CAD Garage Blog

Artlantis Render Render Rally Sale - Save up to 20%

We're having an Artlantis Render Rally sale here at the 'garage!

Artlantis is a fine-tuned balance of speed, power and beauty. As soon as you drop the first shader, 3D object or light source into the scene and see the instant preview results, you know you are behind the controls of something incredibly responsive, fun, and easy to use. This carries through to the final renderings, which are delivered with amazing speed and superb quality.

Take Artlantis for a 30 day test drive. If you love the way it handles, pick up a copy of Artlantis Render at 20% off. And because no journey is complete without a good set of wheels, we're also offering select volumes of cars at 10% off. Get to the Render Rally before it ends!

Download the Artlantis 30-day Demo HERE.

From now until June 30th we have the following deals for you:

• Save over 20% on a first license of Artlantis Render
• Save over 15% on an additional license of Artlantis Render
• Save over 10% on Dosch Design 3D cars 2004 (15 objects)
• Save over 10% on Dosch Design 3D cars 2008 (20 objects)
• Save over 10% on Dosch Design 3D cars 2009 (20 objects)

 Abvent's Artlantis Render is the fastest stand-alone 3D rendering application developed specifically for Architects and Designers and is perfect for creating high resolution 3D Renderings of your projects for presentation. Artlantis is the software of choice for Architects, Designers and Urban Design Professionals in over 80 countries.

Artlantis is available for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Direct plug-ins are available for ArchiCAD, Revit, SketchUp and Vectorworks in order to make Artlantis's rendering more accessible to you. Additionally Artlantis reads the latest versions of the most common file formats such as .dxf, .dwg, .dwf, .fbx and .obj.

With Artlantis's renowned ease of use you no longer need specialists in your firm to achieve high quality photo-realistic renderings and animations.

Rally with Artlantis Render and save today!

 

Happy rendering,

Greg

 

Webinar: Rendering BIM Models with Artlantis 4.1

CAD garage is doing an Artlantis Webinar and you're invited!

In this webinar we will introduce you to Abvent's Artlantis, iVisit 3D Panoramas, Quicktime VR objects and animations. You'll learn how to:

• Export your model from your 3D modeling program and import into Artlantis.
• Quickly apply shaders and textures to create photo-realistic building materials.
• Add objects and Cutouts to your Artlantis model.
• Add and manage lighting and atmosphere.
• Create an iVisit 3D Panorama for client presentations.

Date: May 29th, 2013 (US Participants Only)

Time: 2:00 PM EST

Web Meeting Link: Click Here

Teleconference dial-in number: +1 603-769-4639 and use Access Code 6217088

Please test your browser before the meeting HERE.

To register please email sales@intcad.com the following information:

• Name
• Company Name
• Telephone
• Platform (Mac/Win)
• Modeling tool (ArchiCAD, Revit, SketchUp, Vectorworks, etc.)

You can join us without registering but registered attendees will have priority should our seminar fill up and may receive additional information on special offers.

Artlantis is available for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Direct plug-ins are available for ArchiCAD, Revit, SketchUp and Vectorworks in order to make Artlantis's rendering more accessible to you. Additionally Artlantis reads the latest versions of the most common file formats such as .dxf, .dwg, .dwf, .fbx and .obj.

With Artlantis's renowned ease of use you no longer need specialists in your firm to achieve high quality photo-realistic renderings and animations.

Join us to see what Artlantis Render can do for you today!

 

Happy rendering,

Greg

 

ArchiCAD SmartParts "Spring into Productivity" 20% off sale

It's Spring again!

The bulbs are in bloom and finally a change in the weather and mood that a little extra sunlight and warmth bring every year. And as we hadn't written a blog post for awhile nor had we any specials brewing it was time to come up with something new. With no immediate specials on the horizon I made a call to my dear friend Neil McCann, the developer of SmartParts libraries for ArchiCAD, and suggested we have a "Spring into Productivity" sale. As always it was nice to speak with Neil and he said yes to this promo so here's what we are doing to help you emerge from the depths of a cold winter:

From now until June 16th, 2013 SmartParts libraries for ArchiCAD (versions 10-16) will be 20% off. Additionally after ArchiCAD 17 is released and the SmartParts update is ready you will get that update for free so you'll save on getting the upgrade later.

 -Purchase SmartParts Full Bundle (6 libraries) $299, reg. $399

 -Purchase SmartParts Mini Bundle (4 libraries) $199, reg. $249

 -Purchase SmartParts individual libraries $79, reg. $99

SmartParts objects allow you to customize your designs with highly parametric ArchiCAD GDL objects including architectural details, office and retail furniture, unique stairs, doors, windows and more. They complement your existing ArchiCAD libraries by adding new objects that are feature rich with parameters and for many are the "missing" objects in the ArchiCAD library. And right now they're on sale!

 

To read more about SmartParts libraries for ArchiCAD or to purchase click HERE

Offer ends June 16th, 2013 so hurry!

 

Happy modeling,

Greg

 

Piranesi upgrade sale, save 25%

Spring is coming and it's time to cleanup your software too! If you've been thinking of upgrading your license of Piranesi from 5.1 or 2010 Lite to version 6 now is the time. From now until March 31st, 2013 we're offering a 25% savings on upgrades to Informatix's Piranesi 6 from Piranesi 5.1 or 2010 Lite.

Piranesi 6 offers one of the most feature rich upgrades to this 3D painting tool ever. A few of the highlights are:

-Layers, wonderful layers that the ease of creating complex images and provide re-use of previously stored images.

-Plane & Material Locking, allowing you to paint freely without crossing a planes edge or other material edges.

-Automatic Raster Wrap, so you can wrap 2D raster images to 3D surfaces without visible seams.

-Rendering Speed, has increased!

-Import/Export to PSD, PhotoShop layers export into Piranesi, Piranesi layers import into PhotoShop. Cool.

-Transparent areas, in layers using the erase tool.

-Floating Cut-Outs, can be made temporarily invisible.

And many more new goodies! If you would like to see the full list or order your upgrade you can head over to the 'garage and do so HERE. If you don't own Piranesi and would like to learn more take a visit to our Piranesi 6 webpage HERE.

And Piranesi works on Mac or Windows with plug-ins available for ArchiCAD, SketchUp, AutoCad, Architectural Desktop, Revit, 3D Studio, LightWave, modo and Cinema 4D.

Clean the cobwebs out of your software while you can get this great price on the upgrade!

 

Happy rendering,

Greg

Artlantis 4.1 Render or Studio upgrade promo: Save over 10%

Artlantis 4.1 Render or Studio upgrades from v1, v2, v3 or from Render to Studio are now on sale at the 'garage for over 10% off through March 31st, 2013. That's a nice little savings to help put some Spring in your step! If you're already to move ahead you can purchase your upgrade at CADgarage or call us at 617-576-8778.

What's new and why the heck should I upgrade you might ask? Well, here's the goods:

Quality Improvements

The new Radiosity engine improves images for a better perception of colors, textures and materials. A new Fresnel Shader has been added to the library. Watch the video HERE!

Performance Improvements

Artlantis 4 is faster than ever. The avaerage rendering time is TWO times faster, and SEVEN times faster if the project uses many Neon Shaders. In order to better handle large projects, Artlantis 4 is now optimized for 64-bits on Macintosh and Windows.  Watch the video HERE!

iVisit 3D Panoramas

Artlantis Studio 4 is able to create a true, virtual tour inside your project with multi-node panoramas. The player is free of charge and based on Flash technology. Watch the video HERE!

iVisit 3D Application

iVisit 3D allows iPad and iPhone owners to view and share panoramas created with Artlantis Studio 4. iVisit 3D is available in two versions (Lite and Pro) from the App Store. Watch the video HERE!

Interoperability

Artlantis interfaces directly with many leading architectural CAD and BIM software titles such as ArchiCAD, Revit, SketchUp Pro, Vectorworks and Arc+. Native support for many popular file formats such as DXF, DWG, 3DS, DWF, OBJ, and FBX allows Artlantis to seamlessly interact with nearly all leading CAD and BIM software on the market today.

Get the Demo Now!

Try Artlantis Render or Studio out for yourself and see why leading Architecture firms are moving to Artlantis for it's ease of use (you don't need "specialists"), incredible speed (make your deadlines...) and high quality renderings (win the jobs!). Get the demo version HERE.

 Head over to CADgarage to get your Artlantis Render or Studio upgrade now!

 

Happy Rendering,

Greg 

 

 

New Years Ramblings, New Products & New Directions

The New Year is upon us and we're already over a month into it-hard to believe! The holiday rush is over and it's back to the daily tasks here at the 'garage. Working on orders for formZ 7, Artlantis Render, Piranesi and some of our other products while assisting with some support calls and emails. And in between it all doing a little pre-spring cleaning around the office-we've been doing this as ICS since 1991 and there's a little too much "history" building up in the store room. Right now my only resolution for 2013 is to get out one large trash bag of "history" a week out the door until theres some more room on the shelves. These days there is more digital delivery then before and not too many mailings of marketing material going out, things have changed...

And that reminded me that our online business, CAD garage, got it's start just over 15 years ago. It was originally under a different name but we gave it the CAD garage brand a few years after launching as the online sales portion of our business began to grow. Maybe we will celebrate the 15th Anniversary here soon-stay tuned!

We will also be cleaning our digital store room here at the 'garage in the next few months. We started with just a few products, mainly CAD books, and then grew to having close to 1,000 as time went on. For many years our focus was to be a one stop shop where you could essentially get all the hardware and software to set up your design firm. But the needs of our clients have been constantly changing and many of the products we used to specialize in are available direct or downloaded directly to your phone or tablet. We've been clearing off a number of categories and products over the last year and will be slimming down even further so we can better focus on the specialty tools we have worked with for so many years and look for some new and exciting products to add. Let us know any suggestions!

What else is happening here? I've been working with a few clients in the Log Home, Timber Frame and Panelized housing industries implementing solutions such as ArchiLogs & ArchiFrame and developing some specs for customized solutions. And we've been seing increased interested In utilizing BIM models for facilities management using ArchiCAD and ArchiFM. And lastly we have a few small design projects going on at our sister firm to fill in the gaps. So hopefully if the economy continues to stay on track we will have a busy year.

Oh, I had also mentioned New Products... Here's two that have caught our eye at the 'garage:

The first is the LaCie Blade Runner 4TB drive, designed by Phillippe Starck. I loved the movie Blade Runner and have been a fan of Starck's design for many years so this was a natural choice when it was recently released from LaCie. With 4TB of storage and a USB 3.0 connection it's both roomy and fast!

 

 

Our second new product to the store is the HP DesignJet T 120 Wide format printer. It continues the HP
DesignJet 100 series with 24" wide printing, high resolution in both black and color modes and connectivity using ethernet or USB. And it supports HP's ePrint functionality all at a very affordable price.

 

That's it for now!

Greg 

 

 

 

 

 

Artlantis Shaders "Ground Floor" Opportunity Sale, 10% off

As the new year is ushered in, discussions inevitably shift toward new beginnings. Have you ever been offered the chance at a new beginning with a "ground floor" opportunity? Maybe someone approached you to become a part of something that holds the possibility for great things to come, opportunities for advancement, and huge potential rewards? Often, those dreamy promises are dangling at the end of a stick that is tantalizingly close, yet frustratingly out of reach. We're offering a "ground floor" opportunity of a different sort...one with immediate benefits and no strings attached. We're talking, of course, about the "Ground Floor" Opportunity Sale featuring two essential shaders volumes from the Artlantis Media Collection: Dosch Design's Ground Pro and Floor Pro. You'll save 10% on 2 of the most useful and popular Artlantis Shaders through February 14th, 2013.

The Ground Pro volume features 126 detailed shaders, 30 billboards and 35 textures of ground styles and materials, such as street surfaces, grass, dirt, and industrial surfaces, which can be applied to surfaces in your Artlantis scene with a flick of the wrist...just drag-and-drop. These high resolution textures will greatly enhance your architectural and landscape renderings.

Preview Ground Pro

Purchase Ground Pro

Floor Pro contains 80 detailed floor shaders for professional visualization of large floor areas including wood, parquet, laminate, marble and granite floors, natural stone, cobblestone, weathered and aged floor materials, and brick (can also be used on vertical surfaces, such as large brick wall areas).

Preview Floor Pro

Purchase Floor Pro

Start the new year off right by adding one or both of these workhorse shader volumes to your Artlantis media collection. This may not be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will make you fabulously wealthy, but it is definitely one sale that you won't want to miss!

 

Happy Rendering,

Greg

12 Days After Christmas 12% off on 12 items

We're keeping this after Christmas post nice and simple. Here at the 'garage we're having a 12 days after Christmas/Boxing Day sale-12 products for 12% off for 12 days. If you didn't get everything you want under the tree or need to fill in some accessories we picked 12 of our most popular products that you might be interested in and are giving you a little post Christmas discount. We have some books, Artlantis Media and Shaders, and ArchiCAD Library Bundle and an HP Plotter to round out with a little hardware. So if that check from your great aunt is burning a hole in your pocket from now until January 7th, 2013 the following products are available for 12% off:

Lightworks in ArchiCAD Book

The Artlantis Attitude eBook

Artlantis Shaders: Ground Pro

Artlantis Shaders: Construction Materials

Artlantis Animated People: Business 1

Artlantis Animated People: Casual 3

Artlantis Shaders: Cultured Stone

Artlantis Media: Interior Details

ArchiCAD SmartParts Bundle (All 6)

ArchiCAD GDL Handbook

Squiggle

HP DesignJet T 120

And don't forget that Abvent's Arlantis Render and Artlantis Studio are on sale for 20% off through December 31st! We have also extended the CADgarage special on AutoDesSys formZ and bonzai 3D.

See you at the 'garage in the New Year and Happy Rendering,

Greg

Winter Warmers: Artlantis, Piranesi, Cinema 4D and ArchiCAD SmartParts

Winter is upon us here at the 'garage and as another year heads to a close it's time for some musings on some of the goodies that fill our digital rafters here.

And there's a few end of the year specials to take advantage of for those that are so inclined. So read on and let us know if you'd like to see any of these under your tree this year.

 

ArchiCAD SmartParts:

This series of 6 add-on libraries for Graphisoft's ArchiCAD has been around for years and has always been a favorite around here. They were developed locally to supplement ArchiCAD's library with components that were realistic and provided additional parameters that users requested. These objects complement both working drawings and renderings and we've found they make our use of ArchiCAD more efficient and robust. SmartParts have been updated for each release of ArchiCAD (including AC 16) to ensure compatibility and a few tweaks suggested by users are added. You can purchase the 6 libraries individually in our D3 SmartParts Section, all 6 in the SmartParts Bundle or for the best deal ($249) on the 4 most common libraries as part of the  SmartParts Mini-Bundle.

Piranesi:

With it's wealth of effects to generate non-photorealistic renderings Informatix's Piranesi has always been one of our favorite tools. It's easy enough for a novice to get started right away from 2D images or 3D models and produce hand rendered style drawings that allow your clients to focus on the design of a project. You want interoperability? Plug-ins are available for ArchiCAD, AutoCAD, Architectural Desktop, Revit, 3D Studio, SketchUp, Lightwave, modo and Cinema 4D. If your modeler does not support the Piranesi EPix export, the free Vedute program can convert from DXF®, 3DS, SKP, FBX® and MicroGDS® MAN files to an EPix file. And Piranesi is available for both the Macintosh & WIndows platforms!

Artlantis Render & Studio:

Abvent's Artlantis has been around for many years and they have continued to provide one of the easiest to use rendering programs. With release of Artlantis Render & Artlantis Studio version 4.1 this summer Abvent has continued to increase the quality of it's rendering while providing the fastest stand alone rendering program. The addition of iVisit 3D Panoramas for viewing on iOS devices was icing on an already splendid cake. Artlantis plug-ins allow export to the leading CAD applications such as ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, SketchUp, and Revit and .DXF, .DWG, .DWF, .OBJ, .FBX and SketchUp files can be opened directly. And of course both Mac and Windows versions.

"Sock Away the Savings" promo: Save 20% off the purchase price of Artlantis Render or Artlantis Studio until December 31st 2012!

Cinema 4D:

This fall saw the release of Maxon's Cinema 4D r14 with a slew of new features and interface enhancements to numerous to mention. With 5 versions (Prime, BodyPaint, Broadcast, Visualize & Studio) available this easy to use 3D Modeling & Rendering program has a version for everyone. And through December 21st, 2012 you can save 25% when you purchase any version of Cinema 4D with the Maxon Service Agreement. Cinema 4D is also available for both the Macintosh & WIndows platforms and we have Upgrades and Academic versions available on CADgarage also.

 

Happy (Holidays) rendering,

Greg Conyngham

 

Artlantis Render & Studio "Sock Away the Savings" Special

Sock Away the Savings!

If your tired of getting the same old stuff in your stocking every year this season we've got a great rendering gift suggestion. We'll Santa up and give you 20% off Artlantis Render & Artlantis Studio first-seat licenses and 10% off selected Artlantis Media volumes.

Whether you like Artlantis Render & Studio for its world-famous speed and ease of use, or you delight in the world-class quality of the optional Maxwell Render engine, there's no question that with Artlantis, your workflow and renderings will benefit year after year. Download the free Artlantis demo today and see what a difference 30-days can make.

You can purchase Artlantis Render for $600-that's $150 off the regular price! Take a peek into your stocking for Artlantis Render HERE.

Interested in a more animated present? Artlantis Studio is on sale for $1188-that's $297 off the regular price! Unwrap your savings on Artlantis Studio HERE.

Maybe you would like a little more entourage around the tree this year? We have the following Artlantis media libraries available for 10% off:

• Modern Furniture
• Animated 3D People, Casual 5
• Dosch Design 3D Cars 2009

There's plenty more great shaders and objects to round out your gifting in our Artlantis Media Collection HERE.

Abvent's Artlantis has plug-ins available for the top modelers including ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, SketchUp and Revit as well as other file formats such as .DXF, .DWG, .DWF, .OBJ and .FBX. And Artlantis Render & Studio are available for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms.

If you would like to take advantage of this promo remember you have until December 31st 2012 to purchase. So if you're Grandmother gave you some Christmas money hurry on down to CADgarage to do some self gifting!

Order online or call us at 1-800-383-5195.

Happy rendering,

Greg