This may not be the best forum for this...I want to convey to Autodesk my appreciation for Impression 3, and ask that Autodesk continue to support and improve the product in the future - even if that means simply updating it to work with more recent versions of the AutoCAD file format.
I use this product frequently to turn AutoCAD-generated site plans into presentation site plans. Attached is a good example of the source AutoCAD file (easy to draw; note that trees are merely circles) and the resulting site plan produced in about 30 min. in Impression.
Most architects I know do this sort of work in Adobe Photoshop, but that generates enormous 100MB+ files (My Impression file is generally <2MB), it is a slower process, and making revisions is more difficult. I could also do this work in Adobe Illustrator, but Impression's media, fills, effects, and presets are geared more towards architects.
I'm the only architect I know that uses this software - which is probably related to why there has not been a new release in so long. For what it's worth, I'd really like not to lose it.
If Impression is gone for good, is there a program out there other than Photoshop that is as easy to use and is as useful as Impression is/was?
It's not quite gone yet. Impression 3 is still available to Autodesk Subscription customers as a free download. (subscription.autodesk.com -> product enhancements) I'm just concerned for its future. The only alternatives I know of are the ones I listed in my original post.
It seems really odd that Autodesk has dropped this product when there really appears to be nothing else out there that shares its feature set.
I keep a copy of Impression 3 running just in order to convert drawings to Photoshop format while preserving layers. As far as I know, there is no other way to preserve layer during this process - if you go via PDF they all get flattened. I simply import a DWF or Layout into Impression, apply no styles to it at all, and then save it as Photoshop, preserving layers and choosing the resolution for my illustration. It saves me so much time in Photoshop as I can deal with each layer in turn and mask off very quickly using the original CAD linework as boundaries.
I do also use the wiggle and filling tools (esp watercolour effects) of Impression itself...
I have just about got Impression 3 to run on Windows 8, but I am doubt it will work too many windows versions into the future. Pity.
I just started using it.. althought I have known about it for ever... our office usually (stubbornly) does the cad + trace and scan=raster thing and i watched them do what Impression does.
Ironically i have stuck my neck out (as usual) and convinced them to give it shot.
after all day reading and youtubing.. and then another day test driving...(flys easy enough sometimes a little clunky... heh-thats cool.. hmm etc just drew shapes .fills and explored and flexed the interface kinda tricky to get shadows on trees)
.. I am ready to do my first assignment.
I went to save my experimenting .. and theres a stutter.. progress bar indicates something going on to 100 and then "can not save this file" I close the warning and shows over..Impression just closes.
The file is there.. so i dbl click it to open.. Impression takes a little longer than before to open... and "can not open this file" .. but it opened. I tried to move an object and Impression crashed.
and here I am.
i hadnt even imported a dwg yet.
It really is difficult to impress (pause for bad joke eel..)
my employer when the software glitches out when you go to show him how awesome it is and what can be done.
So yea .for real..autodesk. i know im late to the party but one final patch?
Mig
ive had very good results with a well known program for the modeling and Styles-ized linework (and shadows) /water color look
still use PS for post production .. scale is important and difficult with this method . I typically bring the raster final back in to cad for lay out just to be sure of the scale.
new to impresion but im sure scale is a non issue in Impression. as well as titling ..logos all that.
i really want to use impression for 2d site and plan presentation drawings
I agree. I really like this software. We have users using Photoshop and it takes them a good bit of time to update 2D renderings if the CAD files change. Impression is very fast and easy to learn and use.
Here's my latest rendering using Impression.
We are still on Windows 7.
I couldn't agree more with the original post... I remember being very intrigued when I first saw the program in beta (Vespa I think), and then I used it a good deal at my last architectural firm doing conceptual site layouts. Now that I'm in consulting, I present the program to clients of mine - most of them are on subscription and so they have access for free. I think it's really strange that Autodesk ignored this program. Maybe if they marketed it more, they'd see more people downloading and using it.
I think part of the issue of where Impression went was an understanding of workflow. The Sketchbook for Autocad products that were hyped for a bit as an alternative to Impression were in my opinion designed for a different workflow than what are used in the AEC realm. Sketchbook was a good tool for the Industrial Design space and certain types of freehand rendering, but was really too laborious to be useful for AEC renderings or presentation materials. The media tools were great in Sketchbook, but it was almost _too_ much like the real thing and took about as much time and effort to get good results, in addition, I think it relied on a certain level of drawing expertise to begin with.
Non photo real rendering has always seemed to be a tricky thing for Autodesk. The allure of photoreal is omnipresent in their offerings and overshadows other techniques. Simple NPR rendering while also possible on screen in products like Autocad and 3dsMax (Visual Styles and Media Shaders), it was almost impossible to save any of that out and get decent output. Why offer the tools if youc can't get decent output?
I thnk the real beauty of Impression was always the automation of a lot of that rendering process. It worked very well (and still does!) on the Autocad base it was designed for (much moreso than Sketchbook) and allowed you to be productive with little to no training. Granted, you get out what you put into Impression, but the road to get there seems to me at least, much quicker and much less laborious. The original Impression team, to their credit, had a great understanding of that workflow and the tools needed to get there. The institutional memory of that fantastic effort appears to be waiting to be re-discovered. I hope it still can be. To Autodesk's credit, they haven't given Impression a Viking funeral and closed off access to it completely. As I understand it Impression is still under the Autocad team umbrella. I hope they will re-visit this seemingly forgotten realm of presentation & rendering soon.
Well said! I have never made an effort to really use Sketchbook, but I agree that it really isn't as useful for the architecture/landscape architecture industry. Impression is something that a lot of people could really benefit from, and easily make a part of their workflow. It doesn't even require extensive updates - maybe just some new pre-made styles and more blocks, the ability to import directly from a Revit view...
I almost never use AutoCAD. For the most part, it's just to bring underlays into Revit for existing drawings, that's about it.
I'm an AutoCAD/Civil 3D user. Being able to link a DWG file saves a ton of time when we make updates.
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