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

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

Vectorworks News

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

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

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

No Autodesk Vista Support

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

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

More information on this topic can be found here.

“We are thrilled to receive this honor,” said Steward Rom, Chief Marketing Officer of Nemetschek Vectorworks. “We strived to make the Vectorworks 2012 program the ideal solution for designers in the AEC community with continued improvements to our 3D, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and rendering capabilities, and it’s an honor to be recognized by the Construction Computing Awards. We’re also fortunate to have partners like Computers Unlimited who make it possible for us to bring these innovations to users around the world.”

The awards ceremony was held November 17, 2011, at The Hotel Russell in London, and team members from Computers Unlimited were in attendance to accept the award.

To learn more about Vectorworks, go here.

The event takes place 15 November 2011 at 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST. You can register here.

Details

openBIM is a new industry term applied to the use of internationally recognized BIM interoperability standards for data sharing. These open standards include (but are not limited to) the use of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) for building geometry and data. IFC is supported by over 35 international vendors and over 50 software applications and is used today to create, analyze, and distribute building information models.

Learning objectives include:

• Define openBIM and IFC
• Explain how interoperability is improved with openBIM workflows and IFC technology
• Explain how collaboration with design partners is improved with openBIM workflows and IFC technology
• Identify examples of how openBIM and IFC are used today

To learn more and register visit this link. If you have any questions: call 888-646-4223.

One AIA Learning Unit (1 AIA LU Hour) is available.

“We are thrilled to receive this honor,” said Steward Rom, Chief Marketing Officer of Nemetschek Vectorworks. “We strived to make the Vectorworks 2012 program the ideal solution for designers in the AEC community with continued improvements to our 3D, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and rendering capabilities, and it’s an honor to be recognized by the Construction Computing Awards. We’re also fortunate to have partners like Computers Unlimited who make it possible for us to bring these innovations to users around the world.”

The awards ceremony was held November 17, 2011, at The Hotel Russell in London, and team members from Computers Unlimited were in attendance to accept the award.

To learn more about Vectorworks go 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

The Vectorworks folks have been a bit more quiet than usual these past few months but their latest newsletter showcases some interesting news tidbits. First off, celebrated architect, Daniel Libeskind is noted for his affect on inspiring the next generation of architects.

Studio Daniel Libeskind has offices in Zurich, Switzerland and New York City. The architectural studio has been using Vectorworks Architect for many years now as their primary design and construction documentation software tool. You can read the full profile here.

In other Nemetschek news, Vectorworks author, Janis Kent, AIA, CASp, has a new book titled, “Stepping Thru Accessible Details: A Compilation from the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act and the California Building Code for Commercial Projects.” Architects may want to check into this invaluable aid for accessibility design.

Bonzai 3D Webinar Today!

AutoDesSys has a free bonzai 3d webinar today that showcases the modeler with the use of the Maxwell Render. The MaxwellZ plugin brings Next Limit’s superb photo-realistic rendering software technology to bonzai 3D.

01 - MaxwellZ plugin for bonzai 3d brings the power of Next Limit's amazing rendering engine to the very powerful and easy to use bonzai 3D modeling program.

This webinar starts at 1pm, July 26, 2011 and runs for 1 hour. To register go here.

FastTrack Schedule Compatible with OS X Lion

AEC Software has announced that FastTrack Schedule has passed compatibility tests with Apple’s new big cat, Mac OS X Lion (10.7). FastTrack Schedule 9.1 and higher will run on Lion. There is a blog post here about it.

By using the NCS Navigator online tool, architects can create custom palettes and export them to the Vectorworks program for use in their designs. This will help ensure accurate color selection for finishes in their designs.

“Vectorworks is all about design, and designers need to be able to control color, the dynamic and intuitive NCS color portal will allow Vectorworks users to custom build high-quality project color schemes in no time.” said Robert Anderson, Vice President of Integrated Practice, Nemetschek Vectorworks.

“We are excited about our collaboration with Nemetschek and the potential it brings to Vectorworks users to support color exactness throughout the process of communicating, visualizing and realizing a design project. It is a partnership based around facilitating the efforts of every Vectorworks user by incorporating color reliability and color design to their processes and projects via NCS Navigator 2.0 Premium.” Anderson concludes.

To see it in action there’s a video with step-by-step instructions regarding how to create and export custom color palettes from NCS Navigator to Vectorworks:

More information

For more information about the free version of NCS Navigator (Freemium) or to get a 30-day trial of the Premium version.

As of now, this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions. Nemetschek Vectorworks has announced that other language versions will be available soon.

If you have a license, this update is available.

To install the Service Pack, go to the About Vectorworks 2011 dialog box in the Vectorworks menu (Mac users) or Help menu (Windows users) and click Check for Updates.

For more info

Or for any technical questions or problems contact
tech@vectorworks.net

For more on Nemetschek Vectorworks

Nemetschek’s webinar “openBIM – Real Interoperability, Practical Collaboration” Part 1 was a real success. BIM technology involves processes that formulate, design, analyse, encode, decode, fabricate, simulate, and provide management of a project. There are many different types of technologies and workflows available that do pretty much the same thing. Nemetschek is aware that in order to move forward there needs to be an open dialogue between technologies leading to an open platform for true interoperability–the ability to exchange data and make use of the information, from any source, for any workflow.

These webinars are to focus on BIM interoperability, “openBIM workflows” while being educated on the use of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) for the building geometry and data.

It is only through the combination of these technologies that the true limits of BIM can be explored.

A recording of the first webinar can be seen here.

Part 2 of the webinar takes place
July 7, 2011 (2:00p.m. GMT)

To register

or for any questions, please contact 888-646-4223
or architect@vectorworks.net.

Earlier we wrote about the Inspired Visions Global Rendering and Animation competition by Maxon and Nemetschek Vectorworks. If you do renderings and animations you should sign up. You can obtain 30 and 42 day trial versions of the software used for the competition so it is an opportunity to learn more software and pick up skills while having fun. There are currently 13 weeks left and you can see the results of competition here. Also, for German-language users there is a new book titled Vectorworks Architektur: CADD+Visualisierung, by Horst Sondermann. This book is available here.

2011 iSquint Student Design Competition went to Colin Chaunche, who is a senior at SUNY (State University of New York) Fredonia where he will graduate with a BFA in theatrical production and design with a concentration in lighting design. As winner of the competition he will receive a professional license of Vectorworks Spotlight 2011 with Renderworks, as well as a license of Lightwright 5 and a single license of Field Template SoftSymbols V3. You can read more here.

LumenRT News

e-on software’s leader Matt Riveccie has noted that there are new same images from their new rendering software lumenRT, available for viewing on the lumenRT website. LumenRT is a new SketchUp rendering plugin coming soon. The new images are of the Azuma house by Tadao Ando.

Learn more here. http://www.lumenrt.com/

Parallels News – Makes Switching to Mac from PC Easier

Parallels has announced this week that there is a new application called Parallels Transporter which is available on the Mac App Store. The new software makes moving from PC to Mac even easier.

Parallels Transporter helps in the automatic transferring of music, pictures, Internet bookmarks, documents and more come over to your new Mac. To learn more visit 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/

VBvisual produces high-quality, photorealistic images of plants and trees in computer renderings without overloading the computer. These are low-poly count objects (even large trees are less than 10,000 polys). Vectorworks users might not be aware of this tool, its inclusion in Renderworks and more. VBvisual plant objects can be changed per season without having to change the geoemetry. The company has a vast library of products, including general textures. To learn more visit here: http://www.vbvisual.com/

Swiss Architects “Project of the Week” achieved with Vectorworks

In other news Nemetschek is touting the work of Leuppi & Schafroth Architekten AG, who achieved “Project of the Week” for their Rhine Falls visitor center. To see pictures of this interesting structure and learn more visit here.

Vectorworks at AIA

Finally, Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., will be at AIA National this year in New Orleans in mid May. Their booth number is 3601. They will be supporting buildingSMART and the development of Open Standards for BIM.

To learn more about Nemetschek visit them here.

A&A Co., Ltd, of Tokyo, the Japanese distributor of Vectorworks software, is offering emergency support and services for reconstruction efforts related to the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. As a part of the initiative, A&A announced an offer to contribute 150 free licenses of Vectorworks 2011 and FastTrack Schedule software programs to organizations involved in the reconstruction planning and projects. A&A will also provide free software training, which includes dispatching training staff where needed.

“We are sure that reconstruction projects will take a long time, and we do believe that our computer software will be a big help,” said Kazuko Uchida, CEO of A&A Co. Ltd. “We hope we will be able to assist in the reconstruction process for local people, even if it is a small amount of aid, with help from our staff and from our software users nationwide.”

Vectorworks 2011, developed by Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc, is a very popular CAD software package in Japan and it is localized by A&A for the Japanese market. The Japanese version contains extensions to simulate both evacuations and thermal environments during the design process.

“We have a long-standing relationship with the design community in Japan, and we were shocked and saddened by the recent devastation to so many communities there,” said Stewart Rom, Chief Marketing Officer of Nemetschek Vectorworks. “We are pleased to be able to support our Japanese partners at A&A in providing this technology to assist with the rebuilding efforts.”

AKVIS 12.5 Announced

Useful to visualization professionals, AKVIS has announced the latest version of AKVIS Sketch for Windows and Mac, version 12.5. Sketch converts digital photographs into amazing pencil sketches, watercolor, charcoal, and pastel drawings.

01 - AKVIS Sketch 12.5 offers new batch processing and RAW image support to this popular Adobe Photoshop plugin for visual artists.

New in version 12.5 is batch processing for stand-alone mode. Previously, batch processing was only available using the plug-in as a Photoshop action. RAW format has also been added. To learn more visit them online here: http://akvis.com/en/index.php

Lightworks News – Helps Get HBXL to Market in Two Weeks

Lightworks, of Great Britain, has announced that it has helped get PlansXpress from HBXL out to market in just two weeks by the company’s adoption of Lightworks Artisan rendering software technology. Artisan provides pre-packaged applications that can be simply integrated into OEM tools, providing pre-configuration workflows and easy-to-use applications. By using Lightworks Artisan customers reduce time to market.

HBXL is the UK market leader in construction software for the small to medium sized building firm. The company’s award-winning PlanXpress product is targeted at builders and developers, with the aim of enabling them to produce architect quality plans and 3D visuals quickly and easily. To learn more about Artisan and Lightworks visit here.

Select Service members gain access to a growing library of on-demand learning tutorials, priority technical support, and VIP access to downloads. And with Vectorworks Select Service you will always have the latest software versions. 

You can learn more about Vectorworks Select Service by registering for any of these free webinars:

• Apr 13, 2011 at 2pm EDT (register)
• Apr 20, 2011 at 2pm EDT (register)
• Apr 27, 2011 at 2pm EDT (register)

For those with questions they can call 888-646-4223. To learn more about Vectorworks go to their website here.

Rendering with RenderZone — You can join a webinar on April 14, 2011, at 10 – 11am EDT to learn about how to add photo-realistic rendering to your AutoDesSys bonzai 3D or formZ modeling projects. RenderZone is  the rendering engine of choice when you need full raytracing rendering. Led by trainer Matthew Holewinski of AutoDesSys you will:

• Learn about raytracing using RenderZone
• Learn how to use Sketch rendering
• Learn to easily create and apply materials to objects
• Learn techniques for applying multiple materials to the same surface
• Learn procedures to add simple but realistic lighting to your scene
• Learn how to add global illumination to your scene

To learn more and register for this webinar visit here.

Vectorworks Training – Multi-City Locations

Vectorworks classroom training is coming to various cities in the US throughout the year (2011). These courses equip you with what you need to enhance your design skills using Vectorworks. Accredited professionals can also earn CE (continuing education) credits.

• Apr 19-22 — San Francisco: Core/intermediate
• May 3-6 — New York: Core/intermediate
• May 16-19 — Columbia: Core/intermediate
• Jul 11-14 — Columbia: Core/intermediate
• Aug 22-25 — Columbia: Core/intermediate
• Sep 13-16 — Los Angeles: Core/intermediate
• Nov 8-11 — San Francisco: Core/intermediate
• Nov 15-18 — Boston: Core/intermediate
• Dec 5-8 — Columbia: Core/intermediate

Click on a link in the event above to sign up. For other Vectorworks learning resources, such as guides, visit this page.

Mac Pro users using the Nvidia Quadro 4000 GPU card started to report issues after advancing their OS to Mac OS X 10.6.7. Nvidia has responded with an update, version 256.01.00f03v7. You can download the updated driver here now:

Vectorworks BIM Webinar – April 5

Nemetschek Vectorworks will be hosting a webinar on 5 April 2010. Titled, Processes and Procedures for Effective Development of Building Information Modeling with Vectorworks Architect 2011, the event on the web takes place at 2pm EDT (6pm GMT).

The event is being led by Francois Levy, a registered architect, author, BIM consultant and university lecturer. Participants in the webinar will:

• realize the range of BIM tools available in Vectorworks Architect 2011
• learn a productive workflow for BIM in Vectorworks Architect 2011
• familiarize themselves with various model views to quickly produce presentation and construction documents
• understand the design, modeling and presentation power of parametric building design components
• apply BIM principles to their own work using Vectorworks Architect software

To register for this webinar go here.

modo News

The Third Guild has released free updates to its modo plugin or extensions for CADbuddy and Windo for modo 501 SP2. This is a free update for all existing customers. To learn more go here.

Graphisoft News

Graphisoft is conducting a survey from architectural and engineering professionals who are potentially involved in sustainable design and energy engineering. The data collection will help the company provide products that benefit its Building Information Modeling (BIM) software. To take the survey and participate please go here. There are three categories of users who would take this survey:

• architect with no specific training in sustainable design
• sustainable design expert – architect
• sustainable design expert – engineer

Please be sure to take the appropriate survey for your expertise.

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

Catching up on some older news, Ashlar Vellum released Service Pack 3 for Graphite Version 8 back in late January. Graphite is their 2D/3D precise wireframe drafting environment. There are over a dozen user-requested enhancements and issues addressed in this release, including:

• Implemented Preference setting for mouse wheel direction
• Added support for first pen button on some Windows tablets
• Clarified Edit Object dialog box for midpoint line objects
• Enhanced Preferences for track arrow settings for Pen menu

SP3 is free for all registered users, including Cobalt and Xenon version 8 users with a courtesy license of Graphite. Upgrades are available and pricing depends on length of older version. To learn more visit them here: www.ashlar.com

T-Splines v3 Beta for Rhino Released

T-Splines v3 beta for Rhino has been released, featuring significant new features, speed enhancements, and optimizations. Anyone with a current paid license of T-Splines v2 for Rhino can use the beta, which you can download here now.

For those users who purchase T-Splines for Rhino v2 now they will receive version 3 for free when it is released later this year.

Highlights of T-Splines v3

T-Splines now has 64-bit Rhino 5 support. Rhino 5 of course is still in public beta also. Version 3 has greater capacity to handle larger models and faster speed. There is a new display mode called tsShiny that hightlights the beautiful contours of your T-Spline model. SubD surface to NURBS conversion has been optimized, wherein some triangles are permitted in the model. Pipe is a powerful and easy to use command that creates a T-Spline out of a network of  intersecting curves. It is also Rhino history enabled. There are also several other new features and improvements.

To learn more about T-Splines version 3 go here now.

Vectorworks News

In the latest Vectorworks eDispatch, the company announces it is a sponsor of iSquint.net 2011, a student design competition. This is a lighting design student competition and the grand prize will win a professional license of Lightwright 5 and Vectorworks Spotlight 2011 with Renderworks, plus a single license of Field Template SoftSymbols V3.

The company has a video tip on using the Render Bitmap tool here. Plus creating sweeps here.

Lastly, the company touts the use of BIMstop for finding quality model content in a variety of formats for your BIM (building information model).

“DeckWorks is an opportunity for Trex to expand its leadership position within the decking industry, while also creating awareness of and preference for Trex products among professionals outside of the category,” said Ron Kaplan, chairman, president and CEO of Trex, the nation’s largest manufacturer of wood-alternative decking and railing products.  “Remodelers and landscapers are often involved in creating outdoor living spaces, but may not have access to software in which decking is well represented.  By offering a program that provides superior quality and versatility to these professionals, we’re creating an opportunity for incremental Trex product sales.”

DeckWorks incorporates a variety of common wood-based products but positions Trex products as the wood-alternative solution to design. DeckWorks enables landscape designers, architects and builders a dedicated solution that enables them to design and visualize complex outdoor living solutions for their clients. In addition to featuring 2D/3D versions of wood products, both common and Trex-based, DeckWorks features lighting, furniture and accessories that allow design professionals to create a complete deck environment.

DeckWorks features Gantt charts, materials take offs (BOM) and a materials estimator. To learn more including pricing information visit: www.trex.com or www.designworkscompany.com.

Resolve will be showing “best practices” for Vectorworks Architect 2011 on Feb 8, tomorrow. The event will emphasize file organization, 3D workflows and new features in the latest version of the BIM software. This is a half-day session and the seminar will be in lecture format and include time for Q&A. More details on the event can be found here. To register.

Third Guild Tutorial on modo

The Third Guild is featuring a new modo learning tutorial by Martin Krol, titled: modo: UV Introduction. Krol’s tutorials feature four hours of high quality training in HD, plus sample models. The series starts off by exploring various UV projections and tools in modo before moving on to show how to apply these to create UVs for a variety of objects. The price is just 35.USD for the training plus sample models. You can inquire through the The Guild Store.

01 - Martin Krol's modo training.

Also of interest to modo users, the Third Guild’s Channel on YouTube has a series of videos on CADbuddy for modo 501. CADbuddy for modo adds CAD-like functionality to this popular 3D software package. To view these learning videos and learn more about CADbuddy go here.

02 - YouTube videos of CADbuddy for modo 501.

Andrew Parks Wins Lghtworks Image Competition

Andrew Parks is the recent winner of the Lightworks Image Competition. Andrew is a designer at Archimania in Memphis, Tennessee, where he utilizes 3D visualizations as a design tool. He uses FormZ software for his modeling and rendering throughout all phases of the design process.

For his winning prize Andrew will receive a new 16GB Apple iPad. To view the winning image go here.