[Plugin] QuadFaceTools

kaas · 8 Oct 2018, 08:54

It is something cool to be done inside the engine itself.
So if you fill your scene with SubD models and apply subdivision what strain it takes on an engine to make subdivision?

See video of the 'entire process'...

lgrahm · 10 Oct 2018, 20:21

I'm wondering about the qft line tool. When I divide a quad using the line tool I guess the purpose is to create two new quads? But many times it creates double faces in at least one of the new quads. Those double faces are almost impossible to spot, but they create problems when subdividing or if you want to use the line tool again to divide the double faced quad. Is this a known problem?
/Lars

optimaforever · 11 Oct 2018, 06:29

@lgrahm said:

I'm wondering about the qft line tool. When I divide a quad using the line tool I guess the purpose is to create two new quads? But many times it creates double faces in at least one of the new quads. Those double faces are almost impossible to spot, but they create problems when subdividing or if you want to use the line tool again to divide the double faced quad. Is this a known problem?
/Lars

To avoid this, 2 solutions:

delete the quad surface you want to split in 2 quads , and then with the qft line tool, draw the new line.
use the qft connect edges tool to create 2 lines approximately and delete the one you don’t need.
If none works the way you want, try solid inspector 2, and let it try to fix the double face.

thomthom · 14 Oct 2018, 14:56

Version 0.14.0

QuadFace Tools 0.14.0 Released

New feature: Flip by Slope

It will flip triangulated quads based on the topology flow to produce smoother shading of the surface.

thomthom · 14 Oct 2018, 14:59

@optimaforever said:

@rv1974 said:

judging by RizomUV promo video, it works with tris like a beast. Doesn't it?

Well, all the tools in RizomUV are based to work with quad-based geometry. with tris, the selection of edges, loops are basically a nightmare.

And... if I can avoid going to 3dsMax, I'd prefer. I'd like to find a Sketchup-based workflow, otherwise I'd simply go the Max route from the beginning.

What do you mean by things not being "attached"? Geometry or UV?
Is this when you use QFT to export?

thomthom · 14 Oct 2018, 15:00

Well, that GIF messed it up... in reality the flipped quads looks smooth.

optimaforever · 14 Oct 2018, 15:21

@thomthom said:

@optimaforever said:

@rv1974 said:

judging by RizomUV promo video, it works with tris like a beast. Doesn't it?

Well, all the tools in RizomUV are based to work with quad-based geometry. with tris, the selection of edges, loops are basically a nightmare.

And... if I can avoid going to 3dsMax, I'd prefer. I'd like to find a Sketchup-based workflow, otherwise I'd simply go the Max route from the beginning.

What do you mean by things not being "attached"? Geometry or UV?
Is this when you use QFT to export?

Hi thom,
basically it means qft exports all quads detached. So rizomUV can’t weld the geometry, which is pita.

thomthom · 14 Oct 2018, 18:15

@optimaforever said:

Hi thom,
basically it means qft exports all quads detached. So rizomUV can’t weld the geometry, which is pita.

Can you elaborate a bit more on what you mean by this?

QFT writes OBJ files were the faces share vertices just as they do in SketchUp.

optimaforever · 15 Oct 2018, 08:48

@thomthom said:

@optimaforever said:

Hi thom,
basically it means qft exports all quads detached. So rizomUV can’t weld the geometry, which is pita.

Can you elaborate a bit more on what you mean by this?
QFT writes OBJ files were the faces share vertices just as they do in SketchUp.

Well... My evaluation period for rizomUV expired so I can't try now but here's a screencapture of my qft exported mesh in RizomUV:
Basically the mesh is cut along the quads and the edges can't be welded. If I try to weld the geometry in 3dsmax, I lose the quads and get tris.

thomthom · 16 Oct 2018, 10:56

I'm not sure what I'm looking at there...
I sounds like this is an issue that relate particularly to rizomUV. Though I can't really tell exactly what is going on. But I can verify that QFT exports OBJs in such a manner that the faces share vertices.
If you could find out more what is happening on the rizomUV side then I could look into whether there are some tweaks that can be done on the side of QFT.

Perhaps, do you have a model where exported from another app into OBJ works fine for rizomUV - but doesn't work when exported from QFT?

optimaforever · 16 Oct 2018, 11:04

Exact. When I create a quad mesh in Max and import in RizomUV, there's no problem, I can cut and weld along desired edges, generating UV islands easily. When imported from QFT, each quad becomes a UV island and I can't weld back the geometry, which is very disappointing. I told the dev about this and he replied that he'll try to allow welding of pre-welded imported geometry but so far no good...
So my understanding is that there's something happening when exporting obj from QFT in su side.

kaas · 16 Oct 2018, 13:56

Have you tried mapping the uvs using Wrapr? Exporting Wrapr-mapped objects from SU (as fbx) works as intended for me.

optimaforever · 16 Oct 2018, 14:08

@kaas said:

Have you tried mapping the uvs using Wrapr? Exporting Wrapr-mapped objects from SU (as fbx) works as intended for me.

Well... I'm trying RizomUV because WrapR has too many limitations because of the SU 's own limitations.
Did you check the RizomUV's presentation? you'll understand what I mean.

thomthom · 16 Oct 2018, 15:32

So, is it the UVs that are the issue? I can understand if that might be the issue here - as SU doesn't try to make the UV-coordinates between vertices shared. (SU saves texture position per face instead of per vertex)

optimaforever · 16 Oct 2018, 15:34

@thomthom said:

So, is it the UVs that are the issue? I can understand if that might be the issue here - as SU doesn't try to make the UV-coordinates between vertices shared. (SU saves texture position per face instead of per vertex)

Indeed, this could be the issue... But I'm not techy enough to be able to confirm this unfortunately.

I should try forcing a UVmap in max on the qft mesh before importing in rizomUV.
Unfortunately my evaluation period expired

GoodWin_2203 · 26 Oct 2018, 10:30

Good day! I have a problem with the make planar tool. when I select it, an unknown error is displayed. what could be the cause of this problem? SketchUp 2018

juju · 26 Oct 2018, 10:50

@goodwin_2203 said:

SketchUp 2018

kindly consider updating your profile (refer to version 2016 there) whenever changing SketchUp version

zooen · 17 Nov 2018, 14:06

Hi,
Could we hope for a French version of QuadFaceTools?
There is one person who knows how to do that!

I thank her in advance if she does it.

Pourrait-on espérer une version française de QuadFaceTools?
Il y a bien une personne qui sait faire cela !

Je la remercie par avance si elle s'y adonne.

pilou · 17 Nov 2018, 15:13

Je ne crois pas que cela soit prévu pour recevoir l'intégration de langages mais...

Il y a déjà la version en français du mode d'emploi!

Oxer · 17 Nov 2018, 15:50

@zooen said:

Hi,
Could we hope for a French version of QuadFaceTools?
There is one person who knows how to do that!

I thank her in advance if she does it.

Pourrait-on espérer une version française de QuadFaceTools?
Il y a bien une personne qui sait faire cela !

Je la remercie par avance si elle s'y adonne.

I translated the plugin to Spanish language manually, you have to edit some strings in the files with a text editor ( I use BBEdit on Mac), I don't know if Thomas will give support to translations in near future.