formZ 7 News

formZ 7.0 has what the company is calling a “game-changing” ‘intuitive interface. All model building is dynamic, intentionally tentative, and continuously changeable, which allows you to explore and experiment with no restrictions during the design process.

Back in October the company showcased the new formZ 7 at the ACADIA Conference, referring to the newly updated program as outfitted for the new parametrics of digital design. That day the new Reshape tool was covered to explain how to sculpt and conceptual design ideas with ease. New parametric controls allow for endless experimentation and iterative design.

This new game-changing interface gains on what the company learned from creating bonzai 3D, its powerful NURBS program that is as easy to use as SketchUp but with true class-A NURBS. New intelligent smart interface guides help you model in formZ 7 more efficiently. New parametric, numeric and free-from modeling choices can be dynamically changed during design. There are powerful new digital fabrication tools, plus easier NURBS modeling.

Get Your Copy

You can donwload a free beta 5 version of the new formZ 7 here by just filling out a form. There are also webinars covering the new formZ 7. Unfortunately, the company often gives very little notice with such webinars and the first one passed yesterday. Part 2 of the new webinar series covers Visualization, Rendering, Fabrication and Presentation and will give potential users a good view of the new formZ 7 and its new interface.

That webinar is scheduled for 17 November 2011. To register click here.

IMSI has their new Renditioner Pro rendering application for those who model in Google SketchUp. Now available for both Mac and PC, the powerful but easy to use software offers fast approaches to photographic renderings. Key features include:

• High performance cameras and lights
• Extensive Libraries of content
• Snapshots – offers convenient way of saving a particular configuration at any given time
• Flexible Image control and Rendering
• Easy UI (User Interface)

Renditioner Pro retails for 149.USD and you can learn more here.

RenderZone and Bonzai 3D Seminar

Matthew Holewinski from AutoDesSys will host a webinar on using AutoDesSys RenderZone software with Bonzai 3D or formZ. The webinar takes place on September 7, 1pm – 2pm EDT.

RenderZone adds a full arsenal of tools to assist with anything from simple scene development to your most demanding rendering needs. Learn how to use Sketch rendering, raytracing and other rendering methods. Add materials and colors and light your scenes with Global Illumination.

To register click here.

Summer of modo Issue 3

Summer of modo Issue 3 is now out. There are free tutorials from Matt Cox focused on rigging in modo. There are also some catch up links to issues 1 and 2. You can download the Summer of modo Issue 3 here.

In the next issue Matt Cox will show how to create a custom UI, plus free furniture models and more.

Autodesk has announced that their first ever AutoCAD for Mac Facecast was so successful, the AutoCAD for Mac team has decided to do it again. On Wednesday, May 18 (today) the AutoCAD for Mac Team will host the second Facecast, a live streaming webcast within the AutoCAD for Facebook page.

The event takes place at 12:00 noon, EDT. To learn more and RSVP for the free webcast go here.

Rform at Canadian OAA Conference

The folks at Rform will be at the OAA Conference in Toronto this week and then at the RAIC/AIBC Conference in Vancouver the week after. Those interested in their easy-to-use but powerful Web-based software for construction documents and administration phases of the architectural process should stop by. They will have a booth/table at both events. Official links to each event are above.

Bonzai 3D Events

Auto-des-sys, Inc., will be presenting two late May webinars starting May 18, 2011. Rendering with RenderZone, May 18, 2011, at 3:00-4:00 EDT will help participants learn now to utilize RenderZone rendering software with both bonzai 3D and formZ. You can learn more and register for this event here.

On May 26, 2011, there will be an introduction webinar to bonzai 3D. Hear Matthew Holewinski from AutoDesSys demonstrate and explain how bonzai 3D is used to accelerate the 3D design process. That event is at 10:00am – 11:00am EDT. You can learn more and register here.

AutoDesSys will be at the American Institute of Architects National Convention next month, June 10-12, in booth #2375. The company has recently updated Bonzai 3D to version 2.1 which includes an updated SketchUp 7 importer/exporter. Additionally, the famous developer of formZ has also introduced OpenClip technology for PowerCADD users who use formZ and Bonzai 3D. You can read that full report here.

Nvidia PhysX and CUDA News

The new Autodesk Softimage 2011 product includes the integration of two key Nvidia technologies: Nvidia PhysX and Nvidia CUDA. Recently Architosh reported on the first CUDA-based rendering GPU-driven ray tracer engine. CUDA is similar to OpenCL utilizing language that takes advantage of computational resources on graphics processing units (GPUs). The latest Softimage 2011 enables real-time simulations using Nvidia PhysX, a powerful physics application programming interface (API) or “engine” accelerated by Nvidia’s Quadro graphics cards.

T-Splines updated to version 2.3

T-Splines for Rhino 2.3 has been released this month. T-Splines for Rhino 2.3 features integration with two other products based on the Rhino platform, Grasshopper and Orca3D. Users of Grasshopper, a generative modeling program based on Rhino, can use free-form T-Spline shapes as the basis of Grasshopper-generated models. Similar integration with Orca3D, a marine architecture oriented plugin for Rhino means that naval architects can cut sections through T-Spline hulls.

“T-Splines is of the greatest value to the busiest designers, because it allows them to iterate more quickly between designs and converge on the desired shape,” said Matt Sederberg, CEO of T-Splines. To learn more visit them online here.

OpenClip

The ability to copy and paste 2D vector drawing data into 3D programs has always been difficult and required extra time, planning and sometimes work-arounds. Now with the new OpenClip technology plugin you can actually copy and paste precision vector objects from one program to another.

OpenClip technology enables seamless copy and paste of 2D vectorial data from PowerCADD on the Mac to formZ or bonzai 3D. Once inside these program you can execute a simple extrude function to generate 3D walls.

The OpenClip plugin is free and available for those who are on the Mac platform and use PowerCADD 8 and either formZ 6.7 or bonzai 3D 2.0.

To try this feature out if you do not have bonzai 3D or formZ simply download a trial of bonzai 3D here.

New Items in formZ 6.7

Version 6.7 brings general improvements throughout the program. At the top of the list are updates to AutoCAD 2010 DWG and DXF file support and a new version of Spatial’s ACIS modeling geometry kernel which includes support for SAT r19 files.

All users of the Family Plan will receive formZ 6.7 on DVD automatically. The company expects to start sending these updates out by the end of the week. Non-Family Plan members who are current can update for a minimum fee by ordering directly through the AutoDesSys portal.

Bonzai 3D News – More Langauges

AutoDesSys would also like to inform users that bonzai 3D has now bee localized for Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Japanes.

To learn more visit AutoDesSys online here http://www.formz.com/

bonzai 3D 2.0 is available for Mac and Windows and there is a free trial version available for download that gives you 30-days of use. This includes self-teaching video tutorials that making learning bonzai 3D very easy.

AutoDesSys has taken a unique approach with bonzai 3D compared to their direct “sketch modeling” competitor, Google. Rather than simply produce a simple to use but powerful modeler, the company has created an optional photo-realistic rendering plugin from their RenderZone technology found in big sister application formZ. A trial version of this plugin is also available and the cost is 399.USD.

For more information visit the bonzai 3D website here.http://www.bonzai3d.com/

New in Bonzai 3D 2 beta 2

There are several new features in this latest beta 2 release. Here is a list summary:

• Multiple object parameters in the Parameters tab of the Tool Options palette are available
• Content groups are now embedded into project files
• Content groups can now be edited directly in the project
• Groups can now be edited
• Objects can easily be isolated when working in complex models
• NURBS curve and surface tools have been enhanced
• Control over the color of object edges has been added

Bonzai 3D 2 beta 2 offers 3D dimensions, 3D clipping planes (non-destructive sectioning), a Walk-through tool, new NURBS tools for blending, merging, and extending curves and surfaces, overhauled printing, adjustable size of tool icons, improved view navigation workflow and more.

There are also new features in the RenderZone beta 2 plugin for bonzai 3D. There is new decal support, baked textures, partial area rendering and Sketch rendering.

The RenderZone plugin offers photorealistic rendering including global illumination and ambient occlusion. It is compatible with formZ RenderZone Plus and allows the smooth transfer of rendering information between two applications. Bonzai 3D 2 beta 2 includes a watermarked version of the RenderZone plugin.

To learn more visit them here online: http://www.bonzai3d.com/bonzai3d_homeN.html

The contest is co-sponsored by Shapeways, which is a 3D co-creation community. 

The Prizes

First prize is $300 3D print of your model and formZ RenderZone Plus, a prize valued at $1800.  Second prize is a $200 3D print of your model and bonzai 3D, a prize valued at $700. Third prize is a $100 3D print of your model and a bonzai 3D T-shirt. 

The Rules

All models must be created with bonzai 3D and tagged b3d. If you don’t have bonzai 3D you can download the free trial version here and create away. 

For the 3D printing part you can prepare your model by following these instructions here. You need to upload your models at: http://www.shapeways.com/register

All models will be visible in the gallery here. Executives from both companies will form a jury to decide the winners. All winners will be announced on September 30, 2009.

The new version fixes several bugs and improves overall application stability and tool functionality. Beyond general corrections a few new tools have been added as a prelude to the next major release. These new features will bring dimensioning and photorealistic rendering. 

New tools in bonzai 3D v1.1 include:

• Swivel tool – a new view tool that navigates the view by changing where you are looking (but not the point from which you look)
• Set View – adds a way to make it easier to navigate around the objects that are being worked on
• Smooth modeling performance – performances of all operations involving smooth objects have been improved across the board
• Help and Video Access - selecting the Manual item from the menu invoked when right clicking on a too icon, now takes you to the appropriate place in the manual for the tool is discussed. Likewise selecting View Video takes you to the most relevant video for the tool.

Bonzai 3D was auto-des-sys’s primary focus at AIA this year, the entire team wearing bright red Bonzai 3D tee-shirts at the booth. The new software is essentially at its first release beyond the public beta stage. Interestingly, Bonzai 3D was being shown right next door to the Google booth, which of course focused on SketchUp, Bonzai’s primary competitor. 

However, Chris Yessios doesn’t like to make simple comparisons between SketchUp and his team’s new Bonzai 3D. I asked him why and he remarked because fundamentally Bonzai 3D is much more robust in its modeling technology. Bonzai 3D, he explained, is built using the same core modeling kernel technology behind formZ. So the question next was, what is that exactly?

Bonzai 3D’s uses a combination of ACIS (by Spatial) for advanced curved forms and similar items and auto-des-sys’s own proprietary modeling geometry engine for everything else. I asked Chris Yessios why not ACIS for everything? He said because their technology was faster. This topic of speed at the geometry kernel has real teeth when one considers what is really happening inside of Bonzai 3D. 

01 - Bonzai 3D performs real-time boolean operations to true modeling solids during push/pull operations leaving water-tight solids and historical seams that can be optionally made invisible or left shown. This is different than SketchUp which generates 3D planes in space with a front and back side.

You see, Bonzai 3D is a real first class NURBS modeling program, just like formZ but with less functionality than its big sister app. That means it is a “true solids modeler” as Chris Yessios emphatically points out. This part is important because you need true solids if you want to talk directly to things like CNC milling machines and 3D printers. 

The speed issue is important because Bonzai 3D has push-pull technology that works just like SketchUp. Yessios explained to me that essentially what is happening when you push out a cube, for instance, off the surface of a bigger cube, the program is actually performing a Boolean operation (addition, substration, union, etc.). The results of the push-pull immediately become a solid for the whole, yet there is a history of the operation still there, so the user has the ability to show or hide that line between what was added or taken away. This is different than what SketchUp is doing. As our Baltimore Vectorworks 2009 reports indicate in a chart Nemetschek North America put together for that press day event, SketchUp is not a true solids modeler.

Bonzai 3D History

Yessios told me that Bonzai 3D developed under a tight beta program consisting of a select number of formZ users. This meant that from a certain point of view Bonzai 3D was aimed at asking currently happy formZ advanced modelers how to envision a simpler, more sketch-oriented modeler. Yessios said auto-des-sys, Inc. had it view on this too, and there was debate internally about what features to put in and what to leave out. And some of the formZ-based beta testers asked for certain formZ tools in Bonzai. This made the development process tricky but the company feels very good about the feature set in Bonzai 3D today. 

02 - Bonzai 3D has some innovative live texture editing capabilities. It also has the ability to input people, trees and cars and similar objects as both 2D and 3D items. As 2D items these can be automatically configured to face the camera for all rendered views and animations. Like Sketchup, Bonzai 3D is primarily an OpenGL-based rendered modeler with decisive and responsive live interaction in 3D.

Back in January of this year the company broadly expanded the beta testing phase to an open-public beta. Thousands of users downloaded Bonzai 3D and the feedback from that phase was important, as Yessios noted, it helped to get the bugs found and solved.

Bonzai 3D and its Noteworthy Features and Items

In addition to the more robust modeling technology behind Bonzai 3D, there are several other aspects that distinguish it from Google’s SketchUp. Some of these are small but important and others are larger. On the small side are items that deal with modeling per se. For instance, numerical input and precision in schematic modeling are key items that are different in Bonzai 3D, offering the modeler more options in precision location of key vertices that begin or end modeling operations–especially within the field of a given surface. Because of the underlying geometry engine Bonzai 3D can create complex combinations of spline-based 3D surfaces and more importantly solids and can provide editing modality options that are not existent in SketchUp. 

03: Bonzai 3D uses ACIS for complex curved surfaces and its own engine for faceted solids. The user never knows the difference between the two.

The formZ folks have also done great by embedding instructional videos directly into the application’s main interface. Video instruction is one of Google SketchUp’s main strengths and auto-des-sys, Inc. has gone far in this department as well. Chris Yessios was quick to point out why this is important. “Professors don’t teach software anymore.” said Yessios. “Today the kids are expected to learn software on their own.”

Yessios’ comment reflect the trend for design schools to focus less instruction on the ins-and-outs of software and more on the applicability of a range of tools. This is both a bless and a curse–good for the students in terms of flexibility and applicability to use the skills and tools they know and love and a curse for the younger students who may need specific instruction in applications that they have not encountered before. 

With a combination of strengths ranging from robust modeling kernel technologies to advantages in modeling creation and editing–to solid strengths in learning the application–Bonzai 3D is clearly the front-runner rival to Google’s popular SketchUp, and is well worth reviewing for anyone interested in an easy-to-use but powerful modeling application. 

To learn more about auto-des-sys, Inc.’s new Bonzai 3D please click here.

Interestingly, auto-des-sys, Inc. first introduced Bonzai 3D at AIA last year. A year ago it was an early beta that showed a lot of promise. This year, at essentially version 1.0, Bonzai 3D is vastly more mature and ready to go.

In our earlier report we have a bullet list of the key new features in Bonzai 3D. Of this list, the feature that is most significant in my mind is the combination of real-time Booleans with true class-A NURBS behind all the curved functionality. This product is a serious challenger to Google’s SketchUp. 

01 - both formZ and Bonzai 3D brought visitors to the auto-des-sys booth.

Bonzai 3D also has the easy ability to move data back and forth between it and its more mature and capable sibling, formZ. This direct-upscale capability is attractive from the perspective of those who want to start with a “sketch-oriented” modeler and move to a full-featured industrial-class modeler that features the same modeling engine and most of the same tools. 

02 - formZ and Bonzai on display at AIA.

Of course this workflow I’m describing between Bonzai 3D and formZ will get vastly better with a revamped formZ–which is in the works. Chris Yessios told me last year that Bonzai 3D is paving the way with new approaches to the interface and workflow and that some of this innovation will move over to formZ in the future. 

03 - Google shows off SketchUp 7 Pro.

Google is now one of the big and popular software companies at AIA National. SketchUp Pro 7 is the latest version of the popular, easy-to-use modeler that now has a direct competitor in Bonzai 3D. Architosh published an in-depth interview with SketchUp 7 product manager John Bacus back in December. This is a must read for the details behind this release.

04 - Architects sit within the Google Booth Theater to check out demos of the SketchUp 7 product line.

You can notice in this picture that even Google’s booth had empty seats in its booth theater, as did mighty Autodesk and the smaller companies like auto-des-sys, Inc. Don’t take any of this as a reflection of the vendors’ popularity at the show. The truth is, the AIA National this year had noticeably less people attending the show. Those empty seats reflect a severely troubled US economy. However the vendors who exhibited deserve credit for staying in the show and for pushing forward in troubled times. I encourage readers to follow these links and check out their products new and old.

What About Murphy’ Law

As usual when coming back from a busy show like the AIA my email inbox rains news press releases in several other industries. Architosh has much to cover in the next few days in order to catchup on several great news announcements, including items from general CAD software companies and even a good item from Filemaker. 

Our AIA news show reports will begin flowing in the next few days as well and go into the next two weeks with some special features from the show. I was fortunate to have many sit-downs at AIA and this caused me to miss out on visiting several smaller software vendors on the show floor. If I didn’t get around to you and your company my apologies. The time went by faster than I imagined. 

Highlights and Trends

The big buzzword at AIA this year was obviously sustainability. And that issue will likely dominate discussion for some time. There was a lot of focus on green design and building a future wherein the profession of architecture takes a leading role in regards to building a sustainable and eco-focused culture. Both Bentley and Graphisoft had announcements in the area of green design. And Autodesk’s booth was popular with sessions on its energy analysis tools. 

The AIA released new AIA documents that continue to march the profession forward towards BIM, which itself is a critical component of building an eco-focused profession. BIM is a necessity in the march towards a greener world with buildings not just because you can do full building simulations and analysis of energy much easier than in 2D tools, but because a large part of energy conservation comes after a building has been erected. With BIM a facilities manager or building owner can more fully monitor, maintain, and operate a building during its complete life-cycle. 

In regards to seeing buildings as objects with a life-cycle that often can outlast an architect’s own life, the emphasis on data produced by the architect is shifting from a world of solely communicating the requirements for construction to a world where you are obligated to communicate information useful to a building’s continued operation. This places the emphasis on 3D geometry so buildings can be “virtualized” for their continued maintenance. 

Because the industry is still wedded to the value of drawing and 2D methods of communication–both required within the creation and the life-cycle management of buildings–a challenge exist to both encourage and help architects move to a 3D world. Google’s SketchUp continues to draw attention to this issue by presenting to the industry a simplified way of learning and mastering 3D architectural and environment creation. However, hot on the tails of Google, legendary formZ software maker auto-des-sys, Inc., has released a rival to SketchUp called Bonzai 3D. Bonzai 3D is a significant milestone in the industry for several reasons.

Firstly, Bonzai 3D offers serious competition in the area of simplified 3D model creation. Competition is good because it keeps companies on their toes, moving the industry forward. Second,  Bonzai 3D offers the industry a direct scalable modeling path. You can start with a simple tool like Bonzai and take that data directly into an advanced NURBS-based modeler like formZ.  It should also be mentioned that Bonzai 3D is technically a NURBS modeler itself, enabling more sophisticated means to the same ends as SketchUp. Lastly, Bonzai 3D is compatible with SketchUp and numerous other 3D and CAD file formats, making it a solid choice for any production pipeline. 

We’ll have more news from AIA coming up!

Highlights will include Graphisoft’s new EcoDesigner, a meeting with Chris Yessios about auto-des-sys’ new Bonzai 3D, and several discussions planned with Autodesk, Bentley, Nemetschek, Google and more. 

auto-des-sys' new Bonzai may look familiar but under its easy looking user-interface lies the same industrial-strength modeling engine found in formZ.

The AIA itself will make several key announcements today and tomorrow. Teaming up with the city of San Francisco, the AIA will release San Francisco’s Greenest, an awarding of the city’s best green designed buildings. The AIA will also announce a 2030 Commitment concerning support for broad changes sweeping the industry, as well as Contract Document Software updates. 

From the Press Room

Oce (booth #1657) will be showing its new Oce PlotWave 300 multifunction system–a simple, green, durable, all-in-one large format printing system.

Bonzai 3D promises to take conceptual 3D modeling to a new level by combining the immediacy and ease-of-use of conceptual modeling–popularized by SketchUp–and combine it with serious “modeling head-room” for the architect or designer. Bonzai 3D contains a very robust geometry engine (the same engine that lies at the heart of its much more expensive formZ program). It is combined with a rich array of file format support enabling Bonzai 3D to interoperate with multiple CAD and 3D software packages, including Google’s SketchUp. It supports more than 20 file formats and is directly compatible with its big sister application formZ. 

What Makes Bonzai 3D Hot

There are several aspects that make Bonzai 3D a hot application. Firstly, Bonzia 3D looks familiar to anyone who has seen or used SketchUp, utilizing a similar paradigm in user-interface design, marked by simplicity and directness (no more buried tool icons).

Secondly, Bonzai 3D utilizes the same industrial-strength modeling technologies found in formZ, yet advanced and improved with the latest technologies. Thirdly, these powerful functions, like the rich set of Boolean operations, are accessed by a new user-interface (UI) paradigm that will challenge SketchUp on ease-of-use. 

Additionally, auto-des-sys, Inc., has gone very far in the direction of ease-of-use by embedding video tutorials directly into the application. The company is clearly taking a lead with this approach, marked by users’ desires to get up to speed with new software faster and master application capabilities without expensive third-party training or instructional materials. In many ways this approach shadows the award-winning video instruction included in Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD BIM product. 

Bonzai 3D will support all of these features (partial list):

• Fluid, powerful, smart user interface
• Smart 3D drawing
• All the classic 3D modeling tools
• Real time Booleans
• NURBS and curved surfaces
• Dynamic Graphic Editing
• Advanced OpenGL rendering
• Sculpting Editing Tools
• Graphic Texture Mapping and Editing
• Extensive Texture and Object Library
• Google Earth and SketchUp Compatibility
• Embedded video tutorials

Bonzai 3D will retail for 500.USD. Architects at the AIA show can pick up the new application for a show special price of 299.USD. To learn more visit auto-des-sys, Inc. here. 

Architosh will report more on Bonzai 3D in the days ahead.

The formZ folks have sent out an email to all Bonzai 3D beta users and testers notifying them of several items. Firstly, the response to Bonzai 3D has been “inspiring” writes the Bonzai 3d team. Secondly, the beta build has been advanced and there is a new beta version to download. It comes with another 30-day expiration so you have another month to play with this latest build. 

The formZ folks are working hard to improve stability and respond to feedback. They have also released new introductory videos that demonstrate how key features of Bonzai 3D operate. Such videos are accessible via the program itself by clicking on the Help menu item. They are also here on the Web. To download the latest Bonzai 3D beta go here.

Apple Beats Everyone to Nehalem

As we noted in our report this week on Architosh Apple has new Mac Pros with Intel’s next generation (Nehalem) Xeon processors. And as a blog post over at DEVELOP3D notes, how Apple got this out so early when even Intel hasn’t announced this chips is anybody’s guess. Clearly Apple and Intel have some secrets in the works that allowed Apple to get at least a minimum of one month advantage on shipping Nehalem-class workstations. 

Economy Hits Bentley Conference

This report on TenLinks notes that Bentley has cancelled its annual user confab, citing restricted budgets that prevent users from traveling and “an unprecedented economic environment.” The company now looks to be planning a virtual Web-based presentation of some sort, similar to what Autodesk just held for the press.

Earlier this month Strata, of St. George, Utah, entered into a partnership with the pioneering developers of Away3D Flash based 3D engine. The goal is to make adding Flash-based real-time 3D easier to add to their 3D projects. 

“Strata has been a leader in providing real-time 3D to creative professionals for many years,” says Ken Bringhurst, Strata’s President. “What we haven’t provided to date is 3D that plays directly in Adobe’s industry standard Flash player. Our partnership with Away3D will change that.” 

With the union of these technologies designers will be able to repurpose their 3D content for use in static images, PDFs, animations, live 3D web content, as well as 3D Flash content. To learn more visit www.strata.com

Core i7 – New Mac Pros

The Core i7 chips, code named Nehalem, are brand new quad-core processors on an entirely different architecture than Intel’s currently shipping Core 2 Duo line.  They feature a new memory path architecture, advanced multi-threading capabilities, and a three channel memory controller. This means RAM options will come in multiples of three, as opposed to two, with 3GB, 6GB and 12GB combinations likely. 

Intel Core i7. Apple expected to use this chip in Macs throughout 2009.

Additionally Core i7 processors, expected to be in new Apple systems soon, also have the potential to be more safely over-clocked. And according to a post over at DEVELOP3d.com, some dedicated workstation makers (non-tier one) are already providing this option for customers. We fully expect Apple to utilize Core i7 processors in the next update to the Mac Pro line.

Pylon

We have just a little tidbit on Pylon today. The last time we wrote about Pylon we mentioned them as a dedicated form.Z third-party add-on developer. They make a series of excellent tools that are add-ons to the popular form.Z 3D software suite. 

Their tools consist of the Views + Navigation Collection of plugins and the Lighting Collection of plugins. 

But what is new to us about Pylon is their new services for architects and artists. The company provides services to architects ranging from complex custom form making, CNC fabrication services and custom software. The company can also automate modeling processes that are labor intensive as well as provide pre-visualization services. Similar services are offered to artists. To learn more visit them here: www.pylontechnical.com

bonzai 3D public beta

Architosh spoke with Chris Yessios at AIA National 2008 when the company was showing an earlier beta of Bonzai 3D — along with formZ — to the architectural industry’s largest conference. At that time Chris Yessios said they admired the SketchUp team because they delivered innovation to the area of interface design in 3D, making it dramatically easier and more approachable to model in 3D with little training. 

However, Bonzai 3D will bring both the ease-of-use of SketchUp combined with the underlying power and solids-modeling robustness of formZ — one of the industry’s most respected and advanced 3D modeling programs. 

Bonzai 3D will eventually sell at an introductory price of $499.USD. It is a self-teaching program which means, based on conversations we have had with Chris Yessios, that there are copious amounts of video tutorials combined with a rich, interactive help system.

You can learn more and download a copy of the public beta here: www.bonzai3d.com.

Winners of the Awards of Distinction received a copy of form.Z RenderZone Plus and one thousand (1,000.USD) US dollars. Honorable Mentions received an annual academic license. 

form.Z Joint Study Award Winner Image.

The Joint Study Students Awards program involves Universities and some High Schools worldwide with the support of auto-des-sys, Inc., to facilitate the teaching of design with digital tools — in particular 3D software. Currently in its 17th year, the Joint Study Program (JSP) offers the use of form.Z in academic departments that are interested in educating their students in the articulation of three dimensional forms. 

To learn more and view the winners of the awards visit this page.

This easy-to-master modeler and renderer application is native on Mac OS X and Windows and has more powerful modeling capabilities than SketchUp but retains the same easy to use “push-and-pull” like methodology. It is built on formZ’s trademark strengths and includes solids and NURBS plus reliable Booleans.

BonZai 3D at SIGGRAPH 2008

Created for the conceptual stage of architecture, industrial design, interiors or other object-based creation fields BonZai 3D offers the 3D community a fresh approach to powerful but easy to use modeling. A listing of its major capabilities follows:

• Built on legendary formZ code base
• Fluid, powerful and smart user interface
• All classic modeling tools: extrusions, sweeps, transformations, etc.
• Real-time Booleans
• NURBS curves and surfaces
• Dynamic graphic editing
• Advanced Interactive Rendering with Shadows and Transparency
• Graphic texture map editing
• Google Earth and SketchUp compatibility
• Embedded video tutorials
• Smart 3D Drawing

BonZai 3D is soon to be in a public beta testing stage. “With BonZai and form.Z, we are covering both ends of the spectrum in the 3D industry”, said David Kropp, co-founder of AutoDesSys, and Senior VP of Development. “BonZai is the easy, albeit very accurate and powerful application, while form.Z is the complete professional tool that has carried the 3D torch for close to 20 years now and can appease all the modeling needs one can think of. The entry level modelers currently on the market simply cannot address the demand to cover the gambit from sketching all the way to fabrication, and we aim to close this gap with our new offering.”

To learn more visit: www.formz.com