[Retopology] Refined cylinder tool, triangulated cap tool, spin tool

Hello! I've always enjoyed Nvil in the small amounts I used it for poly modelling but only just recently started using it for retopology and am blown away at how good it is for retop. That said, I'd love to see a couple additions for the sake of making several processes that I've found frustrating to be less time consuming.

If you could implement tools like the strokes tool from 3d-coat, specifically how it works to generate cylinder type geometry it would be a much better way to generate a basic set of geometry for things like hair strands, finger tips, claws, teeth etc. As it is, it is far too tedious to refine these particular kinds of shapes without a lot of turning and patching.

Similarly, a triangulated cap the same way 3d-coat handles it would be a great addition as well. Currently, to cap off the kinds of shapes I listed previously, I'm having to select the edge loop, cap the hole, then triangulate it (and often have to manually triangulate it because Nvil's triangulate tends to not want to find a center point for shapes that aren't near perfect ovals/circles.

My last request for this post would be a way to spin loops interactively. Right now the only way I've found how to spin a loop is with a menu item and it only works in a way that you can't refine the values for how much it spins. If this tool already exists I'd love to know where it is, if not I'd for something similar to be added so you can improve loop flows that are put in place roughly and then cleaned up afterwards. The blender addon retopoflow has a good example of how this tool would work.

I'm including a picture of how I'd like to see the cylinder tool modified also.



Thanks!

If you could implement tools like the strokes tool from 3d-coat, specifically how it works to generate cylinder type geometry it would be a much better way to generate a basic set of geometry for things like hair strands, finger tips, claws, teeth etc. As it is, it is far too tedious to refine these particular kinds of shapes without a lot of turning and patching.

Have a look in the help file under Modeling > Edge section > retopo > Connecting splines.

I've actually recently tried looking through the help menu and it's just empty for me. I see all the categories and the drop downs but there's no content inside them. Not sure why that would be but I can't find any of the information in the help guide.

Have a look for the "Nvil 1.0 help.chm" file in the directory where you extracted Nvil. It should be under the help folder.

Yeah, that's what I was referring to as being blank/empty

Hi b33nine, maybe this help solve the blank chm problem you have
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1961503-solved-windows-10-chm-help-files-showing-up-blank

Thanks Miica, that did the trick.

So, I actually was able to find a tutorial that went over the connecting splines bit. It was not in english, but I was able to guess what the relevant keystrokes were just based off of the other tools.

I saw that there was a cap tool as well in the help guide, but I couldn't get it to work as the guide said it would. I'm using Samardac's profile so that may have something to do with it? I also noticed that on the connecting splines tool, when it's just between two loops that there is a number that shows up by the cursor for the loops/rings but that does not show up on mine either.

Is there by any chance a spin tool already existing like I'm asking for? haha.

Thanks!

What do you mean by spin loops interactively ? Are you able to describe it or post a pic.

If you could implement tools like the strokes tool from 3d-coat, specifically how it works to generate cylinder type geometry it would be a much better way to generate a basic set of geometry for things like hair strands, finger tips, claws, teeth etc. As it is, it is far too tedious to refine these particular kinds of shapes without a lot of turning and patching.

If you use draw mesh "in draw mode" hold Ctl + Alt and it will draw a line right around the cylindrical object. Best to do this in a ortho view. Once the lines are drawn you can use draw mesh "bridge" to create you mesh between the circular lines and adjust the segments vertically and horizontally.

Similarly, a triangulated cap the same way 3d-coat handles it would be a great addition as well. Currently, to cap off the kinds of shapes I listed previously, I'm having to select the edge loop, cap the hole, then triangulate it (and often have to manually triangulate it because Nvil's triangulate tends to not want to find a center point for shapes that aren't near perfect ovals/circles.

For cylindrical objects, the best way is to cap the hole and then use "poke polygon" tool. To make it one tool you add both commands into a composite tool. One of the great strengths of Nvil is the ability to create composite tools from multiple commands.

Thanks Kevjon.

The spin tool I was talking about wanting can be see in this video here:

https://youtu.be/4lxPXkxflV8?t=292

Sorry, I did not see a spin loop tool in retopoflow video.

What did you need a spin loop tool to do ?

The video I linked shows the tool being used, but he's essentially grabbing an edge loop from the in progress retop and depending on the hotkey you can rotate or spin the loop in real time to better fine tune the fit of the retop to the reference mesh. I believe the rotation angle aspect of the tool is based on camera view, but the spin portion remains on the same axis.

It's just a tool to adjust a loop to better flow with the reference mesh.

Ok, thanks for the explanation.

Have a look at the help info of "Transform" in draw mesh. It has the ability to rotate draw mesh lines.

You could also exit out of draw mesh and adjust the position and rotation of mesh edge loops with Nvil's standard tools. Keep retopo on while doing this.

Try this
http://www.digitalfossils.com/Download/NVil-Aug-05-19.rar


  * Draw Mesh > Cut: Once the cut line is created, "Ctrl+Drag" can be used to move the position of the whole cut line.
  * Draw Mesh > Bridge: If you have created some lines, which are all opened or closed lines, "Ctrl+Shift+Space" can be used to create bridge lines across those lines quickly. If the bridge is on closed lines, "Ctrl+Shift+Drag" can be used to adjust the offset on closed lines.
  * Draw Mesh > Mesh_Tweak: "Caps-Lock+LMB" > LoopSlide/CapHole, "Caps-Lock+MMB" > ClosedEdgeLoop Rotate, "Caps-Lock+RMB" > ClosedEdgeLoop Spin.