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

Maxwell for Google SketchUp offers users the benefits of advanced rendering in a custom built, easy to use package- for FREE!

Learn more at Next Limit.

Happy Halloween everybody!

Sometimes when you're modeling a project the size of a building, you need to be able to get inside and focus on objects obscured by the outer geometry. In this video tutorial, I show you four ways to get in there so you can do just that, and of course there are a few other tips and tricks along the way.

This is something Bonzai3d and FormZ are really good at, and you can apply these techniques to other 3d modelers like SketchUp and Revit as well. After watching this Methodcast, you'll be able to use one or more of the following methods: 

• Clipping planes
• The copy/paste & replace trick
• Isolate
• Edit the cone of vision

Download a 30 trial of Bonzai3d here.

Download the beta of FormZ here.

Sang wants to take the Norton for a ride

Maide Control is an exciting new app for your iPad from Maide that does two things. First, it allows you to control SketchUp or Rhino on your computer wirelessly and present your model from your iPad. Second, it lets you use your iPad as a 3d mouse (like a 3dConnexion device) during the modeling process as another input device. It costs $4.99 from the App Store, and you also have to download a free piece of software for your host computer to establish the connection between the two.

I bought the app as soon as I heard about it because I'm always looking for new ways to present my designs to others. I installed the server app on my Mac and setup an ad-hoc wireless network to connect my iPad to. Then it was a simple process of authenticating the connection. The nice thing about this system is that you can actually connect multiple iPads to the host computer so a team can interact with and collaborate on the model. 

I tested it with SketchUp 8, which is currently the only app it talks to on the Mac (Bonzai3d soon please?). If you're using Windows, Rhino is also controllable. Once you're in the app and have established the connection, you can draw, zoom, pan and orbit with the iPad's multi-touch interface. A single finger is used for pointing and tools, two for panning (and pinch/spread for zoom), and three for orbiting. You can also bring up contextual menus and switch views on the fly by double-tapping hot spots on the screen. It doesn't stop there - you also have the ability to grab screenshots of the current view of the model right on the iPad and send them off to others via email. 

The other way to use the app is to use it as another control surface. You could use it soley by itself or in conjuction with a mouse during the modeling process. It can compete with other 3d mice out there, although I think it still needs some work to truly be comparable. It would be great it it had a walk or fly mode for the best results during presentations of building designs, instead of just zooming through a model. Access to the "look around" tool would be nice as well. It's also entirely possible that I'm just missing something. This is where 3d mice truly shine.

For a first release, Maide Control is really polished. I like the nicely designed, minimal interface and the responsiveness is amazing. I didn't notice any lag from screen to screen. If you're on the fence about spending a Lincoln for a nice piece of software, czech out the following videos and decide for yourself:

You can see more by going to the Maide website, and by following them on twitter. I can't wait to see how this product develops and what they come up with next.