Tom Arah's blog in PC Pro compares Piranesi with Photoshop Extended.

He says “if you are at all interested in the creative possibilities of 3D, or just have an afternoon on your hands and want to see an extraordinary and unique program in action, I strongly recommend that you download the free trial of Piranesi.”

“2D application delivers a 3D punch to become the architect’s best friend” says Macworld UK in their Piranesi 2010 Pro review. Awarding 4 stars, Macworld's buying advice is “considering its price, Piranesi Pro 2010 is a valuable addition to any studio responsible for creatively rendering interiors or exteriors. It has its limitations, but these are far outweighed by its speed, simplicity and overall power”.

3D World magazine reviews Piranesi 2010 Pro in their May 2010 issue. They conclude by saying "it's been a while coming, but the new Layers feature should greatly increase flexibility and creative options for all Piranesi users."

If you buy Piranesi 5.1 before 31 December 2009, we will send you a free upgrade to Piranesi 2010 when it is released.
More information about Piranesi 2010 will be announced soon!

We have released a free plugin for Google SketchUp so you can export to Piranesi, as in SketchUp Pro.

Download the plugin now or see our press release for more details.

To support our new SketchUp plugin, we are introducing a new concurrent licensing model for Piranesi.

Prices start at £200+VAT with the option to purchase unlimited concurrent user licenses on a per-site basis, either on an annual subscription or over a 3 year period. Costs include support, maintenance and upgrades throughout the subscription period.

Read more about this in our press release or please contact us for more details.

Enhanced workstation performance combining the latest innovation in CAD software
Informatix Software International partner with Hewlett Packard to enable users to innovate through design

Cambridge, UK – 19th August 2009 – Informatix Software International, a global provider of CAD software solutions, today announces a partnership with Hewlett Packard to provide customers with a bundled package of MicroGDS 3D Pro and Piranesi 5.1 pre-installed on the HP Z400 workstation.

This bundle creates the premier solution for rapid design of projects and presentations.  Combining the best 2D and 3D presentation CAD software with the best Artistic rendering program installed on the award winning HP Z400 workstation this partnership delivers what customers are looking for today for existing projects along with the ability to create the 2D and 3D impressions of the future.

"The HP Z400 Workstation provides a platform to maximise the investment made in the Informatix solution.  The performance of MicroGDS on a HP Z400 Workstation increases both productivity and user satisfaction in an industry where time is an expensive commodity." Mark Arthur, HP. 

The HP Z400 delivers an enhanced workstation performance to transform the way you work.  Supporting the latest Intel Dual- and Quadcore processors, the next-generation system architecture enables faster and efficient performance.  To enhance the experience the ATI FirePro V3700 workstation graphics card combines a new ATI OpenGL optimised driver with the award-winning ATI FireGL graphics technology, delivering a new level of graphics performance and reliability for professional 3D graphics users.  This workstation allows you to run more tasks and applications simultaneously, which compliment the core functionality within the Informatix products bundled in this offer. 

MicroGDS is a true multi-user product that has been designed with ease of use, collaboration and quality in mind. Developed on the Windows platform in 1993 MicroGDS is fully compatible with Microsoft Office, allowing users to embed quotations or specification spreadsheets, presentations and word documents into the file.  The actual file sizes reduce the bandwidth and storage requirements of the business making it easier to work with multiple users on the one project simultaneously.  With it’s own PDF creation tool and full documentation management there is no need to purchase additional Adobe or other desktop publishing licences.

“Informatix are delighted to partner with HP,  bundling MicroGDS with the HP Z Series Workstation will give our users the best Hardware platform to run one of the best 3D multi user CAD programs, and give customers that edge to win and deliver new business more effectively”  Steve Evans, Informatix Software International Limited

This functionality does not compromise the 2D and 3D capabilities of the software.  MicroGDS reads Google SketchUp files enabling a quick transfer of concept imagery into accurate CAD drawings and even supports AutoCAD DWF, DWG and DXF file formats.  The LightWorks® rendering engine accelerates the creation and handling of 3D models resulting in a more complete tool for generating impressive rendered images.  These are just a few of the capabilities of MicroGDS.

With full integration into Piranesi 5.1 the user can take their 2D or 3D image and convert it into a breathtaking presentation images creating dramatic impact.  The final outputs of these workstations are second to none.

This partnership offers users the ability to take advantage of the benefits of both companies.  By combining this powerful workstation with the superior capabilities and output of MicroGDS and Piranesi, both large and small businesses will compete on a level playing field relying on their own design innovations to make them stand out from the crowd.

Pricing and Availability
The HP and Informatix bundle is available immediately from Informatix Software International from £2995.00 + VAT

Alison Winne of ARTISAN Design:Build is the recipient of a free copy of Piranesi 5.1 in our Download and Win draw for June. Just download a trial of Piranesi 5.1 to take part.

Our Download and Win prize for May 2009 is on its way to Brad Gambrell of RIM Architects. Download our Piranesi 5.1 trial to enter this month's draw for a free copy of Piranesi 5.1!

We are proud to announce that Piranesi 5.1 will be released in May 2009. This new version has been developed to make the Piranesi experience more pleasurable, whilst offering new enhancements to enable customers to win more business. Read more about Piranesi 5.1

Congratulations to Salvatore P. Talamo of The Sullivan Architectural Group who has won a free copy of Piranesi 5 for downloading a trial of Piranesi during March. To enter our monthly Download and Win competition, download your trial from our web site today!

We're pleased to announce that Duncan McDonald of Researchitects is the first winner of a single-user copy of Piranesi 5 in our new Download and Win competition.

To enter this monthly competition, just download a Piranesi trial from our web site (see below for conditions).

 
Digital Dreams - Visualization Software: Make Your Design Visions a Reality

Ron LaFon describes just some of the enhancements in Piranesi 5 in the Cadalyst Labs Review of visualization software: “Many of what were called effects in Piranesi 4 have been promoted to tools in Piranesi 5 and are easier to find on the Tools toolbar. These include specialized tools for text creation, edge detection, restoration, smudging, construction, and filtering. Two new tools have been added: the Light tool, which makes it easier to relight a scene, and the Stamp tool, which allows you to paint with one or more raster images or use them as alpha masks to the current color. A new Help assistant guides you through the application."

Read the full article.

Creative Design Software of the Year nomination!

Piranesi 5 for Mac has been nominated in the Creative Design Software of the Year category in the prestigious Macworld Awards 2008.

Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony, to be held on 12th June at the IndigO2 in London.

Reviewed in the March edition of the magazine, Piranesi 5 scored 4 out of 5 stars and was described as offering 'compelling painterly results' and having an 'excellent interface and new context-sensitive tools'. The full list of nominations can be seen by clicking here. To nominate Piranesi in the Reader's Choice awards, follow this link.

Piranesi 5 is a worthy upgrade - says Macworld

In the March 2008 edition of Macworld, reviewer Nick Spence calls Piranesi 5 'a worthy upgrade', offering 'compelling painterly results' via an 'excellent interface'.  Scoring it 4 out of a possible 5 stars in his review (p.46, March edition), Nick thought the tools easier to find and use, found the new contextual Help Assistant an excellent addition, and welcomed the redesign and new tools.  "The mix of 3D and bitmap editing is certainly novel and the seemingly hand-rendered results impressive," he says.

"Piranesi gets the major overhaul of interface and tools that its extraordinary creative power deserves." 
"It all makes for an impressive upgrade to an already unique combination of 3D and bitmap power, which will appeal to both novice and expert alike."

3D World reviews the new features in Piranesi 5 and highlights the much-improved interface and new help system.

"Improved workflow and a more standard interface makes this unique 3D painting package even easier to use [...] Piranesi is a great application for adding painterly effects to architectural work, and version 5 is slicker than ever."

Ron LaFon describes the improvements in Piranesi 5 in the Cadalyst Labs Review of visualization software:

"In this release, you'll find a reorganized user interface designed to make it easier to learn and find your way around, without using up valuable screen space. Immediately apparent upon startup is the new Help Assistant, which tells you how the tool currently in use operates and provides tips about using it to the best advantage possible."

Read the full article

Piranesi is reviewed in the Digital Arts D&AD Special, and scores 4½ out of 5 and a Best Buy award.

"Piranesi offers the ability to create and apply multiple fill styles to produce a cumulative effect. This can really cut corners, as one click of a multiple fill style will render a scene as a blueprint, an illustrative sketch or a coloured chalk drawing."

CAD User showcases Piranesi images created by architects and describes the techniques they use:
"Want to show your clients, or the public, your grandest designs - but feel that architectural drawings are too impersonal and fail to reflect the excitement and passion that you want to put across? Well Piranesi from Informatix is a brilliant piece of software that lets the architect rekindle the fires of imagination."

Read more here

The January/February 2006 edition of CAD User reports on the use of Piranesi by one of the world's largest house building companies. Shinichi Fujita, chief of the Computer Aided Design and Engineering Services Centre within Sekisui House of Japan, describes how they use Piranesi to design and sell their houses. CAD User comments:
"Japanese architects are lucky in that they can draw on a wealth of traditional art to present their designs...the most useful tool that they have found to give modern architecture more of an 'Oriental' feel is of British origin - Piranesi!"

In the May issue of PC Pro magazine, design consultant Tom Arah reviews bitmap editors, and concludes:

"Trying to realistically populate a rendered scene like this in Photoshop would take hours of laborious work with layers and layer-mask channels, but in Piranesi it's child's play... By bridging the worlds of photo-realistic 3D rendering and artistic painting [Piranesi] takes bitmap editing - in fact, the whole concept of bitmaps - into exiting new territory."

MacUser reviews Piranesi 4 in the April issue of the magazine, and gives the product 4 out of 5 stars. The reviewer, Tim Danaher, concludes by saying that:

"Piranesi 4 is a great upgrade to this original and innovative application."

Read the full review

Nick Pickop, director of architectural visualisation firm Tekuchi, puts Piranesi through its paces in the February 2005 issue of Building Design magazine.

"The beauty of Piranesi is that photorealism is not its only output. It was its painted and pencil styles that we found the most rewarding. In fact the image we produced greatly impressed our client because of its softness and the accuracy that it retained from the original computer model... There is nothing else quite like it on the market."

In the February 2005 issue of 3D World magazine, Christian Darkin reviews Piranesi 4:

"Piranesi has become a true 2D/3D hybrid... Any designer or artist working with 3D images should now be able to use this very useful program to produce authentic-looking painted artwork."

Tom Arah reviews Piranesi 4 in the January issue of PC Pro magazine:

"Compared to rendering in your usual 3D app, the boost in productivity is enormous, as is the temptation to experiment... With its unique approach to bridging the worlds of 3D modelling and bitmap painting, Piranesi is still one of a kind, making for an immensely productive and creative product."

Read the full article

Mike White reviews Piranesi 4 in CG Architect and is very enthusiastic about what he finds:

"Piranesi is an unbelievably powerful tool that can help you populate your rendering with people, beautifully landscape your project, finish an interior space and/or create wonderful painted effects... It is the only known digital painting and editing package that utilizes the depth information from the original three dimensional model... Piranesi is a robust, stable and competitively priced application, given the high level of functionality, included data, and unique capabilities."

Read the full review

The December issue of Digit magazine reviews Piranesi 4 and concludes:

"As a way of painting textures, adding depth, and finishing 3D scenes, Piranesi is a high quality and fast solution." 

The November/December issue of AEC magazine carries a review of Piranesi 4 by Greg Corke:

"Piranesi fills a unique role in the architectural market, and with such a wealth of rendering tools can mean many things to many people. It's a fantastic tool for investigating different design concepts at the early stage of the design process, but can be equally adept at communicating finished designs."

Read the full article

The latest release of Piranesi is reviewed by Ron LaFon in the October issue of Cadalyst:

"Since its introduction Piranesi has become a must-have for the toolbox of those who produce architectural visualizations and renderings... Piranesi 4 offers a wealth of new features that build on the already solid foundation provided by previous releases in a logical and accessible manner... Informatix added over 100 enhancements and still retained the product's clarity and ease of use."

Read the full review (page 46)

The October issue of the online journal AECbytes reviews Piranesi 4 and praises its enhanced features, its innovation, and how enjoyable it is to use:

"The developers have obviously spent the time between releases well, as the new release, version 4, is packed with over a 100 new features... Piranesi is a unique and innovative application that has no real competitor in the AEC industry... It is a lot of fun rendering with Piranesi, a welcome change from the complexities of actually creating the 3D model in a traditional CAD or BIM application. Piranesi is an application that the artistic side of a designer can truly revel in. "

Read the full review

The Summer 2004 issue of 'Convergence', published by the American Society of Architectural Illustrators, contains a review of Piranesi 4 by Susan Sorger of Entourage Arts, in which she reports:

"The software was developed to address the needs of the harried architect who wants to produce a professional and pleasing rendering in under 4 hours... Piranesi is unique in the market because it is an application specifically tailored to and targeted at the needs of the architectural illustrator."

Read the full article

Architosh, the number one web site for Macintosh based architects, carries an in depth product review of Piranesi 3 in its latest issue, and awards Piranesi its top 5/5 rating.

"For those who have been looking for a more painterly approach to rendering or the chance to develop a special style of rendering all your own, Informatix's Piranesi is a must have program to add to your digital workflow."

Read the full review

Piranesi 3.1 is reviewed by Tim Danaher of MacUser:

"Piranesi is a welcome addition to the Mac, as it's remarkably easy to produce convincing results...it's a compelling tool in the Mac artist's armoury."

The European software review site http://www.it-enquirer.com takes a look at Piranesi 3 for Mac and awards it top marks. Erik Vlietinck writes:

"Piranesi is a 3D painting application that allows you to create beautiful art from dull 3D models. Piranesi is an indispensable tool for everybody who creates 3D models for a living."