Future?

[Wegg]

So who is running the show now? I love this new forum but things on the development side seem to have come to a halt. Is it a money issue? Time? Enthusiasm? What can be done?

[oort]

Wegg,
This is a question that gets asked in every open source software forum. Those fortunate enough to have jobs in this economy are too busy at work to have time or energy to work on their hobby.

The same people are still running the show.

What can be done... spread the news about Wings3D and if we get lucky some new users will be willing to try hacking or writing code...

oort

[ggaliens]

I think I could do a lot more if empowered by Dan G and Bjorn to do so. I'd like a shot at scheduling bug fixes and what not and doing all the builds. I have all the experience to do it ... it is different than goofing with plugins. Two completely different things. I love SKUNKS works ... but I understand ensuring quality is a different game. I know how to play that one too.

Eh ... all I can do is offer. That's it. Otherwise ... back to plugins.

[Wegg]

Eh ... all I can do is offer. That's it. Otherwise ... back to plugins.

Well ggaliens, I have used your plugin many many times for a lot of jobs and I have never had any bad experiences. You have my vote. Who do we/you need to talk too to get you more involved?

[Fonte Boa]

I just hope all is fine with Optigon, once his last post here at forum was from 01-22-2013... More than one month ago...

[ggaliens]

Wegg ... you can talk to me directly.
We can do some speculative stuff and probably get it integrated
via Dan if we do it right and well.

But I like to do simple mods. Maybe a lattice deformer.

[micheus]

I just hope all is fine with Optigon, once his last post here at forum was from 01-22-2013... More than one month ago...

I'm sure it's all fine with him, since he is around the forum (check his last visit - yesterday), even not answering me the PM I sent.
I believe he is working in the new UI and will comeback when he get something to show. Did you remember these threads:
- Multiple View Ports
- Status bar info

You also can follow the dgud's activity by checking his github - he is working.

So, I think the Wings3d implementation is only slow down, but I don't think it will stop - at least with Optigon around here.

What I not sure about the future of Wings is: when will we get an stable release again?
After the 1.4.1 we got two releases for fix the bugs (for Windows and Linux) and we already got two 1.5-pre snapshot (for Windows and Mac, the last one only for Windows). *Mac version is björn dependent to be debugged/released.

[puzzledpaul]

I just hope all is fine with Optigon ...

Probably just v. busy IRL atm ... as happens to all of us at times

pp

[Wegg]

Lattice deformer would be cool.



Adding axis symmetry, weight mapping and endomorphs would be very high on my list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrzn8x0j6sQ

This video shows them all working together.

Axis symmetry = adjusting a point on one axis does the same thing on the other side of the model. Similar to virtual mirror without the need to break the model in half and re-stitch it back together once done.

Weight Mapping = storing a selection of polygons with a name (something wings3D can do now) but with the added ability to define the amount each point is selected. Think of it as manually typing in values of a falloff brush.

Endomorphs = an alternative shape for the mesh that can be named and stored. Any changes made to the base mesh trickles out to each endomorph. Like if you were to model a head and then create the eyes blinking to morph too and save both states in the same object file. .LWO supports this.

For character modelers these tools are invaluable. I think you would see a lot more adoption for wings if some or all these features are adopted.

I have been a wings -> Nichimen’s Nendo -> Nichimen's N-Tools user and so am patient. :-) But it sure would be nice to see some movement on fronts that interest me. I was so happy when tweak was implemented after much begging. . . more momentum in new tools would be awesome!

[Fonte Boa]

I second that: Wings should be able to store topological states and "morph" between them and this seems to be a possible project. Wegg is referring to this like "endomorph" (Lightwave terminology). This is called Shape Manegement by Bay Raitt in the following this 2006 ODF thread i transcribe below:
http://nendowingsmirai.yuku.com/topic/18...TFRDnfd6So

"Greets all. Bay Raitt here. anyone know of any wings plugins or otherwise that do shape management for an object?

its the remaining missing workflow from mirai that keeps biting me whenever I model and go look for it in wings.

the spec is this:

I need to store a temp shape on an object and then crossfade between the the stored shape and the current shape to see if I'm making progress.

the commands in the object menu would be:

morph to default shape: enter mode to interpolate the body of the selected element between it's current shape and the default stored shape.

select default shape: dialogue to select which stored shape to use as default.

store morph shape: item added to snapshot the current shape and give it a name, delete, rename etc.

recal morph shape: interpolate to a stored morph shape

[vertex menu] recal morph shape : interpolate selected vertices to a stored morph shape (+magnets support)

all topology operations would have to be extended so that any any new geometry would be updated into the stored shapes by doing an edgewise linear iterpolation.

the import/export pluggins would need to be updated to write out the shapes so someone could make use of stored shapes in an animation system. (directories of .obj files is fine)"