Discreet gets a new name

Discreet now has a new name; Autodesk Media and Entertainment

Read the full press release here: http://www4.discreet.com/company/press.php?id=1092

Discreet is pleased to announce that as part of their continued effort to provide you with industry-leading creative solutions, and to better serve the rapidly changing markets in which you do business, Discreet has more closely aligned with our parent company of six years, Autodesk, Inc. As of March 24, 2005, we will officially go to market as a division of our parent company, and under a new name, Autodesk Media and Entertainment.

Going to market as a significant part of a $1.2 billion diversified software company, with Media and Entertainment as a key vertical, enables your existing Discreet sales, support and product development teams, which remain unchanged, to take full advantage of incremental global resources in R&D, training, marketing, and support. Our goal is to provide you with continuous product innovation, incremental end-user training, and new support solutions.

Ultimately, this will help ensure that our creative toolset empowers artists to continue to solve the most complex of production challenges facing the industry and that your business can be as profitable as possible.

As part of this change, the Discreet name, with its rich heritage of providing artists with the best solutions to realize their creative visions, will become a part of a family of individual systems product names. Systems products such as flame®, inferno® and lustre®, smoke®, and fire® will now be identified as Discreet Flame, Discreet Inferno, Discreet Lustre, Discreet Smoke and Discreet Fire. Our leading software products such as 3ds Max® and Combustion® will be identified as Autodesk products.

At NAB 2005 we will showcase some exciting new additions to our existing products and solutions resulting from this change, and we look forward to sharing them with you in person. Your local sales representative is available to provide you with further details and to answer questions.

We look forward to a continued partnership in pioneering digital content creativity and helping you realize your ideas.

happy rendering...

Acad 2006 Shipping

Acad 2006 is now shipping for subscription customers.

Max 7 sp1

3dsmax7 Service Pack 1 has been released.

Fixes include the following areas:

BITMAP FORMATS
· AVI and MOV files now network render correctly.

BIPED
· Postures problems have been resolved when loading a copy of a Biped onto a Biped without a ponytail.

Multiple selections on objects with three degrees of freedom were not rotating in the correct space and has been resolved.

When using Auto Key and pasting poses the correct pose would not always paste correctly and has been resolved.

EDIT POLY
· Improved stability on assigning material to Edit Poly modified object with no mapping coordinates.

EDITABLE MESH
· A bug with sub-object transformation animation in the Editable Mesh object type, where animation done on frame 0 would not be properly created, has been fixed.

FILE I/O
· Fixed memory leak when saving .DDS files.

FILE LINK
· File Link will now first search its data set for stand-ins, and if any are found, a Reload is prevented.

LOFT
Using Shift+Move to create a copy of a Shape no longer distorts the Loft Object when “Transform Degrade” is disabled.

Loft object now behaves properly to the Scale transformation while scaling a Shape within a Loft object when “Transform Degrade” is disabled.

The "Copy Shape" (Copy/Instance) dialog window now appears when using Shift+Move to create a copy or an instance of a Shape when Transform Degrade is disabled.


MATERIAL EDITOR
· Corrected instability caused by clearing the material type in a multi-material container.

Automatic conversion of bitmap files to UNC filenames can be disabled. You must edit the ini file and add the following switch "[FileHandling] ConvertToUNC=0" to disable the conversion.

MENTAL RAY
· Final Gather now ignores incorrect UV coordinates, producing a more accurate result.

Fix that will allow mental ray SSS Shaders to render with Backburner or Command line.

Stability improvements to mental ray and rapid motion blur.

Fixed an issue that prevented mental ray from rendering in silent mode.

Fix to mental ray rapid motion blur and the Dielectric material

When Distributed Maps is enabled the slave machines look "locally" for the required textures.

NETWORK RENDERING
· AVI and MOV files now network render correctly.

NORMAL MAP
· Several improvements have been made to the calculation of tangent style normal maps that should reduce blooming and artifacting, particularly on mapping seams.

PARAMETER COLLECTOR
· The position of reordered parameters in a Parameter Collector rollout is now preserved after a parameter is deleted from the collector rollout.

PREFERENCE FILES
· OpenGL Dual Planes setting is now preserved after opening 3ds max in Direct3D mode, then returning to OpenGL mode.

REACTOR CONTROLLER
· Slaves no longer become disconnected from the master tracks on a file load/merge/xref.

Reaction Masters are now correctly named in the Reaction Manager on opening a saved scene

RADIOSITY
· Corrected some instability problems caused when invalidating radiosity after assigning new materials to objects.

Meshing now respects Material IDs boundaries.

In some cases the radiosity solution will not be invalidated as expected.

SCRIPTER & SDK
· Several MAXScript and SDK issues were resolved improving features stability.

SKIN MORPH
· When using Pick Bone Mode in Skin Morph you would get an application error using 3ds max Create mode if Pick Mode was enabled, this has been fixed.

SKIN WRAP
· Instancing the Skin Wrap was causing an application error when using Ctrl+A to select all sub-objects.

TOOL ARRAY
· The Modify panel is now restored when exiting an array preview.

SELECTION FLOATER
· The Selection floater will now resize properly.

TURBO SMOOTH
· Polygonal sub-object selections now are shaded in red in the Turbosmooth modifier, showing the subdivided polys affected by your current selection below Turbosmooth in the stack.

UV UNWRAP
· Corrected instability where making a choice of None while using the Pick Texture dropdown of the Edit UVWs dialog in the Unwrap UVW modifier.

VIEWPORT SHADERS
· Editing a texture that is also being used in a DirectX shader no longer causes program instability.

Improved stability when switching between DirectX effects.

DirectX Display of the Standard Material now works with Skylights.

Fixed crash on canceling light creation when using DirectX Display of the Standard Material.

DirectX Display of the Standard material now ignores lights that are turned off.

Bitmap and Photometric Path Editor utility now handles .FX textures and files correctly.

Improved display of UV mapping for DirectX shaders.

Improved DirectX .FX file output to better match viewport representation.

Reverted back to 3ds max 6 method of loading DirectX shaders on demand, rather than on file open.

DirectX shaders are no longer inverted for objects that have been mirrored.

Improved DirectX .FX file handling for relative paths.

Fixed small memory leak for all DirectX shader types.

WALKTHROUGH
· Corrected instability that occurred when the user switched viewports with Walkthrough mode enabled, and the viewports were set to a camera with Manual Clip Planes enabled.

Corrected instability that could occur when walkthrough mode is enabled in a camera viewport and the user closes max.

XREF
· Fix to Xrefs that was causing max files to unexpectedly increase in size.

Before installing see the Service Pack 1 ReadMe for further details.

happy rendering...

ADT 2006 - Part II

ADT 2006 - part I

Got ADT Troubles?

While working on a pet project that will be unveiled in the next month, I am looking to get some feedback from users/readers (this means you). :)

If you have are having trouble with any ADT related items drop me an e-mail and let me know what kind of difficulties/problems you are experiencing. We are looking to start with some common items (the ones you submit and those other users are having) and help to demystify them for all users.

Got trees?

Got3d (www.got3d.com) releases six volumes of LOW POLYGON TREES.

150 photo-real Low Polygon 3D Trees are now available in the Got3d Store. These trees are not your typical “X” plane meshes with the same tree photo on each side. These trees have been precisely modeled for a low polygon, photo real alternative to “heavy” meshes. The average tree face count is only an astonishing 306 faces, which will render lightning fast in your 3d scenes! .MAX and .3DS formats are available.

happy rendering...

The Daily Grind...

Well maybe not so random... I love being busy with consulting and the past few weeks have been full of traveling adventures and a great opportunity to meet so many new faces and cad users out there. Be on the look out for the AUGI CAD Camps. I have 4 planned so far that I will be participating in (will announce the dates/location for these soon).

Over the past weekend I did get the chance to take the family to see The Greatest Show on Earth.



The show was well done and with a now almost one year old it was even better seeing him get excited to see the animals, clowns and light shows. Climbing the stairs has been the most recent development around the house. You have to watch these kids, they are fast!

This weeks travel adventures have taken me onsite to Pennsylvania (Harrisburg) for a few days to wrap up some ADT customization, then heading back home.

Another pet project for the CAD/ADT community to be unveiled the first week in April...

counting down... 3 - 2 - 1

A Shave, Haircut and more... well sort of its 3ds Max 7.5

Discreet Press Release

New Features in 3ds max 7.5
Hair and Fur—Based on Joe Alter’s highly regarded “Shave and a Haircut” solution, the hair and fur in 3ds max 7.5 software offers numerous styling and dynamics tools for creating realistic hair and other strand-derivative effects. These include:

• Styling tools—brush tool for combing hair and brushing along complicated contours with “re-comb,” as well as support for clumping and frizz for added realism
• Hair dynamics tools—using the dynamics engine of Shave and the dynamic forces of 3ds max to inherit inertia directly from the Skin or any other modifier’s surface movement
• mental ray integration—fast, memory-efficient and direct rendering using the native mental ray hair primitive
• Hair, plus—instanced geometry can be used as individual hairs to easily create forests, fields of flowers and other landscapes

mental ray 3.4—3ds max 7.5 software will feature mental ray 3.4, mental images’ most current version. Each seat of 3ds max 7.5 will provide access to numerous mental ray 3.4 optimizations, including faster final gathering performance, and fast rasterization for first-generation rays.

Visualization Features—3ds max customers in design markets often require a broad cross-section of 3D and visualization tools. With the subscription delivery of 3ds max 7.5, product designers, architects, inventors and others in this space will have the advanced modeling capabilities offered in 3ds max and Autodesk VIZ in a single package.

• Radiosity Adaptive Subdivision—adds adaptive subdivision to the radiosity plug-in, enabling higher quality, more accurate and more efficient radiosity processing
• Batch render—gives users a solution to quickly render a series of stills from different angles, with the option to change render settings and layers in between views
• UVW mapping improvement—place physically-scaled materials onto objects in the scene more easily and accurately with support for real-world measurements
• Sweep modifier—“Loft” a shape or profile along lines or polylines imported from AutoCAD or line work created in 3ds max, even applying pre-set shapes to simple linework
• SceneState—capture object, layer, material, camera and light information as a "scene state” that can be saved and restored at will
• Autodesk Revit^® 7 Interoperability—Autodesk Revit users can now create high-quality images of their models with 3ds max 7.5 by importing/linking a Revit model via the DWG format, and having their scene objects correspond directly to individual Revit objects
• Autodesk Inventor^® Interoperability—access the Inventor file option directly within the import tool
• DWF export—convey ideas and share designs by exporting models from
• 3ds max 7.5 for viewing with Autodesk DWF Viewer and Autodesk DWF Composer

3ds max 7.5 software is expected to be available in mid-April to customers in the Discreet Subscription Program.

Want to see a few of these goodies in action? Check out the 3ds max demo videos. (Thanks to Jeff Patton for pointing the updated demo videos out).

happy rendering...

CG Clearning House

CG Auctions is a new site devoted to CG e-commerce, eBay style. 3D models, hardware, software, books and more can be sold without any charges through the site.

courtesy Max Underground.

happy rendering...

3-D Studio Max Presentation Plug

For anyone attending the Megacon (comic book/SF convention) in Orlando Florida be sure to attend the 3-D Studio Max Presentation on Sunday, February 27th, 2005 at 10:30 – 11:30, Room 224 H as my buddy Tod Stephens will be giving a live 3D Studio Max presentation to create a realistic building in the 90 minute presentation and be part of the audience that decides what the building will look like, what kind of lights and furniture it will have, and what kind of animation will be created.

happy rendering...

Sheet Set (0 dst) Hot Fix

A HotFix is now available on the Autodesk Support site for the Sheet Set (0 dst) issue that several users have encountered. This fix applies to: Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2005 and Autodesk® Building Systems 2005.

The link to the download is: http://support.autodesk.com/getdoc.asp?id=TS5273141

The issue:
If multiple users make simultaneous modifications to a project, the Sheet Set Template (.dst) can become corrupt. In this scenario, the dst file associated with the project is reduced to 0 KB in size and users are unable to modify existing sheets or create new sheets within this project.
This updated version of the AecProject45.arx file addresses this issue and prevents future instances of this problem.

Be sure to review the readme file before installing...

Internet, who needs a connection

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Unfortunately the level of quality I have had with Earthlink over the past 5 years has been on a steady decline (numerous issues that are important to me).

With a week of downtime this past week the speed (or lack thereof) got so bad that I actually now have no connection and 4+ hours on the phone 4 days ago could not get it straightened out. Time is money, so Earthlink if your reading this, thank you for the past 5 years but I am moving on.

Enter the full digital cable package, extended cable, broadband, voice, etc... with no contract. All together this is cheaper than what I am currently paying for my home phone and earthlink service, will let you know how this goes. In the meantime look for an ADT/ABS related post tomorrow.

SplutterFish Dev Blog

The talented folks at SplutterFish (makers of the Brazil rendering engine) now have a developers blog. Intended for use by SplutterFish developers, testers and staff members to post individual bits of news on development and SplutterFish in general, outside of official announcements on the website and through press releases.

Looking forward to the release of v2.0... :)

RPC Creator Pro

ArchVision has released a new program called RPC Creator Pro that allow's a user to create their own RPC content from photo's, video and/or rendered sequences images.



Creator Pro users have the ability to reduce the rendering overhead of polygon-heavy geometric models by converting a series of images rendered around the object into a resource-friendly RPC. RPC Creator Pro provides an easy-to-use interface for loading images and the relevant meta data used to create 2D, 2.5D, 3D and 3.5D RPCs. Creator Pro includes such features as an image sequence loader, DXF/OBJ icon importer, meta tag editor, and RPC preview via an integrated RPC ActiveX Viewer.

RPC Creator Pro is available now for US $399. To learn more, visit www.archvision.com/CreatorPro.

happy rendering...

PA - AEC Geek Dinner

We will be meeting at Isaacs Deli Inc - (717) 766-1111 - 4940 Ritter Rd, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 - Yahoo! Maps - MapQuest on Thursday February 10, 2005 7:00pm.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Mechanicsburg PA - AEC Geek Chat

Been back and forth across the country over the past month and this week in Mechanicsburg, PA (close to York and Harrisburg) and having a great time with a traveling companion on this trip, Brian Smith. Nothing but ADT and wi-fi fun as well as some great rendering related chats.

For anyone interested in getting together for an "AEC Geek Chat" (cad, visualization or related; AutoCAD, ADT, Viz, Max, etc...) on Thursday February 10, 2005 drop me an e-mail . We will formulate a plan/location to meet with everyone who responds by Wed. evening.

Also for anyone in South/Central PA, Bill Frederick is starting an AutoCAD Users Group in the York, PA area that you may be interested in attending. This is a great opportunity to get out an meet other cad users in your area with similar interests and to learn more at the same time. For more information contact Bill @ usergroup@jrholley.com

happy cadding...

2005 Architectural Visualization Competition

The largest computer graphics visualization competition ever launched, with over $90,000 US in prizes,to be judged by five of the most talented and influential people in CG and Architecture industry.

Calgary , Alberta, Canada , February 1, 2005 CGarchitect.com the leading online magazine for Architectural visualization artists, today announced the launch of the biggest online visualization competition in the CG industry.

“This is the first competition of its kind in the Architectural Visualization industry” said CGarchitect.com founder Jeff Mottle “and for that matter the first competition of its kind in the CG industry” Through a series of challenges and qualifying competitions, spanning the next six months, competitors will stretch their imaginations and skills to demonstrate their prowess in the art of architectural illustration and animation. While the ultimate winner and finalists in the competition will take home amazing prizes, the goal of this competition is to promote architectural illustration and encourage its advancement through community participation and critiques.

The competition will start with an open call for entries. A panel of expert judges will select the top 30 entries to participate in the actual competition. With each challenge the field will be narrowed until the final three have been selected. What separates this challenge from the rest is the range of challenges that participants will be asked to compete in, and the individual critiques that each contestant will receive from the expert judges. The winner will be announced the 4th Annual SIGGRAPH 2005 CGarchitect.com party in Los Angeles in August.

Click here to Enter the Competition Website: http://www.cgarchitect.com/challenge/2005challenge/

The competition is sponsored by the top software, hardware, and CG service providers in the industry, with prizes totaling over $90,000 US in value. The first place winner will walk away with a prize package valued at just over $36,000 including a brand new HP workstation xw6200, configured with an Intel® Xeon™ processor, NVIDA Quadro FX 1300 graphics, 1 GB of memory and a flat panel monitor.

happy rendering...

Vizdepot Visualization Contest

The Vizdepot Visualization Contest is Back!!! With the collective efforts of many people and the modeling by Jeff Patton (mental ray guru that he is)

This is the first CHALLENGE of the Vizdepot Visualization Challenge and requires you to render a specific view of a partial model of the Garden of the The Fine Arts designed by architect Tadao Ando. The goal is to light the model as realistically as possible, texture and wow us with an image.

For more information and to get started with a great scene visit the site here.

good luck and happy rendering...

Maxwell Render

Maxwell Render from Next Limit Technology is an up and coming plug in for Max and Maya (Win 32 now and soon Linux and Mac OS X) that looks rather interesting. Rather than using a specific color space (think RGB) it uses spectral rendering technology. Check out the website and gallery images for a closer look at what it can do.

Richard also has some great images and brief overview of this technology on his website.

If you are looking for some great tips/tricks and general know how in using Maxwell check out the following from Metin.

happy rendering...

Simulated Clothing

Cloth Extension for 3ds max 7

The Cloth Extension delivers a sophisticated cloth simulation system that gives artists the creative tools to build realistic, film-quality clothing for characters. You can either turn modeled geometry into cloth, or design or import clothing patterns and stitch them together to design full garments.

Here are some of the highlights:
Use clothing patterns as the basis for real-world clothing that reflects both fabric type and clothing pattern.

Define the type of cloth either by setting up its properties or selecting from a list of cloth types, including like silk, cotton, and wool: Clothing will behave as it would in the real world depending on the material.

Build real, tailor-made clothes, not just baggy, draped cloth! You can even create inner seam lines for pleats and vents.

Save and share cloth preset types to drive artist productivity and ensure that clothing is consistent when using the same fabrics on different cloths, characters, etc.

Access most Cloth functions with MAXScript: TDs will be able to script tools to enhance their production pipelines.

Watch the video tutorials (Cloth Extension Parts 1 and 2).

The Cloth Extension for 3ds max 7 is immediately available for download for Subscription members only.

ADT or ACAD object? How to tell...

For those just beginning with ADT who sometime draw using linework instead of AEC objects in a few "complex" areas or those who get drawings that are a mix of entities (AEC & Acad primitives) you may be looking for a way to visually isolate these. If you fall into one of these categories above then the ADT team has a solution for you:

The command you are looking for is called Visual Audit (AecVisualAudit), and can be found on the CAD Manager pulldown. What you do not have the CAD Manager pulldown? For that you may need to turn this on by going to Window>>Pulldown>>CAD Manager Pulldown.



Note: This command temporarily turns off the display of all AEC Objects as well as text (dtext, mtext), leaders and dimensions. Once started if you press ESC, ENTER or mouse-click you will end the command. For those with a wheel mouse you can zoom in/out and pan to view the non-aec entities on the screen.

happy cadding...

EVAUG Meeting - Jan. 2005

If you are in the Eastern Virginia area and looking for a great opportunity to network with fellow CAD users this will be of interest to you:

EVAUG Meeting: January 20, 2005, at Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company
(HEWV) Architectural Firm's "Knowledge Cafe", located at 120 Atlantic Street, in Norfolk, Va. between Waterside and MacArthur Mall.

Agenda
6:30-6:50pm - Meet & Greet - We will start the meeting off with some food and drinks. This is a great chance to see old friends and meet other CAD users from area companies.

6:50-7:00pm - Introduction to the Group

7:00-7:30pm - Topic #1 - Veredith Keller will demonstrate the Autodesk Viz 2005's Material Editor. One of the most useful Viz 2005 features is to build realistic materials. We'll develop a new material in this presentation.

7:30-7:40pm - Short Break - This is a chance to chat, eat, stretch and/or carry on a corner discussion.

7:45-8:30pm - Topic #2 - EVAUG Officer Nick Fuller will demonstrate forming and using schedules in Autodesk Building Systems. Schedules are very helpful for estimating costs, and engineering analysis. Nick uses schedules for listing ventilation ducts and diffusers.

8:30-8:35pm - Wrap Up, Prize Giveaways and Dismiss

Also mark your calendars for the February 17, 2005 meeting which should be a lot of fun (check the calendar section of the website for more details).

Looking forward to seeing you there!
happy cadding...

Remove Material Assignments - Part Deux

In the last post discussing the removal of material assignments from objects in your scene I received two e-mails asking how to remove the material assignments from the objects selected and not from everything in the scene.

Great question to accomplish this select the objects you would like to remove the materials from (using any method you like) then type the following into the maxscript listener:

$.material = undefined



Like the last maxscript example we looked at this will leave the materials that are defined in the material editor but what makes this different is that it will remove the material assignment(s) only from the selected geometry in your scene.

Portland Fun

Had a great time in Portland, Oregon last week.

As many of you know I am an avid reader and connoisseur of books. Before leaving for this trip I had coffee with Greg (who was there last month) and he recommended a great book store to visit called Powell's City Of Books. Greg mentioned it was large but not how large, try one city block x 4 stories. This was a dream and sadly I only had a few hours to spend at this location all while drinking a Peets coffee.

For those looking to spend some time browsing with beautiful furniture stop reading the catalog and visit Design Within Reach. I have ordered a few things by mail over the years, but mostly spend the time browsing the catalog but this occupied the remaining amount of my time before heading home.

I cannot wait to get back to the Portland area sometime soon.

Fun with Audio - Portland Musings

Remove Material Assignments

When working with your scenes in Viz/Max at some point you may need to remove the material assignments for the objects in your scene. To accomplish this type the following into the maxscript listener:

Geometry.material = undefined



This will leave the materials that are defined in your material editor but remove the material assignment(s) for all the objects in your scene.

happy rendering...

Optimizing vertex count

For those using plines to generate contour or other lines with a high vertex count; did you know there is an express tool that will reduce the number of segments/vertexes for you?

Check out the Express Tool "Overkill", available from the pulldown menu Express>>Modify>>Delete duplicate objects, from the command line by typing "Overkill" or from the command line only by typing "-Overkill".

Under the Lines, Arcs and Plines portion of the dialog box you will find several options such as:

PLINES - Optimize segments within plines

OVERLAP - Combine co-linear objects that partially overlap

END to END - Combine co-linear objects when aligned end to end

happy rendering...

Visualization Blogging Welcome

If you work with Viz/Max chances are you are familiar with the name Alexander Bicalho. For those who are not he is not only talented but also extremely helpful to the visualization industry by providing great solutions and also helping to make Viz/Max better with each release by working for Autodesk/Discreet. Well Alex has now also joined the blogging world.

From Alex's blog:
Life of an Origamy
Welcome to my Blog. This is just a tentative thing, and we'll see how it works out. I may come here once in a while to add new things to it, we'll see how it goes. Meanwhile, enjoy!

Alex Bicalho - www.origamy.com.br/blog

Wishing you a great blog welcome and looking forward to reading more from you Alex.

happy rendering...

New Year Audio Post

Robin's Autodesk University 2004 Summary

Good recap on AU 2004 and tips you should read for AU 2005 by Robin.

Asia Pacific Region Relief After Disaster

Words cannot express the sorrow experienced and the current needs of the people in this geographic location following the devestating earthquake and tsunami.

If you would like to donate to the relief effort, these organizations are equipped to offer both immediate and long term assistance:
Australia: Care AUS, Red CrossUK: Care UK, Red Cross
USA: Care USA, Red Cross Global: UNICEF, Save the Children, Shelterbox

Links above courtesy of Shaan

Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this disaster.

Holiday Audio Post

CAD Related Blogs Growing

When I started this blog in June of 2003 it started as an outlet and way to share thoughts, ideas, tips/tricks, personal stories and more related to the AEC industry. At that time it was the only cad related blog; since then it has been great to see the growth of so many who have since joined the blogging world.

With the new year coming soon there have been a few others who have stepped up and started blogging recently. Welcome to the blogging world:

The Mad Cadder - Michael Rotolo

Cold Fire CAD

(both of which originate from the Canada)

If there are any others who may have started in the past week let me know if I have not found you yet.

happy blogging...

Christmas Wishes

Seasons greetings from the will render for food family to you and your loved ones.

We wish you the best as you learn and grow in the upcoming year...

Heading back

The trip through St. Louis was a lot of fun and gave a great opportunity to meet many new people and discuss cad, visualization and of course ADT.

I also want to thank Melanie Stone for meeting me for dinner at Imo's (I got to try my first St. Louis style pizza). If you have not had the chance to meet Melanie in person yet, here is a picture.



We had a great discussion on cad; past, present and future, as well as some great discussion about AUGI and CAD User Groups, life and more. If you are in the St. Louis area you should try to attend the next Gateway Autodesk Users Group meeting on January 11, 2005.

Here are a few images of the town:

The name in lights is pretty descriptive where this is. =)




This was a morning view from the hotel:
(visualization people take note of the gradient sky)



I have some more business to take care of here in January and plan to venture out further when I return. Any suggestions of places to visit/see in the evenings let me know.

happy cadding...

St. Louis - Meetup

Here is the location and time for those that can join us this evening (12/16/04):

Location:
Imo's Pizza
2001 Olive Street, Saint Louis, MO 63103
(314) 241-5585
(314) 241-5585 (fax)
http://www.imospizza.com

Time:
7:00pm

A blogging welcome

For those who frequent the Autodesk Discussion Groups you probably know the name Tracy Lincoln. Well Tracy is now part of the blogging community:

http://tlconsulting.blogspot.com/

Looking forward to seeing more postings from you Tracy and keep up the great work!

St. Louis

While traveling through many different parts of the country I typically try to have dinner with a few cad and/or visualization folks to chat (geek out) when time permits. I will be in the St. Louis area for a few days; if you are interested in getting together for dinner on 12/16 drop me an e-mail.

These are always very informal sessions, lots of fun and offer a chance to meet other users in your area with related interests. Also for those that are not aware there is a local users group in this area too, but no meetings planned during this timeframe.

Smells like something new around here...

This past Monday we closed the doors to our old office location and opened the doors to a new one:
4460 Corporation Lane, Suite 317
Virginia Beach, VA 23462

While not quite up to the level as Joel's office, we have been enjoying the new outdoor scenery and interior decor compared to the previous location. For anyone local that would like to see the space there is an open house tomorrow afternoon, feel free to come by and say hello. I am unable to make it to the open house but there will be plenty of other great folks to meet and of course great food, wine and even some door prizes and other goodies.

I will be posting a few pictures of the new layout later in the week for anyone interested.

Incredible

I have been anxiously waiting to go see The Incredibles. Royal and I headed out to the theater on Saturday to watch and it was incredible! Good storyline and a great animation. Afterwards over a good pint of ale we talked about the different items we liked and both agreed that in many places the blurring of the lines between photorealistic cinematography and "cartoon" style was done so well that you hardly even noticed it was an animation. If you are a fan of animation this is one you should not miss.

I was reading Manton's blog recently and he mentioned that ASIFA-Hollywood members recently received the Incredibles DVD screener, while not currently a member of the I will have to wait for this to arrive on DVD with the rest of the world. In the meantime I may try to catch this again in the theater.

happy animating...

Eastern Virginia AutoCAD Users Group - Meeting

Next meeting: December 16, 2004, at Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company (HEWV) Architectural Firm's "Knowledge Cafe", located at 120 Atlantic Street, in Norfolk, Va. between Waterside and MacArthur Mall.

Agenda
6:30-6:50pm - Meet & Greet - We will start the meeting off with some food and drinks. This is a great chance to see old friends and meet other CAD users from area companies.

6:50-7:00pm - Introduction to the Group

7:00-7:30pm - Topic #1 - Nick McCully of Rouse-Sirine Associates will cover a broad spectrum of tips and tricks including: Properties Dialog Box (Filter command), Express Tools (Nick's Favorites), Paper Space Tricks, Converting clients drawings to your format, and Text Set Up & Tricks. Learn to work faster, not harder.

7:30-7:40pm - Short Break - This is a chance to chat, eat, stretch and/or carry on a corner discussion.

7:45-8:30pm - Topic #2 - "How NOT to model in AutoCAD/ADT" Through the last few years Mike Taylor has been using AutoCAD/ADT to model buildings and other geometry using a variety of methods. This presentation will cover the many lessons in modeling that Mike has learned the hard way over the years. For beginners and advanced users; this topic will have a lot of great tips and lessons to help you avoid common mistakes and make your modeling life even easier.

8:30-8:35pm - Wrap Up, Prize Giveaways and Dismiss


Mark your calendar! After this meeting, the next one will be on Thursday, January 20 2005. As always, free food and prizes.

Last but not least, thanks to everyone who supports and attends our meetings. The EVAUG would not continue to grow in its current direction without your active participation.

Eastern Virginia AutoCAD Users Group
http://www.evaug.com

Red Vs Blue

During AU Rob Finch introduced me to a set of videos/animation "Red vs. Blue" that is reminiscent of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Basically a group of people are using the game Halo (and now Halo 2) to shoot a movie within a game. Several of them interact with each other and one guy's view is essentially the camera angle.

In their words: "We use four Xboxes, four copies of Halo and a PC with a Canopus DV Storm capture card and a bunch of Adobe editing software. Run the video from one of the Xboxes into the capture card and use that as the "camera", the other XBoxes are used for the characters and are run by our puppeteers."

There is some pretty funny stuff (in some cases juvenile humor) they say/do. Download a few videos to watch or to make this even better you should go back and start at the beginning or purchase the DVD's for each season here.

More AU Photos

Robin Capper has posted his AU photos (from San Francisco to Vegas) here. I got the chance to meet and have dinner with Robin (and Jan) during AU after we bumped into each other at a Autodesk Usability Study.

Thanks again Robin for dinner and the great New Zealand pen.

Shortcuts of Life

Shortcut keys... simple, easy, effective and something you should learn. Most every windows/mac/unix software has keyboard shortcuts to enable you to work faster in your daily computing life. If you are not using them you you may be overlooking one of the biggest time savers.

Over the years I have learned the ones in AutoCAD/ADT and know a good majority of the ones in VIZ/MAX to leverage the software effectively. I run across users continually who are unaware of the numerous keyboard shortcuts there are. For example did you know that if you have multiple drawings open in AutoCAD you can use the Ctrl + Tab key combo to cycle through the open drawings (think a continuous loop) and if you go past the drawing you want you can always reverse the loop by using the Ctrl + Shift + Tab key combo.

Want a few more standard window's shortcut key combos?
Ctrl + A - Select All
Ctrl + C - Copy
Ctrl + X - Cut
Ctrl + V - Paste
Ctrl + S - Save
Ctrl + Shift + S - Save As (for most programs, those that do not use this should be...) =)

Now I mentioned I have been learning the VIZ/Max key combos (of which there are a bunch) and found a few that you may not be aware of:
Shift + Z - Undo View Change
Shift + Y - Redo View Change
Ctrl + Z - Undo Scene Change
Ctrl + Y - Redo Scene Change

Viewport changes:
P = Perspective
U = User
F - Front
T = Top
B = Bottom
L = Left
C = Camera (changes to a camera selection if more than 1)
V = Select view from list (or keyboard entry)
Alt + W = Maximize/Minimize View

And my personal favorite I did not know until today:
Alt + Middle Wheel Mouse Button is Arc Rotate, no more need to use the icon from the toolbar. This even works in Viz Render!

There are plenty more useful shortcut keys for each of these programs. To learn more you should check the help file and/or the accompanying quick reference card that most of these programs ship with.

happy "quick key" rendering and cadding...

Spreading the blogging love

It has been nice to see the thoughts and experiences of so many individuals come to life through blogs over the past two years. A few weeks ago Shann, Lee and myself set up feedburner accounts to spread our blogging experiences with a larger audience.

This started with being displayed on the Vizdepot and now available for anyone who wishes to see an animated ticker displaying the latest blog postings in your own HTML page (or other HTML allowable device) feel free to grab and use the following:




happy blogging...

Multi-page DWF Merge

For those who use both .pdf and .dwf format's to share/archive data one of the the first things you may notice is that Acrobat has the ability to merge other .pdf files into your current multi-page document. For those who wish to merge .dwf files together into a multi-page document you can easily accomplish this using DWF Composer. This is a tip I recently learned from Shaan.

To accomplish this try the following:
1. Open a .dwf document using DWF Composer.
2. Using Windows Explorer browse to your .dwf file.
3. Drag the .dwf file you wish to merge from Explorer to the DWF Composer Navigator pane.
4. Save your file. Done!

For those who do not have DWF Composer you can also accomplish this task as described by Shaan here.

Thanks again Shaan for the tip and happy dwf'ing to everyone... =)

Space Traveler

About a month ago I got access to using a CadMan but had major issues with the downloaded drivers and Max 7 that prevented me from using it. During AU I saw the 3dconnexion booth and stopped by for a chat to see if they could help. Turned out to be some kind of an issue with the driver and is not present on the new cd's with the products.

While there I also got a chance to play with the Space Traveler and fell in techno love (ok it was really techno lust).



This has been great fun and already productive in the first few days of my return from AU. The Space Traveler also works with many other programs, but I found it best to work with VIZ/MAX so far. For those wondering the cool blue lights around the edges are also customizable buttons (8 in total).

This software/hardware also supports many other programs and here are my first thoughts on a few I have used this for:
1. Photoshop - The OTB settings seem strange at first as the navigation is the opposite of the way I think/work.

2. Architectural Desktop - The OTB settings for this are actually based on AutoCAD. While this may not make a difference to most users I found the settings very limiting and clunky, not at all the way it behaved for Viz/Max.

3. Revit - While the drivers do not mention about Revit I thought I would give it a try, no dice. The OTB settings are just not there.

4. Inventor - Okay I admit I am not a regular Inventor user but I have a friend who is and we tested this out on his system and he liked the way it performed.



The team at 3DConnexion said they would appreciate any feedback on the way the sofware interfaces/works for other programs and admitted ahead of time that the settings beyond VIZ/MAX are not complete. I will be submitting my thoughts/wishes to them over the next month as I interface with it more, but thought I would share my current findings as I do love working with the hardware

The price is a bit steep but if you work with VIZ/Max on a regular basis you should give the Space Traveler a trial run.

Rendering Challenge Final Results

Congratulations to the following winners of the Rendering Challenge:

November 30, 2004
1. Ged Trias
2. Andrew Schroder
3. Robert Braud

See the results for Day 1 here, thanks to Ted Boardman for judging the entries for this day.

December 01, 2004
1. Ben Rand
2. Beau Finch
3. Lynn Gramam

See the results for Day 2 here, thanks to Chris Bullen for judging the entries for this day.

December 02, 2004
1. Scott Martin
2. Alexander Ximenez
3. Mike Harper

See the results for Day 3 here, thanks to Jim Smell and Paul Aubin for judging the entries for this day.

Many thanks to Steven Papke from the Vizdepot for co-sponsoring the challenge and prizes that were given.

AU Day 4 Recap

Autodesk University is now officially over as the final day of classes/events involved a 3.5 hour session/lab for most everyone. For my last class I took one called "Autodesk VIZ Lighting: Get A Grip" by the master himself. If you work with visualization in either Viz or Max you owe it to yourself to take a class at somepoint with Ted. As usual this class ventured into many areas and had Ted sharing some techniques as well as having some great audience participation.

The two main areas touched on were Exteriors and Interiors. The first was done using the scanline renderer and the second using and demystifying radiosity for those who may not have had a firm grasp on the subject. One other thought that I thought would be great to share from the Max 7 class yesterday involved the use of changing the large amount of used lights in an exterior scene to using only two mental lights, this made for the same final result in about the same time with a lot less lights to control.

There was so much great content and insight offered by Ted that in addition to the handout I had multiple pages of additional notes/thoughts based on the discussions.

After the final class I ran into Jim (wearing a very cool "will render for food..." t-shirt =) ), and our families ended up on a great walk and lunch over at Paris on the Las Vegas strip. Afterwards we ended up meeting up with Paul for a bit too. Great conversation and for those who are looking to learn/understand how Viz Render and ADT works you should look here for more insight too. Of course you could always hire me too! =)

This was another great AU and it looks like I will be seeing you next year at AU in Orlando, FL.

AU Day 3 Recap

Wow, another exciting day here at AU 2004 with big news of venue changes for next years event on the East Coast. Waiting to hear whether I can officially say the location yet or not, but it could be quite interesting. =)

Early this a.m. I attended a Max 7 class called Design Visualization for the Advanced User. This dealt with numerous great tools inside of Viz/Max that will help make your life much easier and also shared a small bit of Mental Ray as well as some Combustion. I have not used Combustion yet, but this looks incredibly powerful!

After this great start to the morning this had me in several different locations throughout the MGM. Along the journey I also learned that the Segways have different magnetic keys and each is pre-programmed to do different things. For those who like speed, the red key is what you want. =) Stopping by the rendering challenge was great as I ran into numerous people along they way including Jim and Stefan from the Vizdepot and numerous others. It was nice to see the renderings being done using Viz and Viz Render by so many people. I will try to get the winners uploaded to the Vizdepot tomorrow.

One more half day of AU then it's over... Not to fret as there is always next year and the classes and events just continue to get better and better.

AU Day 2 Recap

The sessions here today were great and ranged in many directions for myself. One that really stuck out in the morning was from Chris Bullen and was called "Visualization Voodoo". Two items that really stood out dealt with sub-object animation (in Viz, yes that's right) these included the animated elevator (using a plane and a greyscale .avi file in the Material Displacement slot and a flying bird (spider and tree too!). Basically the bird's wings were animateable in Viz by using a combination of the Patch Deform and Path Deform modifiers. These little items make a world of difference in believability in rendered animations. Chris also showed how easy this is to do in Max without the workarounds mentioned above. Simply put, this was great stuff. As luck would have it Chris was also the judge of the rendering contest held today too.

Lunch was an awesome feast and we got the chance to meet and chat with numerous people. Unfortunately I missed Jim, but did manage to get in touch with Rob and numerous others to chat throughout the day. The afternoon was spent with numerous BIM classes and each offered some great ideas/solutions. The evening was spent with a few parties on-site of the MGM and was great fun getting to meet new people and see a host of other old friend and those we have exchanged converstations through e-mail and in the NG's.

That is a quick recap and Thursday is filling up quite quickly as well.

AU - Update Day 1

Well the day has just ended for me and now trying to wind down. This afternoon I had hoped to attend this event, but had my curiosity peaked by a Max 7 session, though I did manage to run through to say hello to Shaan along the way to.

The Max presentation did not have very much description on what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation from Rich and Mike Burmann from Paul Steelman. To start this off they simply started playing an animation with music that was top notch and got everyones attention from the get go. Rich shared his background and his role in creating and helping to grow the 3D visualization department for this company.

In addition to sharing some background on the type of work they do and the tight turnaround time (1.5 weeks) for some of the best animation work I have seen coming from the Architectural Industry but also shared much more about the inner workings and what it takes for them to get this accomplished with everyone involved in the process. Along the way Rich and Mike shared some highly useful tips for keeping their renderings time down to meet these deadlines and shared several tips from their running checklist that everyone on their design team uses. There was quite a few items that I have not heard of before that I hope to share with you as I implement these into my own rendering pipeline.

After this session it was off to take the ADT Certification Exam. This was not too difficult, but I ran into 4 questions that were incorrect according to the question and had to prove this to the gentleman overseeing the exam and they then agreed. One thing to keep in mind for those who may be considering taking this read the questions carefully as the semantics can be tricky in a few areas. All in all it was a good exam focusing in multiple areas. If anyone would like I would be happy to post more about this just let me know.

After finishing and passing this it was off to the Avatech/Vizdepot Autodesk University Rendering Challenge. Upon arriving there were people lined up and rendering away. It was refreshing to see and chat with so many new faces from all over the world; Japan, South Africa, just to name a few. Todays winners will be announced and their work will be displayed on the Plasma screen at the Avatech booth (#800).

now off to get some sleep before tomorrow's classes...

AU Opening Day

Today is the opening day for AU (though yesterday held a few events for ADT and ATC members) that offered some great information.

Well in the past few days I have seen several friends around town and on the MGM floors. Ran into a few Kiwi's along the way (Mike Burke and Robin Capper) as well as many others from here in the states.

As mentioned today is the opening day for general AU attendees. This morning I had the pleasure of taking a 3.5 hour class from the rendering master himself; Ted Boardman. Shortly I will be attending an industry session that should be quite interesting then off to finally take the ADT certification exam.

I will be uploading pictures this evening for those interested. For those already here be sure to check out the "Avatech/Vizdepot Rendering Challenge" at booth 800.

happy rendering...

AU Last Minute Items

In a few short hours we will be leaving and flying directly to Vegas (total flight time 5 1/2 hours). This will be Dylan's first flight and I hope it is pleasant. =) For those that have not been to AU before here is a list of last minute items you may want to consider:

1. Comfortable shoes. If you just bought a new pair of shoes this is not the place to try them out for the first time as you do an insane amount of walking. Unless you are like Lonnie and manage to gain full access to a segway. (really I am wishing I had thought of it first)

2. Lightweight jacket/sweater. The environment at AU is great and temperature usually warm while walking around. This is not when you need the sweater/jacket, this is needed when you are attending classes as they tend to run cool. Better to be prepared than frozen stiff.

3. Remember those hard choices you made choosing which classes you wanted to attend? Some classes may not be what you wanted/expected them to be and most instructors let you know at the very beginning what they will and will not be covering. Make sure to have a list of other backup classes you would like to attend and their locations in the building should your class not turn out to be what you expected. It never hurts to have more than 1 backup either.

4. Wi-Fi and anti-virus. - If you are bringing your own notebook to keep in touch and take advantage of the free wi-fi at the convention center make sure to update your anti-virus before arriving. Last year someone on an unsecured machined infected a great many unsuspecting people and closed the wi-fi service down for a day. There is also internet access via machines within the main hall.

5. Keep yourself well hydrated. This tip should begin the moment you read this, seriously.

6. When you arrive Vegas is a very enticing place to be and you are going to be around 4,000 other people who love cad as much as you do; pace yourself. There is nothing worse than letting your first night ruin the rest of your trip and learning.

The next posting will be in route to AU. We are staying at the MGM Grand for those we were unable to get in touch with earlier or you can call my mobile directly. We are looking forward to seeing you there and for those that could not make it there will be plenty of blogging going on from the event. No promises yet but Steve and I are working on some live video feeds from AU too!

The Incredibles

I have not had the opportunity to catch the CG film "The Incredibles", but hope to soon. I was reading this recently and according to an article in the latest issue of CGW, Pixar has been using 3ds max and Brazil r/s in the production of their latest Disney/Pixar film.

happy rendering...

Names you know

Many of you know the name Lynn Allen, but in case you have not heard she is now part of the blogging world.

Welcome and we are looking forward to seeing/reading all that Lynn has to share.

Happy Thanksgiving

I think the title says it all. Today is a great day to count the many things in life we are all thankful for. Myself this year has brought forth growth in many areas from work to my personal life and I am thankful for each and everyone who has been apart of this great ride.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Utilizing the Watermark

If you are using Viz Render and/or Viz and adding your watermark using a graphics manipulation program (Photoshop, etc..) you may not be aware that these programs offer a way to add your watermark without the need for post-processing.

To accomplish this use the following steps:
1. For toolbar lovers go to:
Rendering toolbar > Render Scene > Render Scene dialog > Render panel > Watermark Parameters rollout

For menu lovers go to:
Rendering menu > Render > Render Scene dialog > Render panel > Watermark Parameters rollout

2. Once here choose the "Load..." button and browse to the image you wish to use as your watermark (choose from one of 18 file types).



3. To effectively use the watermark you will want to control the placement and opacity of the image. This can be done by using the checkbox and spinners in the Watermark Parameters. To better understand what each does use the following (from the help file):

Render - When turned on, renders the watermark image in your rendered image or animation. A watermark image must be loaded before it can be rendered. Default=on.

Load - Enables you to select an image to use as a watermark.

Blend value - Blends the watermark image with the rendered image. Values between 0 and 1 determine the opacity of the watermark placed in the rendered image or animation.

Image Top - Specifies the placement of the watermark image. The Image Top spinner enables you to determine the uppermost pixel in your rendered image or animation at which the watermark image will be rendered.

Image Left - Specifies the placement of the watermark image. The Image Left spinner enables you to determine the leftmost pixel in your rendered image or animation at which the watermark image will be rendered.

For those who may be using Max 6 or higher the watermark feature has been removed. You can of course create your own using Maxscript or download one from here. In particular I have been using this one from Bobo. The various blending mode options are a nice bonus too!

happy rendering...

AU - How About A Rendering Contest...

Insiders Tip: For those attending Autodesk University there will be a rendering contest sponsored by Avatech Solutions.

WHAT IS IT?

Avatech will invite participants to join in on a fun, interactive event - Avatech's Daily Rendering Contest during Autodesk University, Nov. 30 - Dec. 3, 2004 at MGM Grand Conference Center. Designers, engineers and architects who want to strut their stuff can participate in the contest at the Avatech Booth #800.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Four laptop workstations will be set up with Architectural, Civil or Mechanical models. Each participant has 20 minutes to complete an already created model. Basic models and a set of materials that they can pick from to place on the model are already included. They can use Viz Render with ADT or Civil 3D, Inventor, Revit or Viz to produce the renderings. Then they set up the lighting and camera and at the end of the 20 minutes they must stop the rendering process. At the most, there will be about 4 renderings created each ½ hour of the show.

WHO WINS?

Participants must fill out a submission form. Judges, who are instructors at the conference that specialize in visualization, will view the renderings each day and determine the daily winners. Each set of winners will be posted on the plasma screen the following day.

WHAT ARE THE PRIZES?

First of all, each participant gets a T-Shirt. Avatech will give away 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes daily, for a total of 9 prizes. Daily 1st place winners will receive MP3 players.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE?

Participants should simply come to the Avatech booth and get rendering!

happy rendering...

AU Bound

Like many others in a few short days we are headed to Vegas for AU. I am looking foward to seeing many old friends, not to mention Lee, Robin, Shaan, Chris and a few other bloggers while there too. We will each be blogging about this event and sharing different tidbits for those of you who are unable to attend. There will be an ADT 2004 link in the photography section of the sidebar that I will be updating daily.

The "will render for food... " group (Shannon, Dylan and I) will be arriving and staying from Saturday to Saturday at the MGM Grand. For fun we recently got a few shirts printed up for AU that says "will render for food..." if you see this shirt feel free to come up and say hello.

See you at AU!

Master Viz Render

For those looking to learn more about Viz Render your wait is over. The book Mastering Viz Render by James Smell and Paul Aubin is now available.

There are a few sample items available for you to download and review; including a great water example tutorial (and cool night scene). While you are browsing the site be sure to look at the appendix information as there are some great goodies hidden here.

Also if you plan to be at AU Jim and Paul are co-teaching a Viz Render class as well as signing books at the Authors table on Tuesday evening.

happy rendering...

Top 10 Cool Computing Utilities

One of the nice things about being in the consulting world fulltime is that your hardware/software needs to be up to date. I mention this because I have transitioned from the HP to a Dell Latitude D800.



With changes in hardware like this I tend to evaluate what software to install to keep the machine running lean and myself productive. Here are my favorite Top 10 computing utilities.

1. Microsoft XML Notepad - If you are looking for a great low cost solution for editing .xml files and keeping them well structured then look no further.

2. CutePDF Writer - Create PDF documents on the fly - for Free! If you just need to create a PDF, but do not need all the bells and whistles this is a great utility. This works for all windows based programs (CAD, Word, Excel, etc…)

3. JAlbum - I mentioned this program before and still find it a great asset in my graphic work. From photoalbums to FTP publishing and more.

4. NewzCrawler $24.95 - As you may know from my past blogging I love RSS feeds and this is a great way to access and organize them.

I tend to think of Screen and Web camera capture software as similar so here are two I use:
5a. Webcam32 $39.95 - This is a nice utility that not only can be used for still webcam images but also video push/pull via website or ftp. There is quite a bit that this software can do beyond that as well.

5b. ScreenCam - This is what I use to show screen captures on the blog window periodically of what I am working on. It has a great ftp upload feature and can be set on a timer and more.

6. Network Stumbler - If you work with wi-fi a good detector is invaluable. This is also great for sys admins to help find rogue networks. I typically fire this up to find available networks to websurf while traveling.

7. Skype - You have heard of VOIP, here is a name that is catching on. Basically it works like this if you want to call other people on their computers or phones you can use Skype to make calls all over the world (I recently had a conversation with a friend in the UK from the states free of charge).

Here are two invaluable programs from Techsmith . Great software at a great price:
8a. SnagIt - Capture screen images, text and printer output from your Windows PC. If you have used the windows print screen to get screen captures wait until you try this, I use this for documentation and/or just showing someone how a feature works

8b. Camtasia - Great for quickly creating professional-looking videos of your PC desktop activity. Anyone can Record and create a full-motion video tutorial or presentation, in real-time, and publish it in the format of their choice. No multimedia or programming experience necessary! This is great for tutorials or just to simply show someone how a feature works by seeing the exact steps you are taking to perform it.

9. Aquadock - I mentioned this one before but it is still super cool. If you are or know a Macintosh user you may have seen the Apple Docker. Here is a similar version but brought to the PC world. This one always makes people jaws drop when they see it in action the first time.

10. Konbalulator - I cannot begin to fully explain what this software full does as it can be anything. If you are looking to create your own widgets that is pretty easy to do via javascript and .xml too.

Though I ended up with more than 10 so far this is one (or two) of the coolest utilite(s) of them all:
11a. Desktop Sidebar - Much like the Konfabulator above this can be almost anything, but within the confines of a single bar. If you have seen longhorn you may recognize the concept. Though I have not been using this as long as the one below I have found it to be a good replacement as my personal favorite has been slowly progressing.

11b. SmartBar XP - Similar in many respects to the one above this has been my favorite for the past 6 months, but sadly development has slowed to a snails pace.

happy computing...

MSN Search Beta

The MSN search service beta is now available for those wishing to test this out. I have only been playing with it a short time, but the results are drastically different from those of google (my usual search choice).

If you wish to test this out try the following:
http://beta.search.msn.com/

Also if you are a blog/rss reader the following may interest you as well:
http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch

For those in other parts of the world try the following list:
Australia: http://beta.search.ninemsn.com.au
Austria: http://beta.search.msn.at
Belgium - FR: http://beta.search.fr.msn.be
Belgium - NL: http://beta.search.msn.be
Canada - EN: http://beta.search.sympatico.msn.ca
Canada - FR: http://beta.search.fr.sympatico.msn.ca
Denmark: http://beta.search.msn.dk
Finland: http://beta.search.msn.fi
France: http://beta.search.msn.fr
Germany: http://beta.search.msn.de
India: http://beta.search.msn.co.in
Italy: http://beta.search.msn.it
Japan: http://beta.search.msn.co.jp
Malaysia: http://beta.search.msn.com.my
Netherlands: http://beta.search.msn.nl
New Zealand: http://beta.search.xtramsn.co.nz
Norway: http://beta.search.msn.no
Singapore: http://beta.search.msn.com.sg
South Africa: http://beta.search.msn.co.za
Spain: http://beta.search.msn.es
Sweden: http://beta.search.msn.se
Switzerland - DE: http://beta.search.msn.ch
Switzerland - FR: http://beta.search.fr.msn.ch
UK: http://beta.search.msn.co.uk
US - EN: http://beta.search.msn.com
US - ES: http://beta.search.latino.msn.com

happy searching...

Racing around in circles

With all the traveling I have been doing recently it was great to have a full weekend with the family and of course some time for fun! I have been trying to work in a trip to a local indoor go cart track I heard about for some racing fun and we managed to finally make it to American Indoor Carting on Saturday night.

If you remember riding go-carts as a child and are looking for a way to race (bump) others, this is about the closest most of us will get to Nascar. Since it was so much fun we are headed back this tuesday evening if you are interested in joining us on the track.

happy racing...

Maxin Out

I have been working with the new release of Max 7 for the past two weeks. Though a majority of my work is architectural I have been sketching some characters over the past year in more detail and could never justify purchasing Character Studio, good news is that (as mentioned here) it is now included as part of the suite of tools inside of Max.

Speaking of characters there are a couple of cinematic reels that may want to check out (thanks to MaxUnderground for pointing these out):

Blur Studio's CG Cinematic for Relic's "Warhammer"

Blizzard Entertainment's CG Cinematic for "World of Warcraft"

happy rendering...

DWG on Linux

DWG for the LINUX community

As you know I work with Linux a bit here and there and ran across a beta for Linux that may interest those who are looking to use the power of cad on a Linux platform. Currently it looks like the supported flavors of Linux include Red Had, Suse and Java Desktop, downside is it currently only looks to work with Wine at this time.

My plate is full the next few weeks, but I hope to get to this soon.

happy cadding...

Back from Halloween

Back after a short hiatus these past two weeks and I hope your halloween was as much fun as ours.

More coming later...

Wearing My Monitor

Surfing around for a similar device I ran across the following from Mitsubishi Electric:
http://global.mitsubishielectric.com/company/r_and_d/innovations/inn_02.html



Called the SCOPO, this prototype compact wearable display is designed for users who need to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. Users have full visual range once they take their eyes off the display, which is positioned in front, slightly below eye level so as not to obstruct normal vision.

There is an accompanying video (requires Real Player) and rumored to be $400.

Max 7 Shipping

It's official and shipping now. What is it? Well Max 7 of course... You can read the press release about it here.

happy rendering...

Importance of File Naming - General To Specific Part I

One of the most often overlooked items when working with digital files is your choice and implementation of a File Naming scheme. Early in my career I was not so concerned with this, but overtime as I began working on larger and more complex projects the use of a good file naming system has made my life (and others working with me) much easier.

Why is this so important and why should you care? Good question. One of the most important reasons to consider the naming structure you use is to benefit both yourself and others later to access a particular file/folder to retrieve or use the data contained therein.

Since I tend to use ADT and VIZ more often than not I would be remiss if I did not include a related example to share in the context of this article. At the end of this consider how to use a similar approach for your daily work. For the cad world the UDS (and other standards) offer some guidelines for consistency in your drawing file naming but outside of cad there are no real guidelines for visualization files (from maps and materials to your working model files). Let's look at a typical approach:

Notice to proceed with work is given and off you go to start modeling. Along the way you will want to save this file. Now is the critical time and if you have no standard you should give some thought to your naming scheme at this point. If like most users you probably have a folder for your current job. Some may have a specific folder structure they tend to use from job to job. If so this is a great idea as this will help you know where to look for a particular file regardless of which job you are currently working on. Consistency here is the key and an item you should strive for.

So at this point we have a folder structure, perhaps similar to this:MyDrive:\\Projects\ProjectType\JobName\LocationIfApplicable\WorkingFiles

Using a similar structure allows us to keep all jobs in a consistent location (this applies for 1-2 users as well as larger working teams). Achieving a good naming scheme starts with the folder structure you use. It is important that the structure you choose/use allow for maximum flexibility not just for current projects but also future work/project types.

Once we have a working folder structure the next step is to deal with the files themselves. To accomplish a good naming system we should again consider flexibility, usability and simplicity of use the main goal. Let's discuss the main concept of this article:

Work GENERAL to SPECIFIC ex. General_Specific_MoreSpecific.FileExtension

As you can tell in the example above I tend to use the underscore (_) instead of using periods (.) in my naming strategy. While macintonsh, unix, linux, etc.. work well with periods if your workflow involves multiple platforms you will want to avoid periods to be as compatible as possible with each system. You would be wise to also avoid the use of spaces to separate your naming acronym as this will help when using scripts.

In part II of this article I will be giving more specific examples to help share this concept. In the meantime with a small bit of planning before and during your next project you can help to make your projects easier to work with for everyone involved by paying attention to your specific naming scheme.

ADT Model Space View

For those utilizing named views (View>>Named Views...) in the Project Navigator within ADT there are several times that you may wish to see the boundary extents of each named view. To accomplish these there are a few ways to accomplish this:

1. Under View>>Named Views... you can select your named view and choose Edit Boundaries. This will allow you to specify a new rectangular boundary if you wish.

2. In the Project Navigator you can double click the named view to show the boundary (and the extents of the boundary) on your screen.

3. Use the undocumented command "showmodelspaceviews" to show all the named views in your drawing including their name (see example below).



happy cadding...

Error creating or saving AVI files in VIZ 2005

When attempting to save or create an AVI file from Autodesk VIZ, you receive an error indicating the program must be shutdown.

This update fixes the save to AVI file format feature for Autodesk VIZ 2005 English. The English update can also be applied to localized installs of Autodesk VIZ, but the AVI specific dialogs will appear in English. To install, download (here) and unzip avi.bmi to the \Autodesk Viz 2005\stdplugs folder.

happy rendering...

AUGI Cad Camp

One of my main focuses is to help those in the cad and visualization industry to expand their working level knowledge to help them grow personally and professionally. Well in keeping with that spirit I received the following item from Richard Binning that will be a great help to many users:

For those interested there is a great regional learning and networking event called AUGI CAD Camp, which will take place in Jacksonville, Florida on November 9, 2004. AUGI CAD Camp is a one-day event that will provide a unique opportunity for you to highlight and promote your particular user group and recruit new members.

For you and other members of your staff, the educational benefits of attending AUGI CAD Camp are significant.

Choose from among three different classes in five sessions. This enables you and other members of your staff to plan their training strategies and target specific learning needs.

Get expert advice from Lynn Allen, Autodesk technical evangelist and friend to end users everywhere. Check out hot new technology from some of Autodesk’s top third-party software development partners in the exhibit area. Have plenty of time to network with peers and colleagues. A single day devoted solely to training and networking is sure to benefit you and every member of your staff, so be sure and spread the word.

We hope you’ll join us in Jacksonville! Simply visit our website at http://www.cadcamp.com to learn more.

While you are there, be sure to register as slots are filling up fast!

If you have any questions, contact Richard Binning.

Viz Consolidation

For those who visit and use the discussion groups from Autodesk, they will be consolidating the VIZ release specific + Wishes discussion groups into one master discussion group on October 07, 2004. Autodesk VIZ Vizions will remain.

The new forum will be named: Autodesk VIZ (nntp:/autodesk.viz). If you are using NNTP (newsreader) you will need to resubscribe to the new forum in order to use.

happy rendering and heres to hoping for a smooth transition of the NG... =)

Traveling

What an awesome and great week this has been and I have quite a bit of items to share/post. Currently I am taking a break from my vacation in upstate New York this week for a 2 day trip to DesMoines for some ADT consulting.

Along the drive to New York it has been nice to observe and use the many wi-fi spots that are available. It all started as we drove from Virginia in the beast, at one of the rest stops along the way we noticed a sign for free wi-fi access. Later along the way somewhere in PA. we decided to stop for a hotel close to the exit was 4 of the local hotels with advertisement for free wi-fi, which worked quite well.

While I am waiting to fly out of Syracuse the wi-fi coverage from T-Mobile is working great and consistent. I am looking to try out another option for remote areas too; any suggestions?

Besides the wi-fi availability I would be silly if I did not mention how beautiful it was to see the colors of the leaves changing from green still in Virginia to the many vibrant colors of autumn in New York. I will post a few pictures later in the week. Next trip I plan to do some hiking to a few large windmills that I just heard about.

Also if there is any cad and/or visualizaiton people in DesMoines who are interested in getting together to eat and chat on Tuesday evening (9/28/04) send me an e-mail with your name and telephone I can reach you at, should be a lot of fun. Last time I was there I met with a small group of cad users who wanted to discuss ADT workflow for construction documents, the topic of the evening is still open... =)

happy cadding...

ADT 2005 SP1

Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2005 Service Pack 1 is now out and ready for download (3.73mb).

This addresses quite a few items that you can read about here.

happy cadding...

ADT - Live Vertical Sections

John Herridge, AIA of AEC CADCON, Inc. has a great tip to share over on Chris's blog about "Live Vertical Sections" and how he uses them for dissecting his BIM. Good examples to learn from for those of you just starting to leverage this tool.

Keep up the great work John!

happy cadding...

Calculate With Ease

New Calculator PowerToy from Microsoft for Windows XP. This is an expanded calculator to what is already included (separate item); that allows everything from conversions to mathematical functions... I do like the new interface vs. the classic mode.

For the AEC industry this is still lacking in feet and inch input/output, but for others it may be a benefit. Me personally I still like my Feet/Inch/Fractional/Calculator. Have a good feet/inch calculator, that is software based, you like to use?

happy calculating...

Eastern Virginia AutoCAD Users Group - Meeting

Next meeting:
September 16, 2004, at Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company (HEWV) Architectural Firm's "Knowledge Cafe", located at 120 Atlantic Street, in Norfolk, Va. between Waterside and MacArthur Mall.

Agenda
6:30-6:50pm - Meet & Greet - We will start the meeting off with some food and drinks. This is a great chance to see old friends and meet other CAD users from area companies.

6:50-7:00pm - Introduction to the Group

7:00-7:30pm - Topic #1 - Product Spotlight - VisionREZ.
Ameri-CAD, Inc., the developer of VisionREZ, has been providing architectural services and software solutions on the AutoCAD platform since 1989. VisionREZ is an enhancement solution, available as a plug in or stand alone, for Autodesk Architectural Desktop, that accelerates the creation of construction documents for residential and light commercial applications. Draw it once! Draw in the familiar 2D plan view and simultaneously receive the benefits of a fully functional 3D Building Information Model (BIM) including design verification, complete construction documentation, graphic views and estimating schedules. Request a FREE 30-day evaluation copy today by visiting us online at: www.visionrez.com

7:30-7:40pm - Short Break - This is a chance to chat, eat, stretch and/or carry on a corner discussion.

7:45-8:30pm - Topic #2 - Autodesk Building Systems Part 3 - Ductwork & Piping - If you enjoyed the last 2 parts of this series this one will be no different as we complete this three part series with an understanding of the ins and outs of ductwork & piping including routing, system definitions and creating custom fittings.

8:30-8:35pm - Wrap Up, Prize Giveaways and Dismiss

Archvision News - Updated Spray Script

This just in from Archvision:
Updated Spray Script for 3ds max 6 and Autodesk VIZ 2005

Many of you may have noticed that the Spray Script failed to work with 3ds max 6 and Autodesk VIZ 2005. Now thanks to Peter Brigham, of Sasaki Associates, a new version of the RPC Spray Script is available that returns this functionality to 3ds max 6 and Autodesk VIZ 2005.

On behalf of ArchVision and RPC enthusiasts around the world, we thank Peter for this helpful contribution. The Spray Script is an excellent tool for quickly distributing RPC Content onto large surface areas.

happy rendering...

Archvision News - XP SP2

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Information
ArchVision's Development team has detected an RPC Plug-in issue caused by installing Windows XP Service Pack 2. When Service Pack 2 is installed, network security is increased and network file access times increase significantly. Some users have experienced an increase in load times when utilizing content over a network. Although a solution is not yet available, users can transfer RPC Content to their local machines to eliminate this Windows XP snafu. Hang in there! We are working diligently to increase efficiency in this area.

Daylight System - Adding Locations

If you have ever used the daylight system in Viz Render, Viz and/or Max before you may have noticed there is a good selection of city/locations to choose from. This list does not include every possible location and if you have a site specific latitude/longitude that is required you can easily add additional locations to this list.

To accomplish this browse to the following folder (choose applicable software):

VIZ Render (ADT 2005):
C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\ADT 2005\enu\VIZRender\PLugCFG

VIZ 2005:
\Autodesk VIZ 2005\plugcfg

Max 6:
\3dsmax6\plugcfg

Open the sitename.txt file in the location(s) given above and add the specific latitude/longitude you desire. This will now be included in your list of locations.

Tip above based on a reminder from Jim Smell (look for Mastering Viz Render in stores later this year).

happy rendering...

Quick ADT tip

For those ADT users who take advantage of the Project Navigator (which I think is a great start to drawing management) and notice the AutoCAD Sheet Set Manager coming up as well you will want to make yourself aware of the system variable: ssmautoopen

This controls whether AutoCAD displays the Sheet Set Manager when a drawing associated with a sheet set is opened. If you get this coming up everytime you are working with project drawings and wish only to see/use the PN; set the variable value to 0.

0 = Do not open the Sheet Set Manager automatically
1 = Open the Sheet Set Manager automatically

happy cadding...

Distributed Rendering Setup - Backburner

http://www.evermotion.org/tutorials/rendering/maxnet/

If you are a Viz 2005 or Max user who frequently creates animations and are not using backburner this is a good, short tutorial to help get you started.

happy rendering...

This beautiful sunset was shot during a layover in Detroit this past week. The colors were absolutely amazing. 

Back in Action

Back from my cross country tour of traveling, vacation and consulting and now another year older (birthday was on Sept. 02). Thanks to my close friends who all conspired together to create a great surprise party at Cogans. You guys/gals are the best!

For those who have not been to the Vizdepot recently there is a new rendering challenge underway. It is called the VVC (short for Vizdepot Visualization Contests) and is organized into a series of six monthly contests. Each month the type of contest alternates focus between the Charrette and the Challenge. This is a great opportunity for beginners and experienced as well.

happy rendering...