[Bf-modeling] Hidden Wire Improvements

[Campbell Barton]

Hi there,
I wanted to write a less-lame reply - but I'm afraid all of these
options are fairly involved. Mainly because it means drawing in
multiple passes - which is done in editmode, but would need to be
extended for all objects.

On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 3:04 AM, Jonathan Williamson
<jonathan at cgcookie.com> wrote:
> Now that trunk is open again I've got a couple improvements I'd love to see
> for Hidden Wire. This comes from my own experience working with it and from
> user feedback.
>
>
> Support Wireframe Mode
> Currently hidden wire only works in shaded mode. But this seems a bit
> backwards as hidden wire effectively is a wireframe draw mode, as it removes
> all face drawing (as it should).

I realize this doesnt make much sense from user POV - hidden wire _is_
 using zbuffer occlusion.
wireframe drawing disables this and there are checks all over the code
'v3d->zbuf'.
So it can be done but it means we would need a not too horrible way of
using depth buffer even when drawing in wire mode without very
confusing checks all over the code.

> My proposal is to support hidden wire in both wireframe and solid mode.
> Wireframe support is needed for clean mesh drawing in the viewport. Solid
> support is needed while retopo'ing a highresolution mesh, and most all
> retopo is done in solid mode.
>
>
> Support Multiple Objects
> One great benefit to hidden wire is the much cleaner display in the
> viewport. It would be very beneficial to extend this to multiple objects for
> a very clean display.
>
> Even with only a few objects the benefits are instantly clear. This is so
> messy: http://cl.ly/Rquv
>
> I think hidden wire should be a scene-wide option, affecting all objects
> within the scene.
>
>
> Support Object Mode
> Currently hidden wire only works in Edit Mode. As the above points touch on,
> adding Object Mode support would be great for making a very clean viewport.
> It also improves drawing consistency so the user isn't confused why the
> drawing mode keeps changing.

It could be made to work with the active object - like matcaps -
having multiple passes and adding complexity for all objects in the
scene, I'm wary of.

We also plan on refactoring the view-port code, something IMHO we
should aim at sooner then later.

>
> Jonathan Williamson
> http://cgcookie.com
>
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>



-- 
- Campbell