Vray for Sketchup

Some people say that it’s impossible to choose a best render plugin for sketchup, that every option out there has it’s own good and bads but as far as I can see Vray is clearly a winner.
I’ve tried a few of them, Artlantis, Maxwell, Kerkythea etc. and all of them at the end will get you there or thereabouts, with Vray the actual journey will be a lot more pleasant.

Good:
- Time! It’s fast. I’m not sure if my tests are are totally fair because I have never compared it with any other render side by side on the same scene, but it seems that Vray only need like 20 minutes for what Maxwell or Kerkythea spends a couple of hours.
- Community. Both developers and users are there to help is you have any questions and because Vray is now almost a mainstream software the amount of tutorials, materials and options sets that you can easily find is overwhelming.
- Quality of the final result. Of course it’s all about personal preferences but in my opinion Vray does a noticeably better renders while using less resources.

Bad:
- Ergonomics. Basically some things are almost impossible to figure out on your own. From one point of view this is due to the flexibility of this software which has hundreds of different settings to be adjusted at your convenience, from another developers probably could’ve come up with some sort of an ultimate guide for Vray because these two manuals that are there now cover not more than 5% of the actual settings. On another hand developers do everything they can to get you to the appropriate level quickly by releasing tutorials and helping users on the official forum.

Usefulness

I’m not really a gym person. At least I wasn’t until about a year ago when I got a membership for the first time in my life. Of course just like everybody before this every year or two I was making an attempt to do something healthy but could never get past third workout day. I’m telling you all that in order to make sure that it’s clear that I’m not an expert in fitness and my review is based on my short (1 year) experience.

- Equipment -
Is very very good. Quality, quantity and variety. Even on a busiest day there are few unoccupied cardio-machines so you don’t have to worry about re-arranging you workouts routine in case somebody selfishly decided to run a marathon. Unfortunately it’s not as good when it comes to the free weights area. Don’t get me wrong, there is enough dumbbells for everyone but the actual area is not that big and sometimes can get really crowded. Of course you can always grab what you need and go else where in the building but that’s not very convenient. Of course every once in a while something gets broke but it’s usually fixed within a week or so which is pretty quick considering that the owners probably have to order parts or call a technician.
-Staff-
I really don’t have much to say about them, they are there and they are friendly that’s about it.
-Extras-
What else is good … there is sauna, you could rent a towel for a couple bucks if you forgot yours, there is a tanning room which I’ve never used so can’t really comment on it, showers are great as well as the change-rooms. Also you can take some classes, hire a personal trainer. There are a couple of big screens so you wont miss a game.
-Bad things-
Not many but still. Few month ago they’ve decided to build a little cafeteria in the middle of the gym. They are mixing some energy drinks and blend smoothies. The idea itself is not bad but they also serve food which they cook right over there. First few weeks it was terrible, apparently smell of bacon can be very destructive. They’ve installed some fancy fan and now it’s not as bad (plus not many people actually buy food there) but it’s still a little bit annoying.

Also it seems like the use of the space could be a little bit better. As I explained earlier, free weights area is always busy and nothing really gets done about that. Also sometimes parking could be an issue however if you come after five you can use parking by the next building.
- Bottom line -

At the end of the day I’m very happy with my gym.

Usefulness

Another great example in which free, light and user friendly software beats giant expansive ”professional” applications. To a point of course. Because as always there are some goods and some bads.
Good:
It’s free. Paid version is exactly same but with “Layout” add-on which will help you to transform your sketches into professional looking drawings.
It’s easy to use. Some great tutorials are available at youtube and since the community is so big there are plenty of forums and groups to help you to solve your problems.
It’s fast. Once you will get to know Sketch Up you will notice that sketch of a simple model is now three times faster compare to Autocad or 3D Max.
It is very “resource friendly” compare to AutoCad, 3D max and Maya. It runs great on my budget $600 laptop.
It’s huge. You can access a humongous model library from built in browser.
Bad:
It’s raw. Just as any other “Open source” software it requires some patches and add-ons in order to work properly.
It doesn’t have a built in rendering.
It doesn’t have built in layout.
Basic material library is very poor.
Layer manager is too basic.

To summarise, if you are an interior designer, or a furniture manufacturer, or a website designer who need a render every now and then you should definitely have a closer look at sketchup. If you an architect ... well, I know at least one professional who uses Sketch Up however most of them are saying that it’s not there yet. As for me, even if I had to choose between free Sketch Up and free AutoCAD I would go with the first one.

Usefulness

Before I say anything about this printer I should mention that it's probably one of the cheapest 4-in-1's out there (priced from $450 up to 700).

The quality of the print, speed and the price for the cartridge is average or just above average. Let's say it's good enough to suit small business.

Scanner is very good as far as quality goes but interface is awful (it fails to remember previous settings so you have to press 10 buttons every time before you can actually scan something).

Copier is great as a result of previous two subjects since you don't have to go through the settings selection.

We haven't used fax feature yet so I will just skip it for now.

So far we replaced one cartridge (black) after almost a 4 month of everyday use printing about 100 a day on average (colour and b/w)

Overall if you are looking for something decent but cheap it's probably a way to go but if you're picky about the quality of the print or overall usability you should spend more money.

Usefulness

Picture and info : http://www.google.com/products/catalog?sourceid=chrome&q=microsoft+wireless+mouse+5000&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=8734746248197993684&ei=I9OnS8LNH5TysQObrYHZAw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=4&ved=0CBsQ8gIwAw#

With $40 to $80 price tag it could be a lot better. Plastic on the top part of the mouse is very easy to scratch (same applies tor receiver but it's not as important) so carrying it in a laptop bag along with other accessories might update an overall look a bit.
Battery life will be acceptable only if you will continue turning the mouse off by placing receiver under the mouse when you not using it. Easy to forget.
Scroll button is plain awful. If you use any applications in which pressing scroll button comes handy you should consider something else.
On the bright side Microsoft 5000 is pretty heavy, looks and feels expansive and rubber-like plastic on both sides makes it very ergonomic.

Usefulness

You won't find a better tape for around $10. Period. It will work for about a year (every day use) and then it will most likely die (e.g. Mine just stuck around 48" mark and doesn't want to go back) which is not a bad result considering the amount of money that you've paid. Right now I'm using mu third one.

(pic and info - http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/Tools/MeasuringTools/Tapes/PRDOVR~0577101P/Mastercraft%252B26-ft.%252BStainless%252BSteel%252BTape.jsp)

Usefulness