Curves- ascii import/ export

[GradeSchool]

I love the curves tool in sculpting.

 

I know you can save and load curves, and you can also edit curve points manually by entering x,y,z values.

 

What I'd like to see is an ascii .curves fie format (not binary), so that I can create curve points in other software. A format other than the native 3D Coat binary .curves format that we can use to import curve point sequences created elsewhere.

 

Creating curves in 3d Coat is done by manually placing curve points and adjusting them in 3d space. It's difficult to achieve complex, geometrically precise curve shapes manually. This automated geometric curve generation is a process that other software excels at.

 

I know I can enter curve points using the "Edit Points" feature, but this is also manual, and quite tedious. Very difficult to achieve for long curve point chains.

 

Perhaps I could script this feature, but I am still struggling to find resources for scripting in 3d Coat.

 

Any thoughts?

[ajz3d]

Good point. Splines can be saved as, what I recon is, some form of an XML format. Hence, I'm not sure why a binary format was chosen as a solution to store Curves data.

 

Being able to script curves would very useful. AFAIK it's not possible ATM, but I know that the devs are reworking the scripting model (to be more compliant with object-oriented programming and to offer more freedom in general), so I'm sure handling curves and splines via scripting will be available pretty soon.

 

Check Andrei Sirokomski's blog at: http://signmotion.blogspot.com/ for updates on the progress of 3D-Coat scripting improvements.

[do lo]

cmon 3d coat, get going with this...

[GradeSchool]

Opening the curves file format- from binary to ascii- would be a great way to start opening 3dCoat to more inter-operations with other software / techniques.

 

One other feature I thought might be very useful is a hotkey that lets you save the current 3d point under the brush to a file/clipboard. You can keep adding points and create a list that can then be used as your curve chain.

 

So for example, you want to create a very long and complex chain of points on a complex surface. Instead of creating the points one by one using the curves tool as it currently works, you could simply move your brush over the surface, hitting a hotkey where you would like to "store" a point or node. 

 

Then, when you are done, load the saved list of points and apply a curve to the list. It's just a subtle difference in workflow, but it can help you quickly make complex chains, because you aren't actually visualizing the chain as you create. I know that may not make much sense, but it's just a suggestion...

 

Thanks!