A Look at Software for Both Macs and PCs

5/12/2006 By Deborah Snoonian, P.E.

	With Encore DVD, users import text, audio, video, and image files to create professional videos.

Encore DVD 1.5
Adobe Systems
www.adobe.com
Windows and Mac

Why rely on a shopworn PowerPoint presentation, when it’s so easy to become a film director? Encore DVD, Adobe’s authoring tool, lets you create professional-quality videos using all types of source media—from photographs and drawings to text files, audio files, QuickTime videos, and animated renderings. Simply drag and drop the source files into the authoring software, edit and compile them, and burn a DVD. The software also lets users create and customize navigation menus, and offers the ability to create templates for future videos, including the addition of standard, uneditable material like logos.

	Hand-edited objects and textures by Absolute Textures can be dropped into rendered images of projects for presentation purposes.

Absolute Textures
Zaragon Studios
www.absolutetextures.com
Windows and Mac

With a large customer base in Europe and a growing one in the U.S., Zaragon Studios is helping architects create renderings with a high degree of realism. An art staff trained in creating images and scenery for the high-end gaming and film industries takes high-resolution digital photographs of buildings and infrastructure, retouches them painstakingly by hand, and makes the files available for direct download through the company’s Web site or on CD collections. The files can be used to render the same pattern seamlessly over a large area, such as a brick wall—a task harder to do with less costly libraries that “clip” textures from existing photos without hand corrections or adjustments.

	A clean, simple interface distinguishes the Web-based Copper 2005 from other project management software.

This Australian company recently released a Web-based project and customer-relationship-management tool that’s won over architectural clients because of its simple interface. An administrator creates or imports users, clients, contacts, and projects, and then project teams may log on. Functions and features include calendars, project time lines, and task management.

	VectorWorks Architect 12 improves 3D modeling with 2D drawing.

VectorWorks Architect 12
Nemetschek North American
www.nemetschek.net
Windows and Mac

Improvements in the latest version of this CAD package focus on increasing productivity and the ability to work simultaneously with 2D and 3D information. One new feature, live sections, lets users slice 2D sectional views through a building, which are updated automatically as the building’s design is modified. Developers also improved built-in libraries for building elements like wall styles, doors, windows, roofs, and stairs. Enhanced compatibility with DXF and DWG files lets users share drawings and design data more easily with clients and collaborators. The software now supports 3ds format, a popular 3D file type used online, and embeds RenderWorks radiosity for realistic presentations.