Generate Face Size Vertex Paint Layer / Vertex Paint Tools

This is the official Thread for the “Generate Face Size Vertex Paint Layer / Vertex Paint Tools” Add-on.
Current Release Version: 1.2

The add-on offers the ability to create a vertex paint layer with the color value based on the size of the respective polygon face. It also offers the ability to convert a vertex paint layer to a vertex weight/group layer. The Add-on controls/options are explained in the YouTube video below:

Here is the download link:
!Click Here!

UPDATE:


  • Generate Facesize Dynamically (similar to PyroEvil’s Tensionmap add-on http://pyroevil.com/tensionmap-download/):- Just press the “Generate Dynamic Face Size” button in the vertex color layer panel: this generates 3 layers(2 vertex groups & 1 vertex color layer(Red Channel = Compress / Green Channel = Stretch)
  • Face Area/Vertex Distance Calculation Methods: For a fast calculation choose the “Face Area” method, for a more detailed calculation choose the vertex distance option.
  • Multiply slider for better color/weight control
  • New Operators: “Hue/Sat/ColorMultiply”,“Level Vertex Colors” and “Convert Vertex Group to Vertex Paint Layer”
  • New Panels: You can now additionally access the operators from the “Paint Tools” Panel in Vertex Paint Mode. A “Convert Vertex Group to Vertex Paint Layer” Operator/Button has also been added in the “Weight Tools” Panel in Weight Paint Mode.

Here is a video demo of what the add-on can do:

1 Like

this is awesome! Thank you!

The only thing I’d miss here is a vWeight to vColor feature, may I say. That way we’d be able to tweak de vColor with the vWeight gain and then revert to vColor, for example. Or just to get weight to B/W vColor, which I’ve wanted and missed a lot of times. I’ll look into your code and see if I can add the operator myself anyway (I’m not really good but I can try :stuck_out_tongue: )

Keep it up! :slight_smile:

Very, very cool!

@Shonosh That feature should be easy to add. I’ll do it as soon as possible :slight_smile:

Edit:
@Shonosh Add-on has been updated!

I love this stuff!

Looks really cool and with this there are lots of easy ways to paint through nodes, and making particles setups.

Great stuff!

Thanks for the positive feedback guys :slight_smile:

Hi thanks for making this really cool addition to Blender!

I had a question for you; do you think there would be any way to create a custom cycles Blender node which can enable you to import face size dynamically in the materials node editor?

I was thinking about how useful face size could be with dynamically deforming objects. For instance a wrinkle texture could be made to only appear if a surface reduces in size (i.e. scrunches up). This could be used to add an extra layer of detail to both skin and fabric animation that could look quite phenomenal.

Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

@FilmReale haven’t thought of using the add-on in that way. Sounds really interesting. I am currently really busy so the soonest time that I’ll be able to implement that feature would be in around 2 weeks. I’ll get back to you then :slight_smile:

Cool thanks! I’ll definitely be looking forward to that! :smiley:

P.S. Visited your website out of curiosity… cool alien head!
http://www.lucascheller.de/Pages/Portfolio/Pictures/HighRes_View/Alien_Head.png

Thanks :slight_smile:
The add-on has now been updated.

PyroEvil has done something similar a while back. http://pyroevil.com/category/scripts-addons/tensionmap/ The result is quite the same, but my add-on calculates it a bit differently. You can use resulting vertex groups as vertex group influences in modifiers and you can use the vertex color layer as a mix factor in your shader networks. If you use it in your work please show me :smiley: I’d love to see it being used in character animation.

THANK YOU!! It works really great! I wasn’t aware of the PyroEvil plugin, but I tried to install it out of curiosity, but I couldn’t get it to install.

You’re plugin however does work, and I should definitely have a use-case for it in the indie sci-fi short I’m working on over the next year (or so). If used, I’ll definitely mention you in the credits and send you the example!

One quick question. It looks like the part of the plugin I’m using creates two vertex groups “VP_Compress” and “VP_stretch”, and I can see those are working dynamically when I go into weight paint mode. It also creates “VP_Dynamic_Face_Size” under vertex colors. I find I can use VP_Dynamic_Face_Size in cycles material nodes, and I have already reproduced the bending cylinder example.

My one question is that it would be really great if I could use VP_Compress and VP_stretch separately in cycles nodes (i.e. to have one bump texture for when the surface stretches and a more wrinkled bump map for when it compresses). Right now I can only have it apply that material when there is an absolute value change in the face size (at least that appears to be how VP_Dynamic_Face_Size works).

Forgive my ignorance, but is there a way to use vertex weights like VP_Compress/VP_Stretch in a blender cycles material? Alternatively, is there a way the plugin could rather create three vertex color groups, so that I can easily import those values into cycles?

Even if you don’t write another line of code or answer my above questions, I must say HUGE THANKS for making this work! It’s a game changers, and could really add an extra level of realism while avoiding computationally prohibitive alternatives (like extremely detailed cloth or skin dynamic simulations)!:smiley:

It works in cycles too :slight_smile: Just use a Separate-RGB Node after the Attribute node(with which you get the vertex color data) -> the red channel contains the compression values / the green channel has the stretch values.

Oh excellent! Thanks so much again!! :smiley:

hello. I wanna try this addon,but the link is broken…anyone has it ?