I know discourse about Discourse is pretty popular right now but I’m wondering if any users are finding the custom render mesh tools in Rhino 5 useful in their workflows, e.g. ApplyEdgeSoftening, ApplyCurvePiping etc.
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I use the HELL out of edge softening for quick screen captures. My objects look 1000% more realistic with edge softening on, as even sharp edges in the real world catch some light, and edge softening allows that to happen. Turns a very dead image into something far more alive. It does a crappy job in some cases, though, and it is very limited just how much you can really soften an edge (I often see no difference between a setting of 0.2 and 1.0, for instance), so I would fully support some resources being spent on developing this tool a bit more. It makes a world of difference in realism.
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Yes it does. Any time spent developing this is time well spent.
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Use them all the time. Usually ApplyEdgeSoftening followed by ApplyShutLining in terms of amount of use.
Here are the bugs we have logged on ApplyEdgeSoftening.
Let us know if we missed something.
Also, let me know if you can’t see this list.
If you are addressing this to the general public, the answer is no, I can’t see the list. I am asked for a username and log-in.
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Can you set up an account from that there?
“New user registration is disabled. Please contact your system administrator”
Not today. Our intention is to make it possible for customers to create Youtrack accounts and participate in our bug tracking system. I spoke with @stevebaer briefly; given the current churn related to Discourse, I think trying to roll out Youtrack to the public is premature. Once Discourse has stabilized, we can go back and figure out if there are any remaining issues to public view of Youtrack issues.
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Exciting! I look forward to checking out how this works once the dust has settled here.
Hi Bob,
In addition there is an issue posted recently on the NG
I see if I can find it…
Here it is
In Short:
for applyedgesoftening any value entered below 0.01 is set back to 0.01
Values higher than 3 will result in the same mesh.
-Willem
Just noticed enabling shutlining disables any edge softening…
Edge softening is basically a meshing “hack” - it’s meant to “soften” meshes - not to actually fillet them or chamfer them. It’s intended purpose was to allow renderers to get that edge highlight without actually changing the geometry. However, as we’re seeing how the tool is being used, we’re seeing that some people want to use it for purposes we didn’t really consider.
Changing it to respect values greater than the size of the mesh edge faces will be challenging, but - of course - possible. It seems like we will probably put some time into that for V6.
Yes - it’s a similar problem with displacement. Again - it has to do with the reason we designed edge softening - it was intended as a simple renderer hack. Since shutlining and displacement create very very small edge faces on the mesh, it limits the utility of edge softening - so making them work together wasn’t a priority.
It’s possible we will take another run at this for V6 now that we can break the SDK.
A comment from another user who had questions about edge softening accuracy:
If there is any will to work on this sooner than v6 (which I assume
will take years) I’d do it. If edge softening actually worked
accurately to where you could spec a near round value, you’d be taking
care of one of the major workflow issues with rhino. you probably
already know this but at the end of most product designers workflow we
add small rounds to most parts for render accuracy and molding intent.
This essentially makes that model uneditable in any real sense.
Designers get frustrated with this and thus the need for parametric
modeling. I’ve personally spent hundreds of hours working around this
issue. If you could shortcut this whole issue by essentially turning
rounds on and off you’d have one less reason to switch to solidworks.
If it were me, I’d make it a top priority. It makes a lot of sense for
product design.
-Pascal
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I’ve just fixed the “lower than 0.01” issue - you’ll get the fix in SR6. We’re looking at the “higher than 3” now (which is more accurately described in my other post on “hackery”)
Yes I use this most of the time, and now more because Vray start supporting it.
Keep working on this render stuff, it’s a power sword of Rhino against other CAD.