headus 3D tools headus 3D tools / 3D scans
Support Forums
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch    UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 
headus 3D scans

Ideas for program improvements

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Steve Burke



Posts: 6
Joined: 17 Jun 2006

PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:13 am    Post subject: Ideas for program improvements Reply with quote

Phil you've been adding some great new features to the program. The X-Ray feature and the extra ambient light in the dark regions feature are both very helpful.

Here are a few requests:

1. Non-square maps
I understand that UV space is 0 to 1 and so always fitting the shells to a square makes perfect sense. But sometimes I need to pack the shells to a bitmap that is not square, say 512 x 1024. For some bitmaps this just makes more sense. I'd like to be able to set an aspect ratio control in UVLayout or just set the bitmap size to 512 x 1024 and have the program pack to a rectangular shape.

2. Stickiness when flattening
Something that drives me nuts. When I flatten some objects, especially thin ones, they tend to move around a lot as they unwind and become flat. Often they'll wiggle out from under my cursor which will stop the flattening. It seems that if I am still holding down the 'f' key and still inside the object's bounding box then uvLayout should realize that I am still trying to flatten the object and should continue even if the faces of the object are not exactly under the cursor.

3. Object-space normal map and other textures visible on UV charts
When I am trying to piece together a lot of small charts it is difficult to know what goes where. If I could see the texture on the charts in the layout mode I could much more easily piece things back together. I could use a custom bitmap to help me find my pieces. Another helpful texture would be an object-space normal map generated by UVLayout. This would let me see how each of the charts relates to the surface of my model. Putting charts back together is like assembling a puzzle but without any useful color on the charts it's much less intuitive.

4. Quick auto-assembly of charts
When there are lots of little charts it would be helfpul if UVLayout could help to assemble them. i.e. hold cursor over chart and hit a hotkey. UVLayout finds the chart with the most faces in common and connects the chart to that one along those faces. The user can then hit another key to lessen the number of connected faces (reducing distortion) or to instead connect the current chart to the next set of common edges on a different chart. Essentially trying to fit the chart with other charts by doing it quickly and visually and automatically. It's the same principle as doing a puzzle, try to put this chart in this spot and see if it fits. Right now the process for putting charts together is very time-consuming when the pieces are small since you have to find all the connected UVs, guess at the best spot, move one of the charts, stitch them together, etc. It's the same process over and over so doing it in less steps would be great. Now this feature isn't all that critical on character UVs but consider doing UVs on a bunch of interconnected tree roots or some other organic and somewhat chaotic mesh. Sometimes quick assembly and experimentation is very, very helpful
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
headus
Site Admin


Posts: 2894
Joined: 24 Mar 2005
Location: Perth, Australia

PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:25 pm    Post subject: Re: Ideas for program improvements Reply with quote

Thanks for your suggestions! Here's a few quick answers ...

"1. Non-square maps"

What about setting the Pack -> Tile values to 1 x 2? That'll give you a rectangular layout, maybe not as tightly packed as a true rectangular aspect because of the tile boundary in the middle, but its a fair work-around.

"2. Stickiness when flattening"

Use Space-F to start the flattening, then tap Space to stop.

"... textures visible on UV charts"

Under Display there's a gray "Trace" button and a couple of sliders. Click on the button to load an image file into the UV view background, and moving the sliders changes the transparency of the foreground and background.

"Another helpful texture would be an object-space normal map generated by UVLayout "

Can you give me an example? I having problems visualizing how an object-space map would be help.

"4. Quick auto-assembly of charts"

It isn't automatic, but do you know about the M and Shift-M hotkeys? If you use W to tag an edge on one shell, then type M, it "magnetically" snaps itself to the shell that shares that edge. This can be a pain because it disappears from view and is sometimes hard to find, but if you use Shift-M instead, the *other* shell snaps itself on to the tagged edge.

Phil
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Steve Burke



Posts: 6
Joined: 17 Jun 2006

PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 10:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great suggestions Phil, some of these are features I haven't explored yet.

As for number 4:

What I was getting at was some automagic way to speed up complex uv stitching.

I used UVLayout to map a tree with a million branches and sub-branches and my goal was to have as few seams as possible. There was no easy way to get the results I needed. Doing everything by hand was very difficult because I couldn't easily navigate around the complex object. Doing an automatic mapping in max gave me a million charts that were nearly impossible to piece back together. So selecting edges and using the m key works but it's just slow going. If a chart can be pieced together with less hassle it could help for a lot of odd UV situations. A quick way to say, 'OK this chart can be connected to three other charts, let me find them for you and should you how it would fit with the other three charts, you relax and I'll take care of the hard work." Doing this by hand is really tedious and it's hard to tell which edges fit where.

What if you took a single chart, gave each exterior edge a unique color and then painted the charts connected to that chart in those colors, the colors fading with distance from the given chart. It's just some way to get context for which chart fits where. I was thinking an object-space normal map would help with this because you could easily see, by color, which direction on the model each chart was facing. When your UVs are in a million pieces this would probably help. Perhaps just coloring the edges in relation to the selected chart would be better. Anyway, I hope the additonal info helps.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
headus
Site Admin


Posts: 2894
Joined: 24 Mar 2005
Location: Perth, Australia

PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

" some automagic way to speed up complex uv stitching. "

You should have a look at the v2.05 beta ... details are here ...

http://www.headus.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=718

The new Segment tool was designed for hard surface geometry, but it might work with your trees. No guarantees, but worth a try!

Phil
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
headus
Site Admin


Posts: 2894
Joined: 24 Mar 2005
Location: Perth, Australia

PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2009 6:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"1. Non-square maps"

Here's another way to pack to non-square maps ... put everything into a box, turn on the grid, then snap the box corners to the grid to fill the bottom half. Then, if you still need 0 to 1 uvs, scale the V by 2, making sure "Local" is unticked.

Phil


Last edited by headus on Sun May 24, 2009 9:17 pm; edited 2 times in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Lewi



Posts: 61
Joined: 14 Jul 2006

PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2009 1:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was thinking about your tree with millions of leaves and branches and was wondering why you couldn't use instances of parts of the geometry. ie in your diffuse texture you have 5 or 6 main leaf textures and then stack the shells. You could also do a similar thing for the smaller branches and twigs.You will get a much higher resolution and pixel density this way as well as being much quicker to model , uv map and paint the texture. If you really need unique UV's ( the whole model no stacking ) for light maps and the such then you just make another UV map for this. Hope it helps, regards Lewi.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You cannot download files in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group