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formZ Update Wish list


CamiloDiez

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Hello everyone,

 

As a new advocate of the awesomeness that is Form Z 3D, I wanted to make this thread as a means for the end user to approach the development team directly (or as directly as possible). Because formZ 3D is not an open source software, I think is good practice to have a topic dedicated to those little or Big things users want to see in future releases, so the focus of development is based with the actual user base in mind.

 

This is by no means a thread to complaint about missing features or lack of functionality, but rather an opportunity to expand on the possibilites and usage of the software.

 

So, here goes my wish list:

CORE:

1. Brick wall Tool: While there are ways to create brick wall structures by the means of patterns and projection mapping, a tool for creating parametric brick walls and enabling control of its layout before commiting to one design (much like the stair and roof tools) would be a superb addition to the specialties toolbox. By allowing the creation of parametric objects, one could easily expand on the regular "rectangular" brick pattern, and experiment with more complex structures, by adding randomness and offsetting the rotation and scale of the pattern, on the fly. Here's a video by RayFire Studios showing off the power and flexibility of a brick-type fragmentation tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOMvits0V74#t=41

 

2. Expanded Fragmentation options and types: The implementation of Voronoi and Delaunay partitions is great, and it'd be nice to see  expanded options for fragmentation using those diagrams. For instance, Voronoi by geometry to use the vertices of another object as a point cloud, or irregular or radial diagrams, and the ability to generate clusters for more complex fragmentations, as well as other fragmentation types, such as ProBoolean, would be really great additions. An example of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_2qKQpxCRw

USER INTERFACE:

 

1. Interface Display Color: This is definitely nitpicking, but a way to adjust the tint of the interface to make it darker would be very welcome.

 

 

What do you think? are these viable, usable suggestions?

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Camilo,

 
There have actually been a number of updating wish lists, over the years, recently including version 8x. You mention voronoi features which has not been mentioned much as yet.
 
I like merging physics into 3d design, as well, but am sad to see there is so much fascination with destruction. I see little point to it unless the war-game-mentality is still profitable for many modelers, in the pc game industry. Such that few users would really make a living with virtual explosion modeling.
 
Structural building features are more my interest, but designing random rock seams does not represent real world conditions, because each locality will have different rocks or bricks or stones. There is a popular new interest for individual artists to carve fresh concrete into natural rock formations. But these designers do not need expensive 3d tools for the work they do.
 
Variable crystalline structures would be my choice for advancing voronoi. 3D lattice tools seem to be appearing on google/images.
 
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Hi Camilo,

 

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for your suggestions, we will consider these for the future.

 

formZ does have an SDK so it is possible for others to create plugins for tools and features as you suggest.  Our new SDK for v8.5 is just about ready for release, but it is currently possible to use the previous v7 SDK for anything that existed in the older versions (i.e., not yet possible to modify Veronoi, but creating a custom Brick Wall would be possible).  If you have any programming inclinations, feel free to check that out:

 

http://www.formz.com/support/formzsdk.html

 

You can control some of the appearance of the Project Window, the tool icons and background via the File Menu: Project Settings: Appearance, or the Edit Menu: Preferences: Palettes:

 

post-5-0-56529700-1444049919_thumb.jpg

 

We will see if we can add further control for that for the future as well.  Please let us know if you have any further questions or suggestions, and again, welcome to the forum!   ;)

 

 

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Camilo,

 
There have actually been a number of updating wish lists, over the years, recently including version 8x. You mention voronoi features which has not been mentioned much as yet.
 
I like merging physics into 3d design, as well, but am sad to see there is so much fascination with destruction. I see little point to it unless the war-game-mentality is still profitable for many modelers, in the pc game industry. Such that few users would really make a living with virtual explosion modeling.
 
Structural building features are more my interest, but designing random rock seams does not represent real world conditions, because each locality will have different rocks or bricks or stones. There is a popular new interest for individual artists to carve fresh concrete into natural rock formations. But these designers do not need expensive 3d tools for the work they do.
 
Variable crystalline structures would be my choice for advancing voronoi. 3D lattice tools seem to be appearing on google/images.

 

 Hi Bo,

I looked for a 'wish list' thread but couldn't find one, I'm guessing I didn't use the proper search tags. 

 

Yes, while the RayFire example I used includes demolitions physics as the prime feature , it's the generation tools alone that I find interesting and applicable to formZ. I think a parametric brick/stone tool could benefit interior/exterior visualizations (decorative walls, facades)

brick_verticalgarden.jpg

 

Speaking of variable structures and 3D lattices, there's a great example of mesh generation using the 'Marching Cubes' algorithm, which benefits from adaptive tessellation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X11Vv1vT29I

https://vimeo.com/139635771

 

Hi Camilo,

 

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for your suggestions, we will consider these for the future.

 

formZ does have an SDK so it is possible for others to create plugins for tools and features as you suggest.  Our new SDK for v8.5 is just about ready for release, but it is currently possible to use the previous v7 SDK for anything that existed in the older versions (i.e., not yet possible to modify Veronoi, but creating a custom Brick Wall would be possible).  If you have any programming inclinations, feel free to check that out:

 

http://www.formz.com/support/formzsdk.html

 

You can control some of the appearance of the Project Window, the tool icons and background via the File Menu: Project Settings: Appearance, or the Edit Menu: Preferences: Palettes:

 

attachicon.gifScreen Shot 2015-10-05 at 8.56.53 AM.jpg

 

We will see if we can add further control for that for the future as well.  Please let us know if you have any further questions or suggestions, and again, welcome to the forum!   ;)

Thank you so much, I will definitely check it out! Wow I completely missed that Appearance option, I thought it was only available for bonzai3D. Thanks a lot for the info and for the quick response.

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Many of the things I've wished for have been implemented, thanks Z.

 

I do feel that in a few areas we've taken a step back (well, at least sideways) in regard to texture map editing and axial sweep. To have that back again would be great.

 

Intensity sliders in the light palette, and a UV mapping plug would be great as well.

 

Thanks for reading,

Joe

 

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