Welding/Merging points using ICE Topo

[Dan Yargici]

Hi all,

I'm trying to merge points using ICE much as you would using Model->Modify->Poly. Mesh->Filter Points.

I'm new to the whole ICE Topo workflow/mindset and I think I've bashed my brains at this problem for long enough today, does anyone have any clues on how I might achieve this?

I would have expected to be able to Get Closest Points on Self using the cutoff as my distance filter and passing the VertexIndex of the found points to the Vertex Index Array input of the Merge Vertices Node (and then setting the topo).

Thanks,

DAN

[Ciaran Moloney]

Hi,
it works OK here. Make sure that index array is in object context, so you should be looking for closest position to a single vector like a null's global.pos. And the apply merge vertices should be set to integer array.

Ciaran

[Dan Yargici]

Hi Ciaran, 

that's the catch, I need to weld all the overlapping points (there are many) of two islands so I can't start with a single vector.

DAN

[Dan Yargici]

Here's a model  (2012SAP)  to explain better...

DAN

[Dan Yargici]

Sorry for the noise, somebody just suggested I steal the 'Filter Vertices by Statistic' compound out of the Apply Thickness compound.  Works a treat!

Seems it uses a loop to achieve the result. :/

DAN

[Ciaran Moloney]

Well thanks for sharing!

I was looking for a way to avoid looping....

[Fabricio Chamon]

be aware that merging becomes a REAL pain once you need to persist custom attributes on your mesh.

It was probably one of the trickiest part of my Power Extrude compound. 

but if you are good enough with topology changes only, please ignore this post. =)

[Christian Gotzinger]

I've made a compound a while ago that doesn't use a loop:
http://vimeo.com/31921308

The Merge Vertices node that's included with ICE wants to merge everything it receives down to a single point. That's not what the Filter Points command does in Soft.

[Dan Yargici]

Hi Christian,

Thanks, however I just ran a test on a relatively heavy mesh and your compound seems to be considerably slower.  Any ideas?

Cheers,

DAN

[Julian Johnson]

Hi Dan,

In addition to Christian's which acts on border points, here's a quickie
that filters *all* points by distance without Repeats or Find in Array
etc. Not sure it's any quicker than Guillaume's Filter Vertices by
Statistic but it gives you a bit more distance control. Not sure how
useful it is!

http://www.exch.demon.co.uk/xsi/files/FilterAllPointsByDistance.rar

Julian

[Dan Yargici]

Julian, that's crazy fast - about 15x faster than Guillaume's and 20x faster than Christians in my test, thanks!  

Hope life's treating you well.

DAN

[Ciaran Moloney]

Very useful indeed! Thanks for sharing.

Ciaran

[Christian Gotzinger]

That sounds really fast indeed. Can't wait to take a look at the logic inside. Thanks for sharing Julian!