form•Z 6.6 RELEASED
form•Z and form•Z RenderZone Plus 6.6 is released. A DVD will automatically be sent to all form•Z Family Plan users. It will include a new library of tree symbols.

V. 6.6 will also be released as a patch online for form•Z 6.5.6 (only) for non-Family Plan users. The patch will not include the new tree textures. Tree textures may be obtained on a DVD available to order by non-family Plan 6.5 users at the cost of processing and shipping. V. 6.5 users will be able to install v. 6.6 using the same codes as for v. 6.5. ORDER HERE>>

All other users, on a version below 6.5 should contact their local dealers (to find one near you, CLICK HERE>>) or sales@formz.com to get pricing information to the latest version.

Improvements in form.Z 6.6
Foremost, update 6.6 offers corrections to irregularities reported to AutoDesSys since our previous release and introduces a variety of stability and performance enhancements. Some of these can be attributed to new and updated versions of the Lightworks libraries for rendering and of the ACIS libraries for smooth modeling. form•Z 6.6 also offers a few new features, mostly in the area of export/import.

New export/import translators and additions to existing
Collada (.dae) files can now be imported to and exported from form•Z, using a new translator. Collada can be used to transfer object geometry, textures, and other 3D data.
Google Earth (.kmz) files with 3D content can now be imported into form•Z and vice versa.
Also, Google Earth views can now be created as textured objects directly in form•Z, after they have been captured in Google Earth.
Google SketchUp (.skp) files can be imported directly into form•Z through a new translator, which includes support for textures that import smoothly into form•Z RenderZone Plus.
The DWG/DXF translator now also supports the 2007/2008 formats and has been updated to support text elements better.
The ZPR (Zcorp) translator now also supports version 2 of the ZPR file format.

More tree symbols
The form•Z tree symbols have been enhanced with more than 30 new trees including seasonal variations and palm trees.

AutoDesSys PREVIEWS NEW 3D MODELER-BonZai 3D-AT AIA2008
BonZai 3D made its maiden appearance in Boston, at the AIA 2008 conference, to oohs and aahs by onlookers who were stunned by its ease of use and capabilities. Multitudes of e-mails have since arrived asking for its release date in anticipation of getting an application that does not only offer simplicity, convenience, and speed in design, but, above all, robust geometry and reliability for taking the task to the next steps such as exporting, 3D printing… READ MORE>>

AutoDesSys plans a public beta testing period before the release of BonZai 1.0. Everyone will be notified within a month or so, to have the opportunity to participate.

form•Z USER WINS LIGHTWORK DESIGN IMAGE COMPETITION
AutoDesSys is very happy to announce that the first LightWork Design Image Competition award has gone to Paal Reksten of Opus Architects, in Norway. Congratulations to a long time user of form•Z for his masterful use of the tools in RenderZone.

According to the LightWork announcement on its web site, “There was a fantastic response, with entries submitted from across the globe, created using a broad variety of different LightWork-based applications and illustrating a range of different sectors.” Several entries came from form•Z users. You can see the winning entry and submissions CLICK HERE>>

LIGHTWORK DESIGN ANNOUNCES SECOND ROUND OF RENDERING COMPETITION
Having completed the first round of the image competition, LightWork Design has moved on to a second round. You can find details on how to enter the competition CLICK HERE>>

NEW ARCHITECTURAL DEMO
For the AIA 2008 form•Z demo, AutoDesSys, recreated the Beijing National Stadium that was designed by the Swiss company Herzog & de Meuron for the 2008 Olympic Games, to show form•Z’s design capabilities. This video can be seen CLICK HERE>>

NEW RENDERING DEMO
Another demo at AIA 2008 was to show the capabilities of RenderZone Plus. For this purpose another exercise centered on some well known architectural buildings to depict the features and tools for lighting and rendering. The buildings used were the Ronchamp Chapel by Le Corbusier, House Chmar by Scogin, Elam & Bray, the Chapel of Saint Ignatius by Steven Holl, and Educatorium Inutrect by OMA/Rem Koohaas. You can check this out CLICK HERE>>

SIGGRAPH 2008
AutoDesSys will be exhibiting at Siggraph in Los Angeles, August 12-14, in booth #919. Stop by to check out the newest and latest in form•Z RenderZone Plus, and of course BonZai 3D.

uZer IN FOCUS
In this issue we focus on Des Clarke, a one man shop from Ireland, and a frequent contributor to the form•Z forum. A guy who still has tattoos from ink spots on his fingers, from the days he drew perspectives on paper. In his own words: “how we have moved on”. Read this article CLICK HERE>>

form•Z FEATURED USERS
In this issue the following users are featured:
Eric Tremblay of Polygone Studios In Montreal, Canada
Ed Blackman, Blackman Architectural Illustrators in Lake Helen, Florida
Nicholas Cascarano and Harry Van Oudenallen of Arquitectura in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

SUBMIT YOUR WORK FOR THE 2009 CALENDAR
form•Z users are invited to submit their images for consideration to be featured in the 2009 calendar. A 15 year tradition now, AutoDesSys is looking for images modeled in form•Z, and although we are biased towards RenderZone renderings, we welcome renderings done with other applications, and we’ll even give them credit. You can submit your creations by following instructions CLICK HERE>>

AutoDesSys TECH SUPPORT
It is hard to resist sharing the feelings of appreciation form•Z users send frequently to the technical support team. The latest one comes from Ingo Strobel from Berlin, Germany. We quote him unabridged:

“Hi
first of all, thank you 3x ! The file you repaired works beautifully.

Secondly, I am not in touch with the other office guys anymore, but I will definitely send them an email and tell them about it.

Thirdly - no matter if they use it or not I will tell them how awesome the new form•Z is... I just test-rendered the file you sent with these new functions “occlusive lighting” and “final gather” and I am stoked. It was a very good decision for me to buy the software, and start off where I stood years ago instead of getting some other 3D package. I (was at the time and) am and will be a fan of form•Z ... so one big “thank you” goes for creating that software in general! ;-)

oops - and the fourth mentioned “thanks” should be for your helpful and speedy support! I don’t think it can be taken for granted that someone is there and actually really works on stuff and helps out, there are so many bad helpdesk services in that line of work, that I stopped contacting some of them altogether. But in your case I am very positively surprised, and I think I should mention this!

best regards, thanks again
Ingo