[Bf-committers] Submitted patch to add cap ends setting for cylinders

[Howard Brooks]

Hopefully I can clarify.  Presently the code (editmesh_add.c) defines two
separate actions "Add Cylinder" and "Add Tube".   Both are accessible
through the space bar on main 3d view, but only "Add Cylinder" is available
from the Add/Mesh menu, where it is labeled "Tube" :)
Add Cylinder adds a flat ended cylinder, but has a setting to cap the ends
or not; when the ends are uncapped it is identical to a tube.  This is what
you get when you choose Add/Mesh/Tube from the menu.

Add Tube adds a hollow cylinder, and presently has no setting to cap the
ends.  This is only accessible by searching for the action, and through the
API I suppose.

I can see William's argument for not adding both Cylinder and Tube to the
Add/Mesh menu, but maybe the Add/Mesh menu entry ought to be renamed from
Tube to Cylinder or else the default should change form capped to uncapped.
 Should the "Add Tube" code be removed as redundant, or is this important
for the API?  If it stays should it also have a setting to cap or uncap the
ends?  In that case Add Cylinder and Add Tube would be identical except for
the default state of the end caps.

Howard

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Erwin Coumans <erwin.coumans at gmail.com>wrote:

> Cylinder, capsules and tubes are sometimes mixes up.
> Does this new option match the following descriptions?
>
> A cylinder has flat ends, see wikipedia
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_(geometry)
>
> A capsule is a cylinder capped with hemispheres.
>
> http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&um=1&sa=1&q=capsule+shape
>
> A tube geometry is a hollow cylinder.
>
> http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&um=1&sa=1&q=tube+shape
>
> If we don't have it yet, shall we add the capsule shape to Blender?
> Thanks,
> Erwin
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 2009/10/19 William Reynish <billrey at me.com>:
> > Hi Howard,
> >
> > Thanks for submitting a patch, and welcome to Blender development.
> > I'll attempt to answer your question about tube/cylinder primitives.
> >
> > I think the current behavior is superior to adding more primitives,
> > here's why:
> >
> > 1, It doesn't clutter up the the Add menu.
> > 2, It allows you to experiment with the primitive, tweaking the
> > setting for it in the Operator panel (in Tools pane or F6), and see
> > the results live.
> > 3, Tubes and cylinders are very similar, and the user might often be
> > confused and choose the wrong one.
> >
> > So basically I think what you've done is great.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > -William
> >
> >
> > On 19 Oct, 2009, at 5:49 AM, Howard Brooks wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks Martin!
> >> I hope I didn't put my foot in it on my first attempt.  I was
> >> looking into
> >> some discrepancy between Cylinder/Tube terminology and it now
> >> appears to me
> >> that the intention is actually to have two distinct types of
> >> primatives:
> >> Cylinders with capped ends and Tubes without.  Presently only Tubes
> >> appear
> >> on the add/mesh menu (/release/scripts/ui/space_info.py) which may
> >> have lead
> >> to the todo item.  But maybe the correct fix is to just have both
> >> cylinder
> >> and tube on the add/mesh menu instead of the "cap ends" setting just
> >> added.
> >> Thoughts?
> >>
> >> Howard
> >>
> >> On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 7:29 PM, Martin Poirier <theeth at yahoo.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi Howard,
> >>>
> >>> --- On Sun, 10/18/09, Howard Brooks <hbroo2008 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> My name is Howard Brooks.  By way of introduction,
> >>>> I've been a Blender user
> >>>> for a about 2 years, a programmer (business applications)
> >>>> for 15.  Working
> >>>> with Blender has been a very part time hobby for me, but I
> >>>> love the idea of
> >>>> open source and Blender in particular.  2.5 looks very
> >>>> cool and I am very
> >>>> excited about Durian.
> >>>
> >>> Great, it's always nice to see new people having a go at the code.
> >>>
> >>> I think it's safe to say that every is very excited about Durian :)
> >>>
> >>>> Anyway, I probably don't have a lot of free time to help,
> >>>> but I recently
> >>>> started building from source and figured I would try to
> >>>> help in whatever
> >>>> small ways I can.   I just added the
> >>>> following patch to the patch tracker
> >>>> for adding back the setting for capping the ends of new
> >>>> cylinders (from the
> >>>> 2.5 todo list).  I've only been poking around in
> >>>> Blender source for a few
> >>>> days so it's possible (likely?) I've missed something big
> >>>> -- it seemed a bit
> >>>> too easy. :)
> >>>
> >>> Thanks a lot for the patch, I've just applied and committed it to
> >>> trunk.
> >>>
> >>>> P.s. I am new to open source collaboration so I hope I am
> >>>> not violating
> >>>> protocols by mailing this list -- I don't want to make your
> >>>> jobs harder!
> >>>> The "submitting a patch" section of blender.org suggested
> >>>> mailing this list
> >>>> for new patches.
> >>>
> >>> That was all very fine. You can also "announce" your patch on irc (
> >>> irc.freenode.net #blendercoders) and see if anyone there wants to
> >>> have a
> >>> look at it. Here or there, either is fine.
> >>>
> >>>> Thanks everyone!
> >>>
> >>> Thank you
> >>>
> >>> Martin
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> __________________________________________________________________
> >>> The new Internet Explorer® 8 - Faster, safer, easier.  Optimized
> >>> for Yahoo!
> >>> Get it Now for Free! at
> http://downloads.yahoo.com/ca/internetexplorer/
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Bf-committers mailing list
> >>> Bf-committers at blender.org
> >>> http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers
> >>>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Bf-committers mailing list
> >> Bf-committers at blender.org
> >> http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Bf-committers mailing list
> > Bf-committers at blender.org
> > http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Bf-committers mailing list
> Bf-committers at blender.org
> http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers
>