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form·Z 5.0 includes a variety of new features
and also incorporates version 4.5, which was only released to a group
of beta testers and plugin developers. V. 4.5, first and foremost, offered
the new API technology and script language of form·Z. During
the beta testing effort, many features initially planned for v. 5.0 were
also completed.This development led to the release of v. 5.0 simultaneously
with v. 4.5.
form·Z 5.0 is the first native OS X version and represents
the end of support for the classic MacOS operating system. It requires
OS X 10.2 or later. It also supports Windows XP, 2000, NT, ME and 98.
Windows 95 is no longer supported.
Application
Programming Interface
and form·Z Script Language
The API technology and the script language of form·Z are both
methods that invite the user to develop his or her own extensions to the
program. This can be done either through a plugin that is developed outside
of form·Z or through a script that is developed using form·Z's
own editing environment.
A plugin is written in the C or C++ computer language and is compiled
into a binary library. A script is written in the form·Z script
language (FSL), which is a simplified version of the C language. It is
intended for a novice programmer who may get started with adding extensions
to form·Z without having to set up a complete C or C++ based
development environment. Once a script has been written, it is generally
fairly straightforward to convert the FSL code of the script to real C
or C++ code for use in a plugin.
The form·Z
API provides access to much of the form·Z functionality including
modeling operations, interface elements, data access, memory management
and math functions. The API supports nine types of extensions: custom
attributes, file translators, object types, renderers, commands, palettes,
RenderZone shaders, tools, and utilities. All of these are available for
plugin development. The latter five are also available for scripts. The
API includes over 3,000 functions which are explained through an HTML
based on line documentation and a PDF based developer guide. The form·Z
5.0 package contains a number of ready to run examples for scripts and
plugins that are expected to prove valuable as learning resources. auto.des.sys
expects that savvy users will take full advantage of the plug-in and scripting
capabilities to add their unique personal enhancements to the power of
form·Z.
Interface
The functionality of the Paste From Modeling... and Paste
From Drafting commands in the Edit menu have been expanded and
the ability to transfer information directly from one window to another
(without going through the clipboard) is now provided, through a newly introduced
list of windows where selections can be made.
The Select By... item of the Edit menu has been extended
with more categories for selection, the ability to define multiple selection
sets, and the ability to save the selection criteria with a project.
The font support in form·Z has been improved and
is now more compatible with the font control supported by third party software
and the operating systems. This has affected the Project: Fonts options
set in the Preferences dialog invoked from the Edit menu.
OpenGL renderings that are
produced by the
Interactive Shaded item of the Display menu,
now have the ability to include Shadows and are much more interactive
as they are executed
smoothly in real time. |
A new line renderer, called Doodle,
has been introduced in the Display menu. It produces
line drawings that look like quick hand-drawn
sketches. |
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An Interactive Shaded rendering
with and without shadows. |
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Hidden line based Doodle renderings
using different default styles |
The new item Attributes... in the Options menu
now allows a user to define custom attributes. A complete dialog based environment
where attributes can be listed, defined, edited, and/or revised is also
provided.
Information Management is another new item in the Options
menu. It allows you to articulate the information of the attributes, to
produce lists or spreadsheets and to compose records or bills of materials.
These capabilities support form·Z's BIM (Building Information
Modeling)
A few enhancements have been made to the export/import procedures
that affect mostly how text, textures, and surface styles are imported and
how facetted shapes are exported. Also, adjustments have been made to the
Artlantis, DXF, and DWG formats.
A new menu, called Extensions, has been introduced before
the Help menu. It contains the items: Extensions Manager..., Run
Utility..., Run Recent Utility, and Use Script Debugger.
They support the script editor and the execution of utility types of plugins
and scripts. At the end of the menu, a list of installed plugins appear
and can be run from there. Also, a new type of window, the Script Editing
window, has been introduced. These interface changes are discussed in full
detail in the introductory chapter of the form·Z SDK Manual.
Modeling
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(click on the images to zoom in)
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Paraboloid, Single hyperboloid, Double
hyperboloid, Hyperbolic paraboloid
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Four new primitives of ruled
parametric surfaces have been introduced: paraboloid, single
hyperboloid, double hyperboloid, and hyperbolic paraboloid. |
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Star objects created from
different base types
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The Star tool, which is a
plugin, has been introduced in the Balls palette. It produces
3D solid stars. |
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Frame objects |
A new plugin, the Frame tool,
has been added. It derives frame like structures by converting the
edges of an object into round beams and its vertices into spheres,
all of which are unioned together into a single solid.
A new plugin tool that generates new detailed screws/bolts
has been introduced next to the previous screws/bolts.
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Gear teeth with pressure angle
at various degrees
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A new plugin tool that generates accurate gears has
been introduced.
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Draft Sweeping a circle along a helix
using predefined functions sine,
cosine, half-sine, and half-cosine. |
Two new options have been added
to the Sweep tool: the ability to join coplanar faces and the
ability to generate axial and two-source sweeps from source shapes
that are already positioned at the end or ends of a path.
A new type of sweep, called draft sweep, has been introduced.
It generates sweep objects using draft angles and mathematical formulas,
which drastically extends the repertoire of the sweeps. |
A new Formula Curve tool has been added and offers the
ability to generate curves from preset or user provided mathematical formulas.
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Examples of predefined
formula surfaces
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A new Formula Surface tool has been added and offers the ability
to generate surface objects from standard formulas as well as a variety
of well known mathematical types, such as Mobius Strip, Catalan, Catenoid
Helicoid, Enneper, Henneberg, Monkey Saddle, Whitney Umbrella, Steinbach
Screw, and Shoe Surface. It also allows a user to generate a custom defined
surface from his/her own formula.
Stitches produced by the Trim/Split and Stitch tools
can now be smoothly rounded in addition to the previously available polygonal
rounding.
Smooth parametric text can now be generated by the Text Place
tool, in addition to the previously available polygonal text. The importation
and management of the text fonts has also been drastically simplified.
The Query Attributes dialog has been significantly extended
and revised to accommodate the newly introduced attribute types.
Two new tools, Object Doctor and Project Doctor, have
been introduced. They either simply detect irregularities found on an object
or project, or they repair them, whenever possible. The option to preview
the irregularities in a preview dialog is also available.
Objects can now be cloned when copied and placed. Cloned objects
follow the behavior of one of their members, when operations, such as geometric
transformations, are applied to it. Information about clones is now offered
in the Query Object dialog and a new tool, called Unclone,
has also been implemented and is useful for undoing cloning.
A new Replace tool now makes it possible to easily replace
groups of objects with a single operation. This facilitates the use of low
resolution objects as place holders during early stages of model development,
which can then be easily replaced with the real detailed objects at the
end of the process.
A new Copy Attributes tool has been introduced and can be
used to selectively copy many attributes from one object to one or more
other objects.
Rendering
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form·Z RenderZone 5.0 is based on LightWorks v. 7.4, which,
in addition to a number of bug fixes, contains a few new rendering features,
as follows:
Additional types of maps can now be used with spherical and
cubic environments to produce reflections. Cubic environments can now be
defined using a single image map that is a composite of six images, one
for each side of the cube. In previous versions the six maps had to be separate.
Spherical environments can now be defined using a spherical image map, in
addition to the previously available panoramic map. A spherical map can
be thought of as a 3D panorama that expands to the complete surface of a
sphere.
A new type of light, the environment light, has been introduced.
With this type of light images that may be mapped on an environment act
themselves like lights, which results in more accurate lighting effects.
Also, a new simple method for defining atmospheric effects of distant lights
has been added.
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A scene rendered five times, each time with
a different environment light.
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In support of the new environment light, two new image formats,
namely HDRI and OpenEXR are now supported. Lighting oriented
images in these formats are available and can be downloaded from the Internet.
At the same time, images in any format can be used with the environment
lights.
In addition to the new enhancements provided by LightWorks, a few more have
resulted from the new API release, as follows:
A variety of shaders that have been implemented as plugins have been added and can be selected from pop up menus as all the other shaders.
In addition to their functionality, they offer examples of how the shader
repertoire can be extended and customized by writing either oneีs own plugins
or scripts.
Miscellaneous
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The digitizer support that, in previous versions of form·Z,
was offered through an item at the end of the Options menu has now become
an optional plugin that may or may not be installed. It is discussed in
its own independent documentation, called: form·Z Plugin: Microscribe.
Visit microscribe.com
for more information.
Support for the 3Dconnexion Spaceball is also provided through an
optional plugin and is discussed in its own documentation, called: form·Z
Plugin: 3Dconnexion. Visit 3dconnexion.com
for more information.
Relative to the Macintosh platform, form·Z 5.0 is native
to OSX and does not support earlier versions of Apple's operating systems.
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