Below is a listing of all articles and products reviews on CGarchitect.com  
         
  Articles  
         
    Curves without the Cost

Builder AWI adopts 3D in processes that take the pain out of complex designs. Advancements in 3D design tools have given manufacturers tremendous productivity gains over the last two decades.  Automotive development, for example, is nothing like it was twenty years ago.  In this industry, not just styling and engineering revolve around 3D data, but downstream factory processes have evolved to take advantage of the efficiencies that 3D technology offers.
 
         
    Cozimo Review
by Jason Knott

Media Collaboration Anytime, Anyplace.
Cozimo introduces a smarter, easier and more advanced way to review and collaborate on images, video and other digital media with colleagues and clients.

 
         
    3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator Review

So what is a SpaceNavigator you might ask? All of 3Dconnexion’s product offerings are in a word, 3D mice. They allow you to push, pull, tilt, and twist a controller cap using a six degree-of-freedom optical sensor. This allows you to navigate through 3D space, without the cumbersome constraints of standard mouse and keyboard shortcuts.

 
         
    Jeff Stikeman Architectural Art, Arch Viz As Concept Design Tool

Jeff Stikeman has been a practicing architect for over twenty years and speaks the language of architectural visualization well, moving fluently between traditional and digital media. His is a unique combination of CG and traditional picture production methods using MAXON’s CINEMA 4D for his 3D application.
 
         
    VisMasters Design Modeling and Visualization Conference & IMAGINA 2007 
March 12 , 2007

There are few conferences in the world where large numbers of professionals in the architectural and design visualization field all get together in one place to attend sessions and network with each other, but VisMasters and IMAGINA have been working to change this over the last several years. While independent organizations, both succeeded jointly this year in pulling off the largest event of it’s kind yet.
 
         
    Review of Craft Director Tools 
March 5 , 2007

by Chad Warner

Craft Director Tools is a suite of real-time animation tools useful for everything from making a car drive down the street to animating jitter in a camera. The set of tools is relatively easy to install, use, and animate and the results are very impressive with the amount of time that goes into the setup.
 
         
    Digging for Details: Painstaking Research results in Brilliant 3D re-creation of Mayan Ruins
March 5 , 2007

by Rachael Taggart

Being offered the chance to record, reconstruct and then create a documentary about a 1,000 year old Maya city is not something that many of us get. Clement Valla, an architectural designer by profession and a 3D freelance modeler by choice, was offered the opportunity in 2005, and has spent the last year planning, traveling, and working on the project.
 
         
    Why as an Architect, my next Computer could be a Dual Core MAC?
January 22, 2007

by Artemis Fradelou

IDEA is the IntelliCAD-based BIM solution, designed to meet in a very friendly and flexible way all the needs of an architect, including advanced architectural design, rendering and virtual walkthrough.
 
         
    Why as an Architect, my next Computer could be a Dual Core MAC?
November 20, 2006

by Rohit Arora

Beginning this year, the makers of Machintosh Computers, made an important announcement, presented on stage by CEO Steve Jobs, telling the astonished audience that they are going to put in the Intel Chip in future Macs and part way from Power PC platform.

 
         
    Cheetah 3.4 Review
October 18, 2006

by Tim Danaher

Here we'll be looking at Cheetah3D version 3.4. Cheetah (or C3D) is a Mac-only modeling rendering and animation program that has found great favor with architects due to its streamlined interface, great rendering options – and its extremely low price.
 
         
    modo 202 Reviewed
October 3, 2006

by Wm Alexander

modo is said to have a cult following amongst the ArchViz community. Why then is a 3D application, known for its subdivision modeling capabilities, in its early to middle stages of development gaining favor so strongly in a specialized 3D discipline such as Architectural visualization?
 
         
    SIGGRAPH 2006/VisMasters Design Visualization Conference
August 18, 2006

Having now recovered from this year’s SIGGRAPH, I’ve finally found some time to do a small write up about the event this year.
 
         
    2006 Screampoint International Consultants Conference
April 3, 2006

A few weeks ago I was invited to attend the first annual Screampoint International Consultants conference in Shanghai, China.
 
         
    SketchUp 5 Book Review
January 6, 2006

by Tim Danaher

We all love SketchUp. However, what the program has traditionally suffered from is a lack of reference materials.
 
         
    How Old is the Network
November 2005

by Brian O' Hanlon

Everyone talks about the information economy as if it were something new. But the information economy had its roots back in 18th and 19th century France.
 
         
    Review of REALVIZ Stitcher 5
November 28, 2005

A few years ago I reviewed Stitcher 3.1, but with version 5 having been recently released, I thought I would take a look to see what had changed.
 
         
    Review of Evermotion Archmodels
November 13, 2005

I recently had the opportunity to review many of the model collections offered by Evermotion. I had access to volumes 1-12 for this evaluation and will look at model quality, ease of use, file setup, variety and overall usefulness.
 
         
    The Digital Window
September 2005

by Brian O' Hanlon

The popular image of an architect, is someone carrying a 'bundle of drawings' and a great deal of responsibility. The famous 'bundle of drawings' is an architect's perceptual window into a design problem.
 
         
    Shade 7 Professional
August 29, 2005

by Lambros Potamianos

Shade is really quick and efficient to work with, especially for illustration or design purposes. The learning curve is far from steep, and if the user finds that he can get along with the UI, it will prove to be a good choice.
 
         
    Sugar3D Car Models Reviewed
August 29, 2005


No doubt these are some of the best car models I have seen. In fact some of the best models I have seen period.
 
         
    FileFlow 2.0
June 6, 2005


I recently had the opportunity to take FastSend 2.0 for a testdrive, a new digital file transfer service by FileFlow.
 
         
    Final Render Stage-1
May 9 , 2005

By John Dollus

During the course of producing this review, it became apparent that rendering engines seem to have developed somewhat of a cult-like following. Users of rendering engines are very defensive when it comes to comparisons.
 
         
    IMAGINA 2005
February 21 , 2005

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending IMAGINA 2005 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. The show brought roughly 2500 participants to Monaco for four days at the Grimaldi forum which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
 
         
    Vue 5 Reviewed
January 31, 2005

The first thing one realizes 5 minutes after launching the program is what the developers claim: a piece of software that actually “grows” with the user, as one can choose the way he approaches the software's features
 
         
    Cinema 4D R9 Reviewed
January 17, 2005

Cinema 4D is a modular software package involving a base application complimented by expansion packages of specialty features such as character animation tools, advanced lighting tools, advanced particle effects, and networked rendering capabilities.
 
         
    A First look at Illuminate labs’ Turtle for Maya
December 13 , 2004

By Christopher Nichols

You will remember that in my prologue, I mentioned that the archviz subgroup of CG artists have the most experience in GI then any other group. So while I was not completely blown away by this product, I was pretty happy with what it could do.

 
         
    Piranesi ® 4 Painting Space for Windows Review
December 13 , 2004

By Mike White - Bit Contructs.com

I started out in 2003 with Release 3 of the popular painting software Piranesi, which takes its roots in the work and style of the 18th century architectural draftsman, Giovanni Battista Piranesi. After seeing the demo CD I was astounded with the amazing range of capabilities that this software can provide to the architectural illustrator, landscape architect and interior designer.
 
         
    World Builder Pro 4 Review
December 6 , 2004

By Wm Alexander WDA Design

There are almost a dozen camera tracking softwares on the market today ranging in price from about $500 upwards of $10,000 US, but the software that caught my eye at this year’s SIGGRAPH was 2d3’s Boujou Bullet.
 
         
    Boujou Bullet Review
November 29, 2004

There are almost a dozen camera tracking softwares on the market today ranging in price from about $500 upwards of $10,000 US, but the software that caught my eye at this year’s SIGGRAPH was 2d3’s Boujou Bullet.
 
         
    Metropoly Review
November 15 , 2004

by Josh Presseisen, Art Director (Neoscape, Inc.)

Metropoly by Axyz-Design offers multiple sets of 3d people that are low to medium poly (3-6k). These sets contain mostly casually dressed people with high quality textures and well laid out texture maps
 
         
    Architectural Visualization - An Analysis from Human Visual Cognitions Process - by Liang Chen
October 12 , 2004

This article describes the problems in the current architectural communication process. It starts with the discussion of the problem of the current communication methods used in architectural design followed by the discussion of the popular communication theory.
 
         
    ArchVision Hi-Res Deciduous RPC Collection
October 4 , 2004

Marking the first of many upcoming hi-res RPC libraries, ArchVision recently released a North American Deciduous collection containing 75 trees each 2500 pixels high.
 
         
    ArchVision Composer
September 13 , 2004

The tool itself is very straight forward and while it only has a few settings to content with, allows you to very quickly drop in and position the RPC content within your scene.
 
         
    ArchiCD for 3dsmax
September 6 , 2004

The CD, entitled ArchiCD for 3dsmax 6, is described as an intermediate level video training CD covering the areas of modeling and rendering.
 
         
    SIGGRAPH 2004 Trip Report
August 23 , 2004

SIGGRAPH 2004 ended on an up note this year marking a 14% increase in attendance from 2003. A total of 27,825 professionals from nearly 90 countries attended this year’s show.
 
         
    The Future of Architectural Visualization
May 25, 2004

For those of you that were not able to attend my session at this year’s 3DFestival in Copenhagen, I thought I’d summarize many of the items I presented.
 
         
    3DFestival/AVC 2004
May 17, 2004

Trip report from the 2004 3DFestival/AVC Conference in Copenhagen Denmark.
 
         
    Second Annual Radiance Workshop Report - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories
October 6, 2003

By Rob Guglielmetti (rpg@rumblestrip.org)
 
         
    Field Report from Autodesk University 2002
December 23, 2002

By Gary Rackliff (garyr@rmillervisualization.com)
 
         
    A field report on the Inaugural RADIANCE Workshop
October 7, 2002

By Rob Guglielmetti (rpg@rumblestrip.org)
 
         
    TurboCAD v.10 Professional Reviewed
July 11, 2004

By Wm Alexander (wda@asapnet.net)

This is an out of the box review of TurboCad v.10 professional. Having never used TurboCad and being heavy on experience with AutoCAD and Discreet 3D software, this has been a very interesting excursion.
 
         
    Hyperfocal Terrains from Hyperfocal Design
June 28 , 2004

Recently Hyperfocal design released a new collection, Hyperfocal terrains, featuring 92 high-resolution terrain textures including grass, rock, sand, gravel and more.
 
         
    Greenworks Xfrog 3.5
February 12, 2004

I’ve tested most of the commercial tree and plant applications out there over the past few years and I have to say I was pretty impressed with the capabilities of Xfrog.
 
         
    Anark Studio 2.0
October 1, 2003

Anark Studio 2, a multimedia authoring software, that may possibly be able to give you the edge in the originality category.
 
         
    ACADLighting v1.0 Review
By Rob Guglielmetti (rpg@rumblestrip.org)
August 3, 2003

ACADLighting, an AutoCAD plug-in from Design & Drafting of Oak Lawn, IL, allows you to create volumetric and other lighting effects inside of AutoCAD.
 
         
    Hyperfocal Skies from Hyperfocal Design
June 1, 2003

Is your collection of panoramic skies incomplete, or are the versions you have now not cutting it? Well, if you answered yes to either of these you will be excited to find out that there is a new kid in town.
 
         
    ArchVision's™ RPC™ Helpers and Mass Populate Tools
April 7, 2003

In a follow up article to last week's review of ArchVison's RPC™ Parking Lot Cars™, we bring to light some exciting developments that have made their way into the just released RPC™ 3.4 Plug-in.
 
         
    Maya 4.5 Fundamentals
By Christopher Nichols (cpnichols@attbi.com)

March 31, 2003

A few months ago, I was asked to write a review about an educational book on Alias / Wavefront’s Maya. The book is Maya 4.5 Fundamentals. Having been a teacher that taught Maya to architects, I was fairly interested in doing the review.
 
         
    Archvision's™ RPC Parking Lot Cars™
March 26, 2003

For those of you who often include large numbers of vehicles in your scenes you will be happy to note that the latest release by ArchVision: RPC™ Parking Lot Cars, has hit the virtual car dealership.
 
         
    Battle of the Matchmovers - An in-depth Review
December 1, 2002

By Christopher Nichols (cpnichols@attbi.com)

The concept of perspective matching may not be uncommon to many architectural illustrators. You have a photograph of your site and you want to insert your building or space into that photograph...
 
         
    Inside Brazil r/s 1.0
October 1, 2002

The highly anticipated release of Brazil r/s 1.0 arrives for AEC visualization artists using discreet’s 3ds max™ or Autodesk Viz™.

 
         
    SpeedTree MAX vs Bionatics natFX
September 26, 2002

As most of us know a successful exterior architectural rendering required more than just the architecture itself. To achieve true realism, a scene requires anchor objects to tie the real to the not so real.
 
         
    A Designer’s Look at 3ds max 5
August 21, 2002

By Christopher Nichols (cpnichols@attbi.com)

 
 
  Vue d'Esprit 4
June 23, 2002

Vue 4 is the ideal tool for realistic 3D scenery. It features a completely new interface design optimized for ease-of-use and productivity.


 
 

  Aurora 1.0
June 8, 2002

Digital Element, the makers of World Builder, have recently released a new product called Aurora, a natural FX plugin for PhotoShop.
 
 

  Vray
May 7, 2002

Christopher Nichols, a visualization and animation specialist for a major architecture firm in Santa Monica California, take a look at the use of Vray in an architecural setting.

 
 

  ArchVision Automobiles Volume 1
May 7, 2002

ArchVision's latest RPC content library.
 
    REALVIZ® MatchMover 2® and MatchMover Professional®
March 4. 2002

MatchMover is an advanced solution for capturing camera path and camera parameter information from 2D video or film footage.

 
 

  Animax Texture Collection
February 24. 2002

A collection of 1000+ medium and high resolution textures from the guys at Stack!Studios.
 
 
  REALVIZ® Stitcher® 3.1
February 3. 2002

REALVIZ® Stitcher® is the way to build high quality panoramas for the web, film, print, and 3D.

 
    Quadrispace Presentation Suite
January 14, 2002

The QuadriSpace Presentation Suite integrates dynamic, real time views of your 3D models and CAD drawings with standard presentation elements.

 
 
  Autodesk VIZ 4®
December 15, 2001

The latest release of the popular architectural modelling and rendering package by Autodesk.

This is a two part review focusing on VIZ 4, written by Jeff Mottle and a special feature on VIZ 4's lighting analysis tools, written by Rob Guglielmetti.