Tech

We are actively working on this and have most of the issues resolved. We can report that form•Z is now running well on Big Sur on Intel and arm64 (using Rosetta 2.) We need more time for some in-house testing before we make it available but it hopefully it will be available in a few weeks.

You can get the plugin from here: http://www.formz.com/fzsite1219/products/unreal.html. We are calling this a Technology Preview at this time as the plugin is better than a beta, but not quite complete as a release. Frankly we are hoping to get some feedback as it is used and see what improvements if any need to be made. Epic is also working on improvements in the datasmith API that will allow us to add more functionality including a live link between formZ and Unreal/Twinmotion (hence removing the export/import cycle making this a great tool during the design process). We expect to roll out updates as soon as these improvements are ready and at some point we will move it from a Technology Preview to a release bundled with the shipping form•Z app.

We are pleased to announce AutoDesSys was a recently awarded an Epic MegaGrant to create an interface between form•Z and Epic’s Unreal Engine and Twinmotion. The Datasmith plugin for form•Z is the first product of this exciting collaboration. This plugin allows you to quickly and easily convert your form•Z 3D model for use in Unreal Engine 4 and Twinmotion. A Technology Preview of the Datasmith plugin for form•Z is now available here: http://www.formz.com/fzsite1219/products/unreal.html

If you select a material and open it in the Material Parameters palette, you can rename it there in the Name field at the top.

"Check for update" now shows 9.0.6 as available. Please note that we always wait 24-48 hours after posting a new version before updating the "check for update" notification just to be sure the distribution is sound before mass installations begin. You can always install the latest version from the link you received with your latest license codes. Here are the highlights of this version. form•Z v9.0.6 (#A283): New stuff SKP translator updated to import/export SketchUp 2020 files. Plus these improvements: - Import performance significantly improved. - Objects will be surfaces by default unless “Construct Solids” is enabled (which is now on by default for new installations). - Import now maintains layers and materials properly. - Non-Roman characters in file names now supported for import and export. - Non-Roman characters in layer name and Material names are now supported. - Import now includes wire objects. - Exporting files with metric units works as expected. General Contour Sections no longer affected by manipulating corresponding Transform Controller Conflicts resolved that could cause Key Shortcuts to stop working. Arc 3 can be inverted with the CMD/Ctrl (Mac/Win) key. Objects created by Duplicate (Edit menu) remain selected. Reference Files window displays correct name. DXF export and import now supports Non-Roman characters in the file name. Exporting DAE and KMZ files works properly Windows Check for Update works as expected no on systems with certain Windows settings. Alt key tap key works as expected Draft Layout Grid Snap now works as expected when combined with the Guide snap Python scripting unfold.py script now works as expected. Scripts are maintained in the Extensions menu and are sorted properly. The getLayer() and setLayer object method have been improved. Additional performance and stability improvements.

We do not recommend using Big Sur with form•Z yet. We are still investigating a few issues that have been reported.We hope to have more details on this soon. We will eventually be able to support the new Apple arm64 chips natively, however please understand that this will take some time. While the Rosetta 2 feature of Big Sur allows non-native code to run on arm64, the system prevents you from mixing arm64 code and x86_64 code in the same process. While we could make a native version of form•Z rather quickly, it will take some time for all of the vendors that we work with for extensions and plugins to make arm64 versions of their technology available. This will mitigate the usefulness of a native form•Z app in the short term.

"Check for update" now shows 9.0.6 as available. Please note that we always wait 24-48 hours after posting a new version before updating the "check for update" notification just to be sure the distribution is sound before mass installations begin. You can always install the latest version from the link you received with your latest license codes. Here are the highlights of this version. form•Z v9.0.6 (#A283): New stuff SKP translator updated to import/export SketchUp 2020 files. Plus these improvements: - Import performance significantly improved. - Objects will be surfaces by default unless “Construct Solids” is enabled (which is now on by default for new installations). - Import now maintains layers and materials properly. - Non-Roman characters in file names now supported for import and export. - Non-Roman characters in layer name and Material names are now supported. - Import now includes wire objects. - Exporting files with metric units works as expected. General Contour Sections no longer affected by manipulating corresponding Transform Controller Conflicts resolved that could cause Key Shortcuts to stop working. Arc 3 can be inverted with the CMD/Ctrl (Mac/Win) key. Objects created by Duplicate (Edit menu) remain selected. Reference Files window displays correct name. DXF export and import now supports Non-Roman characters in the file name. Exporting DAE and KMZ files works properly Windows Check for Update works as expected no on systems with certain Windows settings. Alt key tap key works as expected Draft Layout Grid Snap now works as expected when combined with the Guide snap Python scripting unfold.py script now works as expected. Scripts are maintained in the Extensions menu and are sorted properly. The getLayer() and setLayer object method have been improved. Additional performance and stability improvements.

We are actively working on V-Ray 5 for form•Z. Its up and running and looking really good. We are very excited about this new version. We hope to have a beta in December.

We are actively exploring the issue where the key shortcuts stop working. For those experiencing the issue, do you happen to be using custom key shortcuts to activate navigation tools? If so, could you please save your Key Shortcuts through 'Edit > Key Shortcuts' within form•Z and submit the shortcut file to support@formz.com?

Thank you for the feedback. We have the issue logged and hope to have a fix in place in an upcoming build! For now, you should be able to use the Move tool set to "Repeat copy" in the Tool Options palette to do the same thing. In the future, please send reports of issues to support@formz.com so that we can better monitor these problems.

Sorry this is a typo on the web page. The installer will install the latest version. Thanks for bringing this to out attention!

yes I am aware of that ... except that in this case I did not receive a response ...  ok covid etc ... except that if i swing a big rant on the forum the answer falls direct pity to have to arrive there once again and this was said clearly and not that by me if autodessys manages to integrate that our community is benevolent and that it is necessary to listen to it... so it will We answered you on Apr 27 (@13:08 EST) via email and you even quoted these responses in your recent posts, but we did not receive an email response back you except for the recent forum posts. Your recent posts include a lot more detail about the issues that you were encountering. Thank you for the additional information. We are investigating these and will get back to you shortly. Please use email for technical support issues as this is the best and fastest method to communicate with the support team.

This already was fixed!!!! See post prior to your post.

We determined that this can happen on some Windows systems without Python installed. We have updated the installer with a new app that handles this condition properly. Please download and re-install or you can install python 2.7 from here: https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-2718/

This script is now available in v9.0.4 (separate_objects_by_color.py).