Rockin' with Autodesk VIZ 2006

What else can you look forward to in this new release? Here's a summary of some of the other new features:

Revit 7 Interoperability - You can now import/link a Revit model via the DWG format and have scene objects correspond directly to individual Revit objects. Revit materials are translated and assigned to the objects.

Inventor Interoperability - The Inventor file format is now one of the default file types and also supports materials and textures from Inventor.

Mental Ray Improvements - Includes physically based indirect illumination, support for IES sun, and a simplified user interface.

Sweep Modifier - Quickly loft a shape or profile. Apply pre-set shapes like cylinders or half-rounds, or structural shapes like wide flange, angles, and tees.

Radiosity Adaptive Subdivision - Reduces overall complexity of radiosity mesh.

Enhancements to Texture Mapping Workflow - A library of materials is available in the new content browser and on the tool palette. These materials are "scale aware." For example, brick will be the correct size relative to a wall by default. Other enhancements greatly improve your efficiency in working with object mapping.

Scene State - Capture object, layer, material, camera, environment, and light information and save it as a Scene State. Any number of scene states can be saved and restored at will. Basically, this means you can change any combination of camera, environment, layers, lights, or materials and save them. For example, you can have scenes such as "daylight looking east", "nighttime", "indoor scene lit", or any other scene you wish. You can then render all of these later using the new Batch Render.

Batch Render - Sequentially render any or all saved views and render overnight or any other time you wish.  Click on the image at right to see how this looks.

Smart Object-Culling - New technique for improving viewport performance. It hides objects it detects as having low importance and as a result are not sent to the graphics card.

DWF Exporter - The DWF Viewer now supports 3D. You can export your models for viewing with the DWF Viewer or Composer.

First Person Camera - Enables new viewport navigation modes commonly known as "First Person Cam" (Quake Cam). With the use of keyboard hotkeys, you can "fly" around your scene similar to how it is done in video games.

Communication Center - When connected to the Internet, this new feature delivers announcements like product support information, and articles and tips.

Briefly, other improvements were made to the snaps, align, and array tools; and a new flat shaded view option was added.

The design team for Autodesk VIZ really did an outstanding job on this release.  They listened to everyone's input, and quite a few of the new features added to this new release are a direct result of user's suggestions.  If you have any suggestions or comments about something you'd like to see in a new release, drop me a line and I'll be sure to pass it on!  In the meantime, if you aren't already on VIZ subscription, contact your salesperson about getting signed up today so you'll be one of the first to ROCK with this new release!