Wickster
05-14-2007, 02:48 AM
This is a short review I wrote on SpinQuad, I thought I'd post it here just incase some of you haven't seen it there.
Hi all, Here I am again on my second plugin review...and it happens to be made by PICTRIX-san again. No surprise there, because his plugins are either free or very inexpensive. And those are the two price points a starving modeler like me can afford.
This time around I'm going to do a pretty comprehensive review of Sp_PolyEdit.
Before anything else though, if you don't know what Sp_PolyEdit is I advice you to check the demo videos here:
http://www.pictrix.jp/lw/Sp_PolyEdit/mov.html
Go through the list of features on the bottom of the page to see how all of them works. After watching those it pretty much makes my review not worth it. :D
Sp_PolyEdit is a tuned-up version of Sp_Polygon. When I mean by tuned-up I don't mean just getting a bolt-on exhaust tip and getting the car painted. Sp_PolyEdit is like overhauling your car's engine, adding a twin turbo setup, intercooler, cat-back exhaust, coil-over suspension, 19" wheels and some expensive Z-Rated tires for control. (Sorry I had to put in a car analogy in there cause Cats and cars seem to be all the rage for LW users). Seriously, the similarities between Sp_Polygon and Sp_PolyEdit gets ends within the second click of your mouse.
Impressions (Within 5 minutes :P ):
The first thing that came into my mind while playing around Sp_PolyEdit was..."Wow, this could really be useful on tracing architectural plans." So I scrambled for some plans and started tracing. Yeah I traced, but not just tracing this is tracing with power and control.
The second thing that came to my mind while I was playing it with an actual plan, was "Oh WOW, this is like having Sp_Move on the creation level." If you're one of the owners of Sp_Move, then you'll know exactly what I'm talking about as it is one of the most powerful translate tool for Modeler. And if you model as much as I do, it should be in your plugins folder right this minute.
http://www.bmadigital.com/media/pictrix/draft.jpg
Here's a 10 minute trace...well 7minutes actually, I got carried away an started knifing and connecting stuff.
With that said...
Some of the things I liked about Sp_PolyEdit:
Imagine having Sp_Move active while creating your polygon? Snap your points to almost anything on the panel (grid, specified lengths, Edge, directions, axis, neck angle, local angle, etc.) The snapping power of this plugin is mind boggling, I can't believe PICTRIX took so many things into consideration when creating this plugin.
It makes me cry to have so much power and control to even just creating a 4-point poly.
Create > oops > Edit > Create
Beyond my first 4-point poly creation, I'm happy to know that I can click on any points that I have already created within Sp_Polyedit and move, snap and delete them as I go at it. This is while working inside Sp_PolyEdit, so correcting your mistakes during creation is much much easier. There is even a way to correct your past mistakes once you have already hit "Return" and your polygon is already created. We''l talk about that later.
A very small feature I've used a lot is the ability to add mid-points with one click or two depending on which way your point is facing. Yup small feature but very helpful.
Another awesome part of Sp_PolyEdit is a full pledged "Arc" creating tool. This used to be a plugin on itself, but now it is part of Sp_PolyEdit.
http://www.bmadigital.com/media/pictrix/arc.jpg
Here's a screen cap of the arc tool, and yes its interactive too.
There is also 4 types of polygon creation you could do, it's not limited to creating poly faces but you could do (1) 2 point polylines, (2) poly face, (3) curves and finally (4) poly belts. What's a poly belt? Think of it as a long segmented plane that follows your clicks with correct angles and all.
http://www.bmadigital.com/media/pictrix/belt.jpg
ARC + Belt = cool
Finally, the last feature I'm going to talk about is Sp_PolyEdit's helper component, Sp_PolyLoad. I mentioned before that you can edit polys that you have already created with or without Sp_PolyEdit's help. simply select the poly(s) you need to rework > click Sp_PolyLoad > then click Sp_PolyEdit and there you go, reedit that poly using godlike snapping, arc-adding and rotating and scaling powers.
Follow this link again
http://www.pictrix.jp/lw/Sp_PolyEdit/mov.html
and click on the movie link "Sp_PolyLoad.p Edit polygon" for a better explanation.
Those are just some of the things I liked in the plugin and at least maybe 1 of them justified the price of what I paid for it.
There are some thing I'd like to see in the future though. Sp_PolyEdit lets you create up to 6 sets of polys or at least thats what the panel says. I wish it could be infinite, but I could be asking for trouble, causeI don't know what that would do as to managing infinite polys...hmmm I guess more than 6 would be nice.
Another thing I would like to see is a way to add segments as you work. So far you're limited to working on one face at a time with 6 sets so six faces at a time. Well not counting belt creatiion that's totally different.
Conclusion
Anyway, Sp_PolyEdit is another Modeler masterpiece. I think it belongs to anyone serious about modeling...more specifically, architecture modelers. I'm not sure how well suited it is for organic modelers. But I must say it's a very powerful tool made for people who likes to model with precision in mind.
All this for $30...sweet!!! Now go get it. :buttrock:
If NT was to re-write/vamp/design/configure modeler on the 9.X cycle, I hope they talk to PICTRIX cause his tools have been nothing short of amazing. :)
So yes a 5 out of 5
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Hi all, Here I am again on my second plugin review...and it happens to be made by PICTRIX-san again. No surprise there, because his plugins are either free or very inexpensive. And those are the two price points a starving modeler like me can afford.
This time around I'm going to do a pretty comprehensive review of Sp_PolyEdit.
Before anything else though, if you don't know what Sp_PolyEdit is I advice you to check the demo videos here:
http://www.pictrix.jp/lw/Sp_PolyEdit/mov.html
Go through the list of features on the bottom of the page to see how all of them works. After watching those it pretty much makes my review not worth it. :D
Sp_PolyEdit is a tuned-up version of Sp_Polygon. When I mean by tuned-up I don't mean just getting a bolt-on exhaust tip and getting the car painted. Sp_PolyEdit is like overhauling your car's engine, adding a twin turbo setup, intercooler, cat-back exhaust, coil-over suspension, 19" wheels and some expensive Z-Rated tires for control. (Sorry I had to put in a car analogy in there cause Cats and cars seem to be all the rage for LW users). Seriously, the similarities between Sp_Polygon and Sp_PolyEdit gets ends within the second click of your mouse.
Impressions (Within 5 minutes :P ):
The first thing that came into my mind while playing around Sp_PolyEdit was..."Wow, this could really be useful on tracing architectural plans." So I scrambled for some plans and started tracing. Yeah I traced, but not just tracing this is tracing with power and control.
The second thing that came to my mind while I was playing it with an actual plan, was "Oh WOW, this is like having Sp_Move on the creation level." If you're one of the owners of Sp_Move, then you'll know exactly what I'm talking about as it is one of the most powerful translate tool for Modeler. And if you model as much as I do, it should be in your plugins folder right this minute.
http://www.bmadigital.com/media/pictrix/draft.jpg
Here's a 10 minute trace...well 7minutes actually, I got carried away an started knifing and connecting stuff.
With that said...
Some of the things I liked about Sp_PolyEdit:
Imagine having Sp_Move active while creating your polygon? Snap your points to almost anything on the panel (grid, specified lengths, Edge, directions, axis, neck angle, local angle, etc.) The snapping power of this plugin is mind boggling, I can't believe PICTRIX took so many things into consideration when creating this plugin.
It makes me cry to have so much power and control to even just creating a 4-point poly.
Create > oops > Edit > Create
Beyond my first 4-point poly creation, I'm happy to know that I can click on any points that I have already created within Sp_Polyedit and move, snap and delete them as I go at it. This is while working inside Sp_PolyEdit, so correcting your mistakes during creation is much much easier. There is even a way to correct your past mistakes once you have already hit "Return" and your polygon is already created. We''l talk about that later.
A very small feature I've used a lot is the ability to add mid-points with one click or two depending on which way your point is facing. Yup small feature but very helpful.
Another awesome part of Sp_PolyEdit is a full pledged "Arc" creating tool. This used to be a plugin on itself, but now it is part of Sp_PolyEdit.
http://www.bmadigital.com/media/pictrix/arc.jpg
Here's a screen cap of the arc tool, and yes its interactive too.
There is also 4 types of polygon creation you could do, it's not limited to creating poly faces but you could do (1) 2 point polylines, (2) poly face, (3) curves and finally (4) poly belts. What's a poly belt? Think of it as a long segmented plane that follows your clicks with correct angles and all.
http://www.bmadigital.com/media/pictrix/belt.jpg
ARC + Belt = cool
Finally, the last feature I'm going to talk about is Sp_PolyEdit's helper component, Sp_PolyLoad. I mentioned before that you can edit polys that you have already created with or without Sp_PolyEdit's help. simply select the poly(s) you need to rework > click Sp_PolyLoad > then click Sp_PolyEdit and there you go, reedit that poly using godlike snapping, arc-adding and rotating and scaling powers.
Follow this link again
http://www.pictrix.jp/lw/Sp_PolyEdit/mov.html
and click on the movie link "Sp_PolyLoad.p Edit polygon" for a better explanation.
Those are just some of the things I liked in the plugin and at least maybe 1 of them justified the price of what I paid for it.
There are some thing I'd like to see in the future though. Sp_PolyEdit lets you create up to 6 sets of polys or at least thats what the panel says. I wish it could be infinite, but I could be asking for trouble, causeI don't know what that would do as to managing infinite polys...hmmm I guess more than 6 would be nice.
Another thing I would like to see is a way to add segments as you work. So far you're limited to working on one face at a time with 6 sets so six faces at a time. Well not counting belt creatiion that's totally different.
Conclusion
Anyway, Sp_PolyEdit is another Modeler masterpiece. I think it belongs to anyone serious about modeling...more specifically, architecture modelers. I'm not sure how well suited it is for organic modelers. But I must say it's a very powerful tool made for people who likes to model with precision in mind.
All this for $30...sweet!!! Now go get it. :buttrock:
If NT was to re-write/vamp/design/configure modeler on the 9.X cycle, I hope they talk to PICTRIX cause his tools have been nothing short of amazing. :)
So yes a 5 out of 5
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: