Donate For The BMesh & New Particles Integration!

[Felix_Kütt]

Originally Posted by blaize node-based particles isnt even on his todo :S

yup, but hes looking into the possibilities:
http://jahkaparticles.blogspot.com/2...for-while.html

[renderdemon]

About the bmesh,I hope that the work will not change vertices and faces order in importing and esporting meshes.
I don't know how and if the things can be related,but as a modeler vertices order is the most important feature(1000 times more than ngons )so I hope that I'll have the possibility to exchange meshes like now in the future.
Bye

[joeedh]

Originally Posted by mikahl I just donated. Seriously, I think you guys should consider requesting a recurring payment option on your websites. Its only a small amount per month, which many people can afford. If only 20 people donate 10 bucks a month, that could help significantly, right? Think about how many people cruise these forums, and who use blender in general. I totally think many people browsing these forums wouldn't mind donating a small amount per month. My only feature request, is you check confirmed bug reports to the bmesh branch.

I am considering this. The only issue is the donation amount would be fixed, the user would not be able to enter his own amount. I might try a ten dollar a month recurring donation button, see how that would go.

Joe

[joeedh]

Originally Posted by tyrell I donated a small amount just a few a minutes ago with the hope that others will do the same like some already did. I really don't need Bmesh right now. I just want to express my appreciation to the people behind this project, and to call attention that Blender REALLY DO need some modeling enhancements. It's about time. --Antonio

Thanks! And your totally right! It's why I've been so obsessed with this project, I really want to have better mesh tools, that work nicely and don't have issues because the code implementing them is totally stupid. I want blender's mesh code to be so good, we could eventually compete with modo or silo, people can easily write scripts implementing kickass new tools, etc. Yeah!

Joe

[Ace Dragon]

With the possibility of node based particles and then using them with the point density texture in the sim_physics branch it's tempting me to donate perhaps 100 dollars for the cause and the same amount for Bmesh.

My checking account has over 3000 dollars in it, I can easily spend that amount of money for these developments even after I pay the Kansas Government the sales tax because of selling art.

[joeedh]

Originally Posted by renderdemon About the bmesh,I hope that the work will not change vertices and faces order in importing and esporting meshes. I don't know how and if the things can be related,but as a modeler vertices order is the most important feature(1000 times more than ngons )so I hope that I'll have the possibility to exchange meshes like now in the future. Bye

It will not change vertex order, no. Nor should it change face order, so long as you don't have fgons (the fgons are converted to ngons, which might change things a little).

Joe

[renderdemon]

Thanks joeedh for the answer,I like it !

[joeedh]

I just wanted to say, you're all so freaking awesome! And I'll have to think of ways I can involve all you donators in the development process. I'm thinking a voting system to prioritize certain cool new tools or something like that, though I still have some big code changes left to do before I can start thinking about working on cool stuff like that.

[edit]: I should also reiterate that the bmesh branch isn't completely usable yet, and probably won't be for a few weeks (I have to get the modifier system to support ngons too, so they'll work with subsurf properly, which is a fairly hefty amount of work).

Joe

[alarionfirn]

joeedh: You could ask how paul, the main developer behind ardour handles the subscription system. See http://ardour.org/node

[Carrozza]

This new branch of development is really-really interesting.
Let's stop staring at Modo's stunning modeling tools: Blender is in da house! ;-)

[fahr]

Joe, do you have any idea at all about how long it may take to implement these tools?

I know that no matter what you say, "when it's done" is the actual correct answer, but I'm curious as to how big of a job this actually is.

Mainly, the question is: Will this happen in time for 2.5?

I'm falling in love with blender, partially because all of it's shortcomings are almost entirely being addressed for 2.5. BMesh is one major one. Particles are the other, although a node-based particle system is probably a LOT farther off.

[fahr]

"Rather than spending time on boids, or keyed particles (that I still can't figure out how to use), I'd rather have a system that doesn't do some of those more obscure things, but is a rock solid system for the particle jobs that you want to do most of the time in production."

Broken, have you spoken to Jahka on this matter? What are his thoughts? Because I agree with you 100% percent! Blender's dynamics system has a long ways to go before it can compete with Maya or Houdini, but rather than just piling on more features, the most important start is to have the features that are there be 100% rock solid and useable/flexible in real production.

[Sleeper]

The thing about Boids got me wondering.

Aren't they conceptually related to Harkyman's Blender People and Game Engine AI for Non-Player Characters? A lot of work is being/has been done on these projects. Is there enough of an overlap to make thinking about a more generalized system worthwhile? And (dare I say it) would that system be nodes?

[popski]

Originally Posted by alarionfirn joeedh: You could ask how paul, the main developer behind ardour handles the subscription system. See http://ardour.org/node

+1

That's really cool indeed! I guess also Bart from BlenderNation could help with some advice how it's done. I think that will such a system stimulate people to donate.

It's always nice to watch your bonsai growing...

[tyrell]

Originally Posted by fahr Joe, do you have any idea at all about how long it may take to implement these tools? I know that no matter what you say, "when it's done" is the actual correct answer, but I'm curious as to how big of a job this actually is. Mainly, the question is: Will this happen in time for 2.5?

This type of question..makes me chuckle. Clearly, the amount of money raised is directly proportional to the possible amount of time that will be spent in working on the project. More donors, more time. Less donors, less time.

[fahr]

Of course.

That doesnt change the fact that the project will take a certain number of hours, regardless of how many hours per day he spends on it. Im simply curious as to how much that is.

It will also everyone some insight on how much we need to donate to help get it done in time for 2.5.

[tyrell]

It really doesn't matter how much. Joe will appreciate it, I'm sure. A dollar, five, ten, twenty, 100... We'll just hope that some who have better financial advantage will donate more. I understand that most of us want everything for free. Man, there has to be a point where we have to give something back in return. And frankly, I'm not worried what he does with the donations, and whether he finishes it or not. The attempt to do something very useful is far more important.

[jahka]

Now first of all thank you very much to you guys who've allready donated! The support from this community is truly amazing!

Secondly some answers to renderdemon, broken & fahr:
I'm currently looking on new stuff such as boids & nodes mainly because of the status of 2.5 development. There's been really no sense for me to try to make particles more robust for 2.49 as 2.5 will need many things recoded again. I also can't yet work on 2.5 code as it's not yet mature enough.

I'd love to focus my efforts on fixing the real stuff such as the horrible state of the current cache system, but as it's really deeply connected to the whole event system (which as you know is totally new in 2.5) I'm basically stuck with things that I know I can convert into 2.5 quite easily.

The other thing limiting me from starting work on 2.5 particles is that currently my poor dear particles don't even have buttons for themselves in 2.5! You guys just poke brecht enough so he'll at least add the datablock handler template for ui and I promise I'll start looking into 2.5 particles more seriously

So unfortunately for now it's me either focusing on new and cool stuff or doing nothing.

broken: Now the "Non-topology-dependent hair" would indeed be a nice feature and perhaps not too difficult to implement (some ideas just came to my mind about how to go about it in a nice way). But as all the interface and event code is totally new to me in 2.5 and probably still going to change quite a bit I can't really take action on this yet. I'll add this to my "smaller things" todo list though. More great ideas like this please!

[Nichod]

Originally Posted by jahka Now first of all thank you very much to you guys who've allready donated! The support from this community is truly amazing! Secondly some answers to renderdemon, broken & fahr: I'm currently looking on new stuff such as boids & nodes mainly because of the status of 2.5 development. There's been really no sense for me to try to make particles more robust for 2.49 as 2.5 will need many things recoded again. I also can't yet work on 2.5 code as it's not yet mature enough. I'd love to focus my efforts on fixing the real stuff such as the horrible state of the current cache system, but as it's really deeply connected to the whole event system (which as you know is totally new in 2.5) I'm basically stuck with things that I know I can convert into 2.5 quite easily. The other thing limiting me from starting work on 2.5 particles is that currently my poor dear particles don't even have buttons for themselves in 2.5! You guys just poke brecht enough so he'll at least add the datablock handler template for ui and I promise I'll start looking into 2.5 particles more seriously So unfortunately for now it's me either focusing on new and cool stuff or doing nothing. broken: Now the "Non-topology-dependent hair" would indeed be a nice feature and perhaps not too difficult to implement (some ideas just came to my mind about how to go about it in a nice way). But as all the interface and event code is totally new to me in 2.5 and probably still going to change quite a bit I can't really take action on this yet. I'll add this to my "smaller things" todo list though. More great ideas like this please!

*coughparticlepatheditingcough*

[renderdemon]

Originally Posted by jahka Now first of all thank you very much to you guys who've allready donated! The support from this community is truly amazing! Secondly some answers to renderdemon, broken & fahr: I'm currently looking on new stuff such as boids & nodes mainly because of the status of 2.5 development. There's been really no sense for me to try to make particles more robust for 2.49 as 2.5 will need many things recoded again. I also can't yet work on 2.5 code as it's not yet mature enough. I'd love to focus my efforts on fixing the real stuff such as the horrible state of the current cache system, but as it's really deeply connected to the whole event system (which as you know is totally new in 2.5) I'm basically stuck with things that I know I can convert into 2.5 quite easily. The other thing limiting me from starting work on 2.5 particles is that currently my poor dear particles don't even have buttons for themselves in 2.5! You guys just poke brecht enough so he'll at least add the datablock handler template for ui and I promise I'll start looking into 2.5 particles more seriously So unfortunately for now it's me either focusing on new and cool stuff or doing nothing. broken: Now the "Non-topology-dependent hair" would indeed be a nice feature and perhaps not too difficult to implement (some ideas just came to my mind about how to go about it in a nice way). But as all the interface and event code is totally new to me in 2.5 and probably still going to change quite a bit I can't really take action on this yet. I'll add this to my "smaller things" todo list though. More great ideas like this please!

Jahka,thanks for the answer.
WIth the other things mentioned there is another thing I hope you one day may want to improve.
The hair interpolation works good,but for fur combing a way to create discontinuity(little changing in direction) on it it's really needed,as several combing patterns in animals fur have a break in the fur direction(creating somethings that looks like stripes).
There is the seams button now,but it's too much dependent on topology,and sometimes topology and fur partterns are really different.
If we could paint a 2d map(controlled with uv coordinates) that can make a controlled direction deviation for fur children from the interpolated particles position(maybe rotating the fur in the normal or tangent direction) the system will be really close to perfection.