Architosh weighs in on Artlantis 4

"This renderer keeps getting better with each pass. Read on to find out what is new in Artlantis 4." (Anthony Frausto-Robledo, AIA, LEED AP via Twitter)

Read the article here!

GRAPHISOFT BIMx vs. Artlantis iVisit 3D

Artlantis/ArchiCAD beta tester Karl Ottenstein has weighed in on both GRAPHISOFT's BIMx and iVisit 3D by Abvent. Here are a few gems from his latest post...


"You can make an iVisit pano much more lush and realistic than any BIMx model, because of the power of Artlantis."

"...Artlantis does so much more in terms of powerful shaders, entourage, fixing surface material glitches, illumination, etc etc - and Studio can produce not only images, but animations, VR objects and panos."

"Coolness factor: personal taste! Personally, I find iVisit 3D on an iPhone 4 or faster or an iPad 2 to be totally cool. Manually navigating a beautifully rendered panorama is nice, but turning on gyroscopic mode and making your IOS device a dynamic window into a virtual world is way cool IMHO."

The bottom line? "Different tools, different presentation capabilities. Ideally, get both."

Click here to read the full post.

Artlantis Group on LinkedIn

Join the discussion on LinkedIn's Artlantis group forum. Connect with and engage other Artlantis users in discussions, sharing tips & tricks, and networking.

Click here for details!

See you on LinkedIn!

Review of AEC Apps for iPad

Check out this review of AEC Apps for iPad recently posted by Lachmi Khemlani, founder and editor of AECbytes. We are so pleased that iVisit 3D for Artlantis 4 was included in this overview:

"iVisit 3D is more of a design visualization tool than a 3D model navigation app. It is developed by Abvent, editor and publisher of the popular rendering application, Artlantis. Targeted especially for architects and designers, iVisit 3D allows them to present panoramas of their projects online using an iPad. The actual creation of the panoramic views is done using Artlantis Studio 4; thus, iVisit3D is more of a companion app to Artlantis. The iVisit 3D App is available in two versions, Lite and Pro. The Lite version is free, but is limited to the selection of one panoramic view per day. For those who just want to explore the app without having created models in Artlantis to pull into iVisit 3D, the app lets you download sample models and see how they work. One of these is shown in Figure 7. As you can see, the quality of the rendering is very good, and because it is a panorama, you can rotate the view in order to see it from all sides. You can also click on arrowed markers in the 3D views to jump to a different view, if required, or access the markers by opening a floor plan view. A nice feature in iVisit 3D is the additional option to rotate though the panorama by physically moving the iPad around."

Visit www.ivisit3D.com for more information...

Abvent announces Artlantis 4, featuring iVisit 3D!

PARIS, October 17, 2011 -- Abvent has announced the launch of Artlantis 4, the latest version of the fastest, stand-alone 3D rendering application developed especially for architects and designers. Artlantis combines the most advanced and efficient tools for rendering photo-realistic 3D projects. Artlantis interfaces directly with many leading architectural CAD and BIM software titles, such as ArchiCAD™, Revit™, SketchUp™ Pro, Vectorworks™, and Arc+™. Native support for many popular file formats, such as DXF, DWG, 3DS, DWF, OBJ, and FBX, allows Artlantis to seamlessly interact with nearly all leading 3D CAD and BIM software on the market today.

Available in two main versions, Artlantis offers a product line suited to different needs and practices. Artlantis Render is developed for design professionals (architects, interior designers, urban planners, landscapers, exhibition organizers, exhibitors, etc.) who need to create very high quality still renderings. Artlantis Studio, on the other hand, not only creates exceptional high-resolution still images, but also offers an enhanced suite of tools to generate dynamic renderings, such as iVisit 3D panoramas, VR objects, and animations, that provide interactivity with and motion through the project.

Like previous versions, Artlantis 4 is designed based on the original concept of the interactive preview window, with user-defined settings that provide immediate visual feedback on changes made to the project. The new and improved rendering engine allows users to generate radiosity images in real-time directly within the 3D preview window, providing an accurate representation of the final rendering on-the-fly while saving the end user valuable time as changes are made to the project.

New features in Artlantis 4

Quality Improvements
As in photography, color is an essential consideration in rendering. The new radiosity engine improves images for better perception of colors, textures, and materials. Tone correction is a new post-process tool that allows users to lighten dark images or vice versa. A new Fresnel shader has been added to the library, which is particularly suitable for metallic car bodies. Transparent surfaces and a variety of other edits are now managed more easily in this new version, thanks to an improved method for selecting and handling multiple objects. Click here for video.

Performance improvements
Artlantis 4 is faster than ever. The average rendering time is two times faster, and up to seven times faster if the project uses several Neon shaders. In order to better handle large projects, Artlantis is now optimized for 64-bit Macintosh and Windows environments. Click here for video.

Productivity Improvements
A new Horizontal material projection method simplifies working with complex roof surfaces, automatically orienting the direction all roof textures to line up with all soffit edges in one simple step. Batch rendering work can now be reorganized and filtered before the renderings are generated. In the 2D view, a series of duplicated objects can be automatically positioned on the underlying ground surface using gravity. Click here for video.

iVisit 3D Panoramas (Artlantis Studio only)
Create a realistic virtual tour inside your project with multi-node panoramas. Artlantis 4 automatically creates everything needed to view the panoramas. Based on Flash™ technology, the player is free of charge and viewable within most popular web browsers. A special tool also allows users to view and share these panoramas on an iPad or iPhone. iVisit 3D is available in two versions (Lite and Pro) from Apple’s App Store. iVisit 3D Lite is free, but is limited to one viewing per day. Click here for video.

New Artlantis Media CDs
Along with the release of Artlantis 4, five new Media volumes are also being released exclusively for Artlantis 4, featuring 3D Transport 2010, 3D Cars 2010 (Europe), 3D Cars 2010 (Asia), 3D Cars 2009, and 3D Cars 2008. This brings the total number of optional Artlantis media volumes to 39. Artlantis Media volumes contain themed collections of 3D objects or shaders and parametric textures, available for download or on disc.

Artlantis 4 is available for purchase through Abvent's network of international distributors.

-end-

About Abvent
Since 1985, the Abvent Group has offered innovative image and design solutions for CAD and BIM professionals in the fields of architecture and design. For over 25 years, Abvent's cutting-edge approach to digital imagery has resulted in products and services that are innovative, powerful, and easy-to-use.

For more information, please contact:
Julianna Gulden, International communications manager
gulden@abvent.com
www.artlantis.com

Excitement builds for iVisit 3D!

With the official launch of iVisit 3D just days away, excitement builds for this innovative 3D presentation tool, designed especially for architects and designers. Beta tester Karl Ottenstein (that's him, on the left) had these choice words for Abvent's iVisit 3D:

• 'jaw-dropping'
• 'incredible'
• 'cool'

Read the rest of what Karl had to say here. And download iVisit 3D Lite from the App Store if you haven't done so already. It's free! (Seriously.) What are you waiting for?!?

Abvent announces iVisit 3D Lite for iPad and iPhone!

Abvent has announced iVisit 3D Lite for the iPad and iPhone, an easy-to-use presentation tool designed for architects and designers. iVisit 3D Lite allows users to view and share panorama renderings on an iPad or iPhone.

Visit iVisit 3D today to view the current sample of realistic panoramas.

Click here to watch the iVisit 3D iPad demo!

Vectorworks 2012 plug-in now available!

Vectorworks users will be pleased to know that the Vectorworks 2012 plug-in for Artlantis Render and Artlantis Studio versions 2 and 3 is now available for downloading here.

Click here for more information on how to use Vectorworks and Artlantis together.

LIVE webinar: Rendering BIM models in Artlantis

Chris Stringer, General Manager of Objects Online, will be conducting a training on October 26, 2011 at 2:00 PM EDT. This is part of a free webinar series hosted by Novedge, an internet retailer of CAD and BIM software. This webinar will focus on creating still renderings with Artlantis, covering default and expert settings, different types of projected 3D views, batch rendering, and export options.

Duration: about 1 hour, including Q & A.

Webinar is free but space is limited.

Click here to reserve your webinar seat now!

Download the Artlantis Demo

Artlantis Pricing & Ordering

ArchiCAD 15 Hotfix 1 enables BIMx trial; fixes Artlantis export issue

GRAPHISOFT BIMx has been part of the standard installation of ArchiCAD 15. All ArchiCAD 15 users are entitled to create and use BIMx files on the computer their ArchiCAD 15 is installed. To share BIMx models with other computers, a full BIMx license is needed. Between September 20 and October 31, all BIMx installations are enabled to save and share full BIMx files that can be viewed on any computer device without limitation. Hotfix 1 enables the full save/share functionality of your BIMx installation for the TRIAL period.

This update also fixes known export errors from ArchiCAD 15 to Artlantis 2 and 3. When opening the files exported from ArchiCAD, customers had reported receiving an error in Artlantis stating that "the file cannot be loaded." The new Hotfix build 3267 contains the following, important fixes of the Artlantis export plug-in:

• When exporting a project in .atl format on a server, the .atl file couldn't be read.
• When one of the texture options: "Wall", "Roof", "Slab", or "Others" was unchecked, none of the textures were exported.
• In the Russian, Japanese, Greek and Hungarian ArchiCAD versions, the export dialog was truncated.
• Artlantis 3 exporter: when exporting the light cone, the geometry of the cone appeared to deteriorate in Artlantis.
• In certain cases, using the Reference File caused a displacement of the Artlantis objects.
• The Hungarian language is now integrated.
  

This Hotfix can be accessed only from inside of ArchiCAD either by following the instructions of an automatic message, or by opening the Help menu and choosing the "Check for Updates..." command.

View the full article on ArchiCAD 15 Hotfix.