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ABOUT / SERVICES

general
3D CAD - pretty commercial italian site. English translations and quite a few links. [11/03]
caddepot - links to hundreds of CAD shareware addons, and even a few free CAD programmes. [07/02]
cadinfo - good software links, news and shop. [07/02]
cadalyst - news, reviews, links and free code downloads. [07/02]
digital architect - Architectural Record's computer zone. [08/03]
ten links - CAD and technology portal.

schools
Key Centre for Design, Computing and Cognition - at Sydney University. Free lectures weekly during university.[11/05]

archicad
Going from strength to strength and still available for macintosh.($$$)
graphisoft - archicad home base.
arckiklub - australian-based tips, tricks, and forum.
arckitech - archicad in Australia. Downloads, jobs, and news.

autoCAD
You've got to know it but you don't have to love it. ($$$) AutoCAD Lt has most of what you need (excluding 3D tools) at a cheaper price($$).
alt.cad.autoCAD - a busy autoCAD newsgroup - access here is via google groups.
archT - an independent alternative to Architectural Desktop. It also works with some versions of IntelliCAD.[10/04]
autocad blocks - free blocks at this italian language site. Hit "blocchi".
autodesk - autocad site. The place to go when you get one of those scary "unhandled access violations." Search the support database for a remedy.
autodesk newsgroups - accessed here via google groups.
cad online new zealand - an online store selling autoCAD and third party autoCAD Lt enhancers. [07/02]
comp.cad.autocad - a busy one (access via google groups).
Iobjects - here's an AutoCAD add-on site with many freebie blocks and routines. Looks very good but a little tricky to get used to the navigation.
fbe online learning - autoCAD tuorials from the University of NSW.
point a - autodesk's portal with links, downloads, and forums.

microstation
Still our favourite. No longer available for Macintosh. Hard to obtain too (in Melbourne at least). ($$$)
bentley - microstation' s australian arm.
comp.cad.microstation - very busy news group - access here is via google groups.

rhino
Talk of the town. If you like NURBS curves you've probably already got it.($)
rhino 3d - home base.

sketchup
I've had a small play with this and it's quick to pick up. Very good for all pre-documentation massing tasks. And cheap. Not really suited to advanced modelling and curvy stuff.($)
sketchup - home base.
pushpullbar - lively Melbourne based forum and component centre.

vectorworks
Cheaper but has limitations. Some like its user-friendly interface, which has a lot in common with graphics programs. It works on Macs too and has apparently gotten much better with later versions. ($$)
nemetschek - vectorworks' new owners. Ozcad provide local support. [07/02]
peach-ease listserv archive - a busy listserver, accessible on the web through this site.

other CAD & CAD-related programs
artifice - busy 3D cad discussion.
ecotect - a suite of freeware/shareware software programs aiding passive design. Programs include sunshading calculators and thermal comfort calculators. The programs are also available combined, in Ecotect. Worth a look. Now (July 2002) they have a free add-on section with many a handy tool. [07/02]
LCAid - a lifecycle assessment tool that can import drawing files, specifically developed for Australian climate zones.

CAD file conversion, viewing
cs view - a web plug-in that let's user's view hundreds of file types including many vector formats, within a web browser. Trial version is free.
cadviewer - java-based software that, when loaded on to a webserver, enables dwf files to be read on both PC and MAC platforms. Free and Pro versions.

extranets / project hosting
csiro media release  (5/98) - 'building industry to talk the same lingo' discusses CSIRO research into interoperability. [link fixed 01/02]
bsite - a new Melbourne-based extranet site - in prototype stage but with a good walk through if you register.
cosential - an american ASP solution for the AEC industry.
point a - autodesk's extranet system.
viecon - Bentley's extranet system aimed at the engineering industry and microstation users.

virtual architecture

electronic shadow - Naziha Mestaoui and Yacine Ait Kaci investigate the join between architecture and new media. Requires Virtools WebPlayer in some areas (an easy 800Kb download that may change your display settings). The Palerme 3D interactive that I visited was a moving stack of digital terrain models.
fractal architect - The acceleration of computing speeds has made the rendering of fractal geometries a lot easier, as Jim Harris shows on this site. Not sure if its that much easier to build though. [03.06]
international journal of design computing - australian journal dedicated to researching virtual environments. The last issue was in 2004. [03.06]

commercial 3D visualisation services
3D Arc - a smart little site featuring architectural rendering specialists. [11/03]
3D design architect - Sydney, Jakarta, Bandung, Singapore.
Deneb Design - east coast based 3D modelling design visualisation company. [10/04]
Glasson Murray Group - West Australian specialists in 3D visualisation and VR. [11/03]
jonathan muller - Melbourne
oko art studio - Melbourne.
raw solutions - Melbourne-based.
uno en uno - a Buenos Aires based firm with an international documentation and visualisation service.[10/04]

macs
Apple Computer Aust. - macintosh resources.
Architosh - resource site for architects using the mac for CAD.

system utilities
mike lin - has put together some very useful freeware programs to help you reduce the startup times on your PC.

other
building environments - a very innovative english site offering 3D vector files of building products, and good project profiles with photos.
Filemaker - useful database progam - cross platform.
irfanview - the best little image viewer and resizer around. Free too. [07/05]
microsoft - hard to avoid site - everything to do with Windows - not necessarily easy to find what you're after.

RECENT

21.06.07 RMIT on 2nd life - RMIT's Spatial Information Architecture Lab has built an island in that libertarian digital utopia Second Life. You have to register to see it, so not sure if I'll make it along. Lecturer Greg More says, "Second life presents a whole new set of issues for designers. People can fly, interact and experience a design from all angles... This presents students with the opportunity to explore digital design concepts that aren’t realisable in the real-world, inturn promoting creative thinking. It also gives them access to an online design community which they would not otherwise have the opportunity to interact with." RMIT 08.06.07 2ND LIFE

by peter - comments (0)

07.05.07 Freedom of the press - Printers have come along way since the Gutenburg. According to the NYT, 3d printers are dropping in price and will soon be domesticated. Desktop Factory's easy-baking printer should be down to US$1000 by 2011. It's a bit of a cross between a laserjet and a kiln. Just pop some "nylon powder" in the top, and your 3d shape will eventually drop out the bottom. A spokesman suggests, "You could go to Mattel.com, download Barbie, scan your Mom’s head, slap the head on Barbie and print it out..." [tip: NK] NYT 07.05.07 DESKTOP FACTORY A bit much? Try this old school 3d printing: Playdoh Advanced.

by peter - comments (0)

07.05.07 fold it - As mentioned at Process this evening, 3D origami printing program Pekakura. Seems primarily designed to print out models of fighter planes and japanese monsters but I'm sure it can be used for anything. PEPAKURA [tip:DP]

by peter - comments (0)

09.10.06 Print your home - New York crowd Resolution:4 Architecture have cut out the builder and printed their latest dwelling direct from a rapid prototyping printer. It's a series of birdhouses. Over to Inhabitat who have the nice pics. INHABITAT 09.01.06

by peter - comments (0)

06.09.06 Fallingwater - Here's a link to a fly-through of FLW's Fallingwater. It starts with an amble through each room in the house - looking all around like when I lose my keys. Then the viewer exits and turns into a crazed aeronaut; swooping all over the property. You'll need to turn your brightness up a bit to see the interiors. DIGITAL URBAN The fly-through was built using software from the Half-Life2 video game's Source® engine. Whatever that is. Via joystiq

by peter - comments (0)

20.08.06 Handy - Students can now get Archicad10 for free, which is quite a saving if you don't mind their logo on all your printouts. GRAPHISOFT via life without bldgs

by peter - comments (0)

01.05.06 Google SketchUp - Who would have thought... Google is now giving away a free, cut down version of SketchUp so that people can add a detailed 3d building to GoogleEarth. Are we looking into the future of architectural websites? What SketchUp say Google download page

by peter - comments (20)

27.03.06 towards chaos - The acceleration of computing speeds has made the rendering of fractal geometries a lot easier, as Jim Harris shows on his site Fractal Architect. Not sure if it's that much easier to build though.

by peter - comments (1)

IN ASSOCIATION WITH AMAZON.COM

Diller + Scofidio: Eyebeam Atelier of New Media & Technology: The Charles and Ray Eames Lecturer - anything by this crowd has got to be worth a peek.

Spiralbound 96 pages, 2004.

AMAZON 32% OFF SALE PRICE
$US 12.21 + P/P (ABOUT $7)

(melbourne bookshops - can't locate)

a computer perspective - a background to the computer age - Not quite architecture, but this book of strange machines was designed and built by the office of Charles and Ray Eames.

P/back 174 pages, revised 1990.

AMAZON 30% OFF SALE PRICE
$US 15.05 + P/P (ABOUT $7)

computers and construction - Philip Brown asks where it's all going and who's driving?
OPINION @ butterpaper

30.06.03 MIT and the University of Sydney are organising the First International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition. If this makes sense to you, here's the conference website, they are calling for submissions to the conference, to be held in Boston, US next July.

14.02.03 New Grounds is a workshop running in Denmark this week << dealing with the architectural aspects of the interrelations of cyberspace and the physical world>>. Downloadable PDFs are available of essays by the likes of Stephen Perrella and Marcus Novak. NEW GROUNDS

As public life becomes more private, can the city survive?
Re: Melbourne. William Mitchell is in town from MIT, and wonders about the future of the digital city.
(Age 06.09.02)

IT builds a better system
Re: Construction, BSITE. New government-backed site communications system utilising SMS technology to be tested at Lend Lease Docklands site. (Australian IT 09.07.02)

30.07.02 Went on a very interesting tour of Melbourne this morning wearing 3D goggles. The RMIT Interactive Information Institute has set up a 3D stereoscopic model of the city that can be used for planning and architecture context studies. You can sit in on this mini IMAX by filling in the form at the website. Tours are every second Thursday at 10.30 a.m.

060302 A new way of thinking: << Looking at a MagicBook through special glasses, viewers enter into a virtual world and manipulate objects in that world. Different "pages" cue "different realities", and virtual objects can be picked off a page and transferred to another virtual surface using a special paddle.>> STUFF.CO.NZ 04.03.02

Taking 3D one step further:
<<In each case, the 3D and 4D tools reduced costs and improved constructibility and supply chain management. Clearly, integrative data models have great value for the owner and design/build team. Ironically, though, there is seldom a budget item to pay for the 3D and 4D information modeling, even if it can save millions in overall construction costs.>>
ARCH WEEK 05.06.02

FEATURED LINKS :

inflatoscope - Jessica Irish's hypnotic and labyrinthine site investigating where architecture (especially the inflatable kind), landscape, sound, and flash collide. As usual with flash sites, some patience is required. INFLATOSCOPE Dr Andrew Marsh at Cardiff University has developed a suite of very useful looking software, available as freeware and shareware. The Solar Tool, illustrated, got me very excited. greg lynn (FORM) - a labyrinthine website showing new ways to utilise the power of computing and new technologies.

STALE NEWS :

Pitch Out the T Square Re: Folds, Blobs + Boxes: Architecture in the Digital Era (Washinton Posts 03.03.01) Blobs, pixels and push-up bras Re: What computers are doing to architecture. (Archis 2000)