ByronsPolyTools - English Video Preview

[trthing]

I can`t stress enough how thankful I am for your initiative!

Gorgeous set of tools!!!

Can`t wait to try them (especially the chamfer/bevel stuff).

:drool:

BTW, when is it supposed to be available?

[Levitateme]

Byron, are you goign to implement your softselection into these? or is that going to come later on? btw, your right about the paint selection in maya, that works just fine. be nice if you could select anywere on a edge/face and it just select. other than that. i agree with it being fine in maya.

Also, can someone explain what soft selection in 3ds max does? is it just like the sculpt poly tool?

[DeathBrain]

That is really amazing split & selection tools and also great face modifier :thumbsup:

[Byron]

I want release them, when they are really free of nasty bugs.
At this time, there are still a few ones , tiny ones, but sometimes, they tend to destroy the workflow for a second or two, so I will kill them.

And I also have an Idea for another improvement, a type of my own move component tool which works with the attributes of my node and should allow the user, to slide an existing line of components.

This would also be possible with the standard Maya Move Component Tool, but in that case, the edges of an edgeLine move in different directions, each ... . My Tool will compensate for that :).

But this thread was meant to keep you informed :).

Bests
Byron

[DeathBrain]

Originally posted by Levitateme
Also, can someone explain what soft selection in 3ds max does? is it just like the sculpt poly tool?
Hi Levi :)
The soft selection in MAX controls for NURBS models are like the soft selection controls for editable mesh objects. Soft selection controls make a point or CV behave as if surrounded by a "magnetic field." Unselected points or CVs within the field are drawn along smoothly while you move the selected one. With soft selection, transforming a single vertex can move others

I use cluster or sculpt poly tool to do this with Maya (much better IMHO) :)

[Levitateme]

Byron, have you seen the edge loop in XSI? it will split down themiddle, just like most edge loops. but you acn also tell it how many divisions you want. and it will spread them out evenly as well. is that ever in the future for your tools? i just got done seeing your english version. very excited. its weird there is a actual bevel out there that does what it should do. i really like your Selection tools, and theedge loop with the Push feature that is vital to a edge loop split i mean. i hate having to make a edge loop cut, then select the entire loop edge, then move by its normals. just alot of work.

[trthing]

Heh...

If you are holding the release because of these minor bugs... relax...

Most of us are quite familiar with them, unfortunately... don`t you agree?

:rolleyes:

anyway, you`re the man: I will be waiting...

[Byron]

SoftselectioTools will be a seperate plugin
when they are done (I didn't even start to write them by now).

But in general, it will be no problem to integrate them into the same Interface, and compile them together with
PeTe , how I decided to call my PolyTools becaue ByronsPolyTools is so damn long :).

[Byron]

@Levitateme: Hmm, thats not planned, I mean, to have something like a multiSplit.
And I have to admit that my engine behind all that splitStuff was never meant to do such things automatically, so it will be very hard to implement it. Very hard, because the split is actually based on faces (which gives a lot of advantages by the way :) ).
So I think, you will have to do that manually, but in times of solidChamfer, it will be quite easy to create multiple edges :).

...

Yeah, I think, I will concentrate my work on the real essential things that need to be fixed in Maya :).

@trthing: Yes, unfortunately, you tend to get used to bugs, when you work with software. And it sometimes takes a lot of time to get around them ... .
In Modelling, I think, its much more critical that you can really depend on the tools you use. I like to modell, and I hate (nearly) nothing more than a tool that fails and destroys my "flow".

Aside from that, these tools will have my name, and I don't want to be known as "The Bug" ;).

[visualboo]

Wow... byron. Amazing tools.

I simply can't wait to get a crack at them.

[trthing]

Totally agree with the name thing :beer:

However, if there is a pattern, instead of The Bug, you would end up filthy rich and owner of a 3D company;)

[Byron]

Ohh, some money wasn't bad, I have to admit.

I am quite short on it because I don't have a job at this time and no income, but still some savings left :).

But without all that time I have due to that situation, such a "big" plug like PeTe would not have been possible. (By now, I worked for about 3 Month fulltime on it, with an average of 65 Hours a week, I would say).

Programming, Modelling, creating my reel ... wow, still have a lot to do :).

Bests
Byron

[wrend]

too tasty! big chunky props to you!

just to let people know, i have a 'soft selection' tool in the pipe at the moment, and it should flop out pretty soon. whilst it is not api coded, it uses maya's own compiled deformers, and is workably fast. it works with, and can itegrate/add into, history. ill shutup, this is not my addvert!

fuggin brilliant work Byron! awaiting release eagerly!

cheers.

[rebb4]

This could really put some of the real Maya-Coders to shame :).

Awesome stuff !

[womanonfire]

help us Byron, you are our only hope....
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64073

[SaucyJack]

Yep, fantastic work Byron. Kudos, Kudos, Kudos!!!

Take the rest of the year off.

I have.

:thumbsup:

[bombay_potato]

This looks very promising.

I have a few observations and questions:

In the video it looks as though smart edgle selections do not convert the selection mask.

by default in maya the convert selection operations do not convert the mask and I have always found this to be a pain. (I have had to replace the current hotkeys with macros to do this.)

I would suggest that any selection conversion your plugins provide also convert the mask so that the selection can be modified easily.

The bevel and slide operations look very powerful. if possible displaying the edge(s) that are being manipulated as a highlighted selection would be helpfull. I bring this up becuase many of the bonus game tools operations that AW provide do not provide highlighted selection and it can become confusing when manipulating a wireframe view.

I read mention of a custom move component tool, the move component workflow in maya can be greatly improved upon, I look forward to this as much as any other feature you have shown.

My main gripe of the current system is the extra steps required when using the move component tool. if its possible to have it behave similar to the W(move)E(edge)R(scale) tools where you can start and edit a selection while keeping the move component tool activated, that would save many clicks.

thanks for taking on the effort to improve on such neglected and important areas of maya. These changes could save hours of mouse clicks over the course of a year.

bb_potato

[wrend]

i forgot to mention, i soo dig your 'align-split-to-edge' function. too cool! can it be that hard to go from that, to pushing a set of vertices along their edges? (even if their polarities are wack)? man, these tool do appear solid. and all the quad action, ... crikey, your getting me excited here! :)

[Byron]

Creat comment , thank you.

The change of the selection mask on edgeLoop, edgeRing will be in , no problem.
I got so used to my hotkeys that I didnt even thought about the fact, that it was better not to be forced to push it .

As I plan it, the move component part of my plug would work solely with my node, which means that you would have to click the slide parameter in the channelbox and then change it.

I already have a manipulator implemented which allows to do that interactively. But I didnt show it in the video because im not happy with it yet.

What I want for the manipulator is, that it sticks on the nearest edge. What I have to do to accomplish that is to build a transformation matrix.
My problem is, that I don't yet have a clue how to align that matrix to a component.

I did some tests, which should simply align the manipulator to the viewPlane (I copied the TranformationMatrix of the camera to the manipulator), but the results where extremely strange.

So if someone has an idea how I could build such a matrix (like it is used in the standard maya moveTool for example), please let me know :).

Nontheless. I saved your mail and will take it back home, so that I won't forget what you said :).

Bests
Byron

[Byron]

@wrend: no, its not that hard. Thats why I will do it :).

[JasonA]

Wow Byron, this is a very exciting plugin you have developing here! I found your demo fun to watch, and I can't wait to try your plugin. Ok so where do I send the check to.. :drool:

You know my only other (wish) item from poly modeling in Maya would be an equivilent function of Project Curve on Surface (NURBS Tool) for Polygons. That would make it similair to 3ds max's "Shapemerge" tool, which is pretty dran handy for poly modeling. How hard do you think that would be?

Can't wait for your releases man, look forward to your next update!

-Jason

[Byron]

Woow, this would be then somthing like a costom Curve in the "cut poligon" toll, where you have a single line, instead of a costum curve.

Hmm, I will go to bed now and think about it.
But one thing is clear right now: this is quite hard, at least for me.

But I will see :).

[bombay_potato]

Something else to add to the improvements wishlist: polygon component pick walk.

I have been guessing that vertice order is the main hurdle to having a vert, edge or poly loop/ring walk; but if your model is built around quads and it were possible to safely reorganize the vertice order of the mesh -a pick walk of loops or other selections could be very powerful.

If edge slide were able to slide the selection through the neighboring edges this would mimic mayas nurbs interaction and save time by being able to quickly redistribute detail without making a drastic change in the volume of the model. (but constantly rearanging vert order could break an untold number of features, so this may not be possible in maya at this time)

nurbs modeling has had much more thought put into its foundation than polygon editing in maya (my guess), the fact that nurbs have to be organized through longatude and latatude makes navigating through the components much faster.

I am curious to know if any of this hits home with anyone else, looking forward to new polyTools.

thanks
bb_potato

[rebo]

Cant wait, i watched the video 3 times, it was very interesting.

[wrend]

bombay - absolutely, your comments align well with my everyday gripes, as with many other ppl's i imagine. xumi's polyTool set has a rudimentary poly pickWalk, it aint too robust, but works well in areas that have been created uniformly.

byron - i have shackled into MJ's polyTools some scripting that constructs simple little 'split-bias' widgets that ride the mesh, so you have a handle on the position of the split. i could mail you the mod if you like, its a little half baked, but you'll get the idea.

[wgreenlee1]

:applause:


Uh...this looks great.......:thumbsup:

In the words of Homer Simpson "WOOHOO!!!".

[roger]

Your PolyTools look GREAT Byron!! :thumbsup:
I can't wait to try them!!
Please let us know when/where we can get them.

Thank you! :applause: :) :applause:

[gundog]

just got home from work and this is the best news i've read all day. i'm impressed that you're not just fixing a tool, but developing an entire workflow.

thanks

[Electrofirma]

Wow, Byron this is great stuff!

I look forward to seeing this on a screen near me.

[Gremlin]

Whoa man, this is some top notch stuff.... can't wait to get my hands on version 1. What's the time frame on this baby? I'm just about to start modeling a new project (still concepting on paper, but I plan to start modeling soon) and these tools could really come in handy...

yah dude, keep up the incredable work.... I hope you continue to develope plugins for maya. These PolyTools are great, but ever thought about DynamicTools or RenderTools?? ...OOH, OR NURBSTOOLS?! (I'm sure the nurbs using community would praise you for that, because nurbs definitely seems to be querky in maya!!) but I dunno, just tryin' to spice things up!
Cheers,
:beer:

[Neox]

@gremlin you definately don't know byron, i guess there will be no Nurbstools ever done by him :D

@Byron great set i said befor, i like those tools, do you have time to code them for max? ... ok i know your answer :rolleyes:

see you tonight? :)

[NUKE-CG]

Byron, baby!

I remember reading recently about your in-dev tools, and being excited, now I've seen the video.. well.. it scaled my cylinder.. awesome stuff.

A working bevel :beer: :beer:

A good way to squash bugs is getting a small alpha team together, and let them fall in the pitfalls, and get their observations, I'm sure you have about 100 fans already willing to test drive this code on their scenes. I'm one of them.

In-viewport manips sound great, it is a natural part of Maya, great way to fuse everything together.

I'm all giddy..

[wgreenlee1]

I hope he releases a 'breif' tutorial video to accompany the tools,his(Byron's) humour cracks me up.:thumbsup:

[Gremlin]

*cries*
I wan't them right now.... its kinda not fair. wtf, Byron stop being so awesome, stop...right now, or keep being awesome, and release the tools already!!

[Neox]

byron can only be online once a week, so i'm talking for him, he'll release em when they are finished, not earlier ;)

[Byron]

@bombay_potato: Hmm, I don't think that I will try to force some of the nurbs functionality into polygons. Oky, its not impossible, but it would be incredibly hard, and nearly impossible with my tools.
I spend some time thinking about them before I started to write a single line, creating a clue of the engine needed to do the stuff I want. And because I never thought about this idea you had, trying to make PeTe do that is like teaching a fly to speak chinese backwards, fluently ;).

@wrend: I already have a manipulator for the tools. But I didnt show it because i am not happy with it yet. I want to get it reight, because it was just soooo cool to be able to just have a fullscreen model panel(without channelbox and all that stuff), just being able to control the parameters with the manipulator ... .
...
Have to go back to work now !! .

@gremlin: As neox said already : Nurbstools - not by me. I am a polymodeller, and with the new solidChamfer/chamfer options Ive got all I ever wanted to borough by nurbs.
And renderTools and dynamic tools are out of my range - I needed to have a math and physics diploma to do that.
But I am just a 20 year old guy who got mark C in math all the time, exept vector calculations, there I scored A always.

@Nuke Cg: Yeah, I already thought about a beta testing programm, but I came to the decision that ,at this, there are still enough bugs known to me which have to be fixed.
When there a none left, at least no ones I know , then I think there will be a small circle testing the plug a week or two before the release.

@WGreenLee1: Hey, that was my idea ;). I really enjoy doing that video stuff, and it is definitely planned to release tuturial videos for them. But there is still a lot of work to do, because I want PeTe (the PolyTools) to have an own website, with own webspace etc.

@Neox: thanks, but don't talk toooo much ;), I am still there today :).

[tropistic]

Originally posted by Byron
PeTe , how I decided to call my PolyTools becaue ByronsPolyTools is so damn long :).

PeTe? :surprised Hmm... I think I'd like maybe "BPT" better. Right up there with that other great modeling tool "CPS."

Jay

[Byron]

Yeah, but PeTe can be spoken much more fluently than BePeTe so I thought this would be a better name to call it.

But BPT can be written faster
... hmmm ...
you got me ;).

[Elliotjnewman]

So what will this plug-in be available om - Windows, OSX, Irix, Linux? and when?

And what advantage does it have over MJPolyTools?

[Byron]

I would suggest you to watch the Video at the startpage of this thread, then you will see :).

There will definitely be a version for maya 4.5 and 5.0 (win32), and linux.

And the release Date is not set yet, but I want it to be as soon as possible, when there is a completely debugged version of the tools, with 1 or 2 more features.
I still work on it :).

[wgreenlee1]

I just watched the video again....being a mostly poly-points-modeler kinda guy I'm going to really use these a lot.

This looks legendary like MJs.....

Its gonna be good.:thumbsup:

[xilihwala]

Amazing tools

[sarfarazsoomro]

wow... this is really going to get the modelling workflow fast :buttrock: :buttrock: :buttrock:

thnx

[orgeeizm]

Damn. Im very impressed and excited. You are the one..err the man. :beer:

Haha I love how you go "NO PROBLEM!". Yessss!!! We owe alot to you homie.

[swag]

byron do it fast bpt kick ass man :wip:

[Neox]

Originally posted by Elliotjnewman
So what will this plug-in be available om - Windows, OSX, Irix, Linux? and when?
And what advantage does it have over MJPolyTools?

1. Windows, maybe Linux, he knows no one to compile it for macOS
2. its faster, smarter, better, look at the video man, you've got eyes to see the better things than mjpolytools ;)

[Elliotjnewman]

I cant download it - im at home on my mac abd cant convert it. plus im on slow 56k! I will have a look at work, sounds reaaly ggod - but get it compiled on all platforms if you can!

[Neox]

ah ok, basicly the features he implemented
are similar to mjpolytools, but with one diffenrence the work automaticly with quads, because it's polygon based, not adgebased. It's way faster as mjpolytools (or any other tools for any software outhere) the speed is amazing. it has "simple" features such as edgering and edgeloop but with one difference, they are smart, you can select a vertex and out of that vertex an edgering or loops, its not edgebased, so you can work with every subobject (sorry don't know how you maya guys call subobjects :D) so you are not limited to edges only. He has got some great chamfer and solidchamfer functions in it (the maya stuff is more then crap :D) and the solidchamfer is better then in any other package, its great and again quadbased :)
Basicly its the most powerfull tool i've seen so far for boxmodelling, and i really envy you mayaguys for that toolset! i hope someday there will be similar features in max :)

[BigSky]

Very nice tools Byron!
Personally, I like the way you say "how you want it.."

;)

[rebo]

Byron and buzz should do a 3dbuzz VTM special. It will be hilarious.:D :applause:

[visualboo]

i hope someday there will be similar features in max
I'm on it Neox. I hope Byron doesn't mind but he really does have some amazing ideas.

Our Studio is Max and Maya so I want it for both :)

[Neox]

are you scripting it or are you doing a plugins, thats basicly the difference to all other tools, they are just slow compared to a real plugin :D
but a real solidchamfer in Max would be awsome! keep going!

i'll ask byron later today if he may help you :)

[visualboo]

Cool, we would really appriciate his help if that's possible.

Right now were just weighing our options with both. But I'll keep you guys up with our progress.

[ki oku]

i had the chance to have a look at them last week... and they look very promising :)


byron hope you can motivate yourself to finish them ;) ...

[mas]

Great tools Byron. These are features that I have missed since ver. 4.0 in Maya. You really understood the needs of a maya artist and made it possible with your tools:applause: Great job man, you did it all alone, I can't imagine the people at alias could do it better. I think Alias should contact you immediately and implement this stuff in maya. And why not release them now? Alias did it with their Games tools, even though half of them still doesn´t work.:scream:
"Because of you many Maya user will not switch away from Alias"

:applause:
mas

[lildragon]

I was meaning to get the word out on this so http://www.cgnetworks.com, can't wait to give it a real test drive, as I highly depend on MJPolytools as of late :) Speed wise I hope it's a winner.

salud!

[Ronald]

did you every think offering your tools to alias or even better working for them. cause i think you really understand what is important in a really good workflow and that tools really, really, really have to work! this is something, the programming guys at alias have seem to forgotten, because good usablity of a tools does not mean to have funny icons to push, but tools that work.

keep up the good work

ronny

[KingMob]

I can't add anything other then WOW...this is EXACTLY what maya needs... I can't wait to try these out...maybe you need a beta tester ;)

Awesome stuff man...I am realyl just signing up to this thread to hear when they come out haha...

Great work, You really are doing a great service to maya users here.

[rafiadrian]

awww some

[Taos]

I wrote a plugin that mimics the tweak tool in wings a while back, as many people on this list know. However, after I got a job, I had to cut off support of it because I don't have time to deal with it anymore. Please, take that tool, incorporate it into this one, and advance it to your liking. I've been looking for someone to take the helm on that project and give people what they really want.

It's BSD licensed, so you can release it closed source if you really want. However, I would encourage you to release all your tools open source.

Sorry, I haven't taken the time to look at the site just yet, nor the video. But reading from other's descriptions, this looks like the perfect home for my little orphan.

[MikeRhone]

Byron.

Incredible demo. I would LOVE to see your tool released. I too am highly dependant on MJ PolyTools.

Alias: Get a hold of Byron and integrate his tools asap. Forget the eye candy add-ons and FIX THE BEVEL

M

[Gumbas]

visualboo ! :wip: <-screw you :/

crack? :shame:

this guy is trying to make some money from his own brain...

support the artist and developers! :love:

and crack the corp. :beer:

grrr...

G_P

[bentllama]

Originally posted by Gumbas
visualboo ! :wip: <-screw you :/
crack? :shame:
this guy is trying to make some money from his own brain...
support the artist and developers! :love:
and crack the corp. :beer:
grrr...
G_P

gumbas

please refrain from the negative comments aimed at other forum users. "screw you" is not positive feedback. please take the time to read our policy here: http://www.cgtalk.com/policy.php

[mikefeil]

the server is dead :(

[Neox]

i don't think so, i tried it and i still can download the video, if anyone else has got this problem i'll upload it to another webspace :)

[jason-slab]

just d/loaded it, awsome stuff!!

[Gremlin]

Originally posted by stal3fish
just d/loaded it, awsome stuff!!
LOL, you got my hopes up, I thought you meant you downloaded the tools, but you just meant the video :annoyed:

[MadS]

Holycrap! You put the A|W coders to shame. I have been wanting an "Edge Slide" feature for years now, and I couldn't understand why no one had implemented it yet. NURBS had thier isoparms, and it only seemed logical that polygons should have a similar feature. Thanks! Also, your solid chamfer looks flawless.
A|W should hire you. :thumbsup:

[Goon]

Due to the quality of code byron has created and his obvious skill, plus the lack of developement resources which Alias directs towards poly modeling, I think it would be best if Byron kept these plugins, updating them himself, or releasing them as open source.

Personally I would not mind paying a small sum in the least for such tools, both as a reward for Byron and additional incentive for him to keep updating them. (Something like what Titan2 has setup with free updates for life:D would be pretty cool ;))

[antnik]

EXCELLENT WORK BYRON. It is good for us to have people like you who write such good tools..otherwise we would wait for Alias to reach version 9.

[alexx]

i indeed hope you "will be back" byron!

can someone tell me where the "feature request" page from alias went?
i just wanted to send the link of the video to them..
and the advice to buy the source code from byron - or maybe hire him right away!

GREAT stuff!

cheers

alexx

[blackSTATIK]

I'm pumped...this is AMAZING! :thumbsup: I cant wait until it comes out!! :) GREAT WORK!

[trthing]

Death Fall.com almost killed me with that front-page without a disclaimer: felt like the last to know...:D

[Elliotjnewman]

So I'm sure that this has already been mentioned but when is this going to be released?

Ell

[swag]

byron testing the bpt himself and will show us a damn nice model :) when bpt is bug free he will release it or do some final beta test with a handfull of guy´s
but byron will tell u more on Friday i hope so ;)

[wgreenlee1]

Someone said the end of next month.

[kiaran]

Very impressive and exciting Byron! Your enthusiasm is infectious. I'm desperatly awaiting the release of BPT 1.0.

alexx:
can someone tell me where the "feature request" page from alias went?

I couldn't find it either. It seems like Alias is turning their back on the artists. I can't believe that someone from Alias doesn't keep a watch on the main Maya forums here at cgtalk. I've never heard of an alias rep posting on these forums.:shrug:

This plugin should be integrated in Maya 5.5. Without question. It's been far too long that Maya users have had to patch together a decent poly modeling toolset for themselves.

One other thing. Byron, would it be possible to let us know how you broke into learning Maya's API? I assume you came from a Mel background. What books and resources were their for learning the API. Is it C++ ? Please bear with me, I'm a real noob when it comes to programming.

Cheers,
Kiaran

[Gremlin]

Originally posted by wgreenlee1
Someone said the end of next month.
DAMNIT!

[trthing]

Originally posted by kiaran


I couldn't find it either. It seems like Alias is turning their back on the artists. I can't believe that someone from Alias doesn't keep a watch on the main Maya forums here at cgtalk. I've never heard of an alias rep posting on these forums.:shrug:


Cheers,
Kiaran

BTW is maya.digication considered an official initiative?

Cheers

[passwr]

Originally posted by alexx


can someone tell me where the "feature request" page from alias went?

http://www.alias.com/eng/contact/product_feature_suggestion.shtml

[trthing]

Thnx passwr!

There I found the comments about Maya.digication, I was looking for...:thumbsup:

[Elliotjnewman]

Byron, is there any chance you can work on something to put on with the BPT?

The tool look absolutely brill! But I think that it would be supurb to create this tool aswell:

Its been pissing many people off - is there a way you can create a tool which will convert a poly object to a subd object and then, at the hit of a button, convert it back again? aka Lightwave modeller's 'tab' key? At the moment I am hitting a hotkey I have for polysmooth and the pressing undo twice to get back to the original mesh, its so slow!

Just an idea....

Ell.

[swag]

-Elliotjnewman- i use this one its nice ...
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/mel/?section=modeling#1131

[thomaspecht]

not sure if i missed that in this entire thread...

byron, i mailed you a few weeks ago and offered to compile on irix and suggested to let people simply download the source and compile for themselves.

just wondering if you decided yet to make your sources open or closed. with the variety of supported platforms and versions of maya that are being used, it would be really difficult to ensure, that everyone has access to this very promising plugin when users cannot compile their own versions.

another question: does your plugin depend on functionality that's only available in the most recent maya releases or would it run for example with 3.x, 4.0 as well?

last thing: you should really get paid by alias for creating this. after all this seems to be the first serious attempt to actually make a decent poly modeller out of maya ... :D

[Tobbe]

Great work! Looking forward testing your tools.

[roger3d]

It looks like an excellent plug in Byron!:applause:

I can't wait to use it!

Alias, hire this guy,please! :D

[Elliotjnewman]

Swag - how do I get this to work then? I cant see it after I sourced it...

Im on Linux but that should make no difference right?

Ell.

[Technofreak]

this will be a great plug byron, mad props to you

now all we need is a usable scale tool with local/global coords :)
and one that doesnt bonk when u scale after extrude ::rolleyes:

cheers

[MasonDoran]

elliot...the Tab hotkey u seek is on highend.....just do a search, its there.

[swag]

-Elliotjnewman- check your PM

[stallion151]

:drool: :drool: :drool: these are absolutely amazing. thats all i can say. you are a smart boy.

[Inktvlek]

can someone please mirror the video?!?!?

[Neox]

here's the latest video done by byron to show you the new "smart move component" feature

Smart Move Component (http://neox.gfx-scene.de/public/Byron/ByronPolyTools_SmartMoveComponentPreview.wmv)

[Bpanting]

The new video looks great, I can't wait to chek it out. Any one know if it can be used with Maya 4.0 or is it only going to be for 5.0?

[Byron]

@GIJoe: just wondering if you decided yet to make your sources open or closed.
The Source will be closed, I think. I will try to provide all the versions needed for the different platforms.

does your plugin depend on functionality that's only available in the most recent maya releases or would it run for example with 3.x, 4.0

The plug is based on Maya4.5 API, but it just makes just of very basic PolyMeshApiFunctions (i.e. extracting meshData, creating new Meshes). This is because I wrote my own functions that help to work on meshData quickly.
I don't know whether it would also run on 4.0, but chances are good, I think.


@Elliotjnewman: This funcionality could easily be implemented by a script. I dind't check out the Script Swag referred to, but it should do the work. But I will take this Idea and put it into my "WorkFlow Optimization". This is just a set ob simple scripts that are to be put on hotkeys to further improve your workflow.

@kiaran:Byron, would it be possible to let us know how you broke into learning Maya's API? I assume you came from a Mel background. What books and resources were their for learning the API. Is it C++ ?

Yes, that's right :). As I am a completely self-educated person regarding Maya, I started to study all the docs supplied with Maya, including Mel and Expressions (even though I never thought I could program a simple loop at this time), because I thought it could be useful.
My first real MEL project were
Byrons Automatic Unwrap Tools (http://www.highend3d.com/files/?group=melscripts&section=polygon)
I wrote more than a year ago. At this time, I realised that MEL is the limiting factor when it comes to more complex proplems, so I decided to check out Maya API as soon as I have time.

{To Be Continued (Due to Limited Message Length}

[Byron]

Story: How I learned to progam Maya API, Continuation.

Then I bought a Book which is called "Jetzt lerne ich C++", which was the cheapest one I could get :). Yeah, I read it twice, but never wrote a line at these times.
Then I checked out the Docs for Maya API, and took notes on it, as I did with my C++ Book, and with Mel. This helps me to memorize.
But I didn't start to write a line yet, because I was realy afraid of that. So I just spend all my thoughts on the tecnique behind BPT:
What should they do, and how could I solve that. I wrote it down, now there are about 10 sheets of paper with brainstorms, and ideas.
Foremost then I started to write, and it was PURE PAIN!
Nothing worked, I even had problems to create an own node and passing data ... .
But after some time, I really understood how the API works, so I could start to inplement some functions. Of Course, while doing so, new problems arised, problems, I never thought of.
That was 3 month ago, and now all seems to be much easier to me.
Now, I can have an Idea, thinking about it theoretically, and write it. And it even works (often :) ) when I start it first time.

So its not a matter of intelligence or something, but a matter of experience and the will to get it right :).

I can only encourage you to give it a try, start with MEL, and when you mastered it, just try the API :).
When I learned it, EVERYONE can learn it. Thats my opinion.

Bests
Byron

[Byron]

At last, I want to clarify things a bit :):

1. I am online only once a week, usually Saturdays. Then I present new features to you and answer mails.

2.I really try to add a new feature once a week. Please see the ToDo list at the beginning of the whole Thread.

3.As soon as the Tools are released, there will definitly be a Win32 Version vor Maya4.5 and Maya 5.0. Linux Versions will follow, but perhaps a bit later.
Mac Versions are not really planned, because I don't have one, and I don't know someone who could compile it for that platform.

4.Because there are only two features left that are to be implemented, I hope the tools can enter the BetaState in 2 weeks.

5.And the Last one: At the moment, there is no download for the plug, and it won't be as soon as they are debugged and released.

Yeah, Neox already mentioned it: There is a new Feature now in the BPT called:

Smart Move Component

It allows you to treat every mesh component that already exists as if it was created by a smartSplit, Chamfer or SolidChamfer.
It feels much like having some sort of "IsoParms" on a polygonal Surface and helps alot to tweak the mesh.

If you want to learn more, please watch the

Smart Move Component DemoVideo (5MB) (http://neox.gfx-scene.de/public/Byron/ByronPolyTools_SmartMoveComponentPreview.wmv)

Will be back next week :).

Bests
Byron

[rebo]

Alias give this guy a job!

[womanonfire]

"the normals and the UVs of the mesh will be discarded."

so does this mean that you must not use this on already UV mapped models or you lose all your UV layout work?

too bad. i guess this would not be the case if it wasn't necessary but... too bad. :(

[Byron]

Yes, thats true: They will be discarded.

But as I already said in the Docs, to my mind, you first model, then texture it.

So it is not necessary to care about UVs, which saves computaion time (and my time too :) ).

Bests
Byron

[wgreenlee1]

Well thanks for the Smart Move video Byron everything is looking great.

Cant wait for next weekend.


Thanks again for your efforts.:thumbsup:

[bjarneheden]

Fantastic work Byron!!!
Exactly what I´ve been looking for!

Can´t wait to try it out.

I´m stunned :applause:


/Bjarne

[Randuin]

Just saw the new video and i'm just amazed :) looking forward to the tweak/soft selection tool you'll be coming up with! See ya next week! :D

[monica_green_22]

Wow! Great tools! Looking forward to their release :)

I have been looking for soft-selection in Maya for ages, and I can't believe its going to happen! :D

Keep up the great work!

Monica

[KingMob]

Wow man, can not wait for next week.


I just wanted to add some more praise/motivation. You are doing a great job with these it woudl seem..super usefull!

[Neox]

a big "thank you" from byron to all of you :D

[atzfratz]

Hey Byron

Sieht tierisch cool aus was du dir da zusammengecodet hast. freu mich drauf das mal auszuprobieren. mach weiter so.

[ceql]

mmmm /me drooling in anticipation :drool:

Man, you rock Byron! :beer:

[roger3d]

Hi Byron,

I hope you earn a lot of money from those poly tools, so that you will keep developing those great smart tools for Maya!:beer:

Cheers,


Roger

[syntetik]

Byron this thing really KICKS ASS!!! :buttrock:

I was just waiting for this!

people like you don`t have to worry about not getting a job I believe.

[chk]

Just to throw another accolade onto the fire... I too am looking forward to the release of these tools with great anticipation.

[rebo]

Can one man single handedly save the reputation of mayas polymodeller. :applause:

[NUKE-CG]

Alias would have to be stupid not to employ you, Byron.

Maya 6.. with BPT built in.. :drool: - ah well.. Maya 5 with BPT plugin should be just as good :D .

:beer:

[donvlatko]

hey people where I can find this plug it so amazing!!!


:applause:

Byron you did a fine job:thumbsup:

[Neox]

well BPT has some basic sofselections, i saw them a few minutes ago, really cool! I guess Byron will upload a new video this saturday.

have fun...

[wgreenlee1]

New video?
Cool!


I was wondering...
Is this going to be a for sale plugin or is this going to be a freebie?
Just wondering...
Not that it matters either way.

[Neox]

byron needs a little money to be able to go on with his work, so i guess he will sell it for a pretty low price ;)

[syntetik]

Yes I agree. If people from Alias team would make these plugins for Maya 5 they would get money too. But what I saw was just repairing polyReduce and better Extrude. If they want to stay ahead this is not enough. :shame:

[gundog]

that's cool. if he had put it out free, i would have also been happy to donate money to the cause. he's well deserved it.

[Carny]

*cough* bootleg *cough*

http://www.hipoly.de/upload/ByronPolyTools_SoftSelectionMiniTest.wmv (sorry guys, I took that hing down cause I got to much traffic)

@syntetik: ist that better?

[swag]

byron u bastard - this softselection kick ass

[Neox]

*couch* *couch* lol was hat dein Sofa damit zu tun?? :D

arsch editieren is unfair ;)

[graphiouz]

Oh man! you freak!
thats about the most usefull tools ever!

Great stuff:thumbsup:

[axxxj]

These tools look so good i can't wait for them :applause:

I'm coming from a max bakground and i just can't get used to modelling in maya even with mj poly tools it still fels awkward and don't even get me started on the bevel :thumbsdow .
I'm starting a new a years placement at a game company on mon so i'm really looking forward to getting these plugins so i can learn maya for it.


Thank you so so much :) :beer:

Byron you = POLY TOOLS GOD.

[tropistic]

I'd like to request a feature for BPT that I'm sure would be "no problem" for Bryon to add: a decent Virtual Mirror tool that works as it should.

There would of course be an auto-instancer, that saves a little time by setting up an instance with one click. It would also get rid of the nasty seam at the mirrored axis. Lastly, and most importantly, the vertices on the seam would be locked on a selected axis - even for new vertices created after a split poly!

And I'm pleased to see the name "BPT" has caught on - my little contribution :)

Jay

[liquidik]

:beer: Yeahhhh.... I would also love to make a suggestion. There's a little tool in Lightwave that I just recently found as script that is very simple, but at the same time sooo powerful. It's called Spin Quads... try to put it into your poly tools, it'll make a difference.
If you want to see or know what spin quad is for, just ask me.

:applause: :applause:

[PureFire]

Kickass work dude on you plugin progress...I REALLY think Alias needs you on the job for them....I can see you a very rich man.

:bowdown: :bowdown:

[Elliotjnewman]

is the soft selection tool going to act like the dragnet tool in lightwave? I Think if this is incorperated then it would very useful, in conjunction with artisan.

Ell

[KidderD]

can anyone else post the softselection video.... i've been using maya for so long... i forgot what softselection looks like.

[Randuin]

video = 404!! :( *cries* i want to see!!!

[Byron]

Yeah :)!!!

Finally, Maya has some softselections/tweaks!

We had to wait a long time, but now they are in there, at least in my BPTNode.

Please watch the Demo Video of these integrated softSelections/Tweaks

Softselections in Maya ... don't believe it ? Then just click here :) (http://sebastian-thiel.bei.t-online.de/ByronPolyTools_integratedTweaks.wmv)

I also made a little screenshot last night which shows the nodes attributes , and how it is integrated into Maya.

http://sebastian-thiel.bei.t-online.de/Screeny.jpg
Credits: Head WIP by Carny

In case you wonder where there are the attributes for the type of falloff (i.e linear, dome , whatever):
At the moment, these attributes can be accessed via the attributeEditor, but I plan to make them keyable to show them in the channelbox.

The next thing to to will be moveTool which has softSelections in it.
I already began with the work on it and it was not that easy as I initially thought, but I found a solution which will work, I guess :).

You will see the result next week, as usual.

The Manipulator, which should allow you to control all the attributes of the node inside your view ... perhaps has to be abandoned :(.
I simply have not enough knowledge about transformation matrices, and therefor I still have some essential problems with that. I won't give up , but my ideas about this manipulator problem and how to solve it become rare ... :(.

Thanks to you all for the props and critics, they keep me going.

Bests
Byron

[Bpanting]

Man, these tools look better and better each week, I can't wait to try them out. :thumbsup:

[Byron]

@tropistic: A real virtual mirror would definitely be great, and I already thought about that problem.
Unfortunately I came to the conclusion that I don't know how to accomplish that "high" goal :(.
I think I have to leave this to the Alias guys :), they now much more about Maya then a 20 year ols "forced" programmer who rather want's to model and create his reel :).


@liquidikYeeaaah .... :), I already saw this tool in action on the digital behaviour on year ago. Taron showed it during his realy cool modeling demonstrations. He impressed me with that, I have to admit.
I also would like to have such a function in BPT, and therefore I will meet with a Lightwave User in my residential area who will show it to me.
I will see what I can do about that, I promise.
I also like the magent tool lightwave has, and I want that in maya too. I will keep working!


@Elliotjnewman At the moment:No.
There are softselections that are integrated into my node, and currently I am working on a move tool with build in softselections.
As I wrote above, I really want a magnet tool like in lightwave, and I will see what I can do about it :).


Best
Byron

[PureFire]

ROFL @ the fat monster head.. :D

Your tools looks so powerful Byron..well done :D

[KidderD]

Setup a link to your paypal account, so i can start donating !!!! Maybe you could make enough on donations to continue making these awesome tools.... Has anyone from alias contacted you?

[Byron]

Has anyone from alias contacted you?

No :).

And of course, they won't do.
I don't think that it belongs to Alias policy not to aquire third party plugin's and integrate it into their software.

So it will be my task to get the tools ready and released, I guess :).

Next week is my personal deadline for finishing all the features.
Then it could be time to start some Betatesting :).

Bests
Byron

[KidderD]

No, I didn't think they would contact you to hire you.... but i thought maybe they would be interested in knowing how you solved all the poly modeling problems that are in maya.

[Byron]

Hmm, I think the problem is that Alias never put very much time in the developement of new polyModelling tools, or to improve the polymodelling workflow.

What they did is to develop quite cool technology, say PaintFx or Fluids, I guess Polymodelling is not interesting enough at this time :).

I am convinced that, if they wanted to create spectacular new polymodelling tools, they already did, and surely much better than I could ever do because I am no professional in the programming field, and when somebody knows Maya, then these guys :).

But fortunately, they left the field of polymodelling to the community, so I got the chance (or so that I was forced ;) ) to start developing on my own to improve my workflow and, when the time has come, the one of the community too :).

Bests
Byron

[swag]

I think that this was no problem for the Alias programmer if they want they can do it but why they dont want do it? Are there patents problems?Anyone knows about patents? Pixar has a subd patent and alias bought some of them iam right - is there a patent for softselection oder ohter modeling technics out there?

[tropistic]

Originally posted by Byron
A real virtual mirror would definitely be great, and I already thought about that problem. Unfortunately I came to the conclusion that I don't know how to accomplish that "high" goal :(. I think I have to leave this to the Alias guys :), they now much more about Maya then a 20 year ols "forced" programmer who rather want's to model and create his reel :).

Bryon, I doubt Alias will do a Virtual Mirror, so it will be okay to wait for BPT 1.5 - you'll probably be 21 years old by then and will have figured it out ;)

Jay

[Randuin]

Oh my god... that is amazing... I still want a drag tool tho :) But this is already just amazing work, keep it up!

[BRUTICUS]

Byron, i've been waiting a long time for a soft selection tool. Looks like a fantastic piece of work here and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Would it be possible to create a "random selection" button for the selection menu? Something that selects random vertices throughout the model. That would be helpful for messing up objects and making minute changes to its structure.

[BRUTICUS]

Based on something you said earlier and the demo I wanted to ask if you were modeling with a different interface? Did you find a way to get EVERYTHING off the maya interface or is that your screen capture.

It does sound interesting to have a modeling mode interface. With the deformer tools included and what not since they are invaluable for modeling.

Another nice tool would be something like the sculpt deformer, where you can use whatever object you choose to mold with instead of the sculpt deformers spherical shape.

[wgreenlee1]

:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

[MxM]

Byron if you can make a button for switcing full screen mode on/off
by hiding the UI Eliments and only displays the BPT and other importent modeling stuff;

that will be vary nice and helpfull for modeling :thumbsup:

[jimarse]

I know Byron you do not have a OSX BPT planned, but I hope someday that there will be enough interest to compile a version for the Mac. I'd love to be able to use these tools too.

:drool:

[spacemunky]

wow...you might have just made maya an actual poly modeler.....i'll be downloading

[Solomon]

I gotta say I am impressed too!!!

I use max, but taking a class in Maya 5. - These tools will transform Maya overnight.

I too I am willing to contribute - when will they be ready so we can buy?

[rebo]

Byron what do you think about the technology used in this script, is it possible to include in BPT ? ( I dno about the ethics of using someones fresh idea tho :( )

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=85977

[MasonDoran]

Bruticus....just use selection constraints to get your random selections.

Also....there are plenty of existing scripts on highend that "jitter" poly objects

[1000101]

Hehe
its not too difficult to do away completely with maya's interface. Hotbox helps make that possible..
Though I am very much eagerly awaiting the chance to play with BPT. Maybe it will replace MJPT in my toolbox?

[Byron]

http://sebastian-thiel.bei.t-online.de/BPTDocs/images/transformationIntro.jpg

Okay, the last feature:

It is the
Soft Transformation Tool.

Its just like Max's soft Selections, and even a bit more :).

Please watch the preview:

Soft Transformation Tool Preview Video (http://sebastian-thiel.bei.t-online.de/ByronPolyTools_softTransformationTool.wmv).

Now, I will spend all my time in writing the docs and, of course, fixing Bugs.

The official BETA Phase will start next week, and I will contact the few testers who qualified.

Of course, I will keep you informed about the progress and when they will be available :).

Best regards
Byron

[Byron]

@BRUTICUS

Did you find a way to get EVERYTHING off the maya interface or is that your screen capture.

Its just my screenCapture.

Another nice tool would be something like the sculpt deformer, where you can use whatever object you choose to mold with instead of the sculpt deformers spherical shape.

I think, this could be aproximated with the new Soft Transformation Tool (http://sebastian-thiel.bei.t-online.de/ByronPolyTools_softTransformationTool.wmv).
Or perhaps with a wire deformer, or a wrap deformer.
There are a lot of possibilities I guess :).

@jimarse:
I know Byron you do not have a OSX BPT planned, but I hope someday that there will be enough interest to compile a version for the Mac. I'd love to be able to use these tools too.

I really would like to compile a version for Mac, but I simply don't know anyone who could do this.
Lets see what the future brings :) (perhaps a Mac in my room ... ... no! ;) )

@Solomon:
when will they be ready so we can buy?

My schedule says, that they will be through the BETA Phase and ready in 4 weeks. I really want to deliver quality.

@rebo:
Byron what do you think about the technology used in this script, is it possible to include in BPT ? ( I dno about the ethics of using someones fresh idea tho :( )

Its stunning, this man found a solution for that problem, RESEPECT. In fact, I wanted to have such a (an optional) behavior in my tools, but I didn't know how to do the math.
I definitly will have a look at it, but before I do something about it, I will, of course, talk to him.
Lets see what I can do, perhaps for the next release.

Bests
Byron

@Keridan Last week, you send me a mail, but I was not able to reply to it because it was send back to me always. Please mail me again with a valid mail if you still want to participate in the Beta Team.

[ceql]

Wow! Wow! Wow!!!!!! Whooooo nice soft select!! :drool: :drool: :applause: :applause:

[joie]

What I have to show you to be "qualified" to be part of that betatesters team?

[Byron]

Real good modelling skills :).

But the current amount of BetaTesters is already enough, I want to keep the group small.

I am sorry :(.

Bests
Byron

[BRUTICUS]

excellent Byron, just what we needed.

now stop teasing us and release it already :drool:

and i'd love to betatest this if I could.

Mike

[gmask]

Originally posted by Byron
Okay, the last feature:

It is the
Soft Transformation Tool.


That is freaking awesome!!!

[tropistic]

Bryon, any idea how much you're gonna charge for BPT? I definately need to start saving for it...:rolleyes:

Jay

[Byron]

I think, when you buy a computer game less, it will be alright :).

Bests
Byron

[gmask]

Originally posted by Byron
I think, when you buy a computer game less, it will be alright :).

Bests
Byron

So you saying about $50 USD.. sounds reasonable.. I'd buy it for that much.

[iC4]

oh my god......this Soft Transformation Tool is awesome!!

[tropistic]

So will I! :drool:

Jay

[swag]

nice Byron this is what we need :buttrock: :buttrock: :buttrock:

[trthing]

will paypal be accepted?

[brook kievit]

Wow, I use Max for character modeling at Blur. Max has some nice poly tools, but thats about it. Maya on the other hand is the opposite. It rocks for everything, but the poly tools are well not so good. Kind of like Max before MeshTools. the MJtools are a start but the splitting is to slow. This set of tools seems to REALLY address the issue. Soft selection, fast edge ring splitting, slideing edges and so on. And they seem to be modeless and adjustable in viewport.

With these functions there will be no reason to use Max at all. Maya will be the new home for all the poly modelers out there.

good job Byron :applause:

Just tell me where to punch in my Visa number. ill buy these tools in a heartbeat.

[Neox]

big thank you from byron
and @brook greetings from me to irfan ;)

[brook kievit]

Hey i was just showing irfan the soft transformation tool video and he also thinks it is very cool.

Ill pass it along neox. ;)

[MysteryMan]

Sell the tools straight to Alias.

[rebo]

So they can sell them to us for $500 as part of 5.5 upgrade?

ney son.

[tropistic]

Amen. And not just the price issue - I've a feeling Bryon's going to support and continue to develop BPT alot better than Alias would. I say hang on to it Bryon.

Jay

[roger3d]

Hi Byron,

I just want to say I'll buy your poly tools. Period.
And, again, I hope you earn a lot of money from those tools, so that you can keep developing new and great poly tools for Maya.
Please, don't stop to develop new and enhanced smart tools after you release it!

:beer:

[NUKE-CG]

All the time wasted setting up cluster weights.. sighs..
Looking better and better Byron.

As for the Alias merger.. as stated.. that probably isn't a good option, but.. a Conductor like status would be better, Alias could put it in the download section (of its confusing web page).. and maybe put it in Maya 5.5's Help menu like its Bonus Tools..

Just my $0.02 NZD$

[Gremlin]

It looks so awesome, specially the soft transformation thing.... I've got a character project, that would benefit greatly from these tools, so I'm gonna put it on hold until the tools are released. I just hope there arent many bugs to work out so it'll be released soon.

I'm just gonna have to find a way to buy Half Life 2, pay for gas, pay for food and get Byron's tools with my broke 16yr old pockets. :D
Cheers,
:beer:

[tropistic]

Originally posted by Gremlin
I'm just gonna have to find a way to buy Half Life 2, pay for gas, pay for food and get Byron's tools with my broke 16yr old pockets. :D

I think you've got your priorities out of order. BPT needs to be moved up, at a minimum one notch, before food ;)

Jay

[NUKE-CG]

Buying food at 16 ? Hmmm.
Either way, yes.. you can live over two weeks with no food.. that's two weeks of using the tools, you would die happy hehe :D

[graphiouz]

damn this tool is like one of my WishToHave tool ive had a couple of years ago!
i made a sketch because i dont know anything about writing tools,
here it is
http://hem.bredband.net/b122388/misc/SoftSelectionTool003.jpg

[Carny]

I realy have to mention that the Circle-Modifier-Handle is SO intuitive! Especially when you use a Wacom for Modeling. Its a great Workflow, when you just have to do some turns around the circle to get your exact value for whatever. I Think you all know the Problems with linear bars, when it comes to precision. Thats not a problem anymore. Just move the cursor away from the middle of the circle and you can get as precise as you want.
I had the chance to play around with it, its realy great! :buttrock:

@brook kievit:
Your'e so right with the Maya-modeling-misery! My boss tried pretty hard to convince to model with Maya. He had no chance, cause polymodeling in Maya realy aint no fun when youre used to have the Meshtools. Meanwhile Byron elimanted nearly every argument which speeks against modeling in Maya! :D

[El Tonio]

Just like everybody else : Bravo (and thank you) !
You're filling a big hole in the otherwise wonderful Maya .

Now, I'm gonna try to maybe get what I've been looking for a long time now .
In fact, I've started to learn MEL just to be able to implement this function, but I think it could be a part of your split tools and you'd be much more efficient than me to make it real .

[sorry for this over-verbose part, the "interesting" part is underlined]
Right now, I'm working in architectural vizualisation, and like in any other technical stuff, rythme in placement of elements is essential . Doors, windows, holes, etc. are most of the time dispatched according to a rythmic . For example, on a facade we can have horizontaly, a Window, a Pause (space), 2xWindow, Pause, 1xWindow, pause, 2xW, P, etc... or 1xW, P, 2xW, P, 3xW, P, 2xW, P, 1xW, etc.

At the present time, I have a poly for my facade, I cut horizontally it at the lowest height of my serie of windows, then at the highest height, and with the Maya poly split tool, I divide vertically according to the blueprints I have, then I extrude/bevel . It's far from being elegant, it's tedious and it's desperatly time consuming .

What could be cool :
You select a poly(s), then with the mirror option on or off (mirroring according to the poly(s) local center), the u the v or the u+v choosed (determining the sens of propagation of the created new edges), the randomness set (more for organic modeling), you determine the rythmic of your cuts... somehow
;) (maybe numericaly or with a kind of array or...)

It could be cool for technically oriented poly modeling, but also for character modeling : for a character with numerous horns placed according to a certain rythme, for multi-legged characters, buttons on a suit, etc.

If you think it could be interesting for you to implement in your set of tools, I'll be one of your first clients !!!

Sorry for the long and boring lecture...

Keep it the good work :wip:

[Neox]

maybe in a later version, byron stopped to implement new features to start the closed beta test, to get a releasable version soon :)

[progerik]

could we be using the paint tool, to paint the amont of influence for the soft selection ?

[Neox]

that is what you don't have to do, you just drag the influence range, painting would cost more time...

[Carny]

...anyway, would be a cool feature for a later version.

[monica_green_22]

If you want to paint influence, why not use clusters instead?

Monica

[Neox]

well selecting a vertice and painting the softselection is a little faster the setting up a cluster with painted weights i guess :)

[ewerybody]

He Byron!!! Great Stuff! So curious to see and feel it live!

Nice videos besides ;]

[Goon]

Byron: think you could talk to Mdm Sadie about THIS (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83921) ? Having that in BPT 1.5 or 2.0 would rock so much, (and i'm sure the c4d people wouldn't mind some BPT action).

[progerik]

how about being able to paint on the vertices you want the soft selection to be aply on ? this will be quite usefull when you deal with dense geometry ?

[Neox]

isn't paintselection just a normal selection mode by maya? so this will work i guess ;)

[progerik]

:rolleyes: dooo!!
of course , you`re right neox ;)

[Carny]

hmmm.. but paintselection ain't smooth

btw. Happy Birthday Byron! :thumbsup:

[Jb5k1]

for one, he's the creater, he knows how to create and program this stuff, and HE GETS TO USE IT:drool: , lucky bastard. heh

cant wait for this, looks great

keep up the great work byron:beer: :applause:

[fr3drik]

I might buy this tool if I can afford it. *subscribing to thread*

Looks fantastic, Byron. :thumbsup:

[Atwooki]

Hey Byron!

If your imminently burgeoning toolset is going to perform anything like half as well as your great 'BAU' UV tools, then we're all in for a BIG treat, not to say also a much needed boost to Maya's poly tool's that do seem to be lagging behind others'....(no names necessary!)

Look forward greatly to the release, and good luck with protecting your baby (financially speaking), should you decide to go down the route of internet remuneration for your hard work-

perhaps thru' 'PayPal' or the like? I'm sure these will warrant contributions from many users in a short period of time, before being absorbed into the giant 'Alias upgrade machine!

Atwooki

[Byron]

Great thanks to you for all these props :).

Its just fantastic to have so much positive resonance, and it just kicks me to release BPT as soon as possible.

Today, I sent out the first BETAs, and I hope, I will eliminate some of these nasty Bugs quickly.

This has to be done because at the moment, there are still some problems with chamfer and solidchamfer. They seem to work well on complex geomtry, but when it comes to real simple ones, they tend to fail, which is definitely not OK.

What I want to say: The waiting will be worth it because you will get quality.

I was asked, whether PayPal will be accepted. This is the first time I heard about that, but I will check it out.


@graphiouz: Its definitly a good idea! And when there is a weakness in the tools, than it is the way you have to interact with them. I wanted to have a manipulator, but I simply wasn't able to orient it as I want _and_ have it working.


@Goon: I just watched the videos and I have to say that the way of interaction is just great. I definitly want that too and I will see what I can get in into the next release (but perhaps I should get Version 1 out first before I start thinking about new features)

Thanks to all, I will keep you informed
Byron

PS: Did you know that Carny was the one who indirectly made me developing the tools?
He was just a pain in my neck because he always told me how much he dislikes modeling in Maya EVERYTIME he saw me.
"BlaBlaBla no softselections BlaBlaBla slow BlaBlaBla"
So I had to write the tools to make him quiet ;).
And of course, It was a personal thing then: I wanted to make him model in Maya, that is, convert this Maxer into a Mayan.
I think, I reached that aim :).

[Bonsai]

Keep it up Byron ... looking forward for these Tools ( which would have made my current project a muss less pain in the butt :) )

Aloha™
Bonsai

[lildragon]

Can't wait to try them out Bryon, hopefully this will put an end to my qualms with maya's modeling toolset ;) tho I do love it :)

-lild

[Atwooki]

Thanx for the feedback, Byron!

By now, most menbers here will be salivating, drooling, and working themselves up into an unqualified frenzy at the release of your toolset....

I know, that as obviously a perfectionist, you'll take the time to get it right; however, the cleaner your coding (akak: *.mlls) the more likely the 'mother program' is to absorb your work into it's main body....

RE: Tho' 'Paypal' has a short (albeit, reliable) history, there are a few other companies out there that given only a couple of weeks e-mail to-ing and fro-ing are obliged to protect you.....

Best of Luck ---->
should you need further (though limited) legal advice, I'll now be posting you a private message with my contact details...

Atwooki

[jtk77]

amazing, thanks for making tools Alias seems incopetant and unable to do themselves. Really great job.

[NUKE-CG]

Byron,

Could I be quite inconsiderate :hmm: , and ask what time range you are looking at for bug squashing?, I ask because I want to start on something, but would rather wait till I have this functionality to work with, but I'm busting at the seams to start on it.

A week?, 2 weeks?, a month? any indication would be much appreciated.

Cannot wait :) :applause:

[Neox]

hey you could start with mjpolytools and go on with BPT just to check the difference :D

[iC4]

why are you all talking so bad about the mj polytools? I use them every day and they work pretty fine - and they are also for free..........so don't complain on them.

sure byrons tools will be faster and better, but until now the mj polytools were pretty fine - so better thank Mikkel Jans and don't complain.

[Neox]

have i said anywhere that mjpolytools are bad? don't think so :shrug: they are great for maya's polytools i just compare em to BPT or other polymodellingpackages, they are good for sure, really great to model with (i sometimes use em in max) but its just comparison between mj and all those other tools, hope you don't minde that :)

[NUKE-CG]

I'm a big user of MJPT, just would like to plan my next project, and I have 2 different things in mind.. it's ok.. keep it hush hush then hehe.

[Don3Don]

hi all,
recently I found a "icePolyTools.mel" in a chinese web-site.
Most function have been seen....and some only seen in wings3d.
anyway... you guys can have a try.

driect download (english version): http://210.51.181.218/ut/attach/2003/09/09/1626952-icePolyTools02_en.rar

froum (if you can read chinese): http://210.51.181.217/cgi-bin/ut/topic_show.cgi?id=156965&h=1&bpg=1&age=30

thanks for "¤C¤ë¦B¤I"!

[frey]

3don - Thank you very much for posting this. Just tested it and it works quite nicely. Thanks again.

[NUKE-CG]

NUKE-CG watches Getright timeout over and over

Ah well.. I can wait till the rush on that script is gone hehe.

[Briareos]

I just want to say these tools look phenomenal and I can't wait to try them out! I know lots of users who will love these tools man! Please keep up the good work! :D

[KidderD]

Just a quick question: are you going to be providing some kind of color feedback for the smartmove component as well. I don't think I saw it in the videos, however it is pictured in one of your graphics.

[Neox]

Hi,

this is Byron from Neox account, I just have to say something :)

@KidderD: When you activate softselections (no matter whether you do it with a smartSplit, chamfer, solidChamfer or SMC, you will have a color feedback , which can be deactivated.

@BETATesters: I feel sorry for the last beta, because the softTransformationTool was so instable, and the beveling was still buggy.
I fixed all that and it will all be fine next weekend :).

Best Regards
Byron

PS: The BETA Phase will be about a monthm and two weeks are over yet :).

[Atwooki]

Prepared and waiting, Neox! and full of anticipation ;)

Have drawn some new sketches and scanned them in to give them a thorough going over with.

Thanx again, Byron :thumbsup:

Atwooki

[Byron]

Hi Betatesters,

I have to announce that something REAL BAD happend:

All the versions I compiled for Maya5.0 seem not to work,that is, they crash all the time :( (although they work really fine in 4.5 ).

The thing is, that I develop the tools in maya 4.5 (just because it runs up faster), and then just recompile them for Maya 5.0.
One and a half weeks ago, I tried it out in Maya 5, and all seemed to be fine.

But it seems I have changed something that was not appropriate for Maya5.

I just detected it today(Friday), got shocked, and tried to find the bug the whole day, but I didn't find it yet, _unfortunately_.
Thats why I can send out only the 4.5 versions tomorrow.

At the moment, I an really fed up with all the stuff because I had to waste my time with such a weird BUG that shouldnt even exist!

But it's Murphys Law which controlls the software, so I have to deal with it, somehow ... .

I definitely will work whole the weekend to make it run again on Maya 5.0, even when I would have to rewrite Maya to accomplish that ;).

Nevertheless, work went on quite fast, many bugs have been eleminated (beside the BIG ONE which has been created somehow), and I would say, seen from the bug perpective, the tools could be ready just before schedule.

Lets see :)

Best Regards and sorry again for that BETA Sh*t
Byron [who just throw away the rifle and now uses the BFG-9000 to kill these BUG Beasts ;)]

[Atwooki]

Yo, Byron:

even when I would have to rewrite Maya to accomplish that .

Don't be so hard on yourself; you've already accomplished quite a major achievement, and operable tools to boot.

The minor scripting changes in M.5 have infuriated and upset many developers, not least the *.mll community.

Give yourself the opportunity to reflect on the stage you've got to so far, and maybe after a little relaxation and light reflection, further creativity will be sparked in dem bones!

best

Atwooki

[PureFire]

Damn that must be so infuriating!!

One thing that really amazes me, is your ability to strive forth and continue to solve the problems you encounter. Im sure you will have no problem with this version change and will find new and beter ways to do things by making these hurdles.

Best of Luck!! :D

[swag]

byron good luck:wip:

[trthing]

In case you find the need to rewrite Maya 5.o from scratch please get rid of that nasty OpenGL bug and give us some more speed with sub-Ds on the viewports, ok?
Next time I'll call you and buy BMaya!
:wavey:


Somehow I feel you could do it, heh...

Seriously, Atwooki is totally right: take your time!


Cheers

[JimPanse]

Hallo Byron,
ich habe deine Videos gesehen und bin begeistert.
bei der arbeit (www.soulpix.de) benutze ich zwar nur Max, bin aber maya fan.
ich benutze die 4.5er version und würde gerne betatester für deine tools werden.
was muss ich tun?

[Atwooki]

trthing:

In case you find the need to rewrite Maya 5.o from scratch please get rid of that nasty OpenGL bug and give us some more speed with sub-Ds on the viewports, ok?

Damn right!

Atwooki

[Neox]

@JimPanse im Moment kannst du garnichts tun denn die Betas wurden schon rausgegen eine kleine Gruppe gut ausgewählter Tester wurde dazu zu rate gezogen, für jeden einzelnen wurde eine eigene Version compiliert um Raubkopien zu unterbinden, jeder weitere betatester würde einen Mehraufwand bedeuten den Byron nicht eingehen kann weil er genug mit der Entwicklung der Tools zu tun hat. Im Moment wird es also eher nicht dazu kommen, dass neue Betatester angeheuert werden.

@purefire: the one thing that keeps his will up is to get some money to go on with his work, the tools have to be great and bugfree to assure 100% quality work and enough sales for byron to go on with living and developing tools and working on his demoreel ;)

[Byron]

Man, Neox :)

You just said it :).

Furthermore, this Maya5 bug is a personal thing now, because this just can't be ... . Really, such a bug cannot be ... .

Its just weird :(, but during the developement of BPT, many problems arised.
So I think, Problems are there to prevent that things become to boring ;).

Bests
Byron

[KidderD]

I think someone smarter than me, should start a poll, on whether or not they would buy BPT, that could accomplish two things. One is Byron would have an idea of the sales, and two maybe the idea could be the inspiration needed to overcome any hurdles.

[Byron]

I think, I don't really need that sort of money motivation :).

Afterall, the Tools are "my Baby" which I want to trow out into this world :).

And, as I already mentioned, it became a personal thing:

There is just that BUG and me.

Only one will survive ... .

I will tell you next week what happend ... when i am still there then ;).

Best Regards
Byron

[KidderD]

Very refreshing to hear Byron, I apologize for my earlier assumptions.

[gmask]

>>There is just that BUG and me.Only one will survive ... .


I think we are all rooting for you but I know how frustrating something like this can be. My only siuggestion is to maybe take a break from it and in the meantime your brain may come up with a solution.. it's worked for me on a few occasions ;-)

[tropistic]

Originally posted by gmask
I think we are all rooting for you...[/B]

Absolutely!

Someone once said - it was very wise too - that sports is a good way to take a break. Maybe go kick a ball a few times - just visualize your bug sitting on that ball, then kick it really hard :buttrock:

Now I remember who said that about sports - it was you Byron ;)

Jay

[yinako]

Originally posted by Byron
Man, Neox :)

You just said it :).

Furthermore, this Maya5 bug is a personal thing now, because this just can't be ... . Really, such a bug cannot be ... .

Its just weird :(, but during the developement of BPT, many problems arised.
So I think, Problems are there to prevent that things become to boring ;).

Bests
Byron

ensure functionality and bug free are great, however I suggest you do a lot usablility testing during phase of designing the tools, especialy in this case a tool used by CG artist.

Hopefully you get to redesign the way it works after some feed backs.

BTW usability testing is not funcationality testing, and it is important to ensure a great tool.

[derek7]

byron:I hope to be a bug finder.
see my work at www.chinatranslate.net/www/d.htm
your polytool will save me a lot of time.
I am qualified to be a testor?

[Neox]

sure you are wualified, everyone with some modellingskills is, but i wrote in german and now in english, byron has to compile every testverion for every tester, so that every version is unique... it takes a lot of time and work wo work with more testers, so no new testers for now... btw. basicly the polytools are bugfree but there is a bug in maya 5 (not 4.5) which lets em crash so you can't help him with destroying this bug, thats Alias' job ;)

[tfowler]

This is quite a long thread so pardon me if this has been explained previously but what exactly is the Maya 5 bug that is causing problems?

[Goon]

Originally posted by Byron
Hi Betatesters,

I have to announce that something REAL BAD happend:

All the versions I compiled for Maya5.0 seem not to work,that is, they crash all the time :( (although they work really fine in 4.5 ).

The thing is, that I develop the tools in maya 4.5 (just because it runs up faster), and then just recompile them for Maya 5.0.
One and a half weeks ago, I tried it out in Maya 5, and all seemed to be fine.

But it seems I have changed something that was not appropriate for Maya5.

I just detected it today(Friday), got shocked, and tried to find the bug the whole day, but I didn't find it yet, _unfortunately_.
Thats why I can send out only the 4.5 versions tomorrow.

At the moment, I an really fed up with all the stuff because I had to waste my time with such a weird BUG that shouldnt even exist!

But it's Murphys Law which controlls the software, so I have to deal with it, somehow ... .

I definitely will work whole the weekend to make it run again on Maya 5.0, even when I would have to rewrite Maya to accomplish that ;).

Nevertheless, work went on quite fast, many bugs have been eleminated (beside the BIG ONE which has been created somehow), and I would say, seen from the bug perpective, the tools could be ready just before schedule.

Lets see :)

Best Regards and sorry again for that BETA Sh*t
Byron [who just throw away the rifle and now uses the BFG-9000 to kill these BUG Beasts ;)]

[Marcel]

I placed a feature request, but I see that your Smartmove probably does what I want...if it works as I hope it does I will be eternally thankfull!

[Neox]

Hi there ,

Yet again, ´this is Byron and i am just borrowing Neox account ... it's always good to have some neighbours :).

I could solve the Maya 5 Problem!

It was one of these super small bugs which cause the biggest problems.
In fact, just one character in the compilersettings (it was part of a directory) led to a somewhat damaged compile of the plug which immediately crashed maya.

So it was (of course) my fault, and not Maya's.

The very good thing is that I was forced to learn how to use the debugger, wgich really helped my to quickly find several severe Bugs that were still inside the plug, just waiting to cause a crash.

These guys are all out of the code now, and since then, the plug didn'tr ever fail or crash - it's really stable now :).

I fixed so many bugs, that at this time I would say that the Plug is very near to be at its release state, and I am in front of my schedule again - thats good :).

@tfowler: But perhaps, I found a real Maya Bug:
When the user is inside of the softtransformationTool, and he clicks into the channelbox, selecting the softtransformationNode which has been inserted into the history tempoarily to do the work, then maya wants to exit the tool, and crashes in the moment it calls MPxToolContext::ToolOffWhatever.
Perhaps this happens because before that action, the tool undoes the actions of an DGModifier who created the SoftTransformationNode.
But I think thats okay because maya wants to access a node via the channelBox, which doesn't exist then anymore.

Now I simply deacivate the channelbox whiole inside of the tool.

Yeah, thatas it :).
This weekend, the Betatesters will get a near release version which will be optimized for spped.
Lets see how it works, and whether there are still bug in there.

Best Regards
Byron

[swag]

thats great news :)

[visualboo]

Awesome news Byron.

visualboo@hotmail.com

[kiaran]

keep up the good work!

[koroko]

Hi there,

I just wanted to sum to the praise for such a marvelous piece of soft you´re developing byron...

I´m a modeller, lighwave is my choice, but since i mainly do modelling, i´ve had my affairs with max and maya, and even with wings , although wings and max are my more regular lovers aside my wife(lw)...;)

I´ve been suscribed to this thread for a while now, been following your delightfully amazing vids...but since i´m not using maya that hardcore didnt deslurked to add comments...

But couldnt resist to just add my support and admiration for what you´re doing...

Keep rocking byron!!


PS:i wish i was a maya user... ;)

[ObsidianPC]

First I'd like to say that this is a truly inspiring toolset you're developing, and I can't wait to get in line to send you money somehow for it.

It looks like it will save so much time modelling blend shapes that you should get residuals from each project somehow! =)

I was wondering - is there any easy way that one could convert the soft-selection into a weighted cluster? It seems like it would be very useful for quickly setting up a face with joints and clusters to be able to do that. I think it would take away a lot of the tedium out of painting cluster and joint weights.

Great job Byron! I've been lurking in CGTalk for a while, and only the coolest things are able to draw me out from my chamber of solitude to post. ;)

Alex

[webster]

It looks like it will save so much time modelling blend shapes that you should get residuals from each project somehow! =)


Yes, why not build in a very basic blend-shape workflow?
Just one menu more would be wonderful.

Blendshape --> Set Base Shape
´´´´´´´´´´´--> Add Blendshape

So we could model blendshape without leaving the tool.
Imagine, tweaking here are there with Your Soft-selection till it looks perfect, one click and I got my blendshape. Test it one or two times, and go on tweaking the next blendshape.

[Byron]

Hi,

koroko: Nice to hear :). I already converted a Maxer to Maya, and perhaps ... was just kidding ;).

@ObisidanPS & Webster: This is a great Idea!!
I just copied you comment, and I think this will be in the Version 1.5 (next to other cool things I have in mind).


Well, the thing is getting hot!
This means, that the Tools a nearly ready to be released!
I just have to built a Site, and care about all that organizational stuff.

I would refuse to name a release date but my personal target is to get the baby out in a maximum of 14 days - I think thats realistic and I really hope to get it.

At the moment I try to improve my work efficiency to keep my deadline (I simply adjusted my work time from 9 a.m. to 1 at night instead of 12 at night), and I create a new preview next to the site which I will show next week.

Next to all that, I sometimes open Maya and just deform models a bit using my tools - its fun and like a little break, I just wanted to show you some of the results.

http://sebastian-thiel.bei.t-online.de/Linkomatic.jpg

Okay, see you next week
Byron

[Neox]

Jung! gib dir mal mehr Mühe :D
bis auf den Links sehen die total Stulle aus :p

[tropistic]

Huh?!?

Jay

[Neox]

what? i was talking to byron, just kidding around :p

[Byron]

Neox just said:
Boy, I should try harder next time. All except the one on the left look like crap :).

Man,Neox, its three minutes and I did it without any aim ... just for fun :).

However, see ya :beer:
Byron

[tropistic]

Even the documentation looks great Byron. I'm glad it's online, but I hope a downloadable version will be available, or included with the plugin, so it can be used off-line. Very extensive.

I hope that whatever license scheme you use isn't too time consuming for you; I think you will sell *many* copies of this plugin - it may take you a very long time to send out everyone's licenses. Can I order mine now so I can be the first? :)

Jay

[Byron]

I thought a lot about the way of licensing.

Ideally I would make some sort of keygen, but unfortunately, I don't know how to read out the ethernet adress which is unique in every Computer.

So I probably will show some sort of message when you first start the plug.
It will say that you support me when you bought it (which is good :) ) and that it shouldn't be used comercially without a license.

And even if I was able to protect it with a serial, there will be some smart guy out there who cracks it (and to my mind, thats alright).

I am really not against the case that someone who is still learning how to model doesn't buy it.
But those who use it comercially should have a license.

You save so much money when you are able to work faster that those (about) 50 bucks are a good funding.



I think it is in general very important to support the producer when you earn money with his product.
So, I just bought Maya, it should arrive next week (and i am really looking foreward to hold it in my hands :applause:).




And there will be an offline version of the documentation in the package :).
Perhaps I also record some tutorial videos to show that I really try to give some value for the money you invest.

I have a lot of ideas for a version 1.5 too, so there will be developement :).

Best Regards
Byron

[tropistic]

That sounds very fair Byron, but I don't like nag screens very much - even if it's just when you start the plugin. Maybe you could protect the download with a password you only give to people who buy the plugin? It's not a perfect solution, and probably some not so nice people may share the password to the download, but at least those of us who do support you and the development won't be bothered by the messages?

Or maybe just a password protected zip file?

Jay

[Byron]

Oh, sorry, didn't I mention that this message will appear only at the first start? :)

In fact, I am one of "you", which means that most of the time I use software.
This helps me to develop my own one because I know whats good and necessary and what not.

And in every nonDynamic password case your are running in a circle because these passwords can and will be shared.

So I simply don't even try it.

Its all in the peoples hands.
Surely some of them will take advantage of my "strategy", but some won't :).

[gundog]

hey man, i'm really looking forward to this plug getting released and i'm glad to hear you probably won't have to run any licensing set up. there's enough bloat out there arleady. anyways, you got 5 guys at my work ready to buy when this rolls out.

thanks

[visualboo]

All I have to say is it's about time Maya got some good soft-selection tools... WHEEEEEE!! :beer: