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William Sutherland

Architect
 

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Kitchen in Grasmere




Jan to Dec 2004.
.


Allplan FT user pages
News & views...
House porch modelled in Allplan - simple screendump - click to see a bit more of the scheme currently at the design stage



Thur 23.12.04
PNY Quadro FX3000 - The excellent 3DProGraphics.com have sent a replacement FX3000 card (the first one had a loose resistor)...
picture of FX3000 card
What a monster this card is :-)
I thought the FX2000 was pretty fast and smooth but this card is definitely faster in realtime 3D model handling and in 2D screen redraws. It also seems to me that the quality of the display is better also - text and fine detail seems sharper... but that could be subjective. Best of all the cooling fan does not make a whine noise as soon as you open the animation window in Allplan.
I am using the Nvidia /Nemetschek certified Allplan drivers version 61.82..
(strange that Maxon C4D drivers are listed at only v 53.03)
Seems to work flawlessly with Allplan 2004.


Thur 16.12.04
C4Dtreff.de Advent Calendar - The excellent Cinema 4D site C4Dtreff.de is once again offering daily goodies from it's Advent Calendar for 2004 ...no more gnomes this year... so far :-)

Wed 15.12.04
Wacom Cintiq /Allplan 2004 - The arrival of the Wacom coincided with my return to 3D modelling in Allplan. For most of the past year I have been doing lots of 2D drawing because all my jobs had existing 2D cad drawings supplied... strange.
Anyway, coming back to modelling in Allplan 2004 has been very refreshing - particularly using the Wacom.
Nice to use all the enhancements in the Smart Symbol Designer - interesting to see the colour numbers that the old limited palette colours have now been assigned.
I might just have caught up with v2004 by the time v2005 arrives (early/middle of 2005 I would guess?).

Sun 12.12.04
Wacom Cintiq 18sx - Wacom have apparently discontinued the 18sx monitor/tablet (which I think is the same device that Nemetschek have been selling as the D-board along with their elegant Plandesign software).
There is a new model coming out in February 2005 from Wacom I am told, but no-one has any information on the specification.
In the meantime I was lucky to find a Wacom dealer in London Chaudigital.com (brilliant service btw) who still has a couple of these fantastic electronic 'drawing boards' at less than the original price.
Running Plandesign on it is nice, but using it with Allplan is fantastic - so natural to be looking down at your work...
Click for larger image of Wacom Cintiq 18sx <
click image to enlarge (124Kb)
Just for fun I set it up in a dual monitor configuration. To do this with Allplan you need to stretch the top of the main window up into the 'upper' monitor - here I put the animation window and created some elevation and plan windows on the Cintiq. You can then save the window layout in Allplan. You then need to recalibrate the Wacom and so the pen only works within the tablet screen and you must use the mouse to access the top screen.
It works extremely well, but for day-to-day use it is more comfortable to just use the Cintiq on it's own - you can pull it off the desk and onto your lap :-)

Incidentally I am using a PNY Quadro FX2000 graphics card with dual DVI outputs to drive the 2 monitors.
Another bargain at the moment is the FX3000 card from Andy Hankins at 3DPrographics.com - that arrives tomorrow and should be even faster than the FX2000.
(The FX4000 is just out but is too expensive to justify even for 3D CAD use at the moment).

Nice to see that there are recent certified Allplan drivers for the Nvidia Quadro range of cards on the Nvidia
driver download site.

Thur 02.12.04
Lazercad - I had an in-office demo of Lazercad from CAD Ltd today and was so impressed I ordered one of their bundle options. Basically it is a menu-driven CAD site survey system which uses a Bluetooth Disto and a tablet computer, enabling one-person survey and draw-up in CAD - all as one operation on-site.
I have been looking at ways of using the Bluetooth Disto since it appeared in the UK earlier this year, but this is the first really usable application I have seen. There are several tablet options but I chose what looked the most robust, the Skeyepad.
I was a bit sceptical until I actually saw the system in use, but it is well thought-out.

Wed 01.12.04
Allplan v2005 - Some details are emerging of the likely new features in Allplan v2005. While still in beta testing the official 'What's new' should be out in January (the German version anyway).
As usual with Nemetschek it's a steady development rather than a spectacular jump but some good news is that it sounds as though they have finally fixed the wall reveals creation and editing in multi-Layer walls (i.e. returns in cavity walls as they are known here in the UK). At present in v2004.0b4 this is not working properly... in fact it worked better in v2003! It also looks as though cills might be available to window openings. A completely revised Dimension module, modernised text editor and a generally more 'Windows' look to everything are being mentioned but we will have to wait for an English 'What's new in v2005' to appear sometime in the New Year to be certain what is included.

Wouldn't it be nice if they finally updated the leader line tool so that it had an arrow at the end - but I bet they won't! To be able to create leader lines with a little arrow at the end to point notes at locations on the drawing is one of the fundamental time-savers in all CAD systems... except Allplan..!


Wed 24.11.04
Allplan v2004.0b4 - Nemetschek have posted a new v2004.0b4 Service Release file. Incidentally it's worth entering your email address at the screen before the download as this allows them to notify you of things like this.

Mon 22.11.04
Allplan v2004.0b4 - Nemetschek have taken down this Service Release pending a fixed version but if you have installed it already then Nemetschek Italia have kindly responded via the Allplanforum to say that you can copy back the corrupted file from a non-updated installation or the file is available for download in the Italian section of the Allplanforum.
... a nice bit of international cooperation :-)

Sun 21.11.04
Allplan v2004.0b4 - as pointed out on the Allplanforum today there seems to be a problem with this release when you use import /expor... produces this error message...


Fri 19.11.04
Allplan v2004.0b4 - Nemetschek posted Service Release 2004.0b4 today.
It can be downloaded from Nemetschek.com ->Service->Download.


Mon 15.11.04
Archioffice /Archetype - Returning to the thorny problem of office admininstration software in the UK.  Products like MyOffice from Nemetschek and the Docuware range are almost unknown in the UK.   Archetype, a more modest local product is becoming quite popular - based on a runtime version of MS Access it is a bit 'clunky' but effective.  I have been using it for nearly 2 years but looking for something more flexible and better suited to my very small office I have purchased Archioffice - a US developed product based on Filemaker Pro.
It is going to need some customisation for UK use but this suits me and the package seems very flexible - I've used the demo version for a few weeks now and been impressed by the thoughtful touches.
Archioffice Demo contacts screen with imported data <
click image to enlarge (54Kb)

Sat 06.11.04
Allplanphoto / Allplanmetric - There are some nice promotional images on the Nemetschek Deutschland site of these products - Allplanphoto and Allplanmetric.
While they seem to be essentially rebadged versions of the excellent Curamess and Maxmess, it's nice to see Nemetschek doing something with the Bluetooth Disto.  This is a great tool desperately in need of some software to integrate it's use with CAD.  The software Lieca supplies with the Bluetooth Disto is completely useless for real work, whatever they say.
CAD Ltd here in the UK have launched their own version of this sort of thing under the 'lazercad' name.
I must ask them why they are using a different software package.


Thur 04.11.04
Another UK dealer - I notice an announcement in AEC Magazine (probably more accurately described as Autodesk AEC Magazine, but interesting nonetheless :-) that Nemetschek had appointed another Allplan dealer - Cadserve, in County Durham.
It also mentions in a Nemetschek advertisement within the magazine that 'special cross-grade offers' are available until the end of this year.


Wed 03.11.04
Home from Rome - had a wonderful week in Rome - what an amazing place for Architecture - we walked miles (well, kilometres maybe :-) we were lucky with our hotel - great location and had the rooftop tower room with garden - and best of all completely quiet at night!
What culture.... What museums.... What traffic!!

Culzean Castle - we used Glasgow Prestwick airport for our flights to/from Rome and this allowed us to call in at the nearby famous house and gardens by Scottish Architect, Robert Adam called Culzean Castle
     
Culzean Castle, Ayr, Scotland   Ceiling detail in the Round Room in Culzean Castle
     
Built around 1790 it is a fine example of his style -bringing together design influences from his tours of ancient Roman , Greek and Etruscan architecture.
Seemed an appropriate way to end the holiday somehow (and yes, the family also enjoyed all the museums and galleries of Rome... as well as the cafés and restaurants ;-)


Sun 24.10.04
More Holidays - another little holiday :-)  with the family to Rome for a week

Allplan videos -
Nemetschek Italia seem to be selling video tutorials for Allplan - nice idea - maybe it will catch on :-)

Frank Shroer -
I came across Herr Shroer's wonderful modelling work on the German Nemetschek Forum - his home site contains more examples of models and tips & tricks and model downloads (if you are registered on the ServicePlus Forum) for Allplan and Cinema 4D.
I hope he does not mind my posting a copy of his stunning 'Nemetschek lamp' that appeared on the nem.de forum recently and is not yet on his homesite - very amusing and very impressive at the same time :-)
Is it real? :-)   lamp by Frank Shroer < click image to enlarge (107Kb)

Fri 15.10.04
Allplanforum - Luca's 'baby' is 2 years old tomorrow!... and now has many 'Uncles' ;-)
Many Happy Returns to the Allplanforum
  :-)
I have not seen a multi-language forum like this anywhere else - quite remarkable how everyone tries to help each other whatever the language :-)


Mon 11.10.04
FrenchCinema4D.com - this C4D site goes from strength to strength - time to practice your French instead of German for a while ;-)
.. nice gallery link to FrenchCinema4D.com
also have a look round the rest of the site - wonderful stuff  :-)
There is some good stuff as well in the French language C4D section on the AllplanForum.


Sat 09.10.04
Birthday - Well, it has been a week of celebrations for my 50th Birthday (2/10)... now it is back to the usual routine :-)  
One of my many :-) presents to myself was one of the new Wacom Intuos 3 tablets apart from looking really cool, they have addressed the problem of not having a scroll wheel on a pen by introducing a slide strip and buttons on both sides of the tablet. I have an Intuos 1, 2 and now the new v3 tablet and this is definitely the best yet... I gave up using a mouse earlier this year and while the Intuos 2 pen was quite nice, the pen with the Intuos 3 tablet is much better balanced and comfortable to hold.
Intuos 3 tablet and pen - link to Intuos site


E-learning -
I notice Nemetschek.de have posted some nice pdf guides in the e-learning part of the Service Plus Portal (see below).   nice idea but German only of course.

I have been looking at the translation software from Promt - it seems better than the Systransoft package I have been using, unfortunately you would want the Professional version which is quite expensive per language pair. I have it on 30 day trial and so we will see what happens  :-)


Wed 29.09.04
Archvision RPC plug-in - Interesting these Rich Photographic Content plug-ins and content... Archvision have announced a plug-in for Cinema 4D r9 at $99 and a 'starter pack' of plug-in and people for $399....but their main use sems to be in environment objects that would otherwise take up a lot of memory and rendering time - this car park pack is typical - but also crowds of people - and I was shown a demo last year at Maxon UK where they can be animated very easily as well.  According to the Archvision website plug-ins are supplied with ADT, Revit and Microstation.

Cavity wall returns in Allplan - I don't know what happened between v2003 and v2004 of Allplan but if anything, cavity wall returns have got worse!  Editing them once in place, is a nightmare.   Once you have worked out the intricacies of the (wrongly labelled?) dialogue box in 'Reveal' for a multi-layer wall you can often make the returns work, but it is easier to delete them than try to alter them afterwards. You would almost think someone stopped work on this part way through - it is incredibly annoying and a big timewaster since every opening has these returns.

Allplan 2004 plug-in for C4D r9 -
Well, this now works - but I am not sure how !  :-)   I exported a new model out of Allplan 2004 using the .c4d instead of .c4u and Cinema 4D r9 automatically opened and the Allplan update plugin dialogue appeared...  I looked in the plugins folder and Allplan_Update was now there - but it definitely was not there a few minutes previously!  I can only think that exporting in .c4d format and maybe using a new model (?) caused the plug-in to be installed.
However consider this... when you install r9 of C4D it does not overwrite r8 - it creates a new set of folders.  So, how is Allplan 2004 to know which version of Cinema 4D to use when you export in .c4d or c4u format?  

Allplan 2004 bitmap plotting problem solved - D'oh! ...'Operator error' as usual - the ever-helpful Danny at CAD Ltd immediately saw the problem - in the first dialogue that appears when you click 'plot' in the right-hand pane there is a list of options.  For some strange reason bitmaps are turned OFF.


Tues 28.09.04
Nemetschek.de Service Plus Portal - user uploads - If you are an Allplan user and still want convincing of the benefits of registering at the Service Plus Portal on nemetschek.de (see below) then just have a look at this amazing little Allplan model posted in the excellent User Uploads area - a balustrade section from a full stair (also posted - it is superb) by kind permission of Berlin architect Alex Minert.
     
balustrade model <click to enlarge>  stair model in Allplan
     
as they say... 'how do they do that? '   :-)

Sun 26.09.04
Allplan 2004 plug-in for C4D r9 - I still cannot make this work - even completely uninstalling Allplan 2004.0b3 and then re-installing it does not work.  The plug-in, I can only assume, expects v8.5 of C4D and we must wait for an update (?).

Archicad v9 - Imminent release of Archicad v9 - review on aecbytes.com
Some interesting new features - like 2D hatch also appearing in 3D views - can't work out from the review if they have done anything about a proper generic modeller yet - it always seems to go against the grain of the Archicad philosphy.  Anyway... when was the last time you saw an English language review of Allplan (but does it matter ?  ;-)
It's very obvious that the lack of a substantial US market share leaves English language support for Allplan down there with all the other non-German languages - i.e. limited to a basic manual/tutorial and what the local distributor can do by way of online services.  (Just as well there is Allplanforum.com  then  ;-)


Sat 25.09.04
Allplan 2004 bitmap plotting problem - I have finally got round to doing some bitmap fills on elevations with Allplan 2004.. only to find that they will not plot out on my HP 500 plotter -
I have tried the suggestions in the FAQ on the nemetschek.de site here (Deutsch)   and here (Google-English) including downloading the latest HP driver, but bitmap fills with or without transparency will not plot - except from the Print Preview window - which is very rough.


Cinema 4D v9 & bodypaint 2 -
Maxon UK sent my bodypaint 2 v9 CD by special delivery and so it arrived early this morning (Saturday! - very nice of them :-)

I have only just started to explore v9 and it seems a good idea to at least run through the Quickstart manual as you pick up some of the new features quickly - for example pressing 'V' now brings up an onscreen cursor-centred set of shortcut groups - in one of these I spotted 'Measure & Construction' and yes, you can now measure in Cinema 4D.  The tool work very well between 2 points or with Ctrl+click between 3 including the angle measurement - all shown interactively onscreen - verrry nice :-)


Cinema 4D v9 & Allplan - Still cannot get Allplan 2004 to install the Allplan plugin to C4D v9 - perhaps if I delete all the old C4D folders left after uninstalling v8 it  might help?....
Strange


Allplan Metric - A 'new' product listed by nemetschek.de is Allplan Metric ...(Google-English translation).  It uses the Bluetooth Disto which is good news as the software Leica supply with the Bluetooth Disto is completely useless for serious work. I say 'new' as I guess it is not unconnected with the clever people at Curamess /Maxmess ? There is another product called Allplan Photo which similarly appears to be a custom version of Curamess.
It's about time someone sorted out the great potential of the Bluetooth Disto... CAD Ltd already sell something of the sort but an integrated Allplan product sounds nice... I wonder if we will ever see it in the UK?
 



Fri 24.09.04
Cinema 4D v9 & bodypaint 2 - The very helpful and friendly people at Maxon UK are sorting out a Bodypaint 2 CD compatible with v9 for me - it somehow got left out of the bundle - which explains why I couldn't get C4D v9 to 'see' Bodypaint 2.

Cinema 4D v9 & Allplan - Still trying to get Allplan to see v9 instead of v8...
uninstall v8 and plug-in no longer works...
Hmm, lets see if the patch for 'vectorworks, archicad and materials exchange (CAD-users)' on the Maxon site will make any difference....
Nope - and I have reinstalled Allplan 3 times and the plug-in still does not work.
Ordinary export in C4D format will work but not in C4U format which is the default - so I guess the plug-in has not installed.
There is no mention of the Allplan Exchange plug-in on the English language site, only Vectorworks and Archicad Exchange plug-ins.

The German language Maxon site has a page on the Allplan Exchange plug-in.

(Here is a Google-English translation of the page).

Cinema 4D v9 - Found some Maxon site descriptions of the new features in v9.

Thurs 23.09.04
Cinema 4D v9 debate - Some interesting responses to the lack of a paper manual in v9 on the CG talk forum .
FWIW I'm not too bothered but it's the overall impression that v9 is expensive and lacking supporting explanatory material that makes me think it's the hand of Nemetschek that's removed that little bit of sparkle - right down to the quality of the CD wallet. 
C4D v9 itself is as sensational as ever and a credit to the outstanding programming team, but something isn't what it was in the marketing department (another sign of the Nemetschek influence ?  ;-)


C4D Manual - Ah, so you can BUY the paper manual - 'only' GBP 65 (99 Euros - no pricing on US Maxon shop yet ).   Ho Hum.

Tues 21.09.04
Cinema 4D v9 arrives - Hmm, first impressions... smaller box for the XL bundle (fair enough - v8 box was huge) explained by the fact that there is no longer a paper manual inside - although there is a Quickstart Manual and of course the online pdf manual which you have to copy across manually (but see below).

First problem - is how to install Bodypaint 2 as a module to v9 - doesn't seem to want to know v9 at the moment although a new serial number came with the XL bundle - no doubt there is a way - I've emailed Maxon about this.

2nd problem - the US manuals do not have the same name as the dummy manual files and so just copying them across will not work.  The main help pdf file seems to need to be renamed to 'Manual_C4D.pdf' for Cinema 4D to see it.

A big improvement is that all the XL bundle modules load together and so you do not have to go through a separate installation routine for each as was previously the case.

At first glance the 'Preferences' have been simplified and OpenGL is enabled by default now.
A few more interface schemes available... quite like this one DarkGlow
<
click to enlarge
(although I'll probably get tired of it and go back to Maja :-)

Included is a video tutorial about modelling a duck race - there is some very useful information within it but I can only stand listening to the narrator for short periods at a time. (I've always thought Maxon UK do this sort of thing better than the Americans, but what do I know ;-)

There are 2 Goodies CDs - the best content at a glance is the stuff from Noctua Graphics on CD1 and the Seamless Reality textures on CD2 (the latter with lots of excellent building materials), doubtless there are other gems in there but much of it is really just advertising some (very good) 3rd party stuff with a few samples.

So, not the excitement of v8 somehow - but no doubt there will be lots of improvements to notice once I start using it for real work...


Tues 21.09.04
Site Updates - I obviously mistimed my last look at Andreas Buttner's excellent site anbue when updating the Allplan links page here - most of the site seemed to have gone apart from his training services - however it is all back up and running now.. enhanced by a picture of AB himself!  (Would that I were so brave ;-)

FAQ Graphics cards - I notice that Nemetschek.de have updated their list of graphics cards compatible with Allplan and they have thoughtfully divided them into basic, workstation and laptop groups.

Mon 20.09.04
Cinema 4D v9 - Maxon have a patch on their update page for v9 users (still waiting for my copy :-( who use the plug-ins for Archicad, Vectorworks and something called Material Exchange.  Apparently the plug-ins will not work on C4D v9 without the patch.  There is no mention of Allplan - possibly it is not affected.

Sun 19.09.04
ServicePlus Portal - Not heard back from my query to Munich via CAD Ltd as to who can access the German Service Plus Portal  -  but just looking at the Nemetschek.de website today I notice that there is a good Flash movie explaining the 6 steps on how to register. 

If you feel like giving it a go then start at Nemetschek.de, click on 'Service/schulungen' on the left of the main page, then click on 'ServicePlus' in the drop down menu that appears.  If you look on the right side of the screen there is a 'Flash Demo' link below the key symbol.

Running the Flash movie explains the simple steps involved in filling in the registration details (you will need your Customer No.) - note that under 'Land' all the countries of the World are listed in the drop-down box (thus implying that anyone can register?).

I think that even if you do not have a service contract you will be able to access the user downloads of models and textures (and the online manuals referred to in the paper manual for Allplan 2004 - all in German - the step by step guides in English have not been updated since v16, although the differences are only small).


Tues 14.09.04
Updates - Dankeschön München :-)

I can now access the German language forums again - occasionally useful and interesting anyway to see on what topics German users post.


Updates - I was thinking about the IT survey results below... no offence to NNA but Vectorworks has never been one of my favourite programmes - but, it is popular here, presumably because of price (?) and possibly also because despite what it says in the survey about PCs many UK architects love their Apple Macs and VW has dual platform support.  It is definitely true that everyone here gets confused as to why Nemetschek UK has nothing to do with Vectorworks (as it is a Nemetschek North America product I assume).  Maybe this will change?  Some national distributors seem to carry Allplan and Vectorworks (such as Nemetschek España).

Updates - Someone should tell whoever updates the Nemetschek UK website that the senior residence competition is over.. it is isn't it ?  :-)
It's hard work keeping a site up to date ;-)


Updates - No sign of Cinema 4D v9 which I pre-ordered... must be released soon I would think?
I wonder if there will be any 'goodies' for pre-ordering like there were for the last version? :-))



Mon 13.09.04
IT Survey among UK Architects - Interesting to read the IT survey among architects in the UK conducted recently by the widely read trade newspaper Building Design.

Only 800 or so architects and IT managers of larger practices took part but the results are still probably broadly indicative of the market. 

Top CAD developer of course is Autodesk.. but as they lumped together all the different flavours of Autocad apart from Revit there is no way of knowing whether this just reflects the large number of Autocad LT users.

Some flavour of Autocad was given as their main design programme by 52% of respondents, followed by Microstation at 28% and interestingly VectorWorks at 21%.  Archicad got a commendable 8% of users and I guess Allplan was within the 8% designated as 'Other'. 
In such a small sample of the 20,000+  architects in the UK anomalies are quite likely.  However there is no doubt that the relatively large number of VectorWorks users reflects the growing popularity of the package. (Somehow they even managed to insert a 'review' of VW Architect within the Survey Results supplement published with Building Design last Friday! )

Also very interesting was that nearly every respondent said that they were using or were about to purchase 3D CAD software.

Criticisms of cad packages tended to be the usual ones about incompatibility between packages.

Their summary of the typical UK architect practice based on the survey:
  • uses PCs and upgrades hardware regularly
  • tends to use an Autodesk product in combination with Photoshop
  • rarely uses external consultants for rendering or IT support
  • will generate virtually everything, from concept studies to presentation sheets and working drawings, within a computer
  • uses PDFs for both archiving and sending drawings to contractors
  • does not use a project collaboration tool
  • does not employ the services of a dedicated office or project management system
...yes, FWIW I did take part in this survey :-)
but they do say that 25% of UK practices do not use the CAD packages mentioned.

The survey may be available at the Building Design website, although I have not been able to locate it just yet (requires free registration).



Thurs 09.09.04
site updates - At long last I've got round to starting an update of pages to clear out old links and add to the tips & tricks pages and update them for Allplan 2004. I'll add dates against the page list on the main Allplan page as I update them. 
On the gallery pages most of the updating consisted of clearing out broken links - it is a couple of years since I last had a good look around the web for Allplan related links ;-)


Sun 05.09.04
bauten.de - It has been a while since I had a look at www.bauten.de - Nemetschek seem to have extended it to include practice profiles from Switzerland, Austria and Italy. 
link to interna-arch.ch image
Some nice work displayed (including this wonderful Cinema 4D render from Swiss firm Interna) and links to the home sites for further details. 
The look of the site has had a makeover as well.


Tues 31.08.04
Allplan 2004 - Service Release v2004.0b3 has been posted and can be downloaded from Nemetschek.com via
'Service->Downloads'.


Mon 23.08.04
Site design - having just spent 3 days on a Macromedia Dreamweaver MX2004 update course with those nice people at Symbiosis.com I am starting work on a complete redesign of this site.
It is going to take several months I would guess but will not affect this site until ready as I am running the test site on a different domain for the present.

Just thought I would mention it...  ;-)

Fri 20.08.04
Allplan 2004 - Service Release v2004.0b2 has been posted and can be downloaded from Nemetschek.com via
'Service->Downloads'.


Thurs 12.08.04
Cinema 4D v9 - Maxon have posted a downloadable demo of v9
Preorders are now being taken for September release.
All sounds good - especially the improvements to the Advanced Render module (I'll just have to take their word that it's been improved as it seemed OK to me as it was :-)
Goes without saying a 'must have' upgrade for the professional user ;-)

Tues 10.08.04
Nemetschek site - I think they're all on holiday this month and so it may be a while before we find out any more on this. It is certainly worth trying an email to nemetschek.de enquiries to ask about access to at least the downloads as there are hundreds of models donated by users, many of them in Allplan format.

CAD Ltd - some additional sales staff seem to have been taken on by UK Allplan Distributor CAD Ltd - always a good sign :-)

Nemetschek site - For no particular reason I have been doing a lot of projects this year in 2D in Allplan rather than in 3D. I still find that Allplan's 2D drawing tools are very good - combined with using the 3D wall tools just in plan is a very powerful and fast drawing system. Quite often I model a survey of an existing building in 3D and then do sketch proposals just in elevation initially. Allplan is extremely flexible.

OS online vector data - a wonderful online resource that has recently appeared here is www.mdfb.co.uk which at last offers online purchase of Ordnance Survey vector data at a reasonable cost. Particularly clever is the way you can do a 'polygon select' of the area to be purchased rather than a rectangle so that you do not pay for blank areas! :-) I have used this service a lot and found it very reliable and quick. For some reason it comes into Allplan better as a dxf format file rather than dwg (you have a choice of formats).

Wed 04.08.04
Holidays - Back from holiday. Hospitality, mountains, food and beer as good as ever in Austria and Bavaria :-)

Nemetschek.de site -
I am trying to find out through official channels if the excellent downloads and other features (apart from the German language forums) on the nemetschek.de website are available to every Allplan service contract customer... not just the 'locals' :-) ... it is not obvious from the site.
I notice my access to the German language forums on nemetschek.de has been removed for some reason - it used to be occasionally interesting to see what German users were talking about, and you could pick up a few tips
It's a shame but I assume they have their reasons ?

Sat 17.07.04
Holidays - We are off on our summe holidays for 2 weeks... and yes, it's Austria and Bavaria again! :-)
Seefeld and Berchtesgaden this time - looks as though it will not be as hot as last year - it has been a very wet summer so far here in the UK :-)

Tues 13.07.04
Competition result - I notice that there is an animated display of the 1,2,3 result of the Senior Residence Competition on the front page of the nemetschek.de site. All very interesting designs and the winning design does indeed look attractive both in concept and execution.
I assume there will be a similar description in other languages eventually?.

Sat 03.07.04
Allplan 2004 - Service Release v2004.0b1 has been posted and can be downloaded from Nemetschek.com via
'Service->Downloads'. It fixes the bug which caused the Fence selection not to see endpoints of lines when used with 'Stretch Entities' tool. Not sure if it fixes anything else.


Site Maintenance - apologies for the lack of updates to the site this year.
Mainly due to being too busy with real work :-)
Hopefully a summer holiday later this month in Austria and Bavaria will help recharge the batteries and I can finally get round to updating the website :-)


Mon 14.06.04
Allplan 2004 - v2004.0b arrives complete with manuals, courtesy of CAD Ltd and Nemetschek UK :-)
Can't see any major differences immediately, but no doubt they are there.
The 'What's new' manual looks OK too.. a bit of bedtime reading, maybe:-)
The main manual looks to have been improved slightly as well.
Whatever you may think of Nemetschek's manuals, I've always liked the graphics (no idea who does them).

Sun 23.05.04
Allplan 2004 - release of v2004.0b rumoured to be soon, but a general release of v2004 here and in Europe seems not to be happening yet.
Although I have had no serious problems with it, I have seen reports of some minor plotting problems which I assume v2004.0b is going to address.
Overall, Allplan v2004 is very nice to use - some thoughtful improvements rather than major changes...
but that has always been the Nemetschek way :-).
Still discovering things - and have not yet given the Cinema 4D plug-in a try.


Sat 01.05.04
Allplan 2004 - rather than duplicate everything I've posted some initial thoughts on v2004.0a1 at the Allplan Forum

Tues 27.04.04
Allplan 2004 at Interbuild - Well, the big day at the Interbuild Exhibition with the launch of Allplan 2004 went off rather well.
Nemetschek had the best stand in the IT section (by a long way, we searched the hall for ages trying to find the Archicad distributor for example).
Anyway, Herr Wassermann arrived from Munich, was very charming, had a quick chat to us all and gave a speech before the launch of Allplan 2004 emphasising Nemetschek's improved performance in a difficult year, commitment to the international market and the UK in particular.
The hospitality was first class :-)
splash screen for Allplan 2004
I kindly received a copy of Allplan 2004.0a1 - the new splash screen is very impressive (how do they do that variable transparency on your desktop?) - and the first impressions in use are also very good.
More comments over the next few days.


Thurs 08.04.04
Allplan 2004 - I've been invited by Nemetschek to the UK press launch of v2004 at Interbuild (see below). I was going anyway to the show but it will be interesting to meet Herr Wassermann (head of international sales at Nemetschek) and other Allplan users from around the UK.

One thing to definitely check out at Interbuild is the Bluetooth Disto from Leica.
In my experience Bluetooth is a complete pain to get working reliably but if anyone can make portable surveying work then it could be Leica. A basic 2D drawing package comes included with the Disto according to Leica.

CAD Ltd already sell the UDSM2 software for portable 3D surveying and in theory the Bluetooth Disto could make this at last practical for one-man use.

BJC who make Curamess also have a very nice product called Maxmess which works in a similar sort of way - they have been showing it on their site with a Bosch Bluetooth laser measure and tablet PC or laptop for some months.

Easter 2004 - A few days holiday - our village becomes extremely busy with tourists over the Easter period and so we head for the big city instead! :-)
Best Wishes to All.


Sat 03.04.04
Allplan 2004 - Nemetschek UK and distributor CAD Ltd are touring the country in the run-up to the UK National Building Exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham (25 - 29 April).
My particular area has a presentation to local practices on 20th April near Kendal - call Nemetschek (01525) 717731 or CAD Ltd (01427) 873163 for details and other locations.

If Nemetschek distribution can get their act together Allplan v2004.1 should be available some time in April.

Umleitung - My other interest is playing drums - part of the reason it's been a bit quiet on this site for the last few weeks is that I have been trying to sort out a new electronic drum kit to replace my existing Yamaha one.... and guess what?.. not only does Bavaria have Nemetschek - it also has possibly the biggest music superstore in Europe - Thomann's - nice people - unfortunately the manufacturer Roland are not happy about Thomann selling into the UK and will not give a warranty unless bought in the UK (at a much higher price). Anyway if it's of any interest I am getting this kit plus the latest Roland drum module - much prettier! (these may look like acoustic drums but even the cymbals are electronic :-)
Hart Dynamics Pro 6.4HH
Now back to work to pay for it all! ;-)

Mon 15.03.04
Allplan 2004 - You can now download a zipped pdf of the English version of 'What's new in Allplan 2004' from the Allplan Forum.

Seems likely that in the UK at least, v2004 will be launched at Interbuild 25-29th April at the NEC, Birmingham :-)


Sat 06.03.04
Allplan 2004.0a - Browsing through the German 'What's new' for the latest release of Allplan I notice mention of some additional scanned image capabilities. Not quite sure if this is a new module or an enhanced Scan module - sounds interesting anyway as it's something I use a lot in Allplan, mixing scanned bits of old plans with new drawing elements.
The Walls Properties dialogues in v2004 seem much improved and among other nice enhancements it looks as though 'scuntions' or tapered openings in walls now recognise cavity walls.
It also looks as though they've improved the plan representation of windows - I could never understand why the glass line was missing and this seems to be shown now.
Lots of other little things but the most intriguing new feature is the Cinema 4D update plug-in. At the moment, like many users, I export from Allplan in C4D format (v5!) to Cinema 4D (v8.5) to have better lighting and materials control and much better rendering. This effectively breaks the link with the original model in Allplan. To be able to bring the model back into Allplan - as the new feature seems to suggest - will be some feat of programming.
Curiously I have not seen any mention yet of user experiences with this.
No idea when the International version will be released although I would think UK users will be able to see it at the NEC Interbuild Exhibition 25-29 April.


Mon 23.02.04
Linux - Nothing much to report on the Allplan front recently while we wait for v2004 to appear (to be honest Allplan 2003 and Cinema 4D v8.5 are working so well that I am not in any great rush to upgrade :-)
So, I finally decided it was time to try out Linux link to Linux.org

I have spent a couple of weeks trying out several distributions.. for those of us old enough to remember life before Windows (and even before MSDOS :-) it is not too difficult to get started with Linux - in fact I was pleasantly surprised..

the Knoppix distribution like several others can be run from CD and is great for a try-out. In the end I bought the Xandros (formerly Corel Linux) distribution for the family PC and SuSE Professional v9 for my browser/mail PC in the office. They are both dual-booted with Windows for the moment while I learn a bit more about Linux.

Allplan used to run under Unix and I seem to remember someone telling me that Nemetschek use Linux internally in some capacity.

I recall someone asking a couple of years ago whether there would ever be a Linux version of Allplan (given its Unix origins) - I think the answer then was a definite 'No' - Nemetschek I guess, have spent much effort in becoming more Windows compatible. Bentley Microstation apparently did have a Unix/Linux version I am told - but whether this is still supported no-one seems to know. None of the major CAD developers seem to have much interest in Linux officially at the moment. (There are of course open source 3D products).



Sun 01.02.04
Site updates - I am trying to improve the Google translation feature on this site but at present the variations in word length in different languages is still causing layout problems - once Google updates its page cache then I will be able to see if some changes I have made to the layout will reduce the problem.
The advantage of using Google as a translator is that it also translates linked pages.


Wed 25.01.04
Allplan 2004 - I notice that Allplan 2004 is now officially up on the Nemetschek.de front page with pages of supporting information on the various modules and other related packages.
No sign of the English version of the usual pdf 'What's new in...' yet.

Wed 21.01.04
Curamess 2004 - Some very nice improvements made to the photogrammetry package Curamess by BJC. It now includes a simple but very clever tool to take out lens distortion in the original image. They have also streamlined the interface (it was always good) and added an 'assistant' to get you started quickly.
Have a look also at their Maxmess with tablet PC page which can link to the latest bluetooth enabled Bosch laser measure (surely Leica will bring out a Disto equivalent soon?)

22.01.04
Hmm, just noticed the new feature in Curamess which allows 'straightening' and saving areas of the image. Very nice feature this - the rectified image areas can then be used as textures in a 3D model. :-)
link to Curamess site


Fri 16.01.04
A New Year - Happy 2004 to all !
A nice start to the year with some very elegant C4D free chair models linked on the International Allplanforum site...

Link to AllplanForum.com While there, have a look at the impressive Album areas. Allplan and Cinema 4D is an excellent combination :-)


 


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