The big SDF modeling thread

Yes, Blender’s Metaballs are quite capable, although an advanced SDF modeling toolset would be much more versatile.

Here are some Blender Metaball tips I posted here a while ago:

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Thank you, it was interesting)

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Chamfered primitives and variable corner radii are among new stuff coming up in ConjureSDF 0.2.2, to be released around the end of November.

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I really hope that the Blender developers’ SDF implementation will include a ray-marching render engine, like ConjureSDF includes. It’s the only way many SDF primitives and operations can be used in Blender without slowdowns. If they base the SDF toolset on the Geometry Nodes volume-to-mesh functionality, it will probably be slow when using many primitives.

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It’s the only way many SDF primitives and operations can be used in Blender without slowdowns.

This is not exactly true.

Volume to mesh might have a higher initial cost, but scales way better with larger scenes. This is because the geometry node evaluation results in a normal mesh. The evaluation can get expensive, but only happens when needed such as when you change a primitive. Current hardware is optimized for triangular meshes and can handle a lot of polygons, as such it can handle very large scenes that are essentially SDFs converted to meshes.

Note that voxelisation is just one method and good for quick visualisation. Other methods to get a nicer mesh from SDFs can also be used but haven’t been implemented in geometry nodes (yet :wink: )

Ray marching (sphere tracing in this case) has a high cost because (in the case of no optimisations) it needs to check multiple times against all SDFs in the scene per pixel per frame.
Whereas the voxelisation method with geometry nodes only updates if actual change happens to the geometry which can be partial (ex. just one sdf voxel domain).

Ray marching evaluations are done on the GPU and geometry nodes on the CPU.
Despite that, when working on a scene in the viewport I’d rather lower the SDF mesh resolution to get more fps than lower the resolution of the whole viewport to lower the cost of ray marching.

Hope this clears things up a bit.

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Interesting, thanks! :+1:

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Modeled in Substance VR. Mostly regular clay layers with a few parts made from live-prims. Around 8 hours. Unwrapped in Blender and ready for texturing in Painter. Just caught the end of the session as a recording.



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OK that process looks really cool.

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This is by far the best advertisement for a VR headset I’ve ever seen, and the only one that’s ever made them seem at all tempting :sweat_smile:

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The thing I love most about working in VR with voxels is how much fun it really is. :grinning: You have a few basic tools and primitives and you just do everything directly hands-on.

I nagged @Metin_Seven for 2 years until he finally got one. Don’t make me start nagging you… :smile:

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Fabulous work, as always, Dan! :pinched_fingers:

I’m absolutely glad you kept nagging, although I have to admit that it made me rediscover gaming to such an extent that I’m mostly doing that when it’s on my head. :grin:

Currently loving Pistol Whip. It has almost given me a triggerfinger by now. :sweat_smile:

Great visuals, music and fun.

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:joy:

Not my intention. Get back to work? Your wife must be thinking that doing 3D work in VR looks quite intense…as he rolls across the floor and takes cover behind the sofa… :grinning:

I mixed up the date on Thrill of the Fight 2. it’s 21st of this month.

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:laughing::laughing:

Too late, I’ve already introduced her to Beat Saber. :grin:

I’ve asked my wife to play it dressed like this, but she refused. :wink::wink:

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Fascinating… this shows how the “lighsabers” are slicing through the floor… (properly because the are only gribs ) but this should also show how she is slicing it through her own foot… ZSSCCH you loose a leg

( I always thought the lightsaber is by far too powerfull and any “newbie” will not only hit oneself but cut something of… :rofl: )

Also intersting (weird) that someone has a channel for doing this and people properly did subscribed to it too.

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Haha, yeah, the motion tracking and perspective matching is off in this video. In the actual game, everything looks and feels correct.

Actually it can “hurt” your system :rofl: :

( And TBH even with stick figures only… this look awesome :smile_cat: )

But i’m getting offtopic… :wink:

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Mesh to SDF conversion experiment in MagicaCSG.

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Made this robot using only SDF live-primitives in the Adobe Modeler beta:

WIPs:

Modeler is heading in the right direction, but MagicaCSG remains my favorite SDF 3D modeling tool, at least when it comes to non-destructive live-primitives.

:arrow_right: MagicaCSG (feature-limited free demo available)

:arrow_right: Adobe Modeler free public beta

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SDF Prototyper V2.1 has been released, featuring color assignment and blending, and push and avoid modes…

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SDF Modeler V0.4 has been released, with Boolean subgroups and much more:

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