Zermatt [and in 2009: Virtual Building Explorer]

[Anonymous]

Has anybody heard some news about the zermatt engine? We know it sort of stopped beeing developed any further but any idea if there is still a future for this product?

Thanks Carsten

[Anonymous]

Looks like they released Zermatt 3.1 last month. € 1490! That the equivalent of £1200!! - Half an ArchiCAD!

But.....

It looks like a massive improvement on 3.0, with the inclusion of a fully adjustable global illumination lighting system, their presentation example looks really nice now!

The shadows are much smoother, and are adjustable in real time. The framerates are as good (if not better) than before. I get a minimum of 100fps on a 30 inch display. They have beefed up the variety and resolution of the textures in the demo presentation, which makes a big difference to the overall quality.

They seemed to have read my previous wishlist and addressed every criticism!

The main thing it seems to currently lack is the ability to adjust lighting and shadow settings by a time/date method, but I'm sure it's in the pipeline for future versions. Also the Left/Right Stereoscopic mode distorts the image horizontally too much, so better control and adjustment of that would be good.

The only trouble is the price. I'm not sure we can spare £1200 in the current financial situation. If it was half that, perhaps......?

[Shivang Rajvir]

GRAPHISOFT released VBe today.

base is zermatt i think.

[Aaron Bourgoin]

R.I.P. Zermatt.

Heaven must be just a little bit north of Budapest.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Here is the web page of the Virtual Building Explorer with videos and stuff:

http://www.graphisoft.com/products/archicad/solutions/virtual_building_explorer.html

[Anonymous]

Well done Graphisoft for doing this! This product has a lot of potential and deserves to do well. Let's hope the prices are more reasonable . Any indication of cost for both versions yet?

I've had a play with the new example files, and it runs just as sweetly as the previous ones did. The framerates were still good even with the massive Vorosmarty demo.

One thing I did notice was that the shadows now do not update their position until the sun position sliders are released, which is a step backwards in my opinion. The contrast control curve is missing also.

I still think it would be improved with the inclusion of a proper location/date/time lighting control system also. This information should really be extracted from ArchiCAD when it is exported, and would enable useful tasks like an instant real-time animated sun study, to quickly compare the impact of design options.

Regardless, this is good news! I may have to warn the boss to prepare his wallet!

[Anonymous]

US pricing

I ordered today.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Sure looks fantastic. I especially cannot wait to put on some 3D glasses to take a look ... had toyed with the idea of a special AC add-on to generate 3D images a few years ago. Real time 3D looks like much more fun. 😉

But... it is Microsoft Windows only. At least one reseller does not even mention this on their web site, and it is barely visible on the GS page - and also not mentioned anywhere on the color PDF brochure available for download.

If Zermatt was Windows-only, then this makes sense ... as Miguel said last year, a shame for Mac users - or people whose clients are Mac-based and thus will not be able to run the EXE files produced by VBE. Most of us on Mac can obviously install Windows in a VM ... but not so our clients.

Still, this looks very fun ... and hope to have a chance to see it in action at some point, especially with some goofy 3D glasses. 😉

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

But... it is Microsoft Windows only. At least one reseller does not even mention this on their web site, and it is barely visible on the GS page - and also not mentioned anywhere on the color PDF brochure available for download.

If Zermatt was Windows-only, then this makes sense ... as Miguel said last year, a shame for Mac users - or people whose clients are Mac-based and thus will not be able to run the EXE files produced by VBE. Most of us on Mac can obviously install Windows in a VM ... but not so our clients.

Cheers,
Karl

I asked this same Question when i first heard it was being developed further by GS so i dismissed the program, as i had in the past. I was recently informed that a mac version is in the works
But When Who Knows

[Chazz]

The lack of Mac version is a drag but the real pisser is Graphisoft's typical North Korean policy of never even discussing the possibility of a Mac version.

When Google released Chrome it was Windows only but they were right out front with the fact that a Mac version was forthcoming. No promises as to release date but "hey wer're working hard on it"

I for one would be a lot more inclined to pony up if I knew that a true cross platform solution was in the works.

Shame on you GS. If you want a loyal user community, be honest with them.

[Chazz]

and while I'm nattering....

100% of our presentation work is done via web postings. While it is welcome news that viewing VBE files require no plugin download (a complete deal-breaker) it would be nice if the thing could be viewed, inline, in a browser. Like a 3D PDF.

/rant