Among the tools we've developed to help flatten the form•Z learning curve, it is the 5-Step Toolbars that sets the rhythm.
Using the experience of teaching form•Z since 1996, we've created a customized interface based on what we call the FiveStep Toolbars. Developed by David Wolf in 1999/2000, this major re-organization of the program's layout evolved over a two-year period of teaching the program. Teaching form•Z twice a month allowed for extenisive revision and testing of the interface.
What emerged through this evolution is a much simplified interface for form•Z. Instead of overwhelming you with the thousands of ways the program can model geometry, the goal of the interface is to do the exact opposite—over-simplify.
The Architects Toolbox Five-Step Toolbars
Five simple steps to modeling anything. It's as easy as that. The modeling tools are organized in an intuitive set of five separate "subpalettes," each centered around one of the blue modifyer's that are key to the program. No more groping about for the tool you need, like frantically searching for keys when you are late. With the Five-Step Toolbars, the tool you need is found in one of five "sub-palettes." This oversimplification is an enormously powerful one, which makes learning the program far more intuitive for the new user and far faster for the already initiated.
The Architects Toolbox Window Toolbar
We've unfolded the impossibly small Window tools into full-sized icons that are also organized into five "subpalettes," each centered around form•Z's basic functions. No more clicking around to turn your snaps on and off. Everything you need is at your fingertips!
The Architects Toolbox Peferences File
form•Z has thousands of possible settings and variables, used for any conceivable option you could possibly desire. Our preference file saves a litany of important settings, while organizing the layout of the palettes in a way that maximizes screen space and optimizes the most important palettes.
The Architects Toolbox QuickStart Guide
A color guide to the customized interface and instruction on the logic behind basic modeling procedures.
