sketchUcation

SimLab 3D PDF exporter for SketchUp plugin enables SketchUp users to share their 3D models in 3D PDF format.

The newly added Template Designer enables users to create stunning templates easily to be used in 3D PDF export. Sample templates are included, and they can be customized in just few clicks to reflect the spirit of a product. The plugin is supported on SketchUp 8, on Windows and Mac operating systems. To learn more about the pluguin, and its great features download the brochure (downloadable PDF).

Field mapping in Thea Render is a new proprietary technique that evaluates consistently the lighting than cannot be reached easily by Final Gathering. It is something that developers invested most of the time in the passed months and have brought it from a simple idea to life. Combined with an improved, adaptive, Final Gathering, the whole evaluation becomes robust even for the most difficult cases.

In addition, with a new implementation for walkthrough animations, the Adaptive BSD will consider all the frames at once and flickering is removed.

Carbon Scatter is the most powerful population plug-in for 3ds Max, Maya and Cinema4D - and it now includes a vast library of 3D plants and billboards! The Carbon Scatter 2 plug-ins integrate e-on's patented EcoSystem™ algorithms directly inside leading CG applications, allowing you to populate your scenes with millions of native objects, and render them with your favorite renderer.

Now we can only wish that there were something like this for SketchUp - or to begin with, SketchUp could handle such models.

Revizto is adding realistically looking, volumetric grass to its rendering engine with which you can even set it height. With it, users will be able to assign this grass to any material and set its height, which will be displayed in Revizto Viewer as shown in the screenshot.

The grass feature and several other new features will be released in Revizto 1.2, coming out in June, just in time for summer! Revizto 1.2 will be a free upgrade for all Revizto 1.x customers.

The CGarchitect Architectural 3D Awards are the largest awards event for the architectural visualization industry. Now in its 10th year, the awards attract entries from top studios, freelancers and students from around the world in 4 separate categories: Image, Film/Animation, Interactive and Student, within the Film/Animation and Image. With over $98,000 (yes, ninety-eight thousand US Dollars) worth of prizes in different categories, this is indeed a tempting challenge for any 3D artist with skills and talent.

More than 20 (currently 23) free, royalty-free and free for commercial use, high quality and high resolution (10,000 x 5,000 pixel) HDRI maps are available for download at HDRMAPS.

In fact, it's worth exploring the whole site as the price for the "pay content" is also affordable and the image resolution of the commercial hdri's is the double of the "freebies"; 20,000 x 10,000 pixel. There are bundles of hdri skies, too.

Some "samples" from the site...

If you own a previous version of LumenRT, don't wauit but upgrade to LumenRT 4 Studio for $395 only! (until April 30, 2013) This means you'll have paid your LumenRT 4 Studio less than those who buy today! (You paid $395 for LumenRT 3 + $395 for the upgrade < $795 SRP LumenRT 4 Studio).

LumenRT 4 Studio is the most comprehensive system for transforming 3D models and designs into rich, nature-filled videos, images and real-time immersive experiences.

Now you can get Xara Xtreme 5 for FREE! Yes, it's true, completely free, no charge whatsover! This is the full download version of Xara Xtreme 5, as previously sold for $89!

Xara Xtreme is the perfect graphics tool for all your drawing, photo and design needs.  Whether you want to create illustrations, edit your photos, layout a brochure or create some web graphics, Xara Xtreme's fast and easy to use design tools make it a pleasure to be creative.

If you've ever wanted a 3D scanner now's your chance. By pledging support to this project, you can have your very own Photon 3D Scanner.
The Photon allows anyone to take a physical object, and turn it into a digital 3D model on your computer.

From there, you can print your file on any 3D printer, or online printing service. Or use the model you created in an animation or video game.

A set of 10 high quality Xfrog plants and trees that you can download for free and use inside Thea Studio, or as proxies at your modelling application, with the use of Thea Live Plugins. Download the zip file and double click on the extracted library for the included models to be installed (alternatively open the library from inside the Studio to install it).

Note that full libraries of Xfrog plants and others with high quality models and materials are available for licensed users.