emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

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CiaranM
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by CiaranM » 17 Jul 2009, 00:49

Hi Eric,
is there any chance you could use the ICE cache format itself? I don't know what extra data you have in there, but assuming a topology description similar to that provided by the SDK polymesh.Get or .Get2, I don't see (naively) why you couldn't store that data as custom ICE attributes (singleton arrays). But, might be tricky since ICE is limited to 1D arrays.
Perhaps taking advantage of the caching apparatus already present would provide some speed increase and reduce development work on your end?

scaron
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by scaron » 17 Jul 2009, 06:25

i suggest keep it binary and use zlib for compression. this is what the icecache format uses, its also what krakatoa's prt format uses. both of these formats have support for arbitrary attributes ( not that you will need that ).

i personally think collada is NOT suited for this application, for reasons you are experiencing with file size. also who wants to try and read such a large file?

i would explore your own format and also explore realflow's format for doing this, that way existing tools in different applications can leverage you work.

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Mootzoid
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 17 Jul 2009, 09:21

@ scaron :
yes, I agree, the Collada format is not well suited for caching geometry, that's why I will implement that format at a later time (or never). The own binary format on the other hand will allow me to code many optimizations + compressions to get those darn files small!

@CiaranM :
yes, the topology description is identical to the PolygonMesh.Get() and Set() functions concerning vertices and polygons (vertex colors are taken care of differently). The ICE cache format is a damn good idea! Just looked into its description and it seems to be perfectly suited for this kind of job :-bd It supports points, edges, polygons, as well as any kind of extra data... a really clever format :) I will first finish my own format and the Wavefront format, though, before implementing the icecache - format. Thanx for the cool hint!
btw: ICE is not limited to 1D arrays ;)

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Osama
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Osama » 18 Jul 2009, 00:26

I love this tool
Eric you are amazing man :ymapplause:
Lead Simulation (AI-Productioz )
www.XsiArabia.com

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Hirazi Blue
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Hirazi Blue » 18 Jul 2009, 11:38

@Mootzoid - Although having the "world exclusive" for this tool on our community is nice, I guess you should reach out to the rest of the worldwide Softimage-community some more... I just found this link in my "ICE SPH Today's topics"-mail: open-sourced-iced-polygonise-operator ;)
Stay safe, sane & healthy!

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Mootzoid
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 18 Jul 2009, 11:52

@ Osama :
Thank you!

@ Hirazi Blue :
I know about that and I already mailed with Guillaume, the guy who coded the open-source-iced-polygonise. Nice guy and nice work! There is no hurry and no worry, though ;)
There will be a more "massive" announcement concerning emPolygonizer as soon as I consider it a "worthy" opponent to the similar existing plug-ins pWrapper and Metaballs (by Michele Sandroni), which should hopefully be some time around the end of this summer.

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guillaume
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by guillaume » 20 Jul 2009, 00:02

Hi everyone, first post on this new Softimage forum !

So i'm the "Guillaume" :).
Just to let you know that I tried the demo of emPolygonizer and I'm really impressed by its speed !

Nice work Eric :ymapplause:

kotsoft
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by kotsoft » 24 Jul 2009, 01:12

just wondering, are you using marching cubes or tetrahedrons for the isosurface generation? also to speed it up maybe you could do the equivalent of an edge detection filter in 3D so you only process the cubes or tetrahedrons that are around the surface?

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Mootzoid
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 24 Jul 2009, 12:34

I am using the good old marching cubes to create the iso surface. I am currently working on an update which includes several new features and a few optimizations going into the direction you mentionned.

best,
Eric

kotsoft
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by kotsoft » 25 Jul 2009, 20:41

this is another paper i found today that i think should be useful to look at:
http://www.matthiasmueller.info/publica ... acking.pdf

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Mootzoid
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 31 Jul 2009, 13:32

Hi everybody,

after many hours and days of coding I am almost ready to release version 1.5 of emPolygonizer.

Here's a short list of the main features:
  • geometry caching
  • strands are now supported
  • points/knots/curve are now supported
  • polygon surfaces are now supported
  • new function: smooth resulting mesh (Laplacian smoothing)
  • the property page layouts have been re-arranged a bit for a better overview
Release date will be something around the 10th of August.

have fun!
Eric

@ kotsoft : thanks for the link, really nice paper! I put it on my list of things to remember.

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Mootzoid
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 07 Aug 2009, 17:12

Hi again

It's done: emPolygonizer version 1.5 is released :ymparty:
The list of the main new features can be found in the previous post or in the documentation (chapter "Version History").

I haven't found time to make some new demo animations, but I did make several new example scenes that demonstrate the new stuff, here a screenshot from the documentation:

Image

...and a screenshot from one of the tutorials ("Strands"):

Image

...and a screenshot from one of the example scenes ("emPolygonize_1.50_inAction_CurvesPolysParticles.scn"):

Image

The demo versions for XSI 7.01, XSI 7.5 and even the upcoming Softimage 2010 (XSI 8.0) are available here, 32 / 64 bit for Windows and 64 bit for Linux.
Guess that's all. Hope I didn't miss any bugs, would love to hear some feedback from you guys :)

have fun!
Eric

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Mathaeus
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mathaeus » 08 Aug 2009, 01:45

Great, as usually with your stuff.

scaron
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by scaron » 08 Aug 2009, 06:47

awesome work eric

now whats the standard method for a customer to download the latest version of the plugin?

steven

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Rork
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Rork » 08 Aug 2009, 10:11

I only can say... wow.
This one really has grown up :)

Awesome work Eric!! :ymparty: :ymparty: :ymparty:

rob
SI UI tutorials: Toolbar http://goo.gl/iYOL0l | Custom Layout http://goo.gl/6iP5xQ | RenderManager View http://goo.gl/b4ZkjQ
So long, and thanks for all the Fish!!

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Mathaeus
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mathaeus » 08 Aug 2009, 12:06

scaron wrote: now whats the standard method for a customer to download the latest version of the plugin?
I would be interested too :)

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