In form•Z 10, you can synchronize your project with a Direct Link so that changes you make in your form•Z are immediately reflected in Twinmotion.
Establishing a Direct Link
- Open your project in form•Z.
- In Twinmotion, select File > Import from the main menubar or click on the Plus Button located under the import pane.
- In the resulting modal dialog, select the Direct Link tab, then from the pull-down menu, select your form•Z project’s name.
- In options, choose a Collapse mode. For maximum transfer speed, choose Keep Hierarchy (recommended). For maximum viewport performance with heavy projects, choose Collapse by Material. (See Twinmotion Import for more detail.)
- Click ‘Import’ to confirm. Note that no geometry will be imported at this step.
- Back in form•Z, if the Datasmith palette is not already visible, select Palettes > Datasmith Direct Link.
- Click either the One-Time Sync or Sync Incrementally icon.
One-Time Sync
This will ‘push’ the full form•Z scene to Twinmotion. Click again whenever you would like to review changes you’ve made in your form•Z project within Twinmotion.
Sync Incrementally
Enabling this will ‘push’ the full form•Z scene to Twinmotion, then send incremental updates whenever you make a change in your form•Z project. This is a true ‘live’ link. Disabling Sync Incrementally will suspend updates.
At this time, certain operations (notably, lights manipulation) are not supported by Twinmotion for incremental updates. If you find that the Twinmotion viewport does not reflect a change you have made in form•Z, click the One-Time Sync icon, which will send the complete scene and correct any discrepancies.
Direct Link Preferences
Optimized For: Select the app you are targeting for Direct Link here. This setting exposes options appropriate for the target, and optimizes the resulting Datasmith output. The options for Twinmotion are nearly identical to those for export. See Exporting from form•Z to Twinmotion.
Multiple Links
The implementation can handle multiple connections to Twinmotion simultaneously, though naturally only one will be active at a time. (In Twinmotion, use File > Import for each project you’d like to link). When you switch projects in form•Z, the new project will become the direct link automatically.
A note on filenames
The form•Z project filename is used as a ‘key’ for Twinmotion to recognize and synchronize project files it has seen before. When using Direct Link, it is recommended to keep the form•Z project filename the same, and choose Save A Copy As… from the form•Z File menu for versioning.