3D Modelling From a Sketch 215
hargettp writes "Happened to be skimming through the December BoingBoing and I noticed this link to research into 3D modelling by interpreting sketches. Basically, with a pen and tablet and a good Java applet, a user can start digitally modelling 3D structures about as easy as if they were molding clay with their bare hands. It was the demonstration video that made my jaw drop. Impressive!"
Great way to ruin a webserver (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Great way to ruin a webserver (Score:3, Insightful)
Inexcusable, /. should use open cache or .torrents (Score:5, Insightful)
That really is inexusable on slashdot's part. They should have at least posted a
Re:Inexcusable, /. should use open cache or .torre (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Inexcusable, /. should use open cache or .torre (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Inexcusable, /. should use open cache or .torre (Score:2)
(And this is a university, so you can't even argue free market economics
old news (Score:5, Informative)
Very old news. "Teddy" was developed by Takeo Igarashi at the University of Tokyo, and presented at SIGGRAPH 1999. 8-13-99 Schedule [siggraph.org]
Re:old news (Score:5, Informative)
As the linked page doth say:
SmoothTeddy is a successor to Teddy and Chameleon
You know, like maybe he's been working on it for a while and stuff.
I saw this at Siggraph (Score:5, Interesting)
The program I thought was brilliant. It is what user interface should be, not a thousand menus and "toolbars" but an empty window that you click on and it "does what you want". Too bad there is no sign of such interfaces showing up in real-world applications, either open or closed...
Re:I saw this at Siggraph (Score:5, Interesting)
Hmmm... There are several highly useful applications that sport exactly (well, close it it... they are more powerful than Teddy) that type of interface. They are the "secrets" of the 3D modelling world and once you use them you'll wish everything else worked like them.
Mirai [izware.com] and Nendo [izware.com] are two commercial offerings and Wings 3D [wings3d.com] is a free modeling app that has a similar interface. Dispite all the Maya press, Mirai was used for some critical parts of LOTR.
Izware (aka Winged Edge Technologies; aka Nichimen; aka Symbolics; aka
Wings 3D fits between Nendo and Mirai. It's better than Nendo but doesn't offer all that Mirai does. However, it's free and open-source.
The key to the useful UI is the context sensitive menus. All complex applications should work this way because it narrows down the possible actions to what you're working on. Instead of having hundreds or thousands of menus and buttons to push (*cough* 3DSMAX *cough*), you just have simple context menus based on what you have selected. It's a superb interface for managing complexity.
Plus the help system is built right into the interface.
Re:I saw this at Siggraph (Score:2)
Too bad they seem to be a niche market. Even Blender is better-known than their stuff.
Re:I saw this at Siggraph (Score:2)
Re:I saw this at Siggraph (Score:5, Informative)
There's one catch - "doing what you want" is not always the easiest, nor the fastest way to do something. For example, what if, instead of just drawing a line, I want to draw a straight line. Suddenly, I need some kind of function that will constrain the movement along one axis. The alternative is to spend oodles of time trying to tweak a line until it's straight enough. What if I want to start out with a geographic primitive? Am I supposed to build one from scratch? Once I have that, what if I need to scale a part of it? Should that be done manually? Let's say I'd like to duplicate it and the flip it across an axis (often used for creating identical left/right portions of object)? Do I spend gobs of time doing this manually?
Tools have their place- and often, if used correctly, they are there to help us produce superior results, and save significant amounts of time in the process. Just like an empty window, they aren't a substitute for talent and artistic skill, but they can sure provide ways to automate the purely tedious aspects of 3D modeling.
Slashdotted already (Score:5, Funny)
It has to be pr0n! (Score:5, Funny)
Hmm, now why am I suspicious of a link to a video called "smoothteddy.avi"? Oh yeah, because this is Slashdot.
Re:It has to be pr0n! (Score:2)
maybe a use for tablet pcs (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:maybe a use for tablet pcs (Score:5, Insightful)
Us digital artists would already like to have Tablet PCs. We like drawing. I may end up with when when the right combination of price and power comes along. Tablets are good but having the feedback right under the stylus would be quite useful.
Re:maybe a use for tablet pcs (Score:2)
Heh. What part of "us digital artists" made you think I can just drop $1,000+ into a luxury?
Alias Sketch (Score:4, Insightful)
I almost thought of that (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I almost thought of that (Score:2)
It's like a license to print money!
Google Cache for Karma (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Google Cache for Karma (Score:2)
Open source 3D modelling (Score:5, Informative)
Open source 3D for GIS : vterrain.org [vterrain.org]
See also openscenegraph.org [openscenegraph.org]
Both can use Remote Sensing [matox.com]data.
Re:Open source 3D modelling (Score:4, Informative)
Wow, another GISer on Slashdot (not too many).
Terragen [planetside.co.uk] makes attractive 3D layouts. It is both free and easy to use.
It is essentially useless for geospatial analysis (I haven't messed around with it in a couple of years, so who knows), but it is remarkably easy to make some cool terrain, add vegetation, and brew up some clouds on the horizon.
Re:Open source 3D modelling (Score:2)
Re:Open source 3D modelling (Score:2)
GIS on /. (Score:2)
Please open source your reformatted data! (Score:2)
Please, pretty please, then, open-source your reformatted results!
I've looked into GIS several times over the years, hoping to use data for highly nontraditional purposes, but the formats are indeed a major pain, so I've always gone away discouraged.
So help the world out, publish your stuff!
Re:Open source 3D modelling (Score:2)
I'm forever losing its blasted URL, so thanks for the link
Sounds Like SketchUp 3D (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Sounds Like SketchUp 3D (Score:3, Insightful)
Very simple to use, and they've thought of everything to make it simpler. Draw a line, and then click near the middle, it'll assume you want to find the center point (but you don't have to).
It's really slick in realtime shading & rendering too.
Wish I had the $$ to buy it, just 'cause it's fun.
Now I've used my 6 hours on my computer at home, computer at work, laptop, and wife's co
Close, but different (Score:2)
I'm the one who posted this article this morning, and I'm really bummed that the links quit working well before the article actually made it onto Slashdot. Otherwise, I think you (and everyone else) might have seen what is so different about SmoothTeddy: whereas SketchUp looks great for architectural design, SmoothTeddy is better for arbitrary shapes.
The video showed a user drawing an arbitrary closed 2-D curve, and th
Re:Close, but different (Score:2)
http://www.red3d.com/cwr/npr/ [red3d.com]
Another one.... (Score:2)
It's not true 3d though - they assume all the points drawn lie on a unit sphere, and project them onto that. However this is good enough to provide panoramic views from building sketches, for example.
leave it alone (Score:2, Funny)
Pathological cases (Score:5, Funny)
So, what happens if you feed it an M. C. Escher drawing? Or a drawing of a Klein bottle?
Re:Pathological cases (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Pathological cases (Score:2)
Re:Pathological cases (Score:2, Redundant)
Re:Pathological cases (Score:2)
Remember that going around a true Moebius strip once results in an inversion.
Unfortunately, while I can find several links, they all go to "smeg.com" which appears to now belong to some Italian company, who probably acquired it via a trademark dispute.
Pity, it would have been funny. Clicking on my link again would have re-reversed the web pages...
Re:Pathological cases (Score:2, Funny)
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
Slashdot Japan (July 11, 2002 [slashdot.jp] and Sept 9, 2002 [slashdot.jp])
Since Slashdot doesn't allow dupes, I submitted this as anonymous.
MOD PARENT AS FUNNY (Score:2)
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
See Sketchup (Score:5, Informative)
Re:See Sketchup (Score:2)
What a tease! (Score:2, Funny)
Sounds like... (Score:4, Informative)
3d sketch applications, formz and sketchup (Score:3, Interesting)
FormZ (www.formz.com) has had simple 3d sketching capabilities for years. SketchUp (mentioned in previous posts) is one of the most user-friendly tools available today. However, most Sketchup functionality already exists in formZ. SketchUp just makes sketching (1) fun, (2) easy, and (3) look like pencil sketch lines or cartoon lines.
Re:3d sketch applications, formz and sketchup (Score:2)
Note: simplicity of modeling simple objects is NOT the same as a sketch interface.
Another 3d creation system (Score:5, Informative)
well (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:well (Score:2)
Grumble (Score:5, Insightful)
If you really want to have people see a video, at least get a friend to setup a bit torrent tracker for it in advance or something, then the site will at least have a chance.
Only Because They Care (Score:2)
Re:Grumble (Score:2)
That's true, but it shouldn't stop them... they should just get the system ready to go, and email the webmaster of the victim page with a code he can use to authorized the shared distribution.
reminds me of a neat sketched out physics sim (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:reminds me of a neat sketched out physics sim (Score:2)
And I went into programming because it was such a safe job...
-Adam
Apt summary (Score:4, Funny)
It was also the demonstration video that made the server drop.
Why not use clay? (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps I'm old fashioned...
Re:Why not use clay? (Score:3, Informative)
Unforunately, if you want to do it in clay, you would have to find a way to digitse it.
That means you need a 3d-scanner of some sort (here [minoltausa.com], here [3dscanners.com], here [minoltausa.com]).
Needless to say, these can be very expensive.
Ofourse serious
On the other hand if you want to stay with the clay option, go for stopmotion. It worked for Aardman [aardman.com]!
Re:Why not use clay? (Score:2)
But many things can't be made in clay. Either they don't support their own weight, or aren't structuers that are easy to make, or are machin
Re:Why not use clay? (Score:2)
Well, call me old-fashioned, but why would I want a pile of mud in my house when I can use a computer instead?
Re:Why not use clay? (Score:2)
Well, it's a lot harder to email someone a lump of clay. Tends to clog up the ethernet port.
Re:Why not use clay? (slightly OT) (Score:2)
I'd disagree slightly. Clay once dried out has to be slaked before you can modify it by any plastic process, and once slaked, it's been "undone" all the way back to the empty file level.
Also, I'd have to disagree that the last major upgrade was 2000 years ago. Certain useful techniques have evolved more recently. Die extrusion, for example. Electroformed metal. Or hydraulic pressing using damp powder. Thixotropic clay. Or even such admittedly trivial techniques as upside-down wheels. Certain colors
Re:Why not use clay? (slightly OT) (Score:2)
OK, I'll admit to some exaggeration here. Of course, I'm approaching this from a dilletante perspective, whereas you appear to do serious production work, so I hope I can be forgiven for my presumption.
I acknowledge the advances you mention. I hadn't even thought about hydraulic presses. I'll even admit to having used some of the Mayco One Stroke encapsulated metal glazes (and I've been amazed to get nice buttercup yellow in Cone 10 reduction). But
Re:Why not use clay? (slightly OT) (Score:2)
I disagree. The "undo" you have with clay is roughly equivalent to the eraser in a paint program, not the undo feature. You can poke at it until it approximates what you had a few minutes ago -- mutability remains, but you cannot instantaneously snap back to *exactly* what you just had.
Clay has a really good interface. However:
* No undo equivalent.
* Cannot be duplicate
There is a PS2 game that uses something like this. (Score:4, Interesting)
You draw a doodle and the game will turn it into a 3d sprite that you fight with.
anyways here is a URL from Gamespot about this
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/strategy/colorquest
Minus the space.. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:There is a PS2 game that uses something like th (Score:2)
Re:There is a PS2 game that uses something like th (Score:2)
posting an *.avi link on /. front page (Score:2)
while the video is unavailable (Score:4, Informative)
Artform Curvy 3D (Score:4, Informative)
It is still a toy (Score:5, Insightful)
Niche; being that it works great on one thing, programs that can take a set of photo pictures into a 3D model.
Toy; like smooth teddy. Microsoft had a 3D program back in the day it was so basic it was more a tool / demo of what Windows 3.1/95 could do , this was before they owned Softimage.
That is my two cents.
Re:It is still a toy (Score:2)
If you were at the CMU demo, I'm surprised you forgot what Takeo was billing this as. He wanted to use this for rapid 3d visualization. The idea is that right now, the easiest method to describe many things to people is still with a pencil and a piece of paper and doing a sketch. It's hard to do this with 3d objects -- you end up doing things with your hands to try to form extremely rough models to get ideas ac
ZBrush, Mesh Surgery etc? (Score:2)
Also as a Cinema user, I purchased Mesh Surgery [cgtalk.com], which has some nice tablet or mouse free hand painting effects. It's a nice tool (a little buggy the odd time), great for adding muscles little ripples, painting landscapes. Good Stuff, and pretty cheap (if you have C4D 8.2)
A-VOLVE (Score:3, Interesting)
This reminds me of Magic Pengel (Score:5, Informative)
In this game, you used a variety of different brushes to draw a monster. You had different options, such as picking a "head" brush to signify the object you were drawing was part of the monsters head, etc...but, for the most part, the game just saw the lines you were drawing. The AMAZING part of this game was that it would take your 2d sketch and, for the most part, flesh it out in 3d. Not only that, it would also fully animate the model through a built in algorithm.
The impressive part was how well this worked. Not only did it do what it was supposed to do but, in most cases, it actually realistically animated the monster. It's a little cutesy, but you guys who are into this kind of thing should check it out!
Using the program (Score:5, Informative)
Ignoring the bugs (many of which cause the program to freeze if an incorrect stroke is drawn), there are some cool elements to this. Most things you can draw end up looking almost exactly like a big pillow. You can draw objects on the pillow that intersect it and then adjust their location on the pillow's surface. When it gets where you want it you can "merge" it with the pillow. The program tries to create smooth meshes wherever it can, and making sharp corners is almost impossible without creative use of the cutting tool.
Verdict: fun to play with if you have a good tolerance for bugs and don't mind that you won't be able to easily get your work into another program.
Does this mean that Java's made it? (Score:2)
Slashdotting rules!
smoothteddy.avi.torrent (= (Score:5, Informative)
From me, to you. But I don't except the server to survive a real slashdotting, so behave.
the video [alge.nlc.no]Re:smoothteddy.avi.torrent (= (Score:2)
Re:smoothteddy.avi.torrent (= (Score:2)
MetaCreations Canoma (Score:4, Insightful)
Adobe purchased the product from MetaCreations and it's not being sold anymore. Perhaps it will come out again in the future to compliment their horrible Atmosphere product.
Also, Java sucks.
~GoRK
Re:MetaCreations Canoma (Score:2)
Mirror of the video (Score:2, Informative)
The voiceover... (Score:2)
Who Says? (Score:2)
assumptions (Score:2)
I assume that the 3rd dimension i
Re:blending the line between modeling and sketchin (Score:2)
I think the newest Zelda game has it.
Re:blending the line between modeling and sketchin (Score:2, Informative)
You're kidding, right? Cell Shading has been around for ages and has become a recent trend in video games, ala Nintendo's latest Zelda game.
http://www.ubi.com/US/Games/xiii/ [ubi.com]
Re:blending the line between modeling and sketchin (Score:2, Informative)
Mark.
Re:wiat a minute! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:any other video links or a bt?? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:A Night At Sir Haxalots (Score:4, Funny)
Damn straight. Reading
Re:Mirror ? (Score:2, Informative)
http://alge.nlc.no/smoothteddy.avi.torrent
Re:Mirror ? (Score:4, Informative)
http://alge.nlc.no/smoothteddy.avi.torrent [alge.nlc.no]