28 December 2015

Tip of the month! December: License extension

End of the year is upon us which means it's time to start think of resolutions for 2016. I almost  always fulfill mine, and am willing to share my successful technique with you. The trick is, not to rush in making them straight away at the begin of January. Instead, take your time and make sure that you are able to actually do what you set out for yourself. Then, towards the end of December, make a commitment, and keep to it for the remainder of the year. You're welcome.

Now, back to our subject, here another useful tip on how to request your license extension. You should get a reminder from the software towards the license expiration date. Of course, to start off with, you must have purchased the license extension beforehand, or be a Palette CAD update customer in order to qualify.

Next go to the file tab and select program settings. On this screen you can also find the license expiration date, should it have one that is. Next select configure hardware lock.



A new window will appear. From here there are a couple of possible ways to proceed.


If your email client allows it, simply click on request by email option. This will generate an automatic email for you which then just needs to be sent off. Otherwise you may copy the code, paste into an email and send it to us.

Apply your new code once you get it back from us and you are ready to get back to the real fun, designing dream projects with Palette CAD.



Wishing you all a phenomenal 2016,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team





16 November 2015

Tip of the month! November: Presentation settings


For many of us the days are getting shorter but work is getting longer. Just another one of the many benefits from the upcoming festive holidays. As time is in such short supply, let us try and save you a little when working with Palette CAD. At times it may take several attempts in order to get that perfect photo-realistic image or panorama. This is why it is important to learn to switch your settings between speed and quality.



The settings for presentation mode can be found under the "View" tab. At the early planning stages we strongly recommend to work with lower quality ambient light setting. Just slide the bar to "Fast".  This way it is easy to get an idea of visualisation, especially if you are trying out a number of potential materials or colours. You can also check the advanced settings and also exclude any of the options there to make it even quicker.


Of course, once the design is ready, and you are looking for that eye-catching quality, just go back into the settings and adjust the quality. Then let the results speak for themselves! Have fun.


Greeting from Stuttgart,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team





21 October 2015

Tip of the month! October: Right-click menus


We have ourselves quite a special occasion today. More than 25 years ago "Back to the future part 2" was released. For those of you that haven't seen the movie or forgot since, the time travel date is today, 21st October 2015. Feeling old yet?

With above taken into consideration this months TOTM background was easy to pick. The tip itself is also very cool, and will surely make it easier for our new users to get to grips with planning with Palette CAD. Sometimes all the tabs, menus and features can be overwhelming or difficult to find. It is exactly with this in mind that we designed these context menus. There are three possible versions.

First is a design specific menu. It is activated by pressing down on the right button of your mouse when no objects are selected (Axonometric, Plan, Front views only). General operations such Undo, Zoom or Construction Plane can be found here.


Second menu is object specific. Works exactly the same as above, but, this time, beforehand, select an object (Axonometric, Plan, Front views only). This context menu includes an extensive list of operations such as Move, Rotate and Cut.


Third menu is just for the Perspective view as the context menu focuses mainly on presentation features. It lists operations such as Walk, Camera lift and Background.


There it is, now just put the knowledge to good use and get creative. Above is my little bit of imagination brought to life. Have fun!


Happy Back to the future day,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team





2 September 2015

Tip of the month! September: Simple as that


Looking through the previous post I noticed that our posts are very specific, and suited for more active users. With that in mind, and a growing number of requests for a video demo, below is a five minute demonstration of complete design and visualisation with Palette CAD.


Tip: You can change the quality settings to 1080p for a much crisper experience!

It is important to recognise that the Palette Cad platform is far more than just a planning program. It is a complete, professional, business solution, a tool really, that can be implemented for planning, visualisation, sales, marketing, customer service and more. It is what makes us so different from many other CAD solutions. We offer a very simple,easy and affordable way to step into the ever more prominent Computer Aided Design world, while at the same time providing the possibilities to go as far and professional as your needs.


Greeting from Stuttgart,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team





14 August 2015

Tip of the month! August: Hardware and system configuration

Keeping with the current summer TOTM trend, here another short and sweet tip. This time around perhaps a little more useful for those who have just started with Palette CAD, or are trying out the demo version and wondering if their current hardware set-up can handle the heat (pun absolutely intended).

 First, start Palette CAD as always. At the start screen select "Help Topics" from the side menu.


You will now be presented with a number of options. We strongly suggest that you have a look at the top two at some point, but for now select "Check hardware and system configuration". The rest is done atomatically and you will be presented with the results in the next window that pops up.


Looks like fun, right? Well test it out yourselves and enjoy the rest of the holiday season.


Greeting from Stuttgart,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team





13 July 2015

Tip of the month! July: Custom floor and wall designs

This month I decided to share a very quick tip with you, seeing as my fingertips are burning from touching the keys in this heat. Or I could use the old gem, less is more.

Either way I get a lot of questions regarding  custom floor and wall designs. The truth is, almost anything is possible, but a little creative thinking needs to be applied. In my very simple example below, I used the "Leaf Pick" trick to select the floor tiles I wanted to split (using "Cut" feature), and then applied a different tile texture to them.


Such ease certainly puts a smile on my face. Try it out for yourselves!


Greeting from unbearably hot Stuttgart,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team





30 June 2015

Y4K at Palette CAD

Summer is at the door, just seems not sure if it wants to come in or not.  Regardless the BBQ season is well under way. It's almost impossible to go for a five minute walk without inhaling that incredible smell which brings instant joy, and jolts our brains into planning and imagination mode. Luckily for me, here at Palette CAD we have a number of meatatarians, and a phenomenal barbeque at our disposal.

It is getting really exciting, as we enter the era of 4K quality of Palette CAD materials. A few weeks ago we started updating our natural stone library and our GM personally took on a serious road trip to oversee the 4K photography project. The next natural stone update will be out in the summer, bringing with it tons of new UHD presentation possibilities.

 

We also gave our Stone+tec visitors a little preview of the upcoming update, as well as, a chance to see an early show version of Palette CAD 9. Total of 446 companies, from 31 countries, exhibited in Nuremberg with over 15,000 visitors. It really was a great show and in case you missed it, mark the next one directly into your calendars, Nuremberg Exhibition Centre from 24 to 27 May 2017.


Another absolute highlight was Ligna 2015, where we were one of 1567 exhibitors representing around 50 countries. This time the show was just shy of 100,000 visitors and some estimated 2.5 MILLION business contacts were made. Live demonstrations of furniture production in simulated factory settings were right on target for Ligna visitors, offering them a first-hand glimpse of the benefits of integrated manufacturing. On top of that, our visitors were also treated to the preview of the completely revamped wood engineering and 2D solutions coming this Autumn.


In the spirit of woodworking, above a little edited project from Alexander Schwarz. Results like this really inspire other projects, make the hard work worth while, and at the same time bring that long forgotten element of fun to everyday working tasks.

Now our focus turns to preparation for one of world's biggest tiling exhibitions, Cersaie 2015. It really is a spectacle each year and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. You've heard it here first, Palette CAD 9 will be presented!

Enough from me, get your sunscreen on and enjoy the weather.


Greeting from sunny Stuttgart,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team




17 June 2015

Tip of the month! June: Dimensioning

The regular football season is now over, and for those of us that don't do so well without being able to see a bunch of people kicking a ball around, there is the women's world cup, currently taking place in one of my favourite countries. For the rest of you here is another useful feature from Palette CAD to put to good use.

Very easy to use, simply choose the view you wish to have the measurements appear in, then go to the "Insert" tab and select "Dimensioning". A new window will pop up with all sort of options to play with.



 For my example below I just used the "Architectural" option. By selecting start Palette CAD automatically displayed walls, doors and windows dimensions.


Under dimensioning style I also increased the size of the font so that it is easier to see. Now have a go yourselves and have a good play with it. Nothing the "Undo" feature cannot fix!


Greeting from Stuttgart,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team




15 May 2015

Tip of the month! May: Info center



We have noticed a lot of questions recently regarding release dates or update news. Of course we are always more than happy to help, but there is a really easy way to keep up to date with the most important program and catalogue developments.


As long as you are connected to the internet, just check out the info center in the bottom right tile of Palette CAD start screen. Easy!


Greeting from Stuttgart,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team





16 April 2015

Tip of the month! April: Room configurator settings


With time being in such short supply I decided to offer up another tip to help you get quicker. Lots of our users spend a lot of time preparing a room in too much detail for initial drafts. There is plenty of time to be saved by using the room configurator and changing it's standard settings, especially if you often find yourself using the same floor/wall coverings.

First open the room configurator, either from the start menu or the insert tab. A new window will pop up with a number of editable options. Another useful tip to remember is that it will retain the setting used last time.



Select "Room properties..." to set new default material coverings.


This will open another window where you can change a number of options. By clicking on the materials you can choose an alternative from your catalogues. Also recommended is to create and hide the ceiling as it offers a much better overview when planning. In case you wish to change back the materials to program defaults simply do the same as before and select it, as seen in the picture below.


After finishing the configurator the options you selected will be implemented as well as saved for future designs. Now you just have to worry about choosing the furniture and create some impressive visual proposals.



Enough time saved to treat myself to a cup of coffee. Make sure to check back next month for another awesome tip. Until then, and as always, have fun with it!


Greeting from Stuttgart,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team





30 March 2015

March madness


For some reason, the month of March, as well as, the expression March Madness, always makes me think of the Mad Tea-Party. Who would ever imagine that it's origins are Illinois high school basketball. To me the hectic, confusing, ever subject-changing, riddle filled scene from Alice in Wonderland seems by far more fitting, especially when I compare it to my private and working life, or the weather for that matter in March.



Well I'm not going to go on about the weather, again, and certainly my private life is a no go, but as far as Palette CAD is concerned, it has been an adventurous month. Most notably, the world’s biggest showcase for innovative bathroom design, the ISH took place between 10th and 14th of March. Palette CAD was once again proudly waving its flag with two stands, and we came armed with a serious arsenal of entertainment and innovations to impress a record breaking crowd of almost 200,000 visitors.


New Play, improved @Home, 3D printing, Oculus v2 integration, ImmerSight virtual showrooms and a sneak peak at Palette CAD 9 were all on display, and  received a very positive and excited feedback. I still love seeing peoples reactions when they first experience the world of virtual reality, especially the pre-computer generation. The word holodeck was getting somewhat overused, and the constant reaching for objects/handles always draws a smile from the onlookers. Having been exposed to the innovations in this field for a few years now, I can honestly say that I am getting a bit harder to impress, but, having tried out the latest offerings, it is almost impossible not to get excited. Now that the virtual reality is here to stay, and having seen the rapid improvements in the last couple of years, coupled with companies pouring billions into it's advancement, I am really looking forward to the next few years. Limits of imagination will be sufficiently tested! Feel free to quote me on that one.


The present is pretty good too at the moment. Latest patch, v8.25 will be online in the next two weeks, so make sure to check for updates, or just keep an eye out for a post in the Palette CAD info center. Improvements and bug polishing across all branches, cloud functionality upgrades as well as CNC enhancements to name just a few.


On top of that, the latest tiling update is on it's way, featuring thousands of latest designs. Spring is well and truly here and the days and moods are getting brighter and brighter. Right now the big focus is on the new version of wood technology, which is being completely redesigned. A sneak peak will be available at Ligna between 11th and 15th of May so make sure to stop by.

That is it from me for now, I wish you all a wonderful Easter holidays, and for those taking part, a fruitful egg hunt.


Greeting from Stuttgart,
Your Palette CAD-Blog Team





14 March 2015

Tip of the month! March: Palette cloud sharing



There it is again, that term, “cloud”. Most of you have now come across this idea of a fluffy, white, data storage server somewhere up in the sky, perhaps. Well, the good news is, you don’t really have to worry too much as to what, or where it is.

For now, let’s just think of it as an extra saving space that cannot be seen. We have created and utilised our own invisible hard disk version too, Palette Cloud, and it is now there for you to take advantage of. Simply put, you can save and share your panoramic images (Move) and Play designs. These can then be forwarded per email, code (for use with Apps or at palettecloud.net) or direct internet link onto your target audience.


To start off with, save your project and then export it in either panorama or play format. Then go to your Cloud menu and select “Upload file”. Standard explorer window will open, so simply find and select the file you wish to upload.


Once the files are uploaded they will be displayed according to type (as seen above). All that is left to do now is forward your designs to the desired audience. By clicking on the mail symbol, an automatic, generic email will be created. Alternatively, you can send the code, to be used either on palettecloud.net or Palette Move app (available free of charge). 

As an added bonus the code also acts as a hyperlink, which means you could share them on your website, or social media channels, for marketing purposes. Try it out now for yourselves, just click on my code 9560 6863. Also feel free to try the other codes above. Just remember in order for the links to keep working they must be hosted in your cloud storage.

Have fun with it!


Greeting from Stuttgart,
Your Palette CAD Blog Team