Bonzai 2.0 released
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Same price as SU with more tools and options, and NURBS.....
I have been a fanboy of SU too long it seems, I've missed Bonsai's sneak attack.
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hey look, they repackaged form-z. gave it a new name and dummied it up a bit.
i don't see anything new here??? -
that being said
i'm still pretty impressed by the videos. check out the match view: http://www.formz.com/products/bonzai3d/bonzai3dVideo_640.php?startMovie=Interface_640.flv
BTW do you see insert 3dwarehouse content when he goes for the trees?
oh! and google earth too!!! in a different video?
gotta have -
I viewed all the videos and the render section .... all I can say is that they would appear to have 'dummied' it up quite well.
I am curious about the .skp IN but not OUT. The ability to .skp IN makes virtually all the components you could want via 3DWH, FF, etc ..... interesting!
I will have to try it out before coming to a conclusion but must say that it looks impressive.
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I'm trying to download the trial right now, but there seems to be an issue with the link I was emailed. Anyone know the export options out of Bonzai? I say neither will totally replace the other and using each for what they do best in a combination workflow would make more sense than jumping ship. There are too many things done right in SU. Hopefully the compatibility of the two programs is not too painful and eventually as seamless as SU and MOI.
I am intrigued though. Especially with the Extend, Merge and Combine nurbs tool and the post operative parametric slide adjustments. Looks like a very smart and intuitive setup.
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here you go
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import:
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I've d/l Bonzai 2 and played around with it. I tried to import a .skp but no luck I am afraid. It says 'SketchUp file created in unsupported version'.
I would be interested to learn if others have had success.
Generally I am a little fuzzed with all the bells and whistles and feel it would take some time to get to grips with the application but it seems to have all the tools that a designer might require.
Oh! I also note that the 'middle mouse button' obit does not work. Its a matter of having to 'click' an icon on the top of the screen, pity about this as I think this is one of the gems in SU.
As Pete said, Bonzai 2 may be a Porsche but a Porsche takes a little getting used to in order to get the best performance from it. However the VW Beetle (old) qualities of SketchUp can be learned in a few minutes and off you drive
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i had to save my file to SU6 format then it came in no problem
BTW right click+ctrl or right click+alt to orbit -
straight from SU into Bonzai. no idea what i'm doing. not to bad:
BTW this is an interior with all wall intact and only windows to let in light
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I have been playing with it - both the prior version and this one. It has some great features including a lot of excellent built-in video tutorials that are very well presented. I am nowhere near as fluid in my use of it as SU but I think that is just lack of practice. I have imported SU models via various common formats but have had little luck with direct imports (either getting the unsupported version thing with SU 7 stuff or Bonzai has just choked and died on large SU 6 models).
The Bonzai forum is strangely quiet and it is this lack of a community that has so far kept me from buying it. With Sketchup, we have this truly excellent place and a very helpful bunch of experts not even to mention the many other resources. I suppose it's a bit like the situation with any new thing and SU was like this in the early days as I recall. Having said this, I posted a couple of questions there and they got answered quickly by the moderator/admin.
As for Bonzai being Form -Z dummied up or down, I tried Form-Z and I guess I was too much of a dummy - the UI was just too cumbersome for me. I suspect Bonzai could well take over as the company's main interest as its user base is likely to grow quickly at the price and especially with the new functionality of version 2. I think the addition of components and dimensions might just be enough to cause me to buy a copy.
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@xrok1 said:
hey look, they repackaged form-z. gave it a new name and dummied it up a bit.
i don't see anything new here???formZ: $1125.00
Bonzai: $499.99The "new" price is good though...
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@xrok1 said:
i had to save my file to SU6 format then it came in no problem
BTW right click+ctrl or right click+alt to orbitHow disappointing that the DWG support was upgraded to 2010 - but SKP has yet not been upgraded to SU7. I'd think that SketchUp users is a nice potential source for customers. People used with SU that would like to try out NURBS modelling.
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@unknownuser said:
I've d/l Bonzai 2 and played around with it. I tried to import a .skp but no luck I am afraid. It says 'SketchUp file created in unsupported version'.
Hmm. SKP is a mystical format..
So I suppose Bonzai to SU is ehhh, problematic? -
There is an SDK to read and write SKP files - but it's not been updated to SU7?
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@thomthom said:
@xrok1 said:
hey look, they repackaged form-z. gave it a new name and dummied it up a bit.
i don't see anything new here???formZ: $1125.00
Bonzai: $499.99The "new" price is good though...
Exactly my thoughts too.
I've been playing with the Bonzai demo, and I must say, I'm really impressed. I think Google are really going to have to pull out the stops when they release SU8. Google do have one main advantage over Bonzai, this being that SU has a free version. (SU Mac has also been written in Cocoa, and Bonzai looks like a Carbon hangover
). The real time NURBS are amazing. That's also going to give Rhino a run for its money too. 
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RenderZone Plugin for bonzai3d $399.00, so you are looking at $800 for both apps.
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$900 even.
Anyone used RenderZone? -
I've looked through the gallery and must say the renderer is less than impressive, biggest thing I noticed was horrible shadows with multiple lighting interiors, looks very CG.
Bonsai looks a great modeller, but Renderzone based on LightWorks
, looks very weak. -
I was really thrilled when a beta was released... but got burned with constant crashing. If this is stable to use, I think it has a great potential. Just let us know...
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