Discussions for "Better snapping and precision modeling"

@mano-wii
another thing that should be corrected is to allow snapping on the intersection points of the measurement tools, and obviously, the measurement objects should not disappear while we move the vertices …

edit:

speaking of measuring instruments , here are some suggestions that emerge at the moment:

I have already read some of your interesting suggestions, such as transforming rulers into a new type of object called “measurement objects”

For this purpose it is necessary that the measuring tool is improved, the current defects must be removed, such as the appearance and disappearance of them if you enter object mode or mesh mode, or select another object … for this reason we need that the measurement outputs are objects that can be viewed in the outliner and that can then be hidden, freezed, rendered … like all other outiliner objects …

I would like the snapping points to work also on the measuring instruments … for convenience …

Another thing I’d like to suggest is that blender can create measurement objects automatically measuring by selecting entire segments (even curved) corners etc …

Then I would suggest the creation of APIs for devs that will want to add custom symbols for the various project categories, where addon developers can create their set of visual objects, for example the electronics has its own set of symbols, archviz have their symbols etc …

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My initial thoughts are that we already have a good start in MeasureIt (now shipped with Blender), although there are some issues there to resolve. It does a lot of what we want, but I would like to see some improvements. I am not convinced at all by the current “Measure” tools in Blender, because they do not dimension properly, or in accordance with accepted draughting standards and they disappear too often!

I show this image as a quick “What you can do” with MeasureIt, it also shows that the lines are too long in most cases and I had to work some Clock Magic™ to get the gaps between the object and the dimension lines:

The good thing is that MeasureIt will render these dimensions to an image, but you then have to Alpha-Over them onto the rendered image of the object using Compositor - not a huge headache, but it would be better if Blender just rendered them to start with. I used an orthographic camera for this to get a proper test render, this one above is just a screen render.

I am tempted, if you all agree, to make a new thread for this requirement - a “Let’s Add Dimensions to Blender” thread, which you can start @nokipaike and I will enthusiastically add my thoughts to. the correct term for this is “Dimensioning” not “Measuring” in my humble opinion, we should adopt this, if you all agree and I will contribute all my knowledge to it, being a past draughtsman, both on a board before CAD was invented and subsequently. :grin:

This 2D drawing was produced with only Blender, MeasureIt and my own PDT tools. I got the line drawing by using Wireframe Modifiers and some “tweaking” - we still have a way to go to get this kind of output easily and intuitively, rather than by magic and lateral thinking.

Cheers, Clock. :cocktail:

5 Likes

OK, I feel like I should “shake the hornet’s nest” a little. Whilst I agree with all the comments and proposals to improve snapping, by this I presume we all mean that the chosen vertex, or object, or vertices will go somewhere useful when we start moving, or extruding things, I am also of the opinion that we need to be able to place the cursor at useful locations prior to a process being initiated.

From my experience, it can be far more productive to place the cursor exactly where you want it then do something, rather than always rely on all the snapping tools to move things during a process, or create something then move /rotate it where you want it. I would like to be able to tell Blender where I want the cursor, by keying absolute, delta, or directional information through a simple system of cursor placement. I do not want to have to key values, tab between X, Y & Z and input sine, cosine and tangent functions to imitate directional vectors, having previously clicked = to get advanced input mode - such an awkward system when keying I2.3,27 could mean 2.3 units at 27 degrees in view plane, or D1,5,3 could mean delta 1 in X, 5 in Y and 3 in Z from existing location & A1.2,5,2.5 could mean absolute, or global coordinates. I could use these key-ins to move the cursor, move objects/vertices, or extrude geometry, etc.

The ability to “snap” or cursor locate to the midpoint along an edge is nice, but why not use a fraction, or percentage instead and why not be able to use two unconnected vertices rather than just an edge? After all midpoint is a very limited example of the more universal percentage and 50% is still the midpoint, even in these days of poor mathematical attainment by school children… (I qualify this remark by asking how many understand calculus by the age of 15?, how many know how to calculate pi by age of 13? etc. etc.). then there are intersections, including normal (perpendicular if you prefer) and planar intersections of converging lines, either physical from edges, or implied from vertices.

Also, we need to be inclusive of all genres of CAD users, including Mechanical Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Architects, Civil Engineers, etc. etc. I notice that a lot of work issuing done and targeted at specific genres, whereas its would have better appeal if all this “CAD” stuff was targeted across the board. To this end we also need “Parts Libraries” designed similar to Pose Libraries, but with geometry in them, like standard electronic parts for circuit board designers, as a simple example.

We also need to “pool” our ideas into a single source to avoid duplication of effort…

Let’s see how many hornets get p***ed off with the nest shaking. The broader the appeal of this work, the more likely it is to get into Blender, unless the Devs disagree…

Cheers, Clock. :grin:

4 Likes

for this reason I proposed the creation of generic API sets so the addon’s developers can have fun with customizations in this sense …

1 Like

speaking of visual helpers - dimensions tool, here’s how other software behave …

3 Likes

17 posts were split to a new topic: Holes for mesh surfaces

on review: Snapping and Constraints: Snapping on the intersection geometry with the axis constraint.

https://developer.blender.org/D5608

1. Snap edge element to constraint plane:
The snap is made at the intersection between the edge direction and the constraint plane.

2. Snap face element to constraint plane:
The snap is made to the nearest point between the view ray and the line that intersects the face plane with the constraint plane.

3. Snap constraint axis to edge element:
The snap is made to the nearest point on the element line to the ray of the axis.

4. Snap constraint axis to face element:
The snap is made at the intersection of the axis line and the face plane.

To avoid unpredictable jumps outside view boundaries, an alignment check is made for each of these snapping combinations.

7 Likes

Please see this and comment if you have any thoughts:

Cheers, Clock. :cocktail:

1 Like

Just thought I would post this here, drawn accurately of course, using my PDT Add-on:

No guess work, no tracing a reference image, no zooming right in to get intersections, no “fudging”, draught angles are exactly 5 degrees.

With a few more tools in vanilla Blender we could all do this.

Cheers, Clock. :cocktail:

10 Likes

Retopology workflow requires simple face snapping.
It is very important to provide ability of such simple snapping mode.

1 Like

Currently Pablo Dobarro’s Poli Build improvement + F2 addon + new snapping tools, life starts to simplify … besides Jeroen Bakker, is working on a new prototype retopology overlay, from what I understood to improve the visibility of the mesh faces topology
Prototype Retopology Overlay Drawing Techniques

I hope this will all play well together

4 Likes

We now have that in PDT, taken from TinyCAD and adapted a little, along with Filleting, Edge Bisecting and Intersect All commands. These are not in the current release, but will be in the next one. I am keeping an eye on snapping developments as these will obviate some of the PDT Tools, that can then be dropped in favour of the vanilla Blender options.

Cheers, Clock.

3 Likes

Hi Clockmender,
for the next one release, do you mean 2.82 or 2.83?

New features will be in our next release 1.1.5 scheduled for this month. We hope to have PDT in Blender 2.82 if we gain acceptance.

Cheers, Clock

3 Likes

Hi. I think this is related to snapping as well. Right now, you can’t do some snaping when using vertex (or edge) slide.

We need vertex/edge/face constraints to be toggled as a modal, just like the recent modify origin addition for which I’m very thankful for. Sometimes it feels like we only ask and never thank, so I wanted to highlight that as well.

This gif is from 2.79 but still applies to 2.80 all the way to the daily builds.

3 Likes

you have to make a video-tutorial to show how you do this and what is the advantage of using the tool. also i posted in my post that i had a problem installing it on a pc, and solved it by renaming the folder and putting the*.py files into it…

@taxishop Looking at your screenshots on the other thread, I think you downloaded the repository, not the release which is found here:

That is the file you should download, install and enable, not the repository, as you seem to have the system files as well, like the license, issue forms, etc.

Help for the system is in my website (clockmender.uk) you can see the help pages on the right side menu. Video tutorials are on the list, but not yet as we have a lot more work to do on the add-on first and I am not good at video tutorials!

Cheers, Clock.

I wouldn’t want to go as far as Cedric did for the weld modifier but in this blender artist thread and in this particular post, another case for modal constraints as a toggle is shown.

1 Like

I noticed you can’t reset the rotation of the pivot with the world with Alt R, it resets the object rotation instead. Also chaging values in the N panel moves the object instead of the pivot as well.
This is posible with bone studio’s BS Pivot however, it has a button to reset the rotation, and when entering the edit pivot mode it works as well.