Tgi3D SU Amorph and PhotoScan Update (v1.20)

gulcanocali · 23 Feb 2011, 19:58

I would like to announce that we have just released upgrades of Tgi3D SU plugins. You can find the new versions on the Downloads (http://www.tgi3d.com/index.php?Page=Download) page on our website.

The new releases include a new downsampling feature to reduce the polygon count of a model while preserving the model fidelity in a controllable fashion. There are also some enhancements and fixes to the existing features.

Below are the details of the updates in the new releases:

-- Introduced "Downsample" command to decrease the resolution of a mesh

-- Create mesh can create Bezier (i.e. parametric) surfaces, if the boundary is

A quad of bezier curves and the number of samples on opposite curves match
A triangle of bezier curves and the number of samples on the longest two sides match

-- Introduced "Collapse" command to collapse the selected region to a point

-- Mesh editing (upsample and downsample) results are placed in a Sketchup group optionally to allow faster processing.
-- Cross Section Tool now supports measured motions.
-- (Mac) Plugin now works on Mac OS X v10.5.x.
-- (Upsampling & Downsampling) Preserve the texture mapping during upsample and the new downsample
-- (Texturing) Preserve SketchUp assigned material transparency in texture creation
-- (Texturing) Preserve the horizontal and perpendicular structures (e.g in buildings) in unwrap mode of texture mapping
-- (Texturing) Preserve material transparency and color in the texture mapping.
-- (Texturing) Do not display uv map in the texture if the seperate uv map output is selected.
-- (Move tool) Improved Bezier curve editing.

In addition to the updates included in Tgi3D SU Amorph, Tgi3D SU PhotoScan includes the following fix.

-- (Calibration Tool) Added user warning if a camera can not be found in the built-in or local database

Rob D · 15 Mar 2011, 22:11

Hi Gulcan
Do you know if there's any way to manipulate the UV map once I've unwrapped it?

Rich O Brien · 15 Mar 2011, 22:23

Here's a response I received to some unwrapping queries I had...

@unknownuser said:

In texturing, the unwrap method tries to map the geometry with no distortion. Unwrap method works best when you can flatten the selected surface without any tears. If it has to place tears, it does not quite know where best to place them. You can indeed select chunks of mesh and texture piece by piece.

In either spherical or unwrap mode, the selected part of the mesh can be already textured, then the newly created texture will seamlessly merge with the existing texture. This is especially useful when you have to texture the whole mesh in chunks. This way you can edit your textures to be seamless between chunks. You can even repair existing texture seams using this feature.

I'm sure Gulcan will add to this.

gulcanocali · 16 Mar 2011, 12:54

Hi Rob,

I am not sure I understand your question correctly but here is my answer to different alternatives:

If you are asking for a UV map editor like in 3DS Max; No, we do not have such an editor.
If you are asking whether you could "edit" the texture that was already mapped on a surface; Yes, you could certainly do that from "edit texture" in SketchUp. What Tgi3D has additionally is that you can select an area that has already texture on it, the uv map will preserve it so that any further edits you do on the texture will merge seamlessly with the existing texture (second paragraph in Rich's quote essentially talks about that as well)
If you are asking whether you could preserve the texture while editing the surface, current version cannot do that, i.e. when you edit the surface the texture breaks. However we do have a very soon to be released new version where you would be able to do exactly that, i.e. the texture map dynamically adjusts as you edit the texture.

solo · 16 Mar 2011, 13:03

@unknownuser said:

However we do have a very soon to be released new version where you would be able to do exactly that, i.e. the texture map dynamically adjusts as you edit the texture

Ooooh!! been hoping for this feature most of my Sketchup life.

gulcanocali · 16 Mar 2011, 16:13

OK here are a couple quick unedited teaser videos to show what is in the works in terms of preservation of texture during edits...

Video 1: texture map dynamically adjusts as the surface is edited with various Tgi3D's own editing operations.

[flash=480,385:39nu876v]http://www.youtube.com/v/Rz6NF_WBed8?fs=1&hl=en_US[/flash:39nu876v]

Video 2: The texture map is "safeguarded" and then "restored" when using regular SketchUp editing operations.

[flash=480,385:39nu876v]http://www.youtube.com/v/f828QRYJIDk?fs=1&hl=en_US[/flash:39nu876v]

muddpuddle · 16 Mar 2011, 18:04

Your teaser videos pushed me over the edge. I have made the purchase!

gulcanocali · 16 Mar 2011, 18:25

Thank you!

Pixero · 16 Mar 2011, 18:31

How does the license work?
One license per PC or per simultaneous user?
(Thea for example lets you install on up to three PCs but only use one at a time.)
Since I'm most interested in the texturing bit I think it's a bit too expensive if I need to buy three licenses.

gulcanocali · 16 Mar 2011, 20:48

Hi Pixero,

Thank you for your interest in Tgi3D SU Amorph.

Currently our licenses are issued "per computer" (allowing faster, local license verification without internet connection). The scheme you describe, what is called "single-user license", permits multiple copies (up to a certain amount) to be installed under the same license but allow a single use at a given time. This requires that the software be in contact with the license servers at all times and allow only one copy to be operational at a given time.

We are aware that many users now own multiple computers (at least one at home and one at work) and need to be able to use the same software on each without any additional cost. We are trying to figure out a remedy for this, we may move to a similar licensing scheme as described which will require some development time or maybe have a "2 for 1 sale" .

To our existing customers; please rest assured that any remedy we come up with will be "backward compatible", i.e. you will be able install multiple copies for single concurrent use (if we move to user based licensing scheme) or get another copy for free (if it is a sale)

Rob D · 16 Mar 2011, 21:14

Thanks for your response. I'll try to clarify. I have a highly simplified tree trunk that I've smoothed. I select the smoothed face and select Create Texture and tick the UV Unwrap method with Create UV. You can see in the attached images that the UV Map could do with some pulling around so that faces don't overlap. Is there any way to do this? If not, how can I control how it unwraps?

Many thanks
Rob

gulcanocali · 16 Mar 2011, 22:04

Hi Rob,

Currently we do not have a way to edit the UV map. We do have plans for additional mapping methods, other than unwrap and spherical. For now, you can try following approaches here.

Try "spherical" as the mapping method. If the resulting UV map is not distorted too much, it may be a better mapping method here. To minimize distortion in this method you can work with smaller chunks.
You can select the area that had an overlap and portions from the surrounding area. Use "create texture" again on this area. The texture that has already been mapped will be preserved and then you can fix the texture to fit seamlessly with the surrounding texture in the image editor.
The "unwrap" method tries to map the geometry with no distortion, so in order to minimize overlaps or unusual tears you may try to apply texture in smaller chunks (in your case two chunks may be enough). Using a similar idea described in (2) you select second chunk to include portions of already textured area together with the non-textured area and then fit the following texture seamlessly in the image editor.

jason_maranto · 16 Mar 2011, 23:21

Thank-you for these awesome tools -- I use the free version now but plan to purchase the full version in the near future

Best,
Jason.

Rich O Brien · 16 Mar 2011, 23:23

You won't be disappointed Jason. I guarantee it!

EarthMover · 17 Mar 2011, 07:09

Great work! You all are putting together such an impressive toolset. I love the free version, but all of these new features are really twisting my arm to make the purchase. My only request would be that the check for updates feature at startup be either streamlined or set to a manual check. Ever since installing the free Amorph edition, my waiting times at SU startup have tripled.

Pixero · 17 Mar 2011, 09:21

@earthmover said:

My only request would be that the check for updates feature at startup be either streamlined or set to a manual check. Ever since installing the free Amorph edition, my waiting times at SU startup have tripled.

Yes, that waiting actually made me uninstall the free version.

gulcanocali · 17 Mar 2011, 10:23

Jason, Rich and Adam, Thank you for your kind words.

@earthmover said:

My only request would be that the check for updates feature at startup be either streamlined or set to a manual check. Ever since installing the free Amorph edition, my waiting times at SU startup have tripled.

Adam and Jan, we have been looking into this issue. "Check for updates" is not the problem. In any case it only checks for updates every 10 loads or so, not in every start. We have some ideas we are testing right now and hopefully we will be able to speed up the loading process.

TIG · 17 Mar 2011, 10:35

The startup time for Sketchup is I'd guess at least doubled if not trebled when Tgi3D tools is auto-loaded... You can't disable its loading and manually load it later as you need it, because using load or require with the tgi3d.rbs file seems to give errors...

bjornkn · 19 Mar 2011, 13:19

@gulcanocali said:

Hi Pixero,

We are aware that many users now own multiple computers (at least one at home and one at work) and need to be able to use the same software on each without any additional cost. We are trying to figure out a remedy for this, we may move to a similar licensing scheme as described which will require some development time or maybe have a "2 for 1 sale" .

Of all the single-user schemes I think I like the Messiah verison best. It's like a USB dongle, but using a standard (one of your own) USB memory stick.
Works great

bjornkn · 19 Mar 2011, 13:32

Sorry, but it isn't quite clear to me if Amorph is included when you buy PhotoScan?

They both seems to be able to make good models from photos.
I've been using Imagemodeler and Photomodeler for many years now, combined with SketchUp. Since Autodesk bought RealViz and removed Imagemodeler from open/single sales (need to buy Max or similar), and Photomodeler is not quite so good at modelling (and also quite pricey and with a very expensive licensing policy for us that don't live in USA/Canada - being forced to buy from local dealers with bloated prices), the availabilty of easy-to-use and affordable photogrammetry software is very limitied. That LockView tool looks very promising!
It looks like PhotoScan (Amorph) will do the job fine?
There's no calibrated cameras, but I hope that they take into account lens parameters/distortions?

I'm downloading Amorph/Free and PhotoScan/Trial right now