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QuadRemesher : new auto-retopo plugin for Maya, 3DSMax, ...

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Maxime33
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Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
Hi,
I'm currently making an auto-retopo plugin for Maya and 3DSMax.
I'm looking for few beta-testers. Let me know if you are interested !

I will need your email to create a license key for the test - so just send me a private message with your email.
And let me know if you want to test for 3DSMax or Maya.

-------- NB: The plugins for 3dsMax, Maya and modo are publicly released. --------
Beta testing is closed.
You can download a trial here : https://exoside.com/quadremesher/quadremesher-download/
Many thanks to all guys who helped me!
Beta testing is still open for plugins for Blender, Houdini and C4D....

Replies

  • Bumblebee
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    Bumblebee polycounter lvl 3
    id pay alot if it cleans up booleans with good topology, wouldnt mind it being something like dynasmesh too if you could implement that. I dont like switching programs alot. Any screenshots so far? I am really curious
  • Bumblebee
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    Bumblebee polycounter lvl 3
    I think this could be beast for hard surface stuff, if there was a way to fix the tearing that appears. Tried increasing the polys etc, still couldnt quite get rid of this.

  • Bumblebee
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    Bumblebee polycounter lvl 3
    this is has so much potential, if one could find a way to fix the tearing and of the cylindrical distribution then this is a goldmine for hard surface.

  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Hey Bumblebee, Thanks.
    Yes, it would be great to fix the problem your are pointing out.
    Can you send me source file (cylinder with cut out + more complex boolean shape) ?

  • Bumblebee
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    Bumblebee polycounter lvl 3
    Sure once I get home I can send you the samples
  • Bumblebee
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    Bumblebee polycounter lvl 3

    Some more experiments, this tool is actually really awesome, considering its inside max and you dont have to switch programs for it. Right/left are straight booleans, no clean-ups. Just some issues remeshing cylindrical intersections with curves but other than that its awesome.

    With flat surfaces mixed with cylindrical stuff it holds quite well:



  • Michael Knubben
    Maxime33 said:
    Thanks MetinSeven. I will tell you when it will be ready. It seams that some artists are switching to Blender. I'm curious to know how much... Do you have friends or co-workers which are switching to blender as well?
    Another ex-Max user here, switched to Blender years ago now. I would also love to see this in Blender, and I'm glad to see the GPL won't be an issue!
  • cptSwing
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    cptSwing polycounter lvl 11

    Some more experiments, this tool is actually really awesome, considering its inside max and you dont have to switch programs for it. Right/left are straight booleans, no clean-ups. Just some issues remeshing cylindrical intersections with curves but other than that its awesome.

    With flat surfaces mixed with cylindrical stuff it holds quite well:



    Do want!
  • fourche13
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    fourche13 polycounter lvl 7
    Just tested your plugin beta 8.

    I liked : 
    - to avoid to switch to zbrush
    - to work with boolean and don't think about topology for the highpoly mesh

    To improve in my opinion :

    - if possible for a future iteration, make it as a modifier.
    - When two vertices are near each other, the quad remesher seems to have some problem, and don't do the job quite well, I need at least to make a turn to poly, + weld vertices with a small treshold.
    - cylindrical shape topology is not always regular / ok even if I add an additional hard edge support loop.
    - for tiny  detailed surface, the script seems to encounter some difficulties to create the mesh even if I increase the target quad count.
    - Result is heavy dependent of  base mesh topology in some case, Hard edge are some time not preserved on the resulted mesh ( don't know why )

    Otherwise this tool is awesome. Once finished, I think it will be a must have .


    Screnshot below are Issues encountered with different topology.

    Here I applied "subdivide" to the base mesh, which is required in some cases, example for larger surface / poly, but for too small triangles it seems to be a problem.




  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Hey Fourche13,
    Thanks a lot for this feedback!

    About improvements:
    - 'make a modifier': Yes I agree! I plan to do that for a V2 as I would like to release the plugin ASAP.
    - about 2 vertices near from each other and tiny details issues: yes those cases are not always handled as we would do manually... I still need to work on the algorithm for that...
    - cylindrical shapes more regular. Yes this is something to add in my plugin. This would be cool to remesh cylindrical shapes more cleanly.
    - 'Result is heavy dependent of  base mesh topology in some case, Hard edge are some time not preserved on the resulted mesh ( don't know why )' : I would like to fix this. My goal is to make the remeshing process independant of the input mesh. In an ideal world, you should not need to subdivide first...

    Can you send me the input base mesh please?
    I would like so see why HardEdges are not maintained...

    Thanks!


  • artsolit
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    artsolit polycounter lvl 5
    Maya version please!!
  • cptSwing
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    cptSwing polycounter lvl 11
    Hey Maxime33, is there an ETA for release? Thanks
  • Bumblebee
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    Bumblebee polycounter lvl 3
    yes also had issues with smoothing groups breaking after retopo.
  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Hi everyone,

    <<< VERY IMPORTANT: The best way to get your bugs fixed is to send me files so that I can reproduce the bug (and fix it!). >>>
    - a 3D file with the input mesh : the mesh before retopo
    - text or snapshot so that I can know the options/settings you used in the QuadRemesher window.
    - and a 3D file with the output retopo (or in the same file than the input mesh)
  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Bumblebee, if you have more 3D files with smoothing groups breaking issue, please send them to me.
  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    cptSwing the ETA is middle of june.
  • musashidan
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    musashidan high dynamic range
    @Maxime33 hey mate are the beta licenses still active? I'm locked out.
  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    musashidan, I have extended the testing period. you can use it now.
  • musashidan
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    musashidan high dynamic range
  • musashidan
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    musashidan high dynamic range
    I'm still getting the licence popup. It just says 'QuadRemesher is running with this licence' when I hit the Remesh button, but does nothing.
  • HowardDay
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    HowardDay polycounter lvl 10
    Is there still any room for a beta tester? I've got some compound curve stuff I'd like to stress test. :smile:
  • HowardDay
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    HowardDay polycounter lvl 10
    Prelim results are about 95% positive! I'm still seeing some areas on a compound curve boolean mesh where there's some vert pinching in the remeshed version...I'm attempting to see if it's an issue with the input geo, or or something I can fix on my own.
  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Great!
    I really want to improve the plugin on Mecha / HardEdge / Boolean cases as more and more users will want to use QuadRemesher on those objects.
    So, don't hesitate to send me some 3D files showing the issues.
    The more meshes/cases I have to test the better it will be !!!
  • HowardDay
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    HowardDay polycounter lvl 10
    Okay - So the main thing I'm seeing (I'm trying to make a hugely complicated Mon Calamari Ship from SW) is that I hand the re-mesher a Pro-boolean that's symmetrical and the end result is Faaancy. Just spectacular. But, when I go in and add anything else non-symmetrical to that shape, it sort of...loses track of smoothing groups? It's hard to explain. Here's some pictures for demo purposes.
    Basic symmetrical boolean - you can see the mesh result is mostly garbage:

    Here's the Remesh! It looks great, smoothing groups are perfect, it's incredibly clean, edges flow nicely, though there is some odd pinching and twisting near the front of some of the noses of some of the curves:
    Now, I take that first boolean mesh, and add some non-symmetrical bumps to it to make it a bit more organic:

    But when I Remesh that... eeeee. The smoothing groups are completely lost, theres a *ton* of pinching around the bumpy areas with big stretched polys just outside.
    and

    I'd really love to maintain that first Remesh result - it's something very clean I can work with (I was frankly estatic to see it the first time I ran the mesh through!!) - either add my own smoothing between the bumps, or use layered turbo smooths to get those sweet chamfered edges. What would you suggest I do to help you track this down?
    Thanks!



  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Can you send me your meshes please ? (specially the one with non symmetrical bumps - before the remeshing). Thanks
  • HowardDay
  • HowardDay
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    HowardDay polycounter lvl 10
    So! I've figured out a way around the smoothing groups issue - If I push up the turbo smooth iterations on the bumps and then use the 3DSMAX Boolean rather than ProBool tool, I can get it to work! However, now there...is just some weird stuff going on. Examples:
    Some of the intersections (blue checks) look great! but some, (rex arrows) look completely garbled - like someone threw a ProOptimize on just those areas?
  • MetinSeven
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    MetinSeven polycounter lvl 2
    Hi @Maxime33

    Any news about a Blender version yet?

    Thanks.
  • Octo
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    Octo polycounter lvl 17
    Or more importantly, the Houdini version?
  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    I started the dev on both Houdini and Blender.
    (with help of yursiv for Blender, Thanks!)
    I want to focus on releasing the 1st version for Maya, 3DS and modo first.
    And just after, I will continue the dev for Blender and Houdini ... (I hope in 1 month)
  • singhs_apps
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    singhs_apps polycounter lvl 3
    Nice, nice..where can I register for the beta ? Primarily interested in the Modo, Maya and Houdini version.
  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Thanks HowardDay for the feedback.
    - Subdividing (TurboSmooth in your exemple) the mesh before Remeshing can help the remesher to give better results but I hope in next versions of the remesher this won't be needed anymore.
    - I will try to improve these kind of cases, maybe not for the V1 but more probably for a V2.
  • frontierdavid
    i need this for 3ds max 
  • Slipstream
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    Slipstream polycounter lvl 19
    Former Max user here. I'll definitely be buying this for Blender whenever you get it released. 
  • Reoxur
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    Reoxur polycounter lvl 3
    Don't know if this has been asked before, How does this plugins "Guides" drawing work,
    Inside the software or something else externally? 
  • Bohdan_Lvov
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    Bohdan_Lvov polycounter lvl 4

    Some people are discussing how awesome it would be to see your tool in Blender if you want to have some idea (as well as seeing some new and exciting Sculpting Development being brought to Blender): https://blenderartists.org/t/pablo-dobarro-reveals-his-master-plan-for-sculpting/1150731/481

    Yeah I've registered here specifically to follow this thread.
    Plugin for Blender would be fabulous!
  • musashidan
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    musashidan high dynamic range
    I've mentioned this over on the BlenderArtists forum as there were a LOT of people asking for a Zremesher solution in 2.80. Thread has been linked over there too(by someone else)
  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Reoxur: The 1st version of the plugin has no ability to "Guide" the remeshing by using curves, but in the next version I plan to add this feature.
    However, in V1, you can guide/constrain the remeshing by using materials, smoothing groups, edge creasing....
  • Reoxur
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    Reoxur polycounter lvl 3
    Maxime33 said:
    Reoxur: The 1st version of the plugin has no ability to "Guide" the remeshing by using curves, but in the next version I plan to add this feature.
    However, in V1, you can guide/constrain the remeshing by using materials, smoothing groups, edge creasing....
    Ah I see,  nice
    And thanks 
  • Simon
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    Simon polycounter lvl 8
    Yes please for Blender.

    I switched from Modo to Blender 2.8, and haven't looked back. I've been hoping for something like this to show up.
    Blender is improving much faster than any other 3D package out there.
    No team is as inclusive and expansive as Blender, where everyone on earth can contribute. To not release a plugin like this in Blender is to miss the opportunity while someone inevitably does it instead.

    When the first stable 2.8 branch comes up, hundreds of thousands of 3D artists will drop their paid software. Part of a digital revolution that is bigger than you or I, bigger than adobe or autodesk or pixologic. An unstoppable force that you'd be better off riding rather fighting the change. Chrome and firefox are only the beginning of software that dominates the digital age. The future is opensource.

    I'm eagerly awaiting a blender addon to test!
  • igi
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    igi polycounter lvl 12
    Hyped for Modo version. This in combination with MOP booleans can unleash great modeling power.
  • Bumblebee
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    Bumblebee polycounter lvl 3
    Can you guys chill writing “blender when”. LET him finish the max version first. Last time i checked blender has been getting lots of great additions. The blender version will come when the dev is done :)
  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Hey Blender guys!
    I have a question for you : I plan to make the plugin work for 2.8 first and then, if needed only, for 2.79. Does that sound good to you ?
    As Bumblebee wrote, I must focus on releasing QuadRemesher for Max, modo and Maya first, then continue my work on Blender addon...
  • Simon
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    Simon polycounter lvl 8
    Maxime33 said:
    Hey Blender guys!
    I have a question for you : I plan to make the plugin work for 2.8 first and then, if needed only, for 2.79. Does that sound good to you ?
    As Bumblebee wrote, I must focus on releasing QuadRemesher for Max, modo and Maya first, then continue my work on Blender addon...
    Maxime33, keep in mind that code that you develop for 2.8 may be depreciated for 2.79, as the API went through dramatic overhaul in order to optimize and improve the libraries. Also, unlike proprietary software, blender users will be less likely to stay on older versions, due to the price.
    You may be better off just creating a script that sends the mesh to 2.8 and back to 2.79 for legacy users, in order to focus on achieving stability and performance in the flagship version.

    I would definitely recommend what you're doing, and I understand the need to develop where the money flows most.

    Good luck Maxime, I will gladly try to test your plugin in 3ds max when I have a chance.
  • MetinSeven
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    MetinSeven polycounter lvl 2
    Maxime33 said:
    Hey Blender guys!
    I have a question for you : I plan to make the plugin work for 2.8 first and then, if needed only, for 2.79. Does that sound good to you ?
    As Bumblebee wrote, I must focus on releasing QuadRemesher for Max, modo and Maya first, then continue my work on Blender addon...
    I would welcome priority for 2.8, as I've been working solely with 2.8 for months now, and will not go back to 2.79 anymore. This goes for a swiftly growing number of Blender users in general. On top of this, there's a growing migration from expensive commercial 3D editors to Blender 2.8, because of its more accessible UI. I expect 2.79 to remain being used by a relatively small user base in the course of 2019.

    I'm eagerly looking forward to the first version of QuadRemesher for Blender. Proper quad-poly autoretopology is one the few key features that still forces me to fire up ZBrush at the moment.

    Thanks!
  • ChewyPixels
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    ChewyPixels polycounter lvl 7
    Hello @Maxime33 Has the plugin been updated since the beta 8 release?  Also, I notice that the beta has been extended to the end of this month.  Does this mean we are close to public release?  =)
  • schroef
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    schroef polycounter lvl 4
    @Maxime33
    i was pointed out this thread by @MetinSeven and wanted to give my knowledge about addon for blender. Im helping someone which made an addon for Blender and an external render engine. The addon itself is free and available from gitHube, but the engine itself is paid and not even on gitHub. This one solution you can do. You can also sell it through BlenderMarket with your external c++ app or other method your thinking off and than simple add the addon itself to gitHub. That way you comply with the GPL method and you can still make earnings from it. There are many addons which have this approach. Look around at the more high-end addons. I believe most are done like this.

    Hope this helps you make a decision and you can benefit from it. 

    Good luck !!!

  • Bohdan_Lvov
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    Bohdan_Lvov polycounter lvl 4
    Maxime33 said:
    Hey Blender guys!
    I have a question for you : I plan to make the plugin work for 2.8 first and then, if needed only, for 2.79. Does that sound good to you ?
    As Bumblebee wrote, I must focus on releasing QuadRemesher for Max, modo and Maya first, then continue my work on Blender addon...
    It sounds great, but 2.8 will get a release in the mid of July and then development of 2.81 will start, so is there any point to put a work in the version for an old, soon becoming unsupported, release?
    Core community is mostly using 2.8 already, check this poll: https://blenderartists.org/t/poll-who-is-actually-using-2-8/1163590

    Oh, and developers of exclusively Blender addons mainly stopped developing their branches for 2.79 for a while now, maybe this information will be of some importance to you.
  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Schroef: Thanks for the info. I think I can release the addon as GPL, and my executable as non-GPL. But I do not think I can sell the executable on BlenderMarket because everything sold on BlenderMarket need to be GPL or MIT (https://blendermarket.com/page/gpl-license).

  • Maxime33
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    Maxime33 polycounter lvl 7
    Bohdan_Lvov : Thanks a lot. This is exactly the kind of information I'm looking for.
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