UPDATE: Bsurfaces v1.5 for Blender 2.65a:
https://www.box.com/s/3cvseuphwu0tjydhhbld
UPDATE: Help PDF file:
https://www.box.com/s/5ygw6vkzxkag9dh53uuv
As some of you already know, Bsurfaces is the new name for Surface Sketching. The actual version of this add-on already included in Blender is “Bsurfaces GPL Edition v0.9”.
As a way to sponsor its development I decided to make another version that will have a pay-per-copy period and after that period I want to make it GPL for everyone, replacing the actual “Bsurfaces GPL Edition”. So if anyone can’t get it now, at some point it will be available for everyone.
Here is a video demo I prepared:
Some features and improvements in this version:
- Build surfaces, extrude and bridge selections using freehand strokes.
- Edit strokes as bezier splines.
- Keep the strokes after building the surface to modify and/or reuse them.
- Interactively modify in real-time all the settings available.
- Faster algorithms for surface building to make it work real-time and be controled interactively.
- Use bezier curves as input.
- Use straight strokes.
- Closed shapes.
- Transitions between closed and open shapes.
- Make surfaces cyclic, both along and/or across the strokes.
- Loops on strokes for simple surfaces, extrusions, bridges, surfaces from two connected selections, and closed shapes.
- Surfaces from crossing strokes.
- Optional automatic join of the crosshatched surfaces to the original mesh.
- Restrict the automatic joinning of the crosshatched surfaces to the selected vertices.
- Stretch slider to control interactively how much the borders of the crosshatched surfaces can stretch to get joined to the original mesh.
- Control interactively the merge distance of the borders of sketched closed shapes and transitions from closed to open shapes.
- Designate the first point of a spline, both for open or closed splines. No need to make all strokes in the right direction on the first try, they can be changed at any time.
- Reorder strokes/splines using freehand strokes.
- Improved interpolation of loops in bridges where the proportions of the edges of the first selection are different from the proportions of the target selection.
- Improvements on detection of surfaces “along strokes” or “across strokes”. Less precision needed from user, and detects well in more situations.
- Context detection, and alerts when the context is incorrect. For instance wrong types of selections, or there is only one stroke and no selection, etc.
- When tweaking options interactively there are available only the options that make sense depending on the context. For instance is not possible to make cyclic the extrusion of an open shape, this is automatically interpreted and the cyclic options are disabled.
- Automatically filling faces where there are only edges structures.
- Building surfaces from loose edges, which can be attached automatically to the original mesh.
Updates:
The actual version of Bsurfaces has been tested in Blender 2.58, 2.59, 2.60, 2.61 and 2.62 (official releases from blender.org).
If there are Blender Python API modifications, and they remain as they have been in the last Blender releases (quite accessible to overcome), which seems to be the case, there will be updates to make Bsurfaces compatible with the last official Blender release. Those updates will be sent automatically, at no cost, to those who got Bsurfaces.
Installation:
- File -> “User Preferences…” (Add-Ons tab)
- Press “Install Add-On…”, and search for the .py file. (after that, it is listed among the add-ons)
- Search it in the list of add-ons and click on the checkbox at its right to activate it.
(If you had “Bsurfaces GPL Edition” active, deactivate it, and then activate this new version)
Help:
There’s a PDF included with the add-on. It’s a quick guide to help get a grasp of the different features quickly. And in case you don’t find the answer there, can send me an e-mail. Check the contact info at Bsurfaces website.
For grease pencil guide check:
vimeo.com/8921999
vimeo.com/8982749
The pay-per-copy period will be around 5 to 9 months depending on how well it sales. Not more than that.
Had setup a simple website with some info, for people who would like to get it or in case anyone would like to make a donation (will take those into account too to determine the final length of this first period).
Here is the link:
www.bsurfaces.info
About donations:
Besides the Violin raffle among all donors, if you donate for less than the purchase price but then you donate again and reach the amount of the price with your donations, let me know, I’ll send you a copy for free.
Some thanks:
Would like to thank some people that had been really helpful in this project:
First of all Jonathan Williamson. He was the first to foster the development of this new stage of Bsurfaces (he was willing to pay for everybody), also Andy Davies (from Eat3D), Kernon Dillon (from BlenderNewbies), Class Kuhnen (from everywhere with CG in it) and Oliver Villar (from BlendTuts). Good people who had been really helpful.
Also Jonathan Cooke and Travis Morgan, you surely don’t know them. Jonathan is the guy who did the voice-over work. Great work, kind people and quick to deliver. If you want to contact him for voice-over work: jonathan.cooke (at) live.com.
And Travis is the musician who composed “Light Patterns”, the track of the video. I really wanted that track for this video. Check his music, he is very talented and has quite a few tracks of CC music: www.ccmixter.org/people/morgantj
There’s lot of talent out there doing great voice-over work for fun or CC music. Would recommend two who did good auditions for voice-over work: Jamaal Ephriam and Leroy Shamshidov.
And lastly, as a side note:
I would like to kindly ask other developers not to reproduce the original ideas in Bsurfaces until the code is released. Please keep in mind that it will be GPL for everyone in a short period, and this project is possible thanks to the sales period. So if we can all make this an everybody wins situation, would really appreciate it, and will be good for everybody.
Well… that’s all… and for those who get it: enjoy!.. and for those who can’t right now, you will get it soon!