http://lumion3d.com/

Read more / via
http://pclosmag.com/html/Issues/201309/page15.html

You can access images for Linux, Windows or Mac.

Just extract and import the appliance to your VirtualBox installation.

EDIT It would seem that there is “approval” given for reusing and rearming these images beyond the trial period – this screenshot is taken from one of the imported VMs in VirtualBox:

From Gordon Price on RFO:

Go to the Revit program folder (C:Program FilesAutodeskRevit Architecture 2013Program for RAC) and look for a file called AdskHardwareCertificationReport.xml. Rename this file AdskHardwareCertificationReport.xml.OOTB and accept the warning about changing file extensions. You will now be able to enable Hardware Acceleration just like you did in 2012. Performance will not be as good as direct graphics hardware, but it will be much faster than WARP.

via
Revit on the Mac (OS X) – Page 6

Read the whole thread if you want to understand some of the limitations and risks of this method.

As per the Revit Architecture 2013 Known Issues:

 Hardware acceleration is not available in the Parallels 7 environment, and Revit will revert to a DirectX 9 based software graphics mode, which will not render materials, sky, artificial lights, and other features when the Realistic visual style is in effect.

o   Workaround 1: When you first start Revit and see the Graphics Options – Cannot Use Hardware Acceleration dialog, select the Save Hardware Acceleration Setting option, and then close and restart Revit. Upon restart, DirectX 11 software mode will be used and features will display correctly in Realistic visual style.

o   Workaround 2: Manually add the following to the [Graphics] section of the Revit.ini file before startup:   UseGraphicsHardware=0

EDIT: Workaround 3 (allow hardware acceleration hack) – from Gordon in the comments:

Dig down to the Revit folder in program files, where Revit.exe lives, and look for a file called AdskHardwareCertificationReport.xml. Delete this file. Revit will now allow you to enable hardware acceleration, and performance will be MUCH better than the no HA fallback of using WARP (which is an API that uses the CPU to mimic graphics hardware and manages to provide performance on par with, say Intel HD2000 hardware). WARP is much better than true hardware acceleration disabled as in earlier versions, but no where near as good as Parallels virtual hardware.
End Edit

This issue was also reposted at microsolresources.com:

Workaround 2: Manually add the following to the [Graphics] section of the Revit.ini file before startup: UseGraphicsHardware=0″
Workaround 1 did not present itself to me, but workaround 2 was pretty easy to achieve:

[Graphics]
TempDimFontSizeInPoints=12
InvertBackground=0
Antialiasing=0
SemiTransparent=1
UseGraphicsHardware=0

 
I added the last line above to the 2013 Revit.ini file, restarted RAC 2013, and….

As they say these days: “SWEET!!”

via
‘Scuse me, while I kiss the sky! � microsolresources

Imagine a world where your firm doesn’t need to buy new computers, let alone BIM software. They would just rent the ability to stream top of the line computers into their office monitors. These computers will always have the latest version of Revit on them. It wouldn’t matter if your computer was a Mac or PC, new or old.

Onlive just launched Onlive Desktop. This service streams Windows to your iPad and gives you a few gigs of free cloud storage. It is like having the latest Windows computer, complete with Microsoft Office, on your iPad.

Read more at:
How Autodesk and Onlive Will Game The Future Of BIM | A/E/C Marketing Advice, Training, and Support Group | Help Everybody Everyday