Drawmesh > Mesh Tweak hotkey?

Edit > Customize > Tools > StreamLine Engine Tools > Tweak NormalMove.

You can also search the tool in "Tool Search Window", View > Windows > Tool Search Window, and right click the tool in the search result list to bring up a context menu then choose "Customize".

You can also change the streamline tool's hotkey in "Edit > Customize > StreamLine Tools". There is a "Hotkey" button there for changing the hotkey of the selected streamline tool.

Try this.
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Jun-25-19.rar

Fixed a problem caused by the hotkey of Mesh_Tweak, Ctrl, and the Undo hotkey, Ctrl+Z.

I wonder in what kind of area you use drawing and other areas you use dots? And which one you use more on average?

Hi IStonia,

For me I am used to drawing so I am still using that mostly, so far dots feels a bit slower to me, haven't fully test the workflow yet, but my thoughts are..

- undo, doesn't undo the dots creation.. (and if we created a quad then undo, the dots is gone)
- cannot create continuous quads in one single drag
- feels slightly slower because I think it is two step process.. first, create dot, then shift to create quad. in drawing, i just have to draw the lines and press enter. (when creating just a single quad, dots is faster but I also often create a long polygon loops, dots will become slower on creating long polygon loops)
- drawing can also generate triangle, which I will use more in very low poly assets. dots will become two steps here because I have to create a quad then merge one of its vert.

on latest version, the quad detection seems to works better so I think I will experiment with dots more.

I also just tried out the "Assigned_Tools" recently and also like it as a companion to drawing because drawing sometimes fails to generate the geometry I looking for. I assign the following streamline tool to it:

LMB <> Edge_Extrude_Cursor Direction
MMB <> Edge_Bridge_Single
RMB <> Vertex_Extrude

these 3 operations (extrude edge, bridge edge and extrude vertex) works well so far and I really happy to discover this option.

(also just recently discovered "SetView" )

miica, please try this
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Jul-05-19.rar

* Shift+RMB-Drag can be used to detect and create quads along cursor path. It won't work correctly all the time but that's the best I can do.
* Undo now undoes the dots.

Please let me know if these two changes can make the dot system a bit more useful so you would like to use it in some cases.

Hi IStonia,

Sorry that I haven't reply in a while because my life got a bit messy, getting into procrastination and all the works all piled up more and more... anyway but I am starting to get myself together again

But have you noticed that there is an "Extrude" option in the Draw Mesh tool? It allows you to extrude/bridge on edges(even edges of drawn lines). You can also extrude form border vertex.

I think I tried that before but the hurdle is first I need to enable edge snapping, I probably want to turn it off once I extrude and turn it on again when I just want to extrude the edge.

Also I probably have to do some cleanup after the extrude:



and sometimes more cleanup:



I find it easier using extrude with assigned tools.

* Shift+RMB-Drag can be used to detect and create quads along cursor path. It won't work correctly all the time but that's the best I can do.
* Undo now undoes the dots.

Thanks for the improvement! I tried it and works really nice so far, I think will try use it in my next retopo.

I still think I will use more drawing or assigned tools for situation like this where I need to use more triangles:



but I am sure on some other cases dots will be fun to work with

I have also been facing some problems:

Problem 1 - Cut tool (using Mesh_Cut) not working when the Reference Object is covering the retopo mesh:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/21qqg1cmn8npj90/retopo%20problem%201.gif?dl=0

Problem 1 too - can't Delete (using Ctrl + Shift) faces that are covered with retopo mesh:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qv58g6hf3ij4v41/retopo%20problem%202.gif?dl=0

Problem 2 - Can't extrude edge on some cases because edge is not detected:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tvsdt0wz3udwlip/retopo%20problem%203.gif?dl=0

Problem 3 - Drawing sometimes shift the existing vertices (I think they should stay in place) and I think happens depending on camera angle:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1oez8l584c8viob/retopo%20problem%204.gif?dl=0

for Problem-1 I think I can try to constantly adjust the retopo Z render offset, but I hope there are some ways to bypass that though.

I have upload the scene to dropbox and will message you the link, hope it helps.

Thanks!

Hi miica, thanks for the reply! It's good to hear that you're getting yourself together again!

Try this
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Jul-06-19.rar

All the problems reported should have been fixed.

Hey IStonia, thanks! I am still amazed by how fast you update with a fix in like less than half a day

I tried it and noticed that the cut tool still miss when the suboject is burried very deep underneath the Reference Object but it's better now, I will try to work with it and see.

All good for now, thanks!

Thanks miica!

I have released a new version
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Jul-07-19.rar

It has some other bug fixings I found.

miica, can you try this?
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Jul-10-19.rar

I added an option to detect and create tries in the dot system. The hotkey is Caps-Lock. The operation is the same as the quad's. Please let me know if this can be useful.

Also I added a hotkey "Shift+Alt" for "Extrude" in Draw mode. So you don't have to deal with edge snapping for activating "Extrude". You can extrude from the corner vertex which will free you of the cleaning up you mentioned earlier.

Hi IStonia,

Sorry, I was busy the days before.. I tried the Tries with the dot system and it's really really cool! It could be amazing to work with and I am going to try this soon. I think Maya don't have this so Nvil's users should be proud to have this!

For the dots system, the Undo works a bit odd, sometimes when I create a new dot, then undo, it didn't undo the new dot but undo the most recently created geometry, sometimes it undo all the dots together with the last created geometry.. I do prefer it to undo the last action I did (include moving the dots).

I also think maybe there can be a way to delete/clear all the dots easily, maybe another button or something.

Same with the extrude option in draw mode, really cool! I also need to test this although recently I am using more Assigned tools on some lowpoly.

I created a quick video to show how I use both the dots system and assigned tool (I am still not very used to dots system yet):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFJDMNnvbO0

There's one point in the video (2:38) where I accidentally activated bridge but there's no quick easy way to get out of that mode, maybe you got some ideas for that.

Thanks!

Thanks miica!

Try this
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Jul-13-19.rar

* Undo/Redo for dots is improved.
* Ctrl+Shift+LMB click at a dot to delete them all.
* You can click the original edge to exit the bridge tool.
* With "Draw Mesh > Extrude", you can click a corner border vertex, don't hold the mouse button, then move cursor to detect and generate dynamic mesh.

Try this
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Jul-14-19.rar

Thanks IStonia! I tried all the new changes and really delighted with all of them

(also really sorry to reply late, I slack off again..)