Since I use Silo only as a retopology tool I was excited about the changes, but once I tried them out I realised they don't really give me any improved speed over my former workflow. Might just be a case of me having to incorporate them into my workflow better, so I'll hold off on my judgment (insert dramatic sound here).
Still, even without any improvements, Silo remains a seriously good and powerful tool for retopology. It is super fast, can handle a really high polygon count when importing high polygon models to use as guides when they are in ghosted- and non-wire mode.
I found reassigning some retopo related functions to my mouse bindings helped a lot. Enough for me to be less interested in loading up maya/nex anyway. I wasn't doing my retopo in silo before the surface tool but I am now, as I really enjoy modeling in it overall more than anything else.
I've got stuff like Fill hole and delete bound to the mouse which lets them behave a little more nex-like in that you can flow in and out of the surface tool more quickly. I also have loop slice and cut in there too. Merge is also a handy one to mouse bind, since it becomes an interactive target weld if you don't have anything selected.
Combined with some of the good stuff that is already bound in the default mouse config (tweak, multi-selection, etc) it's a pretty decent toolset that doesn't require you to leave the viewport much if at all, which is definitely a step on the right direction.
The surface tool isn't as straightforward as say nex or topogun though where you can literally just slap polygons down on the fly with every click, but I think it will get there eventually.
I never really liked the original topology brush so this makes a decent replacement imo.
Yeah, the original topology brush was lacking in some ways, but I used it sometimes to quickly and roughly slap some polygons onto a large surface, and then tweak it by hand later.
I'm in the office today, but someone forgot to leave a PC with access to a dev unit on, so I can't really do the work I was going to do, so instead I think I will just look into using a third part mouse gesture program to complement Silo's UI.
MightyPea, it works well. I'm using StrokeIt which is a nice general mouse gesture program. It's free for non-commercial use, but if you're going to use it for profit you need a license, but it's only $10 so that was a no-brainer.
Just need to set it to ignore when pressing Alt, if you're using the right mouse button or you'll Zooming will get disabled.
So, which gestures do you use for which commands? I played around with Mouse Gestures (same software as you, as well) a few years back, but never really made the effort to integrate it into my workflow, so I basically never used it. And I have a reputation for gimmick software already, maybe mouse gestures are just overkill, haha.
It probably depends a bit what you're used to. I've used mouse navigation for Internet browsers since the day it was possible, so I more or less have that wrist flicking motion coded into my DNA by now. Since I have a very basic, standard 3-button mouse at work, this is going to be very useful there.
Right now I have it set to Merge, Create Polygon, and Surface Tool. Tools that I don't use too frequently, but that I need once in a while.
I usually try not to customise too much, since in a work situation when you can end up in front of anyone's computer, having to show/do something, you can end up with a dumbfounded look on your face when you realise you have no idea how to navigate the default program :P
No risk here, though, since I'm the only one at work using Silo regularly so far -_-
Snapping manipulator is a huge boost for me. I've been having fewer crashes as well. They could do a few more little things for big boosts, but it's nice to see some life back into it -- and a core issue sorted
Replies
Move and Sew:
http://silo3d.com/Downloads/Videos/planar_regions_uv_unwrapping.mov
UV hole-filling:
http://silo3d.com/Downloads/Videos/heal_uvs_using_neighbors.mov
http://www.silo3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15005
Still, even without any improvements, Silo remains a seriously good and powerful tool for retopology. It is super fast, can handle a really high polygon count when importing high polygon models to use as guides when they are in ghosted- and non-wire mode.
I've got stuff like Fill hole and delete bound to the mouse which lets them behave a little more nex-like in that you can flow in and out of the surface tool more quickly. I also have loop slice and cut in there too. Merge is also a handy one to mouse bind, since it becomes an interactive target weld if you don't have anything selected.
Combined with some of the good stuff that is already bound in the default mouse config (tweak, multi-selection, etc) it's a pretty decent toolset that doesn't require you to leave the viewport much if at all, which is definitely a step on the right direction.
The surface tool isn't as straightforward as say nex or topogun though where you can literally just slap polygons down on the fly with every click, but I think it will get there eventually.
I never really liked the original topology brush so this makes a decent replacement imo.
I'm in the office today, but someone forgot to leave a PC with access to a dev unit on, so I can't really do the work I was going to do, so instead I think I will just look into using a third part mouse gesture program to complement Silo's UI.
Just need to set it to ignore when pressing Alt, if you're using the right mouse button or you'll Zooming will get disabled.
Right now I have it set to Merge, Create Polygon, and Surface Tool. Tools that I don't use too frequently, but that I need once in a while.
I usually try not to customise too much, since in a work situation when you can end up in front of anyone's computer, having to show/do something, you can end up with a dumbfounded look on your face when you realise you have no idea how to navigate the default program :P
No risk here, though, since I'm the only one at work using Silo regularly so far -_-
Snapping manipulator is a huge boost for me. I've been having fewer crashes as well. They could do a few more little things for big boosts, but it's nice to see some life back into it -- and a core issue sorted