NVil Forum
General Category => Community Help => Topic started by: rubberDuck on February 13, 2013, 10:35:41 pm
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Hello.
The more I use Nvil, the more I like it, though I have several more, general questions:
- Is it possible to increase scale tool precision? Sometimes, when I'm working with components of small object, the scale jumps too much.
- I'm working in Nvil in Silo navigation mode. Is it possible to disable ASD toggling between various component modes? What I mean is that when I am, say in vertex mode and press D for face mode, it switches me to it and it's fine. But when I press D again, it goes back to previously selected component mode (vertex mode in this particular example). If I press D one more time, it changes to faces again (and so on). This is very confusing and is driving me bananas. I'd like to have no toggling at all. So Nvil stays in a specific component mode even if I press its corresponding key hundreds of times.
- Is it possible to display current Manipulator Orientation mode, Manipulator Positioning mode and snapping info (on/off, snap type) on the HUD (useful when working in full screen mode)?
- Let's say we've got a level 2 ico geosphere. If I want to create an inner loop in the pentagon built out of triangles, then in Silo it was all about selecting those edges coming out from a single point, pressing and holding SHIFT+X and sliding the newly created loop to a place. In Nvil it doesn't seem to work in this particular case, though it does for a cylinder cap formed out of triangles. It looks like if the vertices, that are on the outside of the area within which the loop is to be created, have more that five edges connected to them, the loop cannot be created in the described way.
Any remedy for that? Apart of creating loop in manual mode that is?
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Hi rubberDuck,
1: You could try:- set the (In the manipulator window bottom of screen) "Steppings -> Scale factor to, for example 1.001. Then when scaling, press(hold down) ctrl or shift while scaling. That does slow the scaling down.
To Add. Sorry I forgot. The default scaling is made by stepping, so when scaling, press(hold down) the ctrl or shift (to disable stepping). That will probably give you what you want.
My setting have the option "Enabled by ctrl or shift key down", which is not the default.
2: "Edit-> Preference->" -> "General" -> Disable the "Allow subobject type hotkey toggle between previous types"
3: Not sure. I will have a look.
4: Select the vertex and use "Chamfer-> Refine" (in the visual tools)
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Hi rubberDuck,
I do not see a way to show the manipulators orientation/position mode while in full screen mode. There is no way I can find to bring up the manipulator window(which is the only place I know that shows that info).
Rather then going into full screen mode, you may be best to toggle on/off the windows you do not need.
For showing the snapping info. By default that info is only available from the drop down snap list. You can create a "user tool bar" with icons/text for the snapping options, which can then be left on screen
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Thanks Steve.
What you wrote is very, very helpful.
Yeah, I didn't think about pinning all of the windows. This is even better, because in fullscreen mode I wasn't able to invoke them at all.
But, I really wish I wouldn't have to open Manipulation dock whenever I want to check in which manipulator mode I'm currently in. Same with snap info. HUD has always been something I loved, ever since I first saw it in Maya many years ago as it can squeeze a great amount of important information in a non-intrusive manner.
Could perhaps placing mentioned information on HUD be made into a feature request? I suspect quite a lot of people like to work with only viewport visible and would enjoy it.
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Could perhaps placing mentioned information on HUD be made into a feature request? I suspect quite a lot of people like to work with only viewport visible and would enjoy it.
Just make a post in the "Feature Request" section. See what IStonia thinks.
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5. How do I numerically scale all axes of a given selection (at once)?
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Answers
4: You can also try the edge visual tool 'Loop Insert'. It is a quite complicated tool.
5: I used to have a hidden trick, press down 'Ctrl' key before applying the value. But it is not available in the last two lastest updates. Any good suggestion?
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Answers
4: You can also try the edge visual tool 'Loop Insert'. It is a quite complicated tool.
5: I used to have a hidden trick, press down 'Ctrl' key before applying the value. But it is not available in the last two lastest updates. Any good suggestion?
Ad.4. Loop Insert->Manually Select can do that, but it's slow. You have to enter the tool, select this and that, etc. I'd like it to work like a streamline tool. You know, select edges through which you want the loop to go through, hold a hotkey combination and drag the new loop to correct position. This would be perfect. :)
Ad.5. Yup, it happens that I have a suggestion. A fourth column in "Manipulator Input" called "ALL". Or/And CTRL+LMB drag (left/right) on Scale label in "Manipulator Input".
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Hi IStonia,
Answers
4: You can also try the edge visual tool 'Loop Insert'. It is a quite complicated tool.
Loop Insert will not function on those types of edge rings (such, as example, on the icosa as shown above as the example). Please try it.
5: I used to have a hidden trick, press down 'Ctrl' key before applying the value. But it is not available in the last two lastest updates. Any good suggestion?
Which builds did that work in?
IMHO, the size/scale could be implemented better. As example, currently there is still no realtime feedback of size change (unless you open the Manipulation feedback window and scale proportionally)
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You know, select edges through which you want the loop to go through, hold a hotkey combination and drag the new loop to correct position. This would be perfect. :)
The Loop Insert (visual tools or streamline tools) do work like that in a lot of cases, however, the loop insert like a number of other tools appear to rely of edge/polygon flow outside the perimeter, which makes some tools limited at times.
Maybe IStonia is not aware of the limitations? I can post simple examples if needed. (the example of the loop insert on an icosa is one)
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4: The loop Insert can produce the loop cut you want. But you can't adjust position during operation though. For example, check 'Manual Select', move cursor over an edge, press down and hold LMB, draw the cursor one by one over each edges, when you come back to the first edge, it's done. After that you can use the edge streamline 'loop Select/Slide' tool to adjust position.
5: It worked on 'NVil Feb 05' update and also versions before that date.
You know, select edges through which you want the loop to go through, hold a hotkey combination and drag the new loop to correct position. This would be perfect. :)
The Loop Insert (visual tools or streamline tools) do work like that in a lot of cases, however, the loop insert like a number of other tools appear to rely of edge/polygon flow outside the perimeter, which makes some tools limited at times.
Maybe IStonia is not aware of the limitations? I can post simple examples if needed. (the example of the loop insert on an icosa is one)
Tell me more about it.
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You know, select edges through which you want the loop to go through, hold a hotkey combination and drag the new loop to correct position. This would be perfect. :)
The Loop Insert (visual tools or streamline tools) do work like that in a lot of cases, however, the loop insert like a number of other tools appear to rely of edge/polygon flow outside the perimeter, which makes some tools limited at times.
Maybe IStonia is not aware of the limitations? I can post simple examples if needed. (the example of the loop insert on an icosa is one)
Tell me more about it.
Sorry for audio quality. Night+crappy mike and English not being my first language...
This video shows how it works in Silo and Nvil. You can see that the ring of outer vertices and the number of edges they're connected with is something that affects the success of streamlined insert edge loop operation.
http://youtu.be/ijUraA_l4M0
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Hi rubberDuck,,
This video shows how it works in Silo and Nvil. You can see that the ring of outer vertices and the number of edges they're connected with is something that affects the success of streamlined insert edge loop operation.
That is showing the limitation due to the edge flow I mentioned earlier.
You show pre-selecting the edges before the loop_insert, so you could create a streamline tool that may work as you want.
Go into "Edit-> Customize-> Streamline Tools" Create a new tool:- Add the functions as shown in pic and set a custom hotkey.
What happens, is you first select the edges(as you show in the vid for silo)-> press(hold down) the hotkey which creates the edge_loop, left click on one of the new edges of the edge_loop created and drag to position.
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rubberDuck, thanks for the video! I know how to improve the tool, shouldn't be difficult.
Edit: In the video, I saw you click the edges one by one. That's slow. You can click and hold the mouse button down, then just drag across the other edges. Anyway, the 'Loop Insert' tool is slow, but it is versatile.
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@IStonia, I'm glad I could help. And thanks for the tip on dragging. Is implementation of no. 5 (scale all axes numerically?) possible any time soon?
@Steve, thanks this works pretty nicely, although it's a little bit slower than not having to LMB-click at all. ;) What's important though, is that this technique works even when outer vertices have more than four edges.
6. Is it possible to subdivide the object without smoothing it?
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6. Is it possible to subdivide the object without smoothing it?
'Polygon Shortcut Tools -> Subdivision' opens up a window where you can subdivide selected faces. To subdivide the whole mesh, you'd have to select all faces (double click on a face). You can turn off 'Mesh Smooth' in the window.
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Thank you.
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4: Done.
5: Done.
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Hello guys.
Two problems on one screenshot:
7. NVil clips geometry in ortographic view(!).
8. The blue line is the symmetry plane. If I mirror the model over X and calculate symmetry topologically, NVil calculates it wrongly, because the symmetry plane is misplaced and I can't figure out how to move it.
Any ideas? :(
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Also, I've noticed that if I create a background image in a top view (for example) then sometimes something weird starts to going on with the manipulator. It's almost like it switches between the screen mode and whatever mode I have it set to. Also, the manipulator stays in place when I move the geometry, even though I have "Group pivot goes with objects" and "Manipulator goes with selection in manual mode" options enabled.
I'm not able to reproduce it each time though.
When it begins to happen in my scene, restarting NVil helps to bring things back to normal.
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7. What is the clipping style for the viewport, Auto or Manual? If Auto, your camera focus point maybe too behind. You can use either 'Set View Focus Point' command (default:Ctrl+Alt+Shif+RMB) click on a mesh surface, or View > Viewport Flaming > Best Fit to adjust it. If Manual, you also need to check the near clip plane value to make sure it is not tool big. See Edit > Preference > Clip Plane.
8. The symmetry plane is always original from the mesh's pivot. Initially mesh's pivot is located at object's pivot. Can you tell me how did you mirror the model. In NVil, mirror operation and symmetry operation are different things. mirror operation is mesh level operation and it does not set symmetry information onto the mesh, while symmetry operations will setup symmetry information and it let you modify on one side and get symmetrical result on both sides.
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Also, I've noticed that if I create a background image in a top view (for example) then sometimes something weird starts to going on with the manipulator. It's almost like it switches between the screen mode and whatever mode I have it set to. Also, the manipulator stays in place when I move the geometry, even though I have "Group pivot goes with objects" and "Manipulator goes with selection in manual mode" options enabled.
I'm not able to reproduce it each time though.
When it begins to happen in my scene, restarting NVil helps to bring things back to normal.
Which object mode were you in? object/mesh/polygon/edge/vertex? If it happed next time, can you record it to a video and also please let me know what is the manipulator pivot setting. If the move manipulator is out of view, the program will display it at the center of the screen to let you still be able to interact with it.
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7. What is the clipping style for the viewport, Auto or Manual? If Auto, your camera focus point maybe too behind. You can use either 'Set View Focus Point' command (default:Ctrl+Alt+Shif+RMB) click on a mesh surface, or View > Viewport Flaming > Best Fit to adjust it. If Manual, you also need to check the near clip plane value to make sure it is not tool big. See Edit > Preference > Clip Plane.
I have clipping set to automatic. Best fit... well, it acts kind of strange. Single use of best fit didn't yield any good results. In fact, the clipping occurred even earlier than before. I was about to describe it here, but before that I began to test mirroring and symmetry again and after a while (and a lot of "best fitting" to frame selections) I realised that the clipping in orthographic views was minimised almost to none. Go figure. ::)
8. The symmetry plane is always original from the mesh's pivot. Initially mesh's pivot is located at object's pivot. Can you tell me how did you mirror the model. In NVil, mirror operation and symmetry operation are different things. mirror operation is mesh level operation and it does not set symmetry information onto the mesh, while symmetry operations will setup symmetry information and it let you modify on one side and get symmetrical result on both sides.
To mirror the model I simply selected object reference space from mirror options and the appropriate axis. Then clicked on the mesh and it mirrored nicely. After clicking on "Calculate Symmetry Topologically" I immediately noticed that something is going to go wrong (red vertices appeared). I enabled symmetry ("Symmetry Enabled") and the result confirmed my worries.
I've noticed that if I choose mesh reference space instead, it mirrors over a plane that is in a wrong place (the same place where the blue symmetry plane from the screenshot is located). It looks like pivots of the mesh and object are still in the same place though (I'm using "Selection" as manipulator position mode to check this).
(...) If the move manipulator is out of view, the program will display it at the center of the screen to let you still be able to interact with it.
Ah, but this exactly what I've been experiencing. I was sure this was a bug of some kind. It confused the hell out of me. ;D
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I have clipping set to automatic. Best fit... well, it acts kind of strange. Single use of best fit didn't yield any good results. In fact, the clipping occurred even earlier than before. I was about to describe it here, but before that I began to test mirroring and symmetry again and after a while (and a lot of "best fitting" to frame selections) I realised that the clipping in orthographic views was minimised almost to none. Go figure. ::)
If I understand you correctly, then before pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+RMB - max zoom to object.
Read the messagehttp://voidworld.cmcproductions.co.uk/index.php/topic,1091.msg3622.html#msg3622 (http://voidworld.cmcproductions.co.uk/index.php/topic,1091.msg3622.html#msg3622) and below
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rubberDuck, you have used mirror operations. You should use symmetry operations.
Edit > Options > Shortcut Symmetry Options > ...
Geometry > Symmetry Cut > ...
There is a tutorial in the help file. Help > Tutorial.
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I have only one side of the object (on -X), so I need to mirror it to +X first and only then I can apply topological symmetry. I'm sorry I forgot to mention it earlier.
The problem is with symmetry plane that seems to be stuck in one place. I can't indicate its new position with manipulator, nor reset it or whatever. I can post a video that I quickly knocked out and which follows the steps I take.
The only way of "moving" the symmetry plane I found to be working, is to:
1. Mirror the mesh.
2. Export it to .obj using "Save Selected As..." - this disbands its symmetry plane.
3. Merge the .obj back into the scene - symmetry plane is reapplied at the centre of the imported mesh.
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You can adjust the symmtry plane. In object mode, open the 'Pivot' tool, make sure 'Mesh pivots as well' option is on. Then use the move manipulator to move the object pivot, you will see the symmetry plane be moved as well.
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I don't believe It was that simple!
Thank you very much IStonia. This helped a lot.
Two more, short questions, if you don't mind. ::)
9. In "File->Import from external file" the only available file format is .vwf. Yet NVil doesn't allow exporting to this format. What is this .vwf? VoidWorld legacy format? Cadvance?
10. I don't know how, but I have locked the radial menu editor. I can't drag and drop in it any more:
http://youtu.be/XDwIO43392Y
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9. vwf is a very legacy file format. It is used to save your internal library objects into one file for backup or sharing.
10. Were you able to do that before?. You might be need to restart your pc. I found it sometimes after my pc have been running for a while, a week or so, I can't do the drag-drop any more, even in window explorer or othe apps I use.
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Okay, the problem went away after I restarted the system. But I need to say that drag-and-drop in Explorer, applications and even other parts of NVil (buttons in my custom user tools window for example) worked perfectly fine. Radial menu editor was the only place where drag-and-drop did not work.
Yes, this happened before. But only one or two times maybe since my first contact with NVil at the end of the last year.
Thanks.
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Hello.
11. I need to rotate a selection of multiple faces, but I also need each face to use its own orientation space while rotating (instead of common - averaged). Is it possible?
12. Radial Menu. In order to apply a wire frame display mode to selected object I can use the "Wire Mesh Selected/All#" command. But there's no command I could put into radial menu in order to revert back to shaded+wire frame. I have to dig through the "Scene Explorer" to accomplish that.
13. How to enable subdivision cage visibility?
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11. I can't see how it is possible. If you rotate two joining polygons at their own axis, how can you expect the result positions of vertices they are sharing.
12. You can use this trick to bring up a tool in the hotkey editor. Press down 'End' key, select 'View > Object Shading > Object Individaul Shading > Solid'.
13. It is not available.
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11. Not with neighbouring faces or edges no. Not exactly. In this mode, let's call it "Use individual component pivots" for the time being, if a user selects neighbouring faces or edges, then NVil would treat them as a group and average their rotation axes. So, if no other components are selected then it would simply act like it acts now. But, if some other - non-neighbouring components are selected as well, it would treat the rotation axis of the above group separately.
Example:
User makes a selection consisting of:
- four neighbouring faces -> uses averaged rotation axis of those four selected faces,
- one single face -> uses it's own rotation axis,
- two neighbouring faces -> uses averaged rotation axis of those two selected faces.
All three are treated as separate groups with their own rotation axes. User starts to rotate around the X axis and each one of those groups rotate around their own X axis.
Of course this should apply to:
- faces and edges,
- translation, rotation and scaling.
Silo doesn't have it, vanilla Maya too (dunno about 2013 though). There was a very cool 3rd party script for Maya that enabled this, but I lost it some time ago and I can't find it ever since.
Blender has the option called "Individual Origins", but I find it working not quite as expected.
I've heard on Polycount that 3D Studio is capable of doing it. Can't confirm it though, because it's been like over 10 years since I last used Max. :D
12. Nice trick. Thank you.
13. Any chances of future implementation?
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11. StreamLine Basic Tools > Subobject Tools > Local Move/Rotate/Scale/Transform Selection. You can use the 'Tool Search' window to find and test them. The Transform tool is a general tool which has options to let you do all the Move/Rotate/Scale.
13. I will keep that in mind.
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Hey IStonia. First of all I have to say that I really appreciate your answers. :)
Second of all... man, how many aces you have hidden in your sleeve? The commands you mentioned in 11) seem to be exactly what I was looking for. 8)
But...
Those commands, being StreamLine tools, won't allow me to use all manipulator axes to rotate... er, manipulate the components. Mouse movement is two dimensional, so there's the third axis left that I can't access. Also, it seems I'm only able to rotate components around Y axis only: http://youtu.be/2mt0K7BH32Q
I'm sure it's just me doing something wrong. :)
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In local transform operation, there is no certain way to define the x/z axis of each selection group.
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........it seems I'm only able to rotate components around Y axis only: http://youtu.be/2mt0K7BH32Q
Local rotation is limited to local normal direction.
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In local transform operation, there is no certain way to define the x/z axis of each selection group.
I see it based on world axis in wing3d. It works quite well, even for unconstrained local rotation.
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Guys...
In local transform operation, there is no certain way to define the x/z axis of each selection group.
Could you please elaborate? Why there's no way to define those axes?
Local rotation is limited to local normal direction.
Steve, okay normal direction is Y, from what I've seen, so the faces rotate around this axis. But why the limit? Why the user is disallowed to rotate around any of the three axes?
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Guys...
In local transform operation, there is no certain way to define the x/z axis of each selection group.
Could you please elaborate? Why there's no way to define those axes?
Well, my answer is another question. How can you define them? If you have a square quad, the normal direction defines Y. Two opposite edges define X and the other two edges define Z. But which two edes should be used to define X first? They are all equal. If the polygon has irregular shape... if the selection is a group of joint polygons... if two selection groups' facing the opposite direction...
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Well, my answer is another question. How can you define them?
You would not define them with new axis.
For current local rotation, you calculate average normal for each selection group, and rotate around the calculated normal axis.
For local rotation, could you also have an option which uses the calculated normal position that rotates around specified (X/Y/Z/All) world/work_plane axis?
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It shouldn't be a problem for arbitrary axis(x/y/x). But the All or Free option can be a little bit tricky.
I am still thinking a way to perform the rotation rubberduck wants. I think a spline can be drawn accross the selections and the spline tangents can be used to define the x axis. It seems it could be quite usefull for organic models. Not an easy thing to do though.
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Well, my answer is another question. How can you define them? If you have a square quad, the normal direction defines Y. Two opposite edges define X and the other two edges define Z. But which two edes should be used to define X first? They are all equal. If the polygon has irregular shape... if the selection is a group of joint polygons... if two selection groups' facing the opposite direction...
I'm sorry IStonia, but I still don't follow you. You're possibly right, but I'm not convinced for the time being. Take a look at the attached image. Those axes are all already defined. So if a user rotates, scales or translates along +Z axis, all faces would follow along their own local +Z axes. The implementation is already there, though with rotation possible only around Y axis. If users could use the actual manipulator axes to rotate/scale/transform selected components, this would be the highest point in superman awesomeness.
And what if two selection groups are facing opposite directions? Well, nothing. It would still work.
Maybe we simply misunderstand each other. English is not my primary language, so I might be talking some crazy gibberish here. ;D
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I don't think it's a language problem. We may just think in different directions.
In the picture, you have three polygons selected. I guess when you select the polygon you use Selection pivot orientation style. Right? It seems a possible solution. But it may not work properly in all cases. The X/Z direction can be unpredictable. When you move from one polygon to another polgon, the X/Z direction may be swapped by 90 degrees and out of your expectation. Also, if you have selection group that contains more than one polygon, it is more unpredictable.
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Okay, I've inspected a basic sphere primitive and indeed, in some cases X/Z direction is unpredictable. Especially near the equator and on poles.
Though on the teeth model from the screenshot, they seem to be consistent. No deviations at all.
14. I've noticed that viewport doesn't remember its position after I change the camera to other view, manipulate it a bit and switch back afterwards.
To reproduce (in one-view mode):
1. Switch to perspective mode and navigate the scene a bit.
2. Switch to other view (top, left, etc.)
3. Navigate through the scene.
4. Switch back to perspective - the position and rotation of perspective camera has changed.
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What do you mean by "One-view mode"?
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View->Viewport layout->One view.
But it happens in other layouts as well, as long as you switch views in one viewport only.
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Were you always in 'one-view' mode when that happened?
When in one-view mode. you are always dealing with the same viewport and I think that's why. Each viewport only has one camera setting.
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Were you always in 'one-view' mode when that happened?
Yes, most of the time I use single view-port while modelling. I change views with numerical keys.
When in one-view mode. you are always dealing with the same view-port and I think that's why. Each view-port only has one camera setting.
Hmm, that's what I suspected. I'm accustomed to working with each view having a separate camera, but I think I can live with this. It gets a little bit annoying sometimes though, having to re-zoom or pan the camera back to the area of interest after changing the view from top to left for example. :P
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13. Done.
14. Done. Edit > Preference > Options > Custom/Front/Back/... View has own camera settings. You can use one of these two tools to switch between orthographic and perspective views, Edit > Customize > Tools > View Navigation Tools > 'Snap View (Orthographic)'/'Snap View On Rotation (Orthographic)'.
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Hello.
Let's say there's a vertex I want to snap on Y axis to a point (not vertex) on an edge, just below it. Is it possible to do it precisely or do I have to eyeball it, because it constantly follows the snapped cursor Y position on the edge (the right part of the image)?
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Hi rubberDuck,
I cannot see clearly what geometry you have there. Do you have a polygon edge you are trying to move the vertex down to? If yes, then you can add "Object Guide Lines" to the 2 edges(the edge you are moving the vertex down, and the edge you are moving the vertex to), and use "Vertex" snap, to snap to the intersection of the edges(Guide Lines)
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Perfect. Guidelines did the trick. Thank you again Steve. :)
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Hello.
I have two short questions
1. Is there a way of selecting multiple objects in the Scene Explorer other than clicking on each one of them at a time?
2. Is there any way of moving multiple objects to an existing group in the Scene Explorer?
I think I tried everything.
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You can adjust the symmtry plane. In object mode, open the 'Pivot' tool, make sure 'Mesh pivots as well' option is on. Then use the move manipulator to move the object pivot, you will see the symmetry plane be moved as well.
The symmetry was working without problems for a long time, but today I encountered something weird. Despite the fact that object's pivot (as well as its meshes') is where I want the symmetry to be and it's oriented correctly, the symmetry plane moves to a place way above the pivot and orients itself at an odd angle.
I tried resetting object's base axis and setting the pivot again and again, but it doesn't help.
Also, most of the time I cannot turn on the symmetry plane visibility, from whatever reason. It just doesn't show up.
A funny thing: when I enter the pivot tool and click several times on "Align to Bounding Box Center" ("Mesh pivots as well" is turned on), the symmetry plane moves closer and closer to the pivot after each mouse click, but never really orients itself properly.
Maybe I've messed up some settings?
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Okay, I exported the problematic mesh to obj just to reimport it again. This seems to loose the corruption or whatever it was that caused the error.
Problem solved, however now I remember that it isn't the first time I encounter this issue.
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Hello.
I have to bring up an old problem I once had about clipping that occurs in orthographic views.
The video below demonstrates the problem, as well as shows Silo as an example of no clipping in the ortho view.
I tried "Best Fit", "Set View Focusing Point", "Selection Focusing", "Camera Focus Point (SEL)" and even setting the near clipping plane to 0.001 and far clipping plane to 10.
Nothing helps.
http://youtu.be/qs80YobNPlc
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Hi rubberDuck,
With "Selection Focusing", that will set focus point to selection center, so in ortho view that may not help while in obj selection mode.
With "Set View Focusing Point", that needs the cursor on-screen for an interception point to be ray-cast, so calling that function from tool-search will not function correctly.
The "Camera Focus Point" you mention, that is actually a function for view rotation.(View rotation pivot style option).
For what you need, please try either:-
If using "Selection Focusing" in ortho view, select the polygon closest to camera, then use "Selection focusing"
If using "Set View Focusing point", set an hotkey for the function, then move mouse cursor over focusing point on screen, then press hotkey for "Set View Focusing point"
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Steve, thank you! Thank you very much! It was driving me nuts. ;D
I mapped a key shortcut to "Set View Focusing Point", selected some components in the area of interest and invoked the mapped command. It worked! Ha ha!
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Hmm... I celebrated to early.
The problem is back. Now even stranger than before.
If I switch to ortho view, the more I zoom in, the less vertices in the back I can select. It feels almost like zooming in decreases the far clip plane somehow. So, when zoomed out I can select the whole line of vertices, but when I zoom in I can only selected those that are closest to the camera. What the hell? :o
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http://youtu.be/4MPmPVs0PB0
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Hi rubberDuck,
Make sure you have all clip planes set to "Auto" and make sure you have set the "Auto settings" back to default. (Defaults are "Near plane scale" = 0.1", "Far Plane scale" = 100)
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Ah, you're right. It was near and far clipping planes. Thanks!
I hope there won't be any more surprises. ::)
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It was near and far clipping planes.
It is now better to leave the clip plane settings to defaults. If you then get used to using the "Focus" functions, you should be OK.
I hope there won't be any more surprises. ::)
::) ;D
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Near clipping = 0.1, Far clipping = 100. I'm using "Set View Focusing Point" and "Frame View".
And I still have serious problems with clipping in orthographic views! Especially with long objects like walls, pipes, etc.
Why do I have to run those commands anyway? I don't have to do it in other programs (save object framing), in which I never experience clipping unless I deliberately force it by adjusting clipping values or moving orthographic cameras.
Also, with far clipping of 100, wireframes from the back of the model tend to pop out if I zoom out a little bit.
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And I still have serious problems with clipping in orthographic views! Especially with long objects like walls, pipes, etc.
That is probably due to your "Scene scale". Nvil calculates clipping planes using scene scale, so if objects become large without the scene scale changing, it can cause issue.
I have brought up problems related to scene scale before (and seen other problems but not reported on forum). From what I see, incorrect scene scale can make a mess of various functions.
Try changing to auto scene scale (View-> Auto scene scale enabled). See if that helps.
I do have to admit, the way the "Scene scale" and "clipping planes" work, I find are a PITA.
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Steve, I already tried this - both: the automatic scale and manual scale. It doesn't seem to have any impact on the clipping. At least in my current scene, which is roughly 3.1 x 2.3 x 4.7 (XYZ) meters in size.
This issue seriously hinders my productivity, because instead of modelling I constantly have to fight the clipping.
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As I mentioned, it is a PITA.
Put in a bug report, hopefully IStonia will have a look and make better implementation.
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Good idea.
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I was looking more at the views. The more I look, the less I like.
I gave up building a large model in Nvil (the office block I started a WIP for) some time ago, due to problems with the views. I did e-mail IStonia about it, but he said he could do nothing about it.
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Steve, and I was wondering why there where no updates of your building... Now it's clear to me that this clipping issue is a huge one. I'll have to switch to Blender to complete my current scene because it's impossible to do it with NVil. Not when I cannot perform basic selection tasks in orthographic views.
I really hope IStonia will find a solution to this problem, because I really like to work in NVil and in every other aspect I find it superior to other modelling software.
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Hello.
Is there a way of selecting all border edges of an object with a single command?
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go to face mode, select whole object by double clicking it, than from the "selection" menu "hit edges on selection border"
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Open Edges.
With the object(s) selected, change to edge mode:- Selection[dropdown menu]-> Open Edges
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Thank you guys!
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Hi to all.
Recently i knew about your prog. So, trying it. Many years I Used Hexagon for Low Poly direct modelling, but it is abandoned and have a lot of bugs and limitations, so glad there is a project with similiar purposes as Hexagon)))
But first of all some dissapointments for me.
1 - I didn't find a way to import obj. Where is it hides? (stupid question i know)
2 - Is there any way to directly freely tesselate surface vertex by vertex. I mean if i want for example to do such thing. (screen from Hexagon)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84715405/ttt/clippaste21.11.2013%20%201-12-37%2C94.jpg)
In Hexagon it's easy. In Nvil I tried cut tool, but it's behaviour too weird (or maybe i don't understand something, or it's wrong tool i tried to use)
Programm dont't gives me to set a vertex where i want, instead it divides the selected edge.
Am i missed something?
3 - There's so much features, as i see in your prog, but only litte of them described in manual.
Is there any plans to make complete manual?
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Hello Axolotl!
- It's in File->Merge Scene.
- To get cuts from the picture you can use a different type of Cut tool. You probably used Edge Shortcut Tools->Cut, which cuts through selected edges or connects selected vertices on key-press. There's a pretty nice context cut tool available in the Edit->Customize->StreamLine Tools menu called Subobject Shortcut Tools->Context Cut(Break Edges). If it isn't already defined, create a new StreamLine Tool (of "Subobject Tool" type), set On Activated to Subobject Shortcut Tools->Context Cut(Break Edges) and assign a hotkey to it. Now, when you press and hold that hotkey, you'll enter cut mode and will be able to place cuts wherever you want. It will work both: as an interactive cut tool (if you hold the key and click with a mouse where you want vertices to be) or as a standard Edge Shortcut Tools->Cut if you tap the key with some edges/vertices selected.
- I'm not sure, but I don't think so.
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1 - Thanks, Merge scene for me associated for exactly merging scene file formats. It's not obvious to find import there.
2 - Oh. So complicated. I'm just starting using your prog, so will try to understand and aplly yur advice.
3 - That's a pity, good manual is always a good way to attract people, complicated progs without or with a little explanation can easily push the new people away.
....
P.S. Also there is some strange way to render non planar quad(or more) faces. They are overlap each other in some cases, it's very hard to work and understand geometry in such situations, and even hard to select vertexes or edges that overlapped by face as if it before them (but they not). (If you want i can make more detailed explanation of this problem with pictures or a video)
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Hello,
1 - I didn't find a way to import obj. Where is it hides? (stupid question i know)
(http://i.imgur.com/V4n4F3l.jpg) (http://imgur.com/V4n4F3l)
2 - Is there any way to directly freely tesselate surface vertex by vertex. I mean if i want for example to do such thing. (screen from Hexagon)
While in polygon, edge or vertex selection, press "C"
For example: Create a box. Change to "Edge" selection mode(make sure no edges selected). Press (hold down) "C", move cursor over an edge or vertex and LMB, move to next edge or vertex and LMB again, repeat until finished, release "C" key.
3 - There's so much features, as i see in your prog, but only litte of them described in manual.
Which features do you not understand?
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Hello,
P.S. Also there is some strange way to render non planar quad(or more) faces. They are overlap each other in some cases, it's very hard to work and understand geometry in such situations, and even hard to select vertexes or edges that overlapped by face as if it before them (but they not). (If you want i can make more detailed explanation of this problem with pictures or a video)
Do you mean from N-gons?
Try using "Optimize" or "Rewind"
(http://i.imgur.com/b7E24H7.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/wuOTaeJ.jpg)
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Thanks to all.
About Cut tool: Yes i used hotkey, but my mistake was that i holded left mouse button, so in this way it were snapped to the mids of edges.
But i've met another "problem", in this procedure.
Can I make with this Cut tool thing like this for example?
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84715405/ttt/tesselate.png)
Nvil, when i "Cut" & try to set end vertex in a middle of a face, autamatically connects it to the nearest Vertex. I understand, that edge cannot stop in a middle. But In Hexagon it was made in a way, that you set all the points, but if you not finish it with connection, it just cancelled operation. Good solution, i think.
Other question:
Is there any tools similiar to Hexagon Edge tools, I mean "Extract Edge along (in & Out), Extract Around, and extract fillet. Especially, extract along (in & out), because this cannot be made by chamfer.
P.S. Also many times were problems with view clipping((.
And yes, the more i use the prog, more i like it. Realy lot of features and extreme customisation.
So I will "Spread the word" about it, and maybe will become a constant user of it)))
P.S.
Which features do you not understand?
I mean that there is a whole bunch of features that not so obvious but that absolutely not even mentioned in manual and even don't have any tip, how they working.
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Hi axolotl,
Can I make with this Cut tool thing like this for example?
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84715405/ttt/tesselate.png)
Nvil, when i "Cut" & try to set end vertex in a middle of a face, autamatically connects it to the nearest Vertex. I understand, that edge cannot stop in a middle. But In Hexagon it was made in a way, that you set all the points, but if you not finish it with connection, it just cancelled operation. Good solution, i think.
Hexagon uses an internal optimization for n-gons, it is bad for export to other applications as the optimization is removed.
Although you will find the way Nvil deals with those types of cuts, it is more correct and will give no problem when exporting.
Other question:
Is there any tools similiar to Hexagon Edge tools, I mean "Extract Edge along (in & Out), Extract Around, and extract fillet. Especially, extract along (in & out), because this cannot be made by chamfer.
For "Extract Edge along", use the "Loop insert". For "Extract around" use "Chamfer" with options:- "Refine + Hard Edges" "segments 1", for "Extract Fillet" use "Chamfer" with options "Chop corner off" "segments 1"
P.S. Also many times were problems with view clipping((.
Try using "Set View Focusing Point" or "Selection Focusing"(default keys Ctrl+Shift+Alt" + RMB or LMB on object. You can of course change the shortcut keys if wanted.).
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Hi,
Sorry I missed the edit.
Which features do you not understand?
I mean that there is a whole bunch of features that not so obvious but that absolutely not even mentioned in manual and even don't have any tip, how they working.
I can put some info together of the tools I find most useful (the ones not seen by new users at first), but that may not be what you want.
What type of modeling do you do? I ask, so that I can look at first the tools I think you may find of most interest.
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Hexagon uses an internal optimization for n-gons, it is bad for export to other applications as the optimization is removed.
Although you will find the way Nvil deals with those types of cuts, it is more correct and will give no problem when exporting.
Hmmm...Of course i don't leave Ngons and my example is just to explain what i mean. It's just very useful sometimes to first make desired form by free tesselation on face and when the shape is done, handly make connections of edges. Here an example:
First i made shape
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84715405/ttt/tshow1.png)
Then I tesselate the way I need
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84715405/ttt/tsshow2.png)
The I Extrude for example
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84715405/ttt/tsshow3.png)
There can be a lot of situations where you axactly need to control the way how Ngons exactly tesselated to quads, because this shape can easily be just the begining of the end shape.
Nvil automatically tesselates to nearest Vertex, so if you need to tessselate them other way, you must remade this.
Second reason, is that the shape can be very different, and autotesselate can be an obstacle to itself, it will just strt to cross to itself and it will be a mess.
For "Extract Edge along", use the "Loop insert".
I tried to do this way, but with most of complicated shapes it gives me very weird and different results.
Here the example with the same shape i showed about the cut.
Here i selected the needed edges
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84715405/ttt/eshow1.png)
and here I do the Move along operation in Hexagon
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84715405/ttt/eshow2.png)
Is it possible to do such thing in Nvil?
For me it is very handy tool, that i used in Hex very often.
I can put some info together of the tools I find most useful (the ones not seen by new users at first), but that may not be what you want.
What type of modeling do you do? I ask, so that I can look at first the tools I think you may find of most interest.
Oh it's not just about me - it's hard i think to explain all the features to every novice user that open the prog, then opens the Manual to find the questions, didn't find info and he goes to forum with every-every question that can be just explained once and for all.
For me, now i just start to explore Nvil, so it's hard to say what exactly i don't understanded, but i met a lot of things, that don't even have a tips about how they work. Fore example "Light Tool" one of such unexplained things..
About modelling - I'am modeller and animator. I model different things - Architecture, Characters, Objects. Did some things in "Heroes Of Might Magic-3" modding community.
Here, the example of my work
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84715405/%21Show/BP/archmage-idle-shot.gif)
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Hi axolotl,
Sorry for the late reply.
I do not normally use cut on single polygons, but after looking at that, Yes, I agree it is a pain. You should put in a Feature request (Feature Request forum) to see if the tool can be improved, or possibly have an option not to tessellate and see if IStonia(Developer) can do anything.
For the "Extract along", there is nothing in Nvil that will do exactly that, so again, maybe make a request to see if such a function can be added.
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Hey axolotl. The closest thing I can think of for what you are looking for as an "extract/move along" function is the inset tool in NVil. But it works on polygon selections, not on edge selections. In a case as you showed above you would select the inner faces. But if you then inset them, you'd get extra faces you don't want. One way to work around this would be to select the bottom side of the cube, too, before insetting.
Or you delete the extra faces, select the VERTICAL edges that should reach to the bottom and activate "extend edge" (it's a streamline tool) and while the tool is active click on one of the faces at the bottom of the cube. But then you'd still have to merge it somehow with the bottom of the cube to avoid open edges.
I agree with you on the auto-tesselation. I don't like it either. You get rid of the unwanted edges that the cut tool creates by selecting them and then go to 'Geometry->Delete(Options)' and uncheck 'Remove closed 2-Edge vertices'. But that is tiresome, indeed.
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Anyone knows how to display vertex normals?
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There is a Normal tool in vertex mode. It is currently only available from the Visual Tools panel. I will make it also available in the menu list.
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Ah, there it is, thanks.
When you put it in the menu list, would it be visible in Customize Radial Menus toolset?
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My mistake. It's there already. Subobject mode > Common Commands n Tools > Normal. Surely you can put it into your radial menu.
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Got it. Thanks again.