AsOne

I set by pixel size, per Des's comment. It works quite well and subsequent image exports auto update in Vectorworks & InDesign (my two frequently used programs). No need for resizing in Photoshop or screen shots. For example I set the window to 1600x900 and export as a .png or .jpg. I include a 10'x10' box to easily scale the image in Vectorworks if it is a scaled image (building elevations). Once it is set I never have to rescale again. I export the image with the same file name and it is updated in Vectorworks (or whatever other software I use such as Adobe Indesign). For higher quality I simply start with a higher pixel size. FYI: Scenes save the window image size, so you can set an export Scene with all the correct layers on and image size set. I gave up on printing and PDF export from FormZ a while back. Simply impossible. Easier and faster to export to another program for PDF. I had a request in v7 I think to improve that and have since given up hope on that front. It's possible it is better from Layout, but I have not tried. It could be something worth looking into?

Is there a tutorial anywhere for setting up a model for 3D printing?

Perfect, Thanks! First print was a success:

I haven't seen the videos, but probably many of the basics are covered here already: https://www.getmethod.com/formz

Some the tools used to have videos - right click on a tool to View Video. They seem to be Flash though and don't work on v9 for me, probably since Flash has been retired (I think). It would be great if they were updated & reloaded without requiring Flash. A simple hyperlink to YouTube would do it for me...no need to have them built into the software, although that is nice it seems like more work.

I am doing A LOT of walkthroughs these days. Live via Zoom, sometimes in person (COVID 19 dependent) and recorded. With the power of Shaded Full rendering this is a great option to communicate the design to clients, produce marketing videos, and simply view the model in house. Twinmotion is a fantastic add to FormZ, but sometimes Shaded Full is all I need and no additional setup or render time is required. Additionally no animation setup is required. It could not be easier. However the navigation visuals get in the way and really detract from the visual quality. I would love an option to remove the navigation visuals: the yellow feet and targets that are on screen while using the walkthrough tool. There are actually two targets, one that comes up with the tool and a plus sign when you click to start walking. Plus the yellow feet. Circled in red below: I actually don't see the point of the targets at all. I can see the feet being useful for navigation. Perhaps an option to show/hide the navigation visuals would be best. Thanks for considering.

A "hack" is to use the walk tool to literally walk around the model, recording your screen while doing so. A bit annoying with the little yellow feet on screen (I have a feature request to disable these as an option), but it works. I do it all the time now to send clients walkthroughs. On Mac you can use Quicktime. It records audio as well, so if you want to narrate or add commentary you can do so. You can record the entire screen or a portion of it. I use Handbrake to reduce the size of the videos.

FormZ 9 runs as smooth as butter on my 2019 iMac. With all the Shaded Full graphics options turned on (shadows, multi sampling, AO, antialiasing, etc) I have no issues navigating the model in real time. It renders fast as well for my needs. If I needed more speed to increase render times I could buy a Mac Pro. There are a lot of options there. Is it as fast as the top end AMD PC spec? No. But Macs get the job done and probably quite well for a majority of FormZ users I would imagine. I also don't have to waste time dealing with Windows. We will probably see huge speed increases with the M chips. The low end models in laptops are already faster than most every Intel chip in single speed computing and they have excellent multicore speed for being low end mobile chips. I bet the new iMacs and eventual Mac Pro will be incredibly fast. There might always be a faster PC build out there, but I bet that is only an issue for a small percentage of FormZ users. I agree that there are frustrating things about being on the Mac platform, hardware customization being one of them. But the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages, at least for me they do. Integration between software/hardware, fluid transfer between phone/tablet/desktop, the best OS with the least amount of malware (by far), and from my experience hardly ever OS system crashes or even issues, configuration and setup is a breeze, and not that I care but the machines just look better. Apple is still a very viable business ecosystem, especially for small business which I'm sure are the majority of FormZ users. And FormZ runs on both platforms, so you can configure a top of the line PC if needed. I doubt erasing Mac will at all benefit Autodessys in any way, nor would abandoning it help. In fact it would likely be very harmful as a lot of users are Mac based I would imagine. I agree with Chris that the best way to help is with very specific bug and feature request reports. That and using the product to produce great work that can be shown to others.

I think the reason it isn't popular is a marketing issue. The v9 UI definitely needs to become more stable. It is still a work in progress. More consistent updates would also help. Once a year like other software would be great. However, marketing is more the issue IMHO. There are many popular things that aren't really that good, case in point: SketchUp and since I'm on that train - Microsoft Windows! I agree with everyone that I don't know why there isn't aggressive marketing, social media, student/university training, youtube tutorials (just short 1-5 minutes each), instagram, a much simpler user gallery on the website, etc. Maybe once v9 is fully stable?

If Mac is dropped I would also drop FormZ. The LAST thing FormZ should do is pander to an utterly inferior OS. All the savings from a faster GPU would be wasted dealing with windows. Especially once the new iMac and MacPro's running M chips are released! I willing to bet FormZ's users are more Mac based than your 90/10 split. I can't take seriously everyone whining about the look of the UI who runs Windows.

For single monitor use I keep a bank of minimized palettes at the top of my modeling window and keep the Tool Options + Inspector at the top of the right side dock :

Once setup my v9 UI is working well on Mac. I think it is a step in the right direction over v7 and v8. There are things to improve upon (I have posted about them and contacted support), but for me it works well once set up and I'm working very fast in v9 now. I really love the look and feel of the UI in general. I have not used or seen other software, including many mentioned in this and other threads that make me think AutoDessys should be focused on a total UI rebuild. Much more important things to do IMHO. Plus from watching these and other similar threads in the forum there is no broad consensus on a UI look or features. For example I see nothing in the Blender look that appeals to me over FormZ. 3DSMax has done quite well given it's apparent repulsive UI. Cinema 4D looks well organized, but doesn't blow me away over FormZ. If anything UI stability is the most pressing concern shared by everyone. I will take that over tweaking of fonts and icons. In general I wish updates were more frequent, even if more incremental. However to say there has been very little improvement is incorrect. What is the point of coming into the forum to simply trash a program you apparently don't even use, besides trolling. Just use something else that works for you.

How about instead of one day you take a week and deliver us a perfect 3D software...I'll be waiting...

I think they will release new MacBook pros this year with even faster M chips. I would hold off if you can until then. Does FormZ even run on M1?

Shibui: I also use Vectorworks. I use Layout for DWG export. I setup Scenes in FormZ (plans, elevations, sections). Open in Layout. Then export DWG linework to Vworks as a referenced file. Works quite well. If we can get referenced DWG into FormZ then the process would go both ways quite seamlessly.

What are these .fza files that show up from? Do I need to keep them?

Should they be generated even if I have it set to "Save to Project File"? Which is how I setup every file. I use Time Machine for regular backups and also Clone my entire drive every day.

I'm on a Mac running FormZ Pro 9 on 10.14.5 Mojave. Should I upgrade to Big Sur? Is it working well on Big Sur? Thanks.

This is amazing news! Unfortunately I'm absolutely swamped until February, but after that I might be able to check it out.

I am able to do this with my v9 license with V-Ray, but I would check with sales to be sure.

I've gotten used to it by now. I actually had to reopen v8 to remind myself how it used to work as part of the Pick tool - which likely still makes more sense. It worked fine as part of the Pick tool. However, since it would save vertical real estate in the Dock and there doesn't seem to be much advantage for it to be its own palette. so +1 sSlow scrolling speed combined with the lack of a Palette Dock scroll bar is more the issue for me

I am not having issues with 9.0.6.1 currently. Not to say there are not outstanding issues, but it works for me on Mac OS.

Is there a way to make Shaded Work appear brighter? It always seems to dark to me. I know it is not a fair comparison since Shaded Full uses actual lighting, but I find Shaded Work too dark for working. I would prefer some sort of global "brighten" option. Almost like the option to brighten or darken the computer screen. Note that I'm not requesting real world lighting or shadows, we have Shaded Full for that. Simply a brighter look to Shaded Work renders. I can work in Shaded Full, but Work is so much faster for modeling. Shaded Work: Shaded Full

In fairness I only use Layout to export my info to Vectorworks. It works quite well for that. I never used the old version so I don't know what I'm missing I guess. More documentation would be awesome. Maybe they can have Evan Troxel implement his videos natively and/or have him do more for v9, + Layout and Vray. An active YouTube channel would be awesome. I set my Mac scrolling speed to the fastest setting and it does seem improved. It is still slower than any other program, but that helped a lot.

I am an architect. I use FormZ as my primary 3D modeler on every project. I transfer that information to Vectorworks for construction drawings or anything involving notes, text, formatting on a sheet. I have built a system for the two to "talk" and it's an ok system. It could be a lot better if FormZ had the basic capability to reference other file types (DWG in my case). I would LOVE to see Referenced files that are always placed at the same world coordinates (relative to a 0,0,0, point). That way if I need to import consultant data, another 3D model, or my own 2D work from Vectorworks I can do it ONE TIME and then every time the referenced file is updated I won't have to re import. This would allow fluid and fast communication between two programs. Essentially extending the new Reference file capability to file types beyond .fmz. I know the current Reference file capability leaves a lot to be desired, but at least it is a start. I agree 100% with the need to clean up the UI, fix the bugs, and improve import export. I would rather ditch some of the customization of the UI for stability. Occasionally I have to reset the Workspace and I don't mess around with the palettes anymore now I have them where I want them. For a new user the UI would be difficult. Palettes still can get completely lost and the scrolling speed through the dock is very slow. Even the fact that I have to hold Option to scroll the Dock is unintuitive. Who would know this if you just started in the program? I really miss having a scroll bar in the dock. However I believe the desire to have a "one stop shop" is unrealistic in todays marketplace IMHO. Sure it might work out for one person, but is there a program that does it all - for everyone? There isn't really. Sure some do people find one program that works, but for many a hybrid approach is the best way to go. There are too many diverse needs and workflows out there. I could care less about FormZ adding tools to add notes, dimensions, text. Useless for me. I would rather do that in a program already well suited for that task. There would need to be such a quantum leap in FormZ's ability there to get me to use it given how far advanced Vectorworks is in this regard. There are other priorities in my opinion for FormZ. I understand why they came out with Layout (I presume to compete with SketchUp) and I use Layout to export my information (plans, sections, elevations) to Vectorworks, but I don't need them to spend time trying to make it a full fledged production program. For some the modeling in SketchUp is just enough and so is their layout program. For me it isn't nearly robust enough in either department. Does Rhino, Modo, Cinema have a way to create construction documents, full of notes, dimensions, and specifications? REVIT may be amazing at production work, but it sucks at fast fluid modeling. Is there a program that models fast, also has amazing rendering capabilities, AND produces construction documents? And that works equally well for a one man shop, a small firm, a big firm, product design, architecture, visualization specialists? I hear the complaints about 2D work. Seems legit and it would help my workflow. I guess I don't care that much as I can do that work in Vectorworks. However, until we get referenced DWG files it still takes way too much time to keep reimporting information from outside the program. I would rather FormZ concentrate on its strength - fast fluid solid modeling and quick texturing/rendering. At the same time the weaknesses need to be fixed: bugs, UI issues, and then there needs to be some sort of marketing to expand the user base and outreach of the program. If anything I would rather it become or specialized not more general. Of course I'm biased so I want that to be in architecture. Trying to be a program that solves everyones problems is not possible.