Sketch-to-BIM

This integration comes with Vectorworks 2026 Update 5 and connects iPad sketching directly to Vectorworks.

Key Takeaways

• New Export to Morpholio Trace command — sends selected, scale-accurate sheets or viewports from Vectorworks via the cloud to a dedicated Vectorworks folder in Trace on their iPad.
• New Import from Morpholio Trace command — brings sketches from Trace back into Vectorworks files as images or vector-based linework, streamlining tracing to CAD/BIM workflows.

Architects today still begin design processes with hand sketching, and many use tablet-based software products like Morpholio Trace. The Apple Design Award-winning iPad app has been labeled “dream software for architects,” and combines the power of Apple Pencil technology with the incredible processing power of the Apple iPad.

Vectorworks 2026 now has full integration with Apple award-winning app Morpholio Trace.

From initial concepts and design details to construction administration stage markups, Morpholio Trace delivers intelligent workflows for architects using the power of immediate hand to sketch workflows.

MORE: Vectorworks acquires popular Morpholio—Leading Mobile Design App

The new Trace integration with Vectorworks reflects a market-proven fact that drawing, tracing, and sketching remain central to how designers think, explore, and communicate ideas. Through the connection with Vectorworks on desktop, designers can move between various workflow scenarios and personas, from the immediacy of hand sketching to the intelligence of their BIM and CAD models.

“With this integration, we’re bringing the power of sketching and the precision of BIM closer together than ever before,” said Vectorworks Product Planner Iskra Nikolova. “Drawings and sketches now move seamlessly in both directions through Vectorworks Cloud Services. Designers can start in Vectorworks and then sketch in Trace, or begin in Trace and bring those ideas back into Vectorworks, enabling a fluid, flexible creative process without extra steps or friction. The release of this integration in Vectorworks 2026 Update 5 marks another milestone in our commitment to connected, mobile-friendly workflows that honor the craft of design.”

Getting Features

This new integration comes with Vectorworks 2026 Update 5, available now. This update is now accessible for all currently released English-language versions of Vectorworks 2026 through subscription and Vectorworks Service Select customers. Vectorworks users can install by selecting “Check for Updates from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows).

To explore the new Morpholio Trace integration and all the latest features, start a free 7-day trial of Vectorworks Design Suite and download Morpholio Trace for iPad and iPhone in the Apple App Store.

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

Morpholio Trace works with more applications than just Vectorworks, as it can ingest 3D models created in various applications, from BIM to professional 3D modelers. Usually, you export your model out to a (.USDZ) or (.OBJ) file format to bring into Trace. Of course, the Vectorworks integration is even smoother than this, and it’s automated in the cloud. 

Beyond Morpholio Trace, Morpholio Journal is another sister app for simply having a digital sketchbook. It features amazing pens and brushes, and you can also write in it. Then there is BoardPro, a mood board application. ELLE Décore magazine called it “addictive” and awarded it “Best Apps” for interior design, home decor, and interior architecture. This particular app is interesting because Vectorworks, as a company, has toyed with the idea of an industry vertical version of Vectorworks for interior professionals. Currently, interior professionals buy Vectorworks Architect or Vectorworks Design Suite to use as their CAD-BIM environment, but we could see an evolution in which both Vectorworks and this suite of apps (especially BoardPro) develop into a consolidated solution or package called Vectorworks Interiors. 

The advantage Vectorworks has created through its industry vertical solutions is the delivery of a tailor-made solution for a particular type of AEC/O professional. Architosh has written about this in the past in some detail: the one-size-fits-all approach will eventually lose out to highly focused, more pointed, and specialized solutions. We don’t know for certain if that is where the company will go next, but the acquisition of Morpholio Trace offers interesting suggestions. 

The post Vectorworks – Morpholio Trace integration redefines sketch-to-BIM appeared first on Architosh.

Measuring Graphics Performance

The SPECviewperf 2020 v3.1 benchmark now includes support for the latest Microsoft Windows 11 operating system and much better support for 4K screen resolution. It enables hardware and software vendors, as well as consumers, to measure the 3D graphics performance of systems running under the OpenGL and DirectX APIs (application programming interfaces).

SPEC latest graphics benchmark viewset, created from API traces of the latest version of 3ds Max.

Unlike most application performance benchmarks, the SPECviewperf 2020 v3.1 graphics benchmark utilizes specially crafted workloads called “viewsets.” These viewsets accurately represent the real-world graphics content and behavior of professional applications, eliminating the need to install the applications themselves.

The viewsets included in the latest SPECviewperf 2020 v3.1 benchmark represent the latest versions of 3ds Max, Catia, Creo, Maya, and Solidworks. The benchmark also includes datasets that accurately replicate real-world medical applications too.

Updates in SPECviewperf 2020 v3.1

Updates include full support for Windows 11. It also offers improved support for 4K screen resolution. When 3840-pixel x 2160-pixel resolution is selected, this setting is more prominently featured in the interface in order to make it clearer that the benchmark was run at 4K resolution.

Chair of the SPEC Graphics Performance Committee, Ross Cunniff tells us:

Hardware and operating system requirements

SPECviewperf 2020 v3.1 graphics benchmark has some fairly hefty hardware and software requirements. This is because it is designed to test cutting-edge graphics applications running at high screen resolutions.

• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1709 (Fall Creators Update / RS3) or Windows 11 or newer.
• 16GB of system RAM or greater.
• 80GB of available disk space.
• Minimum screen resolution of 1920 pixels ×1080 pixels for submissions published on the SPEC website.
• OpenGL 4.5 and DirectX 12 API support.
• GPU with 2GB or greater dedicated GPU memory.

Licensing

SPEC/GWPG (SPEC Graphics and Workstation Performance Group) member companies such as AMD, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Intel, Lenovo, and Nvidia receive SPECviewperf 2020 v3.1 licenses free as a membership benefit. Ordinary consumers may also download the software for free from here.

However, any for-profit entity that sells computers or computer-related products in the commercial marketplace needs to buy a license. Examples of those requiring a paid license include:

• Computer hardware and software vendors.
• Computer component manufacturers (hard drives, memory, device vendors).
• Computer-related service providers (for-profit resellers, distributors, consultants).
• Computer operating system companies.

Non-member computer product and service vendors can purchase the latest graphics benchmark for USD 2,500. Existing paying license holders are eligible for a free upgrade to a newly released version of the same software, providing they purchased the license for the older version of the software within six months of the release of the newer version.

• Please click here for more information.

About SPEC

Headquartered in Gainesville, Virginia, in the United States, SPEC is a non-profit organization that establishes, maintains, and endorses standardized benchmarks and tools to evaluate performance for the newest generation of computing systems. Its membership comprises more than 120 leading computer hardware and software vendors, educational institutions, research organizations, and government agencies around the world.

The post SPEC releases latest graphics benchmark appeared first on Architosh.

Silver Spoon’s new visuals have helped to modernize Iron Chef’s overall look, while preserving its familiar character and essence. The first episode of the new series premiered 15 June 2022.

Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. Marcus Samuelsson in episode 103, with XR and AR provided by Silver Spoon.

Throughout the three-week, eight-episode shooting schedule for Iron Chef, Silver Spoon provided AR & XR virtual environments, with real-time compositing via Pixotope and camera tracking via Stype. Silver Spoon’s key challenge was seamlessly to integrate AR and XR workflows during shooting. Careful pre-production planning, and collaboration among all departments proved to be the key to incorporating modern virtual production technologies successfully into the classic Iron Chef format.

Silver Spoon excels at creating technically good-quality content that is both functional and attractive. Whilst creating exciting visual content, it also ensures its technology works properly, in real-time right from the start. Consequently, Silver Spoon’s real-time studio-delivered AR and XR graphics have effectively re-imagined the popular cooking competition franchise for a new generation of viewers.

Creating culinary environments in augmented and extended reality

The competition’s unique culinary tasks take its contestants around the world and through different cuisines, with each episode featuring a Secret Ingredient. To elevate visual engagement, Silver Spoon managed the installation and operation of a large-scale LED wall. This was placed inside the ‘Secret Ingredient Chamber’, extending the physical set into a vast virtual world.

With a challenging timeline, the team prepared eight unique 3D environments in Unreal Engine, including underwater scenes, chili fields, a medieval feast, and a street food market.

Supplementing the XR environments, the team developed AR set extensions, incorporating thousands of DMX-controlled virtual lights, to expand the physical set to a larger scale.

Laura Herzing, Executive Producer at Silver Spoon, told us:

About Silver Spoon

Silver Spoon specializes in real-time virtual production. It works across industries from film, broadcast, and gaming to television, commercials and music video production. Its mission is simple: constantly innovate to expand the boundaries of real-time production.

Built on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, Silver Spoon creates and deploys innovative real-time content and engaging visual experiences with its end-to-end virtual production platform. Silver Spoon follows best-in-class practices for content creation for real-time pipelines. With a succession of industry ‘firsts,’ behind it, Silver Spoon has become a leader in its field. To find out more, please click here.

About Unreal Engine (UE)

Unreal Engine is a 3D computer graphics game engine originally developed by Epic Games. It first appeared in a 1998 ‘shoot-em-up’ game called ‘Unreal’. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres of games. It has also been adopted by other industries, including the film and television industry. Written in C++, the Unreal Engine is very portable, supporting a wide variety of desktop, mobile, console and virtual reality platforms.

The post Silver Spoon enhances Iron Chef revival with new AR Technology appeared first on Architosh.

Pixologic is now part of the Maxon company but will remain in Los Angeles.

Maxon product updates, key takeaways

• Cinema 4D S26 offers better integration with other Maxon tools.
• Forger now offers a selection of polygonal primitives (simple three-dimensional shapes).
• Magic Bullet Suite 16 adds new Halation and Optical Diffusion tools for Looks.
• Redshift now has CPU rendering.
• Trapcode Suite now offers M1 Mac support for all Trapcode tools.
• Universe 6 receives new creative tools.
• VFX Suite 3 introduces Real Lens Flares.
• Zbrush joins the Maxon family of high-end graphics products.

Cinema 4D S26

Maxon product updates include its Cinema4D package

Cinema 4D S26 offers better integration with other Maxon tools, unifying the entire 3D workflow. It also provides the ability to integrate Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code with Cinema 4D’s Script Manager. This loads, runs, and debugs Cinema 4D scripts from VS Code.

Forger

The latest version of Forger reveals the first stage in Maxon’s plan to provide powerful hard-surface modeling capabilities to 3D artists. Built with Cinema 4D’s polygonal foundation, Forger now offers a selection of polygonal primitives, including capsules, cubes, spheres, cylinders, planes, pyramids, tanks, and tori. These primitives can be shaped and crafted into complex creations with Forger’s set of sculpting tools, using Apple Pencil.

Magic Bullet

Maxon product updates to Magic Bullet Suite 16 add two new film and lens emulation tools for Looks, Halation, and Optical Diffusion. It also offers the first incarnation of its new Color Management system OpenColorIO.

Redshift

Redshift has added CPU rendering. This allows users to use Redshift’s powerful materials and photorealistic rendering on any modern system and a growing number of creative tools including Houdini, Maya, 3ds max, Blender, Katana, Vectorworks, and Archicad. The new Redshift Standard material is easy to use and offers a range of shading models for improved photorealism.

Redshift is also M1-native. In recent tests from LearnSketch.com one can see that the M1 Max is remarkable at Rendershift rendering, which is GPU-based.

Trapcode Suite

Maxon product updates to its Trapcode Suite 18 now offer M1 Apple Macintosh support for all Trapcode tools. Particular now has Layer Maps. Fluid Random Swirl controls are no longer disabled in the Designer. Pre-run now migrates data from older projects.

Universe

Maxon product updates to Universe 6 add new tools to enhance an artist’s workflow. Sketchify adds sketch- and cartoon-like effects to footage. ChromaTown creates chromatic streaks and blurs for warpy looks and transitions, while Box Bokeh provides square or diamond-shaped lens bokeh effects. Stretch Transition adds a stretchy crossfade between clips for a warp-like transition. Combined with over 70 new presets, Universe 6 helps artists to get impressive results quickly and intuitively.

ZBrush

Maxon acquired ZBrush in December 2021. ZBrush is a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D/2.5D modeling, texturing, and painting. It uses a proprietary “pixel” technology that stores lighting, color, material, orientation, and depth information for the points making up all objects on the screen.

Maxon CEO, David McGavran explains the rationale for Maxon product updates:

About Maxon

Maxon develops professional-quality software for editors, filmmakers, motion designers and visual effects artists. Maxon One subscribers can immediately download all product updates via the Maxon App.

The Maxon App is an all-new desktop application that provides a more intuitive way to install and update your favorite Maxon application, as well as manage your Maxon licenses. You can download a 14-day trial of the entire Maxon One package from within the Maxon App. This allows you to test all the new features from the entire Maxon product range.

• More information about the Maxon app.
• Video overview of Maxon’s latest updates.

The post Maxon’s Spring Product Updates—Details appeared first on Architosh.

Relaunch of GPUOpen

Along with the relaunch of GPUOpen there are some exciting changes for developers looking to integrate Radeon ProRender into their applications with a preview of the next generation rendering engine, new and updated plug-ins for Blender, Houdini, Maya, and Unreal Engine.

New and Updated Plug-Ins

•  A new plug-in for Unreal Engine with Vulkan API-based Full Spectrum Rendering and AI-accelerated denoising.
• Updated plug-in for SideFX Houdini with support for the Houdini principled shader.
• Updated plug-in for Autodesk Maya with support for Maya 2020, Esphere’s Ornatrix hair plug-in, and a preview of Radeon ProRender 2.0 rendering.
• Updated plug-in for Blender with support for Blender 2.83, rendering OpenVBD volumes, and a preview of Radeon ProRender 2.0 rendering.

Updates for Developers

• The AMD Radeon ProRender Developer Suite is now available on the redesigned GPUOpen.com web site.
• It is now easier for developers to implement with a permissive Apache License 2.0.
• Open-source versions of all our Radeon ProRender plug-ins available on GPUOpen.
• AMD Radeon Rays 4.0, an update to our high-performance ray intersection acceleration library.
• Beta SDK of our next-generation AMD Radeon ProRender 2.0 rendering engine.

Watch the May 2020 Radeon ProRender showreel video

01–AMD Radeon ProRender Developer Suite is a complete toolkit of SDKs for developers. All rights reserved.

The post 3D News: Take Your Renderings to the Next Level with AMD Radeon ProRender appeared first on Architosh.

Returning to the Mac

The new CorelDRAW for 2019 introduces a powerful new version for Windows and an all-new, graphic design software suite built specifically for macOS. The Canadian software maker had a macOS version nearly 20 years ago with the last version supporting Apple’s platform being version 11 released in 2001 but the application was never truly tailored to maximize the best of what macOS had to offer.

The new CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 for Mac is a ground-up re-write that makes the most use of Apple’s macOS platform including advanced support for Apple’s Touch Bar in its professional laptops. Finally, according to Corel, users have a truly professional design contender available on their platform of choice, empowering the creation of exciting and attention-grabbing graphics with pixel-perfect precision.

01 – It has been nearly 20 years since CorelDRAW has been on the Mac in any reasonable fashion. Now Corel has introduced a truly macOS native version that taps all the best features of Apple’s operating system.

“CorelDRAW has built its reputation as a leading graphics suite that’s focused on professional results, output, and ease of use,” said John Falsetto, Senior Director of Products, CorelDRAW and Productivity. “When it comes to delivering outstanding projects every time, designers deserve [a] real choice. With 2019, we’re bringing the power of CorelDRAW in a truly native experience to the Mac, delivering the high-end tools professionals need.”

New AI-Powered Professional Graphics Tools

Corel has added new AI-powered (artificial intelligence powered) drawing tools in CorelDRAW 2019 and has added a new CorelDRAW web app so users can work wherever they have web access from any modern computer.

02 – CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 for Mac consists of multiple apps built around the flagship CorelDRAW, its legendary vector-based illustrator application useful to many technical and design fields.

“Celebrating 30 years of graphics excellence, our CorelDRAW team continues to innovate with new products that promise to dramatically change the design software landscape,” said Gérard Métrailler, Executive Vice-President of Global Products at Corel. “With our recent Parallels acquisition and now the all-new CorelDRAW Graphics Suite for Mac, we’ve solidified Corel’s position as a provider of exceptional software that meets the needs of modern knowledge workers across specialties, skill levels, and platforms.”

Experience the all-new CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 for Mac

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 delivers the heart and soul of CorelDRAW in a new experience built specifically for Mac.

• Complete, Professional Design Toolkit: Explore an expansive toolbox of versatile, intuitive, and integrated applications to express your unique style and impress your audience. Take advantage of CorelDRAW for vector graphic design, illustration, and page layout, Corel PHOTO-PAINT® for photo editing, Corel® Font Manager™ to index and organize font libraries, AfterShot™ 3 HDR for RAW processing, the new CorelDRAW.app to access graphics tools virtually anywhere, and much more.
• Leading-Edge Technology: Discover a revolutionary new vector drawing experience that replicates the feel of pen and paper with LiveSketch™ – the industry’s first vector graphic design tool powered by a neural network. Watch as hand-drawn strokes are intelligently interpreted, adjusted, and combined with existing vector curves, making it simple to sketch and draw complex vector shapes on any pen-enabled device.
• Unique Experience for macOS: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 for Mac offers native Mac applications that reflect elements users love most about their favorite platform, including menus, windows and views, fields and labels, and buttons. Support for macOS Mojave Dark Mode and Touch Bar on MacBook Pro add to the suite’s unique look and feel.
• Easy to Learn & Use: Don’t fear the blank canvas – jump in and start creating! This powerful collection of applications is loaded with intuitive tools, learning materials, and sample projects to get started easily and create great designs sooner.

To learn more about everything included in the suite, visit www.coreldraw.com/mac/

To learn about the Windows version and what’s new visit www.coreldraw.com/windows/.

CorelDRAW.app — Work From Anywhere

Whether you buy the Mac or Windows version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019, included with each suite is CorelDRAW.app which enables you to be more productive on the go.

Rounding out the graphic design workflow, use the new web app to access CorelDRAW files stored in the cloud, add annotations and design elements, or start a new project from any device, thanks to innovative tools that empower creativity and deliver incredible results. Enhance your CorelDRAW.app web experience with a subscription to even more professional design options.

Licensing Options

CorelDRAW users have the option of either subscription or perpetual licensing. Corel says it believes in choice, which is a direct competitive shot across the bow to Adobe. The subscription version is a low annual fee with the ability to cancel and renew as needs change.

Availability and Pricing

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 and CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 for Mac are available now in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, and Japanese language versions.

The full version of each suite retails for $499.USD or 699.euro. Registered users of any previous version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite may upgrade to the Windows suite for $199.USD or 349.euro.

Subscriptions are $198.USD or 234.euro per year. European and UK prices will include VAT. Access to CorelDRAW.app is included with your CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 purchase. Users also have the option to upgrade to additional design features in the web app through an affordable subscription.

Enterprise clients can take advantage of volume licensing options and maintenance, which offer benefits including network deployment and virtualization. To learn more about CorelDRAW licensing options, visit www.coreldraw.com/business.

The CorelDRAW 2019 page layout and vector illustration software will also be available as a stand-alone application via subscription on both the Apple AppStore for macOS and the Microsoft Store for Windows.

For more information and to download the free 15-day trial (no payment info required), visit www.coreldraw.com.

The post Canada’s Corel Announces New CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 for Mac appeared first on Architosh.

New in CorelDRAW Technical Suite 2018

In today’s manufacturing world where products are created off of MCAD platforms, CorelDRAW Technical Suite must ingest CAD data. The latest 2018 release supports all the popular CAD and technical drawing standards.

“CorelDRAW Technical Suite builds on the power of three exceptional graphics applications – Corel DESIGNER, CorelDRAW, and PHOTO-PAINT – to give technical illustrators everything they need to create high-quality designs and achieve exceptional results fast,” said Klaus Vossen, Sr. Product Manager, CorelDRAW. “This powerful suite supports the technical standards you require while delivering the compatibility, flexibility, and power needed to create consistent and precise visuals – from manuals and assembly instructions to technical marketing.”

01 – CorelDRAW Technical Suite 2018 features numerous improvements designed to dovetail with CAD data for further technical illustration needs, ideal for large and small manufacturers and AEC companies.

Choose CorelDRAW Technical Suite 2018 to design with impact and create a variety of technical illustration projects, from detailed assembly instructions to schematics, user manuals, and marketing collateral.

Features

Designed to be ideal for product manufacturers, aerospace and defense industry, and the AEC industries, CorelDRAW Technical Suite 2018 accelerates the technical illustration workflow:

• Powerful tools for design precision — Achieve unsurpassed productivity with new design and authoring capabilities. Save time with the Symmetry drawing mode to create a range of symmetrical designs, from simple objects to complex mechanical pieces, in real time. Align and distribute nodes using the bounding box of a selection, the page edge or center, the closest grid line, or a specified point. Gain greater control over the appearance of corners in objects, text, and symbols that use dashed lines.
• Advanced translation workflow support — Produce illustrations that contain descriptive text, then output directly to the Translation Memory System (TMS) for use in multi-lingual technical publications for global audiences. Format text spanning multiple columns and use Corel DESIGNER® 2018 to author complete user manuals or documents. Then send the source language document for translation and receive translations to create localized documents with one click.
• Intuitive photo-editing — Get impressive results with the powerful photo-editing capabilities of PHOTO-PAINT® 2018, including the new interactive straighten and intuitive perspective adjustment features. With professional editing tools, ensure the images used in technical documentation are precise and legible at any resolution. With the addition of AfterShot™ 3 HDR, make corrections and enhancements to RAW or JPEG photos.
• Updated industry-leading file compatibility — Take advantage of full support for technical publication standards, import the latest versions of DWG CAD files, and work with more than 100 additional data file formats to publish, share, and output technical documents. Cross-media publishing and distribution capabilities, including CGM, WebCGM (incl. S1000D 4.2), SVG, and PDF (incl. 3D PDF), ensure important technical files will be delivered in the required format.
• Accelerated performance — Take advantage of the many time-saving improvements that make technical authoring and drawing more efficient. Get to work faster with an accelerated product launch time and boost productivity with faster rendering of tool previews; curve previews, nodes, and handles; and more. Now, open large files more quickly and enjoy smoother editing when working with complex curves.
• Productive 3D visualization with XVL Studio Corel Edition — Add context to technical projects using 3D views and models. Included in the suite, new XVL Studio Corel Edition can be used to create high-quality renderings from 3D views imported from DWG, 3DS, or IGES 3D model files. Easily transform 3D views into vector illustrations with the enhanced Send to Corel DESIGNER feature. Plus, choose the XVL Studio 3D CAD add-on option to get animation tools and work with 3D CAD Engineering files.

Teams of five or more licenses can gain additional collaboration and sharing benefits with new connectivity to Microsoft SharePoint sites that provides direct Document Management System access right from within the suite.

CorelDRAW Technical Suite 2018 includes:

• Corel DESIGNER® 2018 – Precision illustration and technical design
• CorelDRAW® 2018 – Vector illustration and page layout
• PHOTO-PAINT® 2018 – Professional image editing
• PowerTRACE® 2018 – Bitmap-to-vector tracing
• Font Manager™ 2018 – Powerful font management
• XVL Studio Corel Edition – 3D visualization and authoring
• CONNECT™ – Content finder
• CAPTURE™ 2018 – Screen capture
• AfterShot™ 3 HDR – RAW photo editor
• PhotoZoom Pro 4 – Plug-in to export and enlarge digital images from PHOTO-PAINT

Corel offers flexible purchase options for individuals and corporate accounts with either subscription or perpetual license options. Perpetual license customers can save on future versions with the Upgrade Protection Program, an easier and more affordable way to stay up to date with CorelDRAW Technical Suite. Add the Upgrade Protection Program when you purchase CorelDRAW Technical Suite 2018 and you are guaranteed to get future releases at the lowest possible cost, together with the confidence of knowing you are using the latest version. Enjoy these benefits as long as your account is active, and even if you decide to stop the Upgrade Protection Program, you can continue to use your latest version.

Availability and Pricing

CorelDRAW Technical Suite 2018 is available now in English, French, German, and Japanese. The full version is priced at $999 USD. Registered users of any previous version of CorelDRAW Technical Suite may upgrade for $429 USD (excludes NFR, OEM, and Academic versions). Subscription is $360 USD per year. Upgrade Program pricing is $169.99 USD per year.

Corporate and academic accounts can take advantage of volume licensing options and maintenance, which offer benefits including network deployment and virtualization. To learn more about CorelDRAW Technical Suite licensing options, please visit www.coreldraw.com/business.

For more information, or to purchase, please visit www.coreldraw.com/technicalsuite.

SaveSave

SaveSave

The post CorelDRAW Technical Suite 2018—Latest Update Packs Flexibility and Power appeared first on Architosh.

New Plugin Lets Artists Integrate 3D Content Directly Into Adobe Illustrator CC

This new plugin allows artists to add and edit 3D objects directly within Illustrator, the industry-standard vector graphics application included in the Adobe Creative Cloud.

Users can import any Cinema 4D file and tweak the view, lighting, and textures to integrate 3D elements with 2D designs. Additionally, they can use 3D elements as templates when creating vector artwork in Illustrator.

01 – Maxon’s new Cineware for Illustrator brings the power of its super renderer into the standard-bearer for professional 2D vector graphics.

Maxon has partnered with Turbosquid, a leading online source for 3D models so that new Cineware for Illustrator users can jump-start their work in Illustrator working with 3D models.

“Cinema 4D has long offered a fantastic, easy-to-learn toolset for product visualization and graphic design,” says Harald Egel, managing partner at MAXON Computer GmbH. “With Cineware for Illustrator, we’re making both the Cinema 4D toolset and 3D, in general, more accessible to designers, and plan to develop this workflow even further in the future.”

Cineware for Adobe Illustrator Feature Highlights

• 3D Objects — Rotate, position, and show/hide individual 3D objects from any Cinema 4D scene, all within Adobe Illustrator.
• Materials — Adjust the color, reflection, luminance, transparency, and bump directly within Adobe Illustrator — Users can even apply vector artwork to the surface of 3D models.
• Cameras —: Switch between pre-set cameras or use simple navigation tools to choose preferred viewing angle.
• Lights — Enable or disable lights, and change their color to set a mood and emphasize shapes.
• Integrate — Workflow allows easy removal of the background by choosing the automatically created alpha map so 3D elements can be integrated into existing vector artwork.

Motion designers have enjoyed a similar integration of Cinema 4D technology within Adobe After Effects CC since the introduction of the Cineware bridge in 2013. Cineware for Illustrator offers, even more, power, allowing designers to adjust object visibility, textures, and lighting from within Adobe Illustrator.

MORE: Maxon announces update to Cineware for Adobe After Effects CC

This introduces a powerful workflow for designers to visualize product labels, incorporate rich 3D content into Illustrator composites, or even arrange 3D elements as guides for form and perspective when creating vector artwork.

Availability

Cineware for Illustrator is available at no cost for MacOS and Windows 10 on the Maxon web site.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

The post MAXON Unveils Cineware for Illustrator—Adds Rendering Engine to Adobe App appeared first on Architosh.

Comprehensive and Affordable

AliveColors offers a comprehensive range of image editing features, letting users edit, retouch and enhance digital images in an easy software environment and at a cost much less than its several professional-oriented competitors. AKVIS says the developer’s goal with AliveColors was to give users the creative freedom to implement their design ideas using a single piece of software.

AliveColors is more than an image editor, it also supports vector-based graphics such as line drawings, logos, or information graphics using vector-based objects with text. On its image editing side, the program’s multipurpose tools support image adjustment tools, filters, effects and other image processing functions.

01 – AliveColors is a new comprehensive image-editing and graphics software package for Mac and Windows, from AKVIS, a company known for its many plugins for Photoshop and other image editors.

Noise reduction filters and blur effects help photographers deal with touching up existing and new photos, while tonal and color controls provide an array of prepress adjustment capabilities. Users can also create “HDR imagery” from AliveColors, edit RAW images, and combine multiple images into collages. Additionally, AliveColors supports plugins both by AKVIS (which sells plugins) and third-party developers.

Finally, AliveColors is multilingual and supports 4k and 5k displays; it is currently available in English, German, French, Italian, and Russian.

Availability and Costs

The new image editor is available for download at alivecolors.com. The trial version is fully functional for 10 days. The software runs on Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10; and on Mac OS X 10.7-10.11 and macOS 10.12 – 64-bit only. AliveColors comes in Home and Pro versions, with differing levels of functionality. Users have a choice between lifetime licenses ($ 49/$ 160) and subscription options ($ 2/ $ 5). Also, the Free version with limited functionality is available. For more information about features, license types, and prices visit alivecolors.com.

SaveSave

SaveSave

The post AKVIS Releases New Image Editor—AliveColors for Mac and Windows appeared first on Architosh.

MORE: Amy Bunszel of Autodesk talks to Architosh about AutoCAD, Mac and the new iPad Pro

Thus, it’s no surprise then that the latest SketchBook 4.0 for iOS, by Autodesk, builds on this history of taking your iOS device to the max.

An All New Rendering Engine

Autodesk’s new SketchBook 4.0 starts with an all-new rendering engine that acknowledges and makes use of the power of Apple’s processors in the iPad Pro in particular. This new engine enables enormous canvas support, up to 10,000 x 10,000 pixels and a massive undo stack. It means when you make a mistake or want to go back to another point in the creative process, you can go back pretty much forever.

01 – The new Autodesk SketchBook 4.0 for iOS devices taps the power of Apple’s A-series chips and offers all new drawing and rendering engine.

Autodesk says the ultimate device for the new SketchBook 4.0 for iOS is the iPad Pro with Apple Pencil, but all of the supported Apple iOS devices will see speed improvements along with all the other new features.

Speaking of Features

SketchBook 4.0 aims to have more feature parity with the desktop version of SketchBook, with some SketchBook for Mac favorites now included in this iOS release.

This latest release begins with a whole new way of accessing full menus in full-screen mode. It’s called Rapid UI Mode, and Autodesk says it is designed to keep you “deep in the flow of drawing” and not lost in nested menu structures.

There are also new default brush sets, including texture brushes. In total there are now over 170 customizable brushes. The head’s up display (HUD) main marking menu makes smart work of accessing common or recently used tools, or what Autodesk is calling a “kind of automatic muscle memory selection” for the tools you used most.

Radial symmetry guides help users draw things like watches or automobile wheels or other radial objects with divisions up to 16 sectors. This helps with perfect symmetry on these types of designs. Also, helping artists along is Predictive Stroke, which is a popular feature that has come on over from the desktop version. This technology knows when you want some help in making your lines straight. This technology is scalable meaning that you can dial in just the right amount of correction to your free hand strokes, improving curves beautifully and when needed making straight lines straight.

Product designers wanted better ellipses and circle tools when drawing in perspective, features that also came over from the desktop version. With this tech, it becomes much easier to draw accurate circles and ellipses in relationship to other drawn geometry.

Product Video

The best way to see and understand some of these features is to watch them in action. Autodesk has a product video (below) and you can also check out more items on this blog page.

The post Autodesk’s SketchBook 4.0 for iOS—Massive Update Taps Apple’s Powerful A-Series Processors appeared first on Architosh.

V-Ray Chosen for New Adobe 3D App

V-Ray acts as a virtual camera inside of the new open public beta program called Project Felix—a new software program for both macOS and Windows-based graphic designers. Users can composite 3D assets with 2D image backgrounds and control lighting and materials and send the result through the V-Ray rendering engine powered final stage of the application.

By integrating V-Ray, a production standard in film, television, and architecture, Adobe has brought the same ray tracing technology used by companies like IKEA and Industrial Light & Magic to a much wider audience. Photorealistic rendering can now be harnessed by graphic designers and first-time 3D users with this first public beta.

01 – Adobe and Chaos Group partner on new Project Felix where V-Ray is the chosen rendering technology for Adobe’s new offering. Image: Adobe/Chaos Group, All rights reserved.

“We’re thrilled that Adobe has chosen V-Ray to be the core rendering engine for Project Felix, and to be a part of a new era for 3D in graphic design,” said Peter Mitev, CEO of Chaos Group. “Together we’re bringing the benefits of photoreal rendering, and a new design workflow, to millions of creatives worldwide.”

“Working with the amazing team at Chaos Group meant we could bring the power of the industry’s top rendering engine to our users,” said Stefano Corazza, senior director of engineering at Adobe. “Thanks to their stellar team, our collaboration lets graphic designers design in a more natural flow. Each edit comes to life right before their eyes.”

MORE: AU 2016: Chaos Group Announces 2 Million Euro Investment in CL3VER

With Project Felix, the software’s temporary code name, Adobe is allowing users to easily create sophisticated 3d rendering imagery without the complexity of professional 3d rendering tools such as V-Ray itself. Acting like a virtual camera, the V-Ray technology lets users test angles, perspectives, and placement of their mode in the scene; users can play with materials and alter lighting using the preview window getting immediate visual feedback on how each edit will look in the final rendered image.

Availability

Project Felix is available now as a public beta. Please visit: http://www.adobe.com/products/project-felix.html.

About V-Ray

From architecture and design to visual effects in film and television, V-Ray is the most widely used rendering solution in the world. Whether used to showcase products at IKEA or bring the “Game of Thrones” dragons to life, V-Ray has helped artists and designers visualize their best work for over 20 years, pushing the boundaries of imagery, animation, and virtual reality. In 2017, V-Ray was honored with an Academy Award for helping to facilitate the “widespread adoption of fully ray-traced rendering [in] motion pictures.”

The post Adobe Partners With Chaos Group—Integrates V-Ray Into New Project Felix appeared first on Architosh.

Unchanged Since the Renaissance

Mental Canvas is a drawing software application like no other. Developed from research at Yale University, the application enables the user to create freely, like we can do today in 2D on a notepad, but within a 3D type of drawing space. This app is different.

“Technology has revolutionized text, photography, and music, but drawing has largely remained unchanged since the Renaissance as today’s illustration tools merely simulate drawing on paper,” said Julie Dorsey, founder, and CEO at Mental Canvas and computer science professor at Yale University. “Mental Canvas reimagines the sketch and brings it into the digital age with an entirely new set of capabilities to accelerate the creative process and enhance idea sharing.”

01 – Mental Canvas is an innovative and creative new sketching application that brings in the 3rd dimension. It is developed ideally for the new Microsoft Surface with Dial but may expand to other devices. CLICK ON image to experience animation.

Mental Canvas supports sketching on what the app calls “canvases” that are situated in space. The net result is an experience where the artist can switch between drawing (sketching) and navigating spatially at the same time in a fluid way. This enables the artist to think and rethink work, advancing iteration and creativity.

Scenes can be saved in Mental Canvas and then animated or navigated. The best way to experience what Mental Canvas has to offer is to watch the video below or the animation in the image above.

Mental Canvas is a new innovative application in late beta and headed to the Microsoft Windows Surface family of devices first. It is not clear if this application will be targeted for Apple’s operating systems at this time. 

Mental Canvas is designed specifically for a range of people and professionals who sketch or draw ideas. Unlike existing 3D modeling or CAD applications, Mental Canvas has a very shallow learning curve and his highly intuitive.

“Mental Canvas pushes the boundaries of sketch, bringing an element of exploration that’s just not possible with pen and paper,” said Panos Panay, corporate vice president of devices at Microsoft. “This is a great example of hardware and software coming together to harness pen, touch and the new Surface Dial to help architects, designers and engineers bring their ideas to life in a more natural and personal way.”

Yale and Core Technology

Mental Canvas grew out of a research team at Yale University. This team was led by company founder and CEO, Professor Julie Dorsey. Prominent software engineers Dave Burke and David Pritchard are both associated with the University of British Columbia and also on the team.

With the creative freedom of a research environment and support of multiple grants from The National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, Dorsey and her team developed the product and launched the company without any additional outside funding. The company has two awarded and four pending patents.

To learn more about Mental Canvas go visit their website.

The post Mental Canvas—The Radical New Drawing App You Haven’t Heard Of appeared first on Architosh.

Each week Web Summit selects early stage startups from around the world to exhibit as part of ALPHA. The world’s leading media outlets such as BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Guarding, Forbes, The New York Times, Financial Times and many more are attending to cover the event in Dublin, November 3-5, 2015.

OrthoGraph was invited to take part in the ALPHA startup Web Summit, which is considered the most important technology conference in the world. At the event, startup companies and professionals will get together to share experiences, networking and listen to 1000 speakers from the world’s leading founders, investors, CEOs, inventors, designers and thinkers, such as the founders of Pixar, Skype, Tinder and OnePlus.

How does PITCH work?

PITCH is open to any startups that have received under $3 million in funding to date and have not had a discernible change in business model in the previous 3 years. During the three days of the event, 200 of the best startups will have an opportunity to introduce themselves within the frame of four-minute PITCH. This is followed by a one-minute Q&A from the judging panel. Startups will battle it out across 3 days for a chance to present on the Main Stage and be crowned “Winner of PITCH 2015”.

01 – The finalist will come face-to-face with a panel of judges made up of investors, journalists and established entrepreneurs.

The PITCH is divided into two tracks: ALPHA and BETA, and from each category, a winner will be chosen. OrthoGraph’s PITCH will be in the ALPHA track on November 4, PITCH Stage 2, PITCH Session 11:15-12:15. Come and see the company’s success! Visit the OrthoGraph’s stand on November 4 at B166 Stand.

Why is OrthoGraph between the best 200 startups?

The company’s product, OrthoGraph Building Survey System–running on iPad—was made for professionals for saving time while surveying the built environment in a unique way. The 3D BIM concept, all the professional features, the on-site report and the wide range of output formats – including IFC, DXF and Excel – make it fast, accurate and powerful to create digitizedas-builts on the spot.

Thanks for these features the building survey app fills a huge gap in the field of building industry and it is now used in more than 70 countries by thousands of professionals every day.

The post OrthoGraph’s battle in front of the world’s leading investors appeared first on Architosh.

Version 3.0 includes over 100 features and refinements. This massive update also includes a new instant replay feature, support for iOS 9 Multitasking, and refinements to Procreate’s interface for an unmatched experience with iPad Pro.

Version 3 features

Procreate 3 comes alive with Apple Pencil. All 128 brushes have been engineered to take full advantage of ‘pressure sensitivity’, tilt detection and palm rejection. The remarkable accuracy of Apple Pencil lets you sketch with incredible detail and tilt for gorgeous shading effects, without the need to change tools. Using pressure sensitivity painting brushes react to your every movement, all while comfortably resting your palm on the screen thanks to the built in palm rejection.

According to Savage CEO and Co-founder James Cuda, “Procreate 3 on iPad Pro with Apple Pencil is a game changer. We were thrilled that the announcement video for Apple Pencil featured Procreate 3 almost exclusively, as the best application to demonstrate the power and precision of these devices. We can’t wait for customers to try it out for themselves.”

01 – Procreate has all the tools to create breathtaking illustrations, including an advanced layer system, massive canvas resolutions, 64-bit color and stunning cinema quality effects.

Procreate 3 has been designed for iPad Pro to give artists a more immersive experience than ever before. The powerful A9X chip inside the iPad Pro together with Procreate lets you create massive artworks: up to an incredible 16K in one direction. This unprecedented level of definition allows artists to create exceptionally detailed artworks and easily print in large formats.

“The incredible performance of the iPad Pro opened up new doors for what we could do with Procreate,” said Chief Engineer Lloyd Bottomley. “On paper the iPad Pro is 2x faster than the iPad Air 2, but in practice we found that Procreate 3 on an iPad Pro delivers blazing performance, easily surpassing a high-powered desktop computer with competing software.”

Building on Procreate’s reputation for reinventing essential tools for multi-touch comes Quickline, a new feature for creating precise straight lines. Just by holding at the end of a stroke, artists can rapidly create perfectly straight lines in exactly the right spot without changing tools or diving through menus. Quickline retains the texture and quality of each brush, allowing for versatile linework that matches any style.

02 – Procreate helps to create beautifully realistic sketches in no time.

Making its debut in Procreate 3 is the new Perspective Guide and Perspective Assist, allowing artists to easily create powerful custom perspective guides. The revolutionary Perspective Assist lets any artist draw in perfect perspective. Just turn on the Assist and every stroke will line up with the guide like magic. The Perspective features are available for a small in-app purchase of $1.99 US.

With full support for iOS 9 Multitasking, artists can use reference images alongside the canvas for inspiration, or continue communicating without leaving Procreate.

Procreate is the most powerful painting app ever designed for a mobile device. This complete artist’s toolbox helps you create beautiful sketches, inspiring paintings and stunning illustrations anywhere you are. Procreate is an Apple Design Award Winner and App Store Essential featuring ground-breaking canvas resolution, 128 incredible brushes, advanced layer system and is powered by Silica 3: the fastest 64-bit painting engine on a mobile device.

Device requirements

• compatible with iPad
• requires iOS 9.1 or later
• optimized for iPad Pro
• 86.8 MB

Pricing and availability

Procreate 3.0 is $5.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Entertainment category.

About Savage Interactive

Based in Hobart, Australia, Savage Interactive is the team behind the multi award winning, Procreate, for iPad. This team of 6 developers is focused on the relentless pursuit of developing high performance creative tools for creative people.

The post Procreate 3 now available with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil support appeared first on Architosh.

This integration of more than 2,300 courses comes 18 months after Pluralsight acquired the creative training company and is a poignant next step toward unifying the Pluralsight platform as a one-stop learning shop for technology professionals.

Plural sight’s redesigned platform

While the Digital-Tutors brand will be retired, the move to one platform will not disrupt the access or experience Digital-Tutor subscribers have come to expect. Pluralsight.com will absorb Digital-Tutors’ suite of courses tackling creative topics such as 3D animation, graphic design, game development, visual effects, web and interactive, and computer-aided design (CAD), and popular software such as Photoshop, After Effects, Maya, 3ds Max, Revit, and Unity, among others.

All employees from Digital-Tutors have merged into the growing Pluralsight team, and production of additional creative-focused courses will continue.

01 – Digital- Tutors is now Pluralsight with all functionality and accounts remaining the same.

Along with the integration of creative courses, Pluralsight’s redesigned platform now offers learners the ability to easily identify and browse additional topical courses in various technology sectors including: IT, software development, business, data, architecture and design, and manufacturing and design. In the coming months the platform will also provide learners with instant access to expert mentors and dynamic skills assessments.

“Pluralsight is excited to welcome the creative technologists from Digital-Tutors and we will continue to aggressively expand our library with high-quality content. The redesign of our web experience brings together all facets of professional technology training under one virtual roof,” said Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight. “The extended features of our learning platform will continue to evolve, making it easier for individuals and enterprises across the world to skill-up; giving them the ability to grow both their careers and business.”

Providing instant online access

Committed to democratizing professional technology learning, Pluralsight has strategically expanded since acquiring Digital-Tutors in the spring of 2014. To disrupt the traditional learning landscape for tech professionals, Pluralsight also acquired learn-to-code platform Code School, skills assessment company Smarterer and live mentoring service HackHands. With nearly 3 million global learners, Pluralsight provides instant online access to more than 4,500 tech courses authored by a network of more than 850 top industry experts.

For more information about Pluralsight, visit www.pluralsight.com.

About Pluralsight

Founded in 2004, Pluralsight is the global leader in online learning for professional software developers, IT specialists and creative technologists. As the world’s largest curated professional development platform, the company offers instant access to more than 4,500 courses authored by top experts. With customers in more than 150 countries, Pluralsight serves as a career catalyst, delivering hands-on, practical training for the most in-demand and understaffed jobs of today. For more information, visit Pluralsight.com.

The post Pluralsight Fully Integrates Digital-Tutors Creative Courses Into New Learning Platform appeared first on Architosh.

Autodesk is proud to announce that iDraw and its vector design and illustration capabilities have been added to the Autodesk Consumer and 3D Printing family of products.

Autodesk Graphic provides the ability to create new designs on the fly or edit existing files away from the office.

Graphic for Autodesk Professional Customers: Sample Workflows

Autodesk Graphic is important to all of Autodesk and benefits all of our users by enabling them to create vector files and add them to 3D models. Users can import vector files into any of our products that accept PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, SVG, PSD, AI, and PDF formats (Graphic can export all of those except AI files).

AEC

All AEC professionals benefit from Graphic’s ability to create to-scale documents, work with metric and imperial units, easily set and change a canvas scale factor for a design, add automatic dimension lines, and create custom libraries of shapes.

01 – Autodesk Graphic is now also available for the iPhone. All rights reserved.

Designs can be exported to vector-based PDF and SVG files which can be imported into other applications.

MANUFACTURING

Those in the manufacturing industry have the ability to take a vector diagram and import it as a sketch into Inventor or Fusion 360 to extrude from. It’s also possible to import, edit, and annotate existing schematics.

An automotive manufacturer is easily able to create car concept designs using precise vector drawing tools, while a product designer can create product mockups, illustrations, and print-based designs. Graphic can import and export most commonly used design files – including PDF, SVG Photoshop PSD, AI, and EPS files – allowing you to easily integrate it into an existing design workflow.

MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

Animators will find Graphic helpful for creating assets for media projects and game development. Graphic’s combination of vector drawing tools and Layer FX can be used to create both stylized and realistic art assets which are completely resolution- independent.

It’s also possible to easily create sprite images and spritesheets for games using Graphic’s automatic exporting and slices features. For Mac and iOS development projects, directly export Core Graphics drawing code.

*Autodesk completed the acquisition of iDraw earlier this year. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

What is Autodesk Graphic Per Device

iPhone

• A brand new, full-featured iPhone version of Graphic
• Easily view and edit your designs from anywhere

Mac

• Support for pressure-sensitive, variable-width brush strokes
• Brush tool: draw with pressure-sensitivity with tablets and Force Touch trackpads
• Create, save, and reuse custom calligraphic brush stroke styles (brush contour editor)
• New transform toolbar (adjust selections of objects and numerically edit path points; anchor the resize direction)
• CMYK PDF, PSD import / export
• Place SVG, EPS, and AI elements directly into an existing design using drag & drop or ‘File > Place…’
• Updated for OS X El Capitan

iPad

• Optimized for iOS 9
• Support for split-screen multitasking with Split View and Slide Over

Powerful Vector Design and Illustration tools

Graphic was designed from the beginning to have a beautiful, clean, and easy to use interface – with the goal of creating a powerful drawing application which takes advantage of the native features in Mac OS X and iOS, and is both fun and rewarding to use.

Vector drawing on all of your OS X and iOS Devices

Designs can be created and shared easily across all devices with iCloud or Dropbox, and you can now create or edit designs from anywhere using the new full-featured iPhone version.

The power and toolset of the desktop application is maintained and optimized for touch in both the iPad and iPhone versions.

Introducing variable-width brush strokes optimized for Force touch and Wacom® tablets

The Mac version of Graphic introduces an enhanced brush tool with support for pressure sensitive strokes from either a Force Touch trackpad or Wacom® pressure sensitive tablet input device.

02 – Enhanced brush tool with pressure sensitive strokes and brush contour editor demonstrated in the Bicyclist. Image by Autodesk Graphic. All rights reserved.

Use the new brush contour editor to adjust a brushstroke’s shape – and create, save, and reuse custom brushstroke styles.

To learn more about the new Autodesk Graphic visit here.

The post Autodesk introduces new Autodesk® Graphic appeared first on Architosh.

AKVIS AirBrush

Load your image into the program and make an airbrush drawing with a mouse click! You can choose one of the ready to use presets or play with the effect settings. The program uses cutting edge airbrushing techniques, creating a masterpiece like a real artist by turning photos into realistic digital paintings for everyone from hobbyist to professional graphic designer.

In Version 3.0

• Improved Drawing Effect – The program now generates even better results, producing expressive images with the enhanced level of detail in the breathtaking airbrushing technique.
• Watermark Feature – New features in the Text tab allow adding watermarks to drawings which can be used to protect creative works or to promote brands and products.
• New Tools – Added the Toolbar with these tools: Quick Preview, Crop, Zoom, Hand, Smudge, andHistory Brush. The smart non-destructive Crop tool is available in the standalone version, for the Home Standalone, Home Deluxe, and Business licenses. The Smudge and History Brush tools are accessible only to Home Deluxe and Business licenses owners. The post-processing tools help to refine the drawing created by the program, add a handmade touch to your artwork, fade the airbrush painting effect, etc.
• Improved Print Options – It’s now possible to print high resolution images on multiple pages to get professional-quality posters.
• Also in the new version – Fixed minor bugs and some compatibility problems, added support for more RAW files, and other changes.

It is a free upgrade for recent buyers. Users, whose license is not valid for the new version, can get AirBrush v.3.0 for only $14.95. To download AKVIS AirBrush V.3.0 click here.

01 – AKVIS AirBrush automatically transforms a photograph into a fine art masterpiece. The software is equipped with 55 ready-to-use presets. Photo by AKVIS. All rights reserved.

For those who would like to try the software a 10 day trial is available free of charge.

Software requirements

The software runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10; and on Mac OS X 10.6-10.10; both 32- and 64-bit operating systems. The product is available as a standalone application and as a Photoshop plugin filter.

For more information about the software, visit akvis.com/en/airbrush/.

 About Company

AKVIS specializes in development of image processing software. The company was founded in 2004 by IT professionals having considerable experience in programming and software development. Since then the company has released a number of successful products: standalone applications and Photoshop plugins for Windows and Mac.

The post Turn Your Photos into Airbrush Drawings with AKVIS AirBrush 3.0 appeared first on Architosh.

Surface pressure

You can be expressive from every angle as the Pencil’s unique tip is shaped to create lines of all sizes without any settings. When drawing the point can be used for fine details and the angled edge for broad strokes.

Erase

The Pencil is truly designed as a regular carpenter pencil as it has a unique built-in eraser that lets you precisely carve away mistakes, allowing users to be bold and express what is essential. There is no need to switch tools, just flip Pencil to erase.

Blend

The blending feature really gives users a hands-on opportunity to be creative and when drawing lines, fingers can be used to smooth rough edges and even blend colors directly on the page. Create beautiful color transitions for charts, skies, and shadows.

Palm Rejection

The adaptive palm rejection instantly knows whether it’s your hand or Pencil touching the page.

01 -Watch “Pencil / Think with your hands” video.

Rest your hand on the screen as you would on paper and write from any angle as no calibration or setup is needed…just touch the tip of the pencil onto the iPad and you’re good to go.

Crafted for creativity

The Pencil is certified Bluetooth Smart wireless and delivers a fast, stable connection with industry-leading power conservation making the battery last for up to a month on a normal use.

MORE: Ultimate iPad Guide: 12 Must-Have Apps for Architects

The Pencil can be charged on any USB port in under 90 minutes. The body of the Pencil also comes in different variety from premium-grade walnut to seamless brushed aluminum body.

Paper 53 on iPhone Soon

Paper by 53 has been a huge hit on the iPad devices, and here at Architosh we listed in it in our top 12 apps for architects in this report here. Now it is coming to your iPhone. Sign up to be notified when it arrives.

The post Paper by 53’s ‘Pencil’ lets creatives think with their hands appeared first on Architosh.

Part of this launch, Parallels is introducing a companion app for Apple® Watch, providing users with the ability to see remote computers and initiate a connection for an even better remote experience.

“The need to do more on mobile devices has been a growing trend among both consumers and business professional alike. Our latest Parallels Access update brings new features that make it easier than ever before to get work done with native touch gestures on mobile devices, as well as from any computer with a web browser,” said Jack Zubarev, president of Parallels. “Parallels Access makes every application and file on your remote work and home computers available at your fingertips no matter where you are, so you can be productive on the go.”

01 – One simple tap on your mobile device, and you’re connected reliably to your computer. Or access it 24/7 from any other computer through a browser and your secure Parallels account. All rights reserved.

Parallels Access transforms mobile devices into more powerful computing machines by allowing them to remotely run any application, edit documents, and search through and access all the files on a remote computer through a universal file manager. It also allows you to use any computer with a modern web browser to access and run everything on your remote computer.

On-the-go

Parallels Access is ideal for professionals who want to travel light, but still access all their computer files on the go, or a home user that just wants the peace of mind knowing that all of their files and photos are available with a tap or click from anywhere in the world. The unique “Applification™” technology of Parallels Access makes desktop apps behave like native apps on tablets and phones.

“As the market shifts increasingly towards mobile applications, solutions that can further turn a mobile device into a powerful computer are becoming increasingly necessary,” said Laura DiDio, information technology analyst and principal of ITIC. “The latest update to Parallels Access further extends this invaluable functionality to make the practice of working remotely from your mobile device more efficient and powerful.”

Interactive gaming

With an eye toward helping people play their favorite computer games from any iOS device, Parallels Access has added experimental support for Gaming Mode, empowering them to access and play games in a more interactive way. The feature offers improved controls, with a control editor that enables users to create customized touch-based command shortcuts to games such as: Diablo III®, Elder Scroll®: Skyrim, NFS Rivals, League of Legends and Borderlands® 2.

Additional Features for both Android and iOS include:

• Universal File Manager with local file support, cloud storage, file previews and access to photos
• New “remoteless” connection for File Manager–connect to a computer to access files without taking over the screen
• Ability to transfer files from a remote computer to other apps on iOS and Android
• Enhanced file preview for files on a remote computer–now supports Microsoft Office files
• Improved Wake-on-LAN feature which offers additional ways to wake a remote computer
• Ability to work with multiple monitors in a web-browser session from a remote computer allowing the user to switch between available displays, or see them all at once
• Access to photos on a mobile device from the desktop agent, including the ability to take photos and copy them to a remote computer

Additional updates for iOS only include:

• Universal support for portrait and landscape for enhanced usability
• New OneDrive support for cloud storage in addition to existing support for Google Drive and Dropbox providing consumers additional options
• File previews in icons through File Manager for easier navigation
• 64-bit support for new CPU architecture on iOS devices

Availability, Pricing and Hardware Requirements

Parallels Access is available in the Apple iTunes App Store and on Google Play with a two week free trial. Individual subscriptions are available for purchase for $19.99 for one year or $34.99 for two years. Users can access up to five remote computers from an unlimited number of iOS and Android tablets and phones or computers with a modern web browser. As a limited-time, special offer, new customers who purchase Parallels Access can get a two-year subscription for $29.99.

Hardware requirements

• iPad: iPad mini 2 and iPad 2 or later running iOS 8
• iPhone: iPhone 6s and later running iOS 8
• Android: most tablets and phones running Android 5.0

Remote computers can be a PC running Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8 or Windows 7, or a Mac running OS X El Capitan (experimental support), OS X Yosemite (10.10), OS X Mavericks (10.9), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) and OS X Lion (10.7).

About Parallels

Parallels is a global leader in cross-platform solutions which make it possible and simple for customers to use and access the applications and files they need on any device or operating system. We help customers take advantage of the best technology out there, whether it’s Windows®, Mac®, iOS, Android™, or the cloud. Parallels solves complex engineering and user experience problems by making it simple and cost-effective for businesses and individual customers to use applications wherever they may be—local, remote, in the private datacenter, or in the cloud. Parallels began operations in 2000 and is a fast-growing company with offices in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Visit www.parallels.com/about for more information.

The post Parallels Launches Parallels Access 3.0 Remote Access App appeared first on Architosh.

Able2Extract 9 is Investintech’s flagship desktop technology. As a cross-platform PDF solution, Able2Extract gives you both PDF conversion and PDF creation capabilities on Windows, Mac and Linux. It also lets you create highly secured PDF files with advanced encryption levels and security features.

Convert and Export

More PDF conversion options that any of the competition. Convert PDF into Word, Images and more using Investintech’s own, fully proprietary PDF conversion technology. Formatting, fonts, images and colors are preserved more accurately that with other solutions.

Scanned & OCR

Enjoy the most advanced, industry leading OCR capabilities. Convert any PDF, regardless of whether it is native or scanned, using the powerful OCR technology that is part of Able2Extract Professional. The latest version of the OCR engine has the ability to not only convert text but also certain types of images as well.

Advanced PDF Recognition

Able2Extract Professional possesses advanced custom conversion technology and features not found in any other product. PDF conversions can be customized by users at a granular level, which allows for Excel, Word or other PDF output that is perfectly formatted and suited to the user’s needs, no matter.

Able2Extract 9 new features:

• PDF Creation: With just a few clicks a professional PDF document can be created. Able2Extract Professional now integrates PDF creation capabilities seamlessly into its user interface and your everyday applications to switch from extracting PDF data to preserving your digital content with ease
• PDF Editing: PDF metadata can be modified and edited by significantly reducing document management errors that can occur from mislabeled PDF files. Assign precise information to your PDF files directly through the PDF creation process
• Advanced User Interface Components: New PDF creation abilities include new user interface components that provides better control over the PDF files. Monitor your PDF’s creation progress or even customize how your PDFs open after the PDF creation process. Able2Extract will let you interact with your new PDF documents so you’re always in control.

So far it has successfully helped over 200,000 people to boost their productivity and save time.

01 – Convert, create and edit PDF documents instantly

Millions of users have turned to Able2Extract for their conversion needs over the last decade. Converts PDF documents to over 10 editable formats, including formatted Excel spreadsheets.

About Ivestintech.com

Investintech.com Inc., is a Canadian company incorporated in 2000, and the developer and publisher of their own proprietary PDF technology. It’s used in desktop, server and developer products worldwide. As a company, they are focused on providing their business and consumer customers with products that are easy to use and that deliver powerful results. All of their products are built by their own software development team headquartered in Toronto, Canada and office in Europe. They stand behind their products 100%. They are accountable, conscientious and they pride themselves on delivering the best customer service in the business.

The post Investintech introduces Able2Extract PDF Converter 9 appeared first on Architosh.