Cloud License Manager

form•Z and all plugins are connected to a new cloud license manager. No mode license codes to enter and keep track of. The cloud license manager maintains all of your licenses for form•Z, RenderZone and V-Ray and are accessed through a single sign on.

When you launch form•Z for the first time, you will be prompted to sign into your account so that form•Z can access your product licenses. Once you have successfully signed in you will not need to do so again unless you clear your browser's cache or you do not use form•Z for a number of weeks.

By default your licenses are retained on your machine. This allows you to continue working even if you do not have an internet connection. If you wish to use your products on a different machine, just release the license from the old machine and sign in on the new machine. If you are in an environment that shares a pool of licenses, you can choose to release the license when you quit. The first time you quit form•Z you will be prompted to confirm your choice. You can change this setting from the "Licensing..." Item in the "Help" menu.

macOS

All products are designed to work on macOS 11,12 and 13. It is expected that all products will work on macOS 14 (Sonoma) as well (although it has not yet been fully tested). At this time, there is no restriction from using macOS 10.15 and 10.14, however we no longer test against these versions so we cannot guarantee the results and we will not be making any changes to support these versions going forward.

Native on Apple Silicon

The application is now built as a Universal Application making it native on both Apple Silicon and the older Intel Processors. This significantly improves the performance on M1 and M2 based Macintosh hardware.

Metal Rendering

The Interactive rendering modes (Wire Frame, Shaded Work) have been rewritten to use Apple’s Metal rendering API. These offer the same features as the previous OpenGL-based versions, but perform significantly better, especially on M-series processors.

Note: The amount of work behind the transition to Metal from OpenGL is significant. This change had far reaching effects as every interactive action within form•Z was affected in one way or another. The transition of Shaded Full is still underway, so Shaded Full remains OpenGL-based, but does perform better on Apple Silicon (M1/M2 processors) than previous form•Z releases.

Dark Mode

form•Z now supports macOS Dark Mode. The form•Z dark mode implementation presents a neutral gray interface, reducing eye strain and aiding critical color decisions. To enable dark mode, quit form•Z if it is running, select Dark from Apple menu > System Settings… > Appearance, then re-launch form•Z.

 

Windows

form•Z v10 runs on Windows 10 or Windows 11. The user interface on Windows has been improved with better quality icon display and support High-resolution displays.

 

Core Technologies

Modeling Core

form•Z uses ACIS 2023, which provides a number of performance fixes and internal smooth modeling features.

In Pro and Core.

 

Translators

• New H264 and MPG-4 animation export (in all animation exports).
• Updated Step Translator
• Updated SAT Translator
• Updated DWG/DXF translators
• Updated SKP translator including 2023 support
• Updated OpenNURBS (3DM) including v7 support.
• The RIB translator has been deprecated.

When importing data that is far from the origin, using any translator, an option is now offered to move the data to the origin. This is designed to mitigate computation problems that occur when working with data that is far from the origin of 3D space. The extents of the project are checked and a warning is issued when the X, Y, or Z dimensions are far from the origin.

In Pro and Core.

 

Python Scripting

Python scripting now uses Python 3. To use Python scripting, it is necessary to install Python 3→

If Python 3 is not installed on your machine, you will receive a warning at startup. Python scripting is an optional feature. The Python sample scripts (/Scripts) have been updated to be compatible with Python 3.

In Pro and Core.

 

Integrations

Twinmotion Direct-Link

Bring your design to life in Twinmotion.

form•Z integrates with Twinmotion out of the box on both macOS and Windows. It’s easy to export your project to Twinmotion using the included Datasmith plugin.

In form•Z 10, you can synchronize your project with Direct Link so that changes made in form•Z are immediately reflected in Twinmotion. In Pro and Core.

Use Twinmotion’s asset libraries to quickly add context and realism to your project. Drag-and-drop from the thousands of included materials and entourage objects, including Smart Assets like trees that grow, doors that automatically open, and animated pedestrians and vehicles that will follow a path you define. Set up skies, weather effects, and lighting effortlessly. The best part is that rendering is done live. High-quality images and animations have never been this fast. You can even present your project as a live walkthrough right in Twinmotion. For projects requiring more accurate lighting effects, there’s an easy-to-use path tracer rendering option.

In Pro and Core.

 

Learn how to install Twinmotion→

Learn how to use Direct Link→

 

Sketchfab

Sketchfab Prep… (Extensions Menu)

Sketchfab Prep provides a useful alternate method for preparing files for uploading to your Sketchfab account, as there are times when the you may need to upload to Sketchfab directly rather than using the Sketchfab Uploader utility. Sketchfab Prep does all of the preparation of your model for Sketchfab (exports .obj and mtl files optimized for Sketchfab, gathers all of the referenced texture files, and compresses it all into a single .zip file). You can then upload the final .zip directly to your Sketchfab account.

 

 

Assistant

The Assistant is an easy way to find anything in form•Z — even if you’re not sure what it’s called. The assistant is accessed by opening the Favorites Palette (spacebar by default) and then typing a key to start a search. The assistant can find tools, menu commands, layers, materials, views and more. The assistant can be accessed directly using its key shortcut (Option + spacebar).

In Pro and Core.

 

Basic Usage

Type letters to search for a tool, command, or palette. Search is flexible and adapts to your way of thinking. Typing AX or SW or AS will return the Axial Sweep tool at or near the top of the search results.

Type additional characters will further refine the search. (Note that Assistant is case insensitive, and the capital letters are used in this example solely for clarity.)

To select a result, click on it with the cursor, or use the arrow keys and enter. Assistant supports synonyms and aliases. For instance, typing PIPE will include results for form•Z’s Sweep tools, including Axial Sweep. This is especially useful when learning form•Z and you’re unsure what a certain form or concept is called.

Assistant learns from your previous choices. If you selected the Axial Sweep tool after previously entering AS, the next time you type the same shortcut, the Axial Sweep tool will appear at the head of the list. If you hold the shift key while selecting a result, you will be taken to its form•Z manual page.

Advanced Patterns

Certain patterns can be used to find or manipulate content in the current project.

l[space] finds Layers. For example “l plumbing” will find all layers with “plumbing” in their name. Click on a layer name in the list to make it active. (Command+click macOS or Ctrl Click Windows) will place any selected objects on the layer

i [space] finds Lights. For example “i ceiling” will find all lights with “ceiling” in their name. Click on a light name in the list to pick the light.

m [space] finds Materials. For example “m carpet” will find all materials with “carpet” in their name. Click on a material name in the list to make it active. Command+click (macOS) / ctrl click (Windows) to assign this material to any selected objects.

o [space] finds Objects. For example “o door” will find all objects with “door” in their name. Click on an object name in the list to pick.

v [space] finds Views. For example “v plan” will find all views with “plan” in their name. Click on a view name in the list to pick it.

s [space] finds Scenes. For example “s presentation” will find all scenes with “presentation” in their name. Click on a scene name in the list to make it active.

r [space] finds Recent project files. For example “r car” will find all recent files with “car “in their name. Click on a file name in the list to open the project.

h [space] displays a History of recent searches. Select from the list to re-apply the previous search.
presents a list of commands to manipulate the current selection numerically, do unit conversions, and so forth.

 

New Commands

Save A Copy As (File Menu)

A new option has been added to Copy Reference Files with the project. In Pro and Core.

Save Incremental (File Menu)

This command increments your project file name with a number and saves the project in its current location. (Or, to the Documents folder for unnamed projects). For example, “My Project 09.fmz” will be incremented to “My Project 10.fmz”. Use this when you’re making a design shift or exploration and there will be a trail documenting your process. If necessary, you can backtrack at any point. Assign this to a key shortcut and use it liberally, and you'll never lose a good design. In Pro and Core.

Paste Attributes (Edit Menu)

This command pastes attributes from a previously copied object (via File > Copy or CMD/CTRL-C), into any currently selected objects. When selected, the Paste Attributes Options dialog is presented which allows you choose which attributes you want to replace in the selected objects. In Pro and Core.

New Layer From Selection (Context menu)

This command makes it easier to organize Object’ Layers. It places all of the selected objects on a Layer (and optionally make the new Layer active). When selected, the New Layer From Selection dialog is presented for defining the layer name and options. If a Group is selected, the new Layer is created in the selected Layer Group. You can also control the visibility of the new layer and make it active. In Pro and Core.

 

Rename Objects (Objects Palette Menu)

Well-named objects clarify your design intent and aid collaboration with architects, designers and fabricators. Cleaning up those names also eliminates frustration when searching through the objects palette. This command provides a powerful suite of batch renaming methods, including:

• Live preview of batch name changes before you commit
• Selection filters
• Search and Replace
• Removal of ‘Copy’ text and trailing numbers from object names
• Batch renaming based on object attributes such as object type, material, and layer
• Capitalization and case changes
• Serial Numbering

In Pro.

Apply To affects which objects will be considered as candidates for renaming.

• Selected Objects. Only currently picked objects will be renamed. Disabled if no objects were selected before invoking command.
• All Objects. Will affect all objects in the entire form•Z project, including ghosted and invisible.

Filter Selection will further refine which objects will be considered as candidates for renaming.

• Contains only Default ‘Object’ Name. Limits the selection objects that were automatically named by form•Z upon creation. Objects that have already been given custom names will not be renamed.
• Contains. Only objects containing the text here will be renamed.

Base Name

• Empty. Begins with an empty base name. Must be used in conjunction with the Append section, below.
• New. Object will be renamed to the text here.
• Modify Existing Name according to options that follow.

Append information elements to the base name

• Separator sets the character or characters (up to 3) inserted between each appended information element.
• Object Type will be appended. Options for Full, Abbreviated, or Uppercase Abbreviated object names.
• Material Name will be appended. An option is provided to limit the number of characters copied to the object name.
• Layer Name will be appended. An option is provided to limit the number of characters copied to the object name.
• Serial Number. Leading zeros will be added, if necessary, to yield the number of digits indicated in the Padding Digits.

Clear Options button will set all the options to default values.

Rename Objects Notes

• It is necessary to TAB out of a text field for the preview to be updated.
• If a renamed object would exceed the form•Z name length limit (31 characters), an ellipses (…) will be shown in the rename preview.
• If a renamed object would result in an empty name, the object will not be renamed.

New Materials from Images (Materials Palette Menu)

This command accelerates the process of building new materials from large collections of texture maps (image files). It can be used to speed up the process of recreating materials originally built in another renderer, or to quickly ingest brand or packaging graphics provided by a client.

When provided a collection of image maps (jpg, png, tif, etc.), New Materials from Images will create a new material for each as the color, transparency, or bump map. Optionally, the command can infer from the filename how each image should be mapped to each channel.

For instance, metal_panel_color.jpg, metal_panel_transp.jpg, and metal_panel_bump.jpg would be considered together. The command creates a single new material called ‘metal_panel’ with the color, transparency, and bump textures mapped accordingly.

New Materials from Images offers a table-based preview indicating how the channels of each new material will be mapped, so you can be sure you’ll get your desired result before clicking ‘Create.’

In Pro.

Base Material

• Generic. Default parameters will be used for each new material.
• Copy From. Uses an existing material’s parameters as the starting point for each new material. Useful for setting up variants of a V-Ray, Maxwell, or RenderZone material.

Image Files

Select images or a folder of images to be processed.

Map To

• Color. One material created for each image. Image will be used as the color map.
• Transparency. One material created for each image. Image will be used as the transparency map.
• Bump. One material created for each image. Image will be used as the color map.
• Infer From Filename. Suffixes associated with each map type, as a comma-delimited list. The defaults provided work well, but may be edited here if you have a unique use-case. Ignore Suffixes is useful when opening a folder of images containing map types that are not supported by form•Z, such as displacement.

Conflict Resolution

• New, Unique Material. If a material by this name already exists in the project, create a new, uniquely named material.
• Update Existing Material. If a material by this name already exists in the project, update the existing material to use the new image map(s).
• Skip. If a material by this name already exists in the project, do not create a new material or update the existing material.

Improved Interface

Clipping Planes

The Clipping Plane Options (accessed from the clipping planes palette menu, or double clicking on an item in the clipping plane list) now contains numeric control for the origin and rotation of the clipping plane.

 

Materials

Materials → Keep Synchronized option (Material Parameters Palette)

New Material Keep Synchronized option allows for greater flexibility in defining alternate material representations fro use in Shaded Full, V-Ray, and RenderZone. Historically, form•Z has always tried to keep the material parameters of the installed renderers synchronized. For example, if you change a texture in RenderZone, the shaded material is updated to match as best it can. However, there are times when this behavior is not desirable, especially when the material for a particular renderer cannot be well represented in other renderers.

The new Keep Synchronized option has been added beneath the list of Material Types. When this option is turned off (it is on by default), subsequent changes to a material are not applied to the other material types, allowing each renderer to have unique material parameters. Turning this option back on applies the parameters of the currently selected material type to all renderers as best as possible.

 

Views

Update View (Views Palette Menu)

Note: In previous versions updating a view was cumbersome as you had to create a new view, delete the old and rename and re-order. The list. This can now be achieved in a single step.

The Views palette menu has a new option ”Update View”. This item is available when there is an active view in the palette. When selected, the current view settings are saved into the active View (overwriting the current setting for that view).

This functionality is available as a new command in the “View” Category of the shortcuts Manager (accessed from the Edit Menu). Animated Views cannot be updated with this method as they are controlled by the animation manager.

The Views palette context menu also includes ”Update View”. This item is enabled when a single View is selected in the Views list. When selected, the current view settings are saved into the selected View. This allows the view to be updated, without making it active first.

 

Scenes

Note: In previous versions the ability to have scenes be “unlocked” and implicitly updated caused a confusion and the system was prone to accidentally losing a scene setup. This is no longer an issue. Scenes must be explicitly updated.

Updating a scene was previously cumbersome as you had to create a new scene, delete the old and rename and re-order. The list. This can now be achieved in a single step.

Scenes are now implicitly locked. That is they retain their settings from the time that they are created. The “Lock” column has been removed.

The Scenes palette menu has a new option ”Update Scene”. This item is available when there is an active Scene in the palette. When selected, the current Scene settings are saved into the active Scene (overwriting the current setting for that Scene). This functionality is available as a new command in the “View” Category of the shortcuts Manager (accessed from the Edit Menu).

The Scenes palette context menu also includes ”Update Scene”. This item is enabled when a single Scene is selected in the Scenes list. When selected, the current settings are saved into the selected Scene. This allows the Scene to be updated, without making it active first.

 

Tools

Pipe

In Pro, Derive 2 tool palette.

Effortlessly create cables, conduit runs, and upholstery piping. Select one or more input curves, set the radius— or, optionally, diameter— and click to create Pipe objects. Pipe objects are parametric. Edit the diameter after creation by way of the object’s parameter tab in Inspector.

 

Structural Shapes

In Pro, Specialties tool palette.

The Structural Shape object type introduces parametrically defined common structural materials, including rod, round tube, rectangular bar, rectangular tube, hexagonal bar, hexagonal tube, H-beam, I-beam, angle (90 degree), U-channel, T-bar, and Z-bar.

• Freely draw between any two 3D points. The bottom of the Structural Shape will remain aligned to the ground plane.
• As parametric objects, it’s easy to later edit the type, dimensions, or rounding of multiple Structural Shape objects at once.
• Justification makes revisions easier. With justification, you can refine the profile shape and proportions and keep the profile properly justified or aligned to neighboring objects. For example, beam profiles can be justified to the underside of a ceiling. If the web height is later changed from 10" to 12", the top of the beam will remain aligned with the ceiling; there’s no need to move them down “manually.”
• Shape 2D Surfaces can be constructed, too. They work nicely as inputs to an axial sweep tool.

Create option, from left icon:

• Surface. Useful as an input to the axial sweep tool.
• Predefined. Extrusion uses length specified in Length field.
• Dynamic, Perpendicular to Plane.
• Dynamic, Between Two 3D Points. The bottom of the profile shape will remain aligned to the ground plane.

Section

Select type from pulldown menu, then edit shape-specific dimensional options.

 

Advanced Transform

Enables advanced justification options.

• Justification Radio Buttons. Nine options to justify the shape to the object origin (set at the mouse click point initially). Useful for keeping your profile object properly aligned to other objects when it is created, and to keep the correct relationship to other objects if you edit the profile’s dimensions in later (in Object Parameters). The justification setting can be changed after the profile is created, too.

 

Catenary

In Pro, Generate tool palette.

A chain, hanging under its own weight with both ends anchored, forms the characteristic curve known as the catenary. An overhead utility wire, a tram cable, and a chain connecting two posts will each assume this form.

With the Catenary tool, you can construct these curves in natural, interactive manner. Choose a hanging or inverted curve, click anywhere in 3D space to establish the curve endpoints, then drag up and down to control the depth. There’s also an option to control the catenary by the length of the curve: the catenary will maintain the length you’ve specified as you drag the two endpoints about. The resulting Catenaries are parametric objects, so you can adjust their controls at any time after creation.

Catenaries can be used as inputs to derivative object types such as extrusions, sweeps, and NURBS surfaces.

The first two mouse clicks will establish the endpoints (anchors) for the catenary; these can be anywhere in 3D space.

Construct By

• Depth. The depth of the catenary is measured from the lowest endpoint if Hanging, and the highest endpoint if Inverted. If Dynamic is enabled, a third click will interactively set the depth.
• Length. the catenary curve will maintain a constant length after the first endpoint is established.
  3D endpoints and all parameters may be edited after creation: Select one or more Catenary objects with the Pick Tool, then click on the Parameters tab in the Inspector.

 

Boundary Slice

In Pro, Modify tool palette.

The Boundary Slice tool identifies all objects inside and outside of a 2D shape or a 3D volume, and splits objects that lie on the boundary. The Boundary Slice tool can optionally delete all objects on the outside or inside, or sort them onto unique layers.

Boundary Slice works on virtually all object types, including lines, surfaces and solids. It can be used in any context, but excels in isolating parts of large imported files. It has a mode where it will work on the entire project without the need for pre-picking or temporarily enabling hidden layers.

 

Pick Set 1

Objects to be split and sorted. All object types are supported.

Pick Set 2

Single cutter object. May be a surface, closed wire, or solid. If a surface or closed wire, the split is projected along the normal.

 

Keep Inside

When enabled, objects inside the cutter are retained.

• Same Layer. Results will be placed on the same layer as the object that was split. Active Layer. Results will be placed on the current (active) layer.
• Single New Layer. Results will be placed on a new layer. Name specified in Layer Base Name.
• Multiple New Layers. Results will be placed on multiple new layers. New layer name will be the split object’s original layer name + Layer Base Name.

Keep Outside

When enabled, objects outside the cutter are retained. Layer options for this section are the same as those for Keep Inside, above.

 

Heal Split Solids

When enabled, split solid objects will be stitched so they are made solid again.

 

Affect Un-Split Objects

When enabled, objects that are not themselves split will be sorted as well. For example, if Keep Inside is enabled and Keep Outside is disabled, an un-split object that lies inside the cutter boundary will be retained, (and will be placed on a layer according to Keep Inside layer options), while an un-split object outside the boundary will be deleted.

• Originals. The original un-split objects will be re-layered.
• Copies. Copies of the un-split objects will be re-layered.

Process Entire Project

Advanced option to have the Boundary Slice Tool operate on the entire form•Z project, optionally including locked or hidden objects, pre-pick a single cutter object, then click the Apply to Project button.

• Ghosted, invisible, Locked. Consider or ignore objects with this attribute. Results will retain the same attribute.

 

 

Paint Objects

In Pro, Tform 2 tool palette.

 

Paint Objects is an artist-friendly tool for creating convincingly natural distributions of entourage. It adopts a spray-paint metaphor to dynamically place copies of a set of objects onto any surface.

Use this tool to paint trees, plants and stones in an landscape, pedestrians and vehicles in an urban environment, chocolates in an advertisement— any scene requiring a natural-looking, organic distribution.

• Prevents intersections between placements with three grades of collision detection.
• Random rotation and scale control controls
• Brush diameter control specified in real-world units
• Brush placement density includes linear and cubic falloff options.

Basic Workflow

Select your source geometry, which may be any number of objects, groups, or components. Then, click on the object you’d like to spray the geometry onto, and drag to paint. Copies of source objects will be placed randomly in equal proportions. Release that mouse button when done with your stroke. Once the source objects have been loaded into the tool, you can paint multiple strokes (click-drag movements) without re-selecting them.

Reload with New Source Objects

With the Paint Objects tool active, it is possible to ‘reload’ with new source objects without clearing the collision detection buffer. From the form•Z main menu, choose Edit > Deselect, or hit your equivalent key shortcut. Then, select a new object and begin painting again. Note that it is necessary to hold down the shift key to select multiple objects.

Speeding things up

When placing objects with many thousands of polygons, Paint Objects may respond more slowly. For a more responsive experience, try the following:

• Enable ‘Bounding Box Preview’ mode.
• Consider joining groups composed of many objects into fewer objects (use f form•Z’s Join tool).
• Consider converting the source geometry to a Component. Then, in Display Options, change Component Display to Bounding Box.

Tool Options

Bounding Box Preview

When enabled, bounding boxes will be placed when painting. When the mouse button is released at the end of a stroke, the bounding boxes will be replaced with the final geometry. With complex objects, this significantly improves performance.

Place Mode

• Single. Creates a single instance. This is like form•Z’s continuous-copy mode, plus randomization and collision detection features.
• Draw. Issues a linear stream of objects along the cursor position. Click-drag with the mouse to paint, release the mouse button to stop. A low density will create a line of objects with random gaps.
• Paint. Places objects in a randomly within a circular brush field.

Falloff

• None. Distributes placements evenly throughout the brush field.
• Linear. Concentrates placements near the center of the brush.
• Cubic. Results in even greater concentration at the center, and few placements near the edge.

Placement Intersections

• Allow. Placements are allowed to freely intersect.
• Avoid: Good. Uses world-aligned bounding boxes to reject intersections.
• Avoid: Better. Uses local object/group axis-aligned bounding boxes. Allows for significantly tighter packing than the Good option, with similar performance. This option works well for most applications. Source objects’ axes should be aligned to the minimum of the object for best results.
• Avoid: Best. Computes actual intersections of objects. May be slow.

Source Axes

• Use Object/Group Axes. Use form•Z’s Edit Axes tool to modify the origin and axis of the source object/group/Component. This allows one to, for instance, set the axis so placements will be slightly embedded when painted on a destination surface.
• Bottom, Center of Selection. The source origin will be computed at the average point for x and y, and at the minimum for z. Axes will be world-aligned. Useful for many entourage cases, where this is often the desired origin.