User posts mcolinp
27 January 2015 01:01
Thanks, I understand that the constraints would likely be something further down the pipeline; but I just wanted to make sure that you saw the value in including it in the roadmap. Please pardon my sometimes limited view as a designer verses a developer, though I hope that my feedback is helpful for the bigger picture; and that more people can more easily work with your software.
26 January 2015 03:24
I like Duarte's idea of making a Blend4web specific "mode"; to help eliminate cumbersome options and tools which do not apply or are unsupported for blend4web output. There could even be specific tooltips regarding which items or options work together to create desired effects.
Also, I recall in another forum topic I mentioned constraints. The response was that they are not supported at this time; but that armatures are. I think many people coming from a mechanical or architectural background; already have a good deal of experience using simple constraints. They work quite well for simple maechanical systems, such as a rudder on a wing, etc. Armatures are powerful and would seem a bit overkill for most mechanical animating.
I hope that supporting blender constraints is in consideration for future development.
Also, I recall in another forum topic I mentioned constraints. The response was that they are not supported at this time; but that armatures are. I think many people coming from a mechanical or architectural background; already have a good deal of experience using simple constraints. They work quite well for simple maechanical systems, such as a rudder on a wing, etc. Armatures are powerful and would seem a bit overkill for most mechanical animating.
I hope that supporting blender constraints is in consideration for future development.
22 January 2015 21:49
I noticed that the 2015 Roadmap mentioned this:
"We also intend to create an example of using 3D graphics to visualize a real-life manufacturing enterprise."
I have worked in Automotive Manufacturing, as well as design for manufacturing for production products. Please keep me in mind for ideas and feedback in this area if needed. I have had ideas relating to spot weld data, and other features which could be quite valuable in manufacturing. A large part of my interest in HTML interactive 3D is based on bridging the gap in the manufacturing arena. I have always felt that communication is lost; and many costly mistakes made when a design goes out to the shop floor. This is usually because the production workers have no larger context to reference; to understand what is important in the manufacturing process. As an industrial designer I have had a great interest in using something such as Blend4web to execute never seen before communication specifically for manufacturing, that is accessible to anyone who may need it; (without needing expensive software to view it).
"We also intend to create an example of using 3D graphics to visualize a real-life manufacturing enterprise."
I have worked in Automotive Manufacturing, as well as design for manufacturing for production products. Please keep me in mind for ideas and feedback in this area if needed. I have had ideas relating to spot weld data, and other features which could be quite valuable in manufacturing. A large part of my interest in HTML interactive 3D is based on bridging the gap in the manufacturing arena. I have always felt that communication is lost; and many costly mistakes made when a design goes out to the shop floor. This is usually because the production workers have no larger context to reference; to understand what is important in the manufacturing process. As an industrial designer I have had a great interest in using something such as Blend4web to execute never seen before communication specifically for manufacturing, that is accessible to anyone who may need it; (without needing expensive software to view it).
17 January 2015 22:37
Thanks for your reply,
Yes, I need to get more familiar with "Coding"; it's just been something I have avoided most of my life, being more drawn to interactively creating content.
Your response about Blender's upcoming "Interactive" mode, not sure entirely what that entails, but my intention of changing Materials; was for myself to "curate" possible colors/materials and publish them to the output html file as choices the end-user could explore in the web viewer. So I am not sure if maybe you are saying that the new game "Interaction" mode will allow you to more easily support this or not.
I am willing to take a stab at coding; but the only way would be if I could be steered to some step by step tutorials as you mentioned.
Thanks again.
Yes, I need to get more familiar with "Coding"; it's just been something I have avoided most of my life, being more drawn to interactively creating content.
Your response about Blender's upcoming "Interactive" mode, not sure entirely what that entails, but my intention of changing Materials; was for myself to "curate" possible colors/materials and publish them to the output html file as choices the end-user could explore in the web viewer. So I am not sure if maybe you are saying that the new game "Interaction" mode will allow you to more easily support this or not.
I am willing to take a stab at coding; but the only way would be if I could be steered to some step by step tutorials as you mentioned.
Thanks again.
16 January 2015 19:50
I am happy to see so many good things being added and considered for near future development of Blend4web. I would like to add a couple things to consider; and reference some existing forum topics related to them.
The first would be the reference you gave to: "Extend possibilities of NLA Script even further."
As an advanced 3D user/creator, and not really a developer; I am not entirely sure what an NLA Script is or what function it provides. With that said; it seems to relate to my discussion here:
https://www.blend4web.com/en/forums/post/890/
I hope that this functionality is a reasonably high priority; as I could really build off such a feature. (Having a Object Outliner available to a user through the exported HTML file; which would not only allow them to show/hide objects; but also provide more information/notes/attributes, etc about each object. In my case this would be more for communicating manufacturing data about specific parts; which would be populated preferably through and xml or spreadsheet file, so that the attribute data can be synced to and from other sources or 3D programs.)
Another thought I had recently was kind of inspired by this post:
https://www.blend4web.com/en/forums/post/594/
I believe what this person is asking for; is a way to output an HTML file that allows an object to have multiple material choices which can be changed by the user in the viewer. (when I say "Multiple Choices"; my intention would be to curate those choices for the user. -For instance: if I were selling a product such as a mobile device case; and you could perhaps choose from cloth or leather; I want the user to be able to click on a button or thumbnail that then applies that material option. -I do not however intend for the user to endlessly change colors or materials that would not be available to them to buy.)
Going even a step further; would be to offer different versions of a product that might include different configurations or upgraded parts or features. (-Think of buying a car as an example; and choosing an upgrade to the bodywork such as ground effects, or a sporty front fascia . . . ) This might be a possibility through "Multiple Scenes" in Blender; and having Blend4web support exporting Multiple scenes. Maybe this is already possible; I have not tried it yet.
So to recap:
A) Multiple color or material choices for a single object
B) Multiple scenes that automatically hide and show specific objects; to show multiple, yet different, variations of a product; or perhaps even a Character.
Thanks Again for all your Hard Work!
The first would be the reference you gave to: "Extend possibilities of NLA Script even further."
As an advanced 3D user/creator, and not really a developer; I am not entirely sure what an NLA Script is or what function it provides. With that said; it seems to relate to my discussion here:
https://www.blend4web.com/en/forums/post/890/
I hope that this functionality is a reasonably high priority; as I could really build off such a feature. (Having a Object Outliner available to a user through the exported HTML file; which would not only allow them to show/hide objects; but also provide more information/notes/attributes, etc about each object. In my case this would be more for communicating manufacturing data about specific parts; which would be populated preferably through and xml or spreadsheet file, so that the attribute data can be synced to and from other sources or 3D programs.)
Another thought I had recently was kind of inspired by this post:
https://www.blend4web.com/en/forums/post/594/
I believe what this person is asking for; is a way to output an HTML file that allows an object to have multiple material choices which can be changed by the user in the viewer. (when I say "Multiple Choices"; my intention would be to curate those choices for the user. -For instance: if I were selling a product such as a mobile device case; and you could perhaps choose from cloth or leather; I want the user to be able to click on a button or thumbnail that then applies that material option. -I do not however intend for the user to endlessly change colors or materials that would not be available to them to buy.)
Going even a step further; would be to offer different versions of a product that might include different configurations or upgraded parts or features. (-Think of buying a car as an example; and choosing an upgrade to the bodywork such as ground effects, or a sporty front fascia . . . ) This might be a possibility through "Multiple Scenes" in Blender; and having Blend4web support exporting Multiple scenes. Maybe this is already possible; I have not tried it yet.
So to recap:
A) Multiple color or material choices for a single object
B) Multiple scenes that automatically hide and show specific objects; to show multiple, yet different, variations of a product; or perhaps even a Character.
Thanks Again for all your Hard Work!
12 January 2015 20:06
Thanks for your reply Pavel. You have accurately described my frustration with Blender currently. In my workflow, I would likely be importing large 3D data sets of existing geometry; and being able to scale the geometry properly on import is quite difficult; and unintuitive. I realize that this is a fault of Blender; not Blend4web; but it should be a priority for the Blender foundation to address it.
And Yes; I would like to see dimensions become more functional; such as I described above with the "Bounding box Dimensions" in Bounding box view mode, as well as more snap options to get dimensions to accurately calculate from geometry.
I would like to offer my help in "feature logistics"; if you happen to find anyone who undertakes development of dimensioning in Blender. Please feel free to have them contact me.
Thanks again.
And Yes; I would like to see dimensions become more functional; such as I described above with the "Bounding box Dimensions" in Bounding box view mode, as well as more snap options to get dimensions to accurately calculate from geometry.
I would like to offer my help in "feature logistics"; if you happen to find anyone who undertakes development of dimensioning in Blender. Please feel free to have them contact me.
Thanks again.
03 January 2015 11:40
I also should point out that there may be some unintentional miscommunication when it comes to the various terms involved with Environment maps in Blender. When I said "mirror map" in the last post; I did not mean creating a map the renders reflections of object into each other; I simply meant a background image that reflects into all reflective objects/materials etc.
Perhaps the documentation should be reevaluated to ensure that the various terms are well defined. They seem to me to perhaps overlap when expounding on how to use these features, which becomes confusing. It seems hard to sort out which parts are supported or not supported in which case scenarios. Such as a simple sky background; verses a mirror map; or using one for both. Then add the possibility for a rendered mirror map which includes objects from the scene; and now there are three different sky types and each one has a huge number of possible variables in Blender (at least the options are in Blender; but still confusing to know what will be used or supported for export through blend4web.)
Sorry for the long winded post; but I hope this feedback can help sort ofut some of the possible confusion in the environment textures area.
Perhaps the documentation should be reevaluated to ensure that the various terms are well defined. They seem to me to perhaps overlap when expounding on how to use these features, which becomes confusing. It seems hard to sort out which parts are supported or not supported in which case scenarios. Such as a simple sky background; verses a mirror map; or using one for both. Then add the possibility for a rendered mirror map which includes objects from the scene; and now there are three different sky types and each one has a huge number of possible variables in Blender (at least the options are in Blender; but still confusing to know what will be used or supported for export through blend4web.)
Sorry for the long winded post; but I hope this feedback can help sort ofut some of the possible confusion in the environment textures area.
03 January 2015 11:27
So I have been running some tests; and I am still a little short of success. I have gotten an image to pass through to the html file; despite having no feedback from Blender to show the environment effecting the scene. Though I am trying to figure out how to use "typical" equirectangular HDR images. I am finding the mapping is not correct; and assume it's because it need to be as your documentation shows with six tiled sides. I am unsure if there is an automated way to take a standard panoramic HDR image, and generate the correct ruling to work with Blend4web.
I really want to find the preferred way to use environment maps as additional reflections to mirro into madcap materials. Currently I had been rendering a custom madcap for every material using a environment map to render the matcap in Cycles. This is too time consuming; and generates varying results when doing it accross many materials. It would be best (for me) if the environment was used on all materials generating reflections from a single point and based on the same scale.
Would really love to see a complete workflow for creating the correct tiled image for a mirror map; starting with a generic equirectangular/panoramic HDR image. I would think others would find this helpful as well. Thanks for the help; and no worries if you can't produce an example straight away.
I really want to find the preferred way to use environment maps as additional reflections to mirro into madcap materials. Currently I had been rendering a custom madcap for every material using a environment map to render the matcap in Cycles. This is too time consuming; and generates varying results when doing it accross many materials. It would be best (for me) if the environment was used on all materials generating reflections from a single point and based on the same scale.
Would really love to see a complete workflow for creating the correct tiled image for a mirror map; starting with a generic equirectangular/panoramic HDR image. I would think others would find this helpful as well. Thanks for the help; and no worries if you can't produce an example straight away.
03 January 2015 11:12
03 January 2015 05:44
Yes; looks similiar to what I am thinking; though I want to be able to add more fields fore each "Part"; such as part numbers, and other PMI or BIM data. (PMI = Product Manufacturing Information & BIM = Building Information Management.) And I want to make sure this also can be published to the html file. It would make sense to either have the info stored as a spreadsheet or an xml file.