headus 3D tools

[headus]

Hello All,

Here's my current bug/wish list, things I'll be fixing/adding over time, roughly in
the order I expect to tackle them. When I remember I'll try and credit the source.

• Handle Multiple UV sets
  Will probably need to add something like FBX or Collada import/export, because OBJ doesnt support UV sets.
  
  
• Align shells
  Shell to shell alignment tools (e.g. align all selected shells to the left).
  
  
• Stacking of similar shapes - partial support in v1.11, borders must have same number of edges
  Pin two or more UV shells with roughly equivalent borders together
  and have UVLayout calculate an optimal layout to share between them.
  
  
• Paint Pixel Densities
  Before mesh is flattened, paint on mesh those areas that you want with more (blue) or less (red) pixel density.
  
  
• Edge flipping
  Be able to flip edges on triangulated quads to make cut decisions on the
  fly for optimum flattening.
  
  
• Change color of closed loops + detached shells JeffPalmer
  When you're cutting up the objects, seperated "islands" change color.
  Also cut lines turning a different color once a complete loop has been made.
  
  
• Recognize OBJ smoothing groups/normals
  Use normals information to determine if there are any hard edges in subd meshes that need to be accounted for in the flattening.
  
  
• Flatten dense meshes Chad
  Currently the cut'n'weld and flatten works on nicely ordered
  low-density meshes, but being able to flatten really dense
  meshes (e.g. from 3D scans or iso-surfaces) would be good.
  
  
• User defined colors, hotkeys, buttons JeffPalmer
  Allow users to define the colors of various things, remap hotkeys, and mouse
  buttons (ie zoom, rotate, translate). Also add the option for picture icons.
  
  
• Update Maya ascii files
  Load and Save/Update maya ascii files.
  
  
• Handle all other formats
  Open up the import/export to support plugins, then others can do the work
  handling the many different formats. We only have Maya at headus,
  so that's about the only format I could safely support myself.
  
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  
• Cut'n'weld not savable - fixed in v1.3
  
  
• Detached meshes cant be reattached - fixed in v1.4
  
  
• No UV stitching - fixed in v1.5
  
  
• Local flattening - added in v1.6
  
  
• Tris and quads only - added 5/6/7 sided polys in v1.7
  
  
• Save UV layout window to a tiff - added in v1.7
  
  
• Maximize window - added in v1.7
  
  
• Non-destructive OBJ import/export - fixed in v1.8
  
  
• Tiled UVs / UV groups - added in v1.8
  
  
• Red zones problematic - less so in v1.9
  Now less noisey, and added 'r' relax brush for a final smooth.
  
  
• Long thin quads problematic - less so in v1.9
  
  
• Continuously flatten mesh - added in v1.9
  Use Space-f to start, and Space to stop.
  
  
• Rigid holes - added in v1.12
  Use 'T' hotkey to tag webbing edges.
  
  
• Flatten tubes - added in v1.13
  Use Shift-S to split the seam in Ed view, then Shift-F to flatten once dropped.
  
  
• Numeric xforms - added in v1.13
  
  
• Edge squaring/straightening - added in v1.15
  
  
• Mirror editing - added in v1.17
  Edge select and/or UV edits mirrored across meshes with symmetric topology.
  
  
• Undo - added in v1.18
  As it says.
  
  
• Scaling - added in v1.20
  Better handling of the scaling of individual and groups of UV shells.
  
  
• Internal straightening - added in v1.21
  Be able to straighten along internal edges, and square up groups of polys, for pixel grid aligned texture painting.
  
  
• Auto Layout - added in v1.22
  Some kind of algorithm that figures out the best way to lay out all
  the uv shells you've created to ensure that it uses the most
  possible texture space.
  
  
• Vertex select and xform - added in v2.00.07
  More options for selecting vertexes (eg via edge loops etc), and then be able
  to move, rotate those as a group. Also be able to select a group of shells and
  move those together as one.
  
  
• X-Ray mode - added in v2.03.02
  Be able to make the "Ed" geometry see through so that tucked away edges are easier to select.
  
  
• Recognize polygroups - added in v2.06.02
  Optionally segment/detach polys based on polygroups in the imported OBJ file.
  
  
• Dual windows - added in v2.07.00
  3D view in one, UV view in the other.
  
  

Phil

[Fizzy]

Been playing around some more today. My current wish list is this.

A gizmo to be able to rotate the Mesh or parts of mesh.
At the moment I find rotating the parts a bit fiddly. Would be a lot easier if there was just a gizmo like in Max or Maya where you can switch between Move, rotate and Scale.

It would be nice to have viewports.
I'm finidng it quite difficult to know if my parts are facing the right way. if I could look exactly down or left or right i'd be able to line up parts of the mesh exactly how I want ready for dropping into UV layout. Failing that the some indication of where up was. When I'm down to my last piece I have no real clue if it's lined up with the UV view.

In UV mode it would be good to have a stretch mode.
I've found sometimes I've flattened stuff but it's lost the correct aspect. If I could stretch the polys then I could get it to the right aspect again.

Would also be nice to have a mirror tool. Most meshes are symmetrical but when adjusting points in UV space you have to move each side individually. Mirror tool would save a lot of time but I'm not sure if this would work because when you flatten I've noticed the mesh usually goes a bit wonky so points would be off on each side.

Bugs:

I'm finding that certain types of mesh seem to get totally screwed when trying to flatten. The ones I'm having problems with are doughnut shape, meshes with holes in the centre. When I hit F they just collapse really fast and go really tiny. They actually invert on themselves.

Well that's all for now.

Keep up the good work.

Pete B

[Harford]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the opportunity to use this great product!, I recieved mine this morning, and have been testing and using it throughout the day.

Here are my thoughts :

The interface works well, I'd like a maximize window feature.
Smooth viewport interactivy, with good camera controls, almost no time to adjust to it. very quick learning curve

Unwrapping

It's enjoyable to use the 'cut' tool and the yellow highlighting of edges is great. I haven't found out how to select then full edges apart from Enter button yet, and that causes problems with unwanted detaching.

as previousley mentioned, the abcense of an undo tool is a problem, i'm sure thats on the way.

Pinning vertices is fabulous, and works so well for mid res game models, where we can define the outline how we want the uv map, Define the eye shape for painting, and then let 'f', work its magic.
Here 3 tools would be invaluably usefull:

Rectangle selection of verts.(uv's)

Align in x,y,z axis for the current selection of verts.

masking of areas, with soft selection
Painting a coloured mask over an area, with a brush that has a large fallloff, so that area is not used in the unwrap calulation ( mainly for fine tuning meshes after inital unwrap)

More comments to come after more testing
Thanks again guys, your doing a great job.

[headus]

Thanks for all the feedback! We'll be re-reading that many times I expect as the development progresses.

[lou.cifer]

Hi,
I have noticed a couple more bugs for your newest release.

1) the cut tool is inaccurate. I had a hard time getting it to locate the edge, even though my pointer was on the edge. I think it would be easier to just click on the edge to cut instead of using the c button.Maybe an ajustable threshhold for the edge selection.

2) I flattened it out, brought it ito Max, tweeked it some more, and tried to bring it back into UV layout for some extra flattening, but the program just crashes.

All in all, a very good product. After you get through the learning curve, I can see it being a timesaver...keep it up.

[headus]

[lou.cifer]

I have sent you the obj file. yes, I am using 1.4.2

[groinc]

As a Maya \ Silo user, I am having no problems so far. One new feature I would find handy though is this....

A 'bloat' mode. When trying to select awkward edges that are tucked away into the mesh somewhere, it would be handy to adjust a slider control that bloats out or averages the vertices of the whole model so as to reveal those awkward edges. Because it is a slider control, the user has full control over the level of bloat and can also see the selected edges as they move back into position. I hope I have explained this well!!!

Anyway, fantastic tool. Keep up the fantastic work.

[headus]

[JeffPalmer]

One request i have, and this is kind of odd but i see it alot in graphic programs is the red/green combination of colors. Now im red/green color blind, thankfully i can barely see the difference in your program, but it would be nice to customize the colors of the welds and the selections.

Edit: I would also be nice that when your cutting up the objects, once you seperate an "island" of polies, if that group could change color. Showing you that a piece has been fully isolated. As well as the cut lines turning a different once a complete loop has been made?


Awsome tool, took 10 minutes to learn. Thanks again!

[headus]

[Dane]

Greets! While I was using your program I was thinking that a nice feature might be to have an expand UV selection and a contract UV selection usable with the brush function. And with that feature you might have a slider to adjust by how much influence it would expand or contract the selected UVs. Just a thought

[tweeker]

Could a save map to a specific location be possible?
How about a non-uniform Scale option?f

[headus]

[tweeker]

Bodypaint3D has a non-uniform scale tool which basically lets you scale in either the U or V directions. This is pretty usefull at times when you have stubborn distortion. In UVLayout It can still be a usefull tool when used along with pinning. Pinning the right areas would stop it from trying to snap back.