Technology and Products

New Innovations, Features for Google SketchUp and Google Earth

Google released Google SketchUp 6 at the recent 2007 Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco. Google SketchUp is a powerful, easy-to-use 3-D software modeling tool that enables design professionals and armchair enthusiasts alike to model the world for professional use and sharing in Google Earth.

Google SketchUp 6 enables simpler, more realistic modeling with the addition of new features and innovations. These include:

• Photo Match—Users can now quickly and easily trace a photo to create a 3-D model of the photographed object or match an existing model with a background photo for near-instant modeling.
• Styles—New collections of display settings including Watermarks (2-D images behind or in front of models) and Sketchy Effects (rendered as though drawn by hand) enable users to create 3-D models to fit their professional or personal needs.
• 3-D Text—Users can now convert text to 2-D outlines, filled surfaces, or extruded 3-D objects.
• LayOut Beta (Pro version only)—An innovative presentation/publishing application enables users to create professional design presentations and high-resolution documents with little additional work. By embedding SketchUp models in a LayOut document, professionals can create compelling presentations that enable models to remain interactive and modifiable.

Additional product improvements include an enhanced API that enables third parties to create custom applications to supplement the functionality of Google SketchUp, two-point perspective viewing, and improved screen and print quality. Google SketchUp 6 is available at http://sketchup.google.com for both the Mac and PC.

This release further integrates Google SketchUp with Google Earth and the 3-D Warehouse, streamlining the sharing of 3-D models with users around the globe. Google Earth now features a default "Best of 3-D Warehouse" layer that showcases the most realistic, detailed models from Google SketchUp users. Additionally, users can now create and contribute to user-designed 3-D Collections in the 3-D Warehouse such as "Stadiums of the World." These developments further Google's efforts to create a fully detailed 3-D Google Earth with user-generated modeling.

Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps, and the power of Google Search to make the world's geographic information easily accessible and useful. There have been more than 200 million unique downloads of Google Earth since the product's launch in June 2005.

For more information please see Google Blog post at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/super-models-wanted.html.

Nemetschek North America Updates VectorWorks Product Line to Version 12.5.1

Nemetschek North America has announced the release of VectorWorks version 12.5.1, a maintenance update for VectorWorks Designer, VectorWorks Architect, VectorWorks Landmark, VectorWorks Spotlight, VectorWorks Machine Design, VectorWorks Fundamentals, and RenderWorks.

VectorWorks 12.5.1 contains important fixes that improve the program's stability and robustness, particularly when opening and saving files over a Macintosh(r) network. Memory and other issues when working with view ports, as well as stacked layers, have been improved. In addition, 3-D snapping accuracy when working with symbols, groups, and other objects has been improved.

For complete information on new and enhanced features in VectorWorks 12.5.1, go to www.nemetschek.net/upgrade/index.php.

For more information and to download the 12.5.1 update at no charge, visit www.nemetschek.net/downloads/fundamentals/version12/12.5.1.php.