Get Ready for the Revolution!

A tantalizing new website appeared recently, along with a series of mysterious tweets and posts offering this compelling call to action: Get Ready for the Revolution! For Artlantis fans who have anxiously been awaiting word on the next release, your wait is over: Artlantis 5 is coming soon!

The website features a release date countdown timer, along with a series of letters that form the word "REVOLUTION." Over time, each letter will unveil sneak peaks of some of the exciting new features of Artlantis. The first letter, R, links to an eye-popping video of a new feature that many users are sure to appreciate: relief mapping. We witness a stone wall transforming from a flat texture mapped surface to a truly 3-dimensional surface with plenty of depth. The video is short but impressive, and succinctly illustrate the vast potential for this feature to be used on a wide variety of building materials that architects and designers specify on a regular basis.

Visit the new website and while there, be sure to sign up to for the email list so that you can learn about other exciting Artlantis 5 announcements.

 Witness the REVOLUTION...visit Artlantis5.com

10 Free HDRi Spherical Skies Maps

This comes by way of blogger Ronen Beckerman. 10 half-sized resolution spherical environmental maps of the original commercial pack, VizPeople HDRI v1, are available for free download and non-commercial use. These are full 360˚ HDRI skydomes that integrate flawlessly into Artlantis 4.1 and can be used to light the scene, one of the key new features in the v4.1 update. Try them out and see how they work!

To download the files, you'll need to scroll to the "Share to Download the FREE HDRI maps" portion of the page, about 1/3 down the page. From there, either like on Facebook, tweet on Twitter, or share via Google+, and a "Get the Files!" link will immediately appear afterward. After downloading, install them by unzipping and dragging the folder into your programs folder: Artlantis/Media/Images.

To apply the HDRI backgrounds into the Artlantis scene, go to the Perspectives Inspector and either double-click the Background Environment box and load the desired .HDR file, or drag-and-drop the HDRI from the Media Catalog into either the Background Environment box or the background of the 3D preview window. There may be a brief pause while the new HDRI loads into the scene. Finally, to use the HDRI as a light source in the scene, click on the HDRI button and check the "Use HDR Image Lighting" checkbox in the resulting dialogue. If you want the scene to be lit only by the HDRI background, deactivate the current Heliodon, but if you want shadows cast from the sun, leave it on and be sure your Heliodon's sun position matches that of the sun in the HDRI.

 See the full article for the download link

LIVE! Online webinar: Rendering BIM models in Artlantis

On Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 2:00 PM EDT, Chris Stringer of Objects Online will be joining Greg Conyngham of ICS for a webinar on rendering BIM models in Artlantis 4.1. In this webinar, we will introduce you to Abvent's Artlantis, the fastest stand-alone 3D rendering application developed especially for architects and designers. Artlantis is ideal for quickly and easily creating high resolution 3D renderings, iVisit 3D Panoramas, QuickTime VR Objects and animations. You'll learn how to:

Export your model from your 3D modeling program and and import into Artlantis

Quickly apply shaders and textures to create photo realistic building materials

Add objects and cutouts to your Artlantis model

Add and manage lighting and atmosphere

Create an iVisit 3D Panorama for client presentations

Direct plug-ins are available for ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, SketchUp, and Revit in order to make Artlantis's rendering more accessible to you. Additionally Artlantis reads the latest versions of the most common file formats such as .dxf, .dwg, .dwf, .fbx or .obj.

With Artlantis's renowned ease of use you no longer need specialists in your firm to achieve high quality photo-realistic renderings and animations. Webinar guests will be able to take advantage of a special Artlantis promotion, which will be mentioned during the webinar. Mark your calendar (Wed. May 29, 2:00 PM EDT) and register today!

 Register for the Webinar

 Download the Artlantis 30-day Demo

 Artlantis Pricing & Ordering

Render[in] 2 for SketchUp is Here!

Powered by Artlantis 4’s rendering engine, Render[in] 2 gives SketchUp users the high-definition, realistic renderings they've been looking for, in a robust, easy-to-use application.

Render[in]2 New Features:

New Radiosity Engine
Improves images for a better perception of colors, textures, and materials. Thanks to both the ISO and Shutter parameters, it is now easier than ever to fine-tune a scene's lighting.

iVisit3D Panoramas
Create a true, virtual tour inside your project with multi-node panoramas. Everything needed for viewing panoramas on your website is created with Render[in].

New Neon Lighting
Colors applied to surfaces can be turned into light sources. In Render[in] 2, users can easily adjust the power and the color of lights.

New Background Image
Users can import a background image for scenes. This new function makes it possible to insert the model in its real site and thus, show it in its future environment.

Bump Mapping
Apply an independent bump map to simulate an optional relief of surfaces.

And More...

• Up to 2x faster than ever

• Modify the infinite ground altitude in the environment palette

• Export your SketchUp file with all the rendering parameters directly to Artlantis 4

• Render your image in PSD format with all the rendering information on different layers

 Render[in]2 Pricing and Ordering

iVisit 3D Panorama

Developed especially for Architects and Designers. iVisit 3D allows users to view Panorama Renderings on an iPad or iPhone.

You've heard the hype about iVisit 3D. You've seen the user submitted videos across the web. Now, you're ready to jump in and create your first realistic virtual tour. This video explains the principles of an iVisit 3D panorama and shows how to set it up in Artlantis Studio 4.


 Artlantis Pricing and Ordering

 Download the Artlantis 30-day Demo

 Watch the Video

 Get iVisit 3D

Abvent Announces Artlantis 4

Abvent has announced the launch of Artlantis 4 featuring a dramatically improved rendering engine. If you purchased Artlantis 3 on or after September 15, 2011, you are eligible to receive a free upgrade to version 4. Here's a look at some of the enhancements…
Quality Improvements
• Better perception of colors, textures, and materials
• New tone correction lightens dark images & vice versa
• New Fresnel shader suited for metallic car bodies
• Improved method for working with multiple objects
Performance improvements
• Average rendering time is twice as fast as version 3
• Up to 7x faster in scenes using several Neon shaders
• 32-bit and 64-bit on Mac and Windows
Productivity Improvements
• New Horizontal material projection automatically aligns roof textures
• Batch rendering work can now be reorganized and filtered prior to rendering
• New Gravity feature streamlines placement of a series of objects on the ground
iVisit 3D Panoramas (Artlantis Studio only)
• New multi-node panoramic presentations are now possible
• New, free Flash-based player is viewable within most popular web browsers
• New tool converts these presentations for viewing on iPad, iPhone, and iPod
 Download the Free 30-day Artlantis Demo
 Artlantis Pricing and Ordering
 Watch the New Videos
 Artlantis Studio User Gallery

Abvent announces iVisit 3D Lite

Abvent has announced iVisit 3D Lite for the iPad and iPhone, an easy-to-use presentation tool designed for architects and designers. iVisit 3D Lite allows users to view and share panorama renderings on an iPad or iPhone.
iVisit 3D Lite is free, but limited to viewing one panorama per day.
 See iVisit 3D Lite in the Apple App Store
 View samples of realistic iVisit 3D panoramas
 Watch a video demo of iVisit 3D