Hey there,
After doing a bit of experimenting with Sub-D commands in Rhino 7 WIP version, I’d like to add some of my personal feedback and possible features. I’m happy to see that Sub-D in Rhino is improving, but as of now, I noticed only a handful of “editing” commands like (Inset, Slide Edge, Insert Crease, Remove Crease, Slide Edge, Delete Face, Bridge SubDs, Subdivide SubD). These are great of course but in my opinion not enough to do any serious work yet.
These are some of my suggestions that I think will benefit the Sub-D tools a lot.
Add symmetry command / Remove symmetry command - both linear and radial
This is a tool that I personally use every time with T-splines when I model cars for example or anything that is symmetrical. I understand that we can use just a simple mirror command once the modeling of one side is finished, but with symmetry, you can see how your model is taking shape and you have a better understanding if there’s something that needs to be changed along the symmetry line.
Insert Edge / Insert Vertex
This is really a must for me. If I don’t have the ability to add new edges in the middle of work, this means that I would have to know in advance how many by how many faces I would need when I start my initial surface. This flexibility to add new Edges (edge loops especially) is crucial.
So how this would work in practice (t-spline example) - You just select a certain edge loop and type a command insert edge and this should create an edge that is in the midpoint of the previously selected edge loop.
Insert vertex is also something similar, but it doesn’t necessarily need to create midpoint edges, but rather an edge that is created by clicking on certain points on existing edges.
Weld points / vertices
This is also something that is crucial. Often times, I use ctrl+shift to select an edge and then use alt+drag to extrude it, then one more time and so on. Often times, while doing this process there are some vertices that get created in a single spot (meaning two or more vertices have the same exact mathematical position) and this means that if they are not “merged or welded” the surface itself would behave differently. So I’d like to have the ability to weld vertices that are on top of each other and also to connect two separate vertices and creating a nice blended surface as a result of that action.
Smooth Toggle
This is not something that is on top of my list, but I think it’s also one of the features that would benefit the overall workflow with sub-d tools. In t-splines, there is this “smooth toggle” when you press “tab” key and what it does, it actually switches the visual representation of the object from “smooth” to “low poly”, so you can work with “low poly” version the same way as you work with the “smooth” version, but it’s just much faster. When models get quite complex, this is a big timesaver.
In this example, the “low poly” option would be the yellow control points frame, and the “smooth” would be the default option that is currently active with the sub-d tools.
Love the naming convention by the way!
