Autodesk Impression

Autodesk Impression is a new product from autodesk which creates ready presentation styles directly from your DWG and DWF files. It's similar to photoshop however, it creates various presentation styles using your CAD files. The techniques are similar to SketchUP as well.

Below is a video showing the features of the product in use:

Use SketchUp models with iClone

iClone is an animation software that lets you compose, animate, light and "shoot" scenes digitally. People use iClone to do pre-visualization for live action work and as a standalone animation package. With the new iClone 3DXchange conversion utility, you can combine iClone with SketchUp models -- now everything in the 3D Warehouse available to anyone who needs 3D content.

The video below represents the new utility in action:

How To Hide Important Files inside a Picture

You can easily hide important files inside a picture such that the file becomes totally impossible to trace. This Windows trick is not a new one and probably most of you would already know about it but for those who don’t, it can come of great use anytime.

read more | digg story

More SketchUP Tutorials

Go 2 School provide sketchUp tutorials via podcasting and also through YouTube.

They have 70 videos so far on their YouTube channel which is well worth a look if your're a SketchUp user.

If your new to Google SketchUp you can download it for free from http://www.sketchup.com/.

Below is a tutorial on Photo Match and Compositing:

Frank Gehry: Nice building. Then what?

Frank Gehry wanted to be a scientist when he grew up. But after blowing up a part of his house, at age 14, he decided against it. He's gone on to create some mindblowing buildings, including the Guggenheim at Bilbao and LA's Walt Disney Concert Hall. This wildly entertaining conversation with Richard Saul Wurman (then host of TED) touches on many topics, including the power of failure, the importance of collaboration, and the need for architects to bring personal expression to the table.

A Chapel Converted Into a Modern Apartment

The talented people from ZECC Architects turned transformed an old chapel into a spacious modern apartment, carefully respecting and enhancing the character of the original building. And I can say that this apartment looks very good.

The church before ZECC Architects started the work:



This is how the church looks now …









For further info visit freshome blogpost

How To Burn or Write ISO Files to CD

Click here to visit a blog post which shows how to burn or write ISO files to CD.

Click here to download the utility tool which allows you to burn or write ISO files to CD.

Top 100 of the Most Viewed Architectures of 2007

Top 100 of the most viewed architectures of 2007- check it out on World Architecture to see if you can get inspired and amazed !

Cool Bridge and Bar Design

Located on Aiola Island, right in the center of the Mur river in Graz, Austria.

read more | digg story

Make your own custom styles with Style Builder

There's a new plug in for SketchUp which allows you to create your own sketchy-edge Style that you can use to make your SketchUp models look hand-drawn. The plug-in is called Style Builder (Beta) and is for SketchUp pro 6.

Below is a video showing the STyle Builder in action:



Further info visit Google SketchUp blogpost

Photoshop gets HD Photo support from Microsoft

Microsoft has released a Beta version of a plugin to let Photoshop read and write files in the HD photo fomat.

The plug-in is available for free to download for Windows and Mac OS X systems. The plug-in works on Windows XP, Vista, Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 and Photoshop CS2 and CS3.

Further info visit Webware blogpost

Files Tube - Searchable Files

Files Tube is a new search engine which enables us to search files uploaded to various file hosting sites.

For further info visit Webware blogpost.

Google Earth adds weather information

Google Earth has added a new feature which lets users know what the weather is like while they zoom around the 3D application. It has a new layer that lets users toggle cloud cover, Doppler radar, and conditions and forecasts.


Further info visit blogpost by webware

Black & white adjustment layers and blending modes in Photoshop

A tutorial on Black & white adjustment layers and blending modes in Photoshop

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Plasma Studio : Hotel Puerta America, 4th Floor

The Design of the fourth floor of Hotel Puerta America by Plasma Studio

The deisgn is based on creating a series of crystallized space, with fractured and distorted rooms and hallways.





View the blog post by architecture.mnp for further info.

LTL’s Architectural Illustrations

Some of the presentation illustrations by LTL Architects


ENVISIONING HUDSON SQUARE




PARK TOWER




TOURBUS HOTEL

Further info check out the blog post by architecture.mnp

A Real House Designed Like a Toilet

The Toilet-Shaped house is in fact named Haewoojae, which signifies in Korean "a place of sanctuary where one can solve one’s worries". The Toilet-Shaped House has a very unique design, and was built by Sim Jae-duck, the chairman of the organizing committee of the Inaugural General Assembly of the World Toilet Association, and he hopes his toilet house will highlight the global need for better sanitation.

Click here to view a blog post by architecture.mnp and here to view a blog post by freeshome.com

30+ Mind Mapping Tools

We all need to organize our thoughts sometimes, and there seems to be no better way to do it than in a visual fashion. Mashable has got a list of 30+ mind mapping tools to help you do just that. And since some of you are on a budget, they've listed free and paid suggestions for you.

View the list click here.

Online auto-tracing tool (converts bitmaps to vector art)

Stanford University research project on converting bitmap images to vector art, aka "auto tracing" or "automatic vectorization". Similar to Adobe Illustrator's Live Trace and CorelDRAW's PowerTRACE but works better in many cases. Upload image and get a converted result (EPS/SVG) in a few moments.

read more | digg story

Digital House

The Digital House is the culmination of two-and-a-half years of research and development by the architects Bell Travers Willson, made possible by funding from the London Development Agency, with the aim of enhancing traditional house building through the use of digital technology.

Article can be found here

Creating a Stunning Digital Smoke Effect [ Tutorial ]

In this tutorial we are going to show you how to easily create digital abstract smoke using Illustrator and Photoshop. One of the best things about this technique is that it’s very customizable and you can do it pretty quickly.

Another tutorial of creating a smoke effect can be found here.

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Top 100 Architecture Blogs

International Listings have posted a list of the Top 100 Architecture Blogs. They can be viewed here.

Microsoft Virtual Earth offers 3D building capability

Microsoft and Dassault Systemes have released a 3D building application for Virtual Earth.

The application willlet people create 3D objects with textures and colours and share them with one another online. Basically, similar to 3D Warehouse.

The models can also be tagged with real-life addresses or town information so that they can be viewed in Virtual Earth as they would be on a map.

Building Energy Analysis Tool for Sketchup

Greenspace Research have developed an extension on a building energy analysis tool for SketchUp which is currently at its Beta stage.

The tool expands the benefits of using SketchUp for early conceptual design integrating the power of Green Building Studio's energy report system.

The system is based around the Green Building XML schema, referred to as “gbXML”, developed to facilitate the transfer of building information stored in CAD building information models.

Below is a video showing an insight of the plugin being used:

Online Photoshop Express

Below is a video showing a demonstration on the new online based photoshop called photoshop express which will be launched soon. This particular application will fully be a flash-based image editior and will run inside a web browser.

The application focusses at consumers rather than proffesional developers however; it would be a faster and a much efficient way in editing images online especially when you using internet cafes while traveling. Im just not sure about the speed due to the application being all flash-based.