Zermatt realtime engine for ArchiCAD 8.1 and 9

[Ben Odonnell]

Introducing Zermatt realtime engine for ArchiCAD 8.1 and 9.
Take you ArchiCAD models to the next level easily and direct from the ArchiCAD 3D window.

With Zermatt you are able to save down an exe file and send it as a mail attachment to your client, builder or simply use it as promotional material!
In the Zermatt realtime engine you are able to move freely around your model and go where ever you like. View the model with full textures or in sketch mode all the time with real time shadows on!

Please don’t hesitate to check it out at http://www.zermatt.se you can download the demo version and try it yourself.

I have loaded up ademo file , you can down load winrar, if you don't have it, at http://www.rarlabs.com you can check out, there are 2 small limitations on this file,
1. It only last for 60 seconds at at time
2. It expires in 24 Hrs.

But if you download the demo your self you can use it unlimited for 7 days.

At the moment Zermatt is PC only, but it is in the process of being ported to MAC OSX and is due for release in the near future.

If you have any questions or comments about Zermatt you can either PM me or mail me at ben.odonnell@lasercad.se

Enjoy!

Cheers.
Ben

[Ben Odonnell]

Rakela,
There is a huge difference. The on that Dunako does is a Shockwave of your ArchiCAd model. with a shockwave presentation you can incorporate it into web documents and the like.

With Zermatt it is a realtime rendering engine, it is much like a first person shooter(Game talk) like Quake and Unrealtournument etc etc.

The main difference lies also in that Zermatt is it's own program.

Zermatt coasts 900€ approx $1100 US

HTH.
Cheers.
Ben

[Djordje]

Ben wrote:
Sorry that I didn't explain this earlier. I used a demo version of Zermatt to save out this demo file. If you purchase a fully licenced version of Zermatt the file will NEVER run out.

Missed my point.

If a CAD guy has to persuade his boss to shell out 850 euros, or, even worse, a purchase manager that is anyway sick and tired of you asking for a new computer every year, the demo that lasts 30 seconds or whatever will not work. The movies should also last as long as Zermatt demo does.

Not all the ArchiCAD users are small offices where purchase decisions are made by the one guy that is owner, CEO, cheif architect, and so on ... think about all the corporate obstacles.

Plus, volume licensing? 10 seats, 850 euros each? Hard to sell.

[Ben Odonnell]

OK,
I 'm with you.
Yes I totally agree with you and will get back to you on that one.

As far as pricing goes, it will of course not be 850€ for every licence. The pricing structure is roughly the same as ArchiCAD. You buy your First licence for XXX amount of dollars and your additionals for XX amount of dollars.

Cheers.
Ben

[Djordje]

Ben wrote:
You buy your First licence for XXX amount of dollars and your additionals for XX amount of dollars.

100 and 99?

[Ben Odonnell]

LOL,
Ah ya never know! Bye some licences and you will find out. No but honestly the pricing is better than that!

Cheers.
Ben

[stefan]

Like to check it out... Just wait untill my fresh new PC is installed...

[Ben Odonnell]

Stefan,
Can't wait. I'd love to hear you thoughts about it.

Cheers.
Ben

[Ben Odonnell]

ok,
Here is an update.
I have 3 example files that will never expire, they are done with the full version.
Shadows are on automatically when you start up.
Demo file 1
Demo file 2
Demo file 3

Just a little clarification here as well. If you have downloaded the demo version, it's best to take "Edit" whilst in ArchiCAD, this means that you can be in Zermatt without it expiring all of the time. It's only when you want to send you model to some one that doesn't have ArchiCAD and Zermatt that you create an exe file.

Have fun.
Cheers.
Ben

[Rakela Raul]

ben, i downloaded one of ur files and playing with it,
how can i have my eye level above ground?? i cannot even see the bldg entrance...or thats setup at the beginning when exporting from archicad??

[stefan]

Didn't try exporting yet, but I tried your demo-files.

• * I didn't see any shadows

• * Only a small subset of shortcuts is displayed. F3 does something but what? The M-shortcut is actually using the M-key as it is placed on an American qwerty-layout. At my keyboard, the key on this position is "?," and thus pressing my "m" key doesn't work.

• * I'm always in "airplane" mode. How do I switch to walk mode? Can I?

• * Fullscreen is usually a good choice, unless you have two displays. I have two and it uses the first to show it fullscreen, but it tracks the mouse over the two screens, which makes navigation awkward. There should be an option to go in a window.

• * No gravity or collision detection, which is possible in Blaxxun Contact (for VRML) and Cult3D VIZ Exporter

• * No anti-aliasing, but reasonable texture smoothing

• * Nice features: stereo-viewing, layers display, distance measuring, info-window (although most of this info is pretty useless since it simply connects to the geometry as it is built....), network collaboration (how does it work?)

I'm not ready to install the software, since 7 days are simply too short. I want demo-versions that don't expire. I often choose not to install a demo because the evaluation time is too short. I have other tasks to do 😉

So most of these comments are on the viewer. All by all, it seems pretty nice, but I guess the most compelling "feature" is it's integration into ArchiCAD.