Macer

Hi Philip, Links to report info I mentioned early: http://www.autodesk.co.uk/adsk/servlet/index?id=15283736&siteID=452932 Half way down and at the bottom. and: http://cadsetterout.com/bim/bim-recommended-for-uk-government-procurement/ If you do go ahead with it, it may be worth getting certified: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=14238657 Those in the know say it is a bit worthless, but to inexperienced clients it will be a major positive! Good luck.

The cost to architectural firms (training and hardware and reduced productivity for the first few projects) is the reason why it hasn't been adopted by everyone already, but several firms in my area have been using it exclusively for a number of years. For bigger firms (such as the one I'm at) they are waiting until it is demanded by the client. A government report out a month or two ago is likely to change things though, as it recommends that BIM and IPD is adopted, and it may lead to all government construction work demanding BIM. This would result in a massive increase in BIM use (if it happens)! I don't think there will be a big demand for stand alone modellers though, I think architctural firms will need BIM model managers to control large projects that several technicians (and ME & Structures input) are working on at the same time. May lead to more firms taking M&E in house (especially when you consider the new demands for calcs at the early design stage). But there will be a need for advanced BIM users/managers in any architectural firm that adopts BIM. Just my thoughts...

I overclocked my dual cpu, quad core system from 2.5 to 3.0 using the cooler mentioned above. It has been stable and rendering fine for over two years! Just limit your overclock, don't go extreme. Keep a close eye on your temps when setting it up.

Great work - saved straight to my inspiration folder! Great lighting and attention to detail, well done!

Yeah, I'm having same problems on firefox too...

I had it on in the background. It seemed to be mainly about the future development of Max. Interface changes, improved tools, better viewport experience, etc. They are trying to bring some logic to the way you interact whilst not pissing off experienced users! Rather high level plans and ideas discussed, but nothing really specific. Lots of polls to gauge your interest in different areas too. Worth catching if you are interested in the long term development of the software.

Thanks for the reply Justin. Thats good to know. I'll try and focus on more Revit work as a starting point. I heard that the outlook was improving back home compared with the continuing downturn here! We'll just have wait and see...

Hi All, My current job is looking pretty unstable at the moment and I it’s got me thinking about the options available back home. I’d really appreciate some advice and any information that you can offer. I’d head back to the Brisbane area, but I’ve never worked in this industry in Australia. I have around 7 years experience in a large multi-disciplinary firm in the UK, doing a mix of architectural visualisation, technician work, and also managing some Revit models. 1. My main query relates to what position would be more valued: a) Architectural visualisation b) Revit technician c) Architectural technician d) Or a combination? (ie, which has more opportunity and better pay?) 2.Any ball park figures of salary? 3.Any firms based in Brisbane to target or avoid? Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me. Cheers, Mark

Beautiful work as usual Fran! Great attention to detail and the lighting is spot on. Well done.

Wow! Impressive attention to detail. Well done.

We are also facing a similar problem as we move accross to Revit. Revit conceptual tools have improved quite a bit in the last release or two, but there is a new package that could be worth investigating too - Vasari. It is an Autodesk product, currently in the labs: (http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/vasari/). It is being touted as Revit light, with a large focus on conceptual development workflow and energy analysis, and it is fully compatable with full Revit as you would expect. Have a look at some of the videos such as this one: It certainly looks interesting, maybe not the answer you are looking for, but it may have a place in your office, even if it isn't with you! My limited (so far) experience in Revit to Max shows linking to be an ok option, but you need to fiddle with the units as Revit is (internally) set to use feet and scaling of materials can't be over ridden with UVW maps. You may have to Reset Xform first. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see if any other alternatives come to light....

Yep, expensive! I was looking into i-ray and was disappointed by the scene size / memory size restriction for gpu usage. Most of my scenes are over 2GB in RAM consumption so I’m guessing that my GPUs wouldn’t even be used for most scenes. Graphics cards with more than 2GB RAM aren’t cheap! But then when I went to download the subscription advantage pack during the week, I found out that the account has been temporarily suspended because my employer is still haggling over the £2million + subscription bill! So there’s no chance of hardware upgrades when all the money is being blown on software!

Ihabkal, the fire escape simulation already exists: http://www.iesve.com/Software/VE-Pro/Simulex for 2d planning at least. But from a visualisation point of view this looks very interesting! Hopefully I'll be able to spot further info at this years virtual AU.

Virtual cores are not equal to physical cores, a new dual quad will have 8 pys cores and 8 virt cores. ( unless you go for the 6 core cpus, then it would have 12 + 12. Render nodes don't need good GPUs unless you are considering GPU rendering (which is starting to become mainstream), in which case you could get a much lower spec cpu and multiple GPUs. AJLynn's blog covers a lot of it: http://www.3datstech.com/

Yep, I read elsewhere that the download server is down, but if you email (click the donate tab for info) requesting the version you require, it will be emailed to you.