Revit LT is official - pricing released

To further promote the BIM approach to those who think it is too complicated and too expensive, Autodesk will launch a version of Revit LT, which will be delivered at the same time that Autocad LT for 200 € more, or a total investment of € 1 500. "We have more than one million legal licenses of AutoCAD LT in the ACS in the world which we will propose a change and this bundle." For the record, a license of Revit is worth about € 6,500. "For those who have complex needs but punctual, we will also propose in the course of a monthly rental for € 200 per month for a full Revit or € 40 per month for Revit LT".

via Google Translate of (PLM: Autodesk at the forefront of BIM - Industry and Technologies)
of http://www.industrie.com/it/plm-autodesk-a-la-pointe-du-bim.12697

It seems that this information originated with Nicolas Mangon, Senior Director AEC Strategy and Marketing at Autodesk.

Heads-up from Revitez

Does Autodesk empower YOU to be greener?

Autodesk, a 3D design engineering and entertainment software specialist, is empowering green building practices in the country through its software solutions and products.


via
Software maker empowers ‘green’ building practices | MALAYA Business Insight News Online

Free Autodesk Book - Imagine Design Create (not 446 mb)

If 446 MB is a bit steep for your Ipad, maybe an 18 MB PDF is more appropriate?
Download this .pdf version of the first Autodesk design book to view on your computer or tablet device.

Imagine Design Create (pdf - 17793Kb)

via
Autodesk - Book - Imagine Design Create

This is not exactly the same as the interactive Ipad app, but it seems much of the printed content is similar.  Here is a link to the free Ipad app:
Autodesk® Imagine, Design, Create
By Autodesk Inc. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/autodesk-imagine-design-create/id479894743?mt=8

Musings on Autodesk's Develop or Buy approach

It's not quite 'Live Free or Die', but Autodesk needs to acknowledge the dichotomy that exists between these two aphorisms:

• Develop innovative software
• Buy someone else's innovation and integrate it into your own homogenous ecosystem

I enjoyed the following paragraph from SARUG:

One thing is very clear, Autodesk needs to seek out, listen and respond, through product development, to the end users of their products in order to prioritize and target improvements to their software.  Without that tactical approach they run the risk of client migration to another more responsive solution, (can you say “AutoCAD to Revit (pre Autodesk) circa 2000”) and will be relegated to buying innovative solutions rather than developing them and then having to deal with the two way communication issue anyway.

via
SARUG End of Year Meeting 2011 � Southern Arizona Revit User Group

Autodesk and Gehry Technologies Working Together - using Revit

"Autodesk sees joining forces with Gehry Technologies' consultancy services as a powerful way to help AEC firms transition to a BIM process," said Jay Bhatt, senior vice president, Architecture, Engineering and Construction Solutions, Autodesk. "Our business relationship is designed to take advantage of our strengths as world leaders and will add additional momentum to the adoption of BIM as a process throughout the AEC industry, and the use of Autodesk's comprehensive end-to-end portfolio of BIM solutions."

Under the terms of the business relationship, Autodesk will provide Gehry Technologies' consulting division with extensive support and training in using Autodesk BIM solutions, including the Autodesk Building Design Suite, the Revit family of products, Autodesk Navisworks, AutoCAD Civil 3D and Autodesk Vault Collaboration AEC. As a part of a comprehensive agreement, Autodesk has made an equity investment in Gehry Technologies.

 

via
Gehry Technologies - Autodesk and Gehry Technologies Working Together

Image from Gehry Technologies

Story via
Adventures in the World of BIM

Free Autodesk Cloud Webinar

KarelCAD with Autodesk Australia will be presenting a FREE Webinar to showcase
the NEW Cloud Subsciption Capabilities.

We invite you to attend!

    Date:     Friday 14th October @ 10.30am AEST
    URL:     To log onto the webinar go to:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/autodesklearning/join?id=oloang&role=attend
    Entry Control:     Free Entry

via email version of
KarelCAD invites you to a Cloud Webinar

List of Autodesk Revit Blogs

Ever wondered how many official Autodesk Revit blogs there are?  Check out the list below:

BIM & BEAM - Nicolas Mangon, Wai Chu, Tom Culotta
Family Jewels-Creating Quality BIM Content - William Spier, Ian McGaw, Martin J. Schmid, Jason A. Spleha
Inside the Factory - Tom Vollaro, Erik Egbertson
Inside the System - Kyle Bernhardt
The Building Coder - Jeremy Tammik
The Revit Clinic - Harlan Brumm, Kathryn Langan, Jeremy Smith, Ryan Duell
German BIM Blog

Here is a master list of Autodesk Blogs (for all software packages)

Zakumi in 3D

This is my 3D interpretation of Zakumi, the 2010 Fifa football world cup mascot. Modelled with 3ds max 2010, rendered with V-Ray 1.5 SP3a

VrayScatter Video Demo

This VrayScatter video is woven from the fabric of awesome!

VrayScatter Demo from Alde on Vimeo.

And here are some handy VrayScatter tutorials (13 of them!) on mentalscatter.com: http://www.mentalscatter.com/tutblog/?cat=3&paged=2

VRayScatter 2.5.5 is a plugin for Autodesk 3ds max 2010 and VRay

The key features are:

• Generation and scattering massive arrays of VRayProxy by surfaces
• Capability of creation huge amount of objects in array
• Quick rendertime generation of objects with optimized RAM management
• Random transformations (scale, rotation) of objects in array
• Distribution of objects based on bitmaps or procedural maps
• Scaling of objects based on bitmaps or procedural maps
• Realtime viewport preview of objects placement
• Support of animated VRayProxy
• Different types of viewport preview of objects
• Special procedural map the VRayScatterTexture
• 64-bit support

Autodesk Sketchbook Mobile for iPhone

How cool is this? Autodesk Sketchbook mobile is a layer-based sketching application for your Apple® iPhone® or Apple iPod touch®. And it's only $2.99 at the http://www.itunes.com/appstore/ More info here

Watch a YouTube demo here

Video tutorial on making frosted glass with V-Ray

Here is a simple video tutorial that I made on making frosted glass with V-Ray and Autodesk 3ds Max. Please note that there are many ways to make frosted glass (sometimes called sandblasted glass), with V-Ray, and this is just one of them!

Click here for HD version from JG3D on Vimeo.

JG3D has moved and is now at http://www.jg3d.net/

Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010 Service Pack 1

Autodesk has released Service Pack 1 for 3ds Max Design 2010, which you can download here:SP1
It includes a number of fixes that are meant improve overall speed and stability. For me personally, I think the most important one is the Bitmap Pager fix, because there was an issue with this when using bitmaps larger than 1000px x 1000px in size, which is something I quite often need to do.

MK 1 ford Escort RS in 3D

I have a fondness for old cars, so I love it when a fellow 3D modeller shows their appreciation for a classic car by modelling it in 3D. Check out these beautiful 3D renderings of a MK 1 ford Escort RS and a Ford 105E Anglia by DM Multimedia My Mom's first car was a red and white Ford Anlia 105E :) These cars where modelled in Autodesk 3ds max and rendered with Mental Ray. There are also a whole lot of handy 3D car modelling tutorials on the Dm Multimedia site, here Thanks to my brutjie Ant for the link :)

Futuristic Subaru WRX STI concept in 3D

I am just loving this self-commissioned 3D concept for a new Subaru Impreza WRX STI.
Lars Martensson (http://www.3dluvr.com/grid/ ) created this (modelled with Autodesk 3ds max and rendered with V-Ray). I love the way he's created a whole new design aesthetic for Subaru, with hints of a typical 80's wedge shape at the rear, a la Lancia Monte Carlo/Honda Civic CRX, integrated with a totally fresh, muscular snout. It's just awesome:




It just makes the current WRX STI look lame:

3ds max select by name slow/fast

Ok, let me get this out of the way first - I am still using 3ds Max 2008. Autodesk would like me to be using Max 2010 by now, even though its only March 2009, but I couldn't be arsed. One of the things I hated about using Max 2008 for the first time was the "new" object selection box. (Select by name, H on the keyboard) If you have many objects in your scene (And even if you don't have that many), it is incredibly sloooooow. Very annoying when all you are trying to do is select an object from a list. So, the best thing to do is to revert back to the "old" object selection box. This is how you do it:

Go to this ini file:

C:\Documents and Settings\<>\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\2008 - 64bit\enu\defaults\MAX\CurrentDefaults.ini
where <> is your windows user name

and change:

[Scene Explorer] SelectByNameUsesSceneExplorer=1
to:
[Scene Explorer] SelectByNameUsesSceneExplorer=0

Thanks to V-Ray Forum user dbibb for this trick!

Woohoo! V-Ray 1.5 SP3 is released

Chaosgroup has released V-Ray 1.5 SP3 today. (link)

WTF - a free upgrade? Yes, and they made the software better too, with new features that we, the users asked for, and the upgrade is free for anyone who has ever bought V-Ray in the past. Now that's service and if only Autodesk would learn from this.

V-Ray 1.5 Service Pack 3 is compatible with Autodesk 3ds Max 6.xx/7.xx/8.xx/9.xx/2008/2009 as well as Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2009. Both 32-bit and 64-bit OS are supported.

New features included:
- VRayFastSSS2 sub-surface scattering material
- Linear Workflow
- Mesh-based lights
- V-Ray light material as direct light
- V-Ray Fog environmental effect
- Vector Displacement
- Import Proxy as mesh
- Support for Max Arch & Design materials
- Region Rendering directly in VFB

Some renders courtesy of V-Ray developer and all-round-nice-guy Vlado, while SP3 was in development, just to give you an idea: