Having a blast!

[Mike James]

Guys, I love what you've done with GroBoto, and look forward to more. Thank you.

I'm brand new to using the application, but selfishly ask for three things that would help my process a lot.

1. I tend to build a lot of vehicles, (mostly aviation/aerospace) and as you know, most of those would be bilaterally symmetrical. The meshes that GroBoto generates are gorgeous, but so far, I haven't been able to produce symmetrical meshes with it, and I've been careful to keep objects at the center of GroBoto's universe. Is this a "bug", or have I missed a setting somewhere?

2. For modeling from prototypes, it would be great to be able to display reference images, the way you can in modo.

3. And finally, it would be helpful to be able to name the parts, in the boolean modeling panel, and also manually set the (visual) order of the hierarchy. I get confused with "Cone1", Cone2", etc., especially when they change positions as you edit them.

Keep up the fantastic work, regardless!

[boris]

Mike,

As far as left-right symmetry - yes, we need to create exactly symmetrical meshes. Groboto does not do it now. It's not a bug, it's simply that mesh creation is always somewhat arbitrary - where do you place the first vertex when polygonating a circle? - and unless you deliberately prevent it, meshes for the left and right half typically are slightly different.

We definitely want to be able to load reference images, as well as reference meshes.

When you say 'the visual order of the hierarchy' - do you mean simply their position in the list of objects?

[Mike James]

Hi Boris,

(I replied to this already, but it doesn't show up, for some reason.) Anyway... Yes, I'd like to be able to rename and reorder parts of the hierarchy visually, as we do in modo, just to help me keep track of what I'm using the parts for.

[Takulas]

Hi Boris,

Yes, I'd like to be able to rename and reorder parts of the hierarchy visually, as we do in modo, just to help me keep track of what I'm using the parts for.

Quoted for agreement.
Have to say I was a bit surprised I didn`t found a scene objects list to organize the scene (renaming objects, changing the clusters or boolean roles).
Also, I think it will be usefull to be able to group objects and asign boolean roles to the group. Or if this is possible I`ll be grateful for any help.
I`m a groboto noob and I`m still reading the documentation and following the videotutorials. :)
Thanks in advance for your answers.

[boris]

Takulas,

There is a list of objects in a cluster. When you activate a cluster for editing (press E over it on Windows, double-click on the Mac), the Modeling Tools panel, Booleans tab, shows the list of objects in the cluster. There you can select, change boolean roles, etc.

[TomBot]

it's simply that mesh creation is always somewhat arbitrary - where do you place the first vertex when polygonating a circle? - and unless you deliberately prevent it, meshes for the left and right half typically are slightly different.

This is one of the quirks I also came across. I don't get why this is a problem. More often than not, creating symmetrical objects is done with world center as a base. Using any axes or plane intersections for the first vertex should make a mesh symmetrical, right?
Even if world center isn't used, calculating a common center axis or plane for a group of symmetrical objects shouldn't be that hard? If there is no symmetry, then it's the modeller's problem: you end up with a asymmetrical mesh.

[boris]

Tombot,

To generate symmetrical mesh, for every mesh-generation rule there has to exist a mirror-image counterpart. For instance, on the left-hand cylinder I choose to place the first vertex on the leftmost point on the rim, and then go clockwise from there. Then on the right-hand cylinder I have to start on the rightmost point and go counterclockwise from there. This seems pretty cumbersome to me, going through every piece of mesh-generation code and creating a mirror-image duplicate for it. How about this idea: Groboto creates the mesh using current arbitrary rules, but we keep only the right-hand part of it (x > 0). It's easy to generate an exact mirror image of it at x < 0. What might be less obvious is how to sew them together.

[TomBot]

How about this idea: Groboto creates the mesh using current arbitrary rules, but we keep only the right-hand part of it (x > 0). It's easy to generate an exact mirror image of it at x < 0. What might be less obvious is how to sew them together.

Exactly the kind of solution I would expect. Sewing could be performed by normal comparisons and combining (dissolving) quads if they approximate and otherwise crease (which is expected behavior...).

[JTak]

Symmetry would be AWSOME!