Thought I wouild bump this one, I am interetsed to hear if anyone is using Synchro. I had a play with it about a year ago and am keen to have another look as I am finding clients starting to talk about 4D potential. I have sent a number of emails to Synchro over in the UK but have had no response, I hope they are not a recession victim

Sek

WOW This is great, you should be please with this one, especially the textures.

Stan

Thought I would bump this topic. Has anyone had a good look at Synhro Project Constructor. I trialed it about a year ago and thought it had huge potential but being so busy at the time couldn't follow it up. Now I have some time on my hands I am keen to have another look at it. I have tried sending an email direct to Synchro in the UK....twice, but no response. I can only assume they are so busy they haven't the time to respond to someone down under or they are yet another victim of the economic downturn????

Stan

Hi all,

I have been following this topic with great interest. The more I use LO the more I see potential to produce Detail design drawings.Still no where near the power of Revit but for my purposes where I simply need to produce a set of preliminary drawings that can be reasonably priced, its a godsend. Attached is a PDF of some half complete motel concept plans. Still experimenting with the scrapbook function but things are starting to come together.

Stan

Motel Concept Pricing Drawings.pdf

I can see some real potential with this plug-in. I have had a play with the pipe tool which is good but needs to go to the next level. I am thinking of a combination of this and the profile builder plug-in, now what an awesome combo that would be The beauty of profile builder is the ability to compile your own library of profiles. Here in New Zealand, I tend to use alot of oval ducts in my office fitouts, especially where they are exposed, so it would be great to have the ability to build my own profiles and junctions. Just my 2 cents worth

Stan

Thanks Honolulu, I thought Win Movie maker wasn't that sophisticated when I first looked at it, I will take another look definitely. Thanks for the advice.

Stan

Hi All,

One of my clients has asked me for an AVI fly around of this particular project which is in the more industrial / agricultural sector. It is a master plan spread over some 50,000 hectres ...not sure what that is in acres??? The AVI needs to be quite informative with annotations on it defining specific buildings and uses. For my first crack at it I annotated the buildings in SU and generated my AVI images from Kerkythea. This worked fine until my client asked me how hard is it to change the wording in the Avi as we need it in 5 different languages. SOOOOO I was wondering if anyone here is aware of any software I could use to generate the AVI from the KT images and annotate the AVI so that building labels fade in and out as the AVI progresses. I hope I have explained this properly. At the moment I am using Videomach to pull together the AVI images, From what I can see windows movie maker only does titles.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Stan

I have been using this plug-in for a couple of weeks now and have to say it is fantastic Its already paid off for me in a recent model I did. I would love to get hold of the Aussie / New Zealand steel sections Andrew was looking at, when will these be available Dale? I cant wait.

Stan

Hi Ecuadorian,

Thanks for the advice, very much appreciated Luckily I have been using KT for a while now so the next step to rendered aninmations should not be a huge one

Stan

Hey, thanks guys for the responses. You know I didn't realise you could do rendered animation in KT, I should have mentioned in my first post I use KT echo for some simple occasional renders, I will definitely check out the step by steps Fredrick. Thanks.

Stan

Hi All,

The day has finally come which I was dreading. One of my clients asked me today for a a full rendered AVI of his project. I have done simple SKP fly throughs but he wants the real deal. I really do want to learn how to do it but my dilemma is I only have about 3-4 weeks to get up to speed with it and produce or do I just out source this one????

I have looked at Irender NXT and a myriad of others but I really dont want to fork out the money till I hear some real experiences from you guys. I guess I am looking for a renderer which is simple, easy to use cost effective and give a whole lot of bang for the buck. that can have me producing some convincing 3d rendered animations of my SKP model.

Be great to hear from some of you about your experiences and recommendations

Stan

Craig,

I have been familarising myself with the VE-ware on and off for a few months now. Haven't managed to use it on a particular job just yet but am planning to give it go on a laboratory project I have under-way. I have spoken to my mechanical engineer and Greenstar professional I normally use for projects. They are both a bit envious that the Architect with the Sketchup or revit model can undertake basic analysis of the concept at a very early stage. I get the feeling that they are both feeling like I am encroaching on their turf as they have always tended to charge the client heavily for what they always made out to be highly specialized work. I see this fantastic tool opening up new opportunities for my practice in the future. I am starting to pitch this service to clients who are responding very well And I see this as another step towards the Architect winning back the control of the building project from the Project managers of this world How does the saying go....he or she who controls the building information model and the information coming from and going to the model is in the best position to control the project.

I will definitely look at upgrading to the VE-Toolkit

I am trialing the Synchro 4D program at the moment which supports SKP files. I have spent this Sunday looking at it and am getting quite excited by its potential.

Stan

WOW, these are great, I need one of these containers to put on a bit of land at the beach for this summer

Stan

Hi All,

I am about to launch into the concept work for a large private laboratory. Sketchup in this case is going to be an invaluable tool to provide the client with 3D information so he / they can visualize themselves in the facility and of course as a superb planning tool. I have found some lab furniture manufacturers that provide SKP models of their furniture / benches and fume cupboards etc which is very helpful. I was wondering if any of you here are aware of any other sites that might have SKP models of other Lab related gear. Failing this I will need to make up my own. Be fantastic if someone could point me in the right direction.

Stan

Andrew,

I look forward to seeing them. It might be just what I need to kick me into gear and get up to speed with it.

Stan

Andrew,

Yep, I have got spirit as well but and have concluded that I am being a big woos cos I always find an excuse to not make an effort and learn it. Matt from Procad Systems is based here in hamilton New Zealand....about a 10 minute drive from my work so support should be good. I hear from matt that release 16 is almost due out. Interface from what I hear is very much like Revit with work format in solid model rather than wireframe.

Do you have any examples you can post or send me of an SU model pulled into SPIRIT and turned into a 2D drawing, I would be REALLY interested in seeing them

Stan

Bob,

I like you have been hunting high and low for a good useable cad system that interfaces well with SU. I have splashed out and purchased SPIRIT. I am still trying to find time to come to grips with this programme, I have never been cad literate, just pen and pencil literate from the old school. The nice thing about SPIRIT is that you can reference a SU model back in to SPIRIT including all components. You can then change the model in SU and it updates in SPIRIT where you can create either 2D plans / drawings or 3D parametric models. We use Revit in the office as well but from what I have seen ....and I am no expert as I don't use Revit either.....it is just as capable. It might not be able to handle larger more complex projects like Revit can I suspect. The work flow suits me as I enjoy working concepts up in SU and then having the ability to produce some good looking preliminary design drawings is all I need. I employ staff to do the detail design and documentation.

I would love to be able to show some drawings I have produced in SPIRIT from an SU model but I haven't got that far yet, all my spare time at the moment is taken up up pulling in work.

Stan

Tobobo,

These look great, nice, simple clean, and uncluttered and easy to read. I have 2 smaller master-planning projects coming up and this is the type of thing I would like to produce. Thanks for showing.

Stan

Ken,

Yes I remember looking at Turbo Cad a while back now. I cant remember why I didnt go down that path. I might have been too bust at the time.

Stan

Kwisten,

Great animation of an old classic. How long did this take as a matter of interest?

Stan