Gary Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 Agreed about SERIF, if you built it (and build it right), they will come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santa Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 40 minutes ago, Gary said: Agreed about SERIF, if you built it (and build it right), they will come. It faces an uphill battle, though! So called professional users tend to stick to industry standard software such as those from Adobe, Autodesk and MS (Word). The introduction of their much maligned subscription models did not result in a significant reduction of their user base either, despite all the doomsayers predicting otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cooper Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 On 1/12/2020 at 4:57 AM, Tech said: Paul was a valuable member of our team as our tech support lead for many years and we miss him professionally and personally. Paul was enthusiastic and always someone who would be the champion of the end user to our team. However, he was never a developer of form•Z. False rumors like the lead programmer is dead simply do not help our situation. form•Z was created by Chis Yessios and David Kropp. Chris has retired but is still a valued advisor. David continues as president and leads the development team (not the rumored sole developer). The Joint Study Program still exists and between this program, the form•Z student edition and form•Z free there is a solid install base in schools (but it could always be better). We stopped the Partnerships in learning publication as it became increasingly difficult publish, as a younger generation of faculty became less interested in providing the student feedback that made the publication interesting. In general schools no longer teach software leaving the student to pick their own solution often without much guidance. We give the software to students and faculty for free (in Switzerland as well), yet others charge (some significantly). We are not sure where these market share numbers come from, but form•Z is used at a lot more than 930 companies, this number is at least an order of magnitude off. Are we a small team at the moment? Yes. But we challenge you to find another group that is as dedicated and believe in what they do. Do we make mistakes, sure, but we will always try to address the issues as fast as possible. Are we great are marketing? No. Andrew has provided some stunning images and kindly allowed us to use them in promotional material. We need to get better at marketing and ideas are always welcome. Thank you for everyone’s feedback, it will only make us better and we believe that the best is yet to come. Tech, I appreciate this post. Things seemed a bit quiet for a while and I have been worried. Great to have the honest update. Glad the small team is solid and dedictated. Please focus on getting the user interface spot on, an excellent default set-up that new users can get to work with without fiddling around. I think 8.6 has become a great product and it's a shame the marketing hasn't done it justice in getting more new users on board. I really miss the great tutorials by Matthew Holewinski, he was so inspirational and Paul always so helpful too. I still believe and hope there is a great future ahead with V9 in time. FormZ is too good not to be marketed more effectively, the world is missing out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernieB Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 I've noticed there are hardly any press releases about Form Z 9. Only vendors appear to be promoting it and some don't mention v.9's availability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cooper Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 You Tube is probably the primary place people will look to evaluate. The content has to be good which it is but the age stated is too old 4, 7 and 12 years old. Please leave it there but add new good content. (I clicked the first link searching youtube for FormZ which said FormZ3d) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnalexander1571 Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Hi All, I have been thinking about this for a week. I only want to proffer a facet of a possible solution. I think in the current market for 3D tools, your tool has to do something very exciting and if possible be the only tool set that offers that feature. It needs to make something hard very easy. I want to explain what I need formZ to do from now on. Please look at the following website: https://oneirosvr.com/ These folks make super hi res VR and game navigable scenes (read executable) using Autodesk products and Unity. The idea is simple, pre-bake the wonderous lighting and appearance of your arch space you can get with VRay onto low res models and use that to construct a real-time experience that appears to be rendered. You must be able to place a game control into the hands of your client and let them wander around in the space. I feel (and I am not the only one) that this is the future of Arch-Viz. Currently, creating something of the ONEIROS level doing this is a huge series of fiery hoop jumping getting into UNITY see: https://www.ronenbekerman.com/the-making-of-a-virtual-reality-experience-for-archviz-with-unity/ So, I wish for a future in which formZ can simply generate this executable for the client from the formZ files with VRay light bakes and textures saved. That would bring in people, because currently this involves Autodesk products and you have to pay for UNITY. It is very, very expensive and time consuming. Note: this needs to be made EASY, and look great, not just possible through FBX...(I am not talking about: well... you can already export to FBX... so...) so that we can make real-time content executables EASILY in order to sell designs. This will also encompass and support AR and VR in whatever form these evolve. I would like to see AutoDesSys take up the tech to backbone this feature and make it home for it. No one has been bold enough in the 3D world to do this whole hog, and only in the last few years game companies are stepping in to be the end part of the chain in this because they have specialized for so long in streamlining huge files for real-time display. (Game companies noticed this need and are selling licenses by selling only the executable maker.) Currently I have an order for a real-time home theater that you can explore in real-time and turn off walls and ceiling and so forth to see the acoustical treatments. I also have an order long term for a real-time "sound city" a user can explore on their own. I can't make these only in formZ. At minimum it would need a magic "send my VRay rendered scene the way I have it set up now into UNITY and have it only a click away from exporting the executable" button. I do not think that with VRay already on board and VRay Next coming, that you could be so far away from an AutoDesSys controlled executable that would be an awesome element of the coming real-time arch viz business out there. This would give users a whole new reason to come to AutoDesSys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnalexander1571 Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Essentially, I want to show off some awesome real-time space on-line or at a show, and when asked how I did it, be able to say I only used form.Z. That's all you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cooper Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Sorry but I have to disagree with John Alexander for our own purposes, which is good in a way, it shows how broad a spectrum FormZ covers. I am not that interested in photorealism. I am attracted to FormZ by fast modelling capacity and being able to output manufacturing data from it. Only an average quality realism is required for our purposes. If it is too realistic, it accentuates any little discrepency which would need more faffing around to put right. Speed of modelling, adjustment of sizes and csv output data, all at an affordable price is what sells it to me as a bespoke furniture maker. Maybe FormZ could split into two directions or have a base level and a manufacturing pack and a rendering pack, which it does to some extent, as I don't buy the V-Ray, Lightworks is sufficient. Bo Atkinson and vva 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CADulator Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 Yeah, I disagree too. It sounds like huge and complex new features are being requested for a new market, from a small development team. FormZ is already an extremely capable 3D CAD system which is a great fit for many markets. ADS is just not marketing it properly. Alan Cooper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santa Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Agreed. If anything, I would personally prefer to see a simpler rock solid form.Z. I feel that adding more and more complexity is the wrong way to go. Remember "less is more"! Alan Cooper and vva 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danshaw Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 In my opinion it’s a mix of marketing and the visibility of the company on these forums. How would a potential user fare visiting the web site? - 10 days or so after the release of v9 (seemingly a major new version given the number) and there is barely a mention of it - where is the marketing, even on their own website? Suppose someone reads a short review in one of the 3d mags and decides to visit the website - it is out of date (and subjective I know, but it looks old fashioned). Want new users? then why not scream about v9 from the release date on and with a great big ‘download a trial’ button that delivers not only the programme but a few models of varying sophistication and some tutorials about how they were achieved (I know there is the training section of the website, I am saying offer this as a one stop download to get started with evaluation). Can I, even as a long term user/customer even download a version of v9 to evaluate at this time? Sure, you can find the little trial download button, but the page you end up at looks old and I am unsure if it would deliver v9 (I’m not interested in 8.6, it’s barely different from the version I have). Again as that long term user, I remember when these forums used to get a response from ADS on what seemed like every thread - this was great and set them apart from a lot of other vendors. Now they seem invisible mostly. I logged into the v9 beta forum and asked a direct question about whether there was a way I could participate with my v8 license and never even got a reply - a reply to someone that wanted to help. Sorry, but I get the impression they are struggling which I am afraid is not good when being asked to spend what amounts to 1000 dollars on a programme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHDD Designer Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Right. I also think that FormZ does not necessarily need new functions and features. What I need is an easy to use 3d modeller, which for example is able to solve complex roundings. And I want many import and export filters that work accurately and are robust. For a fast output of my designs I want a renderer that is easy to set up. V-Ray is on the right track. I would find the integration of Eevee or Cicles Render even better, as well as the possibility to export good line drawings That's 87% of what FormZ does now and so I don't think it's because FormZ is not so popular. FormZ finally needs a new fresh communication strategy and a contemporary user interface Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cooper Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 (edited) 41 minutes ago, danshaw said: In my opinion it’s a mix of marketing and the visibility of the company on these forums. How would a potential user fare visiting the web site? - 10 days or so after the release of v9 (seemingly a major new version given the number) and there is barely a mention of it - where is the marketing, even on their own website? Suppose someone reads a short review in one of the 3d mags and decides to visit the website - it is out of date (and subjective I know, but it looks old fashioned). Want new users? then why not scream about v9 from the release date on and with a great big ‘download a trial’ button that delivers not only the programme but a few models of varying sophistication and some tutorials about how they were achieved (I know there is the training section of the website, I am saying offer this as a one stop download to get started with evaluation). Can I, even as a long term user/customer even download a version of v9 to evaluate at this time? Sure, you can find the little trial download button, but the page you end up at looks old and I am unsure if it would deliver v9 (I’m not interested in 8.6, it’s barely different from the version I have). Again as that long term user, I remember when these forums used to get a response from ADS on what seemed like every thread - this was great and set them apart from a lot of other vendors. Now they seem invisible mostly. I logged into the v9 beta forum and asked a direct question about whether there was a way I could participate with my v8 license and never even got a reply - a reply to someone that wanted to help. Sorry, but I get the impression they are struggling which I am afraid is not good when being asked to spend what amounts to 1000 dollars on a programme. I think the slow publicity is due to a lack of confidence that V9 is quite ready yet, and needed a bit more time in Beta, it had been promised for so long, they wanted it out for the new year. I suggest a bit more time, and when AD really is confident that V9 is ready, that will be the time to do it. Maybe an Easter promotion would be well advised if it is properly polished by then. It is important that when the reviews in publications are made, they are good ones. Edited January 21, 2020 by Alan Cooper Added info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 I also believe in what Alan Cooper said. v9 is not yet ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santa Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 (edited) Some years ago, there was talk about making form.Z modular. Perhaps that is something that should be put back on the table. Personally, I like the idea of a rock-solid, stable, crash-free core, call it "form.Z Core" or "form.Z Nucleus" if you like, at a reduced price perhaps, with a number of industry-specific plug-ins, such as architecture, industrial design, and product design, for example. Also, what are the thoughts on product naming? Pro and Free seem apt, but I am not sure about Jr. To me it brings up negative connotations such as immaturity, which is not conducive to attract the next (younger) generation of users. If the current three-tier offering is to be maintained, how about renaming Jr. to the original "form.Z Bonzai" perhaps. It has a more exotic, almost gamy feel. In fact, do we need three tiers? Is V9 in general release? My impression is that currently it is only in the hands of those who took up the pre-realease offer that ended a couple of weeks ago. Is this right? Edited January 21, 2020 by santa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatMNTishman Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 Participation is the key, imho. "Tech" was very candid in this thread setting the record straight and sharing some insight. Its never easy to run a small company in today's world and get it all right all the time. I sense a renewed commitment with the release of v9 and the discussion of improving vRay to next. Do we all crave info and insight so we can make decisions about how we use these tools in many different workflows? Yes. We deserve to know as much as ADS can share about the platform. If we share out work, contribute on the forum, participate in the beta tests and submit bug and questions to ADS with this community will grow and keep thriving. Bigger is not always better, but quality and playing well with others always brings excellence and richness to life. I'm glad to have a robust community of dedicated users to share with and I'm thankful that formZ is still the best creative environment for scaled, detailed design and modeling work. Thanks for reading my thoughts. I'm really grateful for all of you. Justin Montoya, Des, Gary and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanM Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 I use Form-Z for many years mainly to create ID concepts. As for the original post, think that ADS is not focusing on Mechanical design at all and there are many other tools out there that do much better job at that. form Z is a general use 3D modeling program as such it lacks the focus for specific tasks. It does have some dedicated tools for architects and Interior design but almost non for Industrial design and for sure non for Mechanical design. But because it is such a capable 3D modeller you can get by using it for ID and even mechanical design. If ADS is interested to get into the Mechanical CAD or CAID market there are many core features that need be added to the program and other existing features need to improve dramatically. ¢hris £und 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Studio-Swaim Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 My two cents. Based on my own observations with my industry (Architectural Illustration… err, I guess we’re calling it architectural visualization now). I think some of the uphill battle is a result of the perfect storm. Google bought Sketchup and offered it up for free just as the economy went down the commode. The layoff machine was ramped up in every building and design related office across the country and those who survived layoffs found themselves with nothing to design, so they filled their day learning their free downloaded version of sketchup that a colleague told them about. Mean while students across the country were also downloading free sketchup and word of mouth took off. As a result we got a lot of people who knew about sketchup because it was free, and a lot of really bad sketchup renderings. I assume that marketplace tidal wave caught everyone off guard. I’m a 25 year user of Form-Z. and It’s my main software I use, with mac mail and safari not far behind. I too have worried that the low key nature of FZ makes it vulnerable for extinction, yet on the other hand I’m grateful for the small business status it has. We all know we don’t get the quality support or personal attention from the bigger outfits. When I was learning FZ in 95’ my instructor bragged about the personal attention FZ gave it’s users. You could call up and suggest a new tool or feature and it’d pop up in the next release. That is still pretty true today though their customer base has grown and those suggestions are more abundant and more challenging to fit into the next release. I think part of the solution is as easy as being in front of eyeballs. The old “out of sight out of mind” can catch up to you. I first learned about FZ as a student who finagled his way into the AIA national expo in Atlanta where multiple software companies were doing demos and had booths. I watched the FZ demo and knew that was the route to go. Since then I’ve championed them all along the way. Sent them new customers and assured my own clients that I have no need for Sketchup because FZ does everything Sketchup does, plus 100 times more, it does it better and the models are actually stable, not a house of cards. My suggestions: - Staff: If Auto-des-sys doesn’t already have someone on staff dedicated to marketing the product. It’d probably be a good investment to have someone dedicated to just that task and nothing else. - Online presence in all the forums and sites: Search Form-Z on CGarchitect.com and there are no results. That is a huge industry resource page for a lot of potential customers. I’ve noticed their absence on a lot of sites and forums like that. Sites that list all the 3d modeling software packages and there are softwares I’ve never heard of and softwares I’d never touch and FZ doesn’t get a mention. WTH? - Trade shows: Architecture, product design, industrial design, graphic design, illustration. You know who uses the product, target those industries and industries who haven’t used your product that you can convince should be… Be visible. - Tutorials, tutorials, tutorials: Make it as easy as humanly possible to learn everything the software has to offer and as hard as possible for people to say “there isn’t any resources for learning”. Note: FZ does a great job with this already. The problem is, they don’t have all their followers doing it like the other guys do. Ie skippy in the basement putting up his weekly photoshop tutorial. It’s a bigger burden on FZ to do all the heavy lifting, but with growth comes more skippy’s in the basement. - Partnerships: Vray and Maxwell were huge. Expand the partnerships to other areas. Not nescaserily just software partnerships, but industry partnerships. FZ was big with ASAI and it’s members way back when. I’m not sure which side let that relationship slip away. - Students: You find a way to make FZ cooler, easier and freer than sketchup in schools, and get students excited again. Students like free stuff. A box of cool FZ tee shirts sent to the architecture dept is a lot of walking ads. - Mail outs: Post cards are still the best way to get your logo in front of eyes. - Reiterate the time line: Let people know you’ve been around a while, you’re not new to the game and there is some pedigree behind the name. - Showcase: Showcase your successes and your user's successes - Keep providing a product that can sell it’s self! Note: I am not a professional marketing guy. 🙂 Des, Bo Atkinson and Alan Cooper 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cooper Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 (edited) Swaim, Wow, you have been using FZ 25 years! I have only been using it for just over 6 years. Why? because despite searching and searching relentlessly for the best affordable CAD software to use I did not ever come accross Form Z. So it is marketing that is the main problem. I tried loads of CAD software. In 1995 I bought Turbocad version 3 which had 2d and 3d version. I was trying to use it on a laptop with just 8mb of ram. Of course it was so laggy it was hardly usable. Shortly after I got a state of the art Pentium Windows 95 computer with a 2gb hard drive which I expected would be capable of anything possible for ever. That is what I used for a few years running Turbocad 2d before eventually making the huge shift to Turbocad 3d. Turbocad is a palaver, needing excessive use of the tab key and even recently I don't think they have provided the virtually essential isolate feature. So I tried Sketchup 8 for a year before eventually stumbling upon a sketchup forum post about Bonzai 3d which led me to FormZ. At the time the reputation for FormZ was that it was in theory brilliant but in practice too buggy to take seriously. The number of crashes I had in my early days with FormZ were eyewatering. But it has improved a huge amount since version 7 so I would suggest that version 9 requires to be rock solid, with a great user interface please. Then when it is truely solid, keep it easily affordable with good promotional discounts and market it like hell, with brilliant youtube presentations of the quality that Matthew Holewinski used to produce. The Youtube channel has not received new content for 2 years, and most of that was to do with V-Ray. I hope FormZ9 emerges into a version that Autodessys can be fully confident of, and that we see a huge regrowth of FormZ. There needs to be more action and activity on the marketing front as soon as that position of product confidence by the company has been reached. If it isn't actually ready yet then they are wise to move slowly before pushing the promotions too hard. Edited February 22, 2020 by Alan Cooper reply to person spelling mistake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¢hris £und Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 I too have been using fZ for about 25 years. Started at the 2.6 ish? My introduction to it was through Electric Image animation system. As that was what I was doing at the time. EIAS, was hugely on the side of fZ as the best modeler. At the time, I was using light wave on the amiga to model, but animated using EIAS on the Mac. In that job, I discovered that I preferred modeling to animating, so when I left (freely interpret that as being payed off with prejudice), I jumped to fZ. Yes, v7 was buggy and I stuck with 6.x until 8.5. For my production work. Up through 6.x it was pretty solid. However 7 (aka Bonzai core). Was a rewrite that was needed. Bonzai was written as the platform to experiment on for a new interface and core of the program. Once it was at a good enough level, they made the transition for fZ. Something like that is a monumental undertaking, but ADS saw the writing on the wall, so they did it. for me, 7-8.4.x. Was lacking in some of the features I needed. Up to fairly recently, I really needed the C- mesh back... don’t need it any more though. And I made due with Modo to fill in and Z being the 80% left over that I needed. Scripting has been the toughest part for me. While FSL was technically available n 7-8.5. It kind of became the bastard child and not maintained. I am not criticizing ADS for this, as long term, I think they made the right discussion to move to Python. (A request of mine, but I am sure I wasn’t the only one). While FSL does have the advantage of it being easier to migrate your code to C/C++ than will be from python to C/C++. For the professional programmer who wants to prototype in python, this won’t be a problem. For the casual coder, python is a world easier than FSL as FSL was really C syntax. This user probably won’t care to bother converting it to C/C++ any way. Which, In my view will be a profound advantage. Back when the FSL API was introduced, there was no reason to expect python to take over as it did, so no reason for them to build it that way. The change could not have been trivial. I suspect that the C/C++ API has changed as well. We are to soon reap the benefits of those efforts. It is my hope that ADS will change to Python 3.8. But that will not stop me from jumping in. The power of scripting is ours to wield. This will allow us to creat the niche scripts that maybe only we need and not the whole community. Therefore not burdening ADS with the effort for a little used tool. Those who need that tool however, can benefit from it immensely. I have many questions regarding the new API, that I haven’t been able to figure from the examples they provided. Those should be answered soon. to ADS, thank you for your efforts, and thank you for tolerating my being a royal PIA regarding scripting during this period. anybody up to learn scripting, I guarantee it will be worth your time. Especially now that python is it. As python has many uses outside of fZ. example, I automated a task In my last job that took a minimum of 10 minutes to accomplish and reduced it to about 35 seconds. Well worth all the effort to learn. Be open to learning it, and share, if you can. apologies for the stream of consciousness. I’ll leave you all alone for the time being. €£ Bo Atkinson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cooper Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Chris, I don't know how to script. The closest I ever got is recorded a macro in open office calc and adjusted the script a little afterwards manually. And to have altered some html files to change colour etc of text for some website files. I wonder if it really is worth me learning to use Python. What is the learning curve? Hours, days or weeks? And how long would it take for me to recognise where I could use it and what it could achieve? I really need to get some idea of the time investment required before I start reading a book about whether or not to get involved. Please bear in mind that I run a company and don't really have a lot of spare time. Thanks in advance for this bit of advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smarttec Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Python Scripting is an important part of opening up formZ to new users in different fields. There is a significant library of python base scripts from other 3d packages that 'could' be ported for more unique and turn key solutions; ie. possibly kitchen design?? - something that is more plug & play. could be anything... I must admit I was originally expecting a more node based graphical interface i.e. like grasshopper in Rhino to this script based approach, but this is better than nothing. Now we just have to wait for some interesting new apps from 3rd party developers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Studio-Swaim Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 9 hours ago, Swaim said: My two cents. Based on my own observations with my industry (Architectural Illustration… err, I guess we’re calling it architectural visualization now). I think some of the uphill battle is a result of the perfect storm. Google bought Sketchup and offered it up for free just as the economy went down the commode. The layoff machine was ramped up in every building and design related office across the country and those who survived layoffs found themselves with nothing to design, so they filled their day learning their free downloaded version of sketchup that a colleague told them about. Mean while students across the country were also downloading free sketchup and word of mouth took off. As a result we got a lot of people who knew about sketchup because it was free, and a lot of really bad sketchup renderings. I assume that marketplace tidal wave caught everyone off guard. I’m a 25 year user of Form-Z. and It’s my main software I use, with mac mail and safari not far behind. I too have worried that the low key nature of FZ makes it vulnerable for extinction, yet on the other hand I’m grateful for the small business status it has. We all know we don’t get the quality support or personal attention from the bigger outfits. When I was learning FZ in 95’ my instructor bragged about the personal attention FZ gave it’s users. You could call up and suggest a new tool or feature and it’d pop up in the next release. That is still pretty true today though their customer base has grown and those suggestions are more abundant and more challenging to fit into the next release. I think part of the solution is as easy as being in front of eyeballs. The old “out of sight out of mind” can catch up to you. I first learned about FZ as a student who finagled his way into the AIA national expo in Atlanta where multiple software companies were doing demos and had booths. I watched the FZ demo and knew that was the route to go. Since then I’ve championed them all along the way. Sent them new customers and assured my own clients that I have no need for Sketchup because FZ does everything Sketchup does, plus 100 times more, it does it better and the models are actually stable, not a house of cards. My suggestions: - Staff: If Auto-des-sys doesn’t already have someone on staff dedicated to marketing the product. It’d probably be a good investment to have someone dedicated to just that task and nothing else. - Online presence in all the forums and sites: Search Form-Z on CGarchitect.com and there are no results. That is a huge industry resource page for a lot of potential customers. I’ve noticed their absence on a lot of sites and forums like that. Sites that list all the 3d modeling software packages and there are softwares I’ve never heard of and softwares I’d never touch and FZ doesn’t get a mention. WTH? - Trade shows: Architecture, product design, industrial design, graphic design, illustration. You know who uses the product, target those industries and industries who haven’t used your product that you can convince should be… Be visible. - Tutorials, tutorials, tutorials: Make it as easy as humanly possible to learn everything the software has to offer and as hard as possible for people to say “there isn’t any resources for learning”. Note: FZ does a great job with this already. The problem is, they don’t have all their followers doing it like the other guys do. Ie skippy in the basement putting up his weekly photoshop tutorial. It’s a bigger burden on FZ to do all the heavy lifting, but with growth comes more skippy’s in the basement. - Partnerships: Vray and Maxwell were huge. Expand the partnerships to other areas. Not nescaserily just software partnerships, but industry partnerships. FZ was big with ASAI and it’s members way back when. I’m not sure which side let that relationship slip away. - Students: You find a way to make FZ cooler, easier and freer than sketchup in schools, and get students excited again. Students like free stuff. A box of cool FZ tee shirts sent to the architecture dept is a lot of walking ads. - Mail outs: Post cards are still the best way to get your logo in front of eyes. - Reiterate the time line: Let people know you’ve been around a while, you’re not new to the game and there is some pedigree behind the name. - Showcase: Showcase your successes and your user's successes - Keep providing a product that can sell it’s self! Note: I am not a professional marketing guy. 🙂 All being said, I guess at the end of the day, we can hope they… 1. Sell enough product to make payroll, keep the lights on, market the goods and never fold up shop. 2. Continue to develop an awesome product that produces solid results with new stuff added in along the way to stay current. 3. Always provide the customer support and attention they are so good at. 4. Bring back the “relative” option to the extend line tool. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¢hris £und Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Alan, While I understand that coding or scripting isn't going to be for everyone. I do have a bias towards it being worth it to do so. I too operate my own business. Scripting has aided in it. Though, I also have a long way to go. I just do a little at a time One thing to consider in writing modern code. The hard stuff is already done, and can be accessed through Libraries, that you in essence "Glue" together to complete the task you want done. Or, if it isn't, that is what we ask for from ADS. Python isn't too hard to learn. Digging through the API and other Libraries can be a bit daunting, until you learn the base organization of them. How I approach writing scripts. Chose something simple, that ether takes a long time, or you have to do over, and over and over, tedious work or irritating things (again, the simple ones). Get the low hanging fruit out of the way first. Once it is done, then you can approach more advanced tasks and advanced coding as you go and skills grow. This in the end, gives you more time. It definitely is an Uphill task at first. But don't do the hard stuff first. Advance as you go. You don't have to memorize too much, as there are a ton of resources. For example, in the Match Script, there are currently 58 lines of active code. (albeit, not complete) but it is also built to do multiple things with a couple extra bells and whistles. The real crux of the code is done in about 14 lines. The rest is setting up variables and the UI. In my case, at an old Job, I would have used this script daily. Mostly applying it to Lengths (daily), maybe once or twice a week I would use the Area, and on occasion the Volume. I could have simplified it even further, but wanted to make it useful for others too. MIMI script, I used to use a lot of image maps in my work, and I found it tedious to load each one individually. Attention script, I used to have to go into the edit view to move the camera to look at the objects I wanted. ADSs "Fit" now addresses most of what the Attention script did, but at the time, it saved a tremendous amount of time for the little bit of learning and doing that it took to make it. (it was my first script in FSL) I can't suggest to you what specific tasks you need, as I don't do what you do. However, I would bet you do have menial tasks to accomplish. And remember, Python has the benefit of scripting other things than just fZ. Most notably, your operating system and internet browsers, (Firefox and Chrome work great) Now that many things are internet Apps, means they are scriptable even when they weren't specifically designed to be so. It is an investment, that has dividends. The ultimate beauty, is you can Taylor the tasks to your style and needs. However, if it still isn't for you, no worries! If, on the other hand is a possibility, hopefully we can build a community to help each other out in that process. Apologies for getting so damn verbose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¢hris £und Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Smarttec, Agreed, a node based scripting system would be useful. Especially for those who have never dipped their toes. Not sure if I recall correctly, but I think there was mention of it being done at some point. At a minimum, the "Transformation Macros" could generate python scripts as starting points. If it is still planned, maybe the python API just needs to be in place first. One thing, the C/C++ API has for the most part been there already. This is where the Professional developers will work. Python will be good for us users, and for the Pros to prototype in. Or, possibly for the pros to follow or build on the scripts that users initiate. ADS, could also incorporate some of the more universally useful ones. It has to be pretty hard for them to predict the needs of their entire user base. So, user scripts could be a good indicator. Dunno! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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