New Tool Test "Draw Mesh"

Try this
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Aug-15-17.rar

* To join two lines sharing the same end point, press RMB at the line then tap Space key.
* To break a line, press RMB at the line then tap Alt+Space key.
* To import lines from lines-of-last-run/scene-splines, Caps-Lock+RMB and drag over 400 pixels horizotally/vertically.

Works like a charm.

What options do I have to quickly fill area from the image with lines equal to those of the existing geometry?

• LMB-dragging the edges and setting spans would then require manual welding of vertices outside of Draw Mesh tool.
• Manually drawing those lines is OK in this particular example, but if there were more lines to be drawn, then it might be problematic due to their numbers and proximity.
• Finally, Caps+LMB won't work here.

Of course the perfect tool for this is Fill Jagged Border Edges, but you need to quit Draw Mesh to use it. And the trick is not to leave it as it breaks the Zen of drawing.

By the way IStonia, did you receive my PMessage?

Finally, Caps+LMB won't work here.

What is this for? Caps+RMB?

I have read your message, I preferred the B one.

Finally, Caps+LMB won't work here.

What is this for? Caps+RMB?

It's for:

To create lines inside a rectangle enclosed by 4 lines, Caps-Lock+LMB and drag, or Shift/Ctrl+drag, to adjust the segments.

But there are only two lines, plus the existing geometry, so it won't work in this particular example. I wish it would though.

Try this
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Aug-16-17.rar

  * To fill hole or jagged border of existing mesh, enable edge snapping, RMB click the first edge then move over to the second edge and LMB drag. If the second edge is the same as the first edge, the whole open edge loop will be used.
  * Edit > Preference > Options 2 > Selection > Include retopo reference objects in selection and snapping occlusion.
  * A new basic streamline tool, Retopo Z Offset. Drag cursor horizontally or vertically to adjust retopo z offset value.

  * To fill hole or jagged border of existing mesh, enable edge snapping, RMB click the first edge then move over to the second edge and LMB drag. If the second edge is the same as the first edge, the whole open edge loop will be used.

Wow, this is awesome! It even follows the cursor in an elastic fashion.

But what if I need to generate a patch where both: existing geometry and existing lines are already present (like on the image)? It would be fantastic to have it working here too.

Another production case.
There a two patches present, which I quickly created with:

To create lines inside a rectangle enclosed by 4 lines, Caps-Lock+LMB and drag, or Shift/Ctrl+drag, to adjust the segments.

Then I drew three new lines (the bottom rectangle) and now wish to quickly generate lines that would fill this new  patch and connect to already drawn patches.

  * To fill hole or jagged border of existing mesh, enable edge snapping, RMB click the first edge then move over to the second edge and LMB drag. If the second edge is the same as the first edge, the whole open edge loop will be used.

Did I already mention that I love it?
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5_r9d5SdkIvOEN2eUttdXAzWnc
I could fiddle with it for hours and hours.

Try this
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Aug-22-17.rar

* CUT. To cut line from retopo reference object, LMB + Alt and drag. Horizontal: Shift. Vertical: Ctrl. Cross: Shift+Ctrl.

* EDGE. To create lines from existing open edges, enable edge snapping, LMB drag from the edge. To create from multiple edges, LMB click the first edge then move over to the second edge and LMB drag. If the second edge is the same as the first edge, the whole open edge loop will be used. Once lines drawn out, WMB or Ctrl+LMB-Drag to adjust segments. To bridge, drag the cursor to the opposite side edge. To change line moving direction, tap Space key. To generate mesh without projection for shapes like cylinder, while the mouse button is still being pressed, tap Enter key.

* BRIDGE. To create lines between two specified lines, MMB-click or LMB-click+Shift/Ctrl to select the first line, then LMB-Click the second line and drag, or Shift/Ctrl+drag, to adjust the segments. If the order incorrect, tap Space key to fix. To generate mesh without projection for shapes like cylinder, while the mouse button is still being pressed, tap Enter key.

* PATCH. To create lines inside a rectangle enclosed by 4 sides of lines or mesh edges, at least one side must be line, Caps-Lock+LMB and drag at one of the lines. Once activated, Shift/Ctrl+drag to adjust individual segments. If the lines are created on the wrong side, tap Space key to switch over.

Hi

This new tool is amazing, although i have not try all the features. I wonder if can you do something like retopoflow from blender where a line will be converted to an smooth set of polygons and it updates dynamically while you move them, also it can patch sets of polygons of different edge number and it will adjust automatically to fit.

Here are some demos of this retopoflow tool made by the one of the creators (i assume)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rX0tLpTkzU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qidVmJjtBA

Thanks

Try this one. Some bug fixings.
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Aug-23-17.rar

OK, I'm back.
I spent a couple of hours on initial testing and those new additions are looking really, really good!

* CUT. To cut line from retopo reference object, LMB + Alt and drag. Horizontal: Shift. Vertical: Ctrl. Cross: Shift+Ctrl.

I think different hotkeys for horizontal and vertical lines are superfluous. In Photoshop for example, with brush tool selected you press and hold LMB, then you press and hold SHIFT and depending on the direction in which you move your mouse, you will draw either a straight horizontal or vertical line. No need for additional keys (CTRL). You could make it work with diagonal lines too, which currently require a combination of LMB+ALT+SHIFT+CTRL - that's overkill - especially when the order of hotkeys is important (LMB first, then ALT).

For some reason spline vertices are appearing on CUT lines, even with snapping turned off. Is this intentional?

Creating cylindrical shapes with a combination of CUT and EDGE (CTRL for divisions, Enter for disabling camera projection) took me some time to get used to, but it works and that's the most important thing.
In fact, you have implemented the next feature I was about to ask for. 

* PATCH. To create lines inside a rectangle enclosed by 4 sides of lines or mesh edges, at least one side must be line, Caps-Lock+LMB and drag at one of the lines. Once activated, Shift/Ctrl+drag to adjust individual segments. If the lines are created on the wrong side, tap Space key to switch over.

This one is absolutely F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C! I can't believe how much it shortens the time required to retopo a model. Those "fill patches" that go in-between the main poly loops were always time consuming. Not anymore!

I need to learn all of those shortcuts now and give full character retopo a try in one go, with just the Draw Mesh tool. I sense it will be a very relaxing experience.

Oh, I almost forgot. The Aug-23 version seems to freeze randomly (for a limited time at first) when I'm working with Draw Mesh. After it happens for the first time, all rectangular selections will cause another long freeze and even crash-to-desktop with no errors. I'm not sure after which action it happens yet. I'll have to record a video to see what I'm doing before it starts to occur.

I just experienced another freeze right after performing this action:

* To fill hole or jagged border of existing mesh, enable edge snapping, RMB click the first edge then move over to the second edge and LMB drag. If the second edge is the same as the first edge, the whole open edge loop will be used.

However the occurrence of those freezes appear to be totally random, but at the same more frequent when working with Draw Mesh tool.
In fact, I was able to model a simple object without any problems, but later when I tried to retopo another one (with Draw Mesh) - it happened.

IStonia, have you been able to pinpoint the source of the problem by any chance?

Try this
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Sep-05-17.rar

New tooltips. Quite some changes.

1-- DRAW. Use LMB to draw lines. To straighten line, tap Space key. To close line, tap Caps-Lock+Space key. To draw horizontal/vertical lines, press down Shift key. To draw diagonal lines, press down Ctrl key. To allow the line to be drawn through the end of another line, enable vertex/spline snapping.
2-- RESUME. To resume the drawing of a drawn line, Caps-Lock+RMB-Click the line at any of its two ends. Then continue its drawing or right click another line to connect.
3-- JOIN. To join two lines sharing the same end point, press RMB at the line then tap Space key.
4-- BREAK. To break a line, press RMB at the line then tap Alt+Space key.
5-- CUT. To cut line from retopo reference object, LMB + Alt and drag. To cut horizontal/vertical/cross lines, press down Shift key.
6-- REMOVE. To remove a line, right click at it.
7-- EXTRUDE. To extrude lines from existing open edges or line edges, enable edge snapping, LMB drag from the edge. To create from multiple edges, LMB click the first edge then move over to the second edge and LMB drag. If the second edge is the same as the first edge, the whole open edge loop will be used. Once lines drawn out, WMB or Ctrl+LMB-Drag to adjust segments, Ctrl+Shift+LMB-Drag for rotation, Ctrl+Alt+LMB-Drag for Scaling. To bridge, drag the cursor to the opposite side edge or line, tap Space key to correct order if wrong. To change line moving direction, tap Caps-Lock key. To generate mesh without view projection Process, while the mouse button is still being pressed, tap Enter key(Useful for creating cylinder like shapes). To stop current extrusion and sart a new one without releasing mouse button, tap Shift key. If wanted, keep shift key pressed and continue dragging to create a series of extrusion.
8-- FILL. To fill hole or jagged border of existing mesh, enable edge snapping, RMB click the first edge then move over to the second edge and LMB drag. If the second edge is the same as the first edge, the whole open edge loop will be used.
9-- BRIDGE. To create lines between two specified lines, MMB-click or LMB-click+Shift/Ctrl to select the first line, then LMB-Click the second line and drag, or Shift/Ctrl+drag, to adjust the segments. If the order incorrect, tap Space key to fix. To generate mesh in without view projection Process, while the mouse button is still being pressed, tap Enter key(Useful for creating cylinder like shapes).
10-- PATCH. To create lines inside a rectangle enclosed by 4 sides of lines or mesh edges, at least one side must be line, Caps-Lock+LMB and drag at one of the lines. Once activated, Shift/Ctrl+drag to adjust individual segments. If the lines are created on the wrong side, tap Space key to switch over. To generate mesh in without view projection Process, while the mouse button is still being pressed, tap Enter key.
11-- IMPORT. To import lines from lines-of-last-run/scene-splines, Caps-Lock+RMB and drag over 400 pixels horizontally/vertically.
12-- Tweak. To enable the using of the assigned basic streamline tools to tweak generated mesh. To switch it on/off, Caps-Lock+Space key.


A gui is added to ease the tension on hotkeys. It can be turned on/off by Home key.

The behavior in non-retopo mode is changed. See if it is useful for plane modeling with background images. Check the result when drawing a line snapping to other geometries or drawing the line over other lines.





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I just experienced another freeze right after performing this action:

* To fill hole or jagged border of existing mesh, enable edge snapping, RMB click the first edge then move over to the second edge and LMB drag. If the second edge is the same as the first edge, the whole open edge loop will be used.

However the occurrence of those freezes appear to be totally random, but at the same more frequent when working with Draw Mesh tool.
In fact, I was able to model a simple object without any problems, but later when I tried to retopo another one (with Draw Mesh) - it happened.

IStonia, have you been able to pinpoint the source of the problem by any chance?

See if it's still there. There was a bug on polygon group handling.

All right. So far I didn't notice any freezes.

What is the hotkey for closing an existing line (both of its endpoints are in the same location)? Hovering over a curve and pressing CAPS+SPACE doesn't work, but Close from the new interface does.

Drawing strokes fails on random occasions. When it happens, usually toggling snapping on and off helps (ALT+S in my config).
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5_r9d5SdkIvVWdFU09iYy1qSTA