I would like to get opinions on the usability of scripted manipulators for vertices.
The manipulator would only be shown when in vertex SO mode of an editable_mesh, and it would then constrain the vertex movement to specific lines calculated by the manipulator.
I could create temporary line shapes and then use Edge/Segment snap to constrain the vertex to that line, but that sounds really messy with all the line creation and deletion whenever the vertex selection is changed.
So any thoughts on using a manipulator for vertices are much appreciated, thanks!
– MartinB
It’s certainly possible. I’ve done something similar for a vertex based facial rig. But you may find that the animators using the manipulators don’t love them. We ended up abandoning the manipulators and wired points to simple max objects and skinned the verts to the points. This way the animators could select more than one control at the same time and use all of max’ object manipulation functions (like align).
Thanks for the comment! Fortunately, I am doing this setup just for me, so no complaints to be expected.
So how would you go about scripting a vertex manipulator? Thinking a little more about it, it is almost like scripting a custom snap tool…
Cheers!
– MartinB
I “stole” the manipulator code from Bobo’s examples (he wrote the slider and joystick that come with max) and just re-worked it to animate the vertexes. We also created a full-on pose system to replace the work of the morpher. But I’m telling ya, you’re gonna wish you had used objects. If nothing else, make sure that each control on your manipulator is attached to a spinner on the manipulator’s rollout so you can have a little more precision.
Not sure we are talking about the same thing. I want an “automatic” manipulator, like you get when manipulating a spotlight, not a “standalone” manipulator like the slider or joystick manipulator.
– MartinB
Ahh, now I see what you’re getting at. I can’t help you with the specifics, but I see no reason why it wouldn’t work. Off the top of my head, you might want to create a simple geometry plugin as well and have your manipulator work only on that. The math for how the vertexes slide would live in the geometry plugin. The manipulator will just update the values over the surface. Not sure.
Calculating the mouseMove is going to be rough and I’m not sure how you deal with back facing verts. As cool as this sounds, I’d still be inclined to use point helpers and skin your mesh to them.
Let us know how it goes.
I’ll have to postpone this a little, right now I am working around this by sacling about the camera, thanks to a tip from Martin Coven.
– MartinB