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stefanlaub

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Hi guys,

 

i am a very "old" formZ (v2.x times) user and try to re- learn it now again, many changed i see, maybe also i forgot quite somethings so i have a few questions:)

 

1) the very first thing i am not sure or mss is how to use best to coordinate tab.to enter precice values.this seesmto have changed a lot since v2.x

 

in old formZ 2.55 i could press anytime x,y, or z to activate the according coordinate field,and enter a value. this seem not possiblein v8.0 or 8.5,can that be?

how is the  best way to start a line p.e. with an exact coordnate input (not having to guess/snap/click)?

 

it seems i have to click into the actual tab to start a corrdinate value(which cost some extra time),and then even if i enter values for the first input,it doesnt take the values i enter as the values follow themouse or some and do not stick to the values i enter.

 

i most likely miss some fundamental, so sorry for my maybe dumb questions,

 

so how do you use the coordinates, whats best and most efficient?

i would be very thankfull for tipps!:)

 

2) for many years i used mostly rhino for modelling. great is that i see 3dm files can be imported into Z. are ther any plans to make also a 3dm export,this i quite miss yet?

i think for many like me form Z could be a very cool toolsuses along other apps, also rhino. in past the ability to open/save things in many formats was one strenght in formz i remember, i hope this could be also made in future for 3dm export,so be as flexible and open as possible.then we could integrate formz more and more in our pipelines. to send objects back and foeth would be great as both apps have their strenghts and weaknesses.

 

3) when exportingto a poly file format to render and animate the final scene, i get some tesslation issues i didnt yet manage to overcome ,p.e where rounding parts meet cylindrical surfaces. points do not really meet the lines of the conncted surfaces, and poly proportions are a bit strange soemtimes and those make shading issues/artefacts in most rendering software (like vray, octane, maxwell, corona in other apps that need polygons)..the manual converison to mesh seem to be a lot more powerfull and have more controll than the direct export settings, is that corrector do i oversee some? sadly for good workflow a proper working direct export output woudbe important,so i hopeit is my setup yet and i miss yet some.

in case i can also send some of the problematic tesselation files to support if needed, maybe it is also just a bug?

 

thanks for help, i enjoy alot to be back on FormZ, love th emany nurbs tools it has nowand how fluent it became all!formz v8 seems also pretty stable for me so far, love the voronoi and scatter additions in 8.5 beta:)

 

best greetings,

Stefan

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Hi Stefan,

 
Welcome to the forum, and back to the new and improved formZ!  
 
1.  If you want to start drawing numerically, just choose the desired tool, click in the X field, enter your value, tab, Y, tab, Z, and press Enter to accept that value.  If you are using the Vector Line tool, you will then have an Angle and Length field that automatically appears to the right of the XYZ fields, and also highlights automatically so you can continue drawing numerically if you like (type the value, tab if necessary, and press Return when complete).  
 
If you want to draw Relative to some other part, position the cursor wherever you like (perhaps snapping to some other geometry), and press the F4 key.  This will automatically switch to the Delta drawing mode, and highlight the X field so you can specify "how far" from that reference point you wish to start drawing.
 
2.  Yes, we are investigating 3DM export as well.  In general though, we would recommend using the default DWG Export from Rhino, and the default DWG Export from formZ (+ the Export Facetted objects as ACIS Objects option) to exchange data between the two programs, as that seems to be the most reliable and robust in general.
 
3.  Yes, this is an issue that we are awaiting a solution from our partner Spatial Technologies, and hopefully they will have a solution for this soon.  Until then, using a Display Resolution in formZ such as this should generally give good results:
 
post-5-0-44390400-1430926227_thumb.jpg
 
(This will make a lot of polygons, so you may want to use the Default Low display resolution scheme, and just change it in the Pick Options: Attributes: Display Resolution tab prior to export.)
 
Does that help?
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hi

 

thanks for very fast answer!

 

do i reallyneedto click intothe palletta each time?

i foudnalready the f4 toolwhich activates the firts input,but sadly this works only for 3ddelte mode and not for 3d mode.so ithink some liek the f4 in 3d mode would be greatand streamline workflow greatly.

 

i am learning step by step,seem parts i solved already,only the need on click into the palette withtu any shortcur option is a bit frustrating yet.

 

ad2) great news! 3dm would be really make it idealand attarct more users i guess.i try dwg in meanwhile.( we made a 3dm import/export for c4d p.e which si very sucessfull as plugin)

 

ad3)ok thanks for the info.i will try your suggestions with the display resolution nd see if that is a possibleway.we needfo course clean and peoper tesselated geometryas we have huge architecture and details filesto move around

 

thanks so far!

Stefan

 

 

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Hi Stefan,

 

Drawing graphically is typically faster than numerically, and using grid and object snaps allows you to be fully accurate, without needing to type all the numbers.  If this is not working for you, and if the extra click in the X field is a big deal for you, can you give us an example of what you are wanting to do so we can better understand?

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ideally what i wished woudl be here is what was in older formz versions,a shortcut to activate the firts coordinate in the palette (x coordnate field) and start typing the value staight without any workaround:

 

so p.e when i draw something that i can press a button/short cut (like "x" for x coordanate, of "F3" similar to the "F4" shortcut that exist for 3d delte input) and immedeatly enter the values into the palatte.

 

to be honest the need to click into the first field or the need to use a grid (my values are rarely integers and matchs that in a field might be hard work) seems not a very nice workflow, i use a 30 inch screen and the need to click into the small palette is somehow irritating a bit;)

 

- if it woudlbe possibeto define a short cut to activate the x values woudlbe awsome!

 

by the way, the dwg to rhino works fine so far and this also solves temporarily the tesselation issues i had in direct export.  so to bring the model to our render software i use it via dwg and rhino,this works fine as i get the rhino data in one click to c4d p.e via our inhouse plugin, - so i can now get al formZ models perfect to render!:)

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hi, i can only support the request for a simple input of coordinates!

 

my suggestion would be:

 

1. select the tool

2. hit the tabulator key to enter the first input-field (X) - and to jump to the subsequent ones

 

to lock values you have confirmed by enter, please have a look at vectorworks to see how it works perfectly (at least in 2011) !

 

one more suggestion: since we have the colors red, green, blue for the axes, why not have red, green, blue marked input fields?

 

thanks and greetings!

martin

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Loosing access to the numeric input when orbiting or adding guides is the number one problem with formZ interface, i believe.

So often I am ready to type, only to find I have to let go of what I'm doing, and need to click on the input field.

This issue has been raised many times before in these forums. Also I seem to remember something like: "FormZ follows your every move, and knows what you are doing, and is ready for numeric input all the time."

This is true almost all the time. Perhaps thats why its so annoying when it does not work, and there is no handy shortcut.

Hitting the tab key would do it for me!

/Petter

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