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Plane tool in Voxel mode (Develop talk)


haikalle
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  • Applink Developer

This tread is created for anyone who has some ideas how to improve plane tool. Andrew has added some great features into that tool like 3-4 point plane,

which is great addition. You can add here how to make the tool even better. And when we have have enough info, we can write feature request for mantis system.

Hope we can get some nice ideas, because this tool is very important for hard surface sculpting. :)

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Snake Framing and conformed Epaneling.. :)

Here is an improvised 3D sketch..

http://www.screencast.com/users/Routb3d/folders/Jing/media/200f3e08-5029-49d4-b59f-9a5b990f8c57

IC

Ideas for plane tool Functionality.

1. Set draw height relative to plane.. Above, below, somewhere in between. That or plane offset slider with high and low values.

2. Allow entire plane and point to be transformed with a gizmo.

3. Allow points to be individually moved with a gizmo. This can currently be done with utility objects.

4. Allow "always on" plane visibility toggle.

5. Change initiation to call for the user to click and drop 3 or 4 points consecutively. Just to get started.. Maybe a reset button to allow subsequent initiations.

6. Fill up too plane - this may already work by building and planing down

IC

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I like the new functionalities of the Plane tool a lot and am thankful for making it available!

Its Architecture/Gui-Widget-implementation however is still very crude, as it is in several other potentially

powerful tools too.

There were several long threads before in the last years already dealing with improvements of Screen-Widgets.

I have many ideas but I don't actually feel like contributing because at Pilgway one first had to give the Usability

Aspect of this Software the Priority it deserves.

There really is a gifted person missing, only in charge of making Andrews and Rauls inventions feel natural to our hands.

As powerful and stuffed with cool stuff 3DC is, it still has - by far - the most inconsistant and inadequate On Screen Controls

of all Software I use.

It is quite obvious that Andrew, while he experimented with lots of widgets in the past can't devote more time tuning

Tools-Implementations, therefor in my opionion all further discussion only made sense if a skilled and ingenious

Graphic-Designer was found.

I personally don't think that a Software with such diverse Workspaces can only have very few standardized

Widgets, I guess it made sense to have quite different controls for dealing with Voxels, Polygons and Paint.

It was up to the Talent of the Widget-Developer to develop a slim set of Task-Optimized Controls which still have a cooperative Language

and were mostly self-explanatory.

Certainly also the Axis-Tripod - as often demanded can not serve as such a universal Weapon!

The fact that we all probably are already familiar with it can not be reason enough.

It is a fabulous Tool but in each tiny aspect of its functionality optimized for work with Low to Medium Res-Polygon-Meshes.

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  • Applink Developer

Ideas for plane tool Functionality.

1. Set draw height relative to plane.. Above, below, somewhere in between. That or plane offset slider with high and low values.

2. Allow entire plane and point to be transformed with a gizmo.

3. Allow points to be individually moved with a gizmo. This can currently be done with utility objects.

4. Allow "always on" plane visibility toggle.

5. Change initiation to call for the user to click and drop 3 or 4 points consecutively. Just to get started.. Maybe a reset button to allow subsequent initiations.

6. Fill up too plane - this may already work by building and planing down

IC

Moving entire plane by gizmo is very nice idea.

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Moving entire plane by gizmo is very nice idea.

  • I agree but I don't like the idea of a gizmo. I think it might be a lot quicker to just be able to pan in screenspace, move forward backward in zdepth, scale and rotate using hotkeys.
  • I'd also definitely like to see a semi-transparent grid at all times.
  • The Plane tool needs a mode where it destroys all the voxel information from the surface of the plane/grid to the viewport Camera. I don't really like the way it currently cheesecuts through leaving a chunk floating.

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After using the plane tool for a while I actually found the controls to be well thought out and easy to use.. I do agree that the initiation of multi-point planes could be done in fewer clicks but I think manipulating the points works pretty well the way Andrew designed it..

There is a conversation about plane development here

http://www.3d-coat.c...?showtopic=7789

Yes I agree. Manipulation isn't so bad. But placement could definitely use a little sprucing. :)

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I myself don't think that this point plane should be only in one tool. I feel more that this is a guide for all other tools. I would like to suggest that let's take this feature out from plane tool and

let's change that it will affect all tools. Tools like Move, Hide, smudge would benefit if you can use plane tool with them. I have used modo for modelling lately

and there they have separated plane that you can use it with any tool you like and it really works like a dream. I really think that what Andrew has already done is

great but i really think that we can make this really shine. Having virtual plane to guide all tools would be amazing thing.

Yes I agree. Manipulation isn't so bad. But placement could definitely use a little sprucing. :)

Agree.

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Hi all,

well I think this plane tool could lift hard surface sculpting to a whole new level.

It should not only be in the plane tool but rather be implemented as a guide surface you can use for whatever tool you like. Then if it not only would interpolate 4 points but would be a B-Spline or NURBS patch with some more control points you could place it as a guide surface somewhere in 3D space an sculpt on it. You could use it to trim your model etc. etc.

Of course it should have (optionally) some handles to manipulate it and you should be able to display it all the time.

This really would be very great!

best mnu

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Hi all,

well I think this plane tool could lift hard surface sculpting to a whole new level.

It should not only be in the plane tool but rather be implemented as a guide surface you can use for whatever tool you like. Then if it not only would interpolate 4 points but would be a B-Spline or NURBS patch with some more control points you could place it as a guide surface somewhere in 3D space an sculpt on it. You could use it to trim your model etc. etc.

Of course it should have (optionally) some handles to manipulate it and you should be able to display it all the time.

This really would be very great!

best mnu

This is about what I am imagining for the plane tool too.. Its more of a guide surface tool.. I'm not exactly sure where Andrew will take this but I have a sense that he is on to something. Andrew did say that it would be easy to add the ability to define the surface with more points..

That said, the system is defining a plane or a warped plane that tries to match the points given.. The plane tool as it is is very useful but can be tricky to get what you need. I wonder if it would be to much to have a drop down menu that would allow a user to fit different kinds of primitive surfaces to the points.. Plane, Sphere, Cylinder, etc.

Reconsidering.. I feel like the best coarse for this tool would be to enable it to define a NURBS like swept surface or patch.. To be able to easily manipulate and configure that patch like a gizmo would be key..

We should start making some diagrams of what that might look like..

IC

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  • Advanced Member

I myself don't think that this point plane should be only in one tool. I feel more that this is a guide for all other tools. I would like to suggest that let's take this feature out from plane tool and

let's change that it will affect all tools. Tools like Move, Hide, smudge would benefit if you can use plane tool with them. I have used modo for modelling lately

and there they have separated plane that you can use it with any tool you like and it really works like a dream. I really think that what Andrew has already done is

great but i really think that we can make this really shine. Having virtual plane to guide all tools would be amazing thing.

Agree here. A more universal application of a workplane with its own control splines would be amazing to use with other brushes, especially as a hard surface refining tool.

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