I've glanced over this command in the past but never really understood what it was doing, so chalk this up to learning something new today after having used Photoshop for many many years.

Watch this quick video tutorial by Rich Harrington for a great explanation on the Equalize command. This is very useful for renderings and photographs.

This seems like a great opportunity for AutoDesSys' Bonzai3d. They need to do a couple of things I think (and fast):

1. Get a free version of Bonzai out there for students. It needs DWG import/export, and PDF export among the standard in/out capabilities. Continue to charge more for Bonzai3d with all the bells and whistles.
2. Get either Renderzone included (maybe resolution-limited to 1024x768) or work with Maxwell Render to get a free limited renderer via plugin like they have for SketchUp. 

So, ADS, how about we get this going in time for the AIA Convention?

Hi everybody,

I'd like your permission to interact with you and keep you in the loop. If you've found anything useful or helpful at all that I've put out on this site or twitter, please take a minute (or probably less) to add your contact information on this page so I can focus my conversation and decisions with those of you that have an interest in them. I'm tinkering with ideas and thinking about what I'm doing next with Method.

So in case you missed the link, here it is again.

Thanks so much. Your time is greatly appreciated!

Evan

P.S. Please spread the word to anyone you might think would benefit from the stuff I do on this site. Thanks!

I've been playing with the beta version of FormZ v7 for the last few months, and it is awesome. Gone are the days of 3 to 5 clicks to get something done, and the interface has been updated to match my other favorite modeler - Bonzai3d. It actually has a button to change the interface to match the Bonzai3d interface.

I started using FormZ back in 1994 at version 2, and quickly realized how powerful it was as a 3d modeler, specifically for architectural projects. It's great for other types of things too, but we make buildings here right? There are tons of high end modeling tools to add to what you probably already know in Bonzai3d and SketchUp that can help take the ideas you imagine and actually be able to build it in 3d.

It plays well with others too. You can import and export tons of different file formats so you can take files back and forth to Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, 3DStudio Max, Artlantis, and many many more. It also supports plugins including Maxwell Render.

I could go on and on because I'm so excited by this release, but you should really check it out for yourself. There is an upcoming webinar for you to see it in action first-hand.

In part 2 of this series we'll continue the exploration of our design study to highlight numerous visualization and presentation features in form•Z 7 that accelerate and simplify lighting, materials, rendering, fabrication, and multiple design concepts.

You will experience:

- Faster texture mapping of your scene with new automatic texturing and drag-n-drop materials.
- New "live" dynamic manipulation of materials directly on your objects.
- Efficient lighting of your scene with new drag-n-drop dynamic lights.
- Updated Sun position palette for quick and dynamic global sun positioning.
- The ease of setting up a Global Illumination rendering of your scene.
- How components are easily utilized to quickly visualize multiple design concepts.
- And numerous other new quick and easy techniques for visualizing and fabricating your design.

The webinar will be followed by a question and answer session.

Register for the Webinar on November 17th here. Disclaimer: As with any beta software, your mileage may vary. You'll want to save often and probably not use it for actual paying work. 

You can download the free public beta here. 

Here's an example of one of those stylistic renderings of 3d models where there's a combination of solid and wireframe halves coming together at a section cut in the model. I've been doing this type of rendering for a long, long time1 and I thought I'd make a video showing you how to do it too. It's a fairly easy process that involves your 3d modeling program and an image editor like Photoshop.

Once again, this is one of those things you can do in several different modelers but it's one of the reasons I prefer working with solid models in Bonzai3d because when you cut through the model, the objects are automatically filled and the Clipping Planes make it easy to make this kind of imagery. 

Now it's your turn. I'd love to see what you can come up with. Maybe you can take it to the next level and make a sweeping, organic section cut through the model to make it even more dynamic.

1. Here's an example from 1997, modeled in FormZ & rendered in Electric Image