New Tool Test "Draw Mesh"

Doh, I had both vertex & spline snap turned on so that is why it didn't work !

If I just have vertex snap on it works good ! All sorted now.

Mask and patching is working well also on this simple example.

Hi Istonia

You asked in another thread if I had been doing any more trials of Draw Mesh in non-retopo mode.

I have lots of suggestions how to improve it so the tool can be used for this purpose. But maybe just work through it bit by bit.

I just tried it on a simple 2d mesh with Sept 27 and got the following result. All other trials I have done that are similar to this also failed.

One addition to the tool that is really required is being able to draw straight lines at any angle.

I envisage such a tool working this way.
- Hold SHIFT & Click on screen when you would like to start the line
- release SHIFT and click on a point on screen where you would like to end the line.

It would be nice if you could create a draw mesh spline by a series of clicks and the spline would go through each point clicked.

I think these would be a really nice addition to the tool for those of us who need to model hard surface objects. Freehand lines are fine for organic modelling purposes.

Hi Istonia

You asked in another thread if I had been doing any more trials of Draw Mesh in non-retopo mode.

I have lots of suggestions how to improve it so the tool can be used for this purpose. But maybe just work through it bit by bit.

I just tried it on a simple 2d mesh with Sept 27 and got the following result. All other trials I have done that are similar to this also failed.

I can't reproduce the problem. What is you auto weld threshold value?

One addition to the tool that is really required is being able to draw straight lines at any angle.

I envisage such a tool working this way.
- Click on screen when you would like to start the line
- Hold shift and click on a point on screen where you would like to end the line.

It would be nice if you could create a draw mesh spline by a series of clicks and the spline would go through each point clicked.

I think these would be a really nice addition to the tool for those of us who need to model hard surface objects. Freehand lines are fine for organic modelling purposes.

Can you show what those line look like in a pic?

I think you can ignore my image post above about draw mesh not working everytime I try it in non-retopo mode.

I reset the view and it works everytime now.

I don't know if this is normal behaviour or not. But in the viewport when I set it to top ortho view and then go to view menu > reset view it rotates the viewport 90° ?

It doesn't happen to me.

It doesn't happen to me.

Weird, must be something about my NVidia video driver. It happens in all viewports.

My scene was set to meters and the autoweld threshold was 0.97435870m. I don't know why that is as I never set it to that but that looks like the culprit. When I zoomed out in the viewport I obviously created a larger mesh and autoweld never kicked in.

Here is a pic of the spline and Straight line at any angle suggestion. It will help with generating meshes more precisely with draw mesh when you are modelling hard surface objects.

Sorry drawing straight lines at any angle by tapping the SPACEBAR is already implemented so that works fine.

The spline option would be nice though.

Sorry drawing straight lines at any angle by tapping the SPACEBAR is already implemented so that works fine.

Or draw a very short curve, then resume it, which will allow you to continue with a continuous sequence of lines (if you LMB-click instead of drag).

Or draw a very short curve, then resume it, which will allow you to continue with a continuous sequence of lines (if you LMB-click instead of drag).

That's a great tip, thanks, I didn't realise you can do that but it works nice.

IStonia I have a suggestion for this SPACEBAR mode for drawing straight line. It could look like this:
LMB+SPACEBAR - enables drawing of line sequences. After the first line is drawn (you need to keep LMB depressed to lay down the first line), tool starts to behave in the same way as in Resume mode (with the very same sticky dashed line attached to cursor; LMB can be released). So for example you could create a sequence of lines by LMB-clicking or a stroke by LMB-dragging, interchangeably and without leaving this mode. RMB to quit.

IStonia I have a suggestion for this SPACEBAR mode for drawing straight line. It could look like this:
LMB+SPACEBAR - enables drawing of line sequences. After the first line is drawn (you need to keep LMB depressed to lay down the first line), tool starts to behave in the same way as in Resume mode (with the very same sticky dashed line attached to cursor; LMB can be released). So for example you could create a sequence of lines by LMB-clicking or a stroke by LMB-dragging, interchangeably and without leaving this mode. RMB to quit.

I really like this suggestion for drawing out polygons more precisely for hard surface objects.

The spline curves I mentioned above would really come in useful for patching more precisely.

What does Refine do? I tried it a couple of times on Draw Mesh curves, but it didn't seem to affect them in any way.

What does Refine do? I tried it a couple of times on Draw Mesh curves, but it didn't seem to affect them in any way.

See page 13 of this thread.

If you draw a normal spline and Import it with Draw Mesh you then use Refine to project that spline with 1 level of subd onto a retopo surface. It is a way of creating a Draw Mesh spline in retopo mode rather than just a wobbly freehand line. It is really handy tool for retopo patching organic type hard surface meshes like aircraft fuselages or car bodies.

Thanks Kevjon!
This non-retopo drawing is pretty cool.

One problem though. I can't snap to vertices that lie on backfaces, which would be pretty handy here. Does anyone remember which option is responsible for it?