meshmixer07 update 5

[RMS]

new update! this one is mostly cleanup, but there is some new stuff that has been requested frequently...

- huge memory leak cleanup. I introduced lots of memory issues in updates 3 and 4, they are gone now.
- new Close Cracks tool for welding together existing seams/cracks. This is useful if you import a mesh with separated UV-islands, and for the masking workflow below. It is in the Edits menu, when nothing is selected (currently does not support restricting to selected areas)
- Hide selected objects - toggle with ctrl+v, ctrl+shift+V to show all 
- Combine now supports arbitrary number of objects
- smarter handling of importing objects with very different sizes (will ask if you want to automatically translate/scale)
- improved Face Selection rendering (no more speckles or invisible selections!
- tweaks for Face Selections (expand/contract, optimize - see action bar menu)
- Add(shift) / Remove(ctrl) for slice-lasso in Face Selection
- many, many bug fixes

It may not be obvious, but by combing Hide and Close Cracks you can now mask off parts of your model. See the attached image. Basically, select and Separate the part you want to work on, and hide the rest. Try to stay away from the boundary while editing. Then Combine the two parts and do a Close Cracks to join them back together!

If you do touch the boundary, the Close Cracks will leave some gaps. You can either fill those as holes using Erase/Fill, or ZipperBrush them back together and then Weld Boundaries.

Also, if you are using mm on OSX, I have moved the storage location for files (shaders, parts, etc) to ~/Documents/meshmixer. You will have to manually move your old files from ~/Library/Application Support/meshmixer. Sorry! But this was a necessary change.

Update July 18
- added brush size/strength controls to hotbox
- added lazyness slider for surface/volume brush
- brushes now continually 'flow' on mouse-down. completely changes feel of sculpting - try it out!
- changed visibility toggle from 'h' to 'v' (OSX doesn't work with h because of system command key)
- fixed some bugs

[RMS]

Also, if you want to get some help with meshmixer or learn about some of the tools you might not have tried before, I have posted a bunch of 5-minute tutorials on youtube:

Part 1 - import/export, camera controls
Part 2 - Part Drag&Drop, SmoothBrush, Selection, Replace/Fill
Part 3 - Selection, Extrude, Smooth, SmoothBoundaries
Part 4 - Basic 3D Sculpting
Part 5 - Creating flat bases
Part 6 - Creating overhang support with Bridge/Handle and sculpting, Inspector tool

and I have also been working on "help sheets", linked at the top of the help page:

http://www.meshmixer.com/help

I have made quite a few more and will post them later, for now they are collected in this PDF: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gz88t8kike9q248/LLC_Booklet.pdf

This material was produced for a 3D design/printing workshop I will be teaching this Saturday in Toronto: http://ladieslearningcode.com/2012/06/something-new-our-3d-modelling-and-printing-workshop/

[MagWeb]

Hi,

nice to see new improvements - thanks!
Just found: STL import works

A note installing the sample files on MACOSX 10.7.4:

Dragging the sample files folder to the Documents folder in the dmg installer window does not work here (missing original - maybe a language issue?).
Dragging the sample files folder from the installer directly to a Finder window to your documents folder works.

[Philo]

Just found: STL import works

Confirmed - Highly appreciated!
What about possibility of hiding/showing objects from the object list?

[RMS]

you can hide/show objects from the list, you just still have to use the hotkey. I will add add a menu or something....

I also added support for binary STL (maybe that is what you meant...)

MagWeb, thanks, that broken Documents folder link is a mistake (I thought I deleted it but I guess not...)

[MagWeb]

Seems there´s no hotkey for the visibility toggle on MAC.
The only way to hide an object is via view-menu dropdown.
ShowAll instead works via cmd+shift+h.

[MagWeb]

If you do touch the boundary, the Close Cracks will leave some gaps. You can either fill those as holes using Erase/Fill, or ZipperBrush them back together and then Weld Boundaries.

Another way to solve this is to run the inspector after CloseCracks

[RMS]

damn. didn't test much on mac...

inspector is mainly just running erase/fill, so yes it will do the same =)

[MagWeb]

There´s a repeatable, crash causing problem here using textured (green) parts:

- import sphere;
- drag any default textured part onto the sphere and accept (for example the bunny's head)
- select a region
- run transform (hitting T)

>>> MM crashes

[yebigroc]

This version is a great enhancement, what's the next plan?

[RMS]

thanks magweb. I found several other crashes today...my memory leak cleanup has introduced some problems. I will do a fix release next week.

as for what is next, you'll have to wait and see! =)

[hieveryone]

Thanks for the new release.
I couldn't try it yet (I'm downloading it just now), I'll make you know if I experience any issue.

I can't wait to see what is gonna come next.

[HolyEnigma74]

pretty cool, just trying it out now.. 

RMS, could you add brush "size" and "strength" to the spacebar menu?

it would be helpful for my tablet(its a cheap-o one)
its nice for drawing but lacks some of the scrolling(mouse wheel) features like on wacoms.   

[RMS]

hrm yea I could do that. I am planning to do some sculpting improvements for the next update.

[HolyEnigma74]

oh sweet..   
since you are big shot now working at autodesk, do you have any "little helpers",
if so maybe you could assign one of them to adding the little slider buttons and things to the interface,
leaving you more time to do real coding, with adding new features and things. 

looking forward to the new stuff..

Just want to report a weird issue that i have been having for sometime now..
its a "rotation freeze" is what i'm going to call it..

for some reason while sculpting the interface will like not move when pressing the alt button..
you then press the Ctrl button then the Alt button then it will allow you rotate again.. its odd.
its like the Ctrl button will fix the "freeze" then when you press alt again it will let you rotate again.
its pretty annoying.. not sure what causes it, i haven't tried sculpting with a mouse to see if it happens with that..
It happens with my tablet though randomly..(Sculptris works fine no issues with that or any other apps, the tablet is fine so..)

*edit** just did a "mouse session" no freezes.. so it must be something with the tablet.. like i said Sculptris works fine with it.
so..  does Qt have any tablet updates or anything?