[Bf-modeling] Improving the Vert Connect Tool

[Howard Trickey]

On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 3:40 PM, Howard Trickey <howard.trickey at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
>
> 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?
>

Though, thinking about it more, the current knife code has some visibility
tests (you have to draw a cutting line that can 'see' the two verts you
want connected), and with some geometries it may impossible to find such a
line.  So I can see the case for programming this as a separate, special
case of 'j'.


>
>
>>
>> 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
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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