Welcome to the Civil View User Community
The Civil View User Community is designed to allow you to stay current with the latest developments in the civil visualisation industry.
The primary aim of this site is to empower users of Autodesk Civil View (formally Dynamite VSP) and associated technologies to share and contribute information to help improve visualisation skills throughout the civil engineering design community.
New 3ds Max Design Quick Tutorials
I’d like to thank Jamie Gwilliam of Autodesk for preparing a new series of tutorials that have just gone live on this site.
This latest series of tutorials concentrates on some key concepts in 3ds Max Design, and are tailored specifically for those working in the AEC Industry. All Dynamite VSP users should take some time out to view these tutorials - you will undoubtedly improve your knowledge of 3ds Max Design, there is some great stuff here.
The tutorials cover a broad range of topics including daylight analysis, speeding up rendering using Mental Ray proxies, and how to make better more believeable camera moves to name a few.
There is over 1 hour of new content to view and we hope that these tutorials will aid you in some way.
Thanks once again to Jamie for taking the trouble to produce these tutorials. Feel free to add some comments to this page if you have any ideas for new tutorials from Jamie that would help you to get more out of 3ds Max Design.
These new tutorials can be found here.
A new year, and a new release - v3.7
Firstly I’d like to wish all our customers and partners a happy and prosperous new year. It looks like 2009 will be a challenging year economically for many businesses, which makes it more important than ever to maintain a strong commercial advantage in the civil design marketplace.
This can be achieved in many ways – perhaps by striving for greater efficiency, or as many businesses are starting to realise - by providing unique and groundbreaking value-added services to your clients that your competitors just can’t match.
It’s obvious that visualisation is a huge growth market in the civil engineering industry right now as more and more consultants see it as a way to differentiate their services from the competition. Ever more important environmental considerations are also making visualisation techniques essential to enable engineers to study their proposals in far more detail before they start building.
We’ve got a major new release of Dynamite VSP planned for the first few months of 2009 and we know that it will help in all of these areas. The release will feature some revolutionary new functionality, with the underlying aim of the product remaining to help you generate high quality civil visualisations as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Whilst we continue to work on this new release, we also wanted to pick up as much of your feedback as possible received through the community site in the latter months of 2008. I’m therefore delighted to announce that your feedback has led directly to yet another new release of Dynamite VSP, which is available immediately - Dynamite VSP 3.7.
Dynamite VSP Version 3.7 has been born solely from comments received from you - our valued user community, and we’d like to thank you all once again for your continuing feedback and support. We really do try to listen to what our users are saying, and without your comments I firmly believe that the product wouldn’t be what it is today.
So as we all settle down to some new challenges in 2009, I hope that we can provide as much help to you as possible - by continuing to fulfill our aim to provide the best civil visualisation software possible.
That’s it for now – all the best!
AUGI Design Academy
I just wanted to post a quick reminder about next weeks AUGI Design Academy at the Hammersmith Novotel in London.
It’s an Autodesk user event over two days, with around 300-400 people expected to attend. The dates are Thursday 25th and Friday 26th September - just one week away.
3am Solutions are exhibiting at the AUGI Beer Bust on Thursday evening, and some time ago I put my hand up to present a class on Dynamite VSP 3.6 and 3ds Max Design 2009 for Civil 3D users. I have compiled a list of classes that might be of interest, but there are also many others available:
- High End Visualisation for Civil 3D 2009 users with Dynamite VSP 3.6 and 3ds Max Design 2009 - Bruce Harfield
- Exposure in Autodesk® 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design - Norbert Graeser
- Creating Corridor Models for Carriageways and Incorporating Widening Areas Such as Bus Lanes – Carl Alford
- Essential Tips and Techniques for Design Visualization with 3ds MAX 2009 - Norbert Graeser
- Dynamic Civil 3D Blocks – Jack Strongitharm
For further details and to register, visit the AUGI web site.
See you in London!
Elephant & Castle
Ever wondered where the inspiration came from for the Dynamite VSP and Dynamite SIM CDROM sleeves? Well, according to the designer of these sleeves - Rick LeCoat of Shark Attack:
“When Shark Attack designed the packaging for software development company 3am Solutions’ Autodesk 3ds Max add-on Dynamite VSP 2 years ago, the client was happy enough to call the studio back in to design 3am’s new product, Dynamite SIM.”
“The two products are both aimed squarely at CAD designers working in the area of civil design — creating complex road structures and the like. As such, you might be interested to learn that the ‘double circle’ logo was based loosely upon the Elephant & Castle roundabout system in south London.”
Shark Attack have also worked on album covers for Dire Straits, Elton John and Incognito. If you’d like to know more about Rick’s work, visit www.sharkattack.co.uk.
Announcing Dynamite VSP Version 3.6
Well, it’s taken a little longer than anticipated, but we are finally able to confirm the imminent release of Dynamite VSP Version 3.6.
Including greatly improved support for Civil 3D 2009, and a range of other improvements driven by you - our community members, Dynamite VSP Version 3.6 will be available from Monday 18th August 2008 as a downloadable service pack. The service pack (SP4) may be applied to Version 3.1, Version 3.5, or Version 3.51.
I’d like to thank everyone for all the valuable feedback that we have received via this site - hopefully you’ll see that lots of your comments have been incorporated into this release. For the ones that didn’t make it this time, please be assured that all comments are still somewhere 
on the development plan for future inclusion.
We hope to post an AVI later detailing some of the main improvements in this release, but in the meantime here is a link to the full release notes which were posted to the main 3am Solutions web site today.
Dynamite VSP Version 3.6 will use the same licence key as Version 3.51. If you plan to upgrade from any earlier version of Dynamite VSP, a licence file update will be required. Updated licence files are available from 3am Solutions on request to users holding valid annual maintenance contracts.
Jamie Gwilliam - Our Newest Community Blogger
You might have noticed a new User Blog section taking shape on the community site recently. We already have Mark Parkinson in Durban, South Africa and Brian Rogers in Arizona, USA contributing with some occasional Dynamite VSP tips or techniques they have discovered as part of their work.
I’m delighted to announce that Jamie Gwilliam from Autodesk has also now joined the community as a regular blogger. Although not technically a user of Dynamite VSP, Jamie is well placed to provide tips and techniques on the use of 3ds Max - in fact it’s his job to have an intimate technical understanding of how to get the most out of 3ds Max.
Jamie is a Design Visualisation Specialist for Autodesk. Jamie specialises in the use of 3ds Max and Combustion. His production-proven skills cover advanced animation techniques, photorealistic texturing, lighting and complex modeling. He regularly gives presentations throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa about 3ds Max and its advanced use. In fact, many of you will remember Jamie from our European User Conference last year, where gave a practical demostration of the use of Mental Ray daylight systems in 3ds Max.
So, take a few moments to visit Jamie’s blog. It’s highly recommended - in fact, I’ve already picked up a few tricks myself. 
http://www.3am-solutions.co.uk/community/userblog/
Engineering Software Marketplace Partners with 3AM Solutions
Engineering Software Marketplace (ESM), an affiliate of Transoft Solutions Inc. – developers of industry leading transportation engineering software, announce a new partnership with 3AM Solutions from the United Kingdom. As an appointed reseller, ESM will provide North and South American distribution of 3AM Solutions’ Dynamite VSP and Dynamite SIM civil engineering visualization software products.
Using Dynamite VSP, civil engineers can, with little or no prior experience, render 3D visualizations of projects. For projects developed using AutoCAD Civil 3D, Bentley MX, Inroads or Geopak, or I2D Model, designers, engineers, or planners can communicate and illustrate their design ideas to stake holders or to get a better visual understanding of the design before the constructions phase. Additionally, the generated renderings and AVI animations maintain a dynamic link to the civil model, keeping visualizations updated with design changes.
“ESM’s partnership with 3AM Solutions is especially exciting as we can now offer these powerful visualization tools to a growing number of clients who desire to work in 3 dimensions,” commented Johanna Navas, Business Development Vice President. “3AM Solutions’ Dynamite VSP software complements the high quality civil engineering design application products we currently have available.”
3AM joins a growing list of ESM’s partners. A complete listing of software products and promotions are available on ESM’s website at www.esmcad.com.
About 3AM Solutions
3AM Solutions is a UK based privately owned technology company that develops cutting-edge visualization software specifically for the civil engineering industry. 3AM Solutions also provides world-class highway design consultancy services, software development and visualization services/training.
About Engineering Software Marketplace (ESM)
As an affiliate of Transoft Solutions, Inc, the Engineering Software Marketplace (ESM) is the direct resource for the global engineering community. We offer premier engineering design software at an affordable price to government agencies, design consultants, and engineering professionals worldwide.
Dynamite VSP Road Map 2008
I thought I would take a few moments to outline our planned road map for Dynamite VSP in 2008.
We are planning three no fewer than three new releases of Dynamite VSP this year, and we feel that it is important to outline some of our plans in advance to ensure that our customers have plenty of time to prepare for some important changes in the way that we provide support for Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk VIZ.
As many of you will already be aware, Autodesk’s range of Media and Entertainment products has evolved considerably of late. The launch of 64-bit versions of 3ds Max, the demise of Autodesk VIZ, and the launch of sister product 3ds Max Design have all contributed to creating a degree of confusion in the user base. We, as developers, currently provide either full or partial support for no less than nine different flavours or versions of 3ds Max and Viz. This situation will change considerably in the next twelve months as we start to realign our own products with the latest Autodesk Media and Entertainment product range.
In this article I will outline each of the new releases of Dynamite VSP that are planned for release in 2008, and provide a full list of Autodesk host applications that will be supported in each case.
For Autodesk VIZ users, it is vital to note that we will be ending support for this application later this year, so we want to provide plenty of notice to any users that might be affected by this move to help plan their migration to 3ds Max Design 2009.
Planned Dynamite VSP Releases in 2008
Version 3.51 (Released 15th May 2008)
The purpose of this new release (available now) is threefold:
- to add support for Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2009 which requires a recompile of the Dynamite VSP plugins.
- to provide 64-bit versions of the Dynamite VSP plugins for users who wish to render or review their visualisations using 64-bit versions of 3ds Max or 3ds Max Design.
- to provide an update to the DynLM licensing system specifically for laptop users in order to ensure that the licence manager binds to the correct Network Adapter during the license request process.
Other than the above changes, this release is unchanged from Version 3.5 in terms of general functionality.
Version 3.51 is available as a downloadable service pack for Version 3.1 (or higher) and is free to users holding current and valid annual software maintenance contracts from 3am Solutions.
To download Version 3.51, please visit the new downloads section of the 3am Solutions Online Community site. Please note that the license file format has changed in this release which means that a new licence request must be made after installation of this service pack. We would therefore recommend that you check the status of your annual software maintenance contract before proceeding with the installation of this service pack.
Dynamite VSP Version 3.6 (Planned Release Date 15th July 2008)
In Dynamite VSP version 3.6, we will be introducing a number of new features, productivity enhancements and bug fixes. Here is a preview of what we have planned:
- A full Mental Ray based workflow and material library including support for mental ray daylight systems, exposure controls and physically accurate sky maps.
- The ability to define “Country”, “Project” and “Personal” Resource Kits in three separate customisable locations, replacing the current single Dynamite VSP Country Kit. This improvement is intended to help large and medium sized workgroups to better manage their visualisation resources by allowing Dynamite VSP users to identify styles, materials and object library content as shared, project specific, or personal.
- Much improved support for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 via a completely rewritten exporter for Civil 3D, and associated support for a newly enhanced vsp3d file format in Dynamite VSP.
There are plenty of smaller enhancements planned for this release too. Further details will be posted to the 3am Solutions web site nearer to the release date.
Please note that Dynamite VSP Version 3.6 will be the final release of the product featuring support for Autodesk VIZ. Autodesk VIZ users are encouraged to take advantage of Autodesk’s current promotion to crossgrade to 3ds Max Design 2009 for a negligible fee (available until 12th July 2008). Please contact us if you would like further details.
Dynamite VSP Version 4.0 (Planned Release Date December 2008)
In Dynamite VSP Version 4.0 we will be introducing the long awaited full support for 64-bit versions of Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk 3ds Max Design. This will potentially allow far larger datasets to be used.
With a whole host of other exciting new functionality planned, this release plans to mark yet another milestone in the development of Dynamite VSP. We hope to unveil this release publicly at December’s Autodesk University 2008 in Las Vegas.
Dynamite VSP Version 4.0 will support Autodesk 3ds Max 2008, Autodesk 3ds Max 2009, and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2009 in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions throughout.
Support Matrix for Autodesk Media and Entertainment Products
The following tables provide a detailed overview of support for each version of Autodesk VIZ, Autodesk 3ds Max, and Autodesk 3ds Max Design in each forthcoming release of Dynamite VSP.
Win a BE Award with DVSP
We would like to congratulate Graphics Engineering Solutions and Services (Pty) Ltd (GESS) in South Africa for their recent success in the 2007 Bentley Empowered (BE) Awards of Excellence.
The BE Awards of Excellence program is held annually by Bentley Systems in order to “honour Bentley users worldwide who are improving global infrastructure through some of the world’s greatest projects”.
In particular, we see that on pages 24 and 25 of the most recent BE Magazine, that GESS was a 2007 finalist in the “Civil Visualisation and Simulation” category for their visualisation of De Hoop Dam in the Limpopo province of South Africa.
This adds to their success in the BE Awards of the previous year, where recognition was given for another GESS produced visualisation – the K90/K157 Interchange north of Johannesburg International Airport in South Africa. Their visualisation is featured on page 66 of the 2006 BE Project Yearbook.
Curiously enough, it appears that nowhere in any of these publications has Bentley mentioned that both of these visualisations were created using Dynamite VSP and Autodesk VIZ, which last time I checked – were not Bentley products.
More Information
Bentley Empowered Awards of Excellence
Bentley Announces Winners of 2007 BE Awards of Excellence
Dynamite VSP Case Study – A Company with Vision
www.gess.co.za
DVSP User featured on BBC’s “Countryfile”
Congratulations to DVSP users PB in Cardiff who had their visualisation for the M25 Widening Project in London featured on the BBC TV programme “Countryfile” on Sunday.
Countryfile is presented by John Craven and broadcasted weekly throughout the UK on BBC1. The programme focuses on topical countryside and environmental issues affecting farming and fisheries, rural living and business, outdoor leisure, and UK wildlife.
The M25 is one of Europe’s busiest roads, forming a circle around London. The UK Highways Agency is planning a £5bn road widening project for the M25. This will change most of the remaining three-lane sections on the northern side into four lanes.
In this Countryfile report, John Craven got to grips with the challenges of farming within the M25 and discovered what plans to widen motorways could mean for the British countryside. With the help of PB’s visualisation produced in DVSP, Civil engineer Scot Steadman explained how the project will be implemented, taking the surrounding environment into consideration.
This Countryfile episode can currently be viewed online using the BBC’s IPlayer, and is expected to be online for around two weeks from the original date of transmission (24th February 2008). BBC IPlayer is currently available in the UK only.
More information
Countryfile on BBC IPlayer, Broadcast Date: 24th February 2008
Countryfile Web Page
UK Highways Agency
Parsons Brinckerhoff
For more details, contact Paul Brown at PB in Cardiff, UK
