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Thanks for posting this, helps for someone who is graduating undergrad soon to know how the new test will operate. 
 
 

Nope, all the testing is done on PCs
 
I can see getting rid of one of the multiple choice sections, that always made sense. I have mixed feelings about the charretes however. The computer may make things too easy for site design and grading, like it is with the AREs. The facilities will at least be equalized now, as I very much disliked the f…[Read more]

I have a friend who is in this very situation you just described. He has passed all sections except section D, which i believe he has taken 3 times now. ‘Wow’, you might be saying ‘this guy sure doesn’t know construction very well. He must be pretty dense to take it 3 times without passing.’ But this guy owns his own design build firm!! He, of all…[Read more]

MLCC, that is not how I read CLARB’s transition plan. If you only have section E left to go and you do not pass it before the new exam starts, then you will get credit for Sections 1, 2, and 3, but will have to take section 4 which costs more and repeats part of section D. You will not have to take section 3 as previously passing section C and D…[Read more]

Obviously that student has never been in a correctional facility. There are too many windows and no barbed wire. I think alien spacecraft meets nuclear power plant is a more fitting description.

Everybody,
You ought to read the FAQs on CLARB’s website. What Veronica has conveniently failed to mention is that, due to the assimilation of Section D into the new Sections 3 & 4, (the NEW graphic sections), if you have passed Section D at this point, and still need to pass Section C or E, you must do so in the current test format, or you will…[Read more]

Take the first two sections, any way. Sections A & B are the same as(accepted in place of) the future 1 & 2, but the future test will cost more. If you have trouble with hand graphics wait to do the graphic sections after the change otherwise take them when it makes sense for your career.
If you don’t feel ready to take them wait, although there…[Read more]

Ha!  Still a lot of chairs, but they do have Ben Katchor.

The proper use of shadows is what gives it the 3d look.  I don’t like to use the typical adobe ‘drop shadow’ in the layer blending menu because it just offsets the layer, and it doesn’t look right when used for building shadows (aka no shadow being thrown from the edges of buildings).  instead, i create a unique layer(s) and use a proprietary s…[Read more]

You sir, are correct. Solar panels lose efficiency (how much power they can generate given a particular light level) when they get hot. Kind of iroinc being that you point these things directly at the sun. Anyway, a cooler roof will mean more efficient solar panels, as will air curculation around the panel-box (freestanding vs. attached to a buil…[Read more]

The latter.  I don’t like uniformity, as it is unnatural looking.  On a plan like that, you need at least 5-8 unique trees.  While copying them around the plan, I would occasionally scale and rotate them slightly to trick the eye into thinking it was a different tree altogether.

sorry, Peter, realized it was a different Google/solar panel project after I posted…Mojave Desert Solar project, which Google has invested in, was halted on April 26 or so by the Bureau of Land Management because many more Desert Tortoises were being found than the EIS had predicted would need to be relocated/die.
Has not restarted, but it…[Read more]

I concur.

Depends on the client. You sometimes need slick graphics and nice renderings to sell the job, especially in this economy where there is such fierce competition. In a firm I worked for, 3D models were a loss-leader. They did not make any money on them, in fact they lost money, but they attracted better clients with deeper pockets. They made out…[Read more]

yeah. when you get down to it, it has fewer features than illustrator does. but i enjoy using the tools a lot and for me it has some efficiency factors as an all-in-one (CAD utility, rendering tool, desktop publishing software b/c you can make multi-page documents).
 
also, as far as wordperfect goes… i’m a part time journalist and writer, and…[Read more]

i hear you melanie. i ended up getting a second degree in studio drawing while i was getting my bachelor’s in landscape architecture… in part b/c professors put a lot of pressure on us to provide graphics but not much time was given in class to instruction. i had a lot more freedom in my drawing classes, and i have friends in the illustration…[Read more]

Personally, I believe that ANY time used to improve one’s skills is never a waste of time. BTW, this topic was started almost 2 years ago… and in my humble oppinion, what a way to try and kill a perfectly valid and interesting conversation. Not that your oppinion is not as important or valid as the rest… but do we really need the…[Read more]

Jon,
When you rendered the trees, did you create them using a custom brush? Did you create several individual trees, render, and then disperse throughout the plan?

Lori,
This looks great! Can’t wait till they make it into the Northeast market as well. Thanks for bringing it to everyone’s attention.

There is no universal formula.  An approach that may work for one client and project may not for another.  Some proposals benefit from pretty graphics.  Some site design does as well.  Inversely there are times you don’t need them at all.
It is just another trick in the bag to bring in work and stay gainfully employed, or aid in green-lighting the…[Read more]