• Programs which compete in the marketplace.
• There is a significant overlap in capabilities.

Both programs …

• Can import AutoCAD .dwg files.
• Can import .dxf files.
• Can import image files as underlays.
• Are 3D solid modeling programs.
• Can invoke Boolean operations on solids.
• Understand parametric elements.
• Have extensive material libraries.
• Can produce highly accurate renderings using a variety of techniques.
• Can produce models which cast accurate shadows.
• Can produce models which receive accurate shadows.
• Can produce elements which are transparent.
• Can produce elements which are reflective.
• Can produce light sources.
• Incorporate terrain modeling.
• Can produce simple animations (walk throughts).
• Can export models in a variety of formats.
• Can export images in a variety of formats.

Advantages of 3D-Studio VIZ

• Better material library. Materials are more realistic and elegant.
• Has a faster rendering engine.
• Has a more capabilities to produce animations (although 3D Studio MAX remains the better program for animations)

Advantages of FORM· Z:

• Can produce more realistic renderings.
• Has more powerful manipulation capabilities.
• Was designed at a school of architecture (Ohio State) for architecture students.
• Is easier to learn.
• Is cheaper to buy or rent.

Basic concepts of 3D modeling:

• The coordinate system: a global constant cartesian referencing system.
• Primitive: In computer graphics, a primitive is an image element, such as an arc, a square, a cube, a sphere, a cone or a torus, from which more complicated images can be constructed. They are forms whose basic characteristics are well defined.
• Topology: a branch of mathematics concerned with those properties of geometric configurations (as point sets) which are unaltered by elastic deformations (as a stretching or a twisting) that are homeomorphisms (2) : the set of all open subsets of a topological space b : CONFIGURATION <topology of a molecule> <topology of a magnetic field>