.

Better Rendering in solidThinking 8.5

One of the largest areas of improvement in solidThinking 8.5 is in the area of rendering. The accuracy of lighting is a major improvement and this includes its progressive, real-time rendering as well. (see images 02-03) In 8.5 there are new real-time photorealistic rendering options integrating raytracing and progressive rendering.

02 - solidThinking 8.5 has a greatly improved real-time rendering functionality, plus improved photorealistic rendering.

New reflection catcher technology adds a reflection below the model in a photorealistic rendering when the model is added to a back plate image. A new improved algorithm improves anti-aliasing in final renders and there is improved support for the calculation of indirect lighting.

03-solidThinking's interactive rendering shows improved handling of light.

You can play with this Flash-based web page to see the difference in rendering quality between version 8 and version 8.5 of solidThinking. Go ahead, we encourage you to explore this interactive graphic. For exploring the difference between version 8 and 8.5 with regard to anti-aliasing go to this page here. The difference is quite dramatic in this particular sample image.

New in version 8.5 are pre-built interior sets and ready-to-render lighting setups. This pre-setup work is very helpful to designers looking to quickly drop their model into an environment and do quick renders for study and evaluation. (see image 04)

04 - new pre-built sets with ready to go lighting help designers quickly test their models in fully rendered environments.

And the render materials library has been enhanced in solidThinking 8.5 with more than 300 new apply-and-render materials with default settings optimized for best rendering results. In an era where there is increased development activity in the area of simplified and instant photorealistic rendering, this new library enhancement is a timely response.

Next page: CAD Connections and Inspired 8.5 >

Shade 12 also features powerful new rendering and a new support for network rendering via ShadeGrid.

The New Shade 12

The new Shade 12 features a completely redesigned user interface that intelligently groups tool set and allows users to immediately switch between established workspaces, such as modeling, animation and rendering, or setup custom workspaces. New preview options include GLSL Phong rendering (with OpenGL 2.0 support), fast preview rendering and preview stereoscopic 3D.

Other key new features include:

• SketchModeler and PhotoModeler – turn 2D illustrations and photos into 3D
• New Modeling Options – new powerful mirror tool allows you to mirror geometry, new magnet tool creates deforming geometry options, and new non-destructive cage modeling and deformation for altering geometry, especially for animation
• 3D Rendering Options – Advanced stereoscopic export for new Blu-Ray and 3D TVs and monitors and the Nvidia 3D VISION platform.
• Volumetric Lighting
• New Materials Options — support for volumetric materials, etc.
• Displacement, Normal Mapping
• Subsurface Scattering — depict surfaces that allow penetration of light. Create complicated hues and shadows such as those associated with jade, marble, plastics and human skin
• COLLADA import/export — Import COLLADA animation (Shade Pro only), export COLLADA format

Shade Basic is 99.USD, Shade Standard Edition is 349.USD and Shade Pro is 749.USD. Owners of Shade 10 can upgrade at a discount. Shade 8 users have a very limited time to upgrade to Shade 12. Shade 12 can be downloaded immediately and there is a trial version here: www.shadetrial.com

Shade is originally developed in Japanese by the E Frontier Corporation of Japan. Mirye Software publishes Shade 3D and also provides the Mori Shade 3D Collections and Meshbox 3D model libraries.

For more info go to: www.miryestore.com

Rhino 5 has been a major release under development for some time now and is highly anticipated. Everyone is invited to download and use the OS X version of Rhino 5 while it is in development. Key improvements in the latest build include:

• Better Stability
• Many Command Enhancements
• Faster Drawing Speeds
• Display Enhancements
• New Commands
• New Editing Tools such as gumball

Rhino 5 Mac WIP supports 64-bit Intel, 32-bit Intel and 32-bit PowerPC architectures. This Mac version will run automatically in 64-bit mode on a Core 2 Duo Intel processor or later. The software requires OS X 10.5 Leopard.

McNeel is stating on its website that the first commercial release of Rhino 5 for Mac is still not expected until next year. To learn more and download the software go here.

The first webinar on Bonzai 3D is on 27 Jan 2011 at 12:00pm – 1:00pm EDT and is focused on a project called the Valencia Opera House. John Alexander is the host and will walk attendees through an exploratory recreation of the “Palau de la Arts” in Valencia, Spain, otherwise known as the Opera House by Santiago Calatrava.

01 - Valencia Opera House, modeled in Bonzai 3D.

This project was modeled in Bonzai 3D and Alexander will demonstrate its modeling and alternative variations on its form utilizing Bonzai 3D’s powerful NURBS modeling tools. To register for this event click here.

Next week on 2 Feb 2011, at 12:00pm – 1:00pm EDT, Matthew Holewinski from AutoDesSys will conduct a webinar on RenderZone for Bonzai 3D and formZ. RenderZone is the company’s full raytracing render software and enables photorealistic image creation. To register for this event click here.

Mac Growth

Last October after Apple’s fourth quarter results for 2010 we noted that Mac unit growth remained strong despite all of the iPad hype and growth. Mac unit shipment had essentially reached 3.9 million units prior to the big holiday season and we anticipated that the company would break the 4 million Mac units per quarter barrier this holiday. Apple did indeed do that, shipping 4.13 million Mac units, but that number fell short of the number we were hoping for.

We had anticipated that Apple would ship 4.4 million Macs this first fiscal 2011 quarter based on a 14 percent sequential growth quarter-to-quarter growth rate. The street consensus was 4.3 million Macs. The big news here is that Apple’s impressive Mac growth rate–while still very sizable–is slowing down, likely due to the rise of the iPad.

Looking on the Bright Side

While there is a definite slow-down in Mac unit growth rates the company did still ship 23 percent more Macs this quarter than it did a year ago. This compares to a 3 percent growth rate in the general PC market, according to Apple. All of this means that Apple’s Mac growth is 8x stronger than the general Windows PC industry.

Furthermore, Apple’s Asian Mac growth is extremely impressive at over 50 percent in Japan and Asia Pacific. Also, while Apple sold just shy of 1 million Macs through its own retail stores about half were sold to people who had never owned a Mac before. The percentage of people buying a Mac through other channels, including Apple online, who have never owned a Mac before is unclear to us.

The bottom line is that Apple busted the 4 million Macs per quarter barrier this quarter, signaling a future where the company will ship more than 16 million Macs per year.

Second Insight – Cash

Apple made over $6 billion in profit this past quarter and the company is now sitting on nearly $60 billion in cash and short/long term assets. This is a staggering amount of money and the best way to illustrate this is to compare it to some valuable companies.

• Adobe – market capitalization is presently at about $17.4 billion
• Autodesk – market cap is presently at about $9.5 billion
• Nvidia – market cap is presently at about $13 billion
• AMD – market cap is presently about $5.4 billion
• ARM Holdings – market cap is presently about $11 billion

All five of those companies above total less than $57 billion in market capitalization. Interestingly, they were chosen for this story because they all have something valuable to Apple’s future growth. ARM designs the main processor architecture behind Apple’s smaller devices and is the market leader. AMD and Nvidia dominate the graphics industries for computers, supercomputers and increasingly will play a role in smaller devices as well. And Autodesk and Adobe have been discussed targets for an Apple acquisition and their software assets compliment the Apple brand, story and its creative customers.

While is is unlikely Apple will ever buy any of these companies in the short term we feel it is interesting to point out their present street value compared to Apple’s available war chest in cash.

Third Insight – Cash Growth

Apple’s future growth is very much primed because of iPhone and iPad it is interesting to point out that the company is now making more than $1 billion from its iTunes Store alone, with an increasingly amount of TV and movies being a big part of the revenue picture. This means Apple is renting more than 4.5 million movies per month. And nearly three times that in TV shows. We feel there is massive upside in Apple media opportunities, and while everyone is focused on its “devices” and concentrating on competing with them the company is quietly building up momentum in media consumption markets where its primary competitors are Amazon and Netflix.

And speaking of Netflix, that company is worth $10 billion presently, an easily digestible amount given Apple’s cash horde.

And related to this insight about cash growth opportunities in media consumption is the new Mac App Store. In the conference call Tim Cook admitted that Apple’s own software does best. This is interesting because if the Mac App Store becomes as huge an opportunity as the App Store for iPad and iPhone then perhaps Apple should be developing and selling more of its own software? After all, Microsoft primarily makes its money on its Windows OS and Office franchise and the company’s margins are greater than Apple’s own. More interesting, if Apple were to acquire a significant software player, say Adobe, it could sell those design applications via the Mac App Store and eliminate the cost of selling that software the traditional way and thereby decrease costs and increase profit margins.

It will be interesting to see what Autodesk has to say in the near future about its Apple App Store experience…if it chooses to say something detailed.

LightWave 10 is NewTek’s most artistic-friendly version of the 3D software since its inception and features a new Viewport Preview Renderer. NewTek LightWave 10 features new technologies developed in LightWave CORE and was developed through continued collaboration with 3D artists members in the LightWave HardCORE Community and key Hollywood studios.

01- The new NewTek LightWave 10 features a brand new Viewport Preview Renderer (VPR).

Key features in LightWave 10 include:

• Viewport Preview Renderer — real-time render feedback in limit-sized render region
• New Anaglyph Stereoscopic Preview — real-time interocular “red-blue” anaglphic separation
• Virtual Studio Tools support InterSense Virtual Camera Tracking System (VCam) and 3Dconnexion 3D mouse, allowing interaction with models and scenes in real time
• New Linear Color Space Workflow — better lighting and compositing flexibility
• New Data Interchange Tools — support for Autodesk FBX, COLLADA, Autodesk Geometry Cache and MDD, among others
• New UI (User Interface) Chanel sliders and numerous workflow improvements

One of the most important improvements in LightWave 10 is the new Viewport Preview Renderer (VPR). The ability to get real-time instant results with realistic scenes and interactive lights, complete with nodal shading and scene set up. Real-time OpenGL view of Ambient Occlusion, Bloom and Anaglyph Stereoscopic and HDRI background images round out the benefits of the interactive display and rendering tools.

02 - Anaglyph stereoscopic preview rendering in LightWave 10.

LightWave 10 also has improved ZBrush Interchange with easy transfer and manipulation of UV maps and improved OBJ UV support.

With LightWave 10 you get enhanced Modeler and Layout which incorporate LightWave CORE technologies and you also get preview builds of LightWave CORE itself. LightWave 10 with CORE will be delivered free of charge to all owners of LightWave 10 when it ships in 2011.

LightWave 10 is available for a limited time for 895.USD and upgrades begin at 495.USD. When LightWave 10 with CORE ships later in 2011 it will retail for 1,495.USD. System requirements for Mac users are: Intel processor based Mac, available USB port and Snow Leopard (10.6 or better) and Nvidia GeForce 8400 or ATI X1600.

To learn more visit this special page at NewTek’s website: http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/lw10.php

From a 3D model you can create 3D plans and elevations from the model. The plugin also powers Rhino with smart architectural objects with parametric attributes. Stairs, doors and windows behave parametrically when inserted into model elements like walls, floors and other objects.

01 - VisualARQ plugin for Rhino 4 transforms NURBS modeler into powerful and efficient architectural tool. Mac version discussed for Rhino 5.

“With VisualARQ you can design in 2-D and display the 3-D model simultaneously, or you can work in 3-D and show the 2-D display,” says Francisc Pedrerol, ASUNI CAD general manager.

VisualARQ can automatically create project documentation from models. Plans, elevations and sections, et cetera, are dynamically linked to the Rhino model. As Rhino is a full Class-A NURBS modeler, VisualARQ walls are also NURBS-based, enabling users to create walls from straight lines, arcs, and free-form curves. Any volume created from Rhino can become intergrated into a project with VisualARQ so there is no restriction on creating shapes and geometry in new architectural designs.

VisualARQ and Mac OS X

VisualARQ today only works on Rhino version 4.x. The next major release of Rhino 5 is supposed to be the first non-beta version of Rhino for Mac. At that time, the VisualARQ team will commence investigating a Mac-native version of the plugin application for Rhino 5 for Mac.

VisualARQ is 395.euro and 995.euro with Rhino included. To learn more visit their website here: http://www.visualarq.com/

There is no doubting that Apple’s Mac division is being upstaged by its new era product lines (with the exception of the iPod division which is slowing down in growth) but one only needs to look at the bigger picture to see it’s all okay with Steve & Company precisely because the “halo effect” from iPhone in particular keeps pushing Mac sales up at a healthy rate. Of course that rate may be slowing as the iPad begins to both produce a “halo effect” and a “cannibal effect.” (more on that later).

So how healthy are we talking about?

Mac Unit Growth

Let’s start with the quarter to quarter sequential growth. In this quarter Apple’s Mac units grew at just over 12 percent, which is a healthy growth rate.  This was the result of shipping more than 400,000 Macs than the previous quarter. Mind you, just a few years ago 400,000 Macs per quarter was approximately one forth the amount of all Macs in that quarter.

Some Notes

Actually in the press introduction to Autodesk’s announcement of AutoCAD for Mac that very question got answered by Autodesk Senior Vice President Amar Hanspal. The answer?

According to Hanspal, Autodesk’s own customers have kept chiming in on wanting AutoCAD for Mac at an increasing rate over the past few years. Clearly such a statement by Hanspal is a testament to Apple’s popularity and growing strength in business markets. In fact, Hanspal remarks that its customers are increasingly using Mac hardware more and more in enterprise and business. The result is a company that ultimately is directly responding to its own customers.

The AutoCAD universe is a big place. Hanspal said in an interview presentation there are over 4,000 AutoCAD third-party developers and these developers can now support the Mac version because the native C++ API for AutoCAD on Windows is the same for the Mac version.

The DWG file engine in AutoCAD for the Mac is identical, literally the same as that in its Windows version. There is full, bi-directional file format fidelity so mixed PC/Mac offices can open and work on the same files.

In a product video on the AutoCAD for Mac webpage Autodesk does actually compare its product directly to a competitor. In this case, in discussing AutoCAD layers, it compares itself to Vectorworks (by Nemetschek Vectorworks) when talking about verticality in regards to layers (ie: AutoCAD does not have verticality with layers) saying Vectorworks classes are more like AutoCAD layers. The comparison seemed aimed at having Vectorworks users understand something key about the product, rather than taking a swipe at Vectorworks itself. The latter would have seemed nonsensical anyway as in many ways Vectorworks’s dual class and layer system is arguably more flexible.

Some Tech Notes

Let’s get into some technical notes here on today’s news about AutoCAD for Mac. First off, you will need a 64-bit Intel processor based Mac. Most of Apple’s machines released on or after January 1, 2009 will work. To give you a sense of what we have been running it on in the Architosh studio, we have it on an early 2009, MacBook. It features an Intel Core 2 Duo. We have not tested it hard so we cannot remark about hardware to performance issues. If you are considering AutoCAD for Mac you should visit the specification page for the product on Autodesk’s website.

A product demonstration video does mention one rival Mac CAD product, Mac industry leader Nemetschek Vectorworks.

AutoCAD for Mac is a native 64-bit application. It is also built on an Apple Cocoa foundation with a UI (user-interface) that fits the Mac’s GUI Chrome implementation. Interestingly, the UI has a two-toned approach and gives the user the option to try a dark or light interface. This doesn’t affect the Mac UI element(s) of the palettes, windows and other panels. One comment here: we think the dark interface looks pretty darn good!

This only runs on Leopard (10.5.8) or Snow Leopard version 10.6.4 or later). If you are running an older OS you need to update your system.

AutoCAD for Mac is fully compatible with AutoCAD for Windows. Drawings containing objects created in AutoCAD Architecture (Windows only) can be easily opened in AutoCAD for Mac.

For Command Line users AutoCAD for Mac has a near identical Command Line interface and nearly all commands are available for the Mac version. Autodesk makes a note that the Ribbon Bar of the latest versions of AutoCAD for Windows are not supported on the Mac version, but instead Mac users get the familiar Tool bars and properties palettes (on the right) that are common UI design features of the Mac. That is a good thing for Mac users. Users should note that Microsoft’s Ribbon UI was slammed when it came out on Revit by its users.

What is Not Working

While this version of AutoCAD for Mac is nearly identical to that found in the Windows version there are some differences and items of non-support. They include:

• Network licensing and CAD manager are not included
• No support for DCL in AutoLISP
• No access to custom AutoCAD user UI controls in ObjectARX
• Microsoft VBasic Applications and OLE objects are not be supported as they are Windows specific
• Layer Filters and Groups and States are not supported yet but will be in a future release
• Sheet Manager is not in this release either
• There is also no PDF, DGN and DWF “underlay” support but will be in a future release
• minor other items not yet supported in this release

Autodesk recommends that larger companies with enterprise use of AutoCAD may want to hold off on a Mac version adoption until their specific enterprise needs are fully confirmed to be met. Autodesk recommends that smaller and mid-size companies are more suited to AutoCAD for Mac adoption or conversion.

Finally, the version of AutoCAD for Mac can both import and export ACIS (.sat) files. Here at Architosh we like to talk about modeling and rendering kernels and engines and this is interesting to us because we have been under the assumption that Autodesk has written its own modeling kernel for AutoCAD based on Spatial’s ACIS.