[Plugin] Sculpt Tools (help)

BTM

hi btm
I've been playing with the plugin, which as you know already it's great (can imagine the smove tool stop being used that much now for land sculpting...) but i have some suggestions if you don't mind.

i'm also one that would like to have visual helpers like a circle showing the radios when sculpting;

is possible so have an option to have a "symmetry option" on? Because when i know i can use 2 components for half of each face but that won't really work that well because the faces in the extremities will move too making a hole in the middle (see pic below);

an option that i can turn off or on for when sculpting if i keep pressing the mouse he will keep smoothing/bulging/etc or will just do it once for each stroke (hope I'm making myself clear).

Again thanks for this plugin and i hope you don't think i'm being ungrateful and asking for too much.
thanks

David

Visual help is what I'm working on I just need to figure out how to draw a circle with view.draw

Symmetry… I know what you mean. Right now, I use JS Align to make things I sculpt symmetrical, but it's a bit of a pain. As for a symmetry script, possibly, although it wouldn't be that easy.

Lastly, I don't understand your third question. can you clarify?

dacad

hi BTM

to my third question what i meant is that right now when sculpting if i dont move the mouse but keep pressing the mouse button in the same spot in the model the plugin keeps "sculpting" that spot, but if possible it would be great to turn that off or on has we need, so that spot wouldn't be just continusly pushed/bulged/smooth by the sculpt tools independently of the time we keep pressing the mouse button. If i'm not mistaken in blender this is called airbrush in the sculpt menu and that can be turn on or off.
Sorry if i can not make myself more clear... my english sucks lol

David

MrWip

Thanks BTM, really, many many thanks ! That's the tool many people where waiting for, without even the smallest hope to see it coming... so, that's great.

For terrain / site modelling it's a must have. In just a few minutes you can get a nice result from a simple grid, and adapt it sooo quickly :

(the altitude lines have been added after the sculpting operation )

Also it's really cool to use it to 'age' elements , by adding a bit of 'random' distortion to their shape at some point.

I'm just a bit wondering on the purpose of the push tool. In fact, it does a kind of flatten effect, and often creates intersection bugs between triangles... so I'm not sure of the real interest of it, but maybe I'm not using it in the right way.

With some visual control and dynamic adjustment it will be a perfect script ! (and please keep the Mudbox icones, they're really efficient )

BTM

@mrwip said:

I'm just a bit wondering on the purpose of the push tool. In fact, it does a kind of flatten effect, and often creates intersection bugs between triangles... so I'm not sure of the real interest of it, but maybe I'm not using it in the right way.

Push just pushes vertices (points) away from the tool. When holding shift, it does the opposite. Depending on whether you use it on or next to the mesh, it will give fairly different results. It's best to have the push tool at a lower strength if you're using it on a mesh.

dacad

BTM

This plugin it's getting better and better . using the push with shift pressed gives and effect similar to pinch that is great to accentuate wrinkles in head models or holes and sort in landscape. THANKS!!!

About the 3rd point i explained, i said the oposite that hapens in your plugin (if i let the mouse pressed he doesn't keep pushing), but anyway it's the same thing that's pretended: turning that on and off.

Back to playing with the plugin

David

AcesHigh

where are you guys downloading the plugin to test it??? There is no download link anywhere!

MALAISE

Hi AcesHigh

Just have look on the same topic ( page 4 ), if not here is the link http://forums.sketchucation.com/download/file.php?id=30086

MALAISE

BTM

@aceshigh said:

where are you guys downloading the plugin to test it??? There is no download link anywhere!

it's on page 4

Burkhard

Please BTM use page 1 for posting the updates. The thread shows 1....6,7,8,9,10. It's a pain to get page 4

BTM

@burkhard said:

Please BTM use page 1 for posting the updates. The thread shows 1....6,7,8,9,10. It's a pain to get page 4

… And that's the point I don't need everyone downloading it yet, it's not the finished version. Right now I just need the people who really want to download it to, so that I can get feedback from those people on what should be done. When I think I can release a version 1.0, I'll make a new thread for it.

Also, I'm trying to get entities.add_circle to draw the circle for view.draw, but I don't know how to get the resulting points to use, without actually making the circle. Anyone have any ideas?

solo

Sounds fair enough, looking forward to final release.

TIG

@unknownuser said:

Also, I'm trying to get entities.add_circle to draw the circle for view.draw, but I don't know how to get the resulting points to use, without actually making the circle. Anyone have any ideas?

You can't mix the circles in geometry and stuff drawn on the screen with view temporarily...
You couldmake a circle as a component that's faceMe ans erase/delete-definition afterwards... BUT the proper way is to gets the points for a circle...

def circleArray(center,normal,radius,numseg)
    # Get the x and y axes
    axes = Geom;;Vector3d.new(normal).axes
    center = Geom;;Point3d.new(center)
    xaxis = axes[0]
    yaxis = axes[1]
    xaxis.length = radius
    yaxis.length = radius
    # compute the points
    da = (Math;;PI * 2) / numseg
    pts = []
    for i in 0...numseg do
        angle = i * da
        cosa = Math.cos(angle)
        sina = Math.sin(angle)
        vec = Geom;;Vector3d.linear_combination(cosa,xaxis,sina,yaxis)
        pts.push(center + vec)
    end
    # close the circle
    pts.push(pts[0].clone)
    pts
end#def

then you set values for center, normal, radius and numseg

then make array

circleArray=circleArray(center,normal,radius,numseg)

then use it in view ?

view.draw_polyline(circleArray)
It should ignore any Zs...
This is 'untried'....

BTM

Thanks TIG

…Anyways, since an admin changed the name of thread to include [Plugin] just a little while ago, I'll put a link to the download on the first page to avoid confusion. Still, when I release v.1, I'll make a new thread.

MALAISE

Hi BTM

Very interesting plugin for deformation ( geological cut., impact, metal casting.)
Suggestion : would it be possible to make visible the "stress vector" before calculation
while drawing to set the direction and module easier ?

Here a picture :

MALAISE

Ben Ritter

BTM,

What you and others do, not only to create these Rubies, but to share them, is indescribable to me.

I am grateful.

I know that this plugin will be so very useful for all that I do in SU. I hope to honor your skills in that endeavor, as well as the many other useful plugins created by very generous people, like you, who are part of the SU family.

a4chitect

BTM - respect! and thanks for this.
I suggest not to bother too much with incorporating symmetrical push-pull but rather

allow for total locking of edges (locked/pinned edge wont move by any of the tools) this way any connecting openings wont change. (easier to implement but not flexible enough)

or

allow for planar locking of edges (locked/pinned edge wont move out of the plane of symmetry) just allow these edges to move along the plane of the symmetry = plane of the "locked" edge loop

wish you lot of endurance
illustrating the planar locking of edges

Chris Fullmer

I agree that locking edges would be HUGE! +1 on that request.

Chris

BTM

@chris fullmer said:

I agree that locking edges would be HUGE! +1 on that request.

Chris

I'll work on a 'lock edges to plane' script then

Oh yeah, in v.1, I'm adding new tool, 'Smudge'. Just a bit of changes to the bulge tool to get it to work. It finds the vector from the last mouse position to current, and transforms based on that vector; thus, smudging.
Smudging in a circle near a bump.

mitcorb

I know this is a dumb question, but have any of you testing discovered a "best practices" size of model, complexity of model, and cursor radius of influence? What about when to use linear effect and when to use s curve?
Thanks,
mitcorb

BTM

@mitcorb said:

I know this is a dumb question, but have any of you testing discovered a "best practices" size of model, complexity of model, and cursor radius of influence? What about when to use linear effect and when to use s curve?
Thanks,
mitcorb

I know a few tricks.

Size really shouldn't make a difference at ALL, except for if it's so small sketchup isn't able to make faces.
Complexity can vary. As I mentioned in the gallery, that sculpted gargoyle has over 50000 faces. The tools can run slow, but still no real lag. Also; when dealing with complex models, GROUP THE PART YOU'RE SCULPTING FOR FASTER PERFORMANCE. Or make it a component. So if you have a house model, and are making a sculpture in the front, group it first, then sculpt.
When dealing with a detailed mesh, it's best to set the soft radius type to linear when doing smaller details, as it seems to run somewhat faster. For large details on anything, s-curve is better, because it is more rounded.