Bonzai 3D First Impressions
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I had crashing issues before, but it's been working with the latest update. Even on Windows 7 beta.
But I can't get the Place Window tool to work properly. The viewport goes all haywire when I try to use it. it zooms way into the model when I activate that tool. -
So far my sessions with Bonzai3D have been:
open crash
open crash
open crash...This is on an XP-64 OS, AMD 9950 x4 BE 2.6GHz CPU, 8Gb RAM running an ATi 4870 PCI-X card with ATi Catalyst 8.11 drivers.
[EDITED by IdahoJ -- Some comments were not constructive.]
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IdahoJ,
This behavior is definitely not normal, and crash issues should now be fairly isolated. Do you get the crash just launching, or do you need to do something else afterwards to cause the crash?
And did you make sure to install the Microsoft vcredist.exe component?
ThomThom,
There is a known issue with Place Content with Metric units that can cause a zoom problem on some systems. We are working to get this corrected, but if you go to Edit: Preferences: Language, and select English Units, you can then test the Place Content without this problem.
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@bonzai3d support said:
There is a known issue with Place Content with Metric units that can cause a zoom problem on some systems. We are working to get this corrected, but if you go to Edit: Preferences: Language, and select English Units, you can then test the Place Content without this problem.
I see. Thanks for the tip.
Looking forward to the metric fix. And the Right-click-draw-blank-viewport fix.
btw, When changing the language the messagebox said that the settings won't take effect until "formZ" is restarted...
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@unknownuser said:
...And the Right-click-draw-blank-viewport fix.
Due to some OpenGL issues on Vista, it may be necessary to turn off Desktop Composition with some graphics cards. The symptom of this problem is that when the context menu (right click) is selected in a modeling window, the window will draw blank while the mouse button is pressed. We are working on a solution for this.
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I find it quite strange that in 2009 a piece of software can have trouble with metric but work OK with imperial.... After all, back in 1958 Imperial units were re-defined as a function of metric units; they no longer have their own special definition.
So all software should be designed to work internally in metric, and use Imperial only for input/display purposes if the user needs it.
Some three weeks ago SketchUp saved my life as we were measuring a parking lot and the longest measuring tape we had was in feet and inches, but the shortest, easier to handle one had both English and metric units, and I needed to print the result in metric. In SU, you don't need to do any switching, simply type any unit you want.
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@unknownuser said:
Postby bonzai3d support on Tue Mar 10, 2009 11:23 am
IdahoJ,This behavior is definitely not normal, and crash issues should now be fairly isolated. Do you get the crash just launching, or do you need to do something else afterwards to cause the crash?
And did you make sure to install the Microsoft vcredist.exe component?
Crashes on launch and I have both the 64 and 32 bit MSVC++ 2005 Redistributable v8.0.56336 installed.
Cheers.
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IdahoJ,
We have seen a few "windows customization" settings that have caused problems in the past. We have fixed these with the latest update (bonzai3d indicates build 7218 at startup, right) but it is certainly possible that there is still a problem we have not seen yet. If you logon as Guest, do you still have this problem? Or if you change your Theme to a standard "Windows Theme" -- does this prevent the crash?
If not, can you email a screen capture showing the bonzai3d startup window as well as the crash message so we can look into this further?
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@bonzai3d support said:
IdahoJ,
We have seen a few "windows customization" settings that have caused problems in the past. We have fixed these with the latest update (bonzai3d indicates build 7218 at startup, right) but it is certainly possible that there is still a problem we have not seen yet. If you logon as Guest, do you still have this problem? Or if you change your Theme to a standard "Windows Theme" -- does this prevent the crash?
If not, can you email a screen capture showing the bonzai3d startup window as well as the crash message so we can look into this further?
I'll see what I can do guys. I've already removed it from my system...
Cheers.
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hum hum
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Pilou,
This is a strange error. We tried 100 similar operations, and they all worked properly. If you repeat your test, do you repeat the problem?
If so, can you save and send the BNZ file to us so we can investigate this further?
(Thanks in advance.)
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No repetitive problem but now it's after a copy !
Here you find the file (before the difference)
Difference A - B
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Pilou,
Great, thanks for posting. (That's a display error, not a geometry error.) Thanks for your report, we will get it corrected.
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@bonzai3d support said:
Did you actually give bonzai3d a try, and view the Introductory videos? Once you learn a few simple tricks, you should find that bonzai3d is a very powerful program that is also quite quick and easy to use.
hey man add very expensive, inconsiderate of hobbyist wallet, buggy as all hell, lies through out, (affordable for who???) ill stick with sketchup man. and i think your a total phony on your "affordable for beginners campaign) i didn't really expect anything different though due to your insane prices for formz
i guess the price determines the quality 
anyway i don't need this financial stress sketchup is free -
@tekkybot said:
@bonzai3d support said:
Did you actually give bonzai3d a try, and view the Introductory videos? Once you learn a few simple tricks, you should find that bonzai3d is a very powerful program that is also quite quick and easy to use.
hey man add very expensive, inconsiderate of hobbyist wallet, buggy as all hell, lies through out, (affordable for who???) ill stick with sketchup man. and i think your a total phony on your "affordable for beginners campaign) i didn't really expect anything different though due to your insane prices for formz
i guess the price determines the quality anyway i don't need this financial stress sketchup is freeExpensive? $499.
What's your comparison?
Sketchup Pro goes for $495.
Vue 7 Infinite: $935
Cinema 4d Core: $995
Rhino: €995
3DSMAx $3495
Maya: £4995There aren't that many cheaper 3D modelling tools. MOI goes for $195. And you got blender that's free. But I don't see it being in the "very expensive" category when you compare the whole market.
As for bugs: It's a beta. It's expected to be bugs in betas. I fail to see why people keep on complaining about bugs in pre-release versions of software. Even final versions of software got bugs. SketchUp got its fair share of them.
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@thomthom said:
@tekkybot said:
@bonzai3d support said:
Did you actually give bonzai3d a try, and view the Introductory videos? Once you learn a few simple tricks, you should find that bonzai3d is a very powerful program that is also quite quick and easy to use.
hey man add very expensive, inconsiderate of hobbyist wallet, buggy as all hell, lies through out, (affordable for who???) ill stick with sketchup man. and i think your a total phony on your "affordable for beginners campaign) i didn't really expect anything different though due to your insane prices for formz
i guess the price determines the quality anyway i don't need this financial stress sketchup is freeExpensive? $499.
What's your comparison?
Sketchup Pro goes for $495.
Vue 7 Infinite: $935
Cinema 4d Core: $995
Rhino: €995
3DSMAx $3495
Maya: £4995There aren't that many cheaper 3D modelling tools. MOI goes for $195. And you got blender that's free. But I don't see it being in the "very expensive" category when you compare the whole market.
As for bugs: It's a beta. It's expected to be bugs in betas. I fail to see why people keep on complaining about bugs in pre-release versions of software. Even final versions of software got bugs. SketchUp got its fair share of them.
your correct. when you compare bonzai to other professional modeling apps bonzai is cheap. BUT, the guy said it would be priced low so beginners and hobbyist could afford it. (many people assumed it would be affordable like silo or ac3d. and that's one of the reason why many people dl the demo of bonzai including me. however when it came time to release the actual price everything the guy said was just pure lies and went out the window... 500 dollars is NOT affordable unless you are a professional or have rich parents. simple put, it was a bait and switch
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personally i think $500 dollars i pretty affordable, especially considering the small market theyre aiming at.
I suppose it depends a lot on where you live, though. $500 in the UK isnt a huge amount, $500 in many other countries is a huge amount of money.
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Was there any promise that it's be the same price as Silo or ac3d. "priced low" is a relative term. Depends on your point of view. Silo is extremely cheap. Being one of the rare. There's a difference between "priced low" and "priced lowest". I really do think its fair to claim that they have been dishonest.
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@ecuadorian said:
...there was once this little "contest" in the MoI forum of SketchUp vs MoI. It was about which app could model a shape in less seconds. MoI won.
To be fair to sketchup, the subject was quite biased towards MoI, i.e. lots of boolean operations were involved.
</SU defense>
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Now that I remember... there's also MoI.
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It's $200
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Exports SketchUp format
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Clean interface - you can actually figure out how to do stuff, and there was once this little "contest" in the MoI forum of SketchUp vs MoI. It was about which app could model a shape in less seconds. MoI won.
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Uses the same file format as Rhino, the hottest NURBS modeler today. So if you end up working for a company that uses Rhino, It's a lot easier to convince them to buy a copy of MoI than of Bonzai3D, both because of cost and because of compatibility. Actually, of my former College friends, about half use ArchiCAD; one or two have tried SketchUp but rarely use it, and three of them work with Rhino on a daily basis. None uses Form-Z.
So...
EDIT: I've just noticed that thomthom has just mentioned MoI, too. I should have read his posts more carefully.
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