Curve Net Do We Really Want It?
Try really hard not to be enticed that this is Disney Pixar tech, When it comes to animators and Blender we have to ask ourselves is this really something that we want or can we do better than this? I believe we can do way better and it is closer than we think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMCrk7H_knI&ab_channel=3DAnimationInternships
Great starter example here. Of the Blender community trying to hack its way around this once again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWzd1o3ydjM&ab_channel=LordCmac
- The original surface needs to be stored. That means each vertex point of the surface needs to have its matrix filed away in a safe place.
- Curves are either extracted or created on the surface.
- Handles need to be oriented to the surface correctly.
- Curve Net deformer needs to be bound to the mesh
- How well will this deformer play with other parts of Blender? Realistically, it looks to be a 6-month, to a 1-year project, with ongoing bugs related to other parts of Blender, and that's if there's a developer willing to take on such as task.
- Blender already has a built-in sculpting system.
- The AnimAll addon proves that vertices can be animated in space.
- At the moment there is no way of storing the surface (the vertex matrix data) in their original space).
- Storing the original vertex data means when the artist sculpts the mesh there is an offset for how the mesh can be calculated for the mesh to be animated correctly.
- Implementation looks to be way easier than curve net.
- No special rigging required.
- If Blender doesn't have it already there could be a sculpting brush that returns the current animated sculpted mesh to its original position.
- Keyed sculpted poses could also be stored as Blender shape keys automatically as an option.
- An option to have Sculpted keys or "Selected" sculpted keys be converted into blend shapes.
- Less technical overhead more creative control.
It's always important not to be so tied down to current trends and ideas that we can't progress. Remember this is for artists creating animation. The more technical overhead that can be removed for artists means more incredible artwork can be created. Keep the workflow fluid, keep it open.
Have your say and create an issue.