Bonzai3D article

"Things Just Became Easier" It’s interesting how my history with AutoDesSys comes full circle. After I spent a few years away from form•Z, they released a new application for designers called bonzai3d. I jumped at the opportunity to beta test the application and hopefully help form it into a great app for architectural designers. After all of the years of experience I’ve had with form•Z, both professionally and in teaching it, I knew exactly where bonzai3d needed to go to become the go-to modeler that I and so many others needed. What was so unexpected was that AutoDesSys had already built the application that I had been needing for so many years. My name is Evan Troxel. I am a designer and educator in the field of architecture. I specialize in public works projects that include k-12 schools, community college and university projects, as well as civic and other institutional projects in development at HMC Architects in Southern California. Additionally, I have been teaching the 3d design component for first and second year architecture undergraduates and first year graduate students at Cal Poly Pomona’s school of architecture for ten years. On top of that, I’m starting an online training school for architectural designers. Crazy, I know. I started using form•Z in 1994 when I was in college studying for a degree in architecture. That was on one of the first Power Mac’s (7100 if you remember those) and the software was in version 2. I have used it off and on since then, most recently when I was employed at a retail design and manufacturing shop where we designed everything down to the nuts and bolts of our projects. I was excited to hear that AutoDesSys was developing some competition for my then modeler-of-choice, SketchUp. I had always enjoyed form•Z’s solid modeling tools and missed them dearly in my day-to-day workflow, but had become dependent on how easy SketchUp was to use. When I was invited to join in on the beta of bonzai3d, I jumped at the opportunity and immediately installed it on my Mac’s and my work PC. It is so great that the program is exactly the same between both platforms. More on this point later. The most important functions in bonzai3d for me are the ability to quickly reshape objects and change their parameters. The fewer steps that these operations now take compared to form•Z are what really sets the product apart from the old way AutoDesSys used to do things. Literally hundreds of clicks per day have been wiped out as a result of the streamlined workflow bonzai3d (and the impending form•Z v7) has brought to us digital designers and modelers. The unequalled geometry creation is so great to work with as those of you who work with SketchUp know - no more flipping backwards faces! bonzai3d just makes such clean geometry. At HMC, I use bonzai3d as a conceptual design tool. It is very complementary to the other tools we have in our toolbox. It plays well with SketchUp and Revit, and transfers seamlessly to our visualization artists who use 3DStudio MAX with Vray. I also use it with Artlantis Studio for process renderings along the way. One thing I have always appreciated about the tools from the team in Ohio are the numerous import/export options that make file translation painless. I recently worked on a design for an aeronautics training facility. This was the first project where I put bonzai3d to the test. Simply put, the form-making tools were first class. Yes, there were limitations to a v1.0 product, but it blew me away. I was especially interested in getting to know the NURBS tools. The client was looking for a progressive, high tech building that would attract high caliber financial partners, faculty and students into a new facility that was going to be built to enhance their existing program. I have been using Cinema4d for organic form modeling over the last few years. It has a mature set of tools that just work. What I was expecting to find in bonzai3d was an immature set of tools for organic modeling - after all, it was a version 1 release. What I found was that it was very mature because it was building off form•Z’s toolset from years of development. What a pleasant surprise! I want to stress that these are tools in our toolbox - and if something doesn’t have a particular tool, I use another piece of software to fill that void. I do wish bonzai3d had a set of subdivision surfacing tools. But I can live without them because the programs, especially bonzai3d, talk to each other so well. I don’t need it to be something it’s not. Simply put, don't be afraid to use the best tool for the job. bonzai3d does 90% of what I need from a conceptual design modeling program. For the other stuff, I can import it in from somewhere else.

I was immediately able to create NURBS lofts that were effortlessly reconstructed, edited, extended and modified. My design called for a wing-like structure to span the length of the building while undulating up and down depending on what was happening underneath the high-tech skin. After the skin was in place, it was a breeze to thicken it - something that would be impossible for some other modeling programs. Once it had the proper thickness, I was able to extract wires along the length of the roof and use derivatives to create structural elements easily. If I needed a structural element to get shorter, I could section it and eliminate the part I didn’t need. If I needed it to get longer, I used the extend tool to push it further. With an inexpensive alternative meant to compete with SketchUp, I was rivaling what others in the firm could do with Rhino, which is typically heralded as the modeler of choice for these types of forms. The best part? I don’t need to memorize all of the text commands! It’s all right there on the screen in a wonderful graphical interface. Since that project, our firm has moved forward with Bonzai3d as a design tool because of the features and benefits it has to offer, along with its gentle learning curve. My second life is teaching digital design to architecture students at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. For the past ten years, I have been involved teaching and developing the curriculum for first through fifth year undergrads as well as graduate students. I originally started out teaching form•Z as a one-stop-shop but we’ve moved on to a broader scope where we teach many tools for the many different types of designs that come out of our studios. I teach graphics programs, web platforms, BIM modeling and documentation, and of course conceptual design tools. Over the last few years SketchUp really took over the studios because of it’s price of admission. What I mean by that is that it’s easy to get invested. Students could learn it over a weekend if they really wanted to. The great thing about that is when Bonzai3d came along, they already knew how to use it without ever having touched it. I had the pleasure of showing them how to use the advanced tools because the foundation was already there. The upper division students are no longer hindered by the software to produce the designs that they come up with. They are now empowered to use the right tool for the job, which more often than not, is Bonzai3d. Where Bonzai3d really shines in the studio is that it allows for NURBS modeling, sweeps, revolves, stairs, and terrain generation - all of which are parametric so changes can be made after the forms have been conceptualized. This is so important for designers going through an iterative process. Our first year students (both undergrad and graduate) now have the luxury of getting digital training as part of their design studio right away - something I never had. When I was in school, there were two of us (!) that took it upon ourselves to learn and use form•Z for design studio. Now every student has a laptop and software to enable their creativity. They need a tool that is easy to pick up and use. Bonzai3d is one of those tools. I mentioned earlier how great it is that Bonzai3d is exactly the same on both the Mac and Windows platforms. This is especially true in a teaching environment - you never know what hardware/operating system a student is going to choose. With Bonzai3d, I am free to teach it from either platform and not have to worry about spending my time showing the differences in the interface or explaining why it isn’t available at all on one platform. Thank you AutoDesSys!

formZ RenderZone 6.7

AutoDesSys is pleased to announce the release of form•Z 6.7. This is a maintenance release while development centers on the release of form•Z 7.0 later on in 2010. Version 6.7 brings general performance improvements throughout the application. In addition to correcting reported irregularities, it adds support for DWG and DXF 2010 to facilitate import/export from and to AutoCAD. The stability and performance of smooth modeling operations is enhanced through the incorporation of an updated version of ACIS that includes support for SAT r19 files. All users on the Family Plan will receive form•Z 6.7 on DVD automatically. We expect to start sending the update by the end of the week. Users who are not on the Family Plan, but are current on either version 6.5 or v 6.6, will be able to update for a minimal charge by contacting Smart Technology. With this e-mail we would also like you to know that bonzai3d has now been localized in Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Japanese. We thank you for your patronage. We remain committed to bring you major additional enhancements soon. AutoDesSys Users on versions 6.6 can order their DVD update by calling tel: 02 9939 4000 there will be a charge of AUD $55.00 plus shipping. Users on versions 6.5 can order their DVD update by calling tel: 02 9939 4000 there will be a charge of AUD $90.00 plus shipping

bonzai3D 2.0 shipping

Dear bonzai3d User,

AutoDesSys is very happy to invite you to download your FREE* upgrade to bonzai3d 2.0.

The much anticipated new version 2.0 has arrived, and as an early adopter of bonzai3d it is our pleasure to offer it to you to enjoy improvements and additions to its toolset. Bonzai3d 2.0 brings a number of new features including dimensions, advanced NURBs modeling tools, walkthrough tool and clipping planes (real time sections) just to name a few. The summary of the new features is listed at http://www.bonzai3d.com/bonzai3d_update.html

You can now make stunning renderings of your 3D models with the new RenderZone Plugin which is available as an option for bonzai3d 2.0. The RenderZone renderer provides the ultimate in photorealistic rendering with Global Illumination based on Final Gather, Ambient Occlusion, and Radiosity, for advanced simulation of lighting effects and rendering techniques. A trial version of the plugin is included with the bonzai3d 2.0 download.

The plugin can be ordered online:

http://www.smarttec.com.au/RenderZone-plugin-for-bonzai3D-2-0-p/adsbonzairz.htm.

The cost is only AUD$499.00 inc GST

(The RenderZone Plugin is included with the annual student edition.

• Bonzai3d 2.0 New features

• 3D Dimensions: 5 new dimension tools have been added including linear, angular, radial, leader lines and notes. Dimensions are associated with the objects that they reference and update dynamically as the model is changed.

• NURBS modeling: Six new NURBS modeling tools for extending, merging and blending curves and surfaces enhance bonzai3d’s smooth modeling capabilities. The Blend tools feature an innovative interface that makes surface benlding easy and intuitive.

• Walkthrough tool: This new tool enables real time point of view animation through a scene, including collision detection.

• 3D Clipping planes: This feature cuts models open to reveal interior spaces without destroying the model. The clipping planes are preserved in their own palette so that they can be recalled as needed. Clipping planes are an effective working and presentation tool.

• Components: The bonzai3d 1.0 Content feature has been drastically improved and is now called components to match industry standards. Components are managed in the new Components palette. Component groups are now embedded in the project files making them portable and editable directly in the project. The Component tools have been reorganized and a specialized tool for repositioning windows and doors has been added. The hole created by window and door components is automatically healed when a door or window is moved, deleted or replaced.

• Printing: It has been completely overhauled and adds the ability to print to a specific scale. Preferences: The size of the tool icons can be changed through a new option in the Preferences dialog. Additional options control the display of the tool names in the icons.

• Views menu: New items for Home, Previous, and Next views have been added.

• Help: The Project Info dialog has a new tab for tracking linked files.

• Parameter editing: Object parameters in the Parameters tab of the Tool Options palette can now be edited on multiple objects simultaneously.

• Group editing: Groups can now be edited in the project. This eliminates the need to ungroup and re-group when wishing to make a change to an object in a group.

• Object isolation: Objects can now be easily isolated when wanting to work on them and they are part of complex models.Colors of edges: Control over the color of object edges has been added with the new Edge Color attribute

• Transformations: Applying operations such as move, rotate, and scale on large models has been optimized.

• DFX/DWG extensions: Support for AutoCad 2010 has been added to the DXF/DWG translator.

• Localizations: bonzai3d is now localized for Spanish and German. Additional localizations for Italian, Japanese, and Chinese are in progress and will be released shortly.

• RenderZone plugin: (optional addition) Last but not least, a RenderZone plugin, which includes Sketch rendering, is now available and a trial version is included with bonzai3d v2.0..

• bonzai3d 2.0 Notes for existing users

• The following workflow improvements have been made to the drawing tools: • When canceling an interactive extrusion, the 2D base shape now remains. This keeps the base shape when unintentionally starting drawing with 3D and had intended to use a 2D. • When switching to a 2D shape while already in the extrusion stage of a 3D shape, you no longer need an extra click to complete the operation. • The Insert option is off by default. This makes it less likely to unintentionally modify an existing object when creating new shapes (at the beginning of a design). • The insert option can now be changed while drawing (or defining the height of a 3D form).
• Numeric input into the X, Y and Z fields of the input palette no longer requires selection of the first text field with the mouse. Just start typing a number while drawing or initiating a transformation tool and the first field in the input palette is automatically activated.
• The direct view navigation tools work together better. You no longer need to re-click to change actions using key shortcuts. This allows zooming and panning to occur without needing to click to change between them.
• The rotate tool now shows automatic snap guide points for the object’s center of gravity (grey) and center of bounding box (blue). This makes it easy to rotate an object about its center: just click on the guide point when you set the center of the rotation. The scale and mirror tools have these guide points as well.
• Snap guide points are also present for the Move tool when using Continuous Copy. Snapping to these guides makes it easy to create multiple copies of objects at the same interval.
• Similarly, when drawing primitives (sphere, torus etc), snap guide points are displayed to facilitate the positioning of the next primitive relative to the previous one. The snap guide point appears right after you draw the second object and new snap points continue to appear after you draw each next object.
• Recall that the Project Onto Reference Plane snap option is selected from the Object Snap Options palette, invoked from any of the snap tools. Depending on whether this option is off or on, when drawing in a projection view, the snap will either go to the point closest to the viewer or to the point’s projection onto the reference plane. This option now also affects snapping when drawing in an axonometric view.
• Switching to a projection view (top, bottom etc.) now keeps the current reference plane active, instead of changing to the corresponding world XY, YZ or ZX plane. This makes it easier to define reference planes for different floor levels, for example, and not loose them
• when switching between top and 3d views. Note that if the current reference plane is completely perpendicular to the projection view, then the plane is changed to the corresponding world plane.
• Object edge colors are now controlled by the edge color object attribute. The edge color is the color used in wire frame and shaded displays when the Show Color option is enabled. In previous versions the edge color was the average color of the object’s material. This color is often not a good color for the edges especially for materials with textures. By default the edge color for all edges is now black. The edge color can be changed using the Attributes tab of the Tool Options palette when the Pick tool is active. The edge color for new objects is controlled by the Default Edge Color option in the Objects tab of the Project Settings dialog. An option to use the average color of the material remains an option, but is no longer the default.

Autodessys News

You are invited to SIGGRAPH 2009
Get a FREE PASS to Siggraph (August 4-6) in New Orleans, courtesy of AutoDesSys. Just click on the link below to come see the exhibits and catch the latest take on bonzai3D and form.Z. Visit BOOTH 2109.
GO TO: https://www.xpressreg.net/register/sigg089/start.asp?p1=Cbonzai
CODE: Cbonzai

Mid-Summer form.Z Sale!
To help out with the economic downturn, Smart Technology is offering a heavily discounted price of Aus$ 2,250 inc gst* on all new licenses of form·Z RenderZone Plus 6.6, and a free upgrade to version 7.0 when it is released during the northern region winter months of 2009/2010.

Development for form·Z RenderZone Plus 7.0 is in high gear. AutoDesSys is working on a revamped interface, new tools, and some major enhancements to modeling operations. It is truly the next generation of form·Z.

MacUser Reviews bonzai3d
MacUser UK awards 4 mice to bonza3d. In the July issue of MacUser, Tim Danaher writes: "Watching a spiral staircase extend seamlessly over multiple floors, while keeping in, for example, the correct baluster spacing just by clicking and dragging on a few controls, is pretty amazing. Even derived objects, like lofts and sweeps remain fully editable."

Tim Danaher thinks the comparisons between Bonzai3D and Sketchup are inevitable. He exemplifies his point: Bonzai3d "features tools that let you reshape and offset faces or segments. The former is comparable to SketchUp's push-pull tool, although it's more capable: any hole pushed through to the other side of a model will automatically cut a Boolean opening." If you have not tried bonzai3d yet, now is the time to give it a shot. READ THE REVIEW LINK ABOVE>>

HIS VERDICT: "Although dimensioning is missing in this first release, bonzai3D is a very slick and capable debut."

THE GOOD NEWS: Dimensioning will be added in the next release of bonzai3d.
MORE GOOD NEWS: Photorealistic rendering is coming soon too.
Stay tuned for announcements

3D Printing/Prototyping Contest
Shapeways and AutoDesSys have teamed up to offer a good old fashioned contest to bring you prizes and awards. Details will be coming soon. Watch out for an e-mail informing you how to enter the contest. In the meantime, practice bonzai3d! DOWNLOAD THE TRIAL VERSION HERE>>
We have made it easy to learn at your convenience and leisure. TUTORIAL VIDEOS abound at www.bonzai3d.com. Sit back relax and enjoy the show!!

We look forward to seeing you at Siggraph 2009.

EXPLORE - DESIGN - DELIVER

BonZai3D Shipping

The facts:
bonzai3d is a new 3D modeler developed by AutoDesSys for quick, easy, simple, yet robust 3d modeling. Why bonzai3d might you ask? It is here to fill in the gap for a simple and easy to use application on the fly without restrictive limitations down the road for a dead end!

The goal is to offer conceptual and sketching stages of design, yet CAD accurate models that can be used further down the production pipeline such as construction drawings, renderings, animation, fabrication, rapid prototyping with 3D printing, or with any application that depends on good clean solid 3D models.

You can think of bonzai3d as a small and intuitive application, but BIG on features and capabilities it offers. A smart modeler that's constantly thinking behind the scene and anticipates your next move, making decisions for you based on what you are doing and where the cursor is, thus helping speed up the modeling process.

Out of the hundreds of available features, AutoDesSys has picked 10 to tell why we think users will love and get excited about bonzai3d. Allow us to engage your attention for a few moments with the countdown (also available online HERE>>):

#10 bonzai3d offers EASY SCULPTING with
- Draw and insert on faces
- Reshape faces
- Offset faces or segments
- Done with REAL TIME BOOLEANS

#9 bonzai3d offers a FLUID, POWERFUL and SMART INTERFACE with
- Automatic guides
- Intelligent snapping
- Speeds up the modeling process

#8 bonzai3d offers CLASSIC MODELING TOOLS with
- REAL TIME DYNAMIC EDITING of
3D walls
Primitives
Revolves
Sweeps
Helix Shapes
and more...

#7 bonzai3d offers DEFORMATIONS that work on any solid or surface
- Twist
- Bend
- Bulge
- Taper

#6 bonzai3d offers SPECIALTY TOOLS peppered throughout the application
- The ROOF TOOL (Create parametric solid roof)
- The STAIR TOOL (Create parametric solid stairs)
- The TERRAIN TOOL (Meshed, Steps, or Triagulated contours)
- The SECTION TOOL (Interactively cut sections using real-time Booleans)
- Generates true solid objects

#5 bonzai3d offers CONTENT LIBRARY with
- Trees, Furniture, People
- Doors and Windows that automatically inspect openings
- Create your own content from any b3d file
- Or download from 3D Warehouse

#4 bonzai3d PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
- 20+ improt/export formats
- Import aerial sites grom Google Earth
- Insert models from 3d Warehouse

#3 bonzai3d offers ADVANCED REAL-TIME RENDERING with
- 300 materials
- Live interactive texture mapping

#2 bonzai3d offers the MATCH VIEW TOOL to
- Match a bonzai3d model with a background image

#1 bonzai3d offers ORGANIC FORMS
- If you are tired of being limited to "boxy" shapes, how about NURBZ modeling
- Create edit, and sculpt complex forms

But wait!! There is more! FREE EMBEDDED VIDEO TUTORIALS make learning bonzai3d a cinch.

To watch a demonstration of the above follow this LINK>>

THE BOTTOM LINE: Easy, Fun, Smart and very Affordable at the introductory price of Aus$ 798 inc gst

A FREE 30 day full featured trial version can be downloaded at bonzai3d.com.

####

Special formZ RenderZone v 7 Development Offer

We also want to let you know that the developers are working on the release of a beta version of the RenderZone Plus for b3d and work on form.Z 7.0 is progressing well.

Last but not least, in order to facilitate sales in the economic hard times we live in, we have decided to extend a SPECIAL form.Z RenderZone Plus special with a huge discount until version 7.0 is released.
You can now buy formZ RenderZone Plus for $ 2,250 inc GST and still get the v7 upgrade fro FREE when it ships.

Cinema 4D Rel 11 Released!

MAXON DELIVERS FULLY-LOADED CINEMA 4D R11 RAISES BAR FOR 3D ANIMATION EXCELLENCE

Next Generation Product Suite Offers Non-Linear Animation, a Boost in Rendering Speed and Quality,
Including Re-Engineered Global Illumination, and the Highly Anticipated Projection Man Matte Painting System

MAXON, August 12, 2008 - MAXON Computer, a leading developer of professional 3D modeling, painting, animation and rendering solutions, today unveiled CINEMA 4D Release 11 (R11), the next generation of its highly acclaimed 3D animation software suite. The super-charged release is packed with advanced capabilities that deliver dramatically improved ease of use and workflow, image quality and integration into any production pipeline. CINEMA 4D R11 highlights include a non-linear animation system, new global illumination render engine and dramatically improved render speed. Customers also benefit from the powerful Projection Man matte painting system, developed by MAXON for Sony Pictures Imageworks, support for the COLLADA™ file format and CineMan - a RenderMan-compliant tool that connects to Pixar's industry-leading rendering solution. Additionally, multiple improvements were made to MAXON's popular texture painting toolset BodyPaint 3D Release 4. All of these capabilities and more serve to underscore MAXON's ongoing and deep commitment to helping 3D digital artists further advance creativity and control.

"MAXON has spent the last 20 years developing some of the industry's most advanced 3D software technologies; continually raising the bar for 3D animation software excellence," said Harald Egel, CEO and co-founder, MAXON. "CINEMA 4D R11 is no exception. This release contains the next-generation features our customers worldwide have come to expect from MAXON."

Expanded integration options, new workflow tools and boosts in performance for both PC and Mac users sit at the heart of the new release. On average, rendering speeds are now more than twice as fast as the previous version. CINEMA 4D R11 also boasts an all-new Cocoa-based architecture supporting 64-bit processing under Mac OS X Leopard.

"We are pleased, that MAXON has created the CineMan connection to Pixar's RenderMan directly from within CINEMA 4D," said Chris Ford, Business Director - RenderMan at Pixar. "Now MAXON customers can benefit from Pixar's Academy Award-winning rendering technology, featured in Ratatouille, The Incredibles and many others."

"Our customers told us what they needed and we listened," said Paul Babb, president and CEO of the MAXON US office . "This exciting new version is as ideal for the novice as it is for the power user who wants to produce compelling imagery in today's fast-paced environments."

CINEMA 4D Release 11 Highlights:
The list of capabilities and enhancements that comprise the new CINEMA 4D R11 is extensive; with each element designed to provide ultimate control to enhance the professional 3D modeling, texturing, animating and rendering process:

- Non-Linear Animation
Move beyond the keyframe. Animation Layers and Motion Clips tools let users easily build, layer and loop discreet motions containing hundreds of keyframes in complex hierarchies.

- Completely New Global Illumination
Take advantage of the most current algorithms and computer hardware with the all new easy to use Global Illumination engine. This technology delivers heightened flexibility to achieve ultra-realistic results with a minimum of setup time, even for animations.

- BodyPaint 3D
New tools for painting rich, detailed textures onto a 3D model as well as an improved workflow are part of this major upgrade to the popular 3D painting application. The improvements facilitate even tighter integration into industry-standard painting pipelines with brush import, WACOM tablet support, PSD format enhancement and more.

- Improved Rendering Speeds
Tremendous optimizations in multithreading and CPU efficiency offer dramatically improved rendering speeds. Overall render quality has been greatly enhanced as well. New parameters make it possible to create even more realistic glass materials.

- Support for 64-bit on Mac OS X
CINEMA 4D R11 is the first comprehensive 3D package completely re-engineered to take full advantage of the Mac OS X 10.5 release. As a native 64-bit Cocoa application, CINEMA 4D can be used in 64-bit mode to utilize greater RAM resources so you can build and render more complex projects. All 64-bit processors are supported. Users can easily switch between 32-bit and 64-bit mode to suit their individual needs.

- Projection Man
Leverage the same powerful matte painting system originally developed by MAXON exclusively for Sony Pictures Imageworks and recently used to create such blockbuster features as Hancock, Speed Racer, Beowulf and Surf's Up. This formerly exclusive toolset enhances workflow and makes it easy to create and patch the mattes. Tight integration with Adobe Photoshop and MAXON BodyPaint 3D simplifies editing and manipulating extensive digital mattes and even fully immersive 3D environments.

- CineMan
Power users can easily render CINEMA 4D projects utilizing Pixar's RenderMan Pro Server, or other RenderMan-compliant engines including 3Delight (dna research) and AIR (SiTex Graphics) through support for the RIB format.

- COLLADA Support
R11 now supports COLLADA, an open standard XML-based format that facilitates the transfer of 3D assets between applications. Exchanging scenes with other 3D applications is now easier than ever for diverse Digital Content Creation (DCC) production pipelines.

- Customer Friendly
An online update mechanism ensures users always have access to the latest updates and enhancements. A new license server technology helps corporations, studios and schools maximize and manage their investment.

- Additional Features
CINEMA 4D R11 also boasts optimized render control settings, animation ghosting, a doodle tool and support for 3D Connexion devices (Mac and Windows). For a complete list and description of all the exceptional elements that comprise this new feature-rich version of CINEMA 4D, please visit the products pages


Availability
CINEMA 4D Release 11 is expected to ship September, 2008. For pricing and upgrade information, please visit www.smarttec.com.au

Download Pictures
Screenshot CINEMA 4D "Global Illumination"
Screenshot CINEMA 4D "Non-Linear Animation"
Packshot CINEMA 4D

All trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. COLLADA is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment.

Improving formZ RenderZone Plus Rendering times

-- Improving RenderZone Rendering Performance: Why does my file render so slowly?

Hardware: Rendering Speed is controlled by the speed of the processor. The faster the processor, the faster the rendering. If you do not have enough RAM, this will force your computer to use Virtual Memory, which will slow you down with OS X, and slow you down a lot with Windows. If you will regularly be working with a file of this size, you should consider adding more RAM. The video card will only affect the Wire Frame and Interactive Shaded displays, and will not have any effect on rendering speed.

Shadow Maps: One frequent cause of insufficient memory is too many, or too high resolution shadow maps. See the SHADOW MAP MEMORY FAQ for further details.

Geometry: The more geometry that is contained in your scene, the longer it will take to render and the more memory it will require. In general you should only model what you will see. For example, if you are working for a hardware manufacturer and making a presentation model of a doorknob, you can model all the details, curves, keyhole, etc. But if you are making a model of a subdivision, you should create extremely simple doorknobs (if any), and you should never use the "presentation doorknob" in a "subdivision model" -- even if you have it handy from a previous job, or found it somewhere on a web site. Inspect your polygons. If an object looks like it is shaded in a Wire Frame display, then most likely its resolution is too high and it should be modified or recreated.

Surface Styles: The more Surface Style effects you select, the more time it will take to render. Therefore, if you are concerned about rendering speed, you should only select the options that you will need. You can also get an idea of how complex a Surface Style is by watching how long it takes to draw the small preview of the Surface Style Icon. (Changing the preview to Sphere will take a little longer to draw the preview -- thus giving you a better relative idea of its complexity. The type of preview icon will not have any affect on the time it takes to render objects with this Surface Style.) You should also generally avoid "double transparencies." See the GLASS SURFACE STYLES FAQ for further details.

Rendering Options: The more Rendering Options you select, the more time it will take to render. The main option to avoid (if possible) is Super Sampling. See the SUPER SAMPLING FAQ for further details.

Lighting: Advanced Lighting effects such as Atmospheric Lighting, Area or Line Lights, Accurate Glow, and Environment Lights will add (perhaps considerable) time to your renderings. Use the Basic Lighting suggestions from the LIGHTING FAQ for fastest results, and see the other tips for optimizing more advanced lighting.

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-- Glass Surface Styles:

Glass Reflections should generally not be used with another type of Transparency, as this creates a "double transparency" which will take considerably longer to calculate.

The Glass Reflection includes a Refraction coefficient which controls how light will bend as it passes through a material. Thus this surface style should only be used for Solid objects, and not Surfaces or Surface Solids (since these do not have any thickness through which the light can bend).

Because Glass Reflections Refract the light, they are not included in an Alpha Channel Background (because you can't "bend" something that is not there at the time of the rendering). If you want to use an Alpha Channel Background and do not need Refraction, you can use a Mirror Reflection combined with a Simple Transparency, and then these transparent objects will be included in an Alpha Channel Background.

Transparent Shadows can be generated so that light will pass through glass materials based on the Transparency / Transmission factors. Transparent Shadows are set in the Shadows section of the Light Parameters (which can be accessed by double-clicking on the light from within the Lights Palette.)

Transparent Shadows will also pick up the color of the transparent material so, for example, the colors of a stained glass window could be projected onto a wall or the floor. Transparent Shadows do take a bit more time to calculate, so another option might be to select the glass objects and turn off the Attribute: Casts Shadows. This will allow light to come through your windows without extra calculation times.

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-- Moire Patterns: Why do I sometimes get radial patterns in my images -- especially when viewing a Grid or a Brick Surface Style in Perspective?

Moire patterns can occur when there is insufficient resolution to show the necessary detail in a perspective image. The easiest / quickest way to fix / improve this is to Edit the Surface Style that is responsible for the Moire Pattern (usually a Grid or Brick shader), click the Color (or other) Options, and check the Area Sample Option.

If this does not sufficiently resolve the problem, the next best solution would be to render at a higher resolution. If you can not increase the resolution of the rendering (ie, you are generating an image for the Web, or an Animation), see the section on SUPER SAMPLING.

================

-- Super Sampling: This is a rendering effect that can be used to reduce or eliminate Aliasing or Moire Patterns. To achieve this, the image is rendered at 2, 3, or 4 times the specified resolution (for Low, Medium, or High Super Sampling), and then sampled down to the desired resolution. Because rendering at 2, 3, or 4 times the resolution generates 4, 9, or 16 times the number of pixels, the rendering times will also increase up to 4, 9, or 16 times when using Low, Med, or High Super Sampling.

Super Sampling can also be accomplished manually, by rendering at the higher resolution, and then reducing the resolution of the final image by exactly 2, 3, or 4 times. This option may be desirable because in this way you will be able to use the higher resolution image as well, if you like. For example, you could generate a high resolution rendering for print, and then manually Super Sample it to generate a high quality / lower resolution image for a web site.

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-- Soft Shadows: Why can't I see my soft shadows, or why are they so fuzzy or rough?

Soft shadows utilize Shadow Maps to create the soft edges. In certain conditions the shadow map resolution can be too low, which can result in the pixels of the shadow map being visible, or in extreme cases, it can cause the shadow to disappear altogether. (Think of zooming in really close into a low resolution image.) To solve this issue, you need to know a little more about how shadow maps work:

By default, the size of a Shadow Map is the smallest bounding box that encompasses all of the objects that cast shadows. And by default the shadow map resolution is equal to the resolution of your renderings (which you specify via Image Options from the Display Menu). If your view contains all of the objects that cast shadows, then you should not have a problem with shadow map resolution, but as you zoom into your scene you are effectively zooming into your shadow map.

Most often users encounter problems with shadow map resolution when they introduce a large ground plane into their scene. To remedy this situation, simply Query the Attributes of the ground plane and set its Casts Shadows Attribute to Off. (Leave Receives Shadows ON so that it will still receive shadows from the other objects in your scene.) If you would like to change this (or many other attributes) for multiple objects simultaneously, you can do this with the Set Attributes Tool.

If turning off the Shadow Casting Attribute for the ground plane (and outlying objects) is not enough, then you can also change the Quality of the Soft Shadow to High. In extreme cases you may also need to increase the resolution of the Shadow Map or limit its extents from the Shadow Map Options. Edit your light and click the Map Options button from the middle of the Light Parameters Dialog. Here you can increase or decrease the resolution of the shadow map. Note that doubling the "Times Image Size" number will quadruple the memory requirements for this light, which will be displayed at the bottom of this dialog. You can also use the Limit Map: option to constrain the size of the map to All Objects (default) or All Completely Visible Faces or Objects. The smaller the size of the map, the less resolution you will need to get the same quality shadow, but note that limiting the map may cause shadows to be dropped from objects or faces that are not completely in the scene.

Hard Raytraced shadows do not have this limitation, and will always produce shadows with crisp edges.

See the SHADOW MAP MEMORY FAQ for further details.

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-- Shadow Map Memory: Why do I get an Insufficient Memory message for Shadow Maps message?

Shadow Maps Memory requirements are determined by the size and resolution of the shadow maps, and by the types of lights that are casting shadows. If you Edit your Light Parameters and click on Map Options, you can see and control how much memory your Shadow Maps will use. By default this will be set to 1 times Image Size. Thus as you increase the resolution of your image (from the Display Menu/ Image Options), the memory requirements for your shadow maps will also increase. If you double the resolution of your image, it will double both the X and Y size of your Shadow Map, and thus this will require 4 times more memory for the Shadow Maps. Alternately, if you enter 0.5 or 0.7 times Image Size in the Shadow Map Options, you will use one quarter, or one half the amount of memory, respectively. The resulting memory requirements for each light will be shown at the bottom of the Shadow Map Options dialog.

Thus, to check how much memory your shadow maps will require, first set your desired image resolution, and then multiply the memory requirements for one light by the number of lights that are casting soft shadows. Note also that Point Lights will cast shadows in 6 directions, and thus will require 6 times more memory than distant or cone lights. If you do not have enough memory for this, you can either reduce the number of lights that are casting soft shadows, use cone lights instead of point lights to cast the shadows, or reduce the resolution of the shadow maps.

formZ version 5.0 and later will automatically detect when you do not have enough for full resolution shadow maps and give you the option to automatically reduce their resolution.

====================

Also, if you are rendering with Global Illumination, these threads from our Forum should help:

Rendering Questions: http://www.formz.com/forum2/messages/16/26981.html?1209078321

Interior Rendering: http://www.formz.com/forum2/messages/16/27092.html?1209731347

Dome Lighting: http://www.formz.com/forum2/messages/16/26647.html

Lighting and Rendering: http://www.formz.com/forum2/messages/142/27028.html?1209402936



Of course, it is still worth looking at the FAQ's for other good tips...

ZWebTech Support

Improvements in formZ RenderZone Plus with Release v6.6

Improvements in form.Z 6.6
Foremost, update 6.6 offers corrections to irregularities reported to AutoDesSys since our previous release and introduces a variety of stability and performance enhancements. Some of these can be attributed to new and updated versions of the Lightworks libraries for rendering and of the ACIS libraries for smooth modeling. form.Z 6.6 also offers a few new features, mostly in the area of export/import.

New export/import translators and additions to existing
Collada (.dae) files can now be imported to and exported from formoZ, using a new translator. Collada can be used to transfer object geometry, textures, and other 3D data.
Google Earth (.kmz) files with 3D content can now be imported into form.Z and vice versa.
Also, Google Earth views can now be created as textured objects directly in form.Z, after they have been captured in Google Earth.
Google SketchUp (.skp) files can be imported directly into form.Z through a new translator, which includes support for textures that import smoothly into form.Z RenderZone Plus.
The DWG/DXF translator now also supports the 2007/2008 formats and has been updated to support text elements better.
The ZPR (Zcorp) translator now also supports version 2 of the ZPR file format.
More tree symbols
The form.Z tree symbols have been enhanced with over 30 new trees including seasonal variations and palm trees.

A DVD will automatically be sent to all form.Z Family Plan users and recent purchasers of new v.6.5 user licenses (not updates). You can install version 6.6 using the same installation codes as version 6.5. form.Z 6.6 will be available as a through software update for all users on version 6.5.6. This update is quite large and some users may prefer to install the new version from the DVD rather than incurring the long download time . The new tree symbols are only available on the DVD. Note that if you are using v.6.5.0 - 6.5.5, you will first need to use software update to get to 6.5.6 and then once again to get from 6.5.6 to 6.6.0.

The cost for the new DVD is AUD $89.00 plus shipping. click here: to order

All other users, on a version below 6.5 should contact their local dealers (to find one near you

ZCorp Printer Webcast

Webcast: Modeling for 3D printing with Zcorp 3D printers

May 13, 2008
This webcast hosted by Z Corp, describes tools in form•Z that help create models targeted for 3D printing, adding relief to surfaces and cleaning up data for dependable exporting with ZPR files, including textures. You can see a Displacement tutorial and project examples, review 3DPrinting related tools such as Doctor, 3DPrint, Attributes Display resolution, etc. To link to the webcast click here: