Bonzai 3D First Impressions

Ecuadorian · 6 Feb 2009, 21:13

Wow, SketchUcation is extremely visible in Google... Every single time we start discussing a new app, a representative comes here in no time.
I'll check the Bonzai videos. I remember dissin' SketchUp for years until I sat one entire day, from morning to late night, to watch all the 28 tutorial videos, and then started to design immediately. I had never before learned to use a 3D app in a single day! I hope Bonzai3D has a similar learning curve... I said hope.

solo · 6 Feb 2009, 21:23

@unknownuser said:

We would also like to take this opportunity and express our respect for the SketchUp application. We have no interest in "killing" it. On the contrary, we expect SketchUp and b3d to compliment each other

well said.

B3D support, I suppose that the hype for this product has been high so many here will hold it to a similar bar when evaluating a product that was rumoured to be the all in one 3D modeling solution.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to our members regarding your product and welcome to GSCF by the way.

bonzai3d support · 6 Feb 2009, 21:27

bonzai3d should work fine when not connected to the net -- although the net is required to view the introductory videos. If you are having trouble running bonzai3d when you are not connected, please email your specifications to support@bonzai3d.com so we can invistigate this.

Ecuadorian (et al) -- I am sure that if you take the time to fully investigate bonzai3d, you will not be disappointed.

Again, please don't hesitate to contact us directly if you are have any questions or problems. You can also check our Forum at: http://www.bonzai3d.com/beta_forum.html , where you can get more info and quicker feedback.

b3d!

bonzai3d support

Tim Danaher · 6 Feb 2009, 23:47

Bonzai3DSupport --

Thanks for your presence here -- very much appreciated.

Will be back tomorrer with more observations -- or as and when time permits.

bonzai3d support · 7 Feb 2009, 01:43

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the warm reception on your forum. We hope to be able to provide answers to all your questions.

We have found that there can be issues when running bonzai3d without an internet connection. We are working to get this resolved ASAP.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

bonzai3d Support

xrok1 · 7 Feb 2009, 02:12

@tim danaher said:

@xrok1 said:

the thing i don't understand is that there are ump-teen 3d packages out there but somehow the elegant simplicity of SK seems to evade every other developer in the industry? nobody wants to make "another SK". i say please do, but finish the job, do it right.

There's 3DVia -- as to whether they're doing it 'right'...

302 Found

(www.3dvia.com)

3DVia is good for making paper dolls IMO, its been around a long time and hasn't really developed.

@unknownuser said:

We have no interest in "killing" it. On the contrary, we expect SketchUp and b3d to compliment each other

thats what we (I anyway) don't want, more complimentary software. gee, lets add one more step to our process

lewiswadsworth · 7 Feb 2009, 02:23

@bonzai3d support said:

We would also like to take this opportunity and express our respect for the SketchUp application. We have no interest in "killing" it. On the contrary, we expect SketchUp and b3d to compliment each other and hopefully this will be made easier when SketchUp evolves to the next level, as many of you have been requesting. Of course, you can also expect b3d to continue evolving as we hear feedback from you, and our other users.

Mmmm...at the AIA convention earlier this year, the word at your booth was not killing--I'll grant you that. It was replacement. When I casually expressed some skepticism concerning this, I inadvertently provoked an awkward scene that was witnessed by other members of this forum and which is best left undescribed further.

Now that we have all become a little more pessimistic about the future of SketchUp (it can't coast on Rubies forever), I'll also grant that the time is ripe for a replacement. So I will give your program a few more tries as time permits and try to figure out what I did that crashed it. But I agree with Tim's earlier opinion that there is a lot here that is obviously derived from FormZ. And I once quit a well-paying job with a visualization firm for an intern architect's negligible salary when it became obvious that my destiny was to be the "FormZ guy" for the rest of my time in that visualization firm. I've never regretted that decision, ever. I'm staring right now at the long-unused dongles for about $4k worth of various earlier versions of FormZ that were purchased using my own not-very-great savings. I keep them around to remind me of this so-often-overlooked fact: it's not what a program can do, it's what a person can comfortably do with the program.

remus · 7 Feb 2009, 09:05

Ecuadorian, have you tried it with an SU6 file? As SU7 wasnt released very long ago they might not have support for the new file format yet.

Tim Danaher · 7 Feb 2009, 09:09

@bonzai3d support said:

bonzai3d should work fine when not connected to the net -- although the net is required to view the introductory videos.
bonzai3d support

As I stated previously, please make these available as a separate download so we can peruse them at our leisure. the waiting times for them to load are just not viable at the moment.

Oh, and another thing: some way to navigate with the mouse. The disconnect between bonzai's way and the other programs I use is just too great. And that Cone of Vision thing -- it's pants.

SU has it nearly right: MMB -- Orbit/Tumble, MMB + LMB -- Pan, Scroll wheel -- Zoom. (I know you have scroll-wheel zoom in Banzai). My suggestion would be MMB + RMB -- Scroll. On some mice (like mine) the scroll-wheel action makes zooming unpredictable and erratic.

Tim Danaher · 7 Feb 2009, 09:41

@remus said:

Ecuadorian, have you tried it with an SU6 file? As SU7 wasnt released very long ago they might not have support for the new file format yet.

Indeed, Remus. I does import SU6 files.

Ecuadorian · 8 Feb 2009, 06:16

I've just noticed that Bonzai has .skp files listed in the Import dialog, but can't open a single one of my SketchUp models. And .skp files do not appear at all in the export list. If this is supposed to "complement" and not "kill" SketchUp, the development team has to sort this out quickly.

Feb-8 Edit: I suspected it could open SU6 files, but I still feel that not being able to export to SketchUp is what I call putting a "lock-in" on your data. Easy comes, but not easy goes...

chango70 · 8 Feb 2009, 07:53

If Bonzai3D can pull off nurb support with an intuitive UI then it is onto something. Does anyone have anything to say about its UI? My copy crashes as soon as I clich in the modelling space.

lewiswadsworth · 8 Feb 2009, 16:12

I dislike the Bonzai UI. It's not as bad as FormZ in UI, but it's not particularly intuitive. I haven't had that much time to play with it (between crashes), but there are simply too many tools doing too many very similar things. That breakdown of the selection tool (in every other modern modeler) into three different tools is really annoying. I really do think of Bonzai as a rebranded and repriced version of its ancestor...it's "FormZ Lite."

I can make Rhino do what Bonzai does already (including the implicit history bit), and Rhino will do dimensions and in fact function as a full-out 2D CAD program as well as a NURBS modeler. Rhino doesn't have a UI any more fluid than Bonzai, but at least I know enough about it to teach it. And Rhino 5 is supposedly around the corner (relatively speaking), with realtime shadows and more parametrics. Who knows? Perhaps I already have my SketchUp killer, and have for the last 8 years.

Mike Lucey · 9 Feb 2009, 09:51

@lewiswadsworth said:

it's not what a program can do, it's what a person can comfortably do with the program

Lewis, you never said a truer word

Mike

thomthom · 9 Feb 2009, 13:32

Anyone able to use it? To me to crashes every time after about 30 seconds.

XP Pro 32bit, Quadro FX 3500, 4GB RAM

thomthom · 9 Feb 2009, 14:17

I experience crashing every time after about 30 seconds. I only have enough time to make a cube and draw a couple of lines on it.

Windows XP Pro 32bit, Intel Core2 Duo, 4GB RAM, Quadro FX 3500. 169.96 drivers. I had 181.20, but they lead to terrible performance in SU and would crash when I started two SU instances.

bonzai3d support · 9 Feb 2009, 16:04

Gentlemen,

A number of you mention that you get "instant crashes" after launching bonzai3D. We have found one potential cause of this problem can be certain Windows Customization settings. If you are having this problem, right click on your desktop, select Properties: Appearance: Font Size, is this set to Normal? If not, does setting this to Normal fix the problem?

If you still have trouble, if you go to Display Properties: Themes: and choose a standard theme (such as Windows XP, or Windows Classic) does this fix the problem?

We have also found that it is possible to get a "trial copy expired" message to appear when you are not connected to the internet. We are working hard to get both of these issues (as well as a number of others) fixed as soon as possible.

We also hope to add support for SketchUp 7 format files soon. (As you have discovered, use SKP 6 format until then.)

Please let us know if you have any further questions, suggestions, or problems by emailing us at support@bonzai3d.com , or by posting on our forum: http://www.bonzai3d.com/beta_forum.html

All the best,

bonzai3d Support

xrok1 · 10 Feb 2009, 01:26

@mike lucey said:

@lewiswadsworth said:

it's not what a program can do, it's what a person can comfortably do with the program

Lewis, you never said a truer word

Mike

Its a combination of both

bonzai3d support · 10 Feb 2009, 20:18

Gentlemen,

Glad that most of you are liking bonzai3d so far! We have been working hard, and we are pleased to announce that bonzai3d public beta update (build 7194) is now available. To access this, please click the link below:

(bonzai3d.com)

This update fixes a few critical problems in the bonzai3d public beta build 7188. Future updates will be available through the "Check For Update" item in the Help menu.

Fixed issues include:

Crash on Windows with certain display font settings.
Crash at startup when an internet connection is not present.
Crash when attempting to view Introductory Videos when an internet connection is not present.
Video audio not stopping when the video window is closed.

As noted, this patch addresses these critical problems. We expect to release more patches frequently via the automatic update process to fix the rest of the issues that have been reported.

If you have not yet downloaded the beta version, you can download this new updated version by filling out this short form:

(bonzai3d.com)

We are also working on a number of performance enhancements that will be implemented soon.

Thanks again for your reports. Let us know if you find anything further, and let there b3d!

support@bonzai3d.com

Mike Lucey · 11 Feb 2009, 11:23

Does anyone know what price will Bonzai3D be when launched? I have downloaded and had a little 'play' with it on the Mac .... and NO, its didn't crash

I see no indication of price and was a bit disappointed as I thought this should be indicated.

Mike