Just a few more ideas …
(i) SOFTER EDGES
A script to run through all objects in a scene and change all sharp corners to make them a little less sharp … eg. by applying chamferEdges (a sharp coner being an edge between two adjecent polygons/faces of a certain angle). … Something of a challange I think (both to locate sharp corners and to make some “clean” modeling changes) and not sure how to do the calculations for this my self, and if at all doable?
(j) COB WEB BUILDER
A script to model a cob web in a scene. Should take a selection of vertexes and use them as fix points for the web. Different elements to consider: use of renderable splines, gravity/wind, possibility for holes in the web, transfer to the web to a texture map + opacity map also? etc.
(k) PAVEMENT TILES
A script for laying out pavement tiles of different shapes and patterns, instanced objects of the tiles and placed a little irregular, also maybe adding random filling/sand in between.
I have a suggestion for a script that would be very usefull …
Actually, the discreet guys should add it to the control panel.
When i do architecture, and i use a camera clipping plane in order to avoid a wall or something, if the camera is not perpendicular to the wall, and the space is small, the plane always cuts the wall, or other objects in the space in a strange way …
I´m sure all those who do architecture understand what i mean.
So i do not know if it can be done by scripting, but ROTATING THE CAMERA CLIP PLANE on every axis would be a great thing to have around …
A “Make Something Cool” button! We really need one of those! I’ve heard that in Maya and XSI, there’s like one button you push, and VIOLA~! You have something cool! Kinda like that MR button called, “Make Pretty”
I would dearly love to have a tool to slice or trim Polies using other Polyies as a the cutting edge. even if the polies don’t intersect, the tool would trim on the projected intersection.
A simpler tool would be to align the Slice plane to a normal.
I’m not a scripter and rely heavily on those gifted as such. I wish I had more to give.
I look forward to your ideas/comments.
jonah
An electricity/lightning bolt generator, with animatable end points and lots of controls for speed, size, color, forks, etc.
Kind of like this: http://digimation.com/software/asp/product.asp?product_id=257&category_id=1
I can think of a few different ways to do this, so the results should be nicely varied.
I’d like to see someone make a nuclear sub burst out of the water, anyone seen that on down persicope?
Just another idea …
(l) SNOW/RAIN STORM
A script to create an animated snowstorm or rain effect in a scene eg. using pflow. Could have settings for intensity, wind direction, wind force / random windbursts.
(m) SPECIAL DISPLACEMENT
A script for fun to run through a b/w bitmap and randomly (or in eg. jumps of say 10 pixels on the bitmap) create a geometry object (eg. a box) for each pixel eg. with a height or other setting based on the “blackness” of the given pixel (eg. white resulting in tall boxes and grey in smaller boxes).
(n) WAVES
A script to create foam on top of waves, eg. combining the wave modifier with pflow, or some other method.
I vote for these kinds of tools as well… maybe something, that simplifies ocean-animation in general, like a plane-mesh with a distance-dependant density, and showing only faces visible in the camera frustrum. And of course something for creating foam, white caps (though that would probably have to be a plug-in, rather than a script) and maybe particle flow splashes. I know, Dreamscape offers these, but I guess it should be possible to script.
Furtermore, I’d like to see some scripts making it easier to create natural environments, like scripts for tree-placement, grass creation and animation, especially keeping an eye on polygon count (so mostly using textured planes).
Have todays Dilbert load as the start up screen. Or just random images from a folder. Easy one I know but it would be fun.