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Author Topic: A list of ideas for anim8or  (Read 192601 times)

bamman62

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #15 on: September 02, 2008, 07:29:06 pm »

Well, it seems everybody understands the point of this thread as more of a "Your own suggestions go here" which is what I was intending :P. I will not edit the list, but I found some of my other ideas already possible. Although I do have some more to prevent this post from simply being a 'bump'. I also agree with headwax that I see anim8or more as a modeler than a renderer. Now, here is a list of a few things I suggest that I have not noticed in any other modeling program.

 Uniform scale settings- Uniform scale affects height, width, and depth, but what if you want to make a cylinder fatter, but not longer. Or if you just want to influence the height. Non uniform scale forces you to switch to top view, this leaves room for both human error, and is time consuming. Being able to make the scale only effect Z and Y would be very benificial in some cases.

 An edit on merge points- It seems when you merge points it pulls toward one side ore the other, The operation is in the menu bar, so why not give it some pop-up settings before the operation is performed. You could choose 'Meet at left', 'Meet at right', or 'Meet in Middle'

Subdivide vertically or horizontally- Sometimes I simply want to have more vertical points on a mesh, or horizontal. The current operation forces both.

Cut faces by selecting points- Whenever you cut an extra edge into the face, ALWAYS influences the back of the mesh. This can become a real hassle. My idea is that FRONT and BACK actually influence the cut faces operation.   

Once again, great suggestions from previous posters, and the main point of this thread is not to express my ideas; it is to allow everyone else to form their own. This will save a little space in the forums for the actual errors and allow anim8or to become a better program in the long run. (It also save the critique of making your own topic).
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hihosilver

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #16 on: September 02, 2008, 09:35:39 pm »

Quote
Subdivide vertically or horizontally- Sometimes I simply want to have more vertical points on a mesh, or horizontal. The current operation forces both.

To do this you can select an edge, and as long as your trying to cut across an edge loop you can simply press "shift + q" which will do a ring loop select.  You can then press 'j' and connect edges.  It will make one continuous cut throughout the edges.

Quote
Cut faces by selecting points- Whenever you cut an extra edge into the face, ALWAYS influences the back of the mesh. This can become a real hassle. My idea is that FRONT and BACK actually influence the cut faces operation.   

I'm not sure what version you're using there.  Cutting faces with 'back' turned off should only cut the front-ward facing faces.  So perhaps you're using an older version?  I'm using v0.97b and it works fine.
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KiwiNM8OR

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #17 on: September 03, 2008, 06:48:31 am »

Well, I too know of Anim8or's infancy and how great Anim8or is at surface modeling and though I'm not waiting too soon for this I would like to see more fog type effects. For example isolating fog to all axis X,Y and Z, This is admittedly more of a Special FX feature but imagine being able to make a column of fog or even a simple layer, then a gap, then another layer like layers of cloud. Already fog has near and far Z-axis and seemingly limitless Y-axis but how about an X-axis too? But like I said I'm not going to wait too soon and Anim8or has far more pressing problems than the addition of Special FX...so far...Having said that Anim8or in my view is fun too use with with an excellent and simple to understand interface. I'm no great modeler or even anywhere near figure anim8ing but I enjoy this program and hope to see  it well into the future of animation. Cheers Steve. By the way what does the R stand for or are you being shy...lol (what with internet id protection and all). Cheers either way and a big maaaaaaaa from New Zealand (I'm sure headwax and definitly johnarr knows what I mean by that...hehe) This site is fun.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2008, 07:01:05 am by KiwiNM8OR »
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bamman62

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #18 on: September 03, 2008, 07:52:03 am »

Quote
I'm not sure what version you're using there.  Cutting faces with 'back' turned off should only cut the front-ward facing faces.  So perhaps you're using an older version?  I'm using v0.97b and it works fine.


I use .97b in some cases, but I use 95 due to its slightly lower rate of crashing. I did tried in in 95 and it worked. The strange thing is that it didn't for a period of time. (Then again things can get really glitchy with it in long sessions). I will have to try the loop cut suggestion later.
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spicy

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #19 on: September 03, 2008, 03:11:21 pm »

Some of those ideas are good, are those just collected ideas over the years or yours? Anim8or is a good capable program but there is always room for improvement
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onespirit5777

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #20 on: September 07, 2008, 01:20:49 am »

I really like the UV settings in v97b, but sometimes I still use the UV settings in v95. They are very useful in certain areas. The next version should have them both.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2008, 08:09:48 pm by onespirit5777 »
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Thanos

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #21 on: September 08, 2008, 06:05:36 am »

Paralax mapping would be nice
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hihosilver

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #22 on: September 08, 2008, 06:15:55 pm »

Thanos, I believe paralax mapping has a lot more to do with games, though normal mapping is used more often.  Some game engines can use parallax mapping, but a good first step would be to be able to use normal maps which are much more common.  Still, since Anim8or doesn't have any way to bake a normal map or paralax map, and it doesn't have any sculpting tools for extremely high-res models I don't see too much of a use for paralax mapping yet since it's not really a game-oriented 3d tool in those ways.
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bamman62

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #23 on: September 08, 2008, 06:26:13 pm »

\o/   On the normal mapping idea. Also a little more complexity in the UV mapping,
 l l  such as allowing multiple UV's for a model. Also, the ability to view, edit, and export a UV map.
 
 
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Suppastar

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #24 on: September 10, 2008, 11:40:35 pm »

...I don't see too much of a use for paralax mapping yet since it's not really a game-oriented 3d tool in those ways...

I hope one day we get those tools, because right now making game models in anim8or sucks. Trust me.


Anyway, Actual Normal Mapping or Virtual Displacement Mapping would be useful for everything, Height maps don't have the same effect as Normal maps/VDM. Real Normal maps/VDM would help create better models for gaming/mod's and rendering. Normals make something look bumped up instead of barely making it rise off the mesh

Example: http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/X800XTdhreview/ATIHTMLPAGES/mapping.jpg
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hihosilver

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #25 on: September 11, 2008, 01:07:33 am »

My only issue is that Anim8or doesn't have any sculpting tools.  To create normal maps, you'd have to create them in a different program anyways.  Support of viewing them could be nice, but I don't know how much of an effort should be put in for this reason unless Steve plans on sculpting and extremely high poly support.
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Suppastar

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #26 on: September 11, 2008, 01:43:16 am »

I only meant for "Rendering" Normal maps, to make Normals you would have to have a external program, I know that. But, Rendering Normal maps in the rendering process would be easier then re-writing AN8 to make it accept a slew of external .bats and such just for one thing. 


Full Normal map integration should only be implemented if and ONLY if you Re-write Anim8or, Steve.  ;)

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Steve

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #27 on: September 11, 2008, 01:50:44 am »

"Just so you know..."  I do read all these suggestions.  They are helpful in prioritizing what I work on.

And to KiwiNM8OR: the "R" stands for "Arrrrrr, matey!"  Oops, no, I mean, "Robert".
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floyd86

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #28 on: September 11, 2008, 05:43:17 am »

And to KiwiNM8OR: the "R" stands for "Arrrrrr, matey!"  Oops, no, I mean, "Robert".

I always knew steve was a pirate ^^.

CowTail

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Re: A list of ideas for anim8or
« Reply #29 on: September 11, 2008, 06:31:15 pm »

Steve, I think a great investment of your an8 dev time would be to support the COLLADA (.dae) or Filmbox (.fbx) format. Just pick one and focus on it as the primary export format and update it regularly with each release, and you'll be opening a lot more avenues for Anim8or to be used with! These formats are specifically for interchanging between 3d applications, and they're also being more widely used in game engines, so it's like knocking out several birds with one stone.

But aside from that, I think an upgrade in the modeling tools to make it more intuitive would be great, it's fallen behind compared to the other programs out there. 3D widgets, a "tweak" tool similar to that in softimage XSI or wings3D (with soft selection), real-time mirroring, etc.

And IMO, the skeletal animation system needs a complete overhaul.

Thanks for your time and effort!
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