Masking possible?

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zampano
Posts: 70
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:37 pm

Masking possible?

Post by zampano » Thu Jun 08, 2017 9:44 am

Hi there,
one more question:

Is it possible to mask a region to hide it partially? I can't find anything on that.

chong
Posts: 1178
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:21 am

Re: Masking possible?

Post by chong » Thu Jun 08, 2017 3:43 pm

Hello,

Currently masking is not supported. Even if it is going to be supported in the future, it will be difficult to get it to work across different game engine runtimes since they will each have different performance and functional requirements to fulfill.

Cheers

zampano
Posts: 70
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:37 pm

Re: Masking possible?

Post by zampano » Thu Jun 08, 2017 4:25 pm

I see... thanks. Maybe I can work around that..

zampano
Posts: 70
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:37 pm

Re: Masking possible?

Post by zampano » Thu Jun 08, 2017 4:43 pm

When editing region motors and such, is it possible to unhide all other regions? I need to react to the motion of other regions but I can't see them which makes it really tedious :/

chong
Posts: 1178
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:21 am

Re: Masking possible?

Post by chong » Thu Jun 08, 2017 5:16 pm

Hello,

This is something that will need to be investigated to see how feasible it is. The reason is actually not as trivial at first glance: Basically when you are editing a region, it is in region space, as in it is not deformed by the bones.

Region meshes undergo 2 kinds of deformation phases, first via Bone Skinning, then via the defomation motors themselves. When you are editing the region meshes, you are in the deformation/region space. If you want to be able to show the rest of the regions, then this means you will also want to show the final result ( bone + deformation motors ). Certain deformation motors might not be editable in this final space since they are warped via bone skinning in different ways.

In your case as I understand it, you are relying purely on deformation motors ( just a dummy bone running through the entire rig ) so it will theoretically be possible. However for a general case with actual bone transformations, this will not be a feasible thing to implement due to the reason given above.

Having said that, what types of deformations are you trying to do on your mesh? You actually might be able to perform some of them with bone skinning alone. Basically, you can think of bones not just as bones but as large control points scattered all around the mesh.
Take a look at this video for example, it might be helpful for what you are doing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC_yFN90mLc

However, I do agree that some sort of preview showing the final result will be very useful. I think this is still possible but will need a bit of time for investigation/design before rolling out a solution. I will put this down as a future feature on the list and investigate the feasibility of it.

Cheers

zampano
Posts: 70
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:37 pm

Re: Masking possible?

Post by zampano » Thu Jun 08, 2017 5:25 pm

Thanks for the detailed answer, I understand the problem... I hope you will find a way to make an underlaying preview possible. Actually, I'm using quite a few bones now in my scene now. I wanted to use a grid deformation too, though and I'm struggling a little bit to find a decent workflow with it.

chong
Posts: 1178
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:21 am

Re: Masking possible?

Post by chong » Thu Jun 08, 2017 6:24 pm

Hello,

I think a possible solution is to have a similar preview side view on the upper left hand side of the screen which shows you the final result. That way you can see much more easily what the final result is without returning to the main view. I will investigate a solution for this.

Cheers

zampano
Posts: 70
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:37 pm

Re: Masking possible?

Post by zampano » Thu Jun 08, 2017 8:38 pm

In my case, unfortunately that wouldn't help too much either since I need to work very precisely in certain areas where different regions overlap. That's why I had thought of more of a preview as an underlay, maybe with a changeable transparency... Maybe you can take that into evaluation. I can understand if it is not feasible though.

chong
Posts: 1178
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:21 am

Re: Masking possible?

Post by chong » Thu Jun 08, 2017 9:30 pm

Hello,

Actually a transparent underlay ( not overlay but underlay ) might work, something which allows you to preview and is slightly faded out could also be an option.

I will investigate that option too. However, if that option becomes too cumbersome for implementation, I think a side preview viewport might be the next more viable option.

Update: So after some experimentation ( and there will be more ), the next update will most probably get a side viewport preview of the final result of your deformation operations while manipulating deformation mesh motors. This might not be as ideal as an overlay/underlay but it is less confusing, at least for a first pass implementation. The side viewport preview will reflect in real-time the changes you made to the entire character rig so you can see the results in full. So this should at the very least give good visual feedback on how your local mesh deformation operations are affecting the entire character.

The user control on the control pt motors are also undergoing improvement, they will be more responsive and track the mouse much better. That too will be in for the next Windows update. The Mac version will be updated after that.

Cheers

zampano
Posts: 70
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:37 pm

Re: Masking possible?

Post by zampano » Fri Jun 09, 2017 7:30 am

Nice!

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