Displaying items by tag: Apple

Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:43

AEC Live January 2013

Architecture, Engineering and Construction Afternoon Tea Events - January and February 2013

Solutions inc. are hosting a number of specialist events with afternoon tea at the PROBIZ Sussex County Cricket Ground, Eaton Lane, Hove, BN3 3AN. With 150 free parking spaces it couldn't be easier to attend.

Sign up today for your spaces which are limited. There are currently four events which you are more than welcome to attend all four.

The events are an excellent oppotunity to brush up on skills, knowledge and network within your field. These events will be attended by architects, engineers, project managers, contractors, students and many more...

SIGN UP HERE

Thursday 17th January 2013 14:30 to 17:00

iPad for Architecture, Engineering and Construction - FREE with afternoon tea

The iPad has changed the way we worked forever but how can you take advantage of the new tools the iPad brings? Solutions inc. will be revealing the secrets of editing drawings on-site, surveying without using a tape measure and keeping in contact with your clients at all times.

No longer do you have to print and carry rolls of drawings and present heavy portfolios.

Software to be demonstrated -

AutoCAD WS
Vectorworks Cloud
MagicPlan
CAD Faster

……and many more including 3D model viewers!

Solutions inc. will also be demostrating the practical deployment of mobile devices through such schemes as salary sacrafice.

There will be a suite of iPads available to try out the specialist software.

SIGN UP HERE

~~Thursday 24th January 2013 14:30 to 17:00~~

~~RIBA BIM CPD - £20exVAT per person with afternoon tea~~

POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

BIM – Your Next Step

This talk aims to cover questions such as:

What is BIM and what is design led BIM?

How does an architecture practice begin in degrees to use BIM?

How does the integration process work?

Determining the right level of BIM for the project?

Content learning aims

1. Provide a ‘high level’ overview of the BIM workflow

2. Demonstrate real world case studies

3. Provide practical advice on implementing BIM

4. Carry out a practical exercise on office BIM strategy

Content learning outcomes

1. To understand the basic definition of BIM.

2. To understand and to be able to define in simple form the BIM Maturity Diagram.

3. To be able to place the current working methods of the practice within the context of the BIM Maturity Diagram.

4. To understand the difference between Lite BIM and Open (Full) BIM.

5. To be able to state the main advantage of the .IFC openBIM file format.

6. To be able to identify a suitable project within the practice to progress along the BIM Maturity Curve (using the guidelines set out by BuildingSMART).

7. To identify which of the ‘7 Steps to BIM’ you would consider using on your next BIM project.

RIBA CPD Curriculum

In terms of the RIBA CPD Curriculum this talk has covered the following areas Professional Context, Practice Management, Managing Projects & Personal Skills and Development. A certificate will be sent following the event.

SIGN UP HERE

Thursday 31st January 2013 14:30 to 17:00

Vectorworks 2013 - what's new - FREE with afternoon tea

We’re pleased to share with you all the evolutions in Vectorworks 2013.

No matter what design discipline you are in we know your process as a designer is evolving. And we believe as your process evolves, the tools you use to realise your creative visions need to evolve, as well.

Vectorworks is considered to be a leading program in the 2D, 3D and BIM areas. This is an opportunity to see what's arrived in the new version and to see how the software compares to what your currently using.

Agenda Overview

Best in 3D

Better BIM

Rendering Tools

Improved Efficiency

Site Design

...and many more

Nemetschek Vectorworks Inc won the "One to Watch Company" and came runners up in the "BIM Product of the Year" at this years Construction Computing Awards 2012. Vectorworks also won Construction Computing Awards 2010 "Product of the Year"

A suite of iMacs will be available to use at the event to try out the software

SIGN UP HERE

~~Thursday 7th February 2013 14:30 to 17:00~~

~~AutoCAD and LT on Mac - The New Frontier - FREE with afternoon tea~~

POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Autodesk have now brought your favourite powerhouse drafting tools to the Mac. Providing native support for DWG™ file format, AutoCAD LT for Mac and full AutoCAD helps you efficiently document and share designs. With the powerhouse tools you expect– along with an intuitive Mac OS® X interface – Autodesk's software has made it easier than ever to create design documentation on your platform of choice.

Solutions inc. will be demonstrating the software live showing that it is easy to move from PC to Mac.

Also being demostrated will be further intergration with AutoCAD WS on the iPad and how you can now use the cloud to share and store your drawings with you colleagues, clients and consultants.

SIGN UP

Please fill in all the fields, if you are signing up for the CPD we will call you to take payment

Published in Business

Wednesday, 17 August 2011 15:35

Mac now a true AutoCAD platform

Mac now a true AutoCAD platform-

AutoCAD for Mac 2012

AutoCAD LT for Mac 2012

AutoCAD WS for Mac

BLOG UPDATE 27-3-12 - AutoCAD LT for Mac 2013 Launches in the UK

So I woke up and arrived at work early reading my normal blogs and to my surprise: "AutoCAD LT 2012 for Mac arrives on the App Store". To be honest I am not surprised that this product has arrived but surprised it has arrived in the US only and on the App Store. So after many phone calls to my inside contacts I am non the wiser to a UK release date. I assume that it will not be on the App store to start as Autodesk do things slightly differently over here. I will let you all know as soon as I can when you can get it in the UK though ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

But this isn't the only exciting release for the Mac platform this week.

Quote:

"AutoCAD for Mac 2012 and AutoCAD WS for Mac will be available worldwide on August 19, 2011. AutoCAD LT for Mac will only be available in the U.S. and Canada on August 16, 2011."

So the excellent AutoCAD WS which I have been promoting on my iPad is now coming to my Mac. This brings together true integration between all Apple platforms making it a wise choice for a designer or architect or engineer.

It looks like Autodesk who abandoned the Mac platform for years are clawing they're way back into the lime-light! The Mac platform is 'trending', it is becoming the new choice for the business world. Creatives have been using it for decades especially in illustration and publishing. Does this mean the architectural industry will now make that leap into the Mac platform? I do hope so as I have many clients who already love the Mac. It is important though to note that there are already some amazing CAD programs on the Mac such as Vectorworks and ArchiCAD which have been long time supporters of the platform.

AutoCAD LT for Mac is another step for high-end business programs to appear on the Mac App Store, is this the future? I hope not, this is specialist software and should be sold by experts who understand how it works and how to use it.

Autodesk are not new to Apple's App store though, with Sketchbook Pro and AutoCAD WS for the iPad and iPhone having been on the store for sometime. Autodesk have also released a free game Tinkerbox which is a fun-to-play physics game and puzzle that puts you in the role of inventor, problem solver, and engineer extraordinaire.

So what does this mean for designers all over the world? AutoCAD for Mac was released late 2010 and as a CAD expert in the Apple world I always expected LT to arrive sooner or later but just didn't know when. So when can we get it? No idea! But I'll let you all know as soon I know. It now brings the industry standard dwg filetype to the Mac using the original dwg program.

Quote:

"Since the release of AutoCAD for Mac last year, customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, further validating the need for professional design and engineering software on the Mac platform," said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk Platform Solutions and Emerging Business. "Bringing AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD WS to the Mac shows our continued commitment to making design more accessible for an ever-greater number of people to shape the world around them."

"AutoCAD for Mac 2012 software includes familiar AutoCAD capabilities, such as 2D and 3D design tools, and includes 3D free-form modelling capabilities; 3D visualisation and rendering; network licensing; advanced customisation of the menus; support for LISP and ObjectARX and ObjectDBX applications; and more. AutoCAD LT for Mac follows common native Mac application user interface guidelines, with a familiar Apple menu bar together with a number of workflow-based palettes. AutoCAD LT for Mac also supports native Mac OS X behaviour, including Cover Flow navigation and Multi-Touch gestures.

AutoCAD LT for Mac is perfectly suited for designers, architects and engineers who prefer to work in a native Mac environment and need to create, edit or review designs, technical drawings and documentation.

Like the popular AutoCAD WS mobile app Autodesk released last September, AutoCAD WS for Mac is a simple, free* app providing basic, intuitive tools for viewing, editing and sharing designs. Through its synchronous coediting feature, users may also collaborate on designs across multiple platforms — desktop, mobile and web."

What's also notable about AutoCAD LT is that Autodesk is the one of the first major publishers to bring one of it's flagship products to the Mac App Store. The thing that stopped them from bringing the full version of AutoCAD for Mac to the Mac App Store was its price and also most likely the more complicated licensing and support which that product has.

With Autodesk leaping into the Mac App Store it will be interesting to see if other major developers like Adobe, Nemetschek, Graphisoft and Microsoft follow suite with their flagship products. In my honest opinion I don't think this will happen, I don't think Microsoft fancy giving Apple 30% of their software revenue!

Contact me This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information

Published in Matthew Jackson

Thursday, 21 July 2011 12:14

What's new in Apple Certified Video Training

So now that you have had a chance to look at the new version of Final Cut Pro what is Apple going to do about it's certification program. Apple have heavily slimmed down the range of certifications that they were offering from ten to three.

Out with the old

The following certifications will be retired January 12, 2012 and removed from the Apple Certified Professionals Registry:

• Apple Certified Pro - Color Correction in Final Cut Studio Level One

• Apple Certified Pro - Compressor 3.5 Level One

• Apple Certified Pro - DVD Studio Pro 4 Level One

• Apple Certified Pro - Final Cut Express Level One

• Apple Certified Pro - Final Cut Pro 7 Level One

• Apple Certified Pro - Final Cut Pro 7 Level Two

• Apple Certified Pro - Final Cut Server 1.5 Level One

• Apple Certified Pro - Motion 4 Level One

• Apple Certified Pro - Sound Editing in Final Cut Studio Level One

• Apple Certified Master Pro - Final Cut Studio

Apple Authorised Training Centres will continue to be able to run courses and exam up until this date. As of August 31, 2011, Final Cut Pro 7 exams will no longer be available in Prometric Test Centres.

In with the new

They will be replaced by the following Certifications

• Apple Certified Pro - Final Cut Pro X Level One

• Apple Certified Pro - Final Cut Pro X Level Two

• Apple Certified Pro - Motion 5 Level One

The materials for the new courses and certification will be available in late September so don't expect any Apple Certified FCP X courses until then. The books will be available in hard copy or as an iBookStore title.

There will be four courses available.

FCP 101: Introduction to Final Cut Pro X

3 days leading to Apple Certified Pro - Final Cut Pro X Level One

FCP 200: Comprehensive Study of Final Cut Pro X

5 days leading to Apple Certified Pro - Final Cut Pro X Level One

FCP 300: Advanced Editing in Final Cut Pro X

3 days leading to Apple Certified Pro - Final Cut Pro X Level Two

Motion 101: Introduction to Motion 5

3 days leading to Apple Certified Pro - Motion 5 Level One

Once the exams become available there will be a grace period where a current Certified Pro can upgrade there certification by passing an online exam, open book in their own home, for a set fee. After this they will need to sit the exam at an AATC under normal exam conditions.

The FCP test exam will be replaced by a Peachpit Test Yourself app downloadable from the AppStore.

Published in Mark Walker

Wednesday, 20 July 2011 11:39

FCP X: Fear of the Unknown

In general human beings are resistant to change. We prefer to stick with what we know and understand. If often feels easier to deal with the problems we are used to rather than tackle new ones. In the world of video editing with the Arrival of Final Cut Pro X the decision has been made for us.

This new version of Apple's widely used video editing software requires a different approach to the process of editing. Ultimately the goal is the same, but a new tool requires a new way of working. This seems to be the key to getting your head around how to use the new software. Some of the old concepts are gone and trying to get FCP X to fit to your old working pattern will not work. It does a lot of things in a new way, to get the best from it you have to embrace that change.

Apple's seminar for Final Cut Pro Certified Trainers on Monday was very interesting. We were given a full demo of the new video editing software by one of the Mentor Trainers, showing us what FCP X can do. There was absolutely no information about Apple's strategy for the film and video industry, or what they intended to do in the future. I didn't expect there to be. Even if anybody there knew anything, they wouldn't have been allowed to say. What they were prepared to say is that this first release of FCP X is just the beginning.

What they have given us is different strategy to video editing. All the things that are on the rumour sites about single sequences in a project and other behaviours are all true. But they are only significant if if you stick to the old approach and workflows. The structure of projects and sequences is gone, replaced with Events and Projects, and the project contains only a single edit. Clips are arranged on the timeline without tracks connected to the primary storyline in what seems an impossibly loose way. These changes alone will present challenges to accepted practices but just because we know and understand how something works doesn't mean it can't be improved.

Is shiny and new better, if it wasn't broken did it need fixing. I don't know. But it is different and that change will throw up some new problems, but also some new answers and if those changes enhance your creativity and the ease with which you can edit then the change will be worth it.

Published in Mark Walker

Wednesday, 13 July 2011 09:30

Two men, one pedal boat and a big ocean

Project Torpedalo - Extreme Machine from Extreme CAD

Project Torpedalo is quite simply the most advanced pedal boat ever created and it is to be used to cross the Atlantic! Madness you say? Well two Design Engineers from Bently Motors: Mark Byass and Mike Sayer have designed and built their own pedalo and they plan to pedal 3,000 miles (naked!) in December 2011. It is important to note this is for charity (also to break the World Record), the objective is to raise £250k for Make-A-Wish Foundation and Motor Neurone Disease Association. So what has this got to do with Computer Aided Design (aka CAD)? Well you can't take this boat on a real test drive, you can't sit and pedal for 30 days just to make sure it works. So what do you do? DIGITAL PROTOTYPING

Digital Prototyping in a Real World

When people think of CAD they think of architects designing buildings or manufactures designing everyday objects but they think of these as static models without intelligence. Digital Prototyping (in architecture called BIM) is revolutionising the way the design industry is creating and building more and more advanced machines. The designers and engineers work together to create a virtual machine, in this case a pedalo.

The boat is built in a computer in 3D with every screw, nut and bolt and then tested; virtually. We are now at a stage where computers can give an object(s) intelligence. Example: your testing a bridge which you want to build to see how it will stand up against storms. Computers can simulate weather conditions and apply stresses to the virtual bridge. This bridge is programmed to react in exactly the same way as if it was built and how it will survive these stresses over time. Currently the new Oakland Bay Bridge in San Francisco (currently being built) was tested in this way. Also the Millau Viaduct in France (tallest bridge in the world) designed by UK Architects Foster and Partners was only made possible because of this amazing technology.

Back to Project Torpedalo

Mark and Mike designed their own closed-cockpit, triple compartment self-righting pedal-driven monohull (aka Pedalo) from scratch. It is 8.3m long from bow to stern, with a single pedalling position and a sleeping cabin at the back, the boat has been carefully engineered to do everything that it needs to do, and is optimised for an ocean crossing. By designing the boat themselves, they were able to focus on making the boat efficient and fast, whilst remaining stable and important ability to self-right in the event of capsize (which is likely considering 40 foot waves with 8 foot breakers). The boat also has to be their home for at least 6 weeks and carry everything that two people need to survive for that long.

Crucial CAD for a Crucial Design

The initial plans involved building large scale models of the boat and testing it in a wind tunnel. While the resources for this were secured, timing plans couldn’t be worked around the availability of the tunnel. So, instead the designers decided to use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to model the airflow over the boat in the variety of wind conditions. This modelling takes a lot of computing power and specialist software but saves time and money in creating scale models which would have to be tweaked many times before they bring the correct results. By using a powerful computer tweaks can be made quickly and efficiently on the virtual model to achieve the results needed for the project.

The drivetrain design is clearly crucial to the success of the adventure. It had to be light, efficient, easy to service, and simple. The first concept for the drivetrain featured a vertical driveshaft with a right-angle gearbox at each end, but quickly they realised that this layout would be heavy and difficult to fix if it failed without taking heavy spare gearboxes. Head of Engineering at Bentley Motors, suggested using a belt drive. Modern belts don’t stretch, are very efficient, are light, don’t need perfect alignment (unlike chains) and crucially can be twisted – meaning the direction of rotation of the drive train (from pedal to propeller) can be changed without a gearbox. Once again through CAD models and testing this could be proved, the image of the drive train is shown on the right, which is was created as a full virtual working model.

The original boat concept had a propeller at the stern, but with the amount of vertical pitching that the boat will do in rough seas they noticed that a stern prop could be lifted out of the water. For this reason, and with the pedalling position in the centre of the boat, they decided a propeller on a keel board directly under the pedaller was the best solution.

The result of over a year of design work with the help of amazing software is a fast, stable boat that cuts well through the water and the air and most importantly be able to cross the Atlantic.

Charity and the World Record

This project is a charity event like no one has ever seen! Mark and Mike have done all the design work themselves, sourcing materials, companies and professionals to help them. The boat will take part in Woodvale Challenge, a trans-Atlantic rowing race involving roughly 30 rowing boats that takes place every two years – Mark and Mike be the first crew ever to compete in a pedalo. A pairs pedalo has only ever made this journey once before, in 1994, taking 111 days. They want to do it in 38 days (most definitely possible) and if they succeed, they will set a new World Record.

I have full confidence that both Mark and Mike will succeed and I write this blog not only promote the use of Digital Prototyping and CAD but to promote them and their amazing project. If you can please donate and if you have any questions about the article please comment or contact me regarding the use of CAD for different projects.

Project Torpedalo

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