Auto.des.sys Present a Sneak Preview of formZ 6.0

- 10.1.06 - AutoDeSys, Inc gave a sneak preview of form.Z 6.0 at Macworld, San Francisco. Version 6.0 is currently in beta testing and due out later this winter.

Attendees were invited to be part of AutoDeSys' very own Rube Goldberg-like show-and-tell demonstration, with one stellar participant/competitor - form.Z 6.0!

Object animation is the most significant feature of form.Z 6.0 that enables objects and lights to be animated directly in form.Z. The new animation features expand upon the currently available camera animation capabilities. Like all tools in form.Z, animation is a design tool. Animation can be used for traditional design visualisation or as a way of generating 3D forms from the animation process. The combination of animation transformations, parameter animation, morphing. and deformations create a new dimension in design exploration and form generation. These are, of course, forms that cannot be created with traditional methods and imply results that can only be produced by artificially creative processes. form.Z 6.0 empower its users to explore forms even they had not suspected that they existed. They will not only have the opportunity to animate objects, but do it as part of the design process and without the need to switch applications or leave the form.Z environment. The new animation features are seamlessly integrated into form.Z and, in addition to supporting the production of animated visualisations, they aim at supporting dynamic modelling and form creation. This provides a new venue for design exploration.

The form.Z 6.0 animation environment features a hierarchical track based animation model. This approach allows for sharing of common motion parameters and construction of complex motion scenes. A track is an animatable parameter of an entity. Tracks are used to control the position, rotation, and scale of an object, light, or camera. In addition, each entity has tracks for controlling its specific parameters. The form.Z animation environment supports both keyframe and path based animation techniques.

The major highlights of the new animation features are described below:
… Animation Score, Editor, and Timeline palettes provide support for creating and editing animation parameters.
… Animate by Keyframe tool adds a keyframe to a selected object, light, or camera. A keyframe is a snapshot of the current parameters (tracks) of an entity at a specific position.
… Animate by Path tool is used to animate an object, light, or camera relative to another form.Z object, light, or camera. The common usage of the tool is to animate along a spline object that defines the path an object, light, or camera should follow. The tool establishes a link between an animated entity and a path. Standard form.Z editing operations can be applied to the path to control the animation. The tool offers a variety of alignment options to control the orientation of the animated entity relative to the path.
… Animation Extraction tool extracts one or more animated states of an object during an animated sequence, which become new objects, as opposed to images. This facilitates the capturing of forms produced by the animation and amounts to a new form generation method. The path of an animated object can also be extracted as a spline object for use in other animations. The extraction operation can be applied to lights and cameras.
… Controlled Deformations will also be included to allow the parameters of deformations to be retained as controlled objects, to facilitate editing and animation of deformation parameters. The deformation operations are retained in a sequential format and can be reordered and edited.

In addition to animation a host of other features and improvements are included in form.Z 6.0. To mention a few:
… ZPR import and export has been added to support the file format that is used by 3D printers from Z Corporation (www.zcorp.com). form.Z can export 3D models to this format for 3D printing including full textures for colour printing. ZPR files can also be imported into form.Z as complete 3D solid objects where they can be edited and have textures added for color printing.
… The new S-Loft tool (skinned loft) offers a new flexible method for creating complex objects such as branched surfaces. The tool constructs objects by fitting a surface through a series of source shapes and can optionally use paths and guides to further define the shape of the object.
… The new Morph tool offers powerful new ways to create objects by combining existing objects to create a new form. This tool is powerful because it will morph an object into another even when the latter does not have the same topology (same number of points and edges). The morph operation can be animated with the new animation features to create dynamic transitions between objects.
… New Search and Replace tools for text have been added in the modelling and drafting environments. They include the ability to search and replace the content of text in a form.Z project and also text parameters such as font, style, and size.
… Operations on Smooth Objects have been enhanced so that they are less restrictive and behave more like operations on facetted objects. Parts (points, edges, faces and holes) of smooth objects can now be transformed using the standard transformation tools. The Extend and Attach tools have also been enhanced to operate on smooth objects.
… The new Transform tool combines functionality found in the Move, Rotate and Scale tools into a single tool. The transform tool offers a more interactive interface and facilitates making multiple changes to the position, rotation, and scale of an object without needing to change tools.
… The new Rendered Texture tool adds the ability to bake a RenderZone texture onto a form.Z object. This converts parametric textures and decals into bitmapped textures for use in export formats (including ZPR) or 3rd party renderers.

About auto.des.sys
auto·des·sys, Inc. (automated design systems) is a privately held company, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, USA. auto·des·sys functions on the philosophy of product quality coupled with user satisfaction. It believes in offering solutions, rather than simply tools. Numerous enhancements to form·Z are based on suggestions from users who have come to respect the company for its responsiveness to their requests and needs. The goal of auto·des·sys is to continue to offer advanced modelling and design tools at a very affordable cost. For more information about auto.des.sys www.formz.com

About CU's 3D Group:
Computers Unlimited's 3D Design Group focuses on specialist products from a number of vendors including Nemetschek N.A., Abvent, autodessys, NewTek, @Last Software, Eovia, Maxon, AEC Software, Informatix, Discreet and Ashlar Vellum.