[Bf-modeling] Improving the Vert Connect Tool

[Howard Trickey]

On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 3:34 PM, Jonathan Williamson
<jonathan at cgcookie.com>wrote:

> Howard,
>
> It is similar to the knife tool, and so in part yes. That's what I'm
> asking for. But I still see them as separate tools. The knife tool is
> perfect for working out complex topology over an existing surface, where as
> the Vertex Connect tool is best for quickly connecting two points in a
> straight line.
>

Jonathan, I'm just saying that under the hood, I think you're asking for
exactly what the knife tool does if you hit k, snap to one vert, click,
then snap to the other point, click, then return to execute.  If that is
what you are asking, then 'j' or some other shortcut could be configured to
do all that with one keypress if two verts are selected.  Do you need this
to work when more than two verts are selected, as the current j does,
perhaps choosing shortest paths when they have to cross more than one face?


>
> Campbell,
>
> The "two tools" sound good to me. In the case of your tricky example, I
> would expect, and want it to simply cut a direct path through all edges
> between the two selected verts. And I agree, that with 3+ verts selected it
> should work the same as it currently does.
>
> I wouldn't consider this tool absolutely necessary, but also not just
> "cool". Connecting verts across a surface is something I run into
> constantly, particularly when grid-filling an ngon cap.
>
> Jonathan Williamson
> http://cgcookie.com
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 12:25 PM, Howard Trickey <howard.trickey at gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> Isn't this really just asking for the knife tool code to run with a
>> faster to use interface for the case where two verts are selected?
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 2:47 PM, Campbell Barton <ideasman42 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Jonathan,
>>>
>>> This can be made to work, but I'm interested to know how smart you
>>> would expect/want this to be.
>>>
>>> If there are multiple edges to cut across, just intersecting the most
>>> direct line makes sense I suppose.
>>> But what if there are multiple faces in-between? Would you expect this
>>> to work?
>>>
>>> http://www.graphicall.org/ftp/ideasman42/join_example_tricky.png
>>>
>>> There is also the case of joining multiple faces at once. Which is
>>> currently supported.
>>> http://www.graphicall.org/ftp/ideasman42/join_multi.png
>>>
>>> So I think this might internally be 2 tools,
>>> - Keep the current join for 3+ vertices.
>>> - Add a second join tool which can only handle 2 verts but can cut
>>> across edges as you suggest.
>>>
>>> (both can be accessed via the Jkey, just as Fkey accesses multiple
>>> creation functions).
>>>
>>> I'm mainly interested to know if you would expect this to do some
>>> clever trick tracing a line over the faces and then cutting those, or
>>> if cutting across a single edge is enough.
>>>
>>> Is this at a "It would be cool but not necessary?" level or... "it
>>> must work or don't bother"?
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 5:05 AM, Jonathan Williamson
>>> <jonathan at cgcookie.com> wrote:
>>> > Hey Campbell,
>>> >
>>> > I use the Vertex Connect tool (J) constantly. However, it has one major
>>> > fallback with filling in larger areas. It cannot cut through existing
>>> edges.
>>> >
>>> > For example, see this screenshot where I'm beginning to fill a grid on
>>> an
>>> > NGon: http://cl.ly/PkTD
>>> >
>>> > It would be great if I could cut through an existing edge like
>>> illustrated
>>> > in the screenshot. I can do this with the Knife tool, but I find it a
>>> bit
>>> > slow and cumbersome. I much prefer to just quickly cut an edge at a
>>> time
>>> > with the J key.
>>> >
>>> > Jonathan Williamson
>>> > http://cgcookie.com
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Bf-modeling mailing list
>>> > Bf-modeling at blender.org
>>> > http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-modeling
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> - Campbell
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Bf-modeling mailing list
>>> Bf-modeling at blender.org
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>>>
>>
>>
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>
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