Combining the highest quality rendering from Shaderlight and proven technology from Limitless Computing, this innovative new tool delivers the fastest, mosts effective workflow for SketchUp users.

30 Times Faster SketchUp Rendering

Launched at the AIA National Convention and Design Expo, in Washington, DC, the new Shaderlight Cloud Rendering service offers up to 30x faster performance rendering out animations in SketchUp and 5x faster scenes, delivering high resolution, photorealistic visualizations direct from SketchUp in hours, not days.

01 - Martin Cox, who we sat down with us at AIA, is demoing the new Shaderlight software that is now able to be served up on the cloud for far faster performance than desktop computers. (see our analysis below for why).

Additionally, it frees up destkop computers for other work, enabling Shaderlight users to handle multiple projects simultaneously. Pricing starts at 10.USD and offers companies savings in rendering hardware investments.

Show Notes and Analysis

At AIA we sat down with Martin Cox (seen in the image above) and he told us some of the background details about why Shaderlight Rendering for the cloud is so powerful. “Shaderlight is 64-bit and highly multi-threaded,” said Martin Cox, “and for this reason is scales powerfully on the cloud servers.” We asked about the details of the cloud servers and he said they were powerful 64-core Opteron systems with 16-core multiprocessors and 128 gigabytes of system memory. Because of the scale of such big servers, applications which are highly tuned for multi-threading can be greatly accelerated. This scales further for creating animations, which are simply large collections of single rendered images.

Shaderlight is the first cloud-based rendering solution for Google’s popular SketchUp modeling application. It installs as a plugin and provides simple, built-in photo-realistic rendering from within SketchUp. It runs on Mac and Windows.

To learn more visit: http://limitlesscomputing.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.

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.

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

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

Some specific new features in version 2 include:

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

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

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

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

To learn more visit LumenRT here.

We generally don’t write about Apple’s patent trail but this jot covers an interesting patent related to the world of 3D. AppleInsider uncovered a patent from Apple that describes a Microsoft Xbox Kinect-like interface technology that is sans physical controller. Instead users use their hands to move items in the UI.

Entitled “Three-Dimensional Imaging and Display System” the Apple patent (application #20110298798) attributed to Christopher Krah of Apple. In a nutshell, the Apple patent describes a method that allows the control of a 3D computer interface via a 3-dimensional imaging and display apparatus that scans and detects physical movement within a volume of space. With the system, a user could perform gestures with their hands within a given volume of space in order to control the user-interface of their Mac computer. To learn more read here.

Ad Agency Walter Isaacson uses modo

For the recent holidays Walter Isaacson was hired by Philips Norelco to produce a new TV commercial for their new SensoTouch 3D rechargeable razor. They decided to re-imagine one of Norelco’s most popular holiday ads of all time, which was a stop-motion ad featuring Santa sledding through the snow atop one of their products.

For this new ad Isaacson turned to computer graphics studio re:think studios, of Chicago. re:think studios is a big-time Luxology modo user and turned to modo to produce the ad. “mod is blazing fast!” said Brian Bulock, director of CGI and partner at re:think studios. “And with the deadline we had on this spot, we needed every minute. I vote we put modo on the nice list.” You can watch the spot here at Vimeo.

Adobe to update Critical 3D Bugs in Acrobat

Adobe is slated to update critical 3D vulnerabilities in its Acrobat and Reader applications across platforms today. The bugs were discovered in December where the 3d file format .u3d contained memory corruption issues that could lead to code attacks. These were limited in practice to the Windows platform, says Adobe. To learn more visit this eWeek news report.

LumenRT Customer Story

Vue software maker e-on software has had a new product out for awhile now called LumenRT, a plugin product for SketchUp. The photorealistic rendering plugin has received good reviews in the industry.

You can learn a little bit about this product by watching and reading the customer profile of Matthew Stone, a landscape design professional in Australia, who switched from Autodesk 3D Studio Max to SketchUp with LumenRT for its rendering platform. Read the interview here.

The new build also adds several quality and reliability enhancements to improve overall performance and stability. As an example, new optimizations in Release 1.2 can lead to a 14x gain on pre-processing time!

LumenRT Accolades

LumenRT users may download this important new release for free

After just over a month since commercial release, the 3D World CG Awards 2011 jury, composed of 17 industry experts, nominated LumenRT for the Plug-in of the Year award!

“LumenRT provides the flexibility and freedom to quickly set up, output, and browse the virtual scene! The high-fidelity output creates a very nice impression and impact.”, Xijin Cai.

“The ability to share the entire model in an easily navigable, visually pleasing is a great feature and could really help when you’re explaining design intent to clients!”, Ben Kitching, 3D Consultant at Jigsaw.

LumenRT Review for SketchUp and SketchUp Pro currently retails for $195 (introductory price – SRP: $295).

LumenRT is a 32 & 64 bits application, designed for the Windows® 32/64 bits XP, Vista and Windows 7 as well as Intel Mac OS X platforms (v10.6+).

To gain better insight into how LumenRT operates, a set of sample LumenRT LiveCubes™ and some electronic documentation is available for download.

For more information.

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.

Google’s SketchUp modeling program is becoming a standard within middle-school education in the US, the company reports. “Ask any 7th grader if they’ve heard of it and they’ll say something along the lines of ‘SketchUp is awesome!’ The company has produced a short video highlighting the modeling work of students here on YouTube.

Also, Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist, posted a story about Dassault Systemes’ 3DVIA Scenes and the use of SketchUp models imported into their 3D viewing technology tool. You can simply import a SketchUp model via a COLLADA export-import process into 3DVIA Scenes for virtual exploration with multiple users. You and your colleagues can explore the same 3D environment at the same time using avatars.

Importantly for Mac users, Dassault is working on Mac compatibility for 3DVIA scenes, so this feature is on its way. The company has also built an iOS app. We’ll write more about this new app soon.

T-Splines News

T-Splines has a number of training or introduction events this summer. Events in July coming up include:

• 6 July – tsElements for SolidWorks introduction. Register free here.
• 7 July – Training in London, UK. Taught by CEO Matt Sederberg. Register here.

SIGGRAPH 2011 – Vancouver

SIGGRAPH 2011 this year is in Vancouver, Canada. The conference takes place from 7-11, August, 2011. The exhibition takes place from 9-11, August.

This year Emerging Technologies will feature innovation trends in the area of display and input devices. A Technical Papers video preview can be seen here.

To learn more about the conference visit the main conference website: http://www.siggraph.org/s2011/

Called SightSpace, this new “augmented reality” app for the iPad 2 allows you to view your SketchUp models on your iPad directly over camera views in real time. This means you can be on the land of a proposed building site and using the camera, position the iPad such that you can picture the way your building will work directly on the land using a SketchUp 3D model. As the iPad moves so too does the display of your SketchUp model superimposed on the real world.

Not much else is known about this application but the company was at the AIA National Convention and was presenting it. There is a YouTube video on their website that gives you a peek at the possibilities. This looks like an excellent application for the iPad for architectural professionals.

To learn more visit them here: http://limitlesscomputing.com/SightSpace

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.

Kurt Ameringer, Director at Graphisoft, is interviewed by AECcafe.com and you can see the video of that interview here. This was filmed on the show floor at the AIA Convention in May.

Kurt covers the three major areas of improvement in ArchiCAD 15, including design freedom with the new Shell tool, plus renovation documentation workflow and the new 3D environment advancements. You can view the interview here.

Jeff Ouellette of Nemetschek Video – Talks about Vectorworks Architect

Jeff Ouellette of Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., was also interviewed by AECcafe.com at AIA and he discusses what the company is showcasing there to architects on the show floor.

Jeff mentions the focus of demonstrating how users can transition to BIM using Vectorworks Architect rather than making a complete wholesale switch. He also mentions the strength of Vectorworks in the graphics and presentation environment as well as its IFC compatibilities. You can view the interview here.

Autodesk 123

While not an AIA item per se Roopinder Tara at CAD Insider has another post about how Autodesk is taking on Google’s SketchUp with Autodesk 123. This is an interesting read because it delves into a discussion with John Bacus, product manager of SketchUp, about how SketchUp has become a fan favorite with the Maker Faire type audience worldwide. The Maker Faire itself was the chosen venue for Autodesk’s announcement of Autodesk 123. You can read the post here.

The Renditioner Pro plugin from IMSI Design is a photorealistic rendering plugin for Google’s SketchUp 3D application. Lightworks Artistan provides a pre-packaged application of rendering technology that can be simply integrated into OEM (original equipment manufacturer) tools, providing pre-configured workflow and easy-to-use applications.

Bob Mayer, COO of IMSI Design commented, “Renditioner Pro is a powerful product and by integrating Lightworks Artisan we have been able to set an even higher standard for photorealistic rendering and lighting control within Google SketchUp.”

The Windows version of Renditioner Pro is available now. The Mac version will be available in April. To learn more click here. To visit Lightworks online go here.

Luke Holdmann from Milwaukee, United States, took the top prize for his scene depicting a ferris wheel in a snowy scene. The image was lauded for its ideation and dramatic composition. 3D World editor Steve Jarratt, one of the judges said: “I really like the idea of a large snowflake big wheel, and the camera angle is quite dramatic.” You can read more about the winners here.

Touting Shaderlight

Back in December the company put out a press release touting positive adoption and feedback regarding its Shaderlight software. “In less than two months since launch, ArtVPS’ latest 3D rendering software Shaderlight has been snapped up by some of the leading design colleges around the world.”

01 - This image from a YouTube video shows Shaderlight in action.

To learn more about Shaderlight go here: http://www.artvps.com/

This macro converts a Pythagoras drawing into a 3D model that can be used in Google Earth and Google SketchUp. There is an instructional video here for those who want to see this in action.

01 - Pythagoras CAD+GIS

To learn more about Pythagoras CAD+GIS software visit here.

3Dconnextion mice offer SketchUp 8 and Pro 8 users the following features:

• Superior Navigation — simultaneously pan, zoom, and rotate your model as if holding it in your hand
• Superior Modeling — 3D mice also offer a superior control of modeling when working with the new Solid Tools modeling operations for creating, editing and validating multiple shapes
• Precise Control — patented six-degrees of freedom (6DoF) sensor is capable of detecting inut as small as four micrometers for smooth and natural control of the sketch or 3D model
• Improved Efficiency — programmable buttons provide quick access to commonly used software features
• Intelligent 3D Navigation — Sets the center of the rotation to a point on the model that is nearest to the display screen center, which is helpful at higher zoom levels, or SketchUp users can pick a new center of rotation point for an individual modeling task

Compatibility

The entire 3Dconnexion product line is compatible with SketchUp 8 series products, including the Professional Series with the SpacePilot PRO (399.USD) and SpaceExplorer (299.USD) and the Standard Series with the SpaceNavigator (99.USD) and SpaceNavigator for Notebooks (129.USD).

To learn more visit: www.3Dconnexion.com

A plugin-renderer we have written about before for Google’s SketchUp has been updated to version 1.10a. A complete list of the new features or capabilities or fixes have been listed here. Highlight include:

• New Ambiant Occlusion shader supports color bleeding between surfaces
• New Material attribute for “Shadow Catcher”
• Better Load Balancing on multiple threads

You can read the complete list here. In the previous version on sale v.1.9a new features included IES file browser, fogging and sky rendering, new export to LightUp Player, new color dialog for setting up colors and performance improvements. To learn more about LightUp go here: http://www.light-up.co.uk/

Octane Render Updates

Following an Octane Render release earlier this fall, Refractive Software has announced the availability of the fifth intermediate Octane Render live testing release, for Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux. The pre-release beta is available only for customers, version 2.3 v5 beta. A final/public demo version will be released soon, says the company.

A highlight of the new beta is a brand new PDF Manual for the software, completely redesigned from scratch with over 120 pages, in widescreen format and with chapters and bookmark hotspots.

Octane Render is a GPU based renderer available for Mac OS X as well as Windows. To learn more visit them here.

SU Podium Version 2 supports multi-threading and can utilize up to eight processors or processor cores. The program is both a ray tracer and global illumination (GI) renderer and features caustics. Key features include:

• Works on both PC and Mac versions of SketchUp 7-8
• Works with both Free and Pro versions of SketchUp
• High Quality Ray Tracer
• Features Advanced Global Illumination
• Physical Skies with depth and turbidity
• Bump Mapping
• True “reflections – not fake specularity
• Blurred Reflection
• Blurred Refraction for true translucency
• Light Emitting Materials
• Omni Lights
• Sun Light and Sky Light
• Spot Lights in PLS
• Caustic Reflections
• And more…

SU Podium 2.0 can be controlled by use of a Ruby script from a Ruby Console. The command is Podium::render. SU Podium 2.0 renders images to the following formats: PGN, JPG and HDR, in various preset and custom resolutions.

SU Podium 2.0 retails for 198.USD. Upgrades are available. To learn more visit them online here: http://www.suplugins.com/

What’s Really Hot in SketchUp 8

For quite awhile now modeling pros have talked up SketchUp’s famed ease-of-use but often criticized its lack of being a true solids modeler. New in SketchUp 8 are Solid Tools, only available in the Pro version. We are not sure yet how the company added “true solids”….whether they wrote their own modeling kernel or have incorporated a third-party modeling engine.

The Solid Tools in SketchUp 8 Pro will allow faster and more capable modeling, featuring union intersects, deletes, adds, subtracts, splits and trims. There is a video of some of these tools in action here.

Also very powerful in the pro version are several features aimed at helping modeling be faster and more precise, integrating with other professional tools and working with angles. In Pro you now have precise move options in LayOut so you can create custom snap points. Pro also features the latest AutoCAD DWG/DXF 2010 formats for import/export. This extends to LayOut 3 where you can export your drawings from LayOut 3 into other programs like AutoCAD or DWG/DXF capable CAD systems.

There are several new features that all SketchUp users will find important right away. Back Edges turns obscured edges into dashed lines and forms an alternative to X-Ray view mode. SketchUp 8 now has Push/Pull pre-selected faces, which helps you confirm the face you are affecting. Entity Info now displays volume data and reports it in SketchUp Pro. And finally another Pro features is that  Dashed Lines are fully configurable in LayOut 3 in the Pro version.

Other Key Features

Maps have now been built right into SketchUp 8, making geo-location based information easy to incorporate. This will be immensely useful to urban designers and architects who want to work with accurate site and map data with their designs. And aerial imagery is now in color in included 3D terrain data.

Match Photo has had some minor improvements to make it easier to generate models from tracing photos imported into SketchUp.

SketchUp  8 has a new compliment in Google’s Building Maker tool. Building Maker is a tool for modeling buildings and adding them to Google Earth. You select a city in the world, build your model from photos Google provides, and then save your building for review for inclusion in Google Earth.

There are several new videos of the new Google SketchUp 8. Visit this page to find out more information.

Graphisoft has reported that both Dutch and Hungarian language version of ArchiCAD 14 have been released and are available in their local markets. The Dutch version marks the 11th version of 26 localized versions of ArchiCAD 14’s global release.

To learn more visit: www.graphisoft.com

SketchUp News

IES has partnered officially with Google SketchUp. IES’s VE plugin enables energy analysis work directly within SketchUp. You can learn about IES here. There is also news of a new book titled, “SketchUp 7.1 for Architectural Visualization.”  Written by Robin de Jongh the book is written in an engaging style and features great tips like how to utilize affordable tools to supplement your visualization workflow with items like GIMP and Kerkythea. You can learn more at Amazon here.

FileMaker Devcon: News

FileMaker’s 2010 developer conference takes place  San Diego, California, on August 15-18. worldcloud.com will be exhibiting its cloud technologies for FileMaker Hosting, including its vApp for FileMaker for Windows and its XenApp for FileMaker for Cross-Platform and Mobile workgroups.

To learn more about FileMaker visit them on the web.

The New KeyShot

KeyShot is a realtime, interactive ray tracing rendering program. It utilizes physically correct and CIE verified rendering engine technology featuring many innovations developed by 2004 Academy Award Winner Dr. Henrik Wann Jensen. The program is available immediately for purchase for both Mac and PC operating systems.

KeyShot breaks down the complexity of producing high-end photo-realistic rendered images and is particularly valuable to auto-design studios and product designers. It has also been used in architecture thanks to its SketchUp file support, though it is less ideal to that discipline. The program utilizes unbiased sampling techniques that compute mathematically correct results, generates scientifically accurate materials, multi-core photons and more.

01 - The new KeyShot by Luxion, advanced realtime rendering on Mac OS X.

KeyShot has a technology called Dynamic Light Core that allows users to see results at the same time as changes are being made. Combined with its general ease of use KeyShot gives users remarkable rendering power and speed, independent of the model size. The program supports many native file formats, including: SolidWorks, Rhino, OBJ, IGES, STEP, SketchUp and more.

KeyShot is the next advancement in the last evolution of HyperShot and includes these following key improvements:

• Certification for Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6)
• Faster rendering speed
• Improved overall image quality
• Support for direct import of SolidWorks 2010 data
• All new importer platform that includes support for IGES and STEP on Mac OS X
• New high-quality HDRIs from www.hdri-locations.com and www.hdrlightstudio.com

“KeyShot is based on more than a decade of research in efficient rendering algorithms,” said Dr. Henrik Wann Jensen, Chief Scientist of Luxion. “Being able to create amazing images in realtime on any computer without specific requirements such as special graphics cards is the goal of our research. We have developed several novel algorithms that take full advantage of all the cores in modern CPUs in order to deliver the ultimate rendering tool for end users.”

KeyShot pricing starts at 995.USD, while KeyShot Pro begins at 1,995.USD. Educational and floating license versions are also available. Please contact sales@luxion.com or for more information visit them on the web here: www.keyshot.com or www.luxion.com