Better Spline Tools

Anonymous · ‎01-11-2017

Would be nice to have AutoCAD/Revit style spline editing. Some examples:

1. Spline offset that creates a new spline (unconnected) from the selected spline. (similar to the way AutoCad offsets)

2. Multiple spline offset - set the distance and number of copies.

3. When a spline is open and/or self-intersecting, provide a visual cue as to where it is unconnected and/or crossing itself. (I wrote a script to kind of accomplish this, but it would be good to have natively, like the magenta boxes in Revit)

4. Spline offset preview. (Sometimes I need to offset a spline with the slider to get an idea of how far I need it to offset and then type in the actual value I want. Currently, I use the slider do get an idea of the distance, undo, and then type in the exact value I need.)

5. The ability to detect and remove double/overlapping segments.

6. Built-in ability to flatten splines.

...More ideas for this??

office · ‎01-26-2017

Interesting ideas. Here's another from me:

Shift+Drag an open vertex to create a new segment. Similar to Shift+Drag an edge in Edit Poly which creates a new polygon.

Anonymous · ‎01-26-2017

Good one! I agree this would be useful! Thanks.

eugenio_miolo · ‎02-02-2017

Nices ones! A few more:

Shift+Drag

As said, just like we can extend polys in edit poly, extend vertices in splines. However, allow to shift drag vertices in the middle of the spline too, refining it.

Outline as modifier

Make the Outline operation as a modifier. Suggested options:

-Two ratio buttons "Step" and "Subdivisions". Default value 1:

*Step: At dafult 1, This mode creates a single outline as of now, but allows to add multiple copies at a given step distance.

*Subdivision: Add outlines between the original and the distance.

-Distance: The distance of the outline.

-Material ID: Allows to set a different spline ID to copies.

*ID per copy: Increment Material ID per copy so each copy has a unique ID.

*Random: Randomize ID. A Seed parameter is necessary.

P.S.: ID per copy (and Random stuff) might not super necessary, but I feel this can be useful for motion stuff and procedural workflows.

Spline Boolean as Modifier

Would be very convenient to have it as modifier for non destructive work.

Fillet/Chamfer as Modifiers

Just like boolean.

Try to retain spline shape when removing vertices

Vector programs like Illustrator or Corel Draw do that by default and it's really useful. When refining splines, max could also do a better job in preserving original spline shape.

Improve Normalize spline modifier

Set the lower limit as small as possible. It highly depends on scene scale, and sometimes 1.0 is far too much. Allow pressing ESC to cancel in case operation becomes too slow. Or/Also, it can throw a warning in case too many subdivisions are about to be created.

-Add a checkbox to see the spline vertices on the modifier.

-Allow the user to choose the vertex type created by the modifier.

A Handle Sub-Object mode like Patch

It's amazing that this subobject mode have been added to Patches and not splines anyway. It's about time to fix that.

Anonymous · ‎02-02-2017

Great ideas! Glad to see some more suggestions to make this a comprehensive update request. 🙂

Anonymous · ‎02-13-2017

Just suffice to say:check Maya's.

doomgravex · ‎03-12-2017

It would amazing to add some precision modeling for splines in 3ds Max.
Just ability to give angle and a measure and the Autosnap feature could help us a lot to sketch in 3ds!!!

Better spline drawing in 3dsMax

miauuuu · ‎05-01-2017

@doomgravex, the Polyline Pro tool is what you need. Chek it here: http://miauumaxscript.blogspot.bg/p/blog-page.html

Anonymous · ‎05-02-2017

@miauuuu Your tool is great, but I still feel this should be standard fare for an Autodesk product. Also, yours is great for drawing splines, but what about editing them after the fact? 😉

dbhinnant · ‎07-13-2017

We need a normalize spline that will preserve corners. Maybe an angle tolerance?

Also the ability to delete vertices along straight segments of a spline. Again with an angle tolerance?

Rebuild a curve while reducing the number of vertices.

Kelly_Michels · ‎08-10-2017

michael_spaw · ‎08-10-2017

eugenio.miolo

Id love to see some more detail on how these two would work.

Shift+Drag

As said, just like we can extend polys in edit poly, extend vertices in splines. However, allow to shift drag vertices in the middle of the spline too, refining it.

A Handle Sub-Object mode like Patch

It's amazing that this subobject mode have been added to Patches and not splines anyway. It's about time to fix that.

Thanks

-Michael

michael_spaw · ‎08-10-2017

Just suffice to say:check Maya's.

id love some details here...

Thanks

-Michael

shinodem · ‎12-13-2017

I am dreaming to have settings for adaptive interpolations of splines

doomgravex · ‎01-27-2018

ability to draw Splines with measures with Miauu's Polyline!

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/miauus-polyline

Anonymous · ‎02-25-2018

why there is not modifier spline like this one?

http://www.vg2max.spb.ru/advoutline.htm

Anonymous · ‎02-25-2018

"why there is not modifier spline like this one?

http://www.vg2max.spb.ru/advoutline.htm"

Good one! That would be useful too!

michael_spaw · ‎02-25-2018

"why there is not modifier spline like this one?

http://www.vg2max.spb.ru/advoutline.htm"

Good one! That would be useful too!

If you will please list this one out as a separate idea.

Thanks

-Michael

Anonymous · ‎01-17-2019

• Make tangent handles snap-able.

Meaning it should be possible to snap to and from tangent handles so that you can place them against vertices, grid points, ect with precision.

Intuos5 · ‎03-28-2019

A procedural offset modifier in conjunction with outline, where outline is from the middle to the edge and offset from edge to edge.

I can also imagine a connect modifier between two splines where certain vertices can be connected to form edges of a polygon (with the splines being the other edges). For specific workflows such as procedural road creation, based on splines and resulting in polygons, this would be huge! I can elaborate on this if required.

Also more control on the amount of created faces with swept splines would be nice. For instance vertex A with bezier handles creates 16 segments, whereas B also with bezier handles creates 64.

Kranos_Orphydian · ‎01-11-2020

Max curve handling is already better than Mayas and Blender. With some of these it will be **** robust.

Better Spline Tools