Tidbits: Mac CAD/3D News – Rhino Plugin, VectorWorks Distributor Conference, PanzerCAD, Spore and more..

Bunkspeed releases free Beta Plugin for Rhino

Rhino continues to garner more attention in the highend modeling world with an ever increasing number of application inter-relations. This time Bunkspeed has introduced a free beta version of a new HyperShot plugin for Rhinoceros. HyperShot, introduced at COFES a few years back, is a highly multithreaded rendering application that has become a global leader in near realtime, highend photorealistic rendering aimed predominantly at the automobile design market.

Phillip Lunn, CEO, Bunkspeed, said “This is an example of how 3D design is supposed to work: The users of Rhinoceros are highly talented designers, engineers, and architects who want the best tools available. The addition of this plug-in makes high-end, photographic rendering easy for them to just simply be creative in 3D, and not have to worry about learning how to use it. This is the way it should be.” Because Rhino for Mac OS X is still in development the plugin for HyperShot is only for the Windows version. To learn more go here.

VectorWorks Annual International Distributor Conference

While not a conference that Architosh (or any press perhaps?) attends, a recent newsletter makes note of the fact that the international market richness of VectorWorks products across the globe has much to do with its intrinsic flexibility as a software application the the very specialized and excellent work of international distributors around the globe.

In other Nemetschek VectorWorks news, the company is looking for images of users work for upcoming calendars, marketing materials and the like. You can click here to learn more. PanzerCAD has released Camera Match 2008, a VectorWorks 2008 plugin. Read our full report here.

MacFamily Tree Adds 3D Virtual Tree in version 5.2

While not quite a 3D application the popular genealogy appMacFamilyTree 5 has added some 3D capabilities in its new “virtual 3D” family tree. Version 5.2 cost 49.USD and runs on Mac OS X 10.4.9 or higher.

Mac 3D: Spore Creator spawns 3D Critters

Spore Creator is for those who have dreamed of working at Pixar Animation Studios but happen to work at Starbucks instead. The Mac OS X and Windows app Spore Creature Creator is a easy to use 3D character creation application that is wetting the appetites for Spore the upcoming game from legendary Sims creator Will Wright. Spore the game, coming in September, will support both the Mac and iPhone platforms and will allow the user to create and evolve a race of beings from a single cell organism to a full on advanced civilization. In the meantime Spore Creature Creator comes in both free and 9.99USD versions. System requirements include Intel-only Macs so those with PowerPC machines are out of luck. To learn more go here.