I messed around with the dechamfer script some more and managed to make some progress towards chamfer intersection support. Only very basic intersections work right now, but it's getting there
I messed around with the dechamfer script some more and managed to make some progress towards chamfer intersection support. Only very basic intersections work right now, but it's getting there
@MACHIN3 Impressive work. How did you approach the problem from the math point of view? Do you have any interesting read on the subject to suggest?
Don't have anything to read sorry. There isn't much math involved either. There's some vector stuff to get the per vert direction for the offset/chamfer. Then I'm basically just growing the outer faces based on the reach value. These get removed and I'm bridging the opening, which produces the triangles. Shading issues - which are already minimal due to the resulution - get fixed via normal transfer from an uncut source mesh.
I messed around with the dechamfer script some more and managed to make some progress towards chamfer intersection support. Only very basic intersections work right now, but it's getting there
I have been working for a while now on an upcomming tool called Pin & Relax for TexTools which is started to mature recently to something productive.
It unfolds and Pins selected edge loops into straight lines and relaxes the rest of the UV island. Similar to Headus UV layout with its edge constraints. It does not re-scale the edge distance but instead maintains it.
There is also support for selected multiple edge loop sets where it straightens and relaxes them largest to smallest but this mode is not yet fully fool proof.
This video is a quick introduction to the Select Pattern script
from the Pushing Points Topology Scripts
Collection for MODO, which enables you to define a pattern for your polygon
selection.
This video is a quick introduction to the Edge Arc script
from the Pushing Points Topology Scripts
Collection for MODO, which enables you to convert a single edge to multiple
edges in an arc formation.
I’m looking for naming suggestions. I’ve got to say, “Plug” is a
great name however, so props for that. Mayjor props to @WilliamVaughan of course, as I think he was the first to do a "detaling via polyon replacement" with his Polystein Kit for Modo.
Unlike in Maya’s Plugit or Modo Polystein Kit, I don’t require you to
do any kind of polygon selection here. MESHmachine figures that out. I’m also doing an auto Normal Transfer at the end.
@MACHIN3 Looking cool, but one thing I think you might be missing here, is that the selection that's required is not just a downside. It also allows the scale to be set to the selection, and in some cases allows you to stretch the boolean if you decide to make a rectangular selection rather than a square one for instance.
I also can't tell if you can select (and place) the shapes from a library, as you can in other tools.
@MACHIN3 Looking cool, but one thing I think you might be missing here, is that the selection that's required is not just a downside. It also allows the scale to be set to the selection, and in some cases allows you to stretch the boolean if you decide to make a rectangular selection rather than a square one for instance.
I also can't tell if you can select (and place) the shapes from a library, as you can in other tools.
Changing the scale like this? Place assets from libraries like this? Gimme some time, I've started on this specific tool just yesterday.
I'm also not tech artist and I've been doing lots of scripts but using MEL in Maya which is nice some simple things. I do know some very basic Python too and lately I've been looking into switching for good from MEL to Python so i was guessing that you guys are using Python but what i was curious about is how much in your scripts is "pure" Python and how much is using software specific built-in commands to do certain things. For now, there are few tools i would like to do like some selections tools what you William are doing but then also some other like MACHIN3 chamfer/boolean cleanup similar scripts shared here on the previous page.
@MACHIN3 Looking cool, but one thing I think you might be missing here, is that the selection that's required is not just a downside. It also allows the scale to be set to the selection, and in some cases allows you to stretch the boolean if you decide to make a rectangular selection rather than a square one for instance.
I also can't tell if you can select (and place) the shapes from a library, as you can in other tools.
Changing the scale like this? Place assets from libraries like this? Gimme some time, I've started on this specific tool just yesterday.
All I can say is that that looks a lot less convenient than making a face selection and having the selection automatically scale to it! Choice is great, so I welcome being able to place it manually, I just hope you don't skimp on the options Polystein has.
Ive found that giving the user a few options for placement has worked out well. I personal prefer the Auto Scale, placementand Auto Rotate but some prefer the last method shown in this video:
Haha...nice one! I could guess people see first what MACHIN3 did then i took inspiration and did yesterday my own version and now it is in Modo too.
The only limitation i found is that boolean base and cutters must have around the same size of faces/edges density otherwise if the base is high poly and cutting object low poly it will give unexpected result if it moves all the edges. In that case, i did an update with a threshold so that it doesn't merge all the edges but, if you want, just the closest ones within certain threshold depending on the edge lengths.
Nice. Since it seems like you guys have already covered boolean cleanup for Blender, Modo, and Maya, I went ahead and scripted it for Max.
@Klaudio2U Your gif is 8mb, that's crazy. I don't know how you're recording, but maybe consider something like LICEcap to record instead, or some sort of gif optimizer.
I'm also not tech artist and I've been doing lots of scripts but using MEL in Maya which is nice some simple things. I do know some very basic Python too and lately I've been looking into switching for good from MEL to Python so i was guessing that you guys are using Python but what i was curious about is how much in your scripts is "pure" Python and how much is using software specific built-in commands to do certain things. For now, there are few tools i would like to do like some selections tools what you William are doing but then also some other like MACHIN3 chamfer/boolean cleanup similar scripts shared here on the previous page.
The way you interface with the 3d app is what matters. Python is just the language you speak, literally. Operators in blender are classes formated in a special way with certain functions defined(execute, invoke, modal, draw, etc, depending on what you wan to do).
In blender you can script in a way that just calls existing Blender tools, that's also what the Blender UI does. It's a great way to get started. A lot of DECALmachine is doing that.
But then you can also go deeper and work directly on the data blocks, do vector and matrix math for geometry manipulation. MESHmachine does a lot of that. It also turns out this is much easier than I ever thought it would be), in large parts due to the very excellent mathutils library made for Bender but usable outside it as well AFAIK.
In terms of python it's just a lot of loops and list comprehensions for the most part. and figuring out good ways to store and access your data so you can work with it. Lists of dictionaries are often handy.
The way you interface with the 3d app is what matters. Python is just the language you speak, literally. Operators in blender are classes formated in a special way with certain functions defined(execute, invoke, modal, draw, etc, depending on what you wan to do). ..
Thanks for the info! Long story short, basically, Python is just a way to go because it is way more robust do work with then, in my case MEL. Another good thing is that with Python there is always that possibility to directly access Maya API + libraries, modules, etc... all this is not possible with MEL so it often comes to some big workarounds to do things which then additionally slow down performance which was already slow, to begin with.
especially once you hit more general purpose usecases like .. calling other processes, handling files, processing data like xml/json, network communication etc. things will be indefinitely smoother with python - because it has so much included, and there exist at ton of libs for pretty much anything.
No Boolean feature from my side, sorry (great job guys, really inspiring to see what you are doing!).
I am slowly wrapping up the next version of my ZBrush plugin and wanted to show a synergy I think is quite handy: You will be able to choose a color either via the (customizable) color palette, by using the foreground color, or by a random generated one and apply them to a subtool by hovering over it and pressing of a hotkey.
CRYENGINE has no way to make text in game in the editor so I made a hacky little system using the python api they have in Sandbox.
Works reasonably well.
It's made using single designer objects mapped to a font face texture. So at the end you can merge the designer objects and export them as a cgf which will cut down on the number of cgf's and drawcalls.
Hello! I am a beginner looking for some critique on my pyro. Simulation in houdini rendered in mantra. Getting indie this weekend to render at full resolution still messing with my gas forces and seeing what gives me the best quality. I am not set on my current shader because I want to try redshift I see it gives much nicer results.
I have been working on smoothing algorithms for meshes in blender. You can define sharp edges as rails that will be used by verts to slide on. Volume is more or less preserved.
Trying to create modular buildings generator for Unity
Looks incredible!
---
I've been working on a tool to turn mirror mods into
real geometry, with proper origins and orientations and proper custom
normals.
I consider this the final missing piece in my custom normal pipeline.
I've got creation and symmetrize covered. Now mirror is done as well.
This tool is also essential if you are doing object space texturing, as
the mirror mod in blender messes with this as well (understandably) as shown in the second part of
the video.
I have been working on smoothing algorithms for meshes in blender. You can define sharp edges as rails that will be used by verts to slide on. Volume is more or less preserved.
Magical, I've been looking for a good way to relax topology forever.
Replies
Thanks guys!
I messed around with the dechamfer script some more and managed to make some progress towards chamfer intersection support. Only very basic intersections work right now, but it's getting there
MODO | Topology Scripts: Select Pattern
This video is a quick introduction to the Select Pattern script from the Pushing Points Topology Scripts Collection for MODO, which enables you to define a pattern for your polygon selection.
https://www.pixelfondue.com/blog/2018/5/29/modo-topology-scripts-edge-arc
MODO | Topology Scripts: Edge Arc
This video is a quick introduction to the Edge Arc script from the Pushing Points Topology Scripts Collection for MODO, which enables you to convert a single edge to multiple edges in an arc formation.
https://www.pixelfondue.com/blog/2018/5/29/modo-topology-scripts-select-pattern
of course several types of wood + a lot of presets
option to auto set tiling by scale
FX: flames, sparks, hot air
spawning emitters automatically in Blueprint
from vertex paint (manual override)
from point(s) of origin outwards, with world noise
planar tex option, with pivot and scale - for people who want to attach their own render-target based system
work in progress script:
https://www.pixelfondue.com/blog/2018/6/5/modo-topology-scripts-set-position-pie-menu
I’m looking for naming suggestions. I’ve got to say, “Plug” is a great name however, so props for that. Mayjor props to @WilliamVaughan of course, as I think he was the first to do a "detaling via polyon replacement" with his Polystein Kit for Modo.
Unlike in Maya’s Plugit or Modo Polystein Kit, I don’t require you to do any kind of polygon selection here. MESHmachine figures that out. I’m also doing an auto Normal Transfer at the end.
You and William are doing some nice stuff here! Do you guys use Python for making all these various tools?
I use Python for all of my tools. Im an artists not a programmer and have found python easy to get into.
For now, there are few tools i would like to do like some selections tools what you William are doing but then also some other like MACHIN3 chamfer/boolean cleanup similar scripts shared here on the previous page.
Someone requested this today; Its a Boolean Cleanup script:
The only limitation i found is that boolean base and cutters must have around the same size of faces/edges density otherwise if the base is high poly and cutting object low poly it will give unexpected result if it moves all the edges.
In that case, i did an update with a threshold so that it doesn't merge all the edges but, if you want, just the closest ones within certain threshold depending on the edge lengths.
Since it seems like you guys have already covered boolean cleanup for Blender, Modo, and Maya, I went ahead and scripted it for Max.
@Klaudio2U Your gif is 8mb, that's crazy. I don't know how you're recording, but maybe consider something like LICEcap to record instead, or some sort of gif optimizer.
nice work guys!
Thanks for the info!
Long story short, basically, Python is just a way to go because it is way more robust do work with then, in my case MEL. Another good thing is that with Python there is always that possibility to directly access Maya API + libraries, modules, etc... all this is not possible with MEL so it often comes to some big workarounds to do things which then additionally slow down performance which was already slow, to begin with.
I am slowly wrapping up the next version of my ZBrush plugin and wanted to show a synergy I think is quite handy:
You will be able to choose a color either via the (customizable) color palette, by using the foreground color, or by a random generated one and apply them to a subtool by hovering over it and pressing of a hotkey.
Works reasonably well.
It's made using single designer objects mapped to a font face texture. So at the end you can merge the designer objects and export them as a cgf which will cut down on the number of cgf's and drawcalls.
FireWithDisturb from Katchawan MGD64 on Vimeo.
MOPS HOUDINI from Katchawan MGD64 on Vimeo.
Volume is more or less preserved.