A quick Paralumino tour

#7

Wow, this video is a really good show of what’s already possible within Animator and what it could become if it was more “tightly” integrated. :bounce:

Very interesting video Brian, thanks for taking the time to do it ! :thumbsup:

I must say i’m amazed to see how well the foundations of EIAS have been thought back in time ! :surprised
When you think of it, this application is now almost 20 years old, yet it is capable of doing things like this within plug-ins, that’s just insane !! :eek:

Hats off to the guys behind Electric Image, it’s truely an amazing 3D app ! :bowdown:

Cheers,
Laurent aka Tartiflette :slight_smile:

#8

I’ll see if I can create another demonstration that utilizes a number of plugins in combination in a more real world situation.

#9

Brian,
Thank you very much for demonstrating some of the plug-ins. It is especially helpful to see the work flow, in understanding what the plug-ins offer. The sample renderings are great, and still don’t always show what was actually done. Bravo. :thumbsup:

I look forward to learning more about your tools. I may have to suffer that jet noise again and buy some more of your stuff. :rolleyes:

Take care,
Yon

#10

Hello,

Nice video , very handy, I like the examples with Dante and Placerdeposit, it helps a lot to understand the possibilities of the tool.

would be nice more examples of the potential for interaction with other pluguins.

Thank you Brian

Cheers
Diego

#11

Hej Brian,

very nice and good explaining video…and great plugins…thanks for your work !

Just one question:
I wonder if there could be any trick or workaround in Trestle that allows me to
meet a desired form or a specific path (following a reference) so far.
Being able to place a kind of underlay for painting over or copy could help a lot.

I dont want to open old sores ;-) as I guess thats one of the reasons why you want
a version 2 with AI import.
But maybe there`s an idea how this could be worked around until we (hopefully)
get this feature.

Thanks
Tom

#12

Hi Tom…

I’d love to have the ability to import a template to trace over, but from what I’m told from the Igors, that capability is not supported by the plugin API. But maybe someday in the future.

#13

Hi Tom,

Import the picture onto a plane, create an little ubershape, set it to animateable, trace round your underlay with the ubershapes animation path, then use the free plugin, path2line to convert the path into a form that trestle will read… Off you go :):wink:

Ian

#14

Ian,

Actually…that doesn’t quite work. Yes, you could use your technique to trace out the shape with a motion path and use path2line to turn that path into a polyline, but that resulting polyline won’t be accessible in Trestle’s drawing editor.

But of course the Path2line polyline will work just fine with the rest of our plugs.

#15

Ok, thank you Brian and Ian…I will try that as soon as I have the plugins :wink:

#16

Actually I stand corrected. I totally forgot about the import group function. You can create the wire generated by path2line and use the import group function to scan the resulting polyline and it will be generated inside Trestle. I’ll work up a quick demostration.

#17

Great !
This could be really helpful as you often want to meet specific given contours.

Maybe also that new mouse tracker plugin can be useful here…especially when
you own a wacom tablet.

Thank you
Tom

#18

Glad you got it working Brian, this feature is how I have imported lines from illustrator before, if I remember correctly you can export lines in DXF 2001 from illustrator and EI will open those natively. A simple video showing this workflow would be nice, I’ll see if I have time this weekend :slight_smile:

Ian

#19

Yes… the process works, its just a bit convoluted.

  1. Draw in illustrator. (A single curve only)
  2. Export as DXF.
  3. Convert DXF to FACT via Transporter or import into EI directly.
  4. Launch Trestle.
  5. Use Import Group Scanning in Trestle. (It doesn’t require parenting to Trestle to work)
  6. Obtain Trestle polyline.
  7. Delete unnecessary converted dxf/fact model.

I guess I shouldn’t complain. At least it does allow single polyline chains into Trestle from Illustrator indirectly. You can imagine how laborious this becomes if you want to import a large number of objects. (Though Trestle will see a multi poly chain object, you must specify which single chain you want. No holes are supported.) This is also the way to support EIM/Tesla wires indirectly as well. I get so focused on wanting to support direct AI import into Trestle that I tend to overlook this feature.

What I’d like to see here is a streamlining of the process.

  1. Open Trestle.
  2. Import Illustrator file or Tesla wire directly.
  3. AI file is converted into single or multiple Polyline chains.
  4. Multiple polyline chains are identified and true holes are constructed.

Done.

It should be pointed out that Wiremaker is also critical to the process. You can take a 3D model and potentially use Wiremaker to generate polylines from Unshared edges (especially for Text objects). Once those are saved out and reimported back into EI via fact, they can be Group Scanned by Trestle and turned into editable curves.

#20

are there any plans for a paralumino super bundle price?
for ordering trestle, swage, revolver, scrim, braider and mrs bebel?

#21

Hej…sounds like a good start for the moment :wink:
Sure, it would be more pleasant to have a direct import though.
And I guess you have some more ideas to optimize Trestle.
We all hope it will happen.

Well…I guess no need to wait any longer concerning my order :buttrock:
(Ok…thats`s true…I too like the idea to have a super bundle…)

Cheers
Tom

#22

Hello Gentlemen,

Currently there is no “super bundle” for the Paralumino plugins per the Igors’ request. However, there are a couple of combo deals that are available on the website that can save you some money. Ultimately, I’m trying to work out an arrangement for a larger product bundle called Sparks, but that’s still in the works. I don’t know if it will happen or not.

#23

(Not wanting to be a spoilsport here, but is “Sparks” really the best name for this? It’s just that it feels more suggestive of a particle system-type of product than a geometry construction set.
Given some things that were said in the Paralumino plugins thread, I think this combo package ought to have a more descriptive name or something that hints at what it does, even if it’s something as simple as, say, “ParaModeler” or “Whatchamacallit Construction Kit” (its components’ names’ meanings were not that easily recognizable to non-English language-native EIAS users like me, so having something a bit more understandable here could be useful).
Again, just my humble opinion.)

#24

SPARKS is just the current code name… it may or may not be the final product name. I thought about Paramodeler, but this stuff does more than just model… it animates too. So… we’re thinking of a “Module” name… but we’ll worry about that later.

#25

Im very happy more and more people are seing the potential of these tools Brian!

Thats half the battle, we know the other half pretty well;)

for these tools, as we all seem to, dont be shy. Request .ai import into these plugs (trestle)
to EITG. Workarounds are very helpful, but lets try and get this done right. The easier it is
do get started with these plugs, the more appeal they will have to users beyond us loyalists.

Ok, im done preaching, GO PARALUMINO:beer:

#26

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