emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

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Mootzoid
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Re: upcoming: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 09 Jul 2009, 12:36

Now don't you get smart now! ;)
I'm doing my best here :-B

Letterbox
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Re: upcoming: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Letterbox » 09 Jul 2009, 12:37

Mootzoid wrote:I finally got rid off all the bugs :-bd
So today should be "release day", finally.

Stay tuned!
Well done Sir. I look forward to it.

Cheers
Terry

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Mootzoid
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Re: upcoming: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 09 Jul 2009, 14:26

Hi again!

It's finally done: emPolygonizer version 1.0 is released :ymparty:

Here's the link to the emPolygonizer web page (very draft, sorry):
http://www.mootzoid.com/html/XsiCorner/ ... nizer.html
The demo version, the documentation and some demo scenes can be downloaded from there.

A few words concerning this version 1.0:
I am aware of the fact that this plug-in is nothing really new and revolutionary, it's "main feature" till now is the simple fact that it is available for XSI ;)
It is frankly "basic", meaning that the metamesher algorithm I implemented is a rather common one. But the main labour was to implement the framework for future updates as well as a (hopefully) good workflow. In other words: there's more to come!
And I am looking forward to get some feedback and/or cool ideas from you guys!

enjoy!
Eric

PS: I will soon start a new emPolygonizer - thread in the forum "Softimage -> Plugins".

janimatic
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Re: upcoming: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by janimatic » 09 Jul 2009, 14:41

excellent work as usual Eric,

as far as i can tell using the demo, the perf looks pretty good
It will be very usefull
thanks

Julien

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Hirazi Blue
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Hirazi Blue » 09 Jul 2009, 18:20

Haven't had time to test it yet, but congratulation seem in order nonetheless... :ymparty:

BTW: I changed the title of the thread (deleted the word "upcoming") & it might be an idea to move the whole topic to a different location...
Stay safe, sane & healthy!

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Mootzoid
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 10 Jul 2009, 11:40

@ Hirazi Blue

okay, that is a good idea. Could you move this thread to the "Softimage - Plugins" forum?
Thanks!

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Hirazi Blue
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Hirazi Blue » 10 Jul 2009, 12:57

As you can see, I've moved it to the Plugins-forum and I appended some info to owei's first post... ^#(^
(As one Moderator to another: it's not so hard!!!! :D )
Stay safe, sane & healthy!

Matic
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Matic » 11 Jul 2009, 22:44

I see that it's released, congrats Eric!

I'm going to be interested putting this thru some tests! My first interest is in caching and freezing results, second would be in how it can work in a production pipeline - can I get meaningful motion vectors for blurring etc. Any way you look at you've achieved something a lot of people have been needing and trying for, kudos!

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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 12 Jul 2009, 14:48

Hi,

just a short post to inform that I added another demo animation to the emPolygonizer web page,
nothing really that exciting (just some "blobby mess" again), but what the hell, it shows that the plug-in works ;)
Image
watch "A very colorful blobby Mess"

cheers,
Eric

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Mootzoid
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 12 Jul 2009, 15:45

I plan to implement a "file caching" option in the next emPolygonizer update that will allow to read/write the generated geometry to disc. There will be a proprietary file format, but I would also like to support a few more common file formats.
Does anybody know what kind of formats are used by other applications for this kind of stuff? I bet there are already some sort of "standards"...
Any information concerning that subject is appreciated :D !!

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Tekano
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Tekano » 12 Jul 2009, 16:49

Hi Mootzoid,

Well .PC2 would be the obvious choice being a format both ICE & KP_Pointcache uses. not sure if it supports meshes that change polycount per frame though.
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CiaranM
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by CiaranM » 12 Jul 2009, 17:49

just had a play with the demo, looks great! I'm sure I'll have some feature requests to come, but I like the level of control that's already available.

If you're familiar with pWrapper, there's a nice function called 'swrap' that produces concavities and pinching in the mesh, that can give a very exaggerated 'liquid' look. Is there a similar function in emPolygonizer? I can't quite match that look yet. Perhaps the falloff attribute on the pointcloud?

Is the mesher multi-threaded? Either way, it seems quite quick.
second would be in how it can work in a production pipeline - can I get meaningful motion vectors for blurring etc.
I'm sure Eric will have a solution for motion vectors ;) , but in the meantime, this workaround works pretty well for pWrapper and should work for emPolygonizer too.

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Mootzoid
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 12 Jul 2009, 22:41

@ Tekano :

I just looked into the .PC2 format (= PointCache2 format). It indeed seems to be supported by quite some plug-ins available for XSI, Maya, 3D Max, Bender ... I'll continue researching in that direction, thanx!

@ CiaranM :
If you're familiar with pWrapper, there's a nice function called 'swrap' that produces concavities and pinching in the mesh, that can give a very exaggerated 'liquid' look. Is there a similar function in emPolygonizer?
The answer is: "No, not yet". Amongst other things this is one of the more important features that will be available in one of the next updates. I saw pWrapper for the first time about two weeks after I had started coding emPolygonizer. I was amazed by what you call the "exaggerated liquid look", really very well done. The only problem: give pWrapper a few thousand particles, let's say 10.000, and then wait... wait... wait... It is the classic "every particles influences every other particle" problem, and if you try to solve it the naive way (check every particle with all the others) you very quickly have exorbitant calculation times. Thankfully the good ol' "octree" can help solving this problem. I already implemented an octree in emNewton, so it hopefully won't take too long... I am working on it ;)

Letterbox
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Letterbox » 12 Jul 2009, 23:28

Mootzoid wrote:@ Tekano :

I just looked into the .PC2 format (= PointCache2 format). It indeed seems to be supported by quite some plug-ins available for XSI, Maya, 3D Max, Bender ... I'll continue researching in that direction, thanx!

@ CiaranM :
If you're familiar with pWrapper, there's a nice function called 'swrap' that produces concavities and pinching in the mesh, that can give a very exaggerated 'liquid' look. Is there a similar function in emPolygonizer?
The answer is: "No, not yet". Amongst other things this is one of the more important features that will be available in one of the next updates. I saw pWrapper for the first time about two weeks after I had started coding emPolygonizer. I was amazed by what you call the "exaggerated liquid look", really very well done. The only problem: give pWrapper a few thousand particles, let's say 10.000, and then wait... wait... wait... It is the classic "every particles influences every other particle" problem, and if you try to solve it the naive way (check every particle with all the others) you very quickly have exorbitant calculation times. Thankfully the good ol' "octree" can help solving this problem. I already implemented an octree in emNewton, so it hopefully won't take too long... I am working on it ;)

You could also look at MDD format, you might be able to tap into the one thats already there?

I think you might want to take a look again at the free metaballs, cant remember the mans name, but as far as i remember he completely tessellates the object upfront, that might help this and other issues.

Cheers
Terry

janimatic
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by janimatic » 13 Jul 2009, 08:20

hey!


i don't think pc2 and mdd are well suited , because of the dynamic topology.
The formats supporting this already :
* obj sequence but it won't let you store custom data (such as motion vectors) but a custom op reading cache from disk would be better than nothing...
* houdini bgeo but it's houdini specific
* realflow bin mesh format maybe as there are some plugins already available for xsi 6, max, maya, houdini, etc...

regards !
Julien

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Mootzoid
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Re: emPolygonizer - metaballs for SOFTIMAGE

Post by Mootzoid » 13 Jul 2009, 13:45

Thanks for all the advice, guys :ymhug:
I looked into all the formats and here is what will happen: PC2 and MDD are nice formats, but only for points => those formats aren't suited to cache the geometry (points and polygons).
So for a start I will support an own format (that can also cache the vertex colors) and the well-known and widely supported Wavefront OBJ format. That should be a good start, I think :)

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