An Eye on Productivity Views + Navigation Collection introduces 5 plugins designed to boost productivity and optimize your formZ workflow.
Attention visual thinkers: Be sure not to miss the demonstration videos. Each provides a brief overview, followed by a complete feature tour. (if you have difficulty with the videos on Windows, please see here). |
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Pylon Live Section |
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With Live Section, creating cross sections and cut-away views is easy. You can interactively preview sections through complex assemblies or buildings, then section the entire structure (or, if you prefer, only selected geometry) with a single mouse click.
Interactive Placement Live Section allows you to create cross sections from the view you'll be using them from-- plan, elevation, or any arbitrary viewing angle. The sectioning plane is always perpendicular to your viewpoint. In Target mode, the sectioning plane is placed so it passes though any object clicked on. In Move mode, clicking and dragging in the modeling window moves the sectioning plane towards or away from your position.
Preview modes Several preview modes provide feedback while you position the sectioning plane:
'Hidden Line' Sections Need to make a Hidden-Line rendering type section? Live Section's Clip and slice preview modes allow you to precisely place the 'hither' clipping plane interactively.
True Sections Section just a few objects --- or your entire project--- with a single click. Cross sections are automatically placed in groups or joined into a single entity (your choice), and given meaningful names like "2D Section Top". With 3D sections, you can opt to delete (or keep or ghost) resulting sectioned objects that are between the viewpoint and the sectioning plane, allowing you to effortlessly create cutaway illustrations.
Unstoppable If Live Section encounters 'incompletely formed' objects, or objects that are inappropriate for the specified section type, it will simply skip them and continue sectioning everything that can be sectioned. When finished, the automatic Section Diagnosic will notify you if any troublesome objects were found and ask if you'd like to ignore them, automatically select them, or tag the objects' names so you can deal with them later. The automatic selection option makes it easy to send these objects to formZ's Object Doctor for diagnosis and/or repair.
Features, features, features Live Section is loaded with features to improve your workflow and keep your project clean and organized.
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Pylon Underlay Tool |
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Interactive placement and scaling Interactively move and scale your underlay by clicking and dragging in the modeling window. Or enter the height or width you need the underlay to be, and Underlay Tool will scale the underlay to meet your specification.
Show in all views, or just the important one To reduce screen clutter, you can opt to display your underlay in only the orthographic view that is relevant to your model (Top, Front, etc.). Of course, you can also choose to display it in all views as well.
Generate Matching Textured Planes* Need to use your underlay in interactive shaded mode? With one click, Underlay Tool creates textured geometry that precisely matches your underlay. Transparency controls allow you to work with dimmed underlays and transparent overlays in interactive shaded.
Composite Underlay Support For situations where you need to trace precisely registered front, top, and side views of an existing product or structure, Underlay Tool introduces support for composite underlays. A composite underlay is composed of between two and six orthographic views of the same subject, arranged on a grid. As you you switch between orthographic views in the modeling window, Underlay Tool works in the background to automatically display the appropriate underlay section at the world origin.
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Pylon Navigator |
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Have you ever wanted a an easy way to jump between 2 or 3 temporary locations in your project--- while in the middle of a drawing operation? We have. Three buttons are provided for managing temporary views in your project. Control-clicking on a button stores the current view; clicking on the button restores the view stored in the button. Each button/view can be assigned a key shortcut, so you can toggle between views without moving your cursor or taking your eyes off your drawing. Quick, easy, and you wont clog your views palette with temporary views you'll only need for the next 5 minutes.
Find that elusive view Have 40 views, and can't find the one you're looking for to match that render from several days ago? No problem. Click on the + or - buttons to cycle through all the saved views in your project until you find it. With your eyes on the modeling window, rather than the views palette, this is fast and painless.
Stay Focused Effortlessly keep your work in the center of your window with Navigator's focusing features. When enabled, AutoFocus continuously updates your view so that selected topologies appear at the center of the modeling window. Manual Focus works much the same, but focuses only when pressed. Both focus options work well in combination with formZ's direct view navigation shortcuts: for instance, formZ's "set view interactive (center of interest)" will always revolve around your selection, rather that some previously chosen point.
Options are provided for maintaining the same view heading when focusing, and for synchronizing the focus of some or all of the viewports in multiple-frame windows. AutoFocus can be enabled and disabled on a per-window basis (like grid snapping) allowing you to enable it where appropriate (some modeling windows), and keep it off where not ('hero' rendering windows). Both Auto- and Manual Focus can be assigned key shortcuts.
Grid Management Navigator's grid management makes precision drawing easier and more intuitive. Navigator introduces Grid Presets, which allow you to logically group your commonly used grid snaps, name them, and associate each with an appropriate reference grid. For instance, your presets might include a 1/8" grid snap associated to a 1 inch / 8 division display, and a 1/16" grid snap associated to a 1 inch / 16 division display. When you select a Grid Preset from the presets pop-up menu (shown in the illustration above), the grid snap, reference grid, and reference grid divisions are all changed at once. For even greater efficiency, you can skip to the next or previous Grid Preset using key shortcut equivalents. Switching presets works even while in the middle of a drawing operation.
Additionally, you can directly change the reference grid size, grid divisions, or grid snap by typing values into the text fields. Pressing the + or - buttons increases or deceases each value. (In preferences, you can choose to add/subtract a number from the value, or divide/multiply the value by a number. The default is to double or halve the current value.)
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Pylon View Target |
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Need to precisely align your viewpoint with an unusually positioned face? View Target is the solution. When a face of an object is selected and this command is invoked, the camera center of interest (COI) will be placed at the center of the face, and the eye point will be positioned normal (precisely perpendicular) to the face. This allows you to easily set up 'head on' shots of building facades that are at arbitrary angles (e.g., not parallel with the YZ or ZX planes) by clicking on a window face, or to create 'head on' views of unusually situated features in a mechanical design.
Also, when you need to create a section at an unusual angle, View Target can help: Simply position the camera using View Target, then create your section with Live Section.
View Target has functions for aligning views with other object topologies, as well, which are detailed in the reference manual. View Target can be assigned a key shortcut.
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Pylon Smart Plane |
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Have you ever been out in modeling space, the reference grid nowhere in sight, and not sure which reference plane you need to select? Even some power users occasionally suffer from reference plane confusion. Rather than resorting to trial-and-error, or zooming out until you can see the grid (or worse, attempting to figure it out in your head), use Smart Plane.
Select a segment, face, or object, then invoke the Smart Plane command. If a segment was selected, the reference plane most closely perpendicular to the segment will be made active. If a face was selected, the reference plane most closely aligned with the face will be chosen. Finally, if an object was selected, the reference plane most closely aligned with the broadest side of the object will be selected. For instance, if the object were a book, the reference plane most closely aligned to the cover would be made active.
Smart Plane can be assigned a key shortcut.
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User Recommendations
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Requirements |
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A licensed copy of formZ is required to use this Pylon Technical product. Pylon Technical does not sell formZ. Please contact auto•des•sys for formZ information.
This plugin collection is compatible with the following configurations:
Windows
Macintosh
Installers for both platforms are provided.
Limitations All plugins in this collection operate exclusively in formZ's modeling environment, as there is currently no way for plugin developers to control the drafting environment.
* Underlay Tool's "Generate Matching Textured Planes" function works in formZ Plus, formZ RenderZone, and formZ RenderZone Radiosity, but not in the formZ-only version. (The latter does not support textured geometry.)
File Compatibility formZ files produced with the help of Views + Navigation Collection are 100% compatible with formZ installations that do not have Views + Navigation Collection.
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The Navigator palette provides a number of window-related functions for optimizing your formZ modeling workflow. 
Groups of related Grid Presets are stored in user-editable template files. Navigator comes bundled with several templates— English Small (shown in the illustration above), English Machining, and Metric— which may be all you'll ever need. If not, you can modify them to suit your workflow. You can change the Grid Preset template used in Navigator at any time by selecting the 'Open' option from the pop-up menu. 
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