form•Z 10 Release Notes

form•Z 10.1

New Features:

Improved Support for Point Clouds

Large color point clouds are now supported. This includes new import formats, improvements in the quailty and performance of point cloud display and a new Terrain From Points tool.

The dispay dot size for point clouds is automatically adjusted based on the density of the cloud and the zoom level. There may be times where it is desirable to have the dots displayed at a specific size. Pount Cloud Pixel Size is a new setting in the Interactive section of the display options for Shaded Work and Wireframe rendering modes. This setting can be used to set a specific dot size (regardless of the zoom level).

There are two new import formats for point cloud data, PTS/XYZ and E57. Access is provided via the Import command (File menu).

 

PTS/XYZ

Reads point cloud data from a plain text file in .pts or .xyz format. Each line is expected to contain data fields representing a single point. Per the standard, fields are interpreted according to the number present in each line:

No. Fields	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th
3	X Position	Y Position	Z Position
4	X Position	Y Position	Z Position	Intensity
6	X Position	Y Position	Z Position	Red	Green	Blue
7	X Position	Y Position	Z Position	Intensity	Red	Green	Blue

 

Fields must be comma, space, or tab delimited. Color channel and intensity data are expected to be in the normalized range 0. – 1.


PTS / XYZ Importer Options

Points Color: Assign color of point cloud object base on a single color (set in Object Attributes > Basic > Line/Edges > Color), by Color Data in file (if present), or Intensity (as grayscale where an intensity of 0 displayed as black, and 1 as white)

File Units: Specify units used in file. Coordinates will be transformed accordingly when imported into an open project.

Reduce: Optionally thin the number of points imported into formZ. Every nth point will be included.

 

 

E57

The E57 format stores point cloud data from multiple, registered laser scans in a single high-density file.

E57 Importer Options

Points Color: Assign color of point cloud object base on a single color (set in Object Attributes > Basic > Line/Edges > Color), by Color Data in file (if present), or Intensity.

Apply Scanner Orientation: Transforms scans according to embedded scanner pose data. Leave enabled unless it appears that the pose data is incorrect.

Reduce: Optionally thin the number of points imported into formZ. Every nth raw point will be imported. For files with row and column data embedded for each scan, these may be sampled instead.

 

 

New Modeling Tools

Terrain From Points (Specialties tool palette)

Creates a terrain surface from a collection of survey points assumed to be oriented to the XY plane. Pre-pick any number of points and/or point cloud objects, select the tool, then click anywhere in the modeling window. 

Mesh Extrude (Specialties tool palette)

Extrudes a facetted surface to form a solid.

 

Base Reference Plane: Extrusion will occur perpendicular to plane specified. Depth: Thickness of extrusion. May be negative.
Merge Coplanar Faces: Results in single faces on extrusion side walls.

 

 

Mesh Base (Specialties tool palette)

Creates a solid base (plinth) for a facetted surface.

 

Base Reference Plane: Extrusion will occur perpendicular to plane specified. Depth: Thickness of base, as measured from minimum point.
Merge Coplanar Faces: Results in single faces on side walls and base bottom.

Waffle Tool (Specialties tool palette, form•Z pro)

 

 

Simplify Mesh (Meshes tool palette, form•Z pro)

 

Simplify Mesh reduces the number of faces in a triangulated object while preserving dominant features. Note that both smooth and facetted objects are converted to triangulated meshes prior to simplification.

Pre-pick multiple objects or post-pick a single object. Tool options can be adjusted before picking and when objects are within the result buffer.

Preprocess Smooth Objects: When enabled, the tool creates its own mesh from the smooth object using the following parameters. The defaults work well for most objects. When disabled, the object’s existing display mesh is used instead.

 

 

Angle Refinement: Density of initial mesh produced from smooth object, prior to simplification.

Additional Face Meshing: Adds additional facets to the initial mesh, which may provide a better result on some curved surfaces.

Simplify Mesh:
Keep Percentage: Retain fraction of original triangles.
Target Number Triangles: Approximate number of triangles in result.


 

 

New Animation Tools (form•Z Pro)

 

Create Turntable View

Quickly create a camera animation where the view rotates around its center of interest (COI).

To use, first select a camera in the modeling window or Views palette, then invoke this command.

Start Time / End Time: These allow insertion of the animation at any point in the time line.
Duration: Total animation time, in seconds.
Ease In/Out: Adds acceleration and deceleration to the animation. Useful if the turntable is intended to not be show on a loop. Leave disabled if looping presentation is desired.

Create Orbit View  (Animation palette)

Quickly create a camera animation where the view rotates around its center of interest (COI) in azimuth, altitude, or both at once.

To use, first select a camera in the modeling window or Views palette, then invoke this command.

Azimuth Start / Azimuth Start: The horizontal start and end rotation of the view camera, relative to the initial view point. Relative angles can be positive or negative. Set to 0 for no motion on this axis.
Altitude Start / Altitude Start: The vertical start and end rotation of the view camera, relative to the initial view point. Relative angles can be positive or negative. Set to 0 for no motion on this axis.

Start Time / End Time: These allow insertion of the animation at any point in the time line.
Duration: Total animation time, in seconds.
Ease In/Out: Adds acceleration and deceleration to the animation.

 

Animate Object Staging (Animation Palette)

Quickly create animations where objects are collected to, or dispersed from, their default or ‘natural’ locations. Works well for construction sequence ‘fly in’ style animations and animated exploded-view illustrations.

To use, first select all objects intended for animation, then invoke this command.

Animation Timing

Start Time / End Time: These allow insertion of the animation at any point in the time line.
Duration: Total animation time, in seconds.

Objects

Disperse: At the beginning of the animation, objects will be in positioned in their normal positions.
Collect: At the end of the animation, objects will be in positioned in their normal positions.

Offset: The total distance to move each animated object.

 

Direction: X+,X-,Y+,Y-,Z+ and Z- move each object linearly along the axis specified. XY moves each object in a radiating manner from the center of all selected objects, along the XY plane. XYZ work similarly, but radiates objects in X, Y, and Z.
Object Order: Objects do not begin to move all at once, but are ‘called’ to move in a sequence based on their initial position. The default, Automatic, follows the setting in Direction, above, and is usually the best choice, but can be overridden by selecting one of the other options.

Speed: How quickly each object moves when it is ‘called.’
Accelerate and Decelerate: Adds acceleration and deceleration curves to each animated objects.
Delete Existing Tracks: Removes any existing tracks from selected objects prior to applying new animation.

 

Click Here to see a video created with the Animate Object Staging Tool 

 

 

Orbit Light (Lights Palette)

This tool rotates a light about its center of interest while maintaining a constant distance. It also allows changing the orientation of lights interactively without using light manipulator handles, which is useful when the handles may be offscreen, as in the common case of relighting from the position of a saved view.

To use, first pick a light. Using post-pick mode, multiple lights may be selected and manipulated at once.

 

 

 

Other Improvements

 

form•Z 10.0.6

Corrections:

• Zooming in on a model on macOS with a snapped point, no longer leaves errant snap points on the screen.
• The Map Texture Classic tool now works properly on certain objects on macOS.
  Saving a file on certain macOS machines no longer causes the window to not update until a modeling tool is invoked.
• Components with line styles other than the default solid line style, now render properly on MacOS.
• Rotate a Clipping Plane with certain objects no longer hangs on Windows.
• Closing certain files on Windows no longer causes a hang.
• The Transform tool, no longer hangs on Windows with certain numeric input.
• On Windows, changes to the Dialog or Palette font or font size preferences are now properly retained when restarting the application. Note that this setting is not retained if the Display scale is changed.
• The Twin motion plugin now installs properly for fom•Z Core on Windows.
• Certain Text fields no logger become excessively large on Windows when the display scale is greater than 100%.
• Previews of RenderZone Parameters (e.g. Scene->Sky->Options) no longer hang on Windows when the System Display scale not set to 100%.
• Rotate tool no longer aborts with a 0 degree rotation on certain Windows machines.
• Delaunay tool applied to an invalid object (e.g. triangle) no longer causes a hang.
• Reference Plane Parameters Palette now updates properly when changing project's working units.

Draft Layout corrections:

• Draft Layout .fml files saved after deleting a sheet may have a corrupted title block name and path. The title block can now be fixed by re-selecting the file in the Project settings .
• Deleting a sheet no longer leads to corruption of the document title block.
• Title Blocks now work properly on new sheets, after previously deleting a sheet.
• In the Title Block definitions, highlighting an item and pressing the '-' button now deletes the proper item.
• Attempting to delete a component used by the Title Block feature, now issues a warning that the component can not be deleted.

form•Z 10.0.5

Corrections:

• form•Z will no longer hang at launch if English isn't present in the Preferred Languages in the Windows OS settings.
• The form•Z interface now scales properly on screens that have the Display Scale set greater than 100% in the Windows OS settings.
• The screen now updated properly when adjusting the Facets Display or Iso lines settings on macOS.
• Hatches now display properly on macOS
• Shaded work now shows proper transparency on materials with image textures on macOS.
• Tools that result in multiple objects with controls, now properly clear all the controls when the tool is complete or canceled.
• Performance of interactive editing on Subdivision objects has been improved.

Draft Layout corrections:

• Frame borders now display properly on macOS.

form•Z 10.0.1

New Features:

• 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.
• New Sketchfab Prep... (in Extensions Menu) 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.

Corrections:

• The login window is displayed less frequently when launching form•Z 10.
• Export to vector formats from WireFrame views now works as expected.
• Certain M3 Macintosh machines are less likely to crash under certain conditions.
• Fixed crash with saving Imager sets on certain macOS versions.
• Various stability and performance improvements
  
  

form•Z 10.0.0

Explore everything new in form•10→