10 Free HDRi Spherical Skies Maps

This comes by way of blogger Ronen Beckerman. 10 half-sized resolution spherical environmental maps of the original commercial pack, VizPeople HDRI v1, are available for free download and non-commercial use. These are full 360˚ HDRI skydomes that integrate flawlessly into Artlantis 4.1 and can be used to light the scene, one of the key new features in the v 4.1 update. Try them out and see how they work!

To download the files, you'll need to scroll to the "Share to Download the FREE HDRI maps" portion of the page, about 1/3 down the page. From there, either like on Facebook, tweet on Twitter, or share via Google+, and a "Get the Files!" link will immediately appear afterward. After downloading, install them by unzipping and dragging the folder into your programs folder: Artlantis/Media/Images.

To apply the HDRI backgrounds into the Artlantis scene, go to the Perspectives Inspector and either double-click the Background Environment box and load the desired .HDR file, or drag-and-drop the HDRI from the Media Catalog into either the Background Environment box or the background of the 3D preview window. There may be a brief pause while the new HDRI loads into the scene. Finally, to use the HDRI as a light source in the scene, click on the HDRI button and check the "Use HDR Image Lighting" checkbox in the resulting dialogue. If you want the scene to be lit only by the HDRI background, deactivate the current Heliodon, but if you shadows cast from the sun, leave it on and be sure your Heliodon's sun position matches that of the sun in the HDRI.

 See the full article for the download link

Render Rally...A Celebration of Speed, Power, and Beauty

As warmer weather reaches the Northern Latitudes, few words can truly describe the exhilarating feeling of riding in a classic car with the top down, the radio on, and the open road ahead. Nothing comes between you, your vehicle, and the surrounding panorama. In a singular moment, all that speed, power, and beauty are yours. This is what it feels like to use Artlantis.

Artlantis is a fine-tuned balance of speed, power, and beauty. As soon as you drop the first shader, 3D object, or light source into the scene and see the instant preview results, you know you are behind the controls of something incredibly responsive, fun, and easy-to-use. This carries through to the final renderings, which are delivered with amazing speed and superb quality.

Now through June 30, Objects Online invites you to take Artlantis Render for a free 30-day test drive. If you love the way it handles, pick up your first seat of Artlantis Render at 20% off and additional seats at 15% off. And because no journey is complete without a good set of wheels, they're also offering select volumes of 3D Cars at 10% off. Get to the Render Rally before it ends!

Certain geographic restrictions may apply.  Please contact Objects Online for details.

 Render Rally Pricing and Ordering

 Download the Artlantis 30-day Demo

 Download the Export Plug-ins

BIMcomponents.com Channels BIM Objects from BIMobject®

GRAPHISOFT, the developer of ArchiCAD, the Number One choice of architects for BIM solutions, will now channel BIM objects from the BIMobject® cloud and integrate them into the organic search results on BIMcomponents.com.

BIMcomponents.com, GRAPHISOFT’s portal for parametric BIM objects, will automatically channel objects developed, maintained, and published by real manufacturers in the central cloud solution at BIMobject.com.

The brand recognition of BIMobject® is well known and certifies that the objects come from real manufacturers and are real products that can be specified and sourced in real life. The unique channel concept developed by BIMobject allows building product portals to channel the BIM objects used by more and more websites around the world. For manufacturers, this offers convenience by centralizing the hosting and maintenance of their digital product data; the BIMobject® cloud handles all the building product searches to be updated.

The cooperation between GRAPHISOFT and BIMobject® will increase the visibility of the manufacturers’ BIM objects and simplify the way architects and engineers can search for BIM objects and download them to their favorite BIM system.

These high quality BIM objects are guaranteed to be by the manufacturers and quality controlled by BIM experts from BIMobject®.

”The integration with BIMobject.com, the world's leading manufacturer specific content provider, offers direct access to an extensive collection of high quality BIM content by real manufacturers available both in ArchiCAD 17 and on BIMcomponents.com. This creates a huge value for our users by providing the quality and details very much a standard for the BIMobject® content,” said Akos Pfemeter, Director of Global Marketing, GRAPHISOFT.

”We are very pleased to have BIMcomponents as the latest in a long row of channel partners. We continue to serve building and interior product manufacturers to create a dynamic and maintainable infrastructure for product content   management. We expect the BIMcomponents.com collaboration to be very useful for both ArchiCAD users as well as the manufacturers in the building industry,” said Stefan Larsson, CEO of BIMobject AB.

 Visit BIMcomponents.com

 Visit BIMobject.com

 Are you a manufacturer? Get added to BIMobject.com

LIVE! Online webinar: Rendering BIM models in Artlantis

On Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 2:00 PM EDT, Chris Stringer of Objects Online will be joining Greg Conyngham of ICS for a webinar on rendering BIM models in Artlantis 4.1. In this webinar, we will introduce you to Abvent's Artlantis, the fastest stand-alone 3D rendering application developed especially for architects and designers. Artlantis is ideal for quickly and easily creating high resolution 3D renderings, iVisit 3D Panoramas, QuickTime VR Objects and animations. You'll learn how to:

• Export your model from your 3D modeling program and and import into Artlantis
  
• Quickly apply shaders and textures to create photo realistic building materials
  
• Add objects and cutouts to your Artlantis model
  
• Add and manage lighting and atmosphere
  
• Create an iVisit 3D Panorama for client presentations 

Direct plug-ins are available for ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, SketchUp, and Revit in order to make Artlantis's rendering more accessible to you. Additionally, Artlantis reads the latest versions of the most common file formats such as .dxf, .dwg, .dwf, .fbx or .obj.

With Artlantis's renowned ease of use you no longer need specialists in your firm to achieve high quality, photo-realistic renderings and animations. Webinar guests will be able to take advantage of a special Artlantis promotion, which will be mentioned during the webinar. Mark your calendar (Wednesday, May 29, 2:00 PM EDT) and register today!

U.S. participants only, please!

 Register for the Webinar

 Download the Artlantis 30-day Demo

 Artlantis Pricing & Ordering

IBERfibran develops objects in cooperation with BIMobject

Portuguese manufacturer IBERfibran, from the international Fibran group, has created BIM objects for their insulation systems. FIBRAN SA designs and manufactures products and solutions for thermal insulation, acoustic insulation and fire protection, bringing energy efficiency into building, industrial, and marine applications.

"IBERfibran started this project in collaboration with BIMobject® in order to allow engineers, architects and designers to have an easily accessible tool to develop their insulation projects. We believe that this collaboration will simplify the process of modeling a building. We also believe that to be successful, we have to anticipate our clients' needs, and designers are our first clients in the chain of promoting and selling our high performance isolation FIBRANxps," said Vera Silva, Product and Marketing Manager for IBERfibran.

The range of four IBERfibran xps products are made available as a complete set of library parts, covering main needs for building insulation. The objects are available both in Revit and ArchiCAD. Please follow the link below to see the products on the BIMobject® portal, and while there, register to download them free of charge.

 View Fibran's products on BIMobject.com

 Are you a manufacturer? Add your products to BIMobject.com

 Read the complete press release

Recorded webinar: Architectural visualization of ArchiCAD models using Artlantis

In case you missed GRAPHISOFT's live, online seminar featuring Artlantis, you can watch the recorded version here:

Artlantis Shaders recorded webinar and Q&A now online

The recorded Atlantis 4.1 Shaders webinar from mid-April is now on Novedge's YouTube and Vimeo channels. It is also posted in the Novedge blog, along with written responses to all the questions that were received during the webinar. The Q&A features a number of in-depth tutorials that explain things such as using bump and normal maps, creating realistic grass, and the functions of the Fresnel Transition slider.

 See the recorded webinar and Q&A responses

 Watch the recorded webinar on YouTube

 Watch the recorded webinar on Vimeo

Sovella releases industrial furniture as BIM objects for Revit and ArchiCAD

Sovella is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of industrial furniture and workstations. Alongside quality and durability, Sovella workstation solutions are defined by ergonomics, modularity, and human-centered designs.

Sovella wallshelving systems meet the high demands set for storage in public spaces in terms of durability and load capacity. A wide range of wire shelves, pull out baskets, cloth rails and racks as well as perforated panels and hooks are available and compatible with each other. The system also includes a free-standing unit.

The BIM objects of the Sovella wallshelving system range are available for Revit and ArchiCAD, both in Finnish and English language. Please follow the link below to see the products on the BIMobject® portal, and while there, register to download them free of charge.

 View Sovella's products on BIMobject.com

Bombastik Attitude releases designer furniture as BIM objects

Bombastik Attitude has a wide range of exclusive and functional designer furniture and public furniture for conference facilities, offices, and all public places.

The BIM objects of the Bombastik Attitude range are available for ArchiCAD and AutoCAD. Please follow the link below to see the products on the BIMobject® portal:

 Bombastik Attitude

”We are very happy to be able to help Bombastik Attitude publish and market their products to a wide audience. The collaboration with BIMobject® gives them a fantastic opportunity to place their furniture on every architect and interior designers desktop,” said Ben O’Donnell, CTO of BIMobject AB.

Import updater DWG-DXF 2013 for Artlantis Studio 4.1.8

Abvent has released an update for Mac and Windows that permits Artlantis 4.1.8 to open DWG-DXF 2013 files. To install, first make sure Artlantis isn't running. Then, download and run the installer. Follow the instructions to complete the process.

 Download the Import Updater

 Download the Artlantis 30-day Demo