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Energy tool, CAD updates, a mini-PC
By Deborah Snoonian, P.E.

Armstrong’s acoustic tool analyzes room geometries and materials in order to forecast speech privacy.

Speech Privacy Predictor
Armstrong World Industries
www.armstrong.com/speechprivacy
Windows or Mac

A company known more for ceiling panels than software, Armstrong has created a design aide for predicting the acoustic performance of spaces like offices and health-care facilities where speech privacy is a high priority for occupants. Users enter the dimensions and materials of a space as well as the distance between talkers and listeners. The software returns a Privacy Index (based on an ASTM standard) that tells the user whether a design is achieving the project’s speech-privacy goals, as well as options for improving performance.

Changes to the latest release of VectorWorks ARCHITECT include libraries of notes and improved page-layout features.

VectorWorks ARCHITECT
Nemetschek NA
www.nemetschek.net
Windows and Mac

Improvements in drawing efficiency are the hallmark of Nemetschek’s update of its CAD package for architects. A database for notes lets multiple designers share a common set of annotations and text for drawings that are used repeatedly, and new page-layout features let designers compose drawing sheets that combine multiple views of the same design at different scales and sizes, including text and annotations. New building objects, such as a ceiling-grid tool and a stair tool, make enhancements to building details easier to draw and manage. Built-in rendering modes now include options for softening hard-edged drawings so they appear hand-sketched.

Global illumination lets VIZ users make realistic renderings.

VIZ 2005
Autodesk
www.autodesk.com
Windows only

Autodesk says that VIZ is to digital 3D modeling what clay is to physical modeling—a medium for highly mutable, early-stage exploration of design options.

One major new feature of the latest VIZ release, the incorporation of mental ray’s rendering technology for global illumination, lets ambitious designers create ultra-high-quality photorealistic renderings by capturing subtle lighting effects and shadows within a space. Other new features include an architectural materials library; better editing features for splines, polygons, and patch objects; and improved cross-platform compatibility with other Autodesk products.

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