All quiet here….

[Des]

Sorry guys, can’t help it……….

[Jaakko]

I have noticed same.

This used to be vibrant forum few years ago. 

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Jaakko

[Bo Atkinson]

Do people go where the wind blows? I tried out Rhino for some of the useful tools seen nowhere else, like more features with NURBS and Smooth objects, but later found the good Rhino results insufficient to spend much time on the learning curve.  Other fields of interest compete for time. Plus the income potential was never encouraging for the particular kinds of geometry which interest me. Needless to say, I have been content downscaling economically and living in the woods, outside of costly conventions. All of this has synchronized well with the world gone mad lately. 

[Shibui Design]

Made the switch to Rhino some months ago and very happy with the tools after relying on FMZ since the late 90s. Development is not keeping pace at Autodessys and there's too much at stake when running a business dependent on productive design tools. I'd gladly go back to FMZ as long as there's renewed development and compelling design tools.

[Andre Conlledo]

sssssshhhhhhh! 

[Justin Montoya]

Eagerly awaiting FormZ 10 one day, but until then, still just working here...

[3dworks]

Seems our community is not very large anymore. Still waiting here too for a Mac M1 capable FZ version. Until my old Mac Pro's are still running, I will keep up using them for FZ, but already it's going a problem if you want to do the job on the road, on a recent MacBook. Right now I wished I could work when on a trip, but no go! If the learning curve for the "R" concurrent isn't going to result too steep, I guess this will result me into switching over. With around 1000 EUR it will be quite a serious investment, but if it keeps the job going...

Speaking of a potential FZ release 10... What I'm missing most for a future FZ version is better import / export modules, which are supporting BIM-formats like IFC or COBie. Nowadays everything seems to be available for Revit or Rhino, FZ needs a seamless bridge to use these resources. Also, the old DWG importers never worked reliably, text is still lost and layouts are not supported - this needs to be fixed and updated. Also, implement a direct PDF vector importer with built-in scaling option, so we can use PDF's easier as references directly in FZ - this is such a common task if you build models for architects. Currently I'm using a third party PDF to DWG translator combined with the FZ DWG importer, loosing a lot of time and information on the way.

[Justin Montoya]

This is purely speculation but since FormZ uses Spatial for some of its modeling and file translation, I have been following them to see if it might hint at an upcoming FormZ release.

It looks like the newest Spatial 2023 release offers much of what we have been asking for.  Better 3d interoperability with other file formats, Mac ARM support, faster ACIS modeling, etc.

Check it out if you're interested in following as well:

https://blog.spatial.com/news/2023-1-0

[Hugo]

3dworks: I am working with 9.2.4.0 on my MacBook Pro M1 64Gb internal in my office and on the road, this is my main computer. The only thing I've noticed is read and write the FMZ file is on hold when TimeMachine is making a backup. I mentioned this issue earlier to ADS. After the back up is made, FMZ file will continue.

[cornerofthemoon]

Yes, it seems to be fading away unfortunately.

[johnalexander1571]

Yikes! There is a demonstration on LinkedIn showing AI building a 3d model on an iphone after taking a picture of the paper CAD drawing. Not sure if it's solid modeling yet but really? There is another one in which Rhino is being run with ChatGPT, the operator is just saying things like "extrude all cylinders 2 inches" and then Rhino responds.

This industry is going through a serious transition, and I am hoping solid modeling by operators remains, but it will likely be very different in one year from now.

I think too, after 40 years, a lot of the most serious users that really understood how formZ saves all sorts of time actually retired.

[cornerofthemoon]

Yes, I'm sure AI will help but considering that Teslas with FSD technology keep crashing (both the software and the actual vehicle), Siri only hears about 70 percent of commands, and even Roomba's constantly malfunction, I don't think human illustrators are going to be replaced just yet.

[Des]

Funny how the direction of a thread which says nothing at the start can morph into something which ends up quite interesting 😂

[johnalexander1571]

The way Chris Yessios made those tools years ago that make stairs, roofs, and screws was impressive and the way everything is about to go. I have found myself using all three of these tools in formZ during making a living with the program. I don't know who or what company is gonna harness the 3d version of this AI wave. Years ago, when I worked out people's tech support questions, I envisioned a formZ that just followed spoken commands like a star trek computer because my arms would get so tired.

Many illustrators are about to find the curb. Midjourney v5 is good until Getty cleans them out. They got me for 600 bucks once, I wonder how hard they will hit Midjourney.

Des, those renders on that building project you posted on Linked In of late are really good. No one would know they are not photos.

[santa]

Heavens to Betsy! AI will never have the flair to bring the spark of a napkin sketch to life. That process requires human intelligence and artistic expression which a machine cannot hope to attain, despite being taught.

Telling a software program to perform a task is akin to the chat bots we all love to hate.....unless they look like this:

Love your work Alicia!

 

[jldaureil]

On 3/28/2023 at 7:50 PM, Des said:

Sorry guys, can’t help it……….

😭😭😭

[johnalexander1571]

Here is the same assignment (I have to burn up my end of month server time):

 

an attractive cyborg female with a beautiful human face, full body costume designs, see-thru body parts that reveal robotic inner workings, white background --v 5 --ar 2:3

 

 

[johnalexander1571]

I like 1 and 2, and the actual image is much higher in resolution than the post. 

[Des]

Whoa John, amazing stuff!

[johnalexander1571]

It is amazing but I didn't do anything except look at Santa's ex-machina cover and ask AI Midjourney to make the same thing. It doesn't even reference Santa's image, just my prompts, which I included. Took 2 minutes. 3D version of this is coming soon. The interior and exterior images this comes up with are super nice. Really you can ask for anything. It is truly frightening.

[santa]

Those generated cyborgs are nice indeed, but I was referring to architectural design which, apart from art, requires compliance with a myriad of regulations, including convoluted building codes. It is for this reason that I admire the work of Daniel Libeskind…..the master of ordered chaos.

[setz]

Hi Des, John, Bo, Hugo, Justin, JeanLuc, and all!  I’m still here, just don’t visit the forum as often as I used to. I use FZ daily and continue to enjoy it mucho.  I can still model faster in FZ than my coworkers who are using Rhino and with exception of the generative tools there is very little that I can’t accomplish with FZ that is being done in Rhino in my industry. Hoping to see powercadd implementation soon.

[Andre Conlledo]

Me too, always concerned about formZ doing well. It's an amazing tool and I'm still in love with it even after twenty something years of using it. I want it to do well, thrive and keep up with the ever changing times. 

Most of my piers use Revit and keep asking for IFC files (at least) - It'd be great to see Autodesys incorporate more file formats.  

[ZTEK]

IFC... the Big elephant In the rooM... at least for architects and others users somehow related to the AEC field.

I don't care about BIM per se, but I do care about IFC and the future of formZ without adding the format to the toolset. It seems pretty urgent to me. In this field, we need a reliable exporter/importer module to move the geometry back and forth to a capable IFC app/editor (among other reasons) to start working with the module and define a workflow, which will take some time because formZ is not a BIM app.

For many reasons, I don't propose that formZ to evolve to BIM, but an IFC I/O module will help to keep it alive, on top of all its massive capabilities as a solid modeler for architecture and many other fields.

Be capable of exporting the geometry with some logic behind the IFC exporter implementation. Have the chance to figure out a system that makes sense, a mix of modeling technics and procedures in combination with the exporter.

I have been doing something similar for years, with solids and DWG producing drawings in other programs, but now it's time to move on.

Some sort of basic new BIMish toolset would be great. For example, BricsCAD (I know, sorry!) has a tool that allows boolean un-union to separate walls, which IHMO has a lot of sense when you work on a solid modeler on complex objects sculpting walls with progressive complexity.

Separating walls (vertical elements) from each other or separating walls from slabs or ceilings (horizontal bodies) while you are working or when exporting would be an example of what I'm referring to.

I like modeling complex solid objects, keeping my models clean, producing clean visuals, and exporting fewer objects to produce drawings efficiently on an external CAD app. This method is the opposite of the Lego-BIM idea, but formZ doesn't hide the seams/lines between walls/walls and walls/slabs (in architectural terms).

So much to discuss... maybe one day we can start organizing video chat meetings. Why not?

Edited July 6, 2023 by ZTEK

[Hugo]

Ztek, i fully agree with you.

BIM as a tool is developed with cost control as the main motive, but modelling is a bad thing. Modelling 50% and working together the other 50% of the workflow. So IFC is the link, for communication with other partners. 
FormZ is in my opinion still one of the best 3D modelling tool, IFC will help to communicate with others enormously.

And, it feels not good hearing nothing from ADS these days… too quiet!

Edited July 6, 2023 by Hugo