The big Blender Sculpt Mode thread (Part 2)

Yeah, there are currently three Blender SDF add-ons in development:

More SDF info and examples here:

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It looks like Hans has another weekend project, refactor some multires code and bring a performance boost.

Committed now
Multires: Simplify grids normals update and grid to face map Ā· c97178fa2e - blender - Blender Projects

Soon.
#111072 - Sculpt: Make face visibility test inline - blender - Blender Projects
#111070 - Cleanup: Subdiv: Replace ā€œstack or bufferā€ storage with C++ classes - blender - Blender Projects

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I found a sculpting inconsistency between the subdivision modifier and subdivisions applied via geometry nodes.

If you try to smooth a mesh that has the Subdivision Surface modifier, it will not smooth out fully. You have to disable the modifier to finish the job. If you do the same with Geometry Nodes and the Subdivision Surface node, then the mesh smooths out perfectly, as if the modifier wasnā€™t there.


I guess that when the modifier is active, the smooth brush is looking at the mesh differently somehow, as if the modifier was applied? But with Geo Nodes, it applies the smoothing to the underlying mesh directly?

Iā€™ve know about this ā€œquirkā€ of the subdiv modifier for a long time, but I never though to test and compare it with the geometry node version. Just kinda figured that itā€™s supposed to be that way. I much prefer the behavior with geometry nodes, so Iā€™m never using the modifier while sculpting again :stuck_out_tongue:

This quirk probably applies to other brushes too. I know that the Relax brush behaves differently when trying to relax a mesh with a subdiv modifier.

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woah woah geometry nodes subdivision thats a thing???

yep, can be quite useful as well. :slight_smile:

Note that instead of being able to switch between Catmull-Clark and Simple, like we do in the modifier, thereā€™s two different nodes in GN, one for each (Subdivision Surface and Subdivide Mesh, respectively)

how do you get that i dont see in the modifier list

Geometry Nodes + Sculpting is overall a pretty powerful combo to solve annoying and repetitive stuff. Like I just made a node that solidifies a flat mesh and shrinkwraps the underside to a target mesh, so that thereā€™s never any gap. So much time saved trying to manually align that necklace or belt or strap to a surface :open_mouth:

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youā€™d use a Geometry Node modifier in the modifier listā€¦ then you have to build the node setup. not much unlike how we do nodes in materials, except these work on geometry rather than textures/colors.


is ur node setup like this?

Pretty much, yeah:

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Im gonna have to try this puppy out soon has it made it more simple to get the results you want? like getting the eyelids mouth? anything really?

Meanwhile, the Dyntopo branch has been synched to the latest revisions of master (main), but the buildbot does not seem to be going.

With Sergey wrapping up his project related to the Compositor, I wonder if we will soon see the moment when the code within the branch is wrapped up and committed.

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oh shit IT DOES apply it directly thats so cool OMGGG

Yeah this has been a topic many times a few years back and the behaviour kept switching back and forth.

The current behaviour with the Subdiv modifier is the same for most modifiers. You sculpt on the vertex positions that the modifier preview is generating, not the base mesh.

Pros = Itā€™s less frustrating to sculpt the base since what you see matches up with what you deform (Especially on low poly bases).
Cons = The sculpting result is slightly wrong, since thereā€™s a disconnect between the original and the visible geometry. (The worst offender is when sculpting with a Shrinkwrap modifier)

This needs some more investigation from devs if the issue can be solved. Otherwise there needs to be a toggle to switch the behaviour.
Edit Mode for example has a toggle with the ā€œOn Cageā€ button for modifiers. This only changes the visual representation but itā€™s similar.

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Similarly happens the same problem with armature modifier on cage and edit mode display and shape keys creation on edit and sculpt mode, which makes it hard to do way exaggerated shape transition from the base shape, I noticed is more easier to translate (move) points rather scale and rotation which feels slow or not functioning right at at all when this is enabled to fix the deformations caused by undesired bone weighting in the usual poses to fix in a character model (shoulders, hips, elbows, knees, etc)

And I donā€™t know if you guys do rigging like me, have you noticed that thereā€™s a certain lag when sculpting the strokes and also they feel weaker in strength even sometimes when the max strength is up (causing to add more strokes than usual and kinda imposible to edit in sculpt mode because the shape is offset too muchā€¦) Even though also depends in the polycount just as the smooth brush gets slower and requires to add more strokes even with max strength in a very high poly mesh versus rather than how easier it is in a low poly mesh. Similarly the subdiv modifier feels the same feels slow to sculpt even in a kind of low to mid poly assetā€¦

I think this needs a overhaul on how this realtime previews of modifier data works when editing it with other data (eg shape keys iterating with armature and other deformation modifiers in general, subdivision cage, shrinkwrap, and other modifiers versus sculpt brush engine and edit mode iterations and etc)

As usual thanks for visiting the thread for keeping some communication with the users to devsā€¦

Interestingā€¦ :thinking:

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The mirrored result looks nice, with relatively few five-sided edge singularities, but the algorithm has the same issue as all other auto-retopology methods, even the best so far (ZBrush ZRemesher / Blender Quad Remesher and 3ds Max Retopology modifier), and thatā€™s spiraling of edge loops. Itā€™s particularly apparent at the lower side of the mirrored Suzanneā€™s ear, and around the mouth cavity of the non-mirrored Suzanne.

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Can you share the node tree?

Sure, here you go:

SolidWrap.blend (135.5 KB)

Most of the mess in the nodes is related to me trying to make the Crease Edges option work properly. The solidify-and-project thing is pretty straightforward.

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I donā€™t think weā€™ll see any significant strides when it comes to remeshing until we get AI trained remeshers. ZRemesher/Quad Remesher is probably the best we got until that happens.

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