thingmaker Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 I have been having numerous issues with FormZ over the last year or so. Some models come in looking very strange, won't render correctly (solid, no shading), many models come in with strange striations in them. I have exported every possible way from FZ to .fact and .obj and sent the models and renders to FZ. FZ says they have not changed anything. But I have saved the files back to FZ 7 and they work much better. I have sent many examples but they say they can't do anything because they don't get a response from EIAS. Now I have discovered that there is another issue. FZ fact files don't render correctly with deformations or Northern Lights Contortionist. AND they often import with the Diffuse set to transparent (!). Regardless of what FZ says, something must have changed. I created a cylinder in FormZ, Rhino3D, Silo and Uber Shapes and FZ is the only one with screwed up the textures. Can someone at EI please contact FormZ about some of the issues? Thanks. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31924077/150115-FZissue.jpg 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Egger Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Ola Derryl! We are in the middle of a really complex change in Animator, we can't stop to verify the Fact files right now, but we will take a look later for sure. Sorry the delay to answer. Thanks Tom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Hi, FormZ 8 addresses quite a few problems but not all of them. They have definitely changed .obj export in FMZ V8, I have spoken with them about this. I have found if you try to export from FormZ with textures checked on as a .fac it causes problems. Unchecking this seems to help. Another thing to try is, triangulate on export. If you are modelling as smooth objects in FMZ 7 or 8 you may need to triangulate these within FMZ before export. FMZ treats curves very differently now (7&8), there are a lot of parameters to setup your own segmentation and facetting of arcs etc. I have found FMZ support very helpful on these aspects. Yes the communication between FMZ and EIAS has been at a standstill for ages it seems. I don't know why. From the information I get from FMZ they are willing to co-operate, I dont know what EIAS's standing is on this. The export for .fac files from FMZ is still stated as "ElectricImage V 2.9"! I feel your pain but it seems right now the only thing is to find "work arounds". I just wish I knew what the future holds, ie what is being done / discussed about issues such as these. Good luck. Some past posts here http://www.eias3d.com/forums/topic/6252-rendering-problems/ http://www.eias3d.com/forums/topic/5893-form-z-to-eias-91/?hl=form Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thingmaker Posted January 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 I understand, Tomas. Thanks! Thomo, yes thanks I am familiar with those links especially the 2nd one. Wish I could find an alternative to Modeler (Won't run on the new Mac Pro and can't also use another machine simultaneously with Animator because of the damn dongle). Rhino has stopped their Mac development it seems and FZ8 is the worst upgrade I have purchased in a long time. I am ready to give up on FZ, what are other people using for more organic modeling (as compared to architectural)? -Derryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankg Posted January 17, 2015 Report Share Posted January 17, 2015 I recommend ViaCad or Shark or a little more special Solidthinking Evolve. I use Evolve in 90% of my projects and convert the exported STEP files into FACT using Via CAD. But VIaCAD alone would do the most jobs without problems if the focus is visualization. Evolve is more for design-development. I use EIAS as a rendering-option. Regards Frankg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnabythebear Posted January 19, 2015 Report Share Posted January 19, 2015 Hiya Have to say that I have used FormZ 7 and I haven't had problems I couldn't solve with fact export. I'd be happy to look at one of your FormZ files that gives you problems. Thanks Nige. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted January 19, 2015 Report Share Posted January 19, 2015 Hiya Have to say that I have used FormZ 7 and I haven't had problems I couldn't solve with fact export. I'd be happy to look at one of your FormZ files that gives you problems. Thanks Nige. Yes I agree. I don't seem to have many problems once figuring the right export settings. I know for my PC setup that the V8 upgrade also resolved a lot of problems with various "bugs". My system is very new, graphic cards / drivers particularly and FMZ had to address this. Personally I thing FMZ 7&8 are very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supernovavfx Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 I'm just super excited to hear Tomas say he is in the middle of complex changes with animator..... anticipation! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thingmaker Posted January 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Nige, Yes, FormZ 7 works better but still problems with textures and shading. Would you mind sending me a meshed cylinder, 1:15 ratio that I can test with? Rounded edges would be great also as that is where most of the issues seem to arise. I would like to apply some deformations and Placer tests with your model/export settings. Thanks! -Derryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnabythebear Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 Hiya Derryl, Not sure how to attach files other than pictures here. Do you have an email address? Ta, Nige. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thingmaker Posted January 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2015 Thanks Nigel, the model that you sent (exported from FZ7) kept the textures correctly while being deformed but still had shading issues for me around the rounding. Anyone out there who is using FormZ 8 have a moment to send a test file? Preferably a meshed cylinder 1:15 ratio. If it is working for you, it would help me get to the bottom of the this FZ8/Deformation/Texture issue. Thanks. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31924077/150129-Cylinder-FZ-EI.png Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMeyers Posted January 29, 2015 Report Share Posted January 29, 2015 I too have had problems with FZ fact files - haven't upgraded to FZ8 yet because of numerous issues I've read on their forum, and can't afford to be stuck in limbo - but will in the future. I did Beta test Fz8, and it was good … there were issues, the main one being the fact export which is supposed to be fixed with a patch … which is another reason I hadn't upgraded, I didn't want to apply a patch to a NEW version, I was hoping it would be implemented in the version, permanently … I JUST recently had a client send me a STEP file … that I was going to import into FormZ and then export as a Fact or OBJ … it was big 1.2GB - FZ7 could not open it and crashed every time. I sent reports to FormZ tech support and their were wonderful. I sent them the file as well and they took the time to try to open it … and were only able to get a small portion of the project to open. It appears there was some bad data, somewhere. Then I went to another source - as I found out the original files were solid works … so a friend has and uses it from the local university in the applied sciences building. They looked at the SW file and were able to export several formats for me - with a Solidworks obj convertor. Again, formZ couldn't handle it, kept crashing, and I was not able to bring it into EIAS either as the files weren't recognizable (?). … hence … for the heck of it I tried to import the Universities OBJ into Blender and it opened … from blender I exported it as an obj and it opened in EIAS perfectly - with different "colors" on the parts. I must tell you that the file was huge … and I spent days looking for and through parts, grouping things etc. - then several more days applying simple textures (more like mute colors) to the over 5800 pieces. … then I needed to create an integral part of the item for the clients model (it was missing in the original SW file) … so I went to fz7 and built it - a series of "Heat exchanger Pins" - over 6300 pieces - that I grouped accordingly and sent to EIAS … no problems. … yes … things have been coming in with a transparency … I noticed that recently, why, I have no idea, so I immediately create a simple texture to assign to items upon importation and that seems to clear things up. I also … after watching the AVT Pro DVD's … now, always, export my FZ7 objects as parked FACT objects and reimport them - also, always performing a diagnosis which seems to straighten things out and will fix most anomalies - including allowing me to flip axis, inverting normals, etc … I will update to the New FZ8 soon - because I like some of the new tools - but will keep 7 handy. Again, EIAS has the tools to fix most of the exported FACT files from FZ7 … but, don't hesitate to talk to their tech support … they can usually provide an answer. I hope some of this might shed a little light … Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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