ConjureSDF has been updated, restoring the long-awaited SDF to mesh conversion functionality.
Release notes…
ConjureSDF v0.3.11 (Public Alpha)
This is an experimental version that supports Blender 4.5-5.3 and MacOS/Vulkan. It is not at feature parity with v0.2.3. more info in announcements
New Features:
SDF to Mesh (Blender 5.3 required)
Orthographic rendering
Matcaps
Note: ConjureSDF’s install size is a lot larger due to having to include flattened copies of Blender’s matcaps. This is due to a change in their format in 5.0. This will be fixed in the future.
Bug Fixes:
selection outlines didn’t respect maximum rendering distance
Known Limitations:
unable to convert subgroup to root group (coming in v0.3.11)
unable to convert/move primitives to subgroup directly (coming in v0.3.11)
current workaround: first add a primitive to the selected one while holding alt. This will create a new subgroup. Then other primitives can be nested after them.
Known Issues:
MacOS fails to render. This is a high priority issue that will be addressed in a hotfix soon.
active/selected outline doesn’t show around mirrored side of SDFs
can’t select primitives in the viewport if they are cut off by the mirror
high mirror smoothing can get cut off by the rendering bounds
non solid highlights can overlap with mirroring
different kinds of non solid highlights (difference, inset, etc.) can flicker and intersect oddly.
undo/redo crashes viewport or requires more steps than expected.
Meshes in F12 renders might be out of sync with the SDFs when animated.
Chisel 4.1 has been released. It’s another great update, making Chisel an even more powerful SDF modeling tool right inside Blender.
Changelog:
Chisel 4.1.0
Version 4.1 is about shaping. Five new modifiers bend, sweep, carve, revolve and smooth your models. Chisel now also tracks GPU memory, so heavy scenes slow down rather than fail.
New
• Smooth — one radius rounds the whole model
• Lattice — bend and stretch a shape with a cage of points
• Carve — cut with a grown copy of another shape
• Revolve — spin a profile around an axis
• Sweep — run a shape along a path of points
• Bisect planes have handles — slide, blend, and round corners
• Gizmos can follow the active object, all selected, or stay off
• Clean Mods — remove every broken modifier in one click
• Convert Legacy Curve — turn an old curve shape into an Ngon, Revolve or Sweep
• Subdivision Level — one detail slider for the whole scene
• Auto Cell Size — detail no longer depends on object size
• Chisel knows your GPU memory — too-big conversions are refused up front instead of failing
• Space confirms a drag, like Enter
• Local view isolates Chisel shapes
Performance
• Dragging stays smooth on heavy scenes
• Sliders only update the object you are editing
• Orbiting a heavy scene no longer re-renders every frame
• Going back to a position you already had is instant
• No more freeze when you release a drag
• Apply Modifiers and Convert to Mesh are twice as fast
• Rendering is about 20% faster
• Mesh shapes use half the GPU memory
Fixed
• Crash to desktop on Intel integrated GPUs
• A graphics error no longer ends the render session
• Restarting the renderer no longer leaks GPU memory
• Mesh resolution above 256 crashed Blender
• Apply Modifiers came out blocky
• Selection outline and snapping did not follow every edit
• Carve painted the target’s colour into the pocket
• Curve tubes were not smooth
• Sweep profiles twisted along straight legs
• Undo lost a shape’s material
• Moving an object with a parent was sometimes ignored
• F12 ignored Render Region and orthographic cameras
• A drag that hit an error left a mess behind
• Replace Original, Apply and Duplicate could lose data
• Picking a target in the modifier panel added a second shape
• Plain meshes lost their modifier stack under the Chisel engine
• Matcap choice was not saved by name
• Dragging Blend to zero switched Blend off
• Rebake SDF did not clear the “SDF is stale” banner
• Mesh shapes piled up in memory
Changed
• Twist and Bend apply to every selected shape
• Settled resolution default is 30% (was 50%)
• SDF Store Budget default is 256 MB (was 32 MB)
• Per-point sweep scale and twist are removed
