Google maps - Street View

This post would be filed under the "extraneous blatherings" category.

Its been a while since I really looked at Google maps to look up a location. I went today and noticed a couple new buttons. Terrain and Street View. Clicking street view will give you a popup window inside the map window allowing you to click on an area of the map which has blue highlights around the streets and give you a street level picture of that location. Incredible! Now you really can see where you are going to go. Here is an intersection near Disneyland.

Click here for a little more info on it. From the looks of the camera shots, they have mounted a camera on top of a vehicle and just drive around everywhere. Better not pick your nose driving anymore! Maybe they will be on your street next!

DWG Export for Maya

This is HUGE! This means you can now scuplt freeform objects in Maya and export in DWG format. That means there is now a viable means to get your Maya objects into not only AutoCAD but also Revit.

Download it from Autodesk Labs

Be sure to actually READ the read me file included with the download as it includes instructions on the desired path to export geometry from Maya and get it successfully into Revit. Be sure to note that the desired surface in Maya needs be to constructed of NURBS for proper transfer into Revit.

Unreal in Design Viz

I found an interesting article the other day about a design firm using the game engine Unreal to visualize a new football stadium. Click the link to read on...

Link me to BusinessWeek already!

Tool Palettes in AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Webcast

Have you tried setting up tool palettes only to find they are a complete headache? Ever try to wrap your head around managing tool palettes and the content used for them? Come join us for a webcast on December 18th and learn more about one of the most valuable tools in ACA 2008.

Main points considered will be:

* Management of Tool Palettes
* Types of tools for placement on Tool Palettes
* Working with tools on Tool Palettes
* Use of Tool Palettes in a network environment

System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer

When:
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PST

Register Link