 |
| It seems as though
you are as excited about VectorWorks 10 as we are!
Initial indications point to the fact that this may be one of
the, if not the, most successful releases. For anyone
that is still on the fence, there are many opportunities for you
to take a look at VW 10. We will be showing it off at various
upcoming tradeshows and invite you to come and check it out! We
have free show passes to the LDI Show in Las Vegas later this
month and the Build Boston Show next month. Just drop us an email
(sales@nemetschek.net)
with a request for passes, and we'll send them right out to you!
But if you can't make it to one of the upcoming Trade Shows, our
local user group leaders will be hosting meetings to demonstrate
10. It doesn't matter if you are not a member; just stop by and
see what all the excitement is about. The list of upcoming meetings
is provided below, and it is also on our website under events,
http://www.nemetschek.net/news/events.html
|
| Sincerely, |
 |
| Richard Diehl
CEO
Nemetschek North America |
 |
| Tips & Tricks |
|
PROJECT PROFILE |
Virtualized reality model trains
emergency service personnel |
By Jerry Fireman |
A
group of Canadian high school students in Ottawa, ON are
literally making fantasy a reality through their work in
an ambitious government-sponsored training project to model
various aspects of their community using emerging virtual-reality
technology.
|
|
The ultimate goal of the project - launched
by the Institute for Information Technology (IIT) at
the National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
- is to establish a national knowledge-based center for
virtualized reality that will support ongoing research
of this technology and serve as a demonstration and application
site. How is it that a group of students in their late
teens can so quickly grasp such cutting-edge technology?
According to project administrator and IIT Virtual Environment
Designer, Paul Amirault, the key to their success is
VectorWorks, which enabled the students to become productive
in as little as two weeks. "Everyone involved in the
program was surprised at how quickly the students reached
full productivity," Amirault said.
|
 |
| The
high schoolers have created an unusually realistic virtualized
reality model of a 3-story, 500-foot-long building that
could serve as a training platform for emergency service
personnel. Using the model, firefighters can wear special
goggles that give them the perception of walking through
the building while it is on fire. They would then be able
to spray virtual water onto the fire with instrumented virtual
hoses and see the fire go out in that area. Daniel Gauthier,
teacher of two of the students, said that the model was
constructed over an eighteen-week period and would have
cost approximately $100,000 if performed by a commercial
design firm.
|
| Exactly
what is the benefit of virtualized reality? Virtual reality
immerses viewers in virtual worlds, while their bodies remain
in the real world. Typically, these virtual worlds look
artificial and do not correspond to the real world, so viewers
have the impression they are visiting a make-believe environment.
Virtualized reality goes one step beyond virtual reality
by creating photorealistic models of the real world so that
the viewer's experience is very close to that provided by
the real world. Virtualized reality also allows people to
visit and interact with alternate views of reality, such
as a real building that has been turned into a raging inferno
by clever modeling techniques.
|
"Although
this was my very first experience with CAD," said Brad Collar,
one of the students of the class, "it only took about three
weeks to become productive in 3D. Once I had completed a
room, I added a few light sources and used the VectorWorks
rendering tool to show me how it looked as a virtual object.
At this point I could make corrections or add more details.
As the process continued, each room began to assume a highly-realistic
appearance."
|
Amirault
was very impressed with the results. "After teaching the
students remotely for about a month, I could see that they
were fully capable of working on their own. In about seventeen
weeks they came back to me with the completed model. NRC's
M-50 is a huge building with nearly 300 rooms. The fact
that the students were able to model it in the course of
one term was impressive in itself. The accuracy and high
level of detail that they included the model is truly amazing.
This project had previously been on the back burner because
of the cost that we had thought would be required to produce
a realistic model. The work that the students did comes
very close to what I would expect from an experienced professional
design team." |
|
| Is there
an easy way to apply textures to 3D objects? |
| The Version 10 Resource
Browser makes is easy to quickly apply textures to 3D objects.
Now you can select and apply textures directly from the Resource
Browser, rather than having to select textures via the resource
palette and then apply them with the Object Info palette. In the
Version 10 Resource Browser, you can simply right-click (Control-click
for Mac) on a texture and select Apply to apply it to selected
objects in the drawing.
Click
here for an illustrated example |
| Are there
any new options for exporting files? |
| Version 10 supports
a new .stl or Stereo Lithography file export. The Export Stereo
Lithography command exports all visible 3D surfaces and solid
objects in the current layer into a Stereo Lithography formatted
file. STL files can be read by many rapid prototyping machines
and can be imported into other CAD/CAM and analysis packages.
To export a 3D drawing as a Stereo Lithography file, select File
> Export > Export Stereo Lithography command. A dialog box opens
for specifying export options. Once the correct criteria are defined,
click OK. Then simply choose where you want the file to be saved
and click the Save button.
Click
here for an illustrated example |
| Is it
possible to export a section of my drawing, instead of the entire
file? |
| The new Marquee option
in the Export Image File dialog box allows version 10 users to
export only a selected portion of a drawing as defined by a marquee.
To do this, select File > Export > Export Image file. Select the
export option and click the Draw Marquee button. The dialog box
closes and a bulls-eye cursor displays in the drawing file. Simply
click where you want your marquee to begin, and then drag the
mouse in a diagonal direction to define the area you want to export.
When you release the mouse, the Export Image File dialog box redisplays
so that you can finish selecting the export image options.
Click
here for an illustrated example |
| News |
| Nemetschek
North America Introduces New Distribution Partner in Canada |
| In an effort to further
build the Canadian market, Nemetschek North America has signed
a new distribution partnership agreement with In Medias Res, a
computer consulting company. Although this is a new distribution
partnership, In Medias Res already partners with Nemetschek North
America to offer the Professional Learning Series, the hands-on
training for VectorWorks, as well as developing the VectorWorks
and Industry Series training CDs.
|
| VectorWorks
10 Viewer Now Available |
| The Viewer is a FREE
value-added benefit to VectorWorks 10 and VectorWorks Industry
Series users. The Viewer enables those who do not own the program
to view and print projects created in VectorWorks 10, ARCHITECT
10, SPOTLIGHT 10 or LANDMARK 10. And, it allows on-line collaboration
between designers and clients during the creative process. Please
note that the v10 Viewer does not replace the v9 Viewer. For more
information, and to download the v10 Viewer, please click here.
|
| USER GROUP INFO |
| Los Angeles/Southern
California User Group
Next Meeting: October 24th at Loyola Marymount University, Hilton
Business Center, Room 304 from 7-9 PM.
From the User Group Head:
The group normally meets the second Monday of the month at Loyola
Marymount University from 7-9 PM. There is no charge to be on
the mailing list for monthly meeting announcements and no charge
for attending the meetings.
We are a broad-based group of architects, designers, contractors,
cabinet makers and engineers. The goal of the group is to support
the use of all flavors (Architect, Landmark, Mechanical, Spotlight,
VW) of VectorWorks. A large portion of each meeting is dedicated
to questions and answers. We also try to schedule some type of
a presentation on a topic of general interest for each meeting.
For further information, or to be added to the mailing list, please
contact:
Pat Stanford
lavectorworks@att.net
562-490-4649 x 2035 |
| Upcoming Events |
| Trade Shows |
Date |
Location |
| LDI |
Oct 18 - 20 |
Las Vegas, NV |
| ASLA |
Oct 18 - 22 |
San Jose, CA |
| Build Boston |
Nov 12 - 14 |
Boston, MA (Booth #250) |
| GIE |
Nov 14 - 16 |
Nashville, TN |
| JLC Live '02 |
Dec 6 - 7 |
Portland, OR |
|
Training Seminars
|
Date
|
Location
|
| VectorWorks Fundamentals |
Oct 10 - 11
|
Columbia, MD
|
| VectorWorks
Fundamentals |
Oct 21 - 22
|
Chicago, IL
|
| VectorWorks
Hands-on 3D |
Oct 23
|
Chicago, IL
|
| VectorWorks
Fundamentals |
Nov 6 -7
|
New York City, NY
|
| VectorWorks
Hands-on 3D |
Nov 8
|
New York City, NY
|
| VectorWorks
Fundamentals |
Nov 13 - 14
|
Columbia, MD
|
| VectorWorks
Hands-on 3D |
Nov 15
|
Columbia, MD
|
| VectorWorks
Fundamentals |
Nov 20 - 21
|
Los Angeles, CA
|
| VectorWorks
Hands-on 3D |
Nov 22
|
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
AIA Accreditation
NNA is pleased to offer AIA Continuing Education credit
for our seminars. Architects can earn 16 learning units
by attending the VectorWorks Fundamentals course, and
8 learning units by attending the VectorWorks Hands-on
3D course. For additional information, contact marketing@nemetschek.net
|
|
| Contact Us |
| Call us
at 410-290-5114 to speak to Customer Service or Technical Support. |
| Fax us
at 410-290-7266. Visit us on the web at www.nemetschek.net |
| For ordering
and pricing information, call 1-888-646-4223, or e-mail sales@nemetschek.net |
| E-mail
questions about upcoming shows, User Group events, or any marketing
concerns to marketing@nemetschek.net |
| E-mail
your technical questions, solutions, and wish list items to Technical
Support at tech@nemetschek.net |
|
|
