Art and Architecture: Software

Showing posts with label Software. Show all posts

Affordable Alternative Software for Architects

I wanted to buy the best software when I started my architectural firm. The office that I used to worked for invested in software that I consider to be the benchmark in our industry. After careful deliberation on the cost of this software, I chose to seek alternatives to those programs that didn't break the bank. After trying out other apps, these are the ones that I personally like.

Twixtor Turn Normal Videos to Extreme Slow Motion

I have always been fascinated with slow motion videos. Every time I see a extreme slow motion video I have always wondered how I could make a slow motion video at a minimal cost. When I found out that the Nikon J1 cameras had a slow motion video I did a research on other cheaper cameras which has this capability.

While doing my research I bumped in to Twixtor. I saw the video below which was slowed down to 4000fps. I was amazed on how smooth the transition of each frame were especially since the original video was only 60fps.

AVIZ Studio 3D Roof Generator and Tree Generator

I was browsing through the net looking for tutorials on vray and came across these two plug ins for 3dmax. Whenever I had a project wherein I needed to use clay roof tiles on the house I always modeled each roof tile in order to achieve a more realistic look. I never thought that there were plugins around that would make my work easier.

As for the trees and plants I usually use those ready to use models bought from 3d stores. Although I still have to try these two plugins out I think this will be a great addition to my tools in my work as a 3D Artist for Architectural renderings.

The videos below demonstrate the plugins and as far as I know these can only be used on 3d studio max.

The homepage for these plugins is http://www.avizstudio.com

Hope you will find their plugins useful.

Switching to Free Programs

Lately a lot of offices here in the Philippines have switched to open source programs to save on the cost of buying original programs. I did my research on some alternative open source software to their commercial counter part and found out that there are a lot of pretty good and efficient open source counterparts.

Here are some of the list of programs that I am currently using and their commercial counter parts.

Open Source: Blender
Commercial Counterpart: 3D Max

Open Source: DoubleCad
Commercial Counterpart: Autocad

Open Source: Gimpshop, Gimp
Commercial Counterpart: Adobe Photoshop

Open Source: Open Office
Commercial Counterpart: Microsoft Office

Open Source: Gantt Project, Open Project
Commercial Counterpart: MS Project

Open Source: Google Sketchup
Commercial Counterpart: 3D Max

There are a lot more open source programs available and I'm still trying out some of them. I'll post some updates after I finish testing them.

Check: www.osalt.com for more information on open source programs.

Google Sketchup Tutorials

A couple of years ago, my office mate introduced me to a 3D software developed by Google. I was surprised by its versatility but was dismayed about the fact it didn't support some lighting plugins back then.

I practiced on some of the online tutorials back then. I found the program to be very user friendly. It only takes a couple of days for someone who has no background in 3d modeling to learn this program. I never realized the true potential of the program until I saw most of my former classmates using the program in their renderings.

Lately, I started using Sketchup again. Its been a while since I last used the program. I needed to practice it again. I'm relearning the things I've learned back then and discovered some new things along the way.

If you are interested in learning 3D modeling but don't have the patience to go to school. I suggest you learn this program through online tutorials. It's easy to use and a great tool to help you with your designs. Here are a couple of links to some tutorials in Sketchup: