Twitter discussion: What Andrew is currently doing.

[David Walters]

Some tools do switch automatically but this proved to be problematic because there was a slight delay every time you lifted up the stylus, it's also caused some artifacts if I recall correctly. That's why the Surface mode was implemented so there's only one slight delay and minimal artifacts due to the switching.

Oh okay, but I imagined the switch would happen only when you switch between tools - not after every stroke. A delay here wouldn't be nearly as annoying as it's reasonably fast - just not fast enough for per-stroke. Artifacts are bad though, is this why they are seperate? and assuming those were fixed - do you agree that a flat/unified set of sculpting tools should be the goal?

Ultimately my point is that it seems really messy to have to manually enable 'fast mode' when it's something that could happen automatically. I don't mind that there are radically different technical implementations for these tools, but IMHO that could be streamlined by totally concealing it from the artist.

[haikalle]

I changed paradigm of surface tools (to test )- will it be better? Surface will be transformed to voxels not after stroke, but by request.

I haven't tried this yet but it really sounds that it could work much better than the old way. And I have to say that the next update's feature list

really sounds amazing...

[Taros]

I haven't tried this yet but it really sounds that it could work much better than the old way. And I have to say that the next update's feature list

really sounds amazing...

We will see. I hope there will be a lot of bug fixes, too. I'm shure the guys do their best.

[philnolan3d]

From the sounds of it the next update will be 3.2, I think I recall Andrew saying that 3.2 would be delayed until some time in December, which it is now.

I kind of like having the separate modes. Every complicated software will have features that are important, but may not be apparent right away. Heck, most of zbrush's features are not apparent right away! *rim shot* Even Photoshop has little tiny buttons like the Layer Panel menu.

[artman]

ITs great news to see surface tools getting some love!!

And new freeze tool is very intriguing and exciting news.

I cant wait to use Flatten and SF.Pinch without streaks artifacts

...its gonna be like breathing fresh air!!

[philnolan3d]

With all of these changes to Surfaces, I wonder if rendering in Surface mode would be any faster.

[artman]

"E" Panel improved. All rectangular and other effects can be limited by depth and act until some limit

Pretty cool!

http://bit.ly/5D0pUW

[polyxo]

Pretty cool!

http://bit.ly/5D0pUW

This is a nice addition but I preferred when this worked differently, in order to follow

the Tools-Logic.

Ctrl generally inverts the tool-action.

Therefor pressing Crtl should by default only press/cut inward with the current depth value.

Its Strength is easy to adjust, we all know how that works - there's no new Slider needed.

If we want to cut through instead we could e.g. press CTRL+SHIFT. Those who don't like hotkeys

could instead use a Checkbox "Cut through when Subtracting" inside the E-Panel, the Depth-Limitation

slider was not necessary.

[haikalle]

Have to agree with you polyxo. We already have enough sliders and buttons. Now we have to think how to compine them. Maybe Ctr+Shift is better but I don't want to go too far that direcrion too. For example

Everytime when I use Freeze tool I have to check tip to know how to invert freeze ( Crt + Shift + I) I just don't remember that.

I haven't use this feature so it's hard to say how it works. It may work just fine in the end. I just red that it works with hide too. Niceeeee!!!

[philnolan3d]

Everytime when I use Freeze tool I have to check tip to know how to invert freeze ( Crt + Shift + I) I just don't remember that.

Heh I didn't realize there was a keyboard shortcut for that. It's actually pretty easy to remember since it's the same as Invert Selection in Photoshop.

I'll have to try this to see how I like it. Darnnit I was all excited 'til I started reading this thread and started questioning it.

[3DArtist]

So, brushing speed in all modes (paint and voxels) was really improved.

Can't wait to try this out!

[3DArtist]

I improved interface visualisation scheme. During brush stroke interface processing will not take time.

Andrew, have you considered doing a type of "partial redraw" (i.e. silo, blender) for painting and sculpting?

It only updates the poly's that were modified or the area within a bounding box around the pen.

Using partial redraw in blender really speeds up sculpting for high poly objects.

[philnolan3d]

This is what 3DC currently does with voxels. You can actually turn it off if you like, look under Voxels > Incremental Render (checkbox). It can actually cause some minor display issues like turning on or off the symmetry plane doesn't show any change until you move the camera. If you turn off Incremental Render this doesn't happen. You can see it happening if you have it on, then turn off the symmetry plane, but do not move the camera so the plane is still visible. Now paint a little over the plane. You can see the plane disappearing only around where you paint.

[3DArtist]

This is what 3DC currently does with voxels. You can actually turn it off if you like, look under Voxels > Incremental Render (checkbox). It can actually cause some minor display issues like turning on or off the symmetry plane doesn't show any change until you move the camera. If you turn off Incremental Render this doesn't happen. You can see it happening if you have it on, then turn off the symmetry plane, but do not move the camera so the plane is still visible. Now paint a little over the plane. You can see the plane disappearing only around where you paint.

I completely forgot about that, thanks. I remember seeing those artifacts.

Anyway, hopefully not updating the interface while sculpting\painting will minimize the choppyness i'm getting (mainly while painting).

[philnolan3d]

The latest sounds pretty exciting:

-Working over (almost done) free -form primitives. You may create smooth or sharp forms using control points.

-Examples - cube, cylinder, bezier plane, egg - all controlled by control points or transformed as a whole.

-It will work well for creating initial forms and for both - hard surface and organic modeling.

-Also, while making it, some routines was done that will make possible multiresolution in near future (in surface mode at least).

-Also I hired guy to make Hypersmooth - select contour and make surface maximally smooth inside it. Waiting for results from him...