[MAYA] NDM PHOENIX - Non-Destructive Modifiers and Tools for Maya
greentooth
In The Beginning of Time there were Creators and "Destructors".
Thus by their help a modifier will be created then destroyed.
A modifier has a non-destructive nature, it updates, it is just like
the phoenix who will always reborn from its ashes.
Without further a do let's see what this weirdo is talking about :
New Version is out !
[noparse]
https://youtu.be/dVgCUh3JvEw
Let me explain myself : Beside Crease+ I worked on that tool, My goal was initially to reproduce @kidintwo3 's Shell Mod (Hello friend) , and I ended up with Phoenix Metaphors in my head, plus a suite of modifiers and tools to develop. The latter guy is a huge inspiration for me, also because I modeled in Max and was missing that "mod feelin" in Maya. It was a pain to develop because one would assume it requires to go API senior Level (and it explicitly does). At the end of the day It's super fast, notably speaking of the Quad Chamfer like thingy I designed to update quickly. Also you can use ANY modeling tools, command on the control mesh, if you delete the History (And I do that alot) Connection won't be broken
Get it here : https://gumroad.com/l/NDMPhoenix
Documentation
Thanks to @[HP] who gave me feedback on the tool
This thread will just be a place for requests and bugs, and requests
Thus by their help a modifier will be created then destroyed.
A modifier has a non-destructive nature, it updates, it is just like
the phoenix who will always reborn from its ashes.
Without further a do let's see what this weirdo is talking about :
New Version is out !
[noparse]
https://youtu.be/dVgCUh3JvEwLet me explain myself : Beside Crease+ I worked on that tool, My goal was initially to reproduce @kidintwo3 's Shell Mod (Hello friend) , and I ended up with Phoenix Metaphors in my head, plus a suite of modifiers and tools to develop. The latter guy is a huge inspiration for me, also because I modeled in Max and was missing that "mod feelin" in Maya. It was a pain to develop because one would assume it requires to go API senior Level (and it explicitly does). At the end of the day It's super fast, notably speaking of the Quad Chamfer like thingy I designed to update quickly. Also you can use ANY modeling tools, command on the control mesh, if you delete the History (And I do that alot) Connection won't be broken
Get it here : https://gumroad.com/l/NDMPhoenix
Documentation
Thanks to @[HP] who gave me feedback on the tool
This thread will just be a place for requests and bugs, and requests
Replies
NDM 's Shell Mod Gif , @kidintwo3
Quad chamfer thingy bevel Modifier
Next Steps : More modifiers (secret for now).
Next Next : Make it possible to apply more than 1 modifier at the same time.
PS : on the bevel modifier you notice I have only one division bevel, yep you guessed it, It's better for performances, because with a complex mesh it can become slow, so my advice : increase the divisions at the last moment, when you're done with the Shapes
That bevel modifier looks handy!
Sometimes the Destructor doesn't work, giving me the error "Object has No NDMOD applied", when this happens it seems I can't select the mesh in the viewport anymore, not even by doing a marquee selection, I have to select it in outliner.
Thanks
Edit : Damn It's Helder Pinto
[noparse]
-It's based on smoothing groups in Max
-It's a modifier, that means you can go back and it updates (how cool)
You don't have these two pros natively in Maya
Eg: make a cylinder and extrude the caps, now go back in history and increase the axis subdivisions, the extuded faces will now be in the length instead of the caps. If I could then just change the selection for the extrude modifier, I'd be so happy.
Or modeling cabinet doors but you want to go back and change the cabinet volume, span to another wall and even split polygons that define doors. Active component selection would be so handy.
I tend to use a lot of solid beveling in my workflow. Maya's solid bevel always kept the UV's, if you made them beforehand. Reason is, it's easier to see or control hard/soft edges without additional divisions.
I think quad chamfer breaks the UVs, at least that's what my friend who is a max user told me. I haven't checked personally though, so don't hold me for it.
Btw, REALLY awesome tool you made, I'll be buying it soon for sure. Make everything so much easier.
"People awaits exciting news"
just purchased your script but I get the following error trying running it:
// Error: Line 1.8: Syntax error
Thanks to WiZix for this idea He gave me
Not going to explain Its purpose, other topics have done that. Now how it works in NDMP ?
that's a great question billy , well you have 2 Options
FWVN Modifier :
Pros : The most efficient and accurate method on the market
Cons : Your mesh should be unbeveled
FWVN by Perimeter ( This is the juicy one ):
Pros : doesn't care about your history, does its jobs in 76 % of the cases,
and your mesh can be like you want, you can import it with bevels from Max, ect... We don't care
+ it works on faces.
Cons: Not as accurate has the first method, when it comes to shapes with cylindrical pattern,
it doesn't bother me, as it will just look sharp a bit, but if it does bother you just select the wrong
looking faces , convert to vertices and apply Remove FWVN
here's the piece made in the trailer, under marmoset (Using the modifier method , because it was not beveled)
Thanks to @Makkon and @Obscura for their resources, those were crucial for testing, Also , Ima let you know I'm working on a better method, with the Maya API
http://jungsbluth.de/magnus/blog/2008/08/01/keypose-flavour-your-screencasts-with-shortcuts/
thanks
Menno
I thought the whole purpose was exactly to be able to model a coarse geometry while quickly previewing the end result. I don't see how it's convenient to not be able to go back but I have the impression that you could go back. Bevel is tool or modifier?
And how's that "component selection node" going?
also put the selection thing aside, for something more important , but yeah I have it in the corner of my head