Viewing and rendering
I have been evaluating a program called SketchUp (www.sketch3d.com ) which offers quick 3D modeling and viewing. The modeling is just ok, but the viewing is great. It seems to be primarily OpenGL based. I know Intellicad now offers the QuickRender stuff (which I think is OpenGL) but the interface and performance in Intellicad leaves much to be desired. What are the plans for improving the OpenGL interface in Intellicad? Take a look at SketchUp to see what I mean -- it is very easy and fast to move around in the model using the mouse, the rendering is quick, and you can cast shadows on the ground and on faces in the model. Also there is a good solar modeler that allows you to enter your city, time of day, and date. This is very useful.I could just go ahead and buy SketchUp for the viewing, but I was wondering if there are any plans in this direction for Intellicad. Currently the viewing options are miserable (Quickrender is painfully slow, and Dview is so unpredictable I never know if I'll get to my desired viewpoint or not).
Comments
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John,Can you import and export your model to ICAD? Can you only use it in Sketch3d?ThanksAV
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Yes, you can import and export 3D files in DWG format and some others as well. I haven't tried out all the features, but it seems pretty good. You can get a free trial for 8 hours of use from the website.The modeling is good for quick and loose stuff, but for more involved and precise things I still prefer Intellicad (and Architecturals has a lot of potential too, though it is expensive). Architecturals models can be imported into SketchUp as well and they render nicely.It may be an answer to the problems with viewing and rendering in Intellicad, although it's sort of too bad to have to go out to another program to do it.
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I tried SketchUp and bought it. It's a great tool to use with ICAD. It's a quick, smart 3D modeler for people who design buildings.In my business, I buy houses and remodel them (architectural bacground here) -- I can extract a quick plan by tracing walls of a house, import it into SketchUp, and then explore spaces and shapes -- then take the results back to ICAD to develop the drawings. The programs work together very well.
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