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Twitter discussion: What Andrew is currently doing.


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There are lots of times when I woul like to quadrangulate an object and do some parts of it manually While that's possible now it doesn't work very well. I don't understand how this new method works, but it looks like it would make that much easier.

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+1 for me too Phil.

@Taros, I too agree quadrangulation is important for NON-RIGGED/NON-ANIMATABLE(deforming) OBJECTS. I've used it on a number of occasions for quickly generating a poly mesh for stationary objects, or even STL objects on rare occasion. Thats is Why I'm looking forward to the new implementation detailed in the PDF Andrew just linked to. It looks like I might be able to use SOME of the auto-retopo for an animatable actor mesh, possibly, then delete the parts with non-usable edge-loops(for rigging), then at least save myself part of the time.

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You can easily transform any model to voxels. Of course if it is closed (also you may use Make mesh closed button).

Voxels are good for this because they create unified surface.

Ok so you import high res model convert to voxels, then retopo auto quad?

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I am indeed very fastidious, however, for actors that dont need closeups, I would REALLY enjoy an auto-retopo that played well with a simple biped rig and some basic auto-weights. We'll see, Andrew has worked his magic before. Thanks Andrew :-)

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127962489785.jpg

WOW, very impressive Andrew, IMO for animated/rigged meshes, this is BEYOND USEFUL!!! Reason alone to buy 3D Coat for retopo work. This puts auto-quadrangulation to SHAME for nearly all cases(for me anyway). I would do a few manual changes to such an auto-retopo, but wow, it reminds me of the feeling i got when seeing the UV Master release by Pixologic(with regard to UV's).

This a build I REALLY cant wait to test.

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One thing I wonder about is those lines. They almost look like they're drawn on like a texture. Does it somehow draw the lines on there and then make polygons based on the lines?

It's a debugging feature. The quadrangulated topology has been rendered onto a texture, then the model has then been subdivided a few times and the rendered texture has been placed upon it.

And it does show that the process is currently struggling to detect the boundaries. So if released in this state then it means we'll have to go in with a large brush and drag the quadrangulated edges around so that they line up with the underlying model. But it's still 1000x better than the old quadrangulate routine. :)

I expect the whole process will never be perfect. The best coder on the planet could spend years on this feature and there would still be issues.

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Yes I agree it would be hard to get perfect but Still faster than doing it by hand for many things.

Yeah, just remember - not every 3DC-user is involved with Character Modeling and expects the Quadrangulation

to even be suitable for animation - which probably is the most challenging area in terms of Edge flow.

I personally will probably never ever create a Character but would be very happy for any reasonable quadrangulation

which can get further edited inside a SubD-Modeler/seamlessly transfers to Zbrush/ or can get cleanly converted to

Tsplines.

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Yeah, just remember - not every 3DC-user is involved with Character Modeling and expects the Quadrangulation

to even be suitable for animation - which probably is the most challenging area in terms of Edge flow.

I personally will probably never ever create a Character but would be very happy for any reasonable quadrangulation

which can get further edited inside a SubD-Modeler/seamlessly transfers to Zbrush/ or can get cleanly converted to

Tsplines.

Who said anything about character modeling?

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Who said anything about character modeling?

Well, most folks have been talking about quadrangulation failing for animation purposes...did you think

they meant animating oil rigs, or rotating windmills, or some such?

But back to what polyxo was talking about...I'd love to see tighter edge detection *first* and foremost,

as it seems right now the quadrangulation edgework tends to swim over a straight edges...of course, I bet

this is no easy calculation. :)

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Well, most folks have been talking about quadrangulation failing for animation purposes...did you think

they meant animating oil rigs, or rotating windmills, or some such?

You just confused me because you didn't quote those people you quoted me.

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I think he was just reminding people in general while agreeing with you about what you said. :)

Yep.

I think that e.g. facial animation brings new logical constraints into the play which can't be

tackled alone by interpreting the topology features and cleany separating them with edge-loops.

A Mesher which can convert a Spaceship nicely will probably still fail on a facial quadrangulation

which in its edgeflow follows the underlying Muscle-Structure. The Engine had to know more than

the topology alone offers - Anatomy...

Maybe Andrew can even solve that problem in a later step - e.g. by allowing the user to paint in

the main character-lines of the desired mesh and areas where poles where acceptable.

But we should be glad with what we get - already now it looks like an awesome improvement!

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Maybe Andrew can even solve that problem in a later step - e.g. by allowing the user to paint in

the main character-lines of the desired mesh and areas where poles where acceptable.

But we should be glad with what we get - already now it looks like an awesome improvement!

now that is quite an idea. Like painting in your seam lines with UV Master in ZBrush. IMO that would make 3D Coat the greatest retopo means in the industry(that I'm aware of).

the ability to paint hint lines, wow, hope Andrew hears that whisper/idea

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