In Development: Subdivide and Smooth

Gaieus · 24 Mar 2008, 15:51

Sorry Whaat - then I mixed up something. Maybe the FFD plugin was passed over by the original author on the fly?

Fletch · 25 Mar 2008, 20:09

why Rick, it's fascinating you didn't mention it... maybe you mentioned it very quietly?
I do see you mention that it's not yet finished...

combine this with FFD and you can get some very cool forms very fast...

kwistenbiebel · 25 Mar 2008, 22:02

Huh ? Now I am confused....
Two subdivide and smooth plugins?

remus · 25 Mar 2008, 22:27

indeed, i thikn the one thats currently available (courtesy of rickw) just applies an algorithm to a given shape.

Whaat's script looks as if its a lot more extensive, and also has a more intuitive interface.

kwistenbiebel · 25 Mar 2008, 23:53

True,

This animated .gif, Whaat showed us a while ago, still amazes me. :

Fletch · 26 Mar 2008, 17:21

Yes, Whaat's tool is much more sophisticated programming... but if you are looking for a quick subdivide and smooth tool while you're waiting for Whaat's lovely work to be finished, Rick's plugin does work for what it does! But, indeed, they are basically 2 completely different "animals".

justry · 30 Mar 2008, 20:42

I tried out Rick's script. Is it just me or is it real slow?! I tried it on the pillow example so I can compare with whaat's time; the first iteration took like 2.5 minutes, and the second iteration made sketchup go unresponsive for over 10 minutes till I had to terminate it.

Maybe it's my machine; I'm on a pentium 4 2.4 GHz processor with 512 Mb of RAM. I was wondering what machine you're on whaat?

RickW · 30 Mar 2008, 21:43

My subdivide project started out last year (almost exactly - March 31) - see http://groups.google.com/group/Ruby-API/browse_thread/thread/4eb73c8ffe38a62d# for the thread where I did a preview. Anyway, the script is unfinished, and is likely to stay that way. I don't need (or want) to try to compete with Whaat on this

Whaat's interface is significantly more advanced, and perhaps the internal workings are as well. It is what I imagined for my script, but did not have the time to do. I think Whaat's product, when released, will be a fantastic addition to SketchUp. I released mine very quietly (so as to not upstage Whaat's work) to provide a temporary solution for users who needed a subdivide script while they waited for Whaat to complete his impressive work.

My best wishes to Whaat for great success with this script! I'm waiting for it eagerly, as well!

As for speed, the first iteration on the pillow example took about 15 seconds. A second iteration (though unnecessary IMHO) took over 10 minutes due to the large number of faces. Hopefully, Whaat has some speed advantages to go with the jazzy interface

justry · 30 Mar 2008, 23:35

Yeah I know a second iteration wasn't necessary, I just wanted to test the performance of the script on a high-poly model.

The first one took you 15 seconds though??! My machine's gotta be real slow . Gotta get me a new one!

Thanks for the quick reply Rick, and your script's great too man. All of them actually .

And waiting for that amazing script of yours whaat!

RickW · 31 Mar 2008, 16:01

I think our machines are comparable processor speed, so maybe it's a memory issue (running 4GB RAM here). Regardless, my script is slow compared to Whaat's, since I didn't really get past the proof-of-concept stage into optimizing.

Whaat · 31 Mar 2008, 18:36

Subdivide and Smooth version 1.0 Final Features List

Low-poly proxy subdivision modeling
Automatic updating of subdivision surfaces while editing a proxy (optional)
Material inheritance of proxy model to subdivision surface (optional)
Creasing tool - allows toggling of fully creased edges or vertices
Up to 4 subdivision and smooth iterations
Unlimited proxy subdivision models can exist in the same file
Subdivision and smoothing of a single isolated face
Robust subdivision algorithm that can handle almost any geometry
Subdivision without smoothing (linear subdivision) - also triangulates all meshes and maintains material assignment
Mesh smoothing (vertex averaging) without subdivision - maintains material assignment
Extrude tool - useful for modeling clean geometry that subdivides well
Knife subdivide tool (aka 'Zorro')

Testing begins this week! (sorry, invitation only). I will keep you all posted on the release date!

Whaat

remus · 31 Mar 2008, 18:39

Mmmmmm, exciting stuff, i look forward to it whaat, thanks again for all the hard work

kwistenbiebel · 31 Mar 2008, 19:54

I am not sure what all the features exactly mean, but it does sound really cool .

a4chitect · 31 Mar 2008, 20:21

whaat you rock! I can't wait for this release! you are one of those for whome the human cloning was meant in the first place its interesting that you mention mesh smoothing (without subdivision), does it mean we will be able to smooth contour generated surfaces so they will be more natural in shape? good luck with testing

Fletch · 2 Apr 2008, 20:33

can't wait to see it, Whaat...
(on the 'invite' list, on the 'invite' list, on the 'invite' list)

solo · 2 Apr 2008, 20:37

By the look and feel of it I think the name should be 'Organix' as it does give one the abllity to model organically.

Whaat · 2 Apr 2008, 20:53

@a4chitect said:

does it mean we will be able to smooth contour generated surfaces so they will be more natural in shape? good luck with testing

Can someone post a complicated contour generated surface? I would like to test this. Thanks.

remus · 2 Apr 2008, 21:27

Is this any good whaat? might be a bit simple for your purposes, but it was good fun to make

whaat contours.skp

Whaat · 2 Apr 2008, 21:57

@remus said:

Is this any good whaat? might be a bit simple for your purposes, but it was good fun to make

Thanks remus,

Here are the results:

First image is the original surface generated from contours
Second image is the same surface after performing vertex averaging (same number of polys)
Third image is the surface after performing two subdivision and smooth iterations

It seems like vertex averaging will be very useful to generate more realistic landscape surfaces without increasing poly-count. The only problem is that the the resulting surface will no longer coincide with the contours, so real-world accuracy is lost. There is no easy way to change this so don't ask

todd burch · 2 Apr 2008, 23:02

@whaat said:

There is no easy way to change this so don't ask

Just tell them it's an erosion feature thrown in for no charge.