Bisect as modifier

maybe it’s already time for the bmesh modifier…?

I agree this would be great as a modifier.
Main reason is stability, booleans are far less stable.

My job is educational videos, where you have to cut things often, and Boolean modifier often causes flicker because of bugs…

I think we talk of two different things. I would love to have the ALT-B functionality in a more controllable form. Like having a plane or shape control what is shown and the ability to optionally fill the cut elements while doing this. And ability to render it.
Then it would be animatable and much more precise. Something like this was made with a cycles node setup at one point but not in the viewport.

But it could be coupled to the bisect code. So you could optionally cut the geometry where this object is.
I see it is slightly off topic as I misunderstood the use of the tool mentioned in this thread. sorry about that.

Yes yes yes! Brilliant idea. Also nice would be an option for controlling what material the fill uses. I could imagine this modifier being used to show a cross section of an apple with the apple material inside being different to the skin outside.

As many have suggested - and been disparaged, as I am about to be! - this functionality is already in the Boolean modifier. Everything this proposed modifier will do is a already in the Boolean.

Tool workflow is different from modifier workflow…

Not sure it will be accepted some day in trunk but I’m doing this to test how modifier work.

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Bisect tool can reduce a mesh geometry to an edge loop.
A boolean is not able to do it.
Imagine what kind of animation, you could make if after an animated bisect modifier, you add a series of generate modifiers (skin, solidify, wireframe, screw, array…)

@kgeogeo

Nice idea of converting the bisect operator to a modifier ! Some time ago i made a patch for the bisect operator, which creates 2 separate mesh islands (and keeps both and optionally fills them), would be cool if this would be a part of your modifier too !
With this i originally had an alternative for boolean regarding to fracturing objects in mind. But i heard that many bisects can be slow, so i did not follow the idea further. Hmm…

Link to patch:
https://developer.blender.org/T37254

This is pure sex in my eyes…! :slight_smile:

Amazing !!!

@kgeogeo: You are a star! This is half way towards the dream. Only thing missing is a way for blender to make a single modifier affect more than one object.

I dream of modelling a house or a product -> Applying your modifier and boom: You have a perfect presentation of a section.

One question though. You might not know the answer but:
Your modifier changes the geometry of the object.
Would it be of any use to make an option in blender which “clips” the geometry like the alt+B feature and could cycles be made to render this with fill?
I would guess on heavy models this would be easier on the system resources?

Anyway your modifier is brilliant and i hope it is accepted!

I think it’s finished. I’ve submited it and wait for return.

link for the patch.

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Very well done, good sir. Very well done! You deserve a group hug!

wonderful…beautiful… you are great!!! :slight_smile:

Yep, really good !

this is really great. Any tip on using as an addon? Or if it’s compiled for ubuntu? Thanks a lot. :wink:

I like that. I am not sure to understand all the subtle differences with what the boolean can do. But any new tool is welcome !

lol, I almost posted this but missed an entire page where kgeogeo himself mentions the news :slight_smile:

Great work btw!

That’s pretty great.

There are a number of tools that make sense to either convert to or become modifiers.

Example:

-Duplication (Duplivers, Dupliface etc. This makes much more sense as a modifier than this special object option)
-Spin (for non-destructively creating things that are in a circle - watch faces, stone henge, etc)
-Un-Subdivide (For a pretty good LOD)
-Wireframe tool (for rendering meshes as solid wireframes, or non-destructively creating frame structures)

@william : AFAIK, there was once a nice “lathe” modifier project, especially great to make revolution-based meshes. I wonder what became of it…