Rendering plug-ins

[Chris_Mac]

Hi there.... just wondering if any other FZ users know if there are any rendering plug-ins on the way?

 

I'd really like to get to grips with Brazil or Finalrender, however i hear that it's going to depend on whether the individual developers think an FZ will be worthwhile.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Chris,

 

I stay relatively active in the formZ's formZ forum. According to zweb the plug-in information for writing plug-ins will be released to the general public in about 3 months (mening 6-9 months in formZ language). But if memory serves they did say something awhile ago about contacting several rendering engine companies to see if they were interested. I imagine it is kind of a touchy issue since they have a license deal with Lightworks.

 

I went ahead and looked up the thread on formZ's forum..

 

__________________

Zweb said:

"Most likely some of you expect us to say something here, so here it is, even though the rendering plug-ins is a subject that has been discussed a few times before.

 

Yes, the idea of an open architecture is that third parties, including rendering developers, will choose to offer plug-ins for formZ. Having talked to some of them, they all consider the formZ user community an important (and prestigous) market segment that they want to address. In terms of numbers (we have to correct you, Jean-Luc) the Max : formZ ratio is something like 2-3 : 1 (far from the 20 : 1 that you suggest).

 

So, have no doubt that these are numbers that developers can't ignore, and putting some pressure on them will not hurt. At the same time, we are sure that Lightworks is taking a note of the features that you are looking for, and we expect them to do something about it.

 

ZWebTech Support"

___________

 

and of course the link so you can read the entire thing..

 

http://www.formz.com/web_site_2000/content_pages/forum01/discus/messages/16/4180.html?

 

...and I think zweb was smokin' something when they offered the ratio of users for formZ compared to Max.

 

ts. (morphine on formZ's board)

[Chris_Mac]

According to zweb the plug-in information for writing plug-ins will be released to the general public in about 3 months (meaning 6-9 months in formZ language).

>

I'm slowly beginning to lose patience with Form Z....

 

To wait so long for FZ 4.0, and then to find that it's VERY buggy, got an updated interface with some ridiculously cryptic icons, and that the ability to create plug ins (which was the feature that excited me most) will not be available for months...

 

In the past it has annoyed me when I've heard people criticise Form Z, but Auto Des Sys need to try harder....

 

Form Z may well have the best modeller around, but for the price, the rendering and animation capabilities, Lightwave and Cinema 4D are looking pretty good right now.

[bigcahunak]

Best modeler or not... untill I'm gonna get some right click menus flyout, zoom in&out with mouse wheel, being able to move dialouge windows from blocking the view and even some autocad style object handles I'm not gonna upgrade no matter how great of a rendering quality they're going to get.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

bigcahunak... version 4 zooms in and out with the wheel. finally. if you right click on a tool that had options, the options dialog pops up. this just replaced the old double click to bring the options dialog up. i am not sure what you mean by move dialog windows from blocking view.

 

...i am am not going to hold my breath waiting for a rendering plug-in.

 

if you deal primarily in architecture, i can not think of to many features after version 3.5 that would improve your work flow tremendously.

 

i am not sure what direction formZ is going in. sometimes it seems like they are content where they are at, and not wanting to push their product further. if you are critical of formZ on their board you get ganged up on by other board members telling you that it is user error, and formZ is the best thing since sliced bread. it is really frustrating.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

chris.. formZ released a patch for 4 on Friday, I have not had a chance to check it out yet. You can download it from the downloads section on their website.

[bigcahunak]

Originally posted by crazy homeless guy:

bigcahunak... version 4 zooms in and out with the wheel. finally.

OK, finally they nailed one down - great.

Originally posted by crazy homeless guy:

...if you right click on a tool that had options, the options dialog pops up. this just replaced the old double click to bring the options dialog up...

OK, that always worked. double click = single right click (on buttons).

Originally posted by crazy homeless guy:

... i am not sure what you mean by move dialog windows from blocking view.

Those same dialog pop ups we talked about earlier. Can you drag them around? No. They have no upper bar which you can grab a side with. The place where the window opened thats where its stuck. Unlike the palettes which are floating and you can drag around. Even in old Lightscape you were able to move all windows, and not only that, you could also continue working with other comands while they were floating.

 

Their forum... nah, way too many forums for me, plus I hate the way their forum looks. Its good to have you threre, though

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Originally posted by bigcahunak:

Those same dialog pop ups we talked about earlier. Can you drag them around? No. They have no upper bar which you can grab a side with. The place where the window opened thats where its stuck. Unlike the palettes which are floating and you can drag around. Even in old Lightscape you were able to move all windows, and not only that, you could also continue working with other comands while they were floating.

...you can move them now. it never dawned on me that you couldn't before.