dast

New features are ready for beta testing. The repetition option didn't make it as I encountered quite some side effects during design. As such I focused on the multi selection option, as this allows for a workaround to the repetition option without issues. New in version 1.2: - resizable thumbnails - filtering of assets by name, column, row - edge selection for asset insertion - multi polygon or edge selection for duplicate asset insertion - auto removal of coexisting polygons after asset insertion No changes to the main user interface

It has already been mentioned that over the past years a few attempts have already been taken at getting a similar project started, here at the Cafe. I personally think it would be best to start with a very short and simple story, in order to test things out, before trying to jump into the deep water from the start. As such, I am more inclined to ditch the idea of this "pilot project" as being a showcase of fancy features and technical prowess. Doesn't mean we need to keep it at one single movie/short/project. But starting with a simple and small project will let us handle encountered obstacles more easily (in my opinion). I suggest to have a starter to wet our appetite ... and see which obstacles we encounter, and learn from that for the next one ... and so on.

I have made a few short stories in the past. And have shelved a few as well, due to the time it took for a single person to do everything. Others have already said the main thing, so I won't repeat. But, yes, interested to join if the subject has me motivated.

Been working on next update of the plugin. Some features that didn't make it in official first release have now been added: - resizable thumbnails - filtering on asset name, number of columns/rows - edge selection for asset insertion Short video demonstration of this build https://vimeo.com/238197054

In an old WIP video I demonstrated loading the included palette, and docked it in the layout: While the palette has slightly changed in version 2.3, the same principle applies. Don't forget to save the updated layout once the palette is docked. As any other Cinema 4D palette you can modify this to your liking.

While next update of the plugin is being finalized, I have created a new "tutorial" video. It doesn't focus on the new features but was part of the test scenarios to check changes in the code were stable and bug free. It demonstrates unwrapping multiple objects and arranging the UVs on a single canvas. https://vimeo.com/237128529 (trying out vimeo instead of youtube)

Agreed, looks like a fine first effort to me. Wish I could say the same of my first endeavors (many years ago) ... alas.

Looking forward to watch this. In the past I have been interested by this Landscape Shading Kit for a short animation film I was creating at that time. Never really proceeded with this add on, as I couldn't find much info (back then). But anything that helps me get rid of e-on's products from my workflow gets my attention.

Pretty impressive modelling there. Wish I would have the patience to persevere and complete such task.

Looking good. But I would ditch the space craft. The scenery on its own is what makes this a nice image. The spaceship kind of spoils the mood. (my opinion).

I am not sure to follow your explanation. Are we talking about an asset included with the plugin, or one you created? If it is the latter it sounds to me that the axis is not positioned properly for what you want to achieve. If half of the asset is below the plane of selected polygons, this sounds like the axis of the asset was still positioned in the center of the mesh when you added the asset to the PolyGnome library. To properly position and orient the asset onto the destination mesh both the axis position and rotation of the asset need to be set up as indicated in the documentation.

@3D-Pangel thanks for the detailed description. When I created the examples in this thread I avoided placing assets next to each other in order to more easily display what would happen with assets and the parent mesh. When placing assets adjacent to each other (not every other polygon of parent) the assets bases would fuse together. But currently the coexisting polygons will not be removed. It's difficult to predict what needs to be done in such case. In your case you would want to get rid of those coexisting polygons, but others might not want these to be removed. The best would then be to provide an option, but with a lot of extra features that means the user interface will easily get filled with many options. I will thus need to provide a way for more user-options without cluttering the user interface. A future feature is "disposable polygons", this does not directly perform what you suggest, but by providing the right options to the user this feature could probably be turned into exactly that. Currently you can indeed only place a single asset at a time. In future the "repetition" feature will provide what you suggest. Selecting an asset with 2x2 base you could then fill a 12x12 selection with 36 assets. with a single press of the "weld" or "float" button. But here again, options might be required. Maybe the user wants to flip the asset in X or Y (or rotate) every other position. Options are better than hardcoded solutions, but they clutter the user interface. Also for these I will need to figure out how to provide the options without resulting in an overwhelming user interface.

I cannot figure out exactly what you mean. Care to show an example in order to visualize the problem?

PolyGnome and PolyGnome Junior are ready and available for R16, R17, R18 and R19, both for Windows and MacOS. Both PolyGnome and its "lite" version comes with a small starter's library, including assets provided by Cafe member @VECTOR (thank you again for those). More libraries might be released in the future, but for now I assume most are interested in creating their own set of assets. Difference between the full and lite version has been explained earlier in this thread. I will let @Igor update the Store for both products. Same concept as with my Seamilar plugin: after purchase via the C4D Cafe Store, please contact me for registration number and plugin file. A few things didn't make it in this release, but will be provided in future updates of the plugin (in no particular order): - customizable thumbnail size - (search) filters in junkyard library - proxy placeholder in asset (a.k.a. disposable polygons) - optimized material management - repetitions - allow edge selection to place assets (in addition to polygon selection) - ...

Just for the record: the plugins (PolyGnome and PolyGnome Junior) are ready for release ... at least for Windows (R17 - R19) I am now in the process of setting up build environments for Mac (R17 - R19). Not being familiar with MacOS it takes a little longer to get things done, especially with all the different SDK flavors and the need for multi OS X installations. A real nightmare if you barely know how to navigate on a Mac. I will let you know when plugin builds for both platforms are completed.

While I expected to have a final version by the end of August, I assumed waiting a few more days would be beneficial, in order to test it with the newly released R19. However, one always finds things to polish or fine tune, right before delivery. And even after all that extra work, not everything will be perfect. Of course there will be bugs. Of course there will be the obviously needed small (or not so small) things that didn't make it. But eventually, at one point or another, the product needs to get released. While finalizing the plugin I decided to provide a "lite" version of it, as I assumed not everyone would need all the features available. As such I decided to release a PolyGnome Junior, with limited functionality. What are the differences? PolyGnome: (49.95 euros) - allows both welding and floating of assets - supports welding of assets with unmatching edge count - unlimited number of libraries (each library can hold up to 1000 assets) PolyGnome Junior: (29.95 euros) - allows welding only, no floating - welding of assets is limited to matching edge count - only a single library can be managed (which can hold up to 1000 assets)

Well, seems I was mislead by R19 locking up on start up, and the first few lines of the SDK documentation mentioning the minimum requirements. In the end I couldn't reproduce the lock ups I encountered the first few times. Maybe something related to ProRender requiring initialization. Not sure. PolyGnome (built with R17 SDK) does run on R19, so I finally focused on writing the documentation. Release version, including documentation and some sample libraries have been sent to beta tester for final approval. Next step was to build a MacOS version of the plugin, which has been sent to Rick for evaluation purposes. Awaiting feedback before officially provide the plugin via the C4DCafe store ... Will keep you updated.

Built release candidate 2 last night, with only the documentation to be completed before release. Unfortunately, as I just found out installing R19, this latest version of Cinema requires a complete new development environment. Bummer. I am in the middle of projects, and can not afford the risk to install another Visual Studio. The release of PolyGnome will have to be delayed to work with R19.

Not sure what you would expect to be different on spheres, so I created a short demonstration video. Of course, due to the curvy surface of the sphere the results depends on how your assets are created (if that is what you were referring to). The next video shows different sphere types using "flat based" assets. If this doesn't demonstrate what you intended to see, please feel free to discuss in more detail.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I haven't been active in this thread anymore since I started one more applicable to the context of plugin development, here: https://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/99471-polygnome/ Beta testers have received the almost final version of the plugin. While waiting on their evaluation and feedback, I am finalizing some minor things to get the plugin ready for its release. More information (and beta progress) available in the above PolyGnome development thread.

With the GetSubContainer you are only setting up the menu layout, to actually add the plugins, you need to register each plugin. Your "subsubmenu_2" (and the others) would actually be your plugin IDs. This way you connect your plugins to the menu entry. When a users select such a menu entry the plugin ID associated with it will then be called by Cinema 4D.

Now, I knew it wasn't going to be easy. But, boy, oh boy, this has been a roller coaster project ... and we're not there yet. But close! Really, really close. A big thank you to the beta testers for finding all my stupid implementation mistakes so far. And I apologize in advance for the next bugs I have introduced ;-) Anyway. Not to bash MAXON, but I am sure the Polystein Kit could rely on some solid functionality of the MODO SDK (or API) for the features needed. I haven't found everything I needed in "our" SDK and thus had to come up with quite some workarounds. But that's maybe my fault for not knowing where to look, or not being smart enough to know how to use the tools at hand. But then again, Seamilar was not different in that regard, so I guess that's the way to go to implement "speciality products". But enough of the trash talk. Here's a preview of beta 6, which even beta testers haven't received yet. I am too excited, having reached this stage of the plugin, I couldn't wait for beta testers' feedback before showing it to the world (... mwhouhaaahaa!) Minor technical detail (I won't bore you with "under the hood" explanations): My original concept used a single window, containing both the library of assets, as well as the controls to apply the assets onto the source object. In the end it turned out that this was a bad move, as the user interface became too cluttered. Instead I now went for a two window concept, where one window hosts the library of assets (nicknamed "Junkyard") and the other window hosts the controls to apply the asset. I went totally overboard with this control window and turned it into a graphical ... Well, I haven't yet decided how to call that window. Or maybe I'll just go for PolyGnome & Junkyard. Seems to fit the story.

Beta 3 of the plugin has been sent out to beta testers. In the meantime here's a short demonstration of some of the new features added.

Thanks. Yes. As the introductory video shows, you will be able to add you own created assets.

Ah, I see. Well, I thought my original video demonstrated the rotation. But obviously with a symmetrical asset it's quite hard to notice the rotation ... Sorry about that. Next short video should demonstrate what you mean. Again, apologies for not noticing the useless symmetrical asset used for rotation purposes.