Tidbits: V-Ray 2 for SketchUp, AIA TAP Awards, IMSI News and more…

V-Ray for SketchUp News

The Chaos Group has announced that the third service pack SP 3, for V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp is now available. This new service pack brings 64-bit support to both the Windows and Mac versions of the plugin which is now supporting a new 64-bit SketchUp in version 2015. You can download the latest version here once you log in. 

IMSI Design News

IMSI/Design has a whole fleet of native Mac software for both professional and consumer users in design markets. For professionals in need of powerful CAD products, their TurboCAD product for Mac includes three versions on the desktop and their accompanying iOS mobile devices line.

At the top is TurboCAD Mac Pro v8, a complete 2D and 3D CAD system offering ACIS-based modeling and photorealistic rendering abilities. At a mid-range level is TurboCAD Mac Deluxe v8. And finally TurboCAD Mac Designer v8 offerings effective 2D CAD drafting tools. These tools range in price from just under 500.USD to 70.USD.

MORE: Product Review: IMSI Design’s TurboSite Pro 2 for iPad

In the consumer and prosumer market, IMSI Design offers its Turbo FloorPlan lineup including TurboFloorPlan 3D Pro 2015 for Mac and TurboFloorPlan Deluxe 2015 Mac. The company also makes Renditioner and Renditioner Pro for Mac, a high-quality SketchUp photorealistic rendering plugin. You can learn more here.

AIA TAP Awards for 2015

We wish to remind folks that the AIA’s TAP Innovation Awards program for 2015 has a deadline fast approaching. We wrote about the 2015 AIA TAP awards program earlier in November and you can read all about the program here. Importantly, this year the focus is not just on BIM. The submission categories are:

• Category A: Stellar Architecture
• Category B: Delivery Process Excellence
• Category C: Academic Program / Curriculum Development
• Category D: Exemplary Use in a Small Firm

Since 2005, the AIA TAP has spearheaded an effort to highlight award winning “best of breed” case studies from the profession in the harnessing of Building Information Model (BIM) technology and processes to further design, construction and project excellence.

The deadline is 8 December 2015.

 Upcoming Architosh Features

We have a series of exciting feature articles coming up on Architosh. Typically we don’t share news about what is coming or is under development in our editorial pipeline. But we thought this holiday season it might be nice to hear about some things early. The holidays are a great time for some down-time and to catchup on some reading.

First off we have two feature discussions with Autodesk executives. We also have a great interview feature coming up on Trimble, plus product reviews coming on Vectorworks Architect 2015 and solidThinking Inspire 2014. In addition, our iPad Guides features will continue to roll out as previously planned. Lastly, we have some exciting things to share in the area of hardware, specifically the new Mac Pro. And part of that will include our report on the Mac Workstation Survey we have going. It’s going to be a great finish to our 2014 year with loads of great content and we hope readers enjoy what we publish. As usual, we love hearing feedback, both good and bad, so please drop us a line.