aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaá......... Boolean curves! Amazing!

/me drools. :D

MfG
sk2k

Boolean curves looks really nice Michael! I can already think of ways to use it :)

I have a small request regarding selection.
Is it possible to implement "select edge loops"? I've attached a couple of screenshots to show what I mean. If you select an edge of an object and be able to use a command that will it enable a selection of all of the edges in a loop. Not select all edges but all edges on a single face that are connected.

Hi Richard, I definitely want to add some kind of edge chain selection helpers in the future, but it doesn't look like they're going to happen for V1. I expect to have a set of selection helpers like this for V2.

- Michael

Yup curve booleans are in for the next beta!

Here's another example:

Original:

Boolean difference:

Boolean union:

Boolean intersection:


There is also a merge operation which like the previously mentioned merge is invoked by doing an intersection with only one set and pushing "Done" instead of selecting a second set - this will cut everything into piece and generate all the closed loops. So in this case the result looks the same as the original, except it is all split into little pieces.

The way these work is if you select only planar, closed curves that are all on the same plane, then the boolean tools will do a curve boolean.

It seems to be working really well, the only complication is with Union in some places - since everything is all selected all in a single shot for union there are some times when it can't properly tell when a shape completely contained inside another is supposed to be a hole or a solid shape.

The really cool thing is this is yet another instance of making the existing tools more powerful without adding any extra UI!

Looks like I will be able to wrap curve booleans up tonight and try a couple other boolean enhancements tomorrow...

- Michael

Holy moly! I can't wait for that. :) MoI gains up in power. Great work Michael.

MfG
sk2k

Hi Michael,

Boolean curves: You won't have to click inside the areas you want to keep or remove? It works without intervention? I think so if I understand you well. On the other hand, this is restricted to closed curve (how you mentioned) due to this automatic handling, isn't it...

Petr

> Boolean curves: You won't have to click inside the areas you
> want to keep or remove? It works without intervention? I think so if I
> understand you well.

Yes, this is correct it works in the exact same steps as a regular solid boolean, no extra picking or intervention required.


> On the other hand, this is restricted to closed curve (how you mentioned) due
> to this automatic handling, isn't it...

Yes, that is the case. I tried to get open curves to work with the merge operator - it almost works but there are some complications that get in the way that won't be easy to solve for now.

Something that involves open curves and manually picking areas, although certainly useful in the right circumstances, just is not what I would call a boolean operation. Boolean operations involve using Difference, Union, or Intersection.

A region picking method would be something I'd consider to be more applicable in the Trim tool instead. Right now in MoI there is a control in Trim that lets you specify whether you are keeping or removing the selected fragments - this would be a good spot to also have a point-in-area selector as another optional way to specify the fragments.

- Michael

Michael,
Thanks for the info. No problem on waiting as I have enough tools in this version to keep me plenty happy ;)
And those new booleans are sparking ideas already :)

Woaw !

Boolean on curves was one of my requests ! I didn't expect to see it in MoI before V.2... Can't wait for the next beta...

Thanks Michael !

MoI version 1 and ZBrush 3 released next spring ! It's gonna be crazy !!!! ;-))

You mean this Spring for Zbrush 3... ;)

Ok, another Boolean enhancement for the next beta: Auto-extrude.

This allows planar curves to be used in the boolean as either a cutter for Boolean Difference, or as an entry into Boolean Intersection.

This is a convenience factor which automatically handles extruding the planar curves through the objects behind the scenes.

So for example given this setup with the curves floating in front of the sphere:



In the next beta you will be able to do boolean difference to do this:



Or boolean intersection to get the reverse:




I think just one more area to tune-up before Booleans are all finished for V1...

- Michael

Wow! Exactly what I need! :D

>> You mean this Spring for Zbrush 3... ;)

I mean the one coming after this winter... ;-)))
I'm just wondering how the new tools in ZB3 (matcap and some other things I've seen on the video) will ease the process of texturing objects created in other applications like MoI...

Maybe Michael should release V.1 on the 15th of May as well. I would take a week holidays then... ;-)

@ Michael : Auto-extrude looks great !

Ok, just finished another boolean tune-up for the next beta - Boolean difference now works well when using surfaces instead of only solids.

This combined with auto-extrude means that this is now possible - given this setup:



Doing a boolean difference of the box with curve as a subtraction gives this (pieces moved to illustrate):



Where each piece is a solid. Here's another example - the results are all solids:




So quite a bit of boolean stuff for the next beta coming...

- Michael

Very cool stuff!

I think this spring I will get a new release of all the apps I use!
AutoCAD, Revit, Maxwell, MoI, etc...

Hi Michael,

What happens when group of curves will be inside of solid or intersect the one?

Petr

Hi JTB, AutoCAD is released each spring... I think it is rather embarrassing then worthwile... -Petr

> What happens when group of curves will be inside of solid or intersect the one?

Hi Petr, I may need an image of this to be certain that I understand your question.

But if I understand correctly, it doesn't matter where the curves are located, they can be anywhere along their plane normal and have the same effect.

This is because the solid doesn't interact with the curves directly - instead imagine that the curves are
moved along their plane normal to be placed just a little bit outside the bounding box of the solid (or surface), then extruded so that they push through to a little bit more than the other side of the bounding box of the solid.

This produces the same extrusion part no matter where the curves are placed along that normal direction.

Then the solid actually interacts with that extrusion.


I've now finished Union now to work properly with surfaces.

- Michael