Mulling over meshes that use splines as a basis. Do you create as an Object with a spline picker button or as a Modifier applied to the spline or both ( the code is much the same for the most part).
i would prefer an object in this case. it seems like a modifier receives more notifications than an object plugin. also it’s easier for me to know what change causes a notification, and depends on it i make a decisions what part of geometry should be rebuild, deformed or untouched.
Ctrl+Z is just as nice as Max modifiers. Why don’t use them then?
I really like the Sweep modifier but not that much the Loft object.
The Sweep modifier with a few additional features would be superb.
Ctrl+Z ???
Don’t you like it?
Excuse the analogy with an OS functionality, but I just wanted to picture how useful I find 3ds Max modifiers.
Photoshop layers is another one, as well as many others. Who could live without them?
sorry i don’t know what your talking about
One of the mayor features people got in love with Max in the early days was its ability of building and animating objects in a nondestructive way, AKA modifiers.
Same as Photoshop layers, what do they offer? A nondestructive way of compositing. Nothing more, nothing less.
In short, if your question was about what would we chose, an object with a pick shape button (like Loft) or a SplineShape modifier (like Sweep), I would definitely go with a modifier.
But that’s just me. Perhaps most people would prefer an object. Who knows.
object has the advantage of not requiring an initial shape for it to work, where as modifier is slightly more “compact” selection wise (up and down the stack as opposed to object to object).
also Object is less destructive, one stray collapse stack and the original shape could be gone.
Based on your description I assumed a Shape was needed to create the object. No Shape, no object? I might understood it wrong.
If you don’t want to lose the original Shape, you can always clone it. That’s what the Loft object does.
I wonder, which experienced Max user would choose, for simply extruding a Shape along a path, the Loft object over the Sweep modifier. I would think none, but I might be wrong again.
i will say probably something very obvious now:
if it’s more like a new objects i do it as an Object, if it’s a modification of an object i do a Modifier
smart, isn’t it?
Garment Maker, Sweep, Cross Section, Lattice, Lathe, need more?
They all seem to contradict this definition. But there is always a chance for them to be all wrong implementations.
Well, we have the Loft Object for that, and it has been there since I can remember, even before 3ds Max existed.
And the Loft Object is much more advanced than the Sweep Modifier. Even though I think the Sweep Modifier was well received by most Max users.
Do you think the Symetry Modifier as well as the RayFire Voronoi and Voxels, are also wrong implementations and should be Compound Objects? I think they are right.
Also, Autodesk moved in the direction of creating objects from Modifiers in the latest release with the new MXS simpleMeshMod class, and many MCG you can find out there are not for modifying the underlying object, but for creating new geometry.
Based on your description I assumed a Shape was needed to create the object. No Shape, no object? I might understood it wrong.
you can default to a circle (or something else) if no shape has been assigned.
If you don’t want to lose the original Shape, you can always clone it. That’s what the Loft object does.
true but that’s not the “traditional” way for modifiers to behave.
I believe this little piece of information changes the whole concept, and then there is no room to think in a modifier implementation.
- If the user can create a default object without a shape, then it needs to be an object plugin.
- If a shape must exist in order to create the object, then it could be both an object or modifier plugin. I would chose a modifier in this case.
For example, a torus with the option to change the cross section I think should be an object.
I’ve been experimenting with this spline-driven geometry myself so I would be interested in seeing where you go with this.
I can’t help much but all I can offer is that as an artist, modifiers would be more preferable to work with as the underlying spline can quickly be changed and the effects seen in real-time.
Also from my own experience, keeping track of changes to the spline which alter the order of the vertices always caused problems when I was trying to build modifiers, whereas a pick-and-build tool only needs to generate it based on the current state of the spline.
But I use maxscript not the SDK so there’s probably a way around that. Looking forward to seeing what you cook up!