Discussions for "Better snapping and precision modeling"

Two vertices gives you an angle to horizontal, or relative to 0 if you like. My three vertex measure measure between three vertices that might not be planar in any view, or might not be relative to any axis as zero degrees, so I decided the two methods were necessary.

I still want to see these features in Blender to attract draughtsmen to the product. I will look at your thread later, sounds like this has been on-going for a while and needs to take off now!

Cheers, Clock.

Looks like ruler/protactor tool?
The problem of displayed values that they are never precise enough.
So we prefer to use basic geometry for operations to hold precise values.
But in different time we made ability for different tools to show values)

  • For example Sideshift stores length and direction of transforms, based on an egde.

SIDE

  • 3D Rotor/Scaler, that uses key for precise rotation and copying, and scaling between side lenghts differences of key - showing side lengths and angle of key.

ROTOR

You may know, that I am maintainer of different scripts toolsets, So I work with and sponsors a lot of local developers, such as Bartius Crous (that wrote to me world famous F2 tool), Nikitron, as author of Sverchok parametric node engine for blender, Cfyzzz for 1D_Scripts, and so on.

It was generic collection of different scripts by Nikitron, so I asked him to write counter of volume / area / summ of selected edges length for Blender. Area and volume tools are writing their results per material in Blender text editor, so they form report (we were using in actual building design - area gives nice results)
So, arc length in mesh is actually, a summ of lengths of it’s edges)


Well, I wrote this all to overview entire theme. Displaying tools can be out of the snaps scope, but there are a lot of things to generalize for total tool, and, maybe, to propose it)

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Here is a nice video about keys in 3D_Match tool:

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you already know I’m a super-fan of your work…

Thank you! We all making a nice software)

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As suggested also by @clockmender in its tread, we would need new objects suitable for visual feedback, helper and measurement with lots of APIs useful to developer addons

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This could be achieved with 3d cursor if it would have few more features (I think, it would be easier to code):

  1. Cursor to selection would need align with geometry
  2. Selection to cursor would need align to cursor.

I would imagine a new cursor “with the little legs nanopoles” that can be grabbed and stretched along the snapping points, for a fast positioning and visual alignment

these legs that stretch, I wish they were also measuring instruments, you could create angles etc … in practice the cursor that besides being a pointer of positioning becomes also a sort of ruler and compass …

I just did this quick draft to make the idea clearer

these greens, they could be fake little legs that can be created that do not influence the rotation of the cursor but that would be used to measure angles and lengths

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Now 3-point alignation (alongside with 1- and 2-) is part of B.A.S.E. concept proposal

A ruler/protactor-based alignation tool was my previous proposal, that was made before B.A.S.E.
As snapping/alignation tool it was way too complex)
Ruler/Protactor tool have to be designed separately, and more properly than I did there, on my mind.

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A very nice realization)

Also, some CAD ideas from 1D_Scripts

  1. project edges in 2d
  2. project projections of edges (in 2d projection)
  3. make an intersections
  4. build 3-point arc from loop
  5. resolve arcs desity with loop resolve
  6. reduce arcs density x2
  7. set 3d cursor to arc’s center (not shown on GIF)
  8. full 3d project edges (not shown on GIF)

Also, a Polycross tool

And some more.
It is good, but it is CAD tools, not snaps, actually)

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precision modelling :wink:

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Indeed :smiley:
But, well, if precision CAD modeling can be added at least as addons, snaps requires core changes, so, I guess, they have priority)

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a good set of API to interact with snapping tools, visual preview tools, and measurement tools …
maybe it would be the best thing … so you addons devs can have fun.

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For sure) The only problem, it is a bit hard to define good proposal for API changes.
For example, I can’t do such thing by myself as I am user, my devs have no ideas, because they used to write code by proposals, and don’t have personal interests in CAD…

Someone need to have right dreams being both CAD engineer and programmer to make such complex thing)

basically you’re talking about yourself … :grin:
What are you waiting for to go a bit deeper in the blender code and propose some project-patches that implement your ideas?
you don’t look too bad in codig …
perhaps after the basics of snapping and precision modeling have been implemented …

This is kind a strategic issue
As you may know, I am diamond blenderfund donator, so I constantly need to make some funds for it.
It leaves no chances for any kind of deep programming activity, especially recently. Sorry)

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Yes I agree, that is why I have got involved here as an ideas man, with many years in CAD (37 to date, not much really…) and being a programmer (only 30 years of this), but I need some encouragement from BF that my efforts are not in vain… I work for free (I don’t need any money at my time of life), but if lots of us make efforts and they go unnoticed, we tend to let things drop. For example, I developed a huge load of work for Audio, MIDI and DAW applications in Blender using Animation Nodes, no takers, no interest from AN developers, or BF, so I will probably forget about it and just use what I have made to date myself. I wrote a paper on CAD functions in Blender, no apparent interest from BF, so why did I bother, it’s so sad. I wrote an Add-on for this, nobody wants me to make it available, inevitable really.

Blender could easily move into the market place as a tool for serious designers, but I guess the only interest is in copying cars people can’t afford from pictures with no appreciable accuracy, or modelling guns & weapons, or creatures that don’t and can’t exist, such a waste of such a good product with so much potential for serious, useful work.

Oh well, you can only beat your head against the brick wall for so long before you realise it just hurts you and changes nothing, the wall never falls down. Then I read tirade after tirade bitching about Blender with SFA positive attitude, or any effort to improve things by development on this and other fora (plural of forum, does nobody learn Latin any more?), time to console myself with “Jack”, or “Jim” again…

Depressed, Clock. :frowning_face:

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This is basically the way Rotate3D in Rhino works. :slight_smile:

The Move tool in Rhino is especially amazing when it comes to snapping (first you select what to move, then you select where to move from, then you select the destination), so just having that in Blender would be a dream (same with scaling, btw).

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If anyone wants this functionality in Blender today, it’s available in this plugin:

Could perhaps serve as another inspiration for the developers (since the usability of that plugin could be improved to be a slightly more intuitive perhaps).

Some very powerful examples in gif form can be found here:

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Don’t worry, background images has been removed, so there are no compatribility with imagemodeller anymore, so car modeling is also doubtable now)

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