[W.I.P.] Curve Tools plugin

[micheus]

I got some time to work on it again.

I just figured out a way to allow us to create helix using a path as a "axis", so that should help a lot with some kind of cables and these kind of thing.
The Helix option in true isn't a kind of curve, but a tool to create a Bèzier curve in that shape.

It's working, but not exactly the way I would like - be able to draw it as I do with the curves, but for now we just pick a curve in the helix dialog. I still need to work on that in the future.

Here on the Curves plugin window (parametric):


... and here after convert to Wings3D object with material applied :


I noticed an interesting effect when - after create the external cable - I decided to change the twist mode for the "helix" curve. I was using Z-Up at first and when I changed to Minimum some loops just got a little twisted and closer to the main cable.

And...
... as not everything is happiness, something I changed bring me a couple of crashes that I still need to figure out how to fix.

[Dimitri]

Nice news Micheus! You must put a testing version, anymore, though. It is not necessary for it to be perfectly working. It would be good, however, to have it dowloadable for testing purposes.

[micheus]

I have been working a little bit more on it since last month, so as for your happiness Dimitri I hope I can do that until next month.

I found a lot of minor issues and new bugs that are very annoying to me - I don't want you guys getting the same problem too.

In the meantime here is another command added: Wrap - used to wrap a Wings3D object or another curve along the curve.

As a side note, it's not optimized and a dense mesh can slow down the preview, but at least we have a way to bend long objects in a easier way.

[Hank]

you made my day
I've sent you separate email for this topic.

BR, Hank

[Dimitri]

Nice news! Such tools were an essential need for Wings!

[micheus]

Since the last update I got my work corrupted, but I could to recover almost everything. Some fixes were lost and I had to find and fix. So, I have been reviewing everything again.

In the mean time I also added a Fill option to Put On, which is a nice option because we can continue to edit the curve and the object instances will be added or removed automatically, but it has a poor performance which I still need to figure out how to fix that.

[micheus]

1) I could addressed the poor performance of Put On parametric object.

First of all, these tests most the time are done in a poor PC without a dedicated GPU (i5-650 4GB GMA HD - from 2010) - the worst case of use.

In the previous test, I was getting 9 FPS in parametric format and 20 FPS after make it a Wings3D object;
Now, these values are 35 FPS and 22 FPS, respectively.


In my i7 (from 2013), with a dedicated GPU GTX1060, all these values stays in 60 FPS all the time.

2) I think I also finally resolved an issue related to Undo/Redo.


I'm still testing it in order to try release it.

[nigec]

its looking really good

[micheus]

The Bridge option is now ready.

It was asleep since I first create it because I was facing some issues related to UV mapping and some inconsistencies to keep the thickness constant (as most as possible).

The UV meshes may need to be tweaked in some cases by using Remap->Project Normal and Scale->Normalise Size to get the caps really OK. But, at least the UV islands are already cut.

[TeddyBear]

Thanks for your awesome work micheus !