CAD, BIM & 3D

This is a loaded topic. Every time people start to compare Mac and PCs or ArchiCAD and Revit, they start arguing. My point is merely making a neutral overview over the most important new features from both applications and how they compare to what is missing in the other or what has been available already. As an ArchiCAD user, I have to admit I’m more experienced with ArchiCAD but I have used Revit, took classes and know a thing or two (three… four) about CAD and BIM software from my years of experience. So I don’t apologise, but rather feel that I have something to say about it. By the way, this post has also been included with CAD Digest Selection. Autodesk Revit 2015 Graphisoft ArchiCAD 18 Existing/ Updated : Integration of Mental Ray rendering and Cloud-based external rendering New : CineRender Rendering engine based on Cinema4D After the old Accurender was replaced with Mental Ray, Revit gained the same rendering quality and materials as AutoCAD, 3ds Max and M...

I have recently completed a video course on the use of Unity in architectural visualisation. This course has almost 3 hours of content and is available from Packt Publishing. More information and ordering Some words about what I find important in this course (and I'm seriously biased, as the author). Small, easy-to-digest modules Starting from the provided templates, I was tasked to follow a very strict format: small videos of about 3 to 5 minutes, 5 videos in a section and 8 sections in total. There was also a quite strict content format to follow: title, content, actual tutorial section (including problem and solution) and than a summary in the end. While this restricts a bit the amount of information you can cram into the timeslot, it ensures that the learning outcomes are clear and focused. On the plus side, the educational quality of the end result improved considerably. On the minus side, the amount of topics that could be handled and their depth was limited. It...

In learning any type of skill, knowledge or technology, classes and books still seem the prevalent option. Here is a personal reflection on how I learned throughout the years. Classes Class-based learning is often the first choice in schools and universities. I'm not going through all the advantages or disadvantages. But I want to reflect on why class-based learning has stopped working for me to learn software and technology skills. I am mostly self-taught for CAD or BIM skills. I did have a basic cours during my student years at the school of architecture-engineering at KU Leuven in Belgium, where I still work at this moment. However, when I learnt that we would be introduced to CAAD in our fourth year I started during the summer to learn it myself. We are talking 1994, when AutoCAD 12 was running on MS DOS and the first windows versions became available. My father bought me a Sybex book on AutoCAD 12 which I studied in detail. The classes were still interesting, but more to...

Disclaimer : I was politely asked by the developer of this software to feature a review on my blog. They offered a free license code, so I could test out the software properly, but provided no other compensations and did not interfere with the actual review. They were available for questions, but the review is my personal opinion. What is Able2extract? The software allows you to convert PDF documents into editable digital documents in various formats. They focus on Microsoft Office formats (Word, PowerPoint and Excel), but also on CAD users, by allowing conversion into the AutoCAD DWG or DXF format. There is a Standard and a Pro version, with the major difference the addition of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in the Pro version, which will allow conversion of graphics into characters or text. http://www.investintech.com/able2extract.html The program is fairly easy to use. You load a PDF, define pages or selection areas to extract and then choose an output format. The...

While the Unity Game Engine has an integrated Lightmapping system (Beast, now from Autodesk), you need a Pro-license for Bounced Lighting. There are cases where it makes sense to import pre-rendered lighting from an external software. This blogpost is an overview of the process to bake lighting on a model in CINEMA 4D and ensure that it survives the conversion into Unity. Goal A model with two sets of textures: the regular tiled textures (bricks, tiles…) that are seamlessly repeated over the geometry (using the regular UV coordinates) and a second texture, containing the baked lighting using a second set of UV coordinates. References Several people have developed their own routines to get this done, but I'd like to refer to two posts, where a user name "Artzfx" posted some details on his workflow. http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/165691-Cinema-4D-Textured-Model-to-Unity-Best-Practices http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/topic/69750-baking-gi-and-textures-for-unity3d/ ...

You may have noticed that I'm interested in Unity. Here is another post about this fascinating game engine. Unity eBooks on offer for $5 There is of course my own book " Unity for Architectural Visualization " ( http://bit.ly/17u87df ). I you act quick, you can even buy it at a great discount, since Packt offers all eBooks and video courses for $5 till Jan. 3d ( http://bit.ly/1jdCr2W  ). I can recommend the  Unity Game Development Essentials  book by Will Goldstone as a general introduction and the  Unity 4.x Cookbook  as a series of valuable little tricks and tips once you know how to use C# in Unity. Unity for Architectural Visualization as a Video Tutorial? I'm currently working on a video course on the same subject . Will be still at an introductory level, though. Will be announced later. Further advancing interactive architecture projects I do hope to make a sequel on a more elaborate level as well. Not sure in which format. Book? Video Course?...

My (first) book on Unity for Architectural Visualization is ready. All files and texts are with the publisher (Packt Publishing) and they will make it available any day now. The cover image is a photograph by an external photographer, as is custom for Packt, but the bridge into the clouds is a nice metaphorical image on virtual and imaginary worlds. I've dragged the whole text through Wordle to come up with a text-based summary of the book: Despite the fact the only the 7th chapter goes specifically into scripting, I was a bit surprised that the term "script" is quite big, next to more obvious terms, such as model, objects, image or software. Who can spot the CAD and 3D applications mentioned? If any of you read the book, it would really please me to receive some feedback. Who knows what the future will bring.