I know it's just more of a tease but I have now posted my video tutorials for this plugin on Youtube. Check them out if you have 20 minutes to spare....

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LcLPPz0fWM
[flash=425,355:2yev61ue]http://www.youtube.com/v/5LcLPPz0fWM[/flash:2yev61ue]
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbdiThh4fio&feature=related
[flash=425,355:2yev61ue]http://www.youtube.com/v/AbdiThh4fio[/flash:2yev61ue]

Thanks again! I have been getting more requests for beta testing. I think that there are enough beta testers right now so I won't be taking any more at this time. Sorry!

@chippwalters said:

Yes. Still interested

OK thanks! I'll PM you later today.

@chippwalters said:

I can help. I already sent you a private message yesterday about this. I'm currently doing a project which could benefit. Plus, I've experience in scripted solutions.
http://www.vuetoolbar.com/VueToolbarCover/default.htm

I'm sure a lot of people's projects could benefit. What I need is someone who has time to test and post bugs and feedback. If you are still interested I will send you a PM.

@daniel s said:

Here!

OK, you got the job! I expect a two page bug report on my desk tomorrow morning.
Seriously, though, please give as much feedback as you have time for. I will send you a PM later today. Thanks.

Hi all,

I am looking for one more beta tester at the moment. I need someone with a lot of free time on their hands (anyone??) I am worried that the current testers are too busy to test and post bugs. Is there anyone out there who could commit to spending a LOT of time testing over the next week? First come first serve. Please respond right here.

Cool script! Glad you could sort through my sloppy code and find something useful! Thanks for the credit!

hey biebel,

I love your tests. The house one is my favorite so far. short but very sweet. I need to do some more animation experiments myself.

@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

@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.

VERY cool!!! hope to see some more!

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

Number of light sources is not that important. Interior scenes (lit with exterior lighting)take long because there are so many light bounces for light to find it's way to the camera. Exterior scenes have far fewer bounces and therefore render much faster.

I spent some time playing around with this indredibly useful tool yesterday. Simply outstanding work! Thanks for the effort Didier!

@gaieus said:

An early version of the scrip is available at Smustard's. Correct me Whaat but as I remember you took over Rick's project and the link above points at the same - yet indeed early version - scrip.

No. the projects are completely independent. I was not aware that RickW ever released his script

Beautiful render! Thanks for attaching!

@kwistenbiebel said:

I didn't use SSS on the leaves.
In the Indigo render they are plain diffuse (the Fry versions has specularity assigned).
I'll try the SSS feature later on, but I think render time will suffer from it.

Dammit! I can't see your renders at my office computer. They are blocked!

Here's something to try with vegetation in Indigo. Use a Phong material with SketchUp opacity at 35-50%. This blends the phong material with a diffuse transmitter material giving you a SSS effect without the huge render time. Changing the opacity slider will determine the relative amount of blending. The end result is a translucent material with specular highlights, perfect for leaves.

I am a horrible modeller but I was able to do a half-decent model of a boat hull over my lunch break. Notice that vertex creasing has been implemented.

I guess I could give a quick update. I am very busy right now but development is still progressing. I have worked out almost all of the kinks and am ready to do some optimization work. I am very pleased with the current state of the plugin. I have exceeded my original goals and expectations for the plugin by far. Don't expect it to be as robust as subdivision modeling in Blender, Maya, etc. but it should still get the job done for the vast majority of your organic modeling needs (at least that's my hope).

Hopefully, beta-testing can begin in a couple of weeks.

Cheers

The importance of quick setup time is extremely underrated. My primary goals with SkIndigo were quick setup time, ease of use, and fast/intuitive workflow.

Yes, the UI of version 1.0+ was somewhat inspired by Podium. The core geometry export algorithm (a few lines of code) is the only remnant of SU2KT in SkIndigo. Everything else was rewritten.

BTW, the official stable releases of Indigo / SkIndigo 1.0 are right around the corner.