Drawing objects:

Dynamically generated 2D surface objects and 3D solids

The set of drawing tools available in form•Z allows you to draw directly on a reference plane or on the surfaces of other previously created objects. You can draw rectangles, circles, ellipses, arcs, symmetric polygons, open or closed sequences of lines, and splines. You can actually draw continuous sequences of straight lines, arcs, and splines, rather than first drawing them separately and then joining them. However, the latter option is also available, and form·Z offers a variety of 3D line editing tools that allow you to both break and connect lines, as well as to round or bevel corners of shapes.

Basic shapes can be easily combined to create complex shapes through the use of a variety of operations available in the program. For example, shapes can be multi-copied in a symmetric or asymmetric fashion and can then be unioned of differenced to derive composite patterns such as the ones shown above.

Above, a sample of 3D forms that can be generated directly is shown in a hidden line drawing (above left), in a hidden line with edges of curved surfaces eliminated (above right), and in a shaded rendering.

The 2D shapes you draw may be left as they are, or can be used later to derive a variety of 3D objects. To see how, visit the Derivative 2D shapes and 3D forms page. Or form•Z can derive extruded objects immediately, as soon as the drawing is completed. The distance of the extrusion can be set numerically, or can be entered graphically through a rubber banding process that allows you to visually determine the "height" of the extrusions. Both parallel extrusions and extrusions to points are available, as well as a special extrusion that creates wall objects called enclosures.

A particularly unique feature of form·Z is its ability to draw and generate both 2D shapes and 3D extrusions directly on the surfaces of previously created objects. When creating extrusions in such a fashion, the direction of the extrusion is perpendicular to the surface on which you draw. This feature makes it easy to create configurations of objects in positions that are relative to each other, such as shown in the above example.