Retopo Tools

[iamVFX]

Hi, guys. Today I made a prototype of curve based retopo tool, it's rough because user should make some adjustments since it's not that precise but it does what it says, 5 minutes example:

[rimg=150]http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4757/4b2f7eddacb94ae1869f0da.png[/rimg][rimg=150]http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8454/14c1fdda10aa43fc84684db.png[/rimg][rimg=150]http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5886/36f823b2434b485f9df6be7.png[/rimg]

The future destination: no curves at all, only directional ones

P.S. Yes, I remember about greeble and stuff, its need more time.

[rimg=900]http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/7339/screenshothq.png[/rimg]

Version 2 is here.

Before using it lower your expectations: this was made in a few days without any technical excellence, if you'll find any bugs post comment on this thread, I will try to fix them as soon as I have free time.

Requirements:
Because of Kang's node and sipyutils module, Softimage 2013 SP1 x64 is required

Installation:
1. Drag-n-drop *.xsiaddon file into the viewport, refresh the compounds list or restart Softimage
2. Install Byungchul Kang's CnD_NormalizedCurve addon

Usage:
Select the mesh, go to View -> Toolbars -> Retopo Tools, click on "Initialize" button and enable Sketch curve tool (Model -> Curve -> Sketch)

[Pooby]

Wow. Amazing start! Keep going with it please.

[Falam]

Hi, guys. Today I made a prototype of curve based auto retopo tool, it's rough because user should make some adjustments since it's not that precise but it does what it says, 5 minutes example:

[rimg=400]http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3563/2060d71805154005a214c52.png[/rimg] [rimg=400]http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/889/f33ce4e2c8c24d94b7587af.png[/rimg] [rimg=400]http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5886/36f823b2434b485f9df6be7.png[/rimg]

The next destination: no curves at all, only directional ones

P.S. Yes, I remember about greeble and stuff, its need more time.

Looks good, do you know what the consequences will be when this is complete ?

[EricTRocks]

This is really awesome! Great work can't wait to see it finished.

[Pooby]

I wonder if it's possible to analyse the object to find contour curves and make a really efficient cage based upon that.
It would be awesome to have something that Could solve and define the most efficient sub d cage for any shape.

[Bullit]

Interesting. Do you think it is possible to make it model that way even without the mesh?

[iamVFX]

I wonder if it's possible to analyse the object to find contour curves and make a really efficient cage based upon that.

I wonder, too. As far as I know (and I know a little) 2D contour detection algorithms are based on contrast between black and white. As for 3d, I think what's possible for sure is to emit particles on objects contour for each "camera" direction. The problem is: we dealing with quads, where poles would be, then?

If we look at the stanford bunny, he twisted his head, so we draw slightly rotated curve for quads which should repeat its symmetric structure. We know that head is symmetric, but how the computer can understand that this head was twisted to some direction? Parts of organic creatures are twisted by default, in many weird directions, Earth's gravity bend our feet, for example, so we can stand, I don't know how to explain it to the computer other than draw a curve to show the bend

[rray]

Nice work, is this done with ICE? Reminded me of the free graphite tool (not the Max one) which has some curvature detection built in as well for the auto retopo. Might be worth a look since they give access to their sourcecode too. http://alice.loria.fr/WIKI/index.php/Graphite/Graphite

[iamVFX]

Nice work, is this done with ICE?

ICE with standard operators and scripts.

Reminded me of the free graphite tool (not the Max one) which has some curvature detection built in as well for the auto retopo. Might be worth a look since they give access to their sourcecode too. http://alice.loria.fr/WIKI/index.php/Graphite/Graphite

Thanks, but source will explain me nothing since I have no imagination to draw pictures from code loops.

[iamVFX]

Interesting. Do you think it is possible to make it model that way even without the mesh?

No. Not now, at least. Sorry!

Looks good, do you know what the consequences will be when this is complete ?

It's already complete, my tools are not go beyond the prototyping stage since they just work, at least for me, lol. Today, maybe, give me few hours...

[Bullit]

i wasn't asking for it, just asking if it was possible. In fact it would be a sort of curve network.

[iamVFX]

i wasn't asking for it, just asking if it was possible. In fact it would be a sort of curve network.

Yeah, and the other problem which I see is without mesh you can draw curve on a plane only. It means if we would want to draw something three dimensional, we would have to draw several profile curves from different perspectives, beside the fact that this is not intuitive I don't see the way to avoid poles, if we're still talking about quads

[Bullit]

I was thinking something along this lines(pun intended ) : http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/~shbae/ilovesketch.htm

[iamVFX]

I was thinking something along this lines(pun intended ) : http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/~shbae/ilovesketch.htm

Never saw this before, thanks for the link!

It's says you should have a closed curve loop for creating a surface, so it wouldn't be a problem for Softimage's standard Four Sided operator.

[Pooby]

Is there any chance of releasing the compound? I'd love to see how it works

[iamVFX]

You will be disappointed Today I failed to create automatic version, since it's more advanced than I thought, but the curve one works very simple: it creates one unit polygon and duplicates the copies on a curve, then with some array tricks the edges are weld and on top of that global weld operator for neighbor curve lines applied with shrink wrap + relax + shrink wrap combination. All of that is scripted for Sketch curve tool so you can draw it easily without thinking of ice trees.

First post is updated, check it out.