[Bf-funboard] Bézier-based geometry

[David Jeske]

The 3d spline surfaces you are talking about are called NURBS. However,
they are generally hard to work with for many reasons you can read about -
including trimming, seams, and uv mapping.

Subdivision surfaces are a type of curved surface which is modeled with a
polygon cage instead of following a spline. It is a bit like controlling
the spline points in 3d.

In art and character modeling, it is more common to use subdivision
surfaces, or to model in NURBS and tesselate to polygons.

NURBS are more commonly used for precise shape modeling, such as part
manufacturing, where precise shape control is important but uv mapping is
not.

On Mon, May 28, 2018, 11:51 AM Gustav Ekenberg <gustav.ekenberg at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I’ve had this idea in the back of my head ever since I started playing
> around in Blender. Maybe this feature already exists in some form, perhaps
> as a feature in some other 3D modelling application or as an add-on to
> Blender. In that case I would really like to know about it.
>
> Coming from the 2D world of Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator, I’m used to
> working a lot with Bézier curves, so what I am proposing is something like
> Bézier-based 3D geometry I guess.
>
> I know we can do Bézier curves in Blender already, but as far as I know
> they are used mostly for stuff like movement lines, tubes and loops. The
> feature I would like to see is more like an alternative to how we model
> objects today. Alongside the common way of doing things, working with
> straight edges and then perhaps choosing the smooth shading option, I’m
> suggesting a feature that lets users build objects using Bézier curves from
> the ground up.
>
> I think there would be a huge increase in productivity working this way, at
> least in some cases. As you can see in these mockups, much fewer Bézier
> vertices are needed in many cases, even if you count the handles:
>
>
> A standard UV sphere (right) consists of 514 vertices, while its Bézier
> counterpart (left) would use only 6. (30 if you count all the handles).
>
>
> These two cones would look the same rendered but the standard one to the
> right uses 33 points while the Bézier one to the left uses only 5. (14 if
> you count the handles). The top point needs to be marked smooth I think,
> otherwise the shape will gradually transition into a sharp point with
> corners.
>
>
> Here are two tori. Again, they would look more or less the same rendered
> but the one to the right uses 576 vertices while the Bézier one to the left
> would need only 16 vertices. (64 if you count the handles).
>
> For objects with straight edges, like a plane, a cube or an ico sphere, the
> number of vertices would be the same.
>
> The benefit of having fewer vertices to start out with is of course that it
> makes it easier the change to overall shape of the object, adding more
> detail as you progress.
>
> Maybe this idea already has been considered and discarded, maybe it’s too
> difficult to implement for some reason or maybe it’s computationally
> expensive, but from a user standpoint I think it would be a really neat way
> of modelling 3D objects. Anyway, please let me know what you think!
>
> Best regards,
> Gustav Ekenberg
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