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MrChristopher
Regularly Educational
USA
1709 Posts |
 Posted - 07/26/2011 : 13:03:45
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This is a major release. The new blurry code is at the heart this. It's more robust and simply better than what is in 6.2. It allows us to do things simply not possible in 6.x. It allows for much more realistic images as surfaces behave in a more physically correct way, whether used for characters or clocks. It uses a new rough surface simulation system that approximates how reflections work more closely in the real world, for instance its behavior changes more correctly depending on the view angle. It's also random whereas 6.0 isn't fully random and could result in surfaces that which not have been very smooth, especially with HDRI images. It opens up many possibilities. High quality blurriness is at the heart of good renderings.
And yes there were a lot of metal surfaces in my renderings, often with anisotropy. The part of the material system that received updates needed a lot of testing.
Antialiasing also received some attention.
We have localized welding now.
Ring/Loop select between selected edges (I love this one)
The flatten command can use non-normal based flatten direction. The attached image shows this. By default flatten to grids happens along the grid's normal direction. In 7.0 if any guide is active, standard or custom, it is used at the flatten vector. It's really useful.
The hard edge system has been updated and improved. It's not more useful and easier to work with. This one is especially helpful for hard-body modeling.
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4631 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 13:12:24
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I just put a video on the gallery showing how fast it can be to create a box to precise measurements, fillet its edges, and UV map it. the box is perfectly structured for adding subdivision surfaces. (It took under a minute)
http://www.stratacafe.com/image.asp?galcat=0&imageID=30129
There are other methods to set up a box, this is just one approach I like. Hard edge handling has been improved, and it now provides an additional nice way to do the same thing.
Jean
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Edited by - jpro on 07/26/2011 13:12:49 |
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Hopper2
Regularly Helpful
USA
655 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 13:19:19
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In poly editing mode was the bevel tool enhanced? I ask this because I see the fillet tool used in your video, which is fine for global application. I was looking for more local controls and enhancements to existing editing tools. It does look like many new things are available. Thanks
Hopper |
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MrChristopher
Regularly Educational
USA
1709 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 13:19:41
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Here's a simple animation showing the more robust flatten functions in 7.0. In 6.2, each of the 3 edges loops would have been flattened to the same location. In this case each is flattened still as a loop, in addition to the custom vector.
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Hopper2
Regularly Helpful
USA
655 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 13:22:34
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Thanks a nice feature!
Hopper |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4631 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 13:25:37
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Polygon bevel tool is still the same.
Jean
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MrChristopher
Regularly Educational
USA
1709 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 13:32:12
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What has changed in general, and specifically impacting the bevel tool, is the way mouse movement determines the action. In 6.0 the drag direction was the normal for the element you click. This could cause problems in some situations, especially when the element had a normal perpendicular to the view. In this case no operation would take place. But this has been improved in 7.0. Mouse movement to control an operation is much more consistent and overcomes some of those limitations.
This specific geometry wouldn't have beveled in 6.2 given the same view during the bevel.
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MrChristopher
Regularly Educational
USA
1709 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 13:35:27
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[quote]Originally posted by MrChristopher
What has changed in general, and specifically impacting the bevel tool, is the way mouse movement determines the action. In 6.0 the drag direction was the normal for the element you click. This could cause problems in some situations, especially when the element had a normal perpendicular to the view. In this case no operation would take place. But this has been improved in 7.0. Mouse movement to control an operation is much more consistent and overcomes some of those limitations.
This specific geometry wouldn't have beveled in 6.2 given the same view during the bevel.
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4631 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 13:36:44
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Yes, I forget about that one, since I do beveling with nudge keys. So, this is specific for mouse-dragging, and must be a big help for you mousers.
Jean
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Stratagizer
A Regular
USA
303 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 13:56:40
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This is all very encouraging. My brain still visualizes certain modeling solutions w/booleans & the new tools look very promising. The UV mapping is key. You'll hear no whining from me if a few items are pushed to a future release.
I seem to remember a very early version of Strata that rendered hard edge (RT?) shadows only. My how you've grown!
I know better than to ask for a release timetable, but would be glad to know whenever that info is available. I'm down for advance purchase too. |
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MrChristopher
Regularly Educational
USA
1709 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 14:53:24
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Here's another super useful enhancement. Loop and Ring select will only fill between two edges on a loop/ring select.
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Edited by - MrChristopher on 07/26/2011 14:54:35 |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4631 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 14:53:27
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Weld/unweld: Chris has already mentioned local welding. this is not just the point welding we already had in version 6. In 7, you can select a range of vertices, and specify a weld tolerance for the selected vertices, without leaving the polygon mesh editor.
You can also do local unwelding in the polygon editor: select a series of vertices, edges, or faces to unweld. Depending upon how you do this, you can detach a set of faces, or open up a seam in a mesh, etc.
Jean
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MrChristopher
Regularly Educational
USA
1709 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 15:03:19
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Here's a brief clip showing some of these options put together in a simple modeling operation. Unweld, partial loop selecting, multiple-edge bridging.
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Mark Sweeney
Inquisitive
79 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 15:12:12
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The new tools look great, and will be a welcome addition. I'm not sure what the launch date is for 7.0, but I really hope to upgrade to an Intel to be able to use 7.0.
I do a lot of UV mapping in silo, and it's one of several bottlenecks for me - I have to export, UV map, re-import, and then add the artwork to see if it works/looks right. It also means triple the files: Strata, .obJ, .sib, back to .obj. and into Strata before finally exporting .dae & or .obj for game development.
Does the Strata UV mapper do UVs XYZ, like Silo? That's been hand for me when I fake perspective for UV art.
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MrChristopher
Regularly Educational
USA
1709 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 15:17:02
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This is perhaps my favorite enhancement. We could do hard edges and vertices in 6.2. But this functionality has been enhanced so it's much easier to use. In 6.2, if hard edges intersect, you had to manually set these intersecting edges' vertex to hard in a separate operation.
This can be seen in the 6.2 image where I left them without hardness applied.
It was kind of tedious on anything but simple scenarios. This had to be done on open hard edge boundary vertices also. In 7.0 this is all automated and just works in one command. This may seem esoteric but it's hugely useful for subdivision surface modeling.
Hard edges are also highlighted when in edge mode so it's easy to see what has been set to what.
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4631 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 15:22:51
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For Dale: Here are 2 of the 3 bears I just posted in the gallery. 7 does make character modeling easier. I used select-through, image templates, submesh materials, local range welding, and "vampire" properties on these guys. (I was in a hurry to meet a deadline, so I never bothered to UV map the characters, I just assigned submesh materials.) Also, I used the improved hard edges. Check the gallery to see all three bears.
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edit: I used normal maps to get stronger textures, too.
Jean
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Edited by - jpro on 07/26/2011 15:24:42 |
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Dasch
Regularly Educational
Canada
1164 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 15:23:21
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Thanks for showing these VERY COOL modelling upgrades! The hard edge function looks real useful as do the edge ring selection and multiple edge bridge!
Dasch
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4631 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 15:33:08
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Mark, could you elaborate on this question : "Does the Strata UV mapper do UVs XYZ, like Silo? That's been hard for me when I fake perspective for UV art." I'm not sure I understand what you are asking.
Jean
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MrChristopher
Regularly Educational
USA
1709 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 16:19:03
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Here are some examples of the blurry code improvements. 7.0 has a new native blurry reflection system, a 'rough surface simulator' of sorts. The code from 6.2 was also improved so surface fidelity is improved even if rendering using the older mechanism. However, you get some benefits by switching materials over to the new system, one is view dependents which I'll post more about after this post. Notice the 7.0 (right) has a uniformly smooth roughness. In 6.0 really bright HDRI regions could cause the blurry system to produce a sort of 'blooming' effect. This is gone now.
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Mark Sweeney
Inquisitive
79 Posts |
Posted - 07/26/2011 : 16:20:47
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quote:
Originally posted by jpro
Mark, could you elaborate on this question : "Does the Strata UV mapper do UVs XYZ, like Silo? That's been hard for me when I fake perspective for UV art." I'm not sure I understand what you are asking.
Jean
I may have the wrong terminology - but instead of unwrapping and object, or moving it's faces into position to wrap a texture around it, XYZ UV essentially projects a UV Map that is an orthographic view of the object or model.
While it's not handy for something being viewed from multiple angles, it's great for head on views.
For instance, the iPad version of the slot games I'm doing is all 3D, but you only see the machine head-on from the front.
In one case, if I modeled the machine accurately, the buttons would be on too much of an angle to read properly, but gets great reflections on the case when rendered. So I did two versions - one accurate, and one where the button case and buttons are nearly vertical, making them easy to read. I took the rendering from one, and applied it to the XYZ UV map of the other to get nice realistic reflections that would be impossible, but helps fake the perspective.
In another example, the chrome trim on the front of the cabinet is rounded. It looks nice when rendered, but the rounded trim drives up the poly count. So I did one version to render, and applied that to a flattened version of the trim, which was made using the UV XYZ method in Silo. The renderings and the new UV always line up perfectly.
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Design 3D 7.0 - What would you like to see?
