OK this may be a dumb ques.... but here goes. I use Vectorworks CAD software, and am thinking of an iMac for the office. However I also need something portable to carry around showing clients pretty pics on to sell my designs. The ipad sounds perfect right? BUT what I really want to do is show them 3d walk throughs of my designs... kinda like mini movies of their new garden. eg http://www.youtube.com/embed/euxbCQ8S6F0 I can create these in CAD. So here's the ques... what kind of format would i need to save these walkthroughs in to play on ipad? Can you see any probs I might run into? I'm trying to find out the formats I can create in VW.... but maybe someone out there uses it and can tell me? Thanks
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Playing 3d walkthroughs created in CAD on ipad? Poss?
- Thread starter La Isla Bonita
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
VectorWorks can export movie files of your walk-throughs. I'm not sure off the top of my head if they would be iPad compatible, but even if they aren't you could simply run them through Handbrake to make them compatible.
I don't think he wants video file. I think he wants file in format he can walk through his design like in Infinity Blade game. As a fellow designer I'm also curious about this.
Basically, if I understand him right, he wants to know is there an app that can render his project in real time and have touch screen 3d navigation.
ADD: this should be the killer feature for Keynote if Apple bothers to do it.
Last edited:
Hi, and thanks for your responses.....
First i was going to ask if the current ipad (ie not the up-and -coming replacement ) would do the job, coz that's pretty sweet price-wise at the mo.
But I'm intrugued by the last post. I was just assuming the best I could do was a video file... ie walkthrough all finished and just a case of hitting 'play'.... but the option you talk about would be fab! Is it poss i wonder?
First i was going to ask if the current ipad (ie not the up-and -coming replacement ) would do the job, coz that's pretty sweet price-wise at the mo.
But I'm intrugued by the last post. I was just assuming the best I could do was a video file... ie walkthrough all finished and just a case of hitting 'play'.... but the option you talk about would be fab! Is it poss i wonder?
ps What is it about the name La Isla Bonita that makes you assume I'm a bloke?Just curious.....
Ha ha.. good one.
iPad 2 is fine for what you asked. The graphic is 9X faster after all. But for 3d navigation it needs an app.
(notice Apple demo new Video Mirroring function using Solar System app which let you rotate object in 3d, so I guess Apple know really well what iPad could be a killer device for. We just have to wait for apps to surface.)
Last edited:
Well i was hoping you'd say the ipad, not ipad2 would do the job.... coz they're great value now that they're about to be superceded
Last edited:
Yes, for video walk throughs from VW, the first gen iPad is just fine.
As to being able to do a live walk through, I think that there are several factors that need to be addressed. First, as already noted, is there needs to be an engine to do it, an app that can take the 3D data and render it in real time. Second, you need to be able to export the data from VW into a format that the app will recognize.
At present, I'm not aware of an app that does this. That doesn't mean that such an app doesn't exist, as I'm not directly familiar with all 65,000 iPad apps in the app store. Further, unfortunately, unless NNA was convinced to write such an app such that VW files would be supported natively, I suspect that the export process from VW would end up giving you a file that didn't precisely match your original design and might not be the best choice for trying to "strut your stuff" in front of clients.
As to being able to do a live walk through, I think that there are several factors that need to be addressed. First, as already noted, is there needs to be an engine to do it, an app that can take the 3D data and render it in real time. Second, you need to be able to export the data from VW into a format that the app will recognize.
At present, I'm not aware of an app that does this. That doesn't mean that such an app doesn't exist, as I'm not directly familiar with all 65,000 iPad apps in the app store. Further, unfortunately, unless NNA was convinced to write such an app such that VW files would be supported natively, I suspect that the export process from VW would end up giving you a file that didn't precisely match your original design and might not be the best choice for trying to "strut your stuff" in front of clients.
Maybe AutoCad WS for iPad can work for you?
http://autocadws.com/mobile
Not sure if you can do live walkthroughs....
http://autocadws.com/mobile
Not sure if you can do live walkthroughs....