mm06 release (sort of...)

[RMS]

Last night I posted Windows builds of mm06 on the downloads page: http://meshmixer.com/download.html

I had to push this out on very short notice (ie in the span of about 8 hours) for reasons that will eventually become clear. So, there are no OS X builds, and I haven't made a demo video yet so I'm not really publicizing it yet. And to be honest it is a little bit half-baked. But it has some nice new things that you might like:

- Reduce tool has parameters now
- new Draw3 SurfaceBrush has a sort of clay-brush-like behavior (I think). This brush accumulates to a maximum offset, but will not explode off the surface like d2
- new DrawMax SurfaceBrush has fixed maximum offset and does not accumulate. I think this is kind of like the layer brush in ZBrush.
- AlignToStroke and Spacing options for SurfaceBrush

I didn't manage to improve the refinement, so to use detailed stamps textures you will need to manually refine the area using Refine VolBrush before stamping. If you want to do things like the screwhead texture, use DrawMax. The Draw3 brush has kind of weird behavior in concave areas and can be a bit unstable. You'll see....
   

[andreicirdu]

The DrawMax is like the layer brush.
Draw3 surfbrush is more like the displace brush from Zbrush(It raises the terain,but preserves the features).
Draw1 (not draw3) behaves like the clay brush, but it needs a bit more strength.

All the Surfbushes don't have enough strength, especially when using a pen.

I guess the reason for the rush is that you'll make the transition from a free to a payed product. Am I right?

[RMS]

No, that is not the reason =)

[HolyEnigma74]

RMS..

Sorry that i'm such a damn nag, but could we settle with better names than D1, D2, D3?
"Draw max" that heck is that?

would be nice to name the, Draw, Clay, Gum(Make up something or look at other apps that yours is similar to)

---
Oh also since we have to "refine" the area before using stamps how about about a "refine selection" button?
(or subdivide all, etc)

[HolyEnigma74]

"AlignToStroke"  seems to work.. but you have to have the alpha "horizontal"

example,  if you have a line and want it followed it needs to be horizontal
(it would be nice it we could right click on the texture alphas and rotate them 90/180 degrees, etc.. or have the setting somewhere else)

[RMS]

Well, I had to pick some direction =).   I will add ability to rotate.

I agree on the brush names. I just don't know what to call them, other than the simple ones like flatten and pinch. The different draw brushes all kind of do the same thing, I guess I can change DrawMax to Layer, but otherwise I'm not sure what to call them...and probably they are going to change in the future....Anyway I will try to think of something...

[HolyEnigma74]

I think once you get them "named" then it will be easier to get them to behave like you want them to..

Its getting better.. keep it up.  

BTW, what information is MeshMixer trying to send to the internet?
the program is trying to contact the internet and my firewall keeps blocking it..  

----

Oh Another thing you are the maker of ShapeShop right?
that program is really cool it would be nice to see some of that technology(with better interface)
 added to meshmixer, like curves draw and lathe etc...
(What i want to know is when you draw a curve in Shape Shop how come the curve disappears and is no longer editable?
it would be cool if it drew b-splines curves and the curves stayed visible then you could move
 them and the mesh  would deform as you move the spline points )

[HolyEnigma74]

just so you see what im talking about watch this see how the spline is always editable and the mesh stays editable and updates in realtime?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaoW1qzKK94 <--Watch

Its nice to keep the splines in the scene so you can always come back and make little changes if needed.

C4D was my first love i the 3D World(i dont own just had the trial, i still like it its just expensive)

Here is basically the Same thing done with Blender.. (i just hate bezier curves)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bBd7z5tFaA

[RMS]

I wanted to do that sort of thing with shapeshop...the only reason I didn't is lack of time =)

That dialog that meshmixer pops up when you start it downloads a news/updates web page. That is the only thing it does to try to connect to the internet. In addition to providing you with potentially useful things like update information, links to tutorials, etc, the hit-count statistics for this webpage give me a sense of how many people are actually using meshmixer, versus just downloading it (I can't identify any individual user, I just get aggregate daily statistics from google analytics). This is a very important factor in determining how much effort I put into meshmixer development...

[jim]

No, that is not the reason =)

Is the world goin to end, ... again ?  

... or even worse, ... is pixologic about to buy MM?  

 


Ahhh yes, great to see the caly brush in, thanks a lot for looking into it! Though, its not quite there yet imo.
i think the stroke would feel better if the points would freeze once the brush applyed 100% deformation to them and then idle till you let go of the LMB.
Right now if you draw a small disk and keep circling on it, the points move around like youd be mixing dough.

The endresult of a stroke is somewhat jaggy too.
it looks a lot better after applying a smooth stroke over it.
Maybe the clay could smooth itself from beguin with?

Would be nice to have some more/other opinions on it though, the caly been requested often.



Ah, and it really would make things more fluid if MM would remember a working directory.
Maybe, even a additional path for loading brushes and materials
i got all files parked away on my D: drive and MM installed on c: and now got to walk the way over for each file i want to add.

[Cluly]

The material caps are great and the sculpting feels a lot better! From a lazy artists perspective, I have some feedback for you. I'm a huge fan of intuitive software, I don't like the tools to get in the way of the job so to speak. I just jumped straight into it after forgetting how to use MM, I picked up the rotating, zoom and panning etc up quick enough and some tools.

My biggest frustration comes in the Rotate/Orbit view, I quickly modeled out a 5 minute head but most of my time seamed to be spent rotating around to the side of the object so I could straighten it up and then rotate back to the front again. My hand was telling me to just move further away from the object and hold control and move up or down to straighten it in the view...but that didn't work. I think this sort of spinning and rotating style comes from Blender and zBrush...The way it works at the moment feels like a problem to me and hurts the workflow.

Secondly, I found a "Grab" tool in Volbrush I think, by holding down Shift, that was great, but I also liked holding shift down for the Smooth tool in surface mode, this became a little frustrating too, is there a "Grab" tool in the list that I am missing? I'd prefer that to be a selectable to tool for sculpting and not a hotkey/modifier. This also brings me onto the confusing nature of the tools and the way they are named, I think this has been covered in another post so I won't go into detail.

The brush settings seam to far away tucked up into that corner too, a popup widget on a hot key would be great! Again, a lazy artist ^_^

Scott

[HolyEnigma74]

Cully I agree with you on most critiques.

the interface needs lots of refinement,
to make it "More Functional", "Simpler", "Better Looking" and "user friendly" IMHO.

for all this it will need RMS to look at the software that he likes and sort of "mimic" it.

be it, Mudbox, 3d-Coat, Blender, Cinema-4D, Modo, Silo,   Photoshop(yes even this program has support for 3D and in the windows menu you can turn palettes on/off), etc..

[Cluly]

I'm not much of a fan of the navigation in 3D-Coat; and Photoshop...well their entire 3D system is questionable imo.

[Cluly]

Ah, I just found "Free Rotate" mode was on, tons better without it!

[HolyEnigma74]

I'm not much of a fan of the navigation in 3D-Coat; and Photoshop...well their entire 3D system is questionable imo.

All of them have better interfaces than MeshMixer(and yes i still like the program, MeshMixer still has a better interface than ShapeShop)
(i know, Photoshop's 3d interface doesnt have really anything but im talking about the total package)

MudBox is really nice, Modo is cool(though i dont like the navigation, that's easy to change), I really like Silo!..

3D-Coat has lots of features and brushes and has a way to get them easily.. (Mudbox, does as well i suppose)
A mix between the 2 would be cool , i guess.