Cross-platform, design-oriented form.Z v5.5 combines surface and solid, polygonal, and smooth modeling; NURBS; and parametrics. Bend Along Curve tool bends objects along any freely flowing 3D curve, and API includes methods for automating script development. With direct key and mouse driven navigation, interface offers scenes palette and contextual menu. LWA files and their predefined material can be imported and accessed by rendering procedures.

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August 1, 2005 - Siggraph 2005, Los Angeles, California: AutoDesSys, Inc., the developer of form.Z, is pleased to introduce form.Z 5.5 and present a sneak preview of the next release, version 6.0, at its Booth # 1447.

Live demonstrations will cover case studies of the modeling and rendering process, with emphasis on newer tools, such as smooth parametric modeling and cloning. On the rendering side, setting up a variety of rendering effects will be demonstrated, including the recently released HDRI based environment light. All this will be applied to a model of the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamen, the Egyptian "boy" Pharaoh, currently exhibited in Los Angeles.

In addition, AutoDesSys will preview some significant new tools in the just released form.Z 5.5 and in the forthcoming form.Z 6.0.
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form*Z 5.5 includes a number of new tools, interface enhancements, file translators and improved versions of smooth modeling, rendering and network rendering. The most impressive new modeling tool is Bend along Curve, which bends an object along any freely flowing 3D curve. For example, this operation can take a linear object like a pencil and give it the shape of a pretzel. Direct key and mouse driven navigation, scenes palette, and a contextual menu are the main interface improvements. A completely revised DWG/DXF translator now supports Autocad 2004 and 2006 files. LWA (LightWork Archive) files and their predefined material, originating from a variety of real life manufacturers, can now be imported and accessed by the rendering procedures. An improved version of the form*Z API includes new methods for automating script development making form*Z scripts easier to develop.

Object animation is the most significant feature of form.Z 6.0. This new feature enables objects and lights to be animated directly in form.Z. The new animation features expand upon the currently available camera animation capabilities. Like all tools in form.Z, animation is a design tool. Animation can be used for traditional design visualization or as a way of generating 3D forms from the animation process. The combination of animation transformation, parameter animation, morphing and deformation create a new dimension in design exploration and form generation. These are, of course, forms that cannot be created with classical traditional methods and imply results that can only be produced by artificially creative processes. form.Z 6.0 is scheduled to be released later this year.

"The addition of object animation will bring form.Z full circle", said Chris Yessios, President of AutoDesSys. "This is something that our users have wished for and the beauty of it is that they will not only have the opportunity to animate objects, but do it as part of the design process and without the need to switch applications or leave the form.Z environment. form.Z has long been hailed as the ultimate modeling cross platform program. It will now empower its users to explore forms even they had not suspected that they existed."

The July/August 2005 issue of ID Magazine, dedicated to the juried "51st Annual Design Review" features a number of form.Z users who won awards of Design Distinction and Best of Category in the environment, furniture, and equipment categories. The recently published in.form.Z 2005, AutoDesSys' annual newsletter, is a celebration of form.Z user work. It is a testimony to the combination of creativity and technology, the application of the digital to the demands of design in a variety of industries. The credits for the cover image go to Giorgio Borruso whose virtual study of the Fornarina store that opened at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas is featured. He won numerous awards for the design concept, including the Store of the Year Award. Copies of in.form.Z 2005 are available at the AuotDesSys Booth # 1447 at Siggraph 2005 or by writing to us.

form.Z is a cross platform design oriented 3D modeler that combines surface and solid modeling, polygonal and smooth (resolution independent) modeling, NURBS and parametrics. form.Z includes 2D drafting, information management, raytrace and radiosity rendering, animation, an open architecture with an API and script language that offer further means for customization.