[Bf-committers] GSoC 2011 Proposal: Retopology Tools

[Tom M]

For the 'slice and connect' tool,

1) user generate pen strokes
2) user generate a stroke that is tangent to the original strokes
3) at each intersection cast a ray perpendicular to the intersection
that penetrates to the opposite side of the volume (martins 'etch a
ton' continuous embedding code can do this
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Theeth/etch-a-ton - see the
octopus demo - http://vimeo.com/2032424 )
4) from this ray and the original stroke you can construct a plane
then you can raycast from the center of the volume in each direction
to find where to place the points of your circle (probably can reuse
some shrinkwrap modifier code for this part)
5) repeat that for each slice
6) then connect the slices with a loft (see the loop tools code for
lofting algorithm)

other folks can probably help you a bit more with the algorithm but
etch-a-ton; shrinkwrap; and looptools are where i'd look for
inspiration.

Regarding the 'paint stroke tool' - Alice and Johnathon - I'd
completely forgotten that cambo had written his retopo tool for durian
(he removed it since the durian team wasn't using it and he didn't
have time then to maintain it) that does i think exactly what this is
intended to do, and he plans to add it to add ons.  So if that is the
case, it might be a good idea to choose another retopology tool to
implement for your proposal.

LetterRip

On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 8:52 PM, Alice Li <li.alicem at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks Jonathan, I probably should have ran the slice tool by you as well.
>
> For the slice tool/guide strokes tool, I can see that it's a variation of
> the paint strokes tool but I'm not sure I completely understand the
> functionality. So the mesh that's created is generated around all the model
> as in 360 degrees?
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 12:27 AM, Jonathan Williamson <
> jonathan at montagestudio.org> wrote:
>
>> Hey Alice,
>>
>> I actually have a couple more suggestions for you in regards to the tool
>> functionality.
>>
>>
>> Pen Tool
>> I feel it should not be restricted to only creating quads. Even as the
>> topology snob that I am, occasionally it is necessary to use triangles. This
>> is particularly true in lowpoly meshes where deformation is not a problem.
>> When creating very lowpoly meshes it's almost essential to use triangles.
>>
>> Slice Tool
>> The slice tool you have proposed is almost identical to the old knife tool,
>> which while important, I don't feel makes sense to be part of this project.
>> This is mostly because Joe Edgar as already implemented the beginnings of a
>> very good knife tool alongside BMesh. It's my feeling that any retopo tools
>> you develop should be designed to work with the future BMesh. Since Joe has
>> already developed this I feel it would be overkill for this project.
>>
>> The Slice tool that I was actually referring to in my original suggestion
>> was this one: http://3d-coat.com/uploads/pics/rtp_slices.gif
>>
>> What it does is allows you to quickly draw several guides across a tubular
>> section of your mesh and automatically generate a encapsulating mesh that
>> snaps to the surface.
>>
>> This method is very quick and powerful for retopo'ing anything from arms,
>> legs, treebanchs and other tubular forms. Perhaps the tool should be renamed
>> to Guide Strokes.
>>
>> Other than those couple things everything looks great for the
>> functionality!
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Williamson
>>
>> Instructor - http://www.blendercookie.com
>> Personal Trainer - http://www.mavenseed.com
>> Portfolio - http://www.jw3d.com
>>
>> On Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 11:00 PM, Alice Li wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I've been working on my GSoC 2011 proposal for the last few days for
>> adding
>> > new retopology tools. If anyone could give me any kind of feed back
>> before I
>> > submit it I would really appreciate it, is it detailed enough?
>> Feasibility?
>> > Too long? Too short?? etc. A really big thanks to Jonathan Williamson,
>> > Nicholas Bishop and LetterRip for their help these past couple of days.
>> >
>> > Link: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Lynseed
>> >
>> > Thanks in advance,
>> > Alice
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
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