Polygon cages for smoothing

[SJD]

thanks Chris, just one more thing...

in that scene you sent me, do you get any ambient occlusion from the dish on the floor when you activate it? for some reason I cannot get AO to work with either simple or accurate glass objects

[¢hris £und]

Honestly, I have never used it. I spent most of my time dealing with Geometry.   But I can check later tonight.

[¢hris £und]

I don't see it.  It is there on the sphere.  Not sure If I am doing something wrong though, or if it should be chalked up as a bug.

 

[SJD]

not just me then

I'm using V8.6, not sure if it's different in 9?

[¢hris £und]

Steve,

So the AO appears to be sensitive to the "transmission" setting of the glass material.  If you lower that attribute, the AO will show.  The problem is, if you drop it enough to where it shows, you eliminate the glass look.   Being this is a Lightworks engine, and Lightworks no longer exists (bought by Autodesk and buried), I wouldn't expect a fix.  I am using 9.0x

Too, I have been thinking about your comments on ADS and SDS.  Consider this pure speculation: SDS and fZ are from two different worlds.  SDS originated, if I recall correctly, from Pixar, and was intended solely as a visualization tool/medium for animation.  fZ and ADS are of the intent for real-world construction/architecture with the added benefit of tacking on visualization because they could.  Even their rendering engine (RenderZone/Lightworks) was licensed as they focused on their core, real-world intent.  Modo, Max, etc. are applications intended for visualization.  They, too, have crossed the fuzzy border because they could, but their main intent is not for real-world construction.

Yet, that type of tool use still isn't in ADS' DNA. So, ADS reaching over to bring SDS into the fold and push it beyond merely a visualization tool to make it a real-world tool was pretty impressive.  Even if they don't get the implications of the toolset themselves.  So, the dearth of demonstrations and tutorials from them, may not be surprising after all.

Please don't take this as gushing fanboy apologetics.  I agree that the toolset can use work to perfect.  I do hope they do so.  I fear it may not get the attention it deserves. I am not sure that it is a toolset that is oft used by their main user base though. As here too, this type of toolset is not in the Userbase's DNA.  My main hope is that they give access to their Python API.  I want API access for NURBS as well, as that toolset could also be improved upon. 

¢£

Edited June 13, 2020 by ¢hris £und

[¢hris £und]

An alternative method for building the coke bottle.

 

[SJD]

10 hours ago, ¢hris £und said:

Too, I have been thinking about your comments on ADS and SDS.  Consider this pure speculation: SDS and fZ are from two different worlds.  SDS originated, if I recall correctly, from Pixar, and was intended solely as a visualization tool/medium for animation.  fZ and ADS are of the intent for real-world construction/architecture with the added benefit of tacking on visualization because they could.  Even their rendering engine (RenderZone/Lightworks) was licensed as they focused on their core, real-world intent.  Modo, Max, etc. are applications intended for visualization.  They, too, have crossed the fuzzy border because they could, but their main intent is not for real-world construction.

cheers Chris

I think, because I'm not from a manufacturing background, I often fail to appreciate FZ's true strengths - so many of the conversations on here are way above my head. My use of it over the years has been to provide the ideas and renders for others so they can take my fairly basic (but sound) construction drawings and turn them into something that best suits their own production methods. The direction I want to go in is pretty much pure illustration which is why programs like C4D and Modo look so appealing. That said, your videos are certainly helping me to see more of it's capabilities - it's often the small details that are the most challenging, not the flashy stuff. Thanks again 👍

[¢hris £und]

Yea, no worries!  I started in graphics and illustration (illustrator and photoshop), moved to animation (Lightwave on the Amiga then onto Electric Image). Discovered I liked modeling over animation which is what brought me to fZ around 25 years ago.  In my mind, if it something to be fabricated, it should be modeled from the beginning to be so.  Why build a 3D visual only to need be rebuilt later. This is why I hate Max and sketch up. While quality models can be made, they don’t encourage it at all.  
 

I haven’t played with C4D I years. It never caught my attention as fZ did. Can’t say why. Modo, I do really like. Though only for characters and highly organic shapes. I find it a waist of time to do hard side modeling in.   It’s rendering and surfacing are excellent however. Though, I don’t have a lot of use for rendering any more so I can’t compare it to vRay, as I have never used it. RenderZone suits for the little I do now. 
 

glad I could help. 

[dpwr]

Hi, everyone. I wanted to say thank you and that this thread is excellent! Thank you for the tutorials and discussion. I'm looking forward to watching them and experimenting with this.

I've been away from FormZ for (more than) a few weeks as designing events for 30,000 to 100,000 people has been a little flat.