fz 9.2?

[snow]

It was mentioned in the VRay forum about a 9.2 beta being tested and I'm curious if there is any 9.2 information that can be exposed to the public/non-beta testers?  I don't want this post to turn into a formZ wish list or airing of grievances, but rather I'm asking for a little transparency from the developers and testers.  What issues are being addressed in the new version?  What new features are being implemented?  Some video clips or screen captures would be great to see!  No need to be super specific here, but I think a little transparency can go a long way for the users.  This is why movies and games release teasers and then trailers before the final release... lets build up some buzz and excitement! 

[snow]

good stuff.  *eyeroll* 

[FZnoob]

Insert "crickets" here.........😁

[carlart]

You're going to be waiting for a long time for those answers. After upgrading to FormZ 9 from 8.6.5 (mac version) bugs are all over the place. I've tried the 9.2 beta - it hasn't really addressed those issues at all. Months of waiting and still bugs. All I want is to have FormZ work the way it did before on the previous version. My work flow has been affected. *sigh*

 

[ZTEK]

My experience is very different using version 9.06 ...

I have not upgraded to version 9.1 or 9.2b1 because, after moving to Seattle, I have continued using my MacBook Pro 15" Retina from mid-2012, with just 8Gb of RAM and an Nvidia card with 1Gb only, no longer listed in the charts! I'm still waiting for Apple to finally launch the next Mac with M1X processors (another long wait!).

I don't use the new versions because, on my computer, the OGL card doesn't play well with them, and the camera starts to jump when you get closer to the objects. Nothing of this happens in formZ 9.06, and it's clear that in these last versions, there are some changes in that area which I hope are related to the new Metal and Apple chips support (?).

In my recent experience, I can confidently say that formZ 9.06 has been working well, or very well, despite the extreme limitations of my Mac. I like the interface, which I find fluid and customizable enough that, together with the keyboard shortcuts, it has allowed me to work efficiently for many years. As a side note, I did the jump immediately after they released the first version of Bonzai3D, and I never looked back to FZ6, a quick change that worked very well in the end for me. Also, I have always worked mobile, either at home, in coffee shops, or visiting the work site daily (which I love), and formZ has been great for that, working on the 15" screen of my MacBook Pro.

Lately, I have been busy with a house remodeling project in the neighborhood where I live now, my first project on my own in Seattle, so I have been using formZ extensively and haven't had any problems, zero, and working in inches this time!

Also, lately, I have been making changes to my work system for many years, which is never easy. In conjunction with the Objects Palette, I now use Layers more granularly and Scenes to organize everything. This way of working is the key for me and so important. One reason is that I always develop different design alternatives to show the client in our meetings, so I need a system to control the presentation with confidence. Another reason is I progressively add more and more 3D details to my projects, which I need to transfer later with ease to my CAD drawings in a semi-automatic way to be successful.

With this updated modeling method, I have been implementing a "less destructive" system exporting my designs to BricsCAD to draw my plans. This new way is much better in the schematic phase than the previous one combining formZ with AutoCAD and having to "explode" everything beforehand to start drawing, but that's another story!

Recently, I have been trying and following with interest different architectural software, looking for a good production partner for my deZign tool. I like to mention that after this learning exercise, and with more perspective, some things are surprising to me.

One is to appreciate better the changes that AutoDesSys implemented with Bonzai3D first and formZ version 7 later, around 12 years ago. I realized that many of them were also implemented later or more recently by other developers.

Another aspect, more from the big picture, I can recognize that many developers are trying to implement similar capabilities, making it difficult to visualize where or what is the real innovation.

The Big BIM Boys are all doing the same, right or wrong depends on your POV, and of course, wanting to capture the whole AEC market; and many other innovators are trying to play well with them jumping under their wings and trying not to fall. That's fantastic for the industry, I suppose, but very boring and flat to me.

On the other side, Rhino/Grasshopper and associates are phenomenal for organic/wavy or blocky/efficient patterned parametric architecture and more, which is great again, except I will never design anything similar to those OMG/smarts projects, at least for the rest of this lifetime!

And there's the appealing OpenSource community. A parallel free world where Python is the front line for many independent/collective developers, exploring/recreating old/new 3D tools and ideas, producing the necessary to dethrone the BIG+BIMs and replace the grasshoppers with free licensed and wild ones!

In this overwhelming and crazy scene, I can recognize my old/new formZ 9.06 working quite well for me, and I'm sure that with its recent siblings .1 and .2b1 –because all the capabilities are there– it's so close and so far away at the same time from the same "next" revolution.

Last but not least, I hope that AutoDesSys implement a rock-solid component system and that they can start implementing at some point an IFC exporter.

[jldaureil]

thank you Ztek for this testimony
I did not follow the same route because I continue to work with Z6 except for the export to Twinmotion with which we ensure the finishing of our scenes and the video renderings
We also use the Z6 draft for our plans
it's a basic tool but ultimately allows us to do whatever we need
I was very happy when I saw that it had been re-introduced in Z9 except that under Windows the bugs are still too problematic

Today I just hope that Autodessys will end up realizing a stable software under Windows with all the functionalities of Z6 and the depth of the settings that the user can make himself ...

Like such a stable and complete formz 6 with just the right interface upgrades from Z9

Definitely a "PRO" software

waiting for Formz 10 !🤣

I guess designers will wait a long time for their build history ...
And for my part I turn to other tools that Formz cannot do what I want ...

Edited September 12, 2021 by jldaureil

[AsOne]

I have found v9.0.6.1 very capable and am using it professionally for architecture for months now.  My favorite version ever.

The bugs that are most problematic are:

1.  My view and render settings change when using the file tab feature.  For example I have a shaded full perspective set up and after switching to a different file to copy an object my view and render setting is completely changed back in the original file.  

2.  Palettes can get sucked into menu bars too easily

3.  Option key doesn't always change from Move to Copy

4.  I'm using the new Reference file feature, but it could be dramatically improved and sometimes causes crashes.  Another thread has covered this already.

5.  My customized Workspace often gets messed up and needs to be reset.  To be fair, saving and restoring a Workspace is easy.  On purpose I don't do that much customization anymore in case I need to rebuild from scratch.

6.  Sometimes hovering palettes popups stops working forcing a restart or Workspace reset.

 

9.1 may have fixed some of these issues.  I was having too many issues with 9.1.  I believe with Layout not working and crashing over and over, but can't recall.  I reverted to 9.0.6.1.  I'm not on the Vray beta so can't comment on 9.2. 

[bbuxton]

I hope 9.2 stops pointing to Flash movies in the help section before trying to update Flash online.

Autodessys please update the movies, or better yet make new ones.

[Smarttec]

Guys, I think it is worth noting that v 9.2b update is just a requirement of the new V-Ray 5 an upgrade from the current V-Ray 3 ( v4 - V-Ray NEXT skipped ) and the best way to see and understand the new V-Ray 5 features is to see other versions out there. But V-Ray 5 supports the new nVidia RTX GPU's that make its rendering much faster if your new system has an RTX installed. Chaos currently does not support Mac OSX11 Metal like Octane & Redshift??? 

Don't expect big changes from formZ 9.1 as a lot are just awaiting the release of the latest V-Ray that has been due for a while and is so far looking good and going to be really worth it for those set up for RTX rendering or possibly VRay Cloud rendering

 

[AHDD Designer]

Considering the circumstances, I am actually very satisfied with the development of v9 - especially with the ongoing development of V-Ray.
On my iMac (Mojave), FormZ 9.2.0b1 (build A439) and V-Ray 5.0.0.6 (build 1603) are running.

Since the beta licence is about to expire, I wonder what will happen next?
Will there be another update for the beta?
When will these new versions be available for «regular» release?

Edited October 21, 2021 by AHDD Designer
Translation

[AsOne]

9.2 has been released.  Running it fine for the past couple days.

 

Edited November 3, 2021 by AsOne

[archigraphica]

I'm finding 9.2 "crashy".  9.1 would crash maybe once every few weeks.  I think I've had 10 since installing 9.2 yesterday.

I'm having a weird thing where sometimes the viewport goes black when in a top down view in Shaded Work mode. Have to switch to a perspective/wireframe view to get it to come back.

Same pallet issues as 9.1.  Need to reset the Workspace every so often.

I also couldn't open 9.1 after installing this.  It just hangs.  Might uninstall 9.2 and go back until the next patch is released.

[Justin Montoya]

9.2  is working well for the most part for me here for weeks... 

[Tech]

2 hours ago, archigraphica said:

I'm finding 9.2 "crashy".  9.1 would crash maybe once every few weeks.  I think I've had 10 since installing 9.2 yesterday.

This version has been working well by all accounts. We can not find any crash logs form you that can help us diagnose the issues you are experiencing. Please contact our support team (support@formz.com) as they can best assist and track issues through our email channel. 

[archigraphica]

the auto-submit thing doesn't work on my computer because I use a browser for email.  Is there something I can email manually?  Only crashed twice this morning.

[R2D2]

9.2 has been working well so far - thx.

Now playing around with the "mobile install": 

FZ 9.2 plus Vray floating window on the iPad via sidecar...

🙂 

 

[snow]

@R2D2 the image of macOS on a windows laptop is making my brain do weird things.

[ZTEK]

What?...that hackintosh looks very intriguing, I want to know more!

That cappuccino looks great too!

[santa]

31 minutes ago, ZTEK said:

I want to know more!

Almost certainly a Mac OS VM, running on Windows.

[¢hris £und]

 

2 hours ago, ZTEK said:

What?...that hackintosh looks very intriguing, I want to know more!

The Penultimate resource.  https://www.tonymacx86.com

 

Not sure how things will shake out once they only support ARM processors. But that is a few years away.  On the other hand, they could get more and more specific to the near legacy machines at the time.   More thank likely however, they will just come out with features that the Intel machines just can't support or not well enough to implement.

 

¢£

[santa]

Huh? The image above shows a DELL laptop running Mac OS. (Not a Mac with an Intel CPU)

[santa]

This reminds me of the who's on first routine:

 

[setz]

6 hours ago, santa said:

This reminds me of the who's on first routine:

 

Thanks for the early present Santa!

[R2D2]

I think ADS have done a great job aligning the "look" of the Win/OSX appearance for FMZ.

However, given the choice I still prefer the OS X Version, as Icons and Text and general appearance still seems a bit smoother/refined.

(for no apparent reason; or because I don't know a fix in Win for that ?)

I was hoping that Win 11 would bring a better style for the palette windows but it seems to be the same so far.

Observations in 9.2: The closing (red dots) buttons on palettes in OS X have become egg-shaped, in Win resizing the working window resizes the main icon palette it seems.

Here are two screens from the same Laptop, BigSur and Win11.

[santa]

21 hours ago, R2D2 said:

I was hoping that Win 11 would bring a better style for the palette windows but it seems to be the same so far.

Windows has always been considered a “business” computer, and therefore lacks many of the customization abilities of the Mac. Nevertheless, some degree of built-in control can be found in Settings/Personalization, with additional themes available for download from the Microsoft Store.

A host of third party utilities and skins (including one that mimics a Mac I believe) are also available, if you are that way inclined. Personally I do not like them, or use them, preferring instead to accept the limitations of the platform, but it’s really up to you.

The basic nature of Windows grows on you……well, it does on me anyway….to the point where even it feels overly fussy. As a result, I have developed a liking for the rawness of Linux. It comes in many distributions, which in reality are all similar. My present favorites are Mageia and Fedora. If anyone wants a try, Mint is the way to go. There is one caveat however….. Linux will not run Form.Z!