Use 3D curves to place verts/edges.

General Forums Blender and CG Discussions
#1

One thing I was thinking about is using 3D bazar/nurbs/passes/whatever that you can manipulate with handles like vectors (pen tool in photoshop), TO place vertices (connected, or disconnected), so once the curve is placed in 3D not only I want to be able to go back and edit it, but I also want to be able to add or remove the number of verts on it.

If I had such tool I could for example; select a vertex and another vertex on a model and then create a curve between those two points, then using handles I would adjust the shape of the curve where I want verts to lie, or add more points on the curve to get even more control to the contour, then increase or decrease number of verts on that curve to the desired amount, and click OK and make those verts editable, at which I can get the option to delete the curve or keep it in a curves only layer. :evilgrin:

This came from when I was modeling eva1, I would have to go an manually adjust every point to make a nice smooth curvy looking edge, it used up around 30% of the time it took me to model it, if not more. I think hexagon also has something very similar to this, but not exactly what I want, or find useful.

#2

Why not to use current curve system (remember to check out the resolution options) to model guidelines?

After you have rough idea of what you are going to do, you can duplicate and convert the curves to a mesh. This mesh can serve as a basis for the real model.

Sadly the resolution option is per object, not per curve, so you need to use separate objects for curves with different resolutions.

Perhaps this approach can help in your workflow. It doesn’t hurt to model a couple of guidelines with curves. You can even model some basic objects using them (see bevel, taper, alt-s, lofting (NURBS), curve modifier and rest of curve tools).

#3

i get it, like a mesh formed with bezier curves instead of edges? i think thats what real NURBS is though i could be wrong. in any case, i agree itd be cool.

oh. one thing you COULD try is putting the group of vertices you want curved into a separate Vertex Group and attach a Curve Deform modifier that only affects that Vertex Group to the object. actually i think thats probably the best way of doing it as of now…

#4

I thought the same thing as well. At the moment you can select a number of vertices and hit “To Sphere” and it will be curved as an arc around the cursor. Instead of that, there could be an option that two bezier handles will appear at the furthest points (or at the first and last selected) with a preview curve so that you can adjust it visually, then press enter, and it shapes the points according to that. (and the curve goes away). It would drastically improve the modeling process.

(I have also tried using curve deform, it could work, but it can get really messy and complicated.)

#5

OK, I just checked out hexagon again, and it has almost exactly what I was talking about, with some additional tools. I really hope that blender will get some major improvements in modeling, thats what I use it the most for.