@unknownuser said:

Thanks, I really appreciate it.
I have been using DCAD all evening (Sat evening and working - ) and the only problem I have come across so far is the frustration of panning as mentioned.
I have checked and my drivers are all up to date and I've only had DCAD open. I also want to clarify, both machines have the mentioned problems panning when I run DCAD!?!

OH, a quick question, is it possible to import ACAD plotstyle .ctb files directly into DCAD? I know I could always set up my own styles from scratch again but was just hoping that there would be an import to bypass that.

I'll just add that the more I "play" around with DCAD the more cool little features I'm coming across that really rock.

Hi Dazza

We are addressing the panning issue to improve the general performance. We have seen similar issues on other similarly equipped machines where the one works fine, the other is slower.
Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

As far as .ctb support - this is not one of our strengths, we do support importing of stb styles.

BTW, check out our South African representative's web site http://www.doublecad.co.za

Mauritz

I don't remember what I used for the IDX version, but I think it was an animated GIF using PhotoShop. For the web site the size / quality ratio is typically in favor of size.

I sometimes use Flash if I can make the frame rate high enough.

For presentations I found the easiest, most cost effective and fastest way to get results is to use Keynote on my Mac, create two slides and set the transition between the slides to "Dissolve" and change the default timing to something like 4 or 5 seconds, depending on how dramatic I want the effect. To share it I then just use the Export to QuickTime option in Keynote. Look at http://downloads.imsidesign.com/KeynoteTween.mov - it shows a tween of a model that I found on 3D warehouse and then rendered in Renditioner.

For really fancy stuff I use Final Cut Pro and Apple's Motion. http://downloads.imsidesign.com/FinalCutTween.mov shows an example of a number of still renderings that I created in Renditioner. I used a SketchUp model called Barcelona.skp that I found on the web, edit it, added some lights and did a couple of renderings with different lighting conditions. I then created an HD movie, used renderings of 4096x4096 to give me space to move the camera in Final Cut and Motion. The intro section where the multiple stills spin around a virtual cube was done in Motion. I added all the transitions in Final cut.

The GIF version (http://downloads.imsidesign.com/GIFTween.gif) was done with in PhotoShop using a Renditioner rendering that William did. GIF is limited to 256 colors and it contains all the images for the tween in one single file. In this version I have a starting image staying 2 seconds, 20 tween images displaying for .1s and then the last image that displays for 2 seconds. You can see the transitions because of the long transition time and the dramatic differences between the rendered an non-rendered versions.

I suppose the important questions is what you want to do with it. For presentations I always use Keynote with QuickTime or WMV files. I find Keynote much easier to than PowerPoint, especially when I want to use video with text overlays, opacity, movement of the video on screen.

Sorry for the long response, you just happened to ping one of my active hobbies.

@unknownuser said:

Thanks Mauritz, I think I'll have to have a look at Renditioner!

BTW, are there any Joburg SU users out there on this forum???

After a couple of really short nights I'm finally done with the PC version.

You're welcome to download a trial. I should also have it on our SA site before the end of the weekend.

I joined a CAD company and one day while doing research I saw some SU videos. I just saw a lot of features where the elegance was in the simplicity.

Some time ago I got into a discussion with somebody about how difficult it is for mere mortals to produce a decent rendering. SU was mentioned in the discussion and I got hooked on the challenge that it would just be impossible to create a plug-in renderer that fits the SU paradigm - beauty in simplicity. That is where Renditioner was born.

I work much more with the back end, the API, and it follows the same principle: simple and effective.

I got this version of Bumblebee from the 3D warehouse.

On the first render I just added a reflective floor and some material finishes.

In the second version, I added a background image I took from the top floor of the St. Francis on Union Square in San Francisco.

I rendered it in IDX Renditioner at 3072x4096 and resized in PhotoShop for upload to this gallery.

Fantasties idee.

We moved to Novato, just north of the Golden Gate bridge.

I designed Renditioner and wrote most of the Mac version. Our PC version is almost done and we will start selling the Mac version in SA by the end of next week. How popular are Macs in SA?

BTW. I was thinking about launching a competition for the best Photo Realistic Rendering of a piece of biltong. The entries should be accompanied by the biltong so that the judges can express an objective opinion of the quality on the rendering

This Sponza was rendered using the Mac version of IDX-Renditioner.