Boolean

[Szabolcs Matefy]

Hey folks,

 

I’m looking for a free Boolean solution. I have seen ImplosiaFX GigaBoolean, and I love it when it works. However, in Demo mode, it always crashes, even when a single sphere and cylinder is to be united…

 

So is there any normal Boolean solution for Softimage besides the built-in?

 

 

Cheers

 

Szabolcs

___
This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH - http://www.crytek.com - Grüneburgweg 16-18, 60322 Frankfurt - HRB77322 Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer: Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli

[Stephen Davidson]

I was trying to find the same thing and found BoolTrace which is part of the Binary Iris addon.

This is supposed to do boolean functions on solid models, at render time, though the use of it as a shader.

It was tough to find as Binary Iris seems to have gone away. I found id it via the wayback machine.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080627113211/http://binaryiris.com/main/?id=BoolTrace

However, I could not get this to work in 2013 SP1. The render seems to break after installing

the addon. If anyone has a better solution for Booleans in Softimage, it would be appreciated.

Any modeling compounds in ICE, maybe? I searched the Area, but didn't find anything.

I did see a post on using a transparent plane, that has the primary rays turned off, but I haven't tried that yet.

--

Best Regards,
  Stephen P. Davidson 
       (954) 552-7956
    sdav...@3Danimationmagic.com

My Website is GREEN, Is yours?

[Ben Houston]

We should look into the ImplosiaFX solution. It actually can do very
nice booleans normally with UVs and Clusters and all that even with
complex geometry.
-ben

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 3:20 AM, Szabolcs Matefy <szab...@crytek.com> wrote:

--
Best regards,
Ben Houston
Voice: 613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom
http://Exocortex.com - Passionate CG Software Professionals.

[Alan Fregtman]

I got it working in 2012 with some tinkering. Probably the same process to make it work in 2013.

I had to regenerate the presets or something like that. I'll check when I have some proper free time.

[Len Krenzler]

If you're OK with booleans at render time then 3Delight does a nice job
of that. Might be worth looking into, the trial (2core) is free.

[Stephen Davidson]

The problem I had, in the past, with using 3Delight is that it changes the texture mapping and overall look of the render.

Also, I couldn't get multiple clusters with multiple materials to work, which I use a lot. I did try it several years ago, though.

Anyone using 3Delight, currently, that can verify if these issues have been addressed?

[Stephen Davidson]

Thanks, Alan. I did try to regenerate the preset, but I didn't know what I was doing, so I may have messed that up.

It seemed to break the entire render, so I just uninstalled Binary Iris to get my render back.

[Stephen Davidson]

I understand that ImplosiaFX does have a Boolean function that puts the regular Boolean

function, in Softimage, to shame. The price of the license made it an overkill for me.

Too bad they don't just sell the Boolean function. :)

[Ben Rogall]

I thought the Implosia boolean function was free. It's based on the Carve CSG library, as per this discussion:

http://www.si-community.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2159

The Carve library is here: http://code.google.com/p/carve/
I once wrapped it in an ICE node myself but I never released it because someone else already had. Anyway, I found I got better boolean results using 3Delight's CSG attributes on the project I needed it on. The one drawback I ran into with 3Delight was that I couldn't use SSS, because the SSS point cloud was calculated before the CSG operation.

Ben

On 6/26/2012 7:26 PM, Stephen Davidson wrote:

I understand that ImplosiaFX does have a Boolean function that puts the regular Boolean

function, in Softimage, to shame. The price of the license made it an overkill for me.

Too bad they don't just sell the Boolean function. :)

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 1:41 PM, Ben Houston <b...@exocortex.com> wrote:

We should look into the ImplosiaFX solution. �It actually can do very

nice booleans normally with UVs and Clusters and all that even with
complex geometry.
-ben

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 3:20 AM, Szabolcs Matefy <szab...@crytek.com> wrote:

> Hey folks,
>
>
>
> I�m looking for a free Boolean solution. I have seen ImplosiaFX GigaBoolean,

> and I love it when it works. However, in Demo mode, it always crashes, even

> when a single sphere and cylinder is to be united�

>
>
>
> So is there any normal Boolean solution for Softimage besides the built-in?
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
>
> Szabolcs
>
> ___
> This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the
> individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not
> disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender
> immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete
> this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be
> secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost,
> destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender
> therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the
> contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If
> verification is required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH -

> http://www.crytek.com - Gr�neburgweg 16-18, 60322 Frankfurt - HRB77322

> Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer:
> Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli

--
Best regards,
Ben Houston
Voice: 613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom
http://Exocortex.com - Passionate CG Software Professionals.

--

Best Regards,
��Stephen P. Davidson�
�� � ��(954) 552-7956
� � sdav...@3Danimationmagic.com

[Szabolcs Matefy]

I returned to the free (1.1) version of ImplosiaFX. I think that Boolean is so important, and I think Softimage should buy this awesome ubercool etc tool to include it in regular Softimage.

 

Cheers

 

 

Szabolcs

 

From: softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Ben Rogall
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 3:54 AM
To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Boolean

 

I thought the Implosia boolean function was free. It's based on the Carve CSG library, as per this discussion:

http://www.si-community.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2159

The Carve library is here: http://code.google.com/p/carve/
I once wrapped it in an ICE node myself but I never released it because someone else already had. Anyway, I found I got better boolean results using 3Delight's CSG attributes on the project I needed it on. The one drawback I ran into with 3Delight was that I couldn't use SSS, because the SSS point cloud was calculated before the CSG operation.

Ben


On 6/26/2012 7:26 PM, Stephen Davidson wrote:

I understand that ImplosiaFX does have a Boolean function that puts the regular Boolean

function, in Softimage, to shame. The price of the license made it an overkill for me.

Too bad they don't just sell the Boolean function. :)

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 1:41 PM, Ben Houston <b...@exocortex.com> wrote:

We should look into the ImplosiaFX solution.  It actually can do very

nice booleans normally with UVs and Clusters and all that even with
complex geometry.
-ben

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 3:20 AM, Szabolcs Matefy <szab...@crytek.com> wrote:

> Hey folks,
>
>
>
> I’m looking for a free Boolean solution. I have seen ImplosiaFX GigaBoolean,

> and I love it when it works. However, in Demo mode, it always crashes, even

> when a single sphere and cylinder is to be united…

>
>
>
> So is there any normal Boolean solution for Softimage besides the built-in?
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
>
> Szabolcs
>
> ___
> This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the
> individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not
> disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender
> immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete
> this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be
> secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost,
> destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender
> therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the
> contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If
> verification is required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH -

> http://www.crytek.com - Grüneburgweg 16-18, 60322 Frankfurt - HRB77322

> Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer:
> Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli

--
Best regards,
Ben Houston
Voice: 613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom
http://Exocortex.com - Passionate CG Software Professionals.

 

--

Best Regards,

  Stephen P. Davidson 
       (954) 552-7956

    sdav...@3Danimationmagic.com

[Ben Houston]

Hi Szabolcs,

I just re-downloaded the released version of ImplosiaFX (which was released back in February), installed it fresh and then created a sphere and a cylinder mesh in Softimage 2013 and then applied the IFX boolean operation and it worked immediately without error.

I believe you likely have an installation issue on your machine, it may be that multiple different versions of ImplosiaFX are conflicting with each other.  This would explain why in another post of yours you said that ImplosiaFX was complaining about missing ICE ports.

I am willing to do a Skype screenshare with you later today to help diagnose the installation issue, I am ben.exocortex on Skype.

Best regards,

Ben Houston

[Stephen Davidson]

Thanks, I will try the "free" version 1.1. BTW, I just noticed that a single node locked licence is $249, but a site license

is $2499. I was assuming I would have to buy a site license, since I have multiple render machines, networked. (16 cores),

but maybe not. I agree that Softimage should buy this technology, and include it with the software, since the included 

Boolean function is, and always has been, very "buggy", specially if you are animating the Boolean.

On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 8:30 AM, Ben Houston <b...@exocortex.com> wrote:

Hi Szabolcs,

I just re-downloaded the released version of ImplosiaFX (which was released back in February), installed it fresh and then created a sphere and a cylinder mesh in Softimage 2013 and then applied the IFX boolean operation and it worked immediately without error.

I believe you likely have an installation issue on your machine, it may be that multiple different versions of ImplosiaFX are conflicting with each other.  This would explain why in another post of yours you said that ImplosiaFX was complaining about missing ICE ports.

I am willing to do a Skype screenshare with you later today to help diagnose the installation issue, I am ben.exocortex on Skype.

Best regards,

Ben Houston

On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 3:03 AM, Szabolcs Matefy <szab...@crytek.com> wrote:

I returned to the free (1.1) version of ImplosiaFX. I think that Boolean is so important, and I think Softimage should buy this awesome ubercool etc tool to include it in regular Softimage.

 

Cheers

 

 

Szabolcs

 

[Ben Houston]

Hi Stephen,

I do think there is an opportunity for just a Boolean tool priced somewhere around $99 with a site license priced at $499?  I believe we should follow-up on this opportunity if Softimage isn't interested in licensing the technology (which would be great!)

If you need to do an animated boolean, I'd suggest caching the results rather than computing them on the fly using a technology like Alembic to ensure consistent results.  With Alembic caching you can really reduce your investment in specialized plugins (it caches Momentum and Polygonizer as well) and it also reduces risk of plug-ins behaving differently on different machines.  Alembic is also priced to allow for easy deployment to the render farm.

Best regards,

Ben Houston

[Len Krenzler]

I think it's gotten a lot better, however, according to the forum it may not work on 2013.  I've only used it a little so I'm not sure how much of that has been addressed but the tests I did seemed a pretty close match for most materials as far as look.  Only testing your scene will tell I guess.  The booleans looked great with nice clean edges on sub-d objects.  Probably a better result visually than trying to boolean your object geometry unless you use extremely high poly counts and then you know how unstable that is.