SOFTWARE.(Buyers Guide)

ARCHITECTURE

SITE VISUALIZATION

WIN RapidSite version 2.0 from Evans & Sutherland provides 3D site visualization for real estate developers, civil engineers, and landscape architects. New capabilities include a Navigator viewer, unlimited site size, terrain texture resolution to about 2.5 inches for modeling ground surface features, and model import and export to other software applications. A graphical path-editing interface allows users to view path trajectories, reposition keyframes of walkthroughs, and adjust camera parameters. The price is $2395. (E&S; www.es-rapidsite.com)

infoNOW 62

DESIGN ENGINEERING

CAD UPGRADE

WIN TurboCAD version 7 from IMSI adds attachable camera objects that allow the definition of 2D and 3D models, so that as the attached camera moves, the view does, too. It has new dimensioning features such as options for geometric tolerancing and surface roughness. LightWorks photo-realistic technology allows the visualization of 3D objects and includes support for acceleration cards. Users can create a complex plan in FloorPlan 3D, then import it. The software can also automatically create HTML pages for Web publishing with a choice of formats. The price is unavailable. (IMSI; www.imsisoft.com)