Bonzai 3d / AC12 combination

[Anonymous]

Has anyone experimented with Bonzai 3d used in conjunction with Archicad 12? It seems as if Bonzai 3d would be great for MAC users in lieu of Sketchup.

Just wondering?

Greg

[Eduardo Rolon]

What's the problem with SketchUp on the Mac?

[David Larrew]

The Mac versions of SketchUp tend to take much longer to be released than the Windows versions (at least that is the case for past version releases). The development lag-time is a consideration.

[Eduardo Rolon]

David wrote:
The Mac versions of SketchUp tend to take much longer to be released than the Windows versions (at least that is the case for past version releases). The development lag-time is a consideration.

I have been using SU since R03, AFAIK, the release has always been at the same time for both platforms (since the first port), specially since the original programers switched to Mac's as their dev platform. They even wrote a post about how much nicer it was to program in Mac than Windows. Since Google bought them (R05?) they have released both versions at the same time.

Anyway, I tested Bonzai while it was in Beta and though their intention was to make an easier FormZ, which it is.

Does it have better tools than SU? Yes and if we are talking about an alternative to Rhino which is still in Beta for the Mac then I could understand the comment. Or if the comment was about more robust modeling tools than Su. Anyway the only thing that they matched with SU is price.

The only thing that the Mac version of SU is missing or behind are plugins.

[David Larrew]

And Plug-In availability could also be a consideration. Are you planning on interoperability between other applications?

[Rakela Raul]

http://www.bonzai3d.com/bonzai3d_Demovideo_320N.html

[David Larrew]

I've been using SketchUp since it's inception from @Last Software, and until previewing Bonzai 3D, I didn't think there was anything that was as easy to learn or use. Bonzai 3D looks like a very comparable equal to SketchUp for ease of use and interoperability, plus some of the extra tools that you get are definitely a PLUS.

To compare...
SketchUp is now developed by Google (big company with a lot of resources = $$)
Bonzai 3D is developed by AutoDesSys (the makers of formZ a long-standing 3D modeling and rendering application = experience)

It is almost "apples to apples". I would go with which ever tool you feel most comfortable.

[Dwight]

But bonsai has NURBS, AND Twist and Shout.

This is so great!

And I don't get excited much at my age.

See the top ten reasons video!

Especially #1 and their stairmaker!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Very impressive!

Its a shame that a BIM software like ArchiCAD doesn't have NURBS...

This should be priority number one...

[Anonymous]

I tried lately to use Bonzai3D as a modifier -after saying bye bye to Maxonform- ( I've created a CW element in AC then export it as DWG, or 3DS to Bonzai to apply twist and other things) . not sure If I am doing this properly but it looks you have to group(unite) those elements to apply any of those actions (twist,bend..etc) and it always fail to complete the task, I think its CW that contains a huge number of polygons. I will try it later with simple structure.