Support > Wish List

My top 10 wish list

(1/1)

dlw20070716:
Hi, I'm a new user and I like what you've done so far with meshmixer. But I'm having trouble actually creating anything with definite straight (or smoothly curved) lines. I'm also having trouble controlling the left button navigation so that I don't end up with an object that is unintentionally tilted, and once tilted, getting it untilted. And I find it difficult to start modeling from a sphere because I can't tell which side I'm looking at or how far I've turned it when I rotate it. And some real help of the standard Microsoft Windows interface type would be really appreciated. I would like a better explanation of what each mode (select, smoothbrush, volbrush, and surfbrush) does and how they interact with the various slider bar parameters. I also had trouble trying to create a box shape and adding it to the part library by extruding a plane. I didn't understand how parts were supposed to be created and used, and I didn't understand that the plane is only single-sided and therefore not a complete object. I crashed meshmixer repeatedly and finally gave up.

So, my wish list:

1) Help that really explains things in depth.

2) Better navigation so I can keep my object upright as I dolly the camera around it. (Provide option to constrain object vertical axis to remain parallel to camera vertical axis.)

3) Provide ability to mark construction points and lines on the object.

4) Provide optional constraints that hold said construction points and lines fixed while the surfaces near those points and lines are being modified. In particular, smoothing operations should smooth a surface up to a point or line without erasing any crease (or trough) or peak (or pit) implied by the point or line.

5) Provide the ability to create peaks and creases (or pits and troughs) by moving said construction points and lines while the nearby surfaces stretch to reach them. Moving a line should smoothly alter the curvature of the line, like altering the position of a control point on a bezier curve, not create a local bump or dip.

6) Provide the ability to create perfect primitive geometric shapes and constrain them to keep their shape. For example, I may want to create a car with wheels. I will want the wheels to retain their shape as I flare the fenders around them.

7) Make the plane double-sided so it can be extruded into a complete object. And provide more primitive objects to start from than just the plane and sphere. A box with proportions 1:3:6 would be a more reasonable starting point for a humanoid than a sphere.

8 ) Fix extrusion logic so that it doesn't crash. Crashes are never acceptable.

9) It would also be good to let people save favorite views and tool settings, and maybe even associate hot-keys with them.

10) More user control over visual schemes and the ability to set backgrounds would be great too. Personally I like to like to work against a fairly light background (but not stark white) and it helps to visualize the final rendering of your object if you can model it in a color similar to the way it will be rendered. Being able to set a background image means you can model against a two dimensional representation of your object.

Thanks for creating meshmixer! You've got a great program started.

David Wallis

RMS:
Hi David, thanks for the feedback.

(1) is definitely very important. I'm constrained by available time, though =\

Better camera controls, including (2), are something I will be trying to do soon.

(3-5) are interesting, I have thought about stuff like that, it is possible but will take some significant engineering. Step 1 is to get masking working...

(7-8) are mainly already fixed, although some things will always crash (unfortunately I don't have a QA department living in my hall closet...)

(9-10) are a common request, and I do try to improve on them a little bit with each release, but for me it is lower priority then the technical capabilities.

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