Bonzai 3D First Impressions
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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...
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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.
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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.
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@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
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Anyone able to use it? To me to crashes every time after about 30 seconds.
XP Pro 32bit, Quadro FX 3500, 4GB RAM
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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.
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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
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@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
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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:
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:
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!
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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
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Hi!
the answer is maybe here
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hmmm, $500 is roughly the same price as SU pro.
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Does it not strike anyone as strange that Bonzai 3D is version 7, they caught up with Sketchup pretty fast
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I am still having display issues on XP
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Fakircho,
What video card and driver version are you using when you get these display issues?
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Nvidia 7900 GT driver 6.14.11.7516
I see that Nvidia have new driver posted a few days ago will give that a go.
UPDATE - driver 6.14.11.8122
Just updated to the latest driver and there was no improvement.
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Fakircho,
Thanks for your testing and report. We have now been able to reproduce this, and we will get it corrected.
Please let us know if you have any further questions or problems.
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Bonzai Beta crashed within 2 minutes of trial..on basic stuff. It's definitely "NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME". Ive been using sketchup since version 1 and to this day I have never lost more than a few minutes of work. It's the most stable and trustworthy program I have ever used. I know sketchup like the back of my hand. They are going to have to pry the mouse out of my hand when I stop breathing and most likely the application running at the time will be SU.
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well i figured out how to get my SK models into bonzai, upload them to 3dwarehouse first?
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"They are going to have to pry the mouse out of my hand when I stop breathing and most likely the application running at the time will be SU"
I fear the same faith awaits me too
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