Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Free Procedural Buildings Generator - Now with Textures

The procedural buildings generator from http://www.tysonibele.com/ now includes automatic texture creation complete with an included texture pack.


Head over to http://www.tysonibele.com/ for the download.

Friday, 25 September 2009

3D Models From Your Digital Camera

Strata Foto 3D CX lets you use a standard digital camera to capture real-world objects as fully textured 3D models. Its ideal for difficult to model objects like organic shapes, soft forms and hand made items.

The included Photoshop plug-in makes model creation even easier. Foto 3D models are ideal for developing packaging, games, illustrations, online catalogs and more. Just import models into Strata Design 3D CX or virtually any other 3D software.

Powered by patented technology developed by Canon and Creative Dimension Software, Foto 3D is digital photography at a higher power.

Read More





Thursday, 24 September 2009

All about LayOut 2.1

Now that SketchUp 7.1 is out the door, I thought it'd be a good idea to tell you a little bit more about its 2D, Pro counterpart: LayOut 2.1 is more powerful than ever. We added features that should let you use SketchUp Pro for an even larger chunk of your workflow:


Dimensions!
LayOut isn't just for presentation documents anymore. LayOut 2.1 gives you the ability to add precise dimensions to your work. Use the new Dimension tool on any inserted SketchUp model to produce a set of dimensioned drawings quickly and easily. But enough tooting our own horn; here's what some of our esteemed beta testers have been saying over the last few weeks:

"To all the Googies! Dimensioning in LO is the best thing since sliced bread and eating half a loaf a day this is SO welcomed! Getting fat though!" – Richard Jeffrey
"Thank you, thank you, thank you for the dimensioning tool in Layout. We’ve been praying for this for a long time. I can’t adequately express how much it means to my work process." – rdwilkins
"When Google introduce Layout, I asking myself what to do with it. Then I use Layout for a building permission and get congratulation from the mayor of the city. Then, I burn the license of the bad 2D CAD program I use with SketchUp." – Christophe Hébert
"I have just attempted my first set of construction dwgs with LO. Although a simple project it was good to see how the new dimension tool in LO would help." – Andrew Carter
"...Dims in LO is fantastic. I am now taking LayOut VERY seriously as a Con Doc Production app rather than just a presentation app as I had been doing until now." – "Mayor" Mike Lucey

"AutoCAD and I just broke up!" – Eric Schimelpfenig

You can watch a short video I made about Dimensions in LayOut 2.1, then check out this how-to video from Tyson:



Snap to SketchUp Model
Elements like lines, labels and dimensions automatically snap to points in the SketchUp models you insert in LayOut 2.1. When Object Snap (Arrange > Object Snap) is enabled, colored point inferences appear as you hover over edges, endpoints and faces in inserted SketchUp model views. Elements you create while snapped to points in a model are sticky; they remain attached when the underlying model view is moved around on your page. Naturally, this applies to dimensions, but it also works with labels and shapes (like door swings).

Improved Freehand tool
We tweaked the Freehand tool to make it even easier to draw smooth, perfect vector lines with a mouse. As you draw, LayOut figures out where to put the control points so that your shape stays recognizable but editable. Now you can draw things like scale figures, free-form graphics and foliage right inside LayOut.

Bulleted and Numbered Lists
LayOut 2 makes it easy to include lists – bulleted or numbered – in your text. Before, only Mac users could do this. Now, everyone can.

Improved Grids
In LayOut 2.1, you can choose to display your grid as dots instead of lines; sometimes this makes it easier to see what you're doing. You can also tell LayOut to draw your grid (dots or lines) in front of your drawing elements. After all – what good is a grid if you can't see it?

Improved Copy/Paste
We've made it easier to move elements like graphics and text between LayOut 2 and the other programs in your design toolbox.

Tweaks and other goodness
Needless to say, we didn't just add a bunch of new features in 2.1. Our crack team of amiable nerd-types have been squashing bugs and fiddling with code for months. And as always, many thanks go out to the selfless beta testers who've helped make LayOut better with every release.

Via Google

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Free Procedural Buildings Generator Released for 3D Max



Procedural building generators are few are far between so when one comes along that is not only powerful but also free it is well worth our attention. Tyson Ibele, over at http://tysonibele.com/ has released version 1.5 of his Building Generator for 3D Max 9 and above.

The clip below provides a glimpse of its output:


Via Digital Urban

Photosynth Point Export - Photosynth as a 3D Scanner?

Take a look at the movie below and make sure you watch it all the way through - note the export of the model from photosynth into a stand alone 3D package:



This opens up the possibility of using photosynth as a free 3D scanner, and one that would work on objects up to the building level scale. It seems to be early days but there is a lot of discussion going on around the tutorial here.

Via Digital Urban

Google SketchUp 7.1 now available

Site Plan dimensioned in LayOut 2.1

Site Plan dimensioned in LayOut 2.1


Dimensions for 3D Models embedded in LayOut 2.1

Dimensions for 3D Models embedded in LayOut 2.1


(those are not my designs)


As for collaboration, the new features are both in export/import and
online capabilities. For example, you can now Import and Export in the COLLADA
(COLLAborative Design Activity) format, a 3D file format based on open
standards that allows you to easily work exchange information across
different 3D softwares (Maya, Poser, 3DS Max, LightWave, Cinema 4D,
Softimage XSI, Houdini, Blender, Modo, Strata 3D  and more). With
SketchUp Pro 7, you can import and export files in a number of 2D and
3D formats, including DXF, DWG, 3DS, OBJ, XSI, EPS, PDF and more.


Upload component context menu shown for one building among many being modeled

Upload component context menu shown for one building among many being modeled


You can now upload components straight from SketchUp to Google’s 3D
Warehouse. Previously, you needed to put the component isolated on a
new file to upload it. For example, you can now split large city models
into buildings, preserve Dynamic Component functionality and more.


Nearby By model search in SketchUp 7.1 Component Browser

Nearby By model search in SketchUp 7.1 Component Browser


And this urban approach gets more and more exciting, as it is now
possible to import and export the now popular KMZ format, extending
geo-location usage. You can even browse nearby models from inside
SketchUp.


Photo Texture window in SketchUp 7.1 on a Mac

Photo Texture window in SketchUp 7.1 on a Mac


And probably one of the most exciting features is the integration
with Google Streeview, which allows you to take textures directly from
actual views of the city (where available). Imagine how fast and
accurate you can model a city or your project’s context with this
tools. And if you add collaboration with your teamwork (or other users)
with components and nearby models… it becomes a powerful tool.


For more information, download a SU Pro trial version or the Free edition, just go to the Google SketchUp website.

Via Arch Daily



Saturday, 19 September 2009

Dynamic 3D Models in Google Earth: Traffic and Pedestrian Visualisation


The movie clip below provides an insight into some particularly note worthy research, not just in terms of Google Earth, but also in terms of collecting and visualising traffic and pedestrian data:



Its not the overlaying of video clips in Google Earth, but the animation of complex traffic patterns in a digital city which we see as innovative. This has notable potential for populating city models with real-time traffic and crowd data as well as for the validation of agent based models.

Picked up via http://www.gearthblog.com

See http://www.cc.gatech.edu/cpl/projects/augearth/ for full details - very neat.

Via Digital Urban