Google SketchUp for Dummies and Autodesk Revit

July 25, 2007 · Filed Under Reviews · 6 Comments
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“Google SketchUp for Dummies”, I might check it out in my nearest local bookstore soon, according to Amazon, the book has a total of 432 pages with something like 260 illustrations and a 16-page color insert. Price at $17.00, the book contain some really comprehensive guide on modeling a 3D in SketchUp, the best part is it comes with video tutorials on YouTube for free, yes, it is free for anyone! Check the companion website for the book with links to the free videos on YouTube. So far the author has recorded and uploaded 54, and he plans to add another three dozen or so in the next couple of months.

If you happen to be looking for video tutorials for any software except SketchUp, Lynda.com has some really good collections of videos in DVD format, personally I find watching a video tutorial is much more informative than reading a book.

Yes, Autodesk Revit.

autodesk revit

We’re given three option for this semester option class and me and my friends decided to go for Autodesk Revit, its the future. Just like ArchiCAD, Revit is a BIM (Building Information Modeling) program and it is way much more advance than ArchiCAD, and the best part about Revit is:

Users can transfer geometry from a Revit Architecture model into the Autodesk VIZ or Autodesk 3ds Max application through DWG file export. The Autodesk VIZ 2005 Interoperability for Revit plug-in imports the DWG file exported from Revit 7 or Revit Building 8 and maintains material assignments. Because this functionality has been incorporated into Autodesk VIZ since version 2006 and in 3ds Max since version 8, the plug-in is no longer necessary.

The bottom line is, ArchiCAD’s rendering engine is buggy and horrible, anyway, BIM softwares are not written for 3D rendering.