[Plugin] SketchyFFD (Classic)

CPhillips · 12 Feb 2008, 07:22

I made a new version that has a NxN FFD. That means you can select how many control points there are in each direction. It isn't as slow as I expected.

Here is a 12x12x2. I am playing back my undo buffer so it looks faster than it is.

Ill post it once I fix a bug or two.

Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in.
Chris

juju · 12 Feb 2008, 10:17

@unknownuser said:

@unknownuser said:

I'd take "really really slow" over "no such function at all" any day.

Juju, I find your replies are often cryptic. What's the bottom line?

@pixero said:

I think its pretty clear what he means.
He much rather have a slow tool that does what he wants then not having that tool at all.

Exactly! Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Fletch · 13 Feb 2008, 06:29

Can't wait to play with this, Chris, thank you from the bottom of my heart... been wishing for this for a loooong time.

CPhillips · 13 Feb 2008, 06:53

This version supports NxN deforms. But more importantly it updates the mesh automatically when you move control points. That makes it a lot more usable.

Also added status text progress when it is weighing and deforming the mesh.

Making a curling wave with a 13x13x2 FFD.

See the PluginStore for the download...

remus · 13 Feb 2008, 07:00

cheers for the update chris, this will make an already powerful tool all the better.

Daniel S · 13 Feb 2008, 11:38

Thank you Chris!!!
The Update FFD is obsolete now

Daniel S

remus · 13 Feb 2008, 12:52

here a quick (30 mins or so) pear i knowcked up, partly using FFD.

pear.skp

notareal · 13 Feb 2008, 13:02

Impressive, organic modelling did take a grand leap! Just if there where nice tool for subdivision surface... pokes Whaat

krash88 · 13 Feb 2008, 13:13

Great job! The auto update is very nice. But I have one problem... If I create a flat piece of geometry similar to your wave demo, then strange things happen. After moving a control point the geometry disappears and the camera goes nuts. It sticks me in an over-head view, miles away from the control points. After a zoom extents I can tell that the geometry is still there and is selectable, but not visible. Turning on hidden geometry doesn't help and any attempt to zoom in or out puts me back over-head at a great distance from the points. It seems to work great on geometry with thickness. Any help is appreciated and thanks again for the wonderful script!

Edit:

After looking back at your wave demo, I noticed that you have a vertical edge at one corner of the mesh to give it thickness and I assume that you have deleted the control points from the bottom also. I tried this and it works just fine. So thanks again for the script!

ely862me · 13 Feb 2008, 13:49

this is awsome for cars,until finding this i had on my car square from now i won t have any square,just litle mouvement with mouse and all is fine,,,,thank u very much

Daniel S · 13 Feb 2008, 14:06

Here i attach a video using FFD like a twist tool...
it would be easy to make this automatic with ruby?
i mean.. to set the center of rotation (like in TIG´s Grow.rb) and the rotation angle.

Daniel S

FFD Twist Video.zip

Ampa · 13 Feb 2008, 14:37

Wow! This has now officially crossed the line from 'pretty darned impressive' to "stunning".

Thank you for sharing this with the community.

Ampa

kwistenbiebel · 13 Feb 2008, 18:59

Awesome guys !!!!!REALLY
This together with Whaats 'polycount controller' (= subdivide and smooth plugin) is simply great stuff. So we can finally do some organics in SU ?

Whaat · 13 Feb 2008, 19:41

Looks amazing!
Great job!

krash88 · 13 Feb 2008, 20:19

I just wanted to post something to show how this has helped to add life to my renderings. Thanks again!

kwistenbiebel · 13 Feb 2008, 20:38

That's really cool Krash88.

The only little remark I have with current plugin (besides saying it is awesome ), is that after some manipulation, it starts to become difficult to see which points to move.
It would be great if the control points would stick more to the geometry...I am not sure if my explanation is clear.

Another thing is, I noticed that the outer limits of geometry gets changed by the plugin, even though only points were selected in the middle (no points located at the boundaries of an object). I experienced this issue as well while using the 'sandbox tool' in SU.

krash88 · 13 Feb 2008, 20:57

@kwistenbiebel said:

That's really cool Krash88.

The only little remark I have with current plugin (besides saying it is awesome ), is that after some manipulation, it starts to become difficult to see which points to move.
It would be great if the control points would stick more to the geometry...I am not sure if my explanation is clear.

Another thing is, I noticed that the outer limits of geometry gets changed by the plugin, even though only points were selected in the middle (no points located at the boundaries of an object). I experienced this issue as well while using the 'sandbox tool' in SU.

I think every vertex in a piece of geometry holds some weight with every control point. Maybe adding an option for fall-off would help a little with both of your issues. It may be asking too much, but an option for "freezing" certain edges could help so that the weight calculations won't affect them(for your edge problem). Maybe creating a sub-group that doesn't include the edges you want to remain in place and then only deforming the rest of the geometry will solve the problem as well. I'll try that out later.

CPhillips · 13 Feb 2008, 22:19

@daniel s said:

Here i attach a video using FFD like a twist tool...
it would be easy to make this automatic with ruby?
i mean.. to set the center of rotation (like in TIG´s Grow.rb) and the rotation angle.

Daniel S

Possible. But a fair amount of work. I'll look into it when I can spend more time on it.

CPhillips · 13 Feb 2008, 22:21

@krash88 said:

Great job! The auto update is very nice. But I have one problem... If I create a flat piece of geometry similar to your wave demo, then strange things happen. After moving a control point the geometry disappears and the camera goes nuts. It sticks me in an over-head view, miles away from the control points. After a zoom extents I can tell that the geometry is still there and is selectable, but not visible. Turning on hidden geometry doesn't help and any attempt to zoom in or out puts me back over-head at a great distance from the points. It seems to work great on geometry with thickness. Any help is appreciated and thanks again for the wonderful script!

Edit:

After looking back at your wave demo, I noticed that you have a vertical edge at one corner of the mesh to give it thickness and I assume that you have deleted the control points from the bottom also. I tried this and it works just fine. So thanks again for the script!

You got it! FFD objects need to have at least some depth when you first start. But after that it is safe to delete unwanted geometry and control points.

Thanks for all the positive comments everyone.
Chris

CPhillips · 13 Feb 2008, 22:24

@kwistenbiebel said:

That's really cool Krash88.

The only little remark I have with current plugin (besides saying it is awesome ), is that after some manipulation, it starts to become difficult to see which points to move.
It would be great if the control points would stick more to the geometry...I am not sure if my explanation is clear.

The points need to be where they are. It was possible in the previous version to move the control point grid object away from the mesh you are deforming. That makes it a little easier. I think it is broke in this version but I will see if I can fix it.

@kwistenbiebel said:

Another thing is, I noticed that the outer limits of geometry gets changed by the plugin, even though only points were selected in the middle (no points located at the boundaries of an object). I experienced this issue as well while using the 'sandbox tool' in SU.

Not sure what you mean here. Maybe post and example?

Chris