Gator and Curves

[Jeremie Passerin]

Hey list, 

Anyone knows the reason why we can not use gator with curves ? I mean to transfer envelope and shapes ? 

cheers, 

Jeremie

[Eric Thivierge]

This one has bugged me for a while. I don't understand why it's not possible.

--------------------------------------------
Eric Thivierge
Technical Director
http://www.ethivierge.com

[Cyril Gibaud]

Hi

 

No idea of the actual reason...except that poymeshes/Surfaces geometries are not defined as Curves geometries, so I guess the exact same algorithm cannot be used.

 

I don't know if you need something like that but I had to gator curves to polymeshes recently so I wrote a very simple function that acts pretty much like a gator curve...Maybe could be helpfull for others anyway ^^.

 

The script is not commented...for a simple usage select your curve then your polymesh, or just the curve and you will be asked to pick a polymsh. Don't hesistate to contact me if it doesn't work anymore.

 

cheers

 

Cyril

 

 

// --- JAVASCRIPT ---

 

var oSel = GetValue("SelectionList");

 

if(oSel.Count > 0)
{
 if(oSel.Count > 1)
 {
  GatorCurve(oSel(0), selection(1));
 }
 else
 {
  var rtn = PickElement(siPolyMeshFilter, "Select polymesh", "Select polymesh");
  var element = rtn.Value( "PickedElement");
  
  logmessage(element.Type);
  
  if(element.Type == "polymsh")
  {
   GatorCurve(GetValue("SelectionList")(0), element);
  }
 }
}
else
{
 logmessage("Please select the curve, and eventually the mesh to be \"gatorized\" !", siError);
}

 

function GatorCurve(inCurve, inMesh)
{
 var NurbsCurve = inCurve.ActivePrimitive.Geometry.Curves(0);
 var oGeo = inMesh.ActivePrimitive.Geometry;
 var oEnvelope = inMesh.ActivePrimitive.ConstructionHistory.Find( "envelopop" );
 var oDefs = oEnvelope.Deformers;
 
 var oEnvelopeWeights = oEnvelope.Weights.Array.toArray();

 

 ApplyFlexEnv(inCurve + ";" + oDefs.GetAsText(), null, 2);
 
 var CurveEnvelope = inCurve.ActivePrimitive.ConstructionHistory.Find( "envelopop" );
 
 var WeightsArray = new Array();
 var DeformWeightsArray = new Array(oDefs.Count);

 

 for(var i = 0; i < NurbsCurve.ControlPoints.Count ; i++)
 {
  //Get closest from the point
  var ClosestPointLocator = oGeo.GetClosestLocations(new Array(NurbsCurve.ControlPoints(i).Position.X, NurbsCurve.ControlPoints(i).Position.Y, NurbsCurve.ControlPoints(i).Position.Z))

 

  var TriangleVertices = oGeo.GetTriangleVertexIndexArray(ClosestPointLocator).toArray();
  var TriangleWeights = oGeo.GetTriangleWeightArray(ClosestPointLocator).toArray();

 

  //GetWeights for each vertex
  
  var NewWeights1 = GetSubArray(oEnvelopeWeights, oDefs.Count, TriangleVertices[0]);
  var NewWeights2 = GetSubArray(oEnvelopeWeights, oDefs.Count, TriangleVertices[1]);
  var NewWeights3 = GetSubArray(oEnvelopeWeights, oDefs.Count, TriangleVertices[2]);

 

  //Blend Arrays
  var NewWeights = BlendArrays(NewWeights1, TriangleWeights[0],  NewWeights2, TriangleWeights[1], NewWeights3, TriangleWeights[2]);
  
  WeightsArray.push(NewWeights);
 }
 
 for(var k = 0; k < oDefs.Count ; k++)
 {
  DeformWeightsArray[k] = new Array(WeightsArray.length);
  
  for(var j = 0; j < WeightsArray.length ; j++)
  {
   DeformWeightsArray[k][j] = WeightsArray[j][k];
  }
 }
 
 for(var j = 0; j < oDefs.Count ; j++)
 {
  CurveEnvelope.SetDeformerWeights(oDefs(j),  JS2VBArray(DeformWeightsArray[j]));
 }
}

 

function GetSubArray(inEnvelopeWeights, inDefsCount, inIndex)
{
 var NewArray = new Array(inDefsCount);
 
 for(var i = 0 ; i < inDefsCount; i++)
 {
  NewArray[i] = inEnvelopeWeights[i + ( inIndex * inDefsCount)];
 }
 
 return NewArray;
}

 

function BlendArrays(inNewWeights1, inWeights1,  inNewWeights2, inWeights2, inNewWeights3, inWeights3)
{
 var NewArray = new Array(inNewWeights1.length);
 
 for(var i = 0 ; i < NewArray.length; i++)
 {
  NewArray[i] = inNewWeights1[i] * inWeights1 + inNewWeights2[i] * inWeights2 + inNewWeights3[i] * inWeights3;
 }
 
 return NewArray;
}

 

function JS2VBArray( objJSArray )
{
    var dictionary = new ActiveXObject( "Scripting.Dictionary" );
    for ( var i = 0; i < objJSArray.length; i++ )
    {
        dictionary.add( i, objJSArray[ i ] );
    }

 

    return dictionary.Items();
}

 

// --- END OF SCRIPT ---

[Jeremie Passerin]

Eric, maybe we should just log the request :)

cheers, Cyril !

I'll try it next time.

hope you're doing fine, long time no see ;-)

[Dave Thomlison]

Almost a year later.... I've used this script a few times now, I've always gotten the same error message when trying to copy over weights

62     WeightsArray.push(NewWeights);

"// ERROR : Object doesn't support this property or method - [line 62]"

In the past the curves have always stuck fairly well to the geo so I assumed it was working properly.  This latest time it seems to be ignoring the geo's weights and is applying a new envelope as if I'd just set a new envelope - lots of stretching between the curves.  Has anybody else run into this?  Does anybody know of a workaround for copying weights from a mesh to a curve?

Thanks,

Dave

--
Dave Thomlison

[Dave Thomlison]

I'm living in the past, almost two years?  Damnit.

--
Dave Thomlison