[Bf-modeling] Mesh Cleanup Tools

[Campbell Barton]

On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 9:22 PM, metalliandy
<metalliandy666 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Sounds like a plan. :)
>
>> On bf-python a developer posted an addon called `Planerize`  which
>> makes faces flat. (*)
>
> I think this addon looks very promising but it seems a little awkward
> using the 3d cursor in some of the steps. It's a good tool nonetheless
> and would be very useful for ensuring hard surface objects retain their
> flatness after tweaking.

Yep, the tool can use some improvements (in fact this issue I raised
with the author when reviewing too).
So this may be rewritten in C and work a bit differently, perhaps the
addon authors will further improve this and we can use as is.


>> The issue with tools like this are that on their own they're quite
>> obscure and don't fit well in the context of general purpose modeling
>> tools (IMHO).
>> So I was thinking we could collect tools that we can add to a `Mesh ->
>> Cleanup` menu since you don't often use these tools for making your
>> own models, they are more for fixing up imported geometry.
> I have to disagree, Campbell. IMHO, These are exactly the tools that
> Blender needs to make the modelling really first rate and should be
> front and center.
>
> These sort of tools are essential for hard surface modelling and though
> they would be really useful for cleaning models that have been imported
> from CAD etc., I don't think that they are limited to that kind of use.
> Hiding them away in Mesh> Cleanup might stop people finding the tool and
> using it to its full potential. I would prefer if this were kept in the
> specials menu because it seems like the go to place for these kind of tools.

You have a point, `Limit Dissolve` for example could go into
Mesh-Cleanup or it could stay in dissolve menu... same for beauty
fill.
So its not clear cut whats a cleanup tool and whats not.
However I do think adding ~8 or so new items (some probably fairly
obscure) into specials menu just makes menu over crowded rather then
helping users.

We can postpone this decision - Ill probably add into a cleanup menu
to begin with, but we can re-evaluate once thats done and see if any
items should get moved about.

Maybe we are thinking of different kinds of tools too... lets see once
they're written.

>> If any of you had jobs where you had to work with models from CAD
>> applications or just badly made meshes you probably had to do some of
>> this manually, so interested to get some list of useful cleanup tools
>> to include in next release.
>>
>> Any suggestions?
> I will take a look around for some more examples but a 'fill holes with
> quads' would be useful. So basically what would happen is that all the
> tool would find all the holes in a mesh and fill it with quads as best
> it can.

Sure - some hole filling tool that lets you select how many verts to
fill should be straightforward enough, can have option to take
material, uv's, vcolors etc from surrounding geometry.

Once we have some firmer plans Ill probably collect plans on a WIKI,
Would also help to collect dodgy models that need fixing too to use as
examples.

@Michael Williamson, read your reply, but cant really give good
feedback - some tool to fix overlapping faces could work but would
need an example before/after, what you expect.

> Cheers,
>
> -Andy