#Welcome
Darrin,
I just learned about this forum for Visual Software, and read your message to
Nick Josephs of 15-Aug. I am an architect specializing in architectural
illustration, and have been using Renderize to some extent for over a year.
Regarding your problem with the sluggish cursor during disk access of the swap
file: I have been searching in vain for a solution to this problem ever since
I enlarged my swap file from 30 Mb to 80Mb. It drives me nuts. The only thing
that I know for sure is that the magnitude of the problem is directly
proportional to the size of the swap file (I've tried a number of different
sizes from 30Mb to over 80Mb). The cursor problem manifests itself in other
software that accesses the swap file, particularly Micrografx Picture
Publisher. I have been intending to call Visual Software about the problem,
but now that this forum exists, perhaps Nick will be able to respond.
Regarding your architectural modeler question: The only modeling software that
I have used is Upfront, until recently known as Alias Upfront. Alias has
returned the distribution rights back to SketchTech, Inc. I have been very
satisfied with Upfront and I am eagerly awaiting Version 2 for Windows which
SketchTech says will be ready by the end of October. (I have Version 1.1 for
Windows) Version 2 for the Macintosh has been available for some time.
Upfront exports DXF files which import flawlessly into Renderize.
Some other notable aspects of Upfront are: Created by architects for mostly
architects; sun shadows displayed for any time/date/location in the world; the
model creating working views are always in perspective with shaded surfaces and
hidden lines removed (unless you choose otherwise); 256 named layers
manipulated in a very nice spreadsheet format; accurate dimensional input via
keyboard or on-screen rulers; import a photograph and match the model
perspective to that of the photo; 2D & 3D DXF import; export 3D DXF, WMF, TIFF,
PCX, & BMP and some other file formats; easy to use and relatively bug-free,
in my opinion. There is one problem area and that is occasional improper
sorting of some surfaces for display apparently due to conditions such as
non-planar surfaces, &/or intersecting surfaces that have not been resolved by
cutting at their intersections; the software does not provide any assistance
in finding the offending surfaces and often the surfaces that are not
displaying correctly may not be the ones causing the problem.
I originally purchased Upfront to construct perspectives to be traced over for
manual rendering; I still frequently do this. I then found that clients were
interested in some illustrations printed directly from Upfront -particularly
somewhat diagramatic overall views of complicated subjects. I then began
enhancing Upfront bitmap exports in Picture Publisher, which is very much like
doing a manual rendering utilizing the computer. I really have not used
Renderize all that much yet, but am trying to do more with it on appropriate
projects.
If you are interested in checking out Upfront, here is their contact
information:
SketchTech Inc.
43 Main St., Suite 410
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Tel: 612-379-1435
-Richard