lscm/pelt unwrapping for max5/6/7 - working test!
polycounter lvl 20
hiya,
after seeing the max8 peltmapping vids, and doing a bit research on the topic, I found that wings3d and blender already have nice automatic unwrappers, using the same technique called LSCM.
http://blender3d.org/cms/UV_Unwrapping.363.0.html
both being opensource, I am currently working on porting the functionality to 3dsmax 5. The modifier will not allow to do the edge selection in it, since that is a bit too fancy work for now, but using macroscripts you "mark" the seams in regular editablepoly, however the modifier allows to highlight draw them.
So far I started the environment of maxscript/maxplugin combo, and next comes the actual lscm port. Not sure how it goes, but since many of you are probably on 6/7 I could need someone with a max6sdk to compile the plugin for it, or you could send me the max6sdk include/lib folder zipped. Still the plugin will be opensourced anyway
going to post some progress shots, although the port is more or less a "either it works fully or not at all" thing
So I hope to have something testable up in a week.
===========================================
EDIT: Check posts below for updates and working test version!
after seeing the max8 peltmapping vids, and doing a bit research on the topic, I found that wings3d and blender already have nice automatic unwrappers, using the same technique called LSCM.
http://blender3d.org/cms/UV_Unwrapping.363.0.html
both being opensource, I am currently working on porting the functionality to 3dsmax 5. The modifier will not allow to do the edge selection in it, since that is a bit too fancy work for now, but using macroscripts you "mark" the seams in regular editablepoly, however the modifier allows to highlight draw them.
So far I started the environment of maxscript/maxplugin combo, and next comes the actual lscm port. Not sure how it goes, but since many of you are probably on 6/7 I could need someone with a max6sdk to compile the plugin for it, or you could send me the max6sdk include/lib folder zipped. Still the plugin will be opensourced anyway
going to post some progress shots, although the port is more or less a "either it works fully or not at all" thing
So I hope to have something testable up in a week.===========================================
EDIT: Check posts below for updates and working test version!
Replies
I don't have the Max6 SDK though, sorry... I hope someone can hook you up with that!
Good luck!
see EDIT above
I wonder if the max7 demo comes with the SDK?
last time I checked our university max installs didnt have the sdk either... I dont know how illegal it would be if someone sent me the headers and libs to compile it for 6/7, but without debugging capabilities it doesnt make much sense either.
well once the 5.1 version works smooth, I am sure someone can be found to port it to 6/7. Likely the only main difference would be that 6,7 could allow more nice gadgets. kinda sucks that one cannot change line thickness or drawstyle in 5.1
also after a bit of a break with exams and enginecoding I found the time to do the unwrap code, the next test will have the unwrapping in it and hopefully comes end of the week. I hope that more people will give it a try when it's not only max5, as it seems like that didnt catch any testers
This sounds great man,good luck.
If you can get it working for Max 6 ill try and give it a wizz...im not great with being introduced to new/modded tool sets and im also able to unwarp quite quick now with jsu the bog standard max tools....but if you can get this going ill definatily give it a try,proberly have to ask ya some damn stupid questions as well but I will give it a try none the less
good luck!
john
I wan't to test this out for max 7 when its ready.
okay after a day of debugging I got a build working. It lacks some features but should do the unwrapping.
the screenshot lacks one seamedge, hence the non-classic box unwrap, but it shows how the lscm method treats such a case
unfortunately I cant get the "weld all" function to work in the maxscript, so after the unwrap you will need to weld all uv verts manually.
a test can be found on my website, I could not test under 6 or 7, but maybe it works (a max6 compile is in the package, and if max6 plugins work on max7 it should do the job too)
3dsmax 5.1 / 6 / 7- Testbuild
Having something to show which edges are seams constantly would be nice, I dunno if this is possible though.
I tried it on a piece of model I had, marked the seams out, and tried the Unwrap - it went a bit weird, not unwrapped properly, but when I deleted it and pressed the button again, it worked fine.
I run max5.1 it works for me, you sure you have not accidently copied the max6 plugin instead of 5 ?
to Mop:
I assume that the "draw" doesnt work for you then ? because it does exactly that (as seen in the screenshots), constantly draws the seamedges of the current selected object.
what do you mean with piece of model, and what have you deleted to make it work ?
and what do you think could be improved on the ui ?
without my own version of max6,7 to debug I can just hope someone else will have a look at the sourcecode. University machines have 6 and 7 but no msdev to debug.
anyway thx for the feedback and glad it works on 7 at all. very weird that it doesn't load on 5...
Just tried it under Max7, I'm very impressed by the speed of it. I first thought it didn't work cause it was just too fast for a Max relax tool! I think its much better and to the point than all those peltunwrap/relax features recently added.
A few points:
-The button labelled 'draw' is not very self-explainatory. I think everything would be easier to understand if it was called 'display marked edges' or 'display edges'. Its also a bit strange to have that display button positionned just like the 'mark' 'unmark'and 'select' ones which are operations buttons.
-When marking its a bit annoying to have to move/refresh the viewport to see the actual masking. But I'm sure you know that already, it has to be complicated to implement.
-How to weld the verts once an object is LSCM unwrapped? I hear you are working on that but hell I don't even know how to do that as a classic Max opeeration
Again, excellent work man, way superior to everything that has been implemented in Max recently when it comes to fast UVmapping.
Congrats! Can't wait for the next built
about the viewport, I will see what I can do, I dont remember it being a problem in 5.1, it could be that the way max7 "updates" viewport has changed or I was just blind hehe
welding, well there is "weld selected" in the right click menu, the weld threshold you can set in chuggs uv 'options'.
and thx for the feedback on the ui, when I find time I will look into making proper icons as well. I mostly thought people would use the other macroscripts in right click menus to actually toggle drawing, marking... I agree that the current layout is misleading
get it here:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/index?siteID=123112&id=2334435&linkID=5573636
edit: just tried on unpatched max7 - same result, dll fails to initialize.
is there any more messages you get ?
it's weird that it works for some and not for others (well actually typical for pc) I wish any of you would be part of a bigger studio, where some coder exists that could have a look at it. the source is in the download package, too.
EDIT:
I read at sparks, that you need to have the vc7.1 runtimes.
maybe this helps: http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcr71d
or
this one
http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcp71
copy that into your 3dsmax dir
if that does the trick, then please tell me
if not try to add more vc7.1 dlls to maxdir.
you can get them from the same place:
msobj71.dll
mspdb71.dll
msvcr71.dll
it would be great if you can find out which are required.
and if all fails, I am screwed. but I think this must be the reason.
I will use the feedback so far and do a new build this weekend. hopefully with the auto-weld
also if installed properly, you dont have to run the scripts manually, as they will be auto executed on start.
I think max help actually tells you how to use macroscripts.
there will be a "CrazyButcher" category in the list of max categories, and in them is the LSCM Central, which will open the menu.
1) the lscm has no "memory", so it doesnt know how you adjusted them.
however you might notice that currently two checkboxes are greyed out, which would allow you to "lock" vertices, or operate only on selected uv-faces. I am currently quite busy on other stuff, so I couldnt find time yet to code the support for those, but it is planned for sure.
2) yeah I can add those
it also comes with the needed dll in case anyone has problems with the plugin.
thx for the feedback guys, and keep it coming.
lampoly, I decided not to add the ring/loop stuff, as I would like to keep it minimal. The user can always customize his quads/toolbars to fit his needs regarding favorite selection tools (tools I probably dont have in max5).
http://crazybutcher.luxinia.de/code/_3dsmax.html
Alex
Alex
But on things like arms and legs worked perfect. Nice tool and seems simper to use than the max 8 verison.
unwrapping results seem very comparable to blender's indeed. also, a working relax would be more than handy.
i dislike the strange and - as usual - rather inconvenient procedure in max8, too. wings3d's unfold gives me the creeps - seems it only works reliably with meshes that follow the nendo-ish boxmodelling rules (only closed surfaces, no intersections, etc). with stuff imported from max, it bombs quite often here. so, thanks for this cool tool and bring on those improvements, crazybutcher
you very likely will need to lower the weld threshold (moved it to options). spinners in maxscript dont allow a lot precision behind the comma, so as workaround now the value you enter internally will be divided by 1000. I hope the lower thresh can fix it.
thomasp, unfortunately due to time constrains, likely I wont find much to put a bigger feature in it any time soon.
it like the nose has and mouth have shrunk too much horizontally.