Soft Modeling

[cfernandezM2UX4]

Hello everyone. New the forums so I am excited about all the great FormIt minds in one place!

I have looked for videos but can't seem to find ones on modeling soft forms. Could anyone point me in the direction of modeling things like furniture seating that isn't boxes or single thickness items. I'm attempting to model something like the Leap chair from Steelcase.

Thank you!

[josh.goldstein]

Hi @cfernandezM2UX4,

I'd recommend using the FormIt + Dynamo integration to accomplish this. Dynamo has good creation tools for "soft" geometry like that chair, including some experimental T-Spline stuff that could be very useful. 

You can organize the different chair pieces into different BakeToFormIt node groups, so you can paint the various pieces different materials, but still have the script controlling and updating all the geometry.

This way, you'll also be making a script which can be easily tweaked if you want to adjust the form. If you were to model this by hand, the form would be much harder to modify (you'd basically have to delete and rebuild the parts you want to change which can be tedious).

Hope this helps!

[a_page]

Revit is often chosen as the primary documenting tool in many architectural offices and not a design tool as it’s widely acknowledged that Revit is extremely limited in dealing with complex conceptual modelling geometry. Autodesk’s attempts at introducing a dedicated conceptual modelling environment in the form of FormIt has been quit disappointing regarding the fact that there hasn't been a single new modelling feature or enhancements since 2012. Apart from splitting surfaces, Formit has even less modelling capabilities as the already crippled Revit and doesn’t have any freeform organic capabilities. Several free freeform apps like Sharp3d available in the Apple app store have organic modelling tools and can handle very complex geometry since its first release.

To use Dynamo for organic modelling creation feels like using a formula one car to do groceries. An overkill and timeconsuming process yet it's the only method for modelling organic shapes or even simple bevel and fillet operations.

One may wonder why Autodesk is putting so much effort into keeping these tools away for the AEC portfolio. It's not to say that Autodesk doesn't have the knowledge and resources to make it happen. Every other Autodesk software except for Revit and Formit do have organic and conceptual modelling tools. 

[josh.goldstein]

Hi @a_page,

Your claim that "there hasn't been a single new modelling feature or enhancement since 2012" is simply false. Take a look at our blog. Here's the post on our last major release in October. So many new things! We release several versions every year, and each major release is substantial with new features and tools. FormIt was a baby in 2012, and we can assure you it's grown up since then.

FormIt is an architectural polyhedral modeler. While it can do organic shapes, it's made for buildings, which are generally constructed of planar surfaces. Even organic shapes in architecture are typically an assembly of smaller planar elements. In the same way, the organic shapes in FormIt are, at their core, comprised of straight segments and planar faces.

The idea of harnessing Dynamo for organic or soft modeling is still useful because even if you did manually create those organic shapes in FormIt, editing them by hand would be difficult. Dynamo's integration in FormIt - which you might read up on too - allows you to create geometry that's infinitely adjustable, which is really powerful for all types of modeling. Yes, creating a script is a bit of up-front work, but the rapid iteration and adjustment capabilities after you build the script are incredible. I use Dynamo in all my FormIt projects and even for inorganic shapes (stairs, ramps, mullions, louvers, etc.), I cannot overstate how much time I save when I can flex a graph with one click that would otherwise several minutes of manual adjustments.

Maybe give FormIt 2021 a try? We think you'll find it's come a long way from the FormIt of 2012.

[josh.goldstein]

@a_page,

You might also be interested to know that, if you don't want to use Dynamo, FormIt does have built-in Loft, Sweep, Fillet, and Shell tools that might not have been available when you last looked.

You can find them in the Advanced Geometry toolbar in FormIt for Windows and Web:

[a_page]

Thank you, Josh, for your comments. I really appreciate that, and my apologies if I came off a bit negative. But there is a major issue in the AEC portfolio that I would like to address.

There’s a reason why many architects use Rhino, Maya, and other freeform modelers in architecture because the current software that Autodesk develops for architect simply don’t provide the tools we need. Dynamo, which was extremely promising at its conception, unfortunately, has matured more into a solution for handling data and repetitive task rather than a mixed bag of advanced modeling tools that are crucial for geometry creation. This is more so evident at Autodesk University, where pretty much all classes showcase studies of Grasshopper, which is used throughout the whole design process followed by dynamo for data between Revit. As a matter of fact, there was even a well-known AU class two years ago that discouraged the use of dynamo as it’s too slow and less agile as a design and modeling tool and encourages the use of Grasshopper.

Don’t’ get me wrong, as a software company; I do understand that the development direction of an application is partly determined by customer feedback. Users who need more advanced modeling tools simply don’t use Formit or Revit for that matter, which leads to a very on sided development. On the other hand, as a software developer who’s not practicing architecture daily, only references what he sees on his commute to work. And let’s be honest, buildings in the US are generally very conservative, conventional, and generic, which doesn’t require all the bells and whistles of the likes of a program like Fusion.  At the same token, it does feel somewhat strange that a phone case designers who knocks out $5 phone cases from his garage get an overkill on modeling tools, yet an architect who designs and develops $50 million building projects gets the short end of the stick