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Any Plans Beyond v3?

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 4:47 pm
by Dan Silverman
Hi Simon,

I'm curious if there are any plans for Curvy beyond v3? Are you planning on doing something more with the software or is this it? I am thinking of getting back into using Curvy ... at least for a few tests (I have some ideas and I want to see how well they play out in Curvy).

Thanks. :)

Re: Any Plans Beyond v3?

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:23 pm
by Simon
Hi Dan,
As it happens I am wrapping up my existing project at the moment and have some time for open research.

My original inspiration for Curvy was to use drawing as a non-technical way to sculpt, and that is still the case. As well as several items that were on the 3.0 wishlist but didn't make the cut, I'd love to spend some time innovating in the sketch to 3D space, and also with "3D filters" that could operate on a 3D model in a similar way to Photoshop filters. Now while I expect I'd be aiming very high to try and apply machine learning to 3D modelling, if I can get just one or two new techniques into production that could be very interesting for Curvy (Ideal filters like - Make the surface features of model A match the gross shape of model B).

As ever I'm not so interested in just running through a laundry list of features that are already done well in existing software, but where something is undeniably very useful I will consider adding it (eg: Adding transform handles in 3.0)

I also have a nagging desire to try out some of Curvy's features in VR, but I can't quite justify the time.

Re: Any Plans Beyond v3?

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 9:57 pm
by Dan Silverman
Good to hear. If you don't mind, I'll send along some ideas for you. Some of them will be simple (things to condense the GUI a bit while not losing any functionality, creating a cleaner, more modern GUI, etc.), but others more complex (some ideas along the lines of what you may already be looking into). There are many things to like about Curvy. I'd like to see it go places. :)

Here's a cool idea, for example (that they haven't taken far enough, imo) - since you mentioned 3D sketching:

http://www.ilovesketch.com/

Re: Any Plans Beyond v3?

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 11:56 pm
by Simon
That would be good.

I'd like to see that curve sketching system take on faces and creatures. I've always liked the way that a face sketch drawn in 3/4 view includes most of the information to make a 3D face, if you assume it is symmetrical, it is a cool property to work with. And the "2 view curve" method is exactly what you have in Curvy if you redraw a curve from a different angle... although in normal use I don't think many people use that and rely on the transform tools instead. I suspect I spend 5% of my time drawing in Curvy and 95% transforming and tweaking the resulting shapes. If I could shift more time to drawing and less time to tweaking that might make it more fluid and fun.