I haven't advertised for software on the forum before, but this deal is just to good!

Softmaker Office 2008 is a full featured office suite, and my office suite of choice, if that matters to you guys
From my experience it works seamlessly with microsoft office, and you can even set it to save as excel and word as default.
It has the option to install as a portable app, exportsas pdf, it is realy fast and you can customize almost the entire UI.
The office suite contains Textmaker (like word), planmaker (like excel), presentations (like powerpoint) and basicmaker (which I haven't found a use for yet)

Download it here:
http://loadandhelp.de/home-en.html

You can read more about the suite here:
http://softmaker.com/english/ofc_en.htm

Apparently every download donates 10 euro cents to charity:
http://www.betterplace.org

So get yourself a free office suite and donate to charity at the same time

I don't know if you've already posted it, or if your are willing to. But I find your workflow fascinating, and you seem to generate consistant results. I've searched in your posts, but couldn't find a tutorial. Would you be willing to write one?

On a side note: Do you use blender 2.50? It's out there in a alpha/beta release, and one of the significant improvements is supposed to be render speed and texture handling.

Interesting product Frederik. It seems like you've taken Kerkythea and streamlined it for sketchup users. I guess I couldn't ask for more! Kerkythea has fascinated my since the first release with "the new" studio interface, but I never got the workflow down. And with the introductory price it's a good replacement for my former skindigo workflow.

Is there any difference bewteen the portable version (zip archive) and the installer version?

Spændende app, Frederik. Det lader til i virkelig har stømlinet Kerkythea til sketchup brugere. Jeg har virkelig ledt efter en erstatning for min tidligere skindigo eksporter, så du kan godt regne med mig som kunde Jeg har altid været fascineret af Kerkythea, men fik aldrig helt styr på programmets nuancer.

Er der nogen forskel mellem installer versionen og den alternative zip version?

@remus said:

Quite possibly, but i imagine its very hard to filter out anything thats genuine from amongst the great swathes of fake crap.

Probably the best thing is to look for open source alternatives: GIMP instead of photoshop, openoffice instead of microsoft office etc.

thank you guys, and yes escapeartist - you nailed it. These are the error I look for as well. That and when there isn't any contact info, except a hotmail account or something

I guess the old saying is true. If it seems to good to be true - it probably is!

I'm tested most alternatives out there, and I think both Open Office and Gimp are really good products, but I much prefer Softmaker Office to Open Office, and I´'m still looking for something that can replace photoshop and Illustrater, while suiting my wallet and workflow preferences. After all, I'm graduating within a year, and then photoshop and illustrator aren't a given anymore.
I don't want to sound like I'm promoting anything, but I find Softmaker Office much faster than Open Office and you can customize pretty much anything. And if you download the older free version (2006), you get an upgrade offer, that will give you an office suite for under 20USD. Xara is another great alternative, but it's a bit more expensive, and I think I'm going to test Paint Shop Pro X2 next. Either that or Photo Plus X3. Have any of you tried these apps?

Hi guys

My constant search for a free/cheap photoshop alternative has probably made me register on a couple of forums, that make me a target for spam mails, with scam sites offering cheap OEM software.

This site is the latest(http://antivirusoftwaretry.com/) I can't be 100% sure that this one is a scam, but it made me wonder: Is there any chance that there actually are legal sites offering cheap OEM software?

Do you guys know any?

EDIT - Sorry, double post

nice one again, pete. Although I'm dying to see how the render would look, with the sunlight scattering through the dense vegetation. I think it would be an even more fantastic render with some vibrant light instead of the silhouette drama.

you're certainly on to something with that sketchup - vue workflow of yours, pete! These last three renders are very convincing! Top notch

I think this is one of your best shots, Pete - and that's saying a lot!

I know absolutely nothing about coding, but I know what works, and the skindigo exporter works to near perfection, so an exporter based on that would be great! But is that allowed, now that whaat is working for Glare on developing the indigo exporter further?

thanks stinkie

Hi guys
I was wondering if the earlier indigo versions are still free to use?
I'm reviewing my workflow, and I don't want to waste my time setting up indigo materials, if I'm not allowed to use them, since I'm not going to buy indigo.

@linea said:

Andrew, if you want to photoshop-up your SU image a bit, I do a simple process for making your roof look grassy, unfortunately I can't paste the results here as my only example is a commercial image but if you are interested let me know and I'll post a quick tut.

I would certainly be interested in a tutorial. I'm working on a project with greenroofs as well.

super impressive modelling skills!

You do realize, that most of us would actually be happy to render similar outputs and call them an attempt at photorealism, right? Great stuff as always

...you're right biebel! The funny thing is, that it has actually made me consider buying modo, since it wouldn't be much more expensive than one of the render apps I've used up until now (I don't know Thea's price tag yet), and I would be getting a better 3D app thrown in the mix. And as written in the previous post, I've even considered a Blender/YafaRAY combo when Blender 2.5 is released.

But that's enough off-topic posting. Kerkythea is a great and flexible render app, and I'm not at a level where I'm limited by the features of the free version. So I'll carry on reading my tutorials. If Thea render is supposed to be better, then the future buyers are in for a real treat.

Now I'll stop complaining, and start contributing instead. After My school project is over I'm planning to release different free sketchup component packs of low-poly trees, low-poly cars, cut-out people and stuff like that.

Typical! I just decided to jump ship and turn to Kerkythea, because Indigo went commercial. And even though it will stay free it is already announced that upgrades will be delayed even further.
Are there any free renders out there if you're not using blender? Maybe I should even jump from Sketchup to Blender...

EDIT! I know I sound like an angry old fart, but that was just my initial feelings. I don't want to take anything away from Giannis, and at least he's still keeping Kerkythea free. So good luck with you new challenges.

Okay. I wasn't really aware of the use of the direct X format.
But like you're saying - if the the conversion makes the trees bigger than 1-2 mb, I might as well make my own trees.
I've been searching for a good workflow with trees and either kerkythea or indigo. But because of sketchups poly limit, I think kerkytheas proxy replacement option might be the best for fast results, and skindigos dummy components If I' going for an indigo render.

@solo
I've noticed quite a few renders you've made with vue. Are you using Xtream or Infinite? (Infinite is the standalone app, right?). And how do you find the sketchup -> vue work flow? I'm really interested in Vue, because of the seemingly unparalleled possibilities with trees and eco environments.

@frenchy
tree[d] is pretty cool in itself, but how do you use it with sketchup? I haven't been able to export a usable tree with leaves.

Comodo delivers quality free products.
I use their all-in-one package CIS (Comodo Internet Security), and it keeps my systems healthy without adds or too many nags. They have several free cofigurations, so you can choose to your liking.
Threatfire is another interesting freeware firewall!
Both are lightweighters in the memory consumption department.