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[Released] ManFriday's Mesh Grabber [Commercial]

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  • ManFridayManFriday Posts: 568

    Mesh Grabber 1.9.2 public beta

    Please check this link: https://mega.nz/#F!n3ARECLC!5viItcscww3VbicPaXUkNA

    The folder contains two DLL files, both of which you can copy to your \Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins directory (or wherever your Daz Studio is installed). The directory should have an existing MF_meshgrab.dll file.

    Like the previous 1.9.0 beta, the two files are an update to the existing Mesh Grabber with more fixes, plus a first beta of the upcoming "Mesh Grabber Rotation Add-On". If both files are in the plugin folder, the rotations should work seamlessly in the Mesh Grabber.

    Important notes:

    1. Please make a copy of the old DLL before copying the new ones over it.
    2. You will need Windows administrator permissions to replace the DLL because the plugins directory is protected. You cannot download the files directly into that directory, so please save the files to "Downloads" or some other place and then copy them using Windows Explorer.
    3. The new DLL is time-bombed and will stop working four weeks from today to make sure I don't get bug reports for it two years from now. The Tool Settings dialog will have a heading with the version number and a "TEST" marker. When the DLL stops working, please copy back your backup, or reinstall the product via DIM.
    4. This is beta code. It hasn't gone through Daz testing.
    5. The DLL is for 64-bit Windows only.

    What's new since the previous 1.9.0 beta:

    • Do not move vertices that have been hidden in geometry editor (allows for some masking). See “Notes” above.
    • Fix broken rotations when active node had origin set (similar problem to the one previously fixed with mesh moves).
    • Fix Ctrl++ etc. shortcuts for “grow selection” etc. working only sporadically after Alt key was pressed.
    • Fix X axis rotation being drawn the wrong way round on gizmo (display error only, did not affect rotated mesh).
    • Fix gizmo gain setting being ignored during rotations.
    • Fix hang on Daz Studio startup when multiple instances were running.

    Still not fixed:

    • Remaining problems with vertex selections.
    • Gizmo resizing problems when the camera is moved (reported by barbult).

    Hopefully some of you will still find this update useful. :-)

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834

    Tried the update and it looks good so far

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    RGcincy said:

    Haven't figured out how to make a normal spring yet

    I got it. Just need to pick the very bottom of the cylinder, move the gizmo over while holding down the ctrl key, and use linear falloff type. Set falloff radius so the entire cylinder is within the sphere. The cylinder started at the world center but it wraps around wherever you set the gizmo. The farther from the origin you set it, the broader the curves. The cylinder flattens so you get more of a slinky look. 

    I've found it helpful to play around with primitives as it's a good way to gain experience with the tool.

    mesh grabber spring.jpg
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    mesh grabber spring front.jpg
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    mesh grabber spring top.jpg
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  • ManFridayManFriday Posts: 568
    edited February 2020

    I have updated the beta code at the above link to V1.9.3. The only fix is for vertex selection to work again, hopefully, which I had managed to break with a previous beta. Sorry!

    Thank you so much everybody for testing. It really is much appreciated.

    Post edited by ManFriday on
  • DaventakiDaventaki Posts: 1,624
    edited February 2020

    Having way to much fun with the new rotation!  But could someone please explain to this noob what is happening on the left? All I did was rotate on 1 axes for every bend *disclaimer: possibly might have grabbed the wrong one but I dont think i did*  Why did I get a smoother result on the right?  Followed RGcincy's settings for the cylinder in his previous post. I do understand the flattening I think, and some of it I know is from the extreme rotation.

    Edit: I tried to test some of the new points  in this beta, this was created in a second running copy of DS while the first was open and active with mesh grabber.  Also tested the hidden geometry and it worked fine (did not save that image).

    bendy.jpg
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    Post edited by Daventaki on
  • CinusCinus Posts: 118

    First of all, let me say that Mesh Grabber is a great tool and well worth the money. 

    I do have a request for an enhancement though; Is it possible to constrain the selection of vertices/faces/edges to only the selected scene object while Ctrl is pressed?

    When selecting multiple vertices of an object I sometimes accidentally click on an adjacent object or an object behind the one I'm working on. When that happens, all the selected vertices/faces/edges are un-selected and the other object is selected, forcing me to restart the selection on the original selected object.

    Constraining the selection to only the selected scene object while Ctrl is pressed should solve that problem.

    Please pardon me if this has already been requested. I did not read through the whole thread.

    Thanks

  • tkdroberttkdrobert Posts: 3,543

    Is there a tutorial on how to use this.  I'm a noob when it comes to morphs.

  • HavosHavos Posts: 5,361
    Cinus said:

    First of all, let me say that Mesh Grabber is a great tool and well worth the money. 

    I do have a request for an enhancement though; Is it possible to constrain the selection of vertices/faces/edges to only the selected scene object while Ctrl is pressed?

    When selecting multiple vertices of an object I sometimes accidentally click on an adjacent object or an object behind the one I'm working on. When that happens, all the selected vertices/faces/edges are un-selected and the other object is selected, forcing me to restart the selection on the original selected object.

    Constraining the selection to only the selected scene object while Ctrl is pressed should solve that problem.

    Please pardon me if this has already been requested. I did not read through the whole thread.

    Thanks

    I would like this too. I don't need Mesh Grabber to select the object to work on. I would prefer to select the object in the scene tab, after which Mesh Grabber will only work on the selected object, and will not deselect it and move the selection elsewhere.

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    Daventaki said:

    But could someone please explain to this noob what is happening on the left? All I did was rotate on 1 axes for every bend *disclaimer: possibly might have grabbed the wrong one but I dont think i did*  Why did I get a smoother result on the right?  Followed RGcincy's settings for the cylinder in his previous post.

    Hard to say for sure but a couple of thoughts after trying to recreate it:

    1. The thick, angled spots on the left probably come from too few segments in the cylinder. I can get that result if I use 50 instead of 250. The points furthest from the selection point will show the most distortion.

    2. It looks like there was either a change in falloff radius or you lost the original selection point and grabbed another (the latter has happened to me as it is easy to miss the gizmo controls and have to reselect). Tip: if you are doing multiple rotations and miss the gizmo and loose your connection, I find it best to type ctrl+z to undo all the way to the beginning and try again.

    3. I suspect the reverse kinks at two spots near the end indicate a reverse rotation at some point and maybe the falloff sphere did not encompass the entire cylinder at that point.

     

  • tkdroberttkdrobert Posts: 3,543

    I have so many questions, but don't know how to ask them.  I see you can pull and bend vertices, but can you modify in the opposite way?  For example, can I make someone's nose smaller versus making it bigger?  Can I push in without it looking pushed in?

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    edited February 2020
    tkdrobert said:

    I have so many questions, but don't know how to ask them.  I see you can pull and bend vertices, but can you modify in the opposite way?  For example, can I make someone's nose smaller versus making it bigger?  Can I push in without it looking pushed in?

    Possibly.

    You can move the widget just as you would the Translate Tool. The sphere around the tool shows you how far the influence goes, with the strongest influence as the center.. The latest beta includes a Rotate feature, but it is a beta and still has some issues.

    At this point, Scaling isn't available.

    It's going to take a lot of trial and error to get the nose to look the way you want, though.

    For me, the strength of this tool is moving mesh around things that otherwise intersect. This is great for kit-bashing. But I can also see how this would be useful for creating asymmetry on a character, such as moving an ear up or down, or rotating it forward or back,

    Post edited by L'Adair on
  • ManFridayManFriday Posts: 568
    Cinus said:

    First of all, let me say that Mesh Grabber is a great tool and well worth the money. 

    I do have a request for an enhancement though; Is it possible to constrain the selection of vertices/faces/edges to only the selected scene object while Ctrl is pressed?

    When selecting multiple vertices of an object I sometimes accidentally click on an adjacent object or an object behind the one I'm working on. When that happens, all the selected vertices/faces/edges are un-selected and the other object is selected, forcing me to restart the selection on the original selected object.

    Constraining the selection to only the selected scene object while Ctrl is pressed should solve that problem.

    Please pardon me if this has already been requested. I did not read through the whole thread.

    Thanks

    That's a great idea, I'll add that. 

  • ManFridayManFriday Posts: 568
    tkdrobert said:

    Is there a tutorial on how to use this.  I'm a noob when it comes to morphs.

    You can watch the video on the product page for starters: https://www.daz3d.com/mesh-grabber

    Also, in Daz Studio, you can press F1 to bring up the help window, select plugins on the left and then find the Mesh Grabber PDF documentation there. 

  • tkdroberttkdrobert Posts: 3,543
    L'Adair said:
    tkdrobert said:

    I have so many questions, but don't know how to ask them.  I see you can pull and bend vertices, but can you modify in the opposite way?  For example, can I make someone's nose smaller versus making it bigger?  Can I push in without it looking pushed in?

    Possibly.

    You can move the widget just as you would the Translate Tool. The sphere around the tool shows you how far the influence goes, with the strongest influence as the center.. The latest beta includes a Rotate feature, but it is a beta and still has some issues.

    At this point, Scaling isn't available.

    It's going to take a lot of trial and error to get the nose to look the way you want, though.

    For me, the strength of this tool is moving mesh around things that otherwise intersect. This is great for kit-bashing. But I can also see how this would be useful for creating asymmetry on a character, such as moving an ear up or down, or rotating it forward or back,

    I want to modify some robots but it would require pushing in areas that I don't like sticking out.  Other than that, this would be great for creating craters and I've alway wanted to do a crashed ship with a long skid in the ground from the ship's impact and skidding to a stop.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,240
    edited February 2020
    tkdrobert said:

    I have so many questions, but don't know how to ask them.  I see you can pull and bend vertices, but can you modify in the opposite way?  For example, can I make someone's nose smaller versus making it bigger?  Can I push in without it looking pushed in?

    It is pretty easy to make a nose smaller. This is Edie 8, which I tried, because she has a very long nose. She has her own morph for a small nose, but I didn't use that. I just used Mesh Grabber to make her nose smaller. Original Edie 8 is on the left. My modified Edie 8 is on the right. There is no symmetry capability in Mesh Grabber, so to make the nose narrower, you have to work on each side individually. That can add some asymmetry, because it is pretty impossible to make the same changes on each side (there is no way to translate or rotate by a numeric value, you just move a gizmo on the screen). Faces are usually somewhat asymmetric anyway, so that doesn't bother me with the modification of a nose.

    Edie 8 Small Nose.jpg
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    Post edited by barbult on
  • N-RArtsN-RArts Posts: 1,496

    I picked up Mesh Grabber up this evening. I'm loving the results that I'm getting. Is there an option to mirror the geometry that you're editing (so, if I alter the left cheek (on a face), then the right cheek would be altered too)? 

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    edited February 2020
    ManFriday said:
    Cinus said:

    First of all, let me say that Mesh Grabber is a great tool and well worth the money. 

    I do have a request for an enhancement though; Is it possible to constrain the selection of vertices/faces/edges to only the selected scene object while Ctrl is pressed?

    When selecting multiple vertices of an object I sometimes accidentally click on an adjacent object or an object behind the one I'm working on. When that happens, all the selected vertices/faces/edges are un-selected and the other object is selected, forcing me to restart the selection on the original selected object.

    Constraining the selection to only the selected scene object while Ctrl is pressed should solve that problem.

    Please pardon me if this has already been requested. I did not read through the whole thread.

    Thanks

    That's a great idea, I'll add that. 

    I don't know if this is possible, but I'd love a sorta, somewhat, similar feature: The ability to prevent influence on different material zones. Or perhaps, on hidden polygons. That might be a lot easier. Either way, when two or more parts of the same object intersect, it can be very difficult to separate them using the Mesh Grabber.

    For example, be able to affect sleeves without affecting the body of the garment. (Did you see my image earlier in the thread with the leather jacket? Perfect example!)

    Another possible solution would be to allow weight maps for influence, much like dForms do now.

    Regardless, I'll happily pay for an upgrade that makes this easier, however it does it.

    Post edited by L'Adair on
  • PaintboxPaintbox Posts: 1,633
    L'Adair said:
    ManFriday said:
    Cinus said:

     

    I don't know if this is possible, but I'd love a sorta, somewhat, similar feature: The ability to prevent influence on different material zones. Or perhaps, on hidden polygons. That might be a lot easier. Either way, when two or more parts of the same object intersect, it can be very difficult to separate them using the Mesh Grabber.

    For example, be able to affect sleeves without affecting the body of the garment. (Did you see my image earlier in the thread with the leather jacket? Perfect example!)

    Another possible solution would be to allow weight maps for influence, much like dForms do now.

    Regardless, I'll happily pay for an upgrade that makes this easier, however it does it.

    I wholeheartedly support this request, that would be amazing, happily would pay for such an add on. 

     

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,240

    I am using Mesh Grabber 1.9.3 Beta in DS 4.12.1.76 Public Beta.

    • The "masking" with hiding polygons with the Geometry Editor is working great!!!! This is so helpful. I tested fixing a wonky belt loop on some pants without affecting the pants waistband. I tested moving the collar points on a shirt without moving the shirt body. yesyes
    • The polygon. vertex and edge selection are all working for the most part, but I had a couple problems:
    1. Sometimes I can't select geometry behind the gizmo. I have to turn it completely off to select a polygon, edge or vertex.Otherwise it starts trying to move an already selected polygon. I don't remember having this problem before 1.9.3.
    2. One time, after using the new feature of "masking", when I selected an edge, it would not highlight. It looked like it was not selected. But when I clicked Vertex, the two vertices of the edge were highlighted, so I think the edge was selected but not highlighted. I don't know if the masking had anything to do with it or not. I was selecting a visible edge.
    • Ctrrl++ and Ctrl+- are working reliably for polygon selections. (If I have an edge or vertex selected, I get the popup message that they are not enabled for edges and vertices.)
    • Gain is working for rotation and translation.
       
    Casual Golf Belt Loop Bad.jpg
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    Casual Golf Belt Loop Fix.jpg
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  • 3dOutlaw3dOutlaw Posts: 2,471

    Hi, I asked this question on another thread, and someone pointed this thread out.  My question was, "Is here the ability to smooth a zone, similar to the Soften Tool in Hexagon?"  This would be awesome if it does or could do that.  Basically relaxing/smoothing the soft-selected faces...?  (not sure if you know that tool in Hex)

    THD777 mentioned it was not, but since I saw future features here, thought I would ask in hopes of consderation.

    It is the one reason I have to still use Hex sometimes...cause the autofits, dforce, etc just dont smooth out the crimping sometimes.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,240
    3dOutlaw said:

    Hi, I asked this question on another thread, and someone pointed this thread out.  My question was, "Is here the ability to smooth a zone, similar to the Soften Tool in Hexagon?"  This would be awesome if it does or could do that.  Basically relaxing/smoothing the soft-selected faces...?  (not sure if you know that tool in Hex)

    THD777 mentioned it was not, but since I saw future features here, thought I would ask in hopes of consderation.

    It is the one reason I have to still use Hex sometimes...cause the autofits, dforce, etc just dont smooth out the crimping sometimes.

    No, it doesn't have that capability. ManFriday is adding features, so we can hope!

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    ManFriday said:

    Mesh Grabber 1.9.2 public beta

    [snip]

    What's new since the previous 1.9.0 beta:

    • Do not move vertices that have been hidden in geometry editor (allows for some masking). See “Notes” above.

     

    barbult said:

    I am using Mesh Grabber 1.9.3 Beta in DS 4.12.1.76 Public Beta.

    • The "masking" with hiding polygons with the Geometry Editor is working great!!!! This is so helpful. I tested fixing a wonky belt loop on some pants without affecting the pants waistband. I tested moving the collar points on a shirt without moving the shirt body. yesyes

    How embarassing! Something I really, really want, and I flat out didn't see it!
    blush

    Thank you, @ManFriday!

  • DaventakiDaventaki Posts: 1,624
    RGcincy said:
    Daventaki said:

    But could someone please explain to this noob what is happening on the left? All I did was rotate on 1 axes for every bend *disclaimer: possibly might have grabbed the wrong one but I dont think i did*  Why did I get a smoother result on the right?  Followed RGcincy's settings for the cylinder in his previous post.

    Hard to say for sure but a couple of thoughts after trying to recreate it:

    1. The thick, angled spots on the left probably come from too few segments in the cylinder. I can get that result if I use 50 instead of 250. The points furthest from the selection point will show the most distortion.

    2. It looks like there was either a change in falloff radius or you lost the original selection point and grabbed another (the latter has happened to me as it is easy to miss the gizmo controls and have to reselect). Tip: if you are doing multiple rotations and miss the gizmo and loose your connection, I find it best to type ctrl+z to undo all the way to the beginning and try again.

    3. I suspect the reverse kinks at two spots near the end indicate a reverse rotation at some point and maybe the falloff sphere did not encompass the entire cylinder at that point.

     

    @RGcincy Thank you! I will have to play some more this weekend when I have some time off.

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,120

    Can this Mesh Grabber edit such a thing as the DAZ House Cat to make it a male cat for example? See attached picture. The male & female faces are different.

     

    33d4ab2f204611d42bc09f77d397e4e1--faces-cat.jpg
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  • CinusCinus Posts: 118
    ManFriday said:
    Cinus said:

    First of all, let me say that Mesh Grabber is a great tool and well worth the money. 

    I do have a request for an enhancement though; Is it possible to constrain the selection of vertices/faces/edges to only the selected scene object while Ctrl is pressed?

    When selecting multiple vertices of an object I sometimes accidentally click on an adjacent object or an object behind the one I'm working on. When that happens, all the selected vertices/faces/edges are un-selected and the other object is selected, forcing me to restart the selection on the original selected object.

    Constraining the selection to only the selected scene object while Ctrl is pressed should solve that problem.

    Please pardon me if this has already been requested. I did not read through the whole thread.

    Thanks

    That's a great idea, I'll add that. 

    That will be much appreciated :) Thank you!

  • ImagoImago Posts: 5,155

    New bug found: As soon as I click on a Geoshell with the grabber, DAZ Studio brutally crashes. sad

    I'm using the version form the store, not the beta.

  • ManFridayManFriday Posts: 568
    L'Adair said:
    ManFriday said:

    Mesh Grabber 1.9.2 public beta

    [snip]

    What's new since the previous 1.9.0 beta:

    • Do not move vertices that have been hidden in geometry editor (allows for some masking). See “Notes” above.

     

    barbult said:

    I am using Mesh Grabber 1.9.3 Beta in DS 4.12.1.76 Public Beta.

    • The "masking" with hiding polygons with the Geometry Editor is working great!!!! This is so helpful. I tested fixing a wonky belt loop on some pants without affecting the pants waistband. I tested moving the collar points on a shirt without moving the shirt body. yesyes

    How embarassing! Something I really, really want, and I flat out didn't see it!
    blush

    Thank you, @ManFriday!

    Not embarassing. I just added that with last beta. :-)

    I'm glad you like it! L'Adair, i'm sure you're aware, but in the geometry editor, you can select faces by region, and then hide them so that Mesh Grabber leaves them alone. I know it's clunky and I still plan to make this more convenient, but it was a quick workaround for now.

  • ManFridayManFriday Posts: 568
    nonesuch00 said:

    Can this Mesh Grabber edit such a thing as the DAZ House Cat to make it a male cat for example? See attached picture. The male & female faces are different.

     

    I don't know enough about cats, male or female, to give an informed answer. What I can tell you is that you can select faces in the mesh and move them around. A better artist than me would probably come up with ways to do this better, but maybe the attached picture gives you an idea. Please also see the video on the product page.

    win_screenshot_1582885197.jpg
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  • ManFridayManFriday Posts: 568
    Imago said:

    New bug found: As soon as I click on a Geoshell with the grabber, DAZ Studio brutally crashes. sad

    I'm using the version form the store, not the beta.

    I haven't seen this problem in the past, and I'm not seeing it with my current code. In fact the Mesh Grabber disables geografts when it is activated (like the geometry editor and weight maps tools do as well), for this very reason. Could you do me a huge favor and test whether the problem also occurs with the current beta code I posted at https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5373996/#Comment_5373996 ? If so, please PM me with a test scenario I can try to reproduce on my machine. Thank you!

  • ManFridayManFriday Posts: 568
    3dOutlaw said:

    Hi, I asked this question on another thread, and someone pointed this thread out.  My question was, "Is here the ability to smooth a zone, similar to the Soften Tool in Hexagon?"  This would be awesome if it does or could do that.  Basically relaxing/smoothing the soft-selected faces...?  (not sure if you know that tool in Hex)

    THD777 mentioned it was not, but since I saw future features here, thought I would ask in hopes of consderation.

    It is the one reason I have to still use Hex sometimes...cause the autofits, dforce, etc just dont smooth out the crimping sometimes.

    Like barbult helpfully said, it's on the list for future add-ons, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

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