I definitely do not consider the surface tool obsolete. It think it has lots of potential. The surface tool integration will happen in the 6.x series, but I am not sure when. I’m hoping for 6.1, but I can’t say for sure.
Richard
Richard,
Having worked quite a bit with the subdivision surfaces, I’ve thought of one critical enhancement. The subdivision surfaces by themselves are terrific, but it’s when you use them with the Surface Tool primitives that they really start to become versatile.
For instance, I’m working right now on some robotic bug that’s got more curves than a yearly subscription to Playboy. I decided that I wanted to add exterior paneling and other details that I couldn’t approximate by simply using the normal operations on a subdivision mesh. So I decided to use the surface tool….omigosh, it really is VERY useful to use both subdivision primitives and the already existing surface primitives simultaneously.
There’s only one annoyance about it…if the Surface Tool had in-place editing, it would be so much easier. I know you said most of the stuff would eventually be done in-place, but could you make in-place editing for the surface tool more of a priority? It really does have an use even with subdivision surfaces being a new feature for 6.0.
I’d be really happy with the same kind of in-place editing as the Extrude tool currently has. I know you probably view the surface tool as being obsolete compared to the autosmoothing subdivision surfaces, but I can assure you they’re anything but obsolete.
That way I can fine-tune the surface tool primitive so it fits exactly flush with the points and faces of the actual object I’m adding to in the scene. It’s a lot more elegant than screwing around with boolean operations that may or may not do what you expect, especially when you’re doing models with astronomical polycounts.
-Mel
That’s great. Between those two capabilities, making terrific models is almost trivial…heck, almost every single model I’ve made in 3DC started out as a humble little cube. You’ve seen some of my models in the past, and those were done without the fancy stuff in 6.0.
As of 6.0 onwards, my creative capabilities have been greatly enhanced. Not only can I still create the same complex and mechanically detailed models that were my forte in earlier versions of 3DC, I can now do organic models without the tedious planning phase that I had to undertake previously. And they look good too.
Boy, I love this app.
-Mel
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