[Bf-committers] Alternate Proposal - Meta-Sculpting

[Jason Wilkins]

Is there no interest in this idea or did I fail to explain it well enough?



On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 3:42 PM, Jason Wilkins <jason.a.wilkins at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'll have a chance to write up both of my proposals in detail by early
> Thursday I hope.  I'm submitting an alternate proposal because I've
> been made aware that work on a portable device Blender may cause too
> many conflicts.  I understand that the two proposals might make very
> different decisions about how to raise the abstraction level of
> Blender's drawing code.
>
> This proposal was inspired by Disney's research into an "Implicit Canvas"
>
> So, Meta-Sculpting:
>
> The very basic idea is to enable features that would be possible if we
> could retain all of the users brush stroke input.  One thing we could
> do is modify the strokes themselves with sculpting tools, hence the
> name, "meta-sculpting."
>
> (I do not want to go too far down the rabbit hole, but you could also
> conceivably sculpt the strokes that modify other strokes...  but there
> is no need to get that complex.)
>
> What could we do?
>
> *Create a path by tracing it along an object.
> *Draw hairs onto an object
> *Undo, modify, and then reapply strokes to an object with real time
> preview of changing parameters
> *Create a large set of paths for particles to follow along the surface
> of an object
> *Use the paths to generate an implicit function, use the implicit
> function and dual-contouring to create a new mesh
> *Animate the transformation of the paths, and then do any of the
> above, but with animation
> *Many geometry modifiers could be implemented on paths
> *You can project paths into 2D and then use them to do 2D painting
> (you could potentially automate a program like MyPaint)
>
> Paths do not have to lay on a surface either.  They could be offset,
> or even have a variable offset as you stroke (for hair or feather
> paths)
>
> Of course I cannot achieve all of this in one summer, but I could lay
> the foundation.
>
> If this idea is too strange then I am left with a grab bag of smaller
> features.  I'm still committed getting done the other paint and sculpt
> features I've been working on the past couple of years.