CAD, BIM & 3D

At http://www.suplugins.com/index.php you can find information and an evaluation version of a rendering plugin for SketchUp. It's not free and for Windows only (at the moment), but has very little setup, so it might just be what you want.

At http://www.gvsig.gva.es you can find more info (also in English, if you click the right flag). gvSIG is a tool oriented to manage geographic information. It is characterized by a user-friendly interface, with a quick access to the most usual raster and vector formats. In the same view it includes local as well as remote data through a WMS or WFS source. Available as both binaries and source-code, for Windows, Linux and OSX.

The commercial company Altiris has a user community at http://juice.altiris.com/ where you can find info on the application of a layer of virtualisation between applications and the Operating System. This allows you to install an application in a separate layer, allowing you to activate, deactivate and even reset the layer. This is very useful for trying out several applications, demo versions, incompatible applications and mainly anything you want to be able to deinstall without leaving any trace in your system. I can recommend this software when experimenting with several of the applications mentioned in this blog. In fact, there is a user community offering (legal) full applications prepared as a virtualised package, allowing you to install-deinstall them at any time. Visit http://www.svsdownloads.com . Windows only... although Mac users suffer less from these problems

The free version of the Russion KOMPAS-3D MCAD software can be found at http://www.ascon.ru/english/download.php . Assembly modeling is not possible with this version and commercial use is not allowed.

On http://www.solidedge.com/free2d you can download a free 2D version of Solid Edge. This is not based on IntelliCAD and inherits some of the additional "intelligence" of the Solid Edge 3D MCAD software. Support is not free and the company probably assumes it can lead users to evaluate and grow up to Solid Edge 3D. Only for Windows XP and you need to use Internet Explorer to download it. (read in upFront.eZine NEWS #486)

At http://www.plasticbugs.com you can download the GIMPshop, which is a modified version of the GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program. The GIMPshop version is meant to be more familiar to Photoshop users and is available, free and with sources, for all major platforms: Windows, MacOSX, Linux and even Solaris. If you don't have the budget for Photoshop or even the smaller, but very usable Photoshop Elements, you can try to see if this program fits your needs.

At http://sfx.realviz.com/Autodesk you can download a free tracking plugin for 3ds max or Maya. MMTrack by RealVIZ is temporarily available (untill august 1, 2007) and allows tracking of video footage directly inside the 3d animation software.

At http://www.graphisoft.com/community/education/downloads you can register and download the free student version of the newly released ArchiCAD 10 (for PC and Mac). It is identical to the commercial version, but the files and prints are watermarked. And you can only use it for learning purposes.

At http://moi3d.com you can download a free beta version of an upcoming 3D CAD modeling application, by a former Rhino programmer. It has a very pleasing, almost artistic interface and seems to work fine. The software is a beta-version, with an expiration date, but it will be able to save the files you create in the OpenNURBS format. It has been called "SketchUp for MCAD" in the upFront.eZine newsletter.

At http://www.powershape-e.com you can get a full, free CAD design application from DELCAM. What is the catch? You can model and save at will, but to export the file into a common CAD format, you need to pay for the conversion. So as long as you want to learn and can afford to stay inside this application, it stays free.

At http://labs.autodesk.com you can freely download some of the new Autodesk programs, before they are released. It is some kind of public beta-testing program. At the moment, you can access: - Autodesk Vault Mirror Beta - Project Freewheel Technology Preview - Google Earth Extension Beta - Autodesk DGNV8 Translator Beta but expect new programs to enter the labs.

At http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com/2006/08/drawing-viewers.html kan je enkele DWG viewers met elkaar vergelijken.

De firma Google nam in april 2006 de firma @Last over en zo komt SketchUp uit onder de vlag van Google. Er zijn drie versies: De Free versie is volledig functioneel, maar ondersteunt minder bestandsformaten (enkel SKP en KMZ/KML) en modules dan de commerciële versie. De Pro versie is identiek aan de normale versie van SketchUp voor Windows en OSX, kost ongeveer $500 en ondersteunt plugins (Sandbox Tools) en bijkomende bestandsformaten (DWG, DXF, 3DS, VRML). De Educatieve versies tenslotte, zijn beschikbaar als netwerk-versie voor scholen, een studenten-versie en een instructor versie voor docenten.

Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Gratis, Open Source en Cross-platform (Linux/Windows/OSX) programma voor vectorieel tekenen.

Archibald Archibald is the funniest architect in comic land... And he's from Belgium too.

http://www.debugmode.com/wax/ "Wax is a high performance and flexible video compositing and special effects software. The idea for Wax is to be very general purpose and flexible in video compositing and effects, so that you can compose your dream video sequence with ease everytime." Een gratis programma (Windows alleen) om video te bewerken. Dit ligt in de lijn van de commerciële programma's Adobe After Effects, Autodesk Combustion en Apple Shake. Dit is geschikt voor het editeren van video, geluid, maar ook met opties voor effecten en het 'layeren' van video. Dit zijn functies die niet beschikbaar zijn in meer traditionele NLE (Non-linear Editors), zoals Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas en anderen. Op dezelfde site vind je ook WinMorph (voor het vloeiend morphen van video) en Wink (voor het maken van videotutorials, filmpjes die tonen hoe een programma werkt). Allemaal gratis, trouwens. En WinMorph heeft ook een Linux versie.

http://www.adskhost.com/2005/11/BSD/ Speak with Diana about choosing a suitable software for Building... This is a promotional campaign by Autodesk, which requires a soundcard. It's very American but funny at the same time... Oh, the chances that you are being suggested Revit are quite high...

http://www.axisvm.com AXIS VM is een pakket voor Eindige Elementen Analyse. Er is een gratis studentenversie (beperkt tot 40 balken en 400 vlakken) en er is een module voor integratie met ArchiCAD (enkel r6.0 en 6.5/7.0 op PC worden ondersteund). Alleen voor Windows.