Introducing FormIt v17
by Josh Goldstein, 20 February 2019
The FormIt team is pleased to announce FormIt v17 is now available!
Get the update for FormIt Web, iOS, and Windows. FormIt for Windows is also available from the Autodesk Desktop App.
This FormIt update is huge, with dozens of new features, service changes, and general fixes and improvements. Read about the biggest changes below, and head over to the Release Notes for complete details on all the changes.
Be sure to also check out subsequent FormIt v17 releases: v17.2 with more Dynamo improvements and v17.3 with AutoSave, units and bounding box enhancements, and tons of general fixes.
Enhancements
A New FormIt + Dynamo Experience
Dynamo is now integrated with FormIt for Windows as a desktop application, enabling graph authoring and execution from inside FormIt using your local Dynamo files. (FormIt for Windows only)
A New Geometry Type: Meshes
Meshes are great for improving the performance of high-polygon entourage like furniture, trees, people, and signage, as well as complex DWG files. Objects can be converted to Meshes and back with no data loss. We also added Meshes to the Selection Filter on all platforms.
FormIt JavaScript Plugins
Plugins enable custom 3D workflows and bespoke modeling functionality using the FormIt API. Use the built-in Plugin Manager to easily install plugins from the FormIt team, and learn how to make your own plugins. (FormIt for Windows only)
Orthographic Elevation Views
View your FormIt model in 2D orthographic elevation, and combine with Section Planes to create section-elevations.
More Visual Styles Customizations
Customize more Visual Styles than ever before! Tweak overall scene brightness and contrast, shadow intensity, and background/sky/ground plane colors. (FormIt for Windows only)
Adjust Material Placement on Faces
Override the default Material position, scale, and orientation on a per-face basis using the Adjust Material Placement dialog. (FormIt for Windows only)
Non-Uniform Scale
Stretch and skew objects in 1, 2, or 3 dimensions using Non-Uniform Scale.
Standalone Vertices
You can now copy and paste standalone vertices to identify important points in space, which can be useful when working with other applications. Also, modify shapes with smooth edges like never before by using the Vertices option in the Selection Filter menu.
Sun Editor
Visualize the sun's placement in the sky, and move the sun directly by dragging it along its path to change the time of day.
Easier Dimension Editing
Skip the Tab key by typing dimensions in directly when a dimension box is visible. (FormIt for Windows only)
Service Changes
BIM 360 Docs
BIM 360 Docs is replacing A360 Drive for cloud file storage. Open, Save, and Export your FormIt data to multiple BIM 360 Docs accounts and projects for better collaboration, and take advantage of BIM 360 Docs features never before available to FormIt customers.
Bing Maps
Bing Maps is replacing Google Maps for location and satellite imagery in all FormIt platforms. Existing models will automatically use Bing Maps for location and satellite imagery, and the Set Location experience has changed slightly for Web and Windows.
With this change, FormIt will no longer obscure/remove satellite imagery data when exporting images. Hooray!
FormIt for Windows Login
We've switched to a new system for logging in to FormIt for Windows. This should generally improve login reliability, especially for customers using SSO logins.
Energy Analysis
The Energy Analysis service should be more reliable thanks to a new pipeline, and running an Energy Analysis twice on the same file with the same name will no longer fail.
Want to know more? See the full list of enhancements, service changes, and fixes for all platforms.
Going Forward
Our work here is not done! We made huge changes in v17, and we'll be following this release up with smaller updates to polish new tools and features.
We work hard to improve FormIt and introduce new features based on your feedback. Have a feature request or a specific issue with our latest update? Reach out to us on the forums.
Stay tuned for more improvements in the near future!