From a company that mostly makes office furniture is a library of their products in GDL format.
[6.2MB .rar / 8.2 MB .zip]
Go to :: http://cadsymbol.kinnarps.se/html/en/item_ARCHICAD.html
Category Archives: News
Tiny PDF
It’s not often that you come across a fantastic, non-bloated software that is free even for commercial use but Tiny PDF belongs to this category. At under 600 kilobytes, it’s a tiny download compared to most others and, additionally, doesn’t require the bulky GhostScript libraries to work.
I’ve tested the output against CutePDF Writer (free) and Amyuni PDF Creator v.2.09 (not free but which comes with my edition of ArchiCAD). Amyuni still makes the most compact PDF files but the output from TinyPDF isn’t too far behind and it’s way ahead of CutePDF. Also, don’t forget to get the plugin called PDF Merge from the site and you’ll be able to add to an existing PDF or merge two of them together.
For anyone interested in sharing CAD drawings (or any other document for that matter) with people who don’t have the required software, this is a great tool to have.
Go to :: TinyPDF
Q10 – Text Editor with Spell Check
I never thought I’d actually like a software that has a full black screen with yellow text. Reminds me too much of the bad old DOS days. And yet, there’s something about Q10 that makes me want to use it more and more. Maybe it’s the simplicity, maybe there is less strain on my eyes. Either way, it’s a keeper.
Screenshot of Q10
It doesn’t have the features of metapad – still my text editor of choice – but it is equally fast and has spelling check built-in. It comes with US English (and Spanish, among others) but since it uses the same dictionaries as OpenOffice, so I merely copied the British English files over to the correct location. And I also found a dozen or more spelling errors on this site…
It’s a tiny 400 kilobyte download (without the dictionaries) that doesn’t require to be installed – just unzip it to any location and start writing; run it off a pen-drive if you want. I think this one is going to travel with me on my cellphone; alongside Portable Thunderbird.
It’s semi-crashed on me a couple of times during spell-check – usually after it has encountered an apostrophe.
Go to :: Q10
Major Site Update
It’s been ages since I started making changes to this site and finally, there is visible progress. Almost nothing of the old site remains apart from the Vastu Book and the now-slightly-outdated workshops. The design area has been revamped and a new section has been added on sustainability. Both still need a little fleshing out but the basic framework is in place and future updates should be simpler. The old resources page has been removed and the internal search engine been revamped.
All this has only been possible because the rains have stalled work on both the bungalows at Nasrapur. I’ve finished just in time as it turns out because the monsoon is receding and I’ll be busy all over again.
Energy Design Tools for Architects
UCLA has recently released a new version of a free software called HEED that helps architects in designing energy efficient homes. This supersedes “Solar” which I had tried a few years ago and been totally befuddled by. I’ve just given HEED a spin after downloading the climate data for Bombay (Mumbai) from the EnergyPlus site and I will need time to fiddle with it before I can really make good use of it. However, I can say, even now, that it’s worth getting the hang of. If only it would give us more options for, say, materials and take graphical input from 3D dxf files instead of the primitive graph-paper-like drawing window… That would really make it a killer app.
Another useful tool from the same source is Climate Consultant v.3 – also recently released – which takes raw data (the same as used by HEED) and displays it as charts and graphs. Architects keen on improving the energy efficiency of their designs must try both of them. It may look daunting at first and the choices within HEED are somewhat limited but it still gives a good overall picture.
Go to :: Free Energy Design Tools
DIY Solar Water Heater for Rs. 200
Learn how to make your own solar water heater with spare parts from the kabbadiwalla. It may well cost more than the claimed amount but it will teach you how simple the technology really is. Of course, if you want to store the water, you’ll have to make, or invest in, an insulated tank.
And don’t forget to read the comments at the bottom of the post (on the Instructables site, not this one) for more low-cost ideas.
Go To: Solar Thermal Water Heater For Less Than Five Dollars
Drawing an ellipse with pins and string
I was designing an ovoid conference room the other day and trying to remember the string and pin method of drawing an ellipse because, at some stage, I’ll have to mark it out on site. Headed off to the world’s favourite search engine and after a couple of mis-hits, landed on Math Open Reference which shows a simple animation of how to do it. The site also has tons of other simple geometry stuff. A definite bookmark.
Go to :: Math Open Reference
Desert Varnish
And while I was searching for more information on Sodium Acetate for the previous post on sealing concrete, I came across a way of simulating the natural patina that appears on rocks that have been exposed to air – especially desert air.
What interested me about this information was that you can obtain different colours by varying the dilution and mixture of different metal sulphates and acetates.
Go to :: http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5308646-description.html [LINK BROKEN]
Slightly Better Concrete
Researchers in Jordan seem to have identified Sodium Acetate as a simple, cheap and ecologically friendly way of sealing concrete which is not my favourite material for various reasons – one of them being that the steel bars inside are prone to corrosion. This might be, at least partially, an answer to that problem.
The actual report in PDF format [~2.5 MB] via: SciGuy and: Treehugger
Clearly the B.E.S.T.
I can hardly believe it. This is what happens when IT is foisted upon hapless governmental organisations that don’t have a shred of tech-savvy.
I visited the Bombay Electric Supply & Transport website to see if I could find a form for payment through the Electronic Clearing System, ECS. I found the download page easily enough and, naturally, expected to be getting a PDF that I could print and use. Amazingly, it turned out to be a zipped JPEG file which prints out to a size of ~7cm x 9cm (2.7″x3.6″). Originally, this was scanned (photographed?) from an A4 size sheet!
Thinking this might just be an aberration, I downloaded the form for the Senior Citizen’s Identity Card (no, no, I don’t need it!). Same problem. Oh, and as proof that you’re over 60 years of age, you need to produce your passport, service certificate (huh?), school leaving certificate or, hold your breath, your horoscope!
Go to: B.E.S.T. Undertaking’s Forms Download Page
Edited on 2011.02.12:
While the ECS form is now a PDF, the senior citizen form is still a graphic and still allows horoscopes as a proof of age.