T-Splines 2.0 Beta 4

[Matt Sederberg]

T-Splines 2.0 beta 4 is now released. It contains important bug fixes and stability improvements.

Anyone, whether they are a paid customer or not, can try this version of the beta by downloading it from http://www.tsplines.com/latestversion.html. You'll need to register for a (free) account on our website to do this.

Current list of known issues: http://www.tsplines.com/issues.html

Release highlights:
Models with many star points will load much more quickly.
The help file has now been updated to reflect the 2.0 commands.
The T-splines display mesher now displays sharp creases better.
Selecting a tangency handle, then pressing the "delete" key now restores the tangency handle to its default position.
Exact operations with symmetry (ie tsInsertPoint exact mode, etc.) no longer crash Rhino, though they do turn off symmetry.
The plugin now runs normally on 8-core machines
Insert edge UI is now more consistent, and inserts reliably where you click.
tsThicken will no longer crash when a polysurface is selected for thickening. (The polysurface won't thicken, but now it also won't crash, either.)
Merging periodic surfaces now does a better job at matching isocurves.
T-splines normals are no longer flipped when the file is saved after mirroring.
Selection in shaded mode has been improved; it's now easier to select T-splines grips with the mouse.
Merge now exits after the first merge is performed.
tsUnweldVerts now switches to vertex selection when the command is entered.
Enabling/disabling hot keys no longer clears the selection.
Extract isocurves now works on T-splines as long there are no grips turned on.
The T-Splines Options pages have been consolidated; clicking the tsOptions icon now brings up the T-splines display options page.

One final note: Beta 4 contains the last significant planned improvements to T-Splines 2.0. If you come across a bug that is not in the known issues page (http://www.tsplines.com/knownissues.html), please report it on this forum or send an email to bugs@tsplines.com.

[jbshorty]

uh-oh... having trouble installing Beta 4...

jonah

WIP 4 install problem.jpg (72.23 KiB) Viewed 2690 times

[Nicholas North]

Jonah,

The error appears to be caused by the plugin file being in use when the installer attempts to replace it. The most likely cause for this would be having Rhino open when you try to install.

Please make sure that Rhino is closed when you upgrade the plugin.

-- Nick

[jbshorty]

Rhino was closed at the time. I just tried again to be sure, and the same error occurred...

jonah

[TomFinnigan]

So, you could do a couple of troubleshooting steps. For example, you might want to uninstall the previous wip first, and make sure the .rhp file is deleted.

Also, sometimes there are rhino processes in the task manager that don't show up in the applications tab, only the processes tab. One of those might be holding the file.

If all else fails, you could try rebooting..

[jbshorty]

Hi Tom. I followed your suggestion and Beta 4 installed fine. Thanks...

jonah

[jessesn]

Translated English language to Chinese for you reference
——————————————————————————————————————————

下载地址:http://www.tsplines.com/latestversion.html
当前已知错误：http://www.tsplines.com/issues.html

修正与更新内容
-导入的带有星形点的模型速度更快
-帮助文件更新显示为2.0的指令
-T-Spline网格面现在可以更好的显示锐利褶皱面
-设置一个正切把手，然后按“Delete”键现在可以回复正切把手至最初的位置
-现在可以准确做对称操作（例如准确TsinsertPoint模式）不会导致Rhino的挂机，尽管其已经关闭对称
-现在可以支持8核心的CPU
-插入边缘的UI现在包括更多的内容，在你点击的地方准确的执行
-修正对复合曲面执行tsThicken指令时候造成Rhino挂机的问题
-融合周期曲面现在能更好的匹配ISO线
-当镜像后保存的TS对象将不再支持法向的反转
-改善Shaded模式下选择工具，且可以更方便的使用鼠标来选择TS拽点
-融合指令执行完后会立即结束指令
-输入 tsUnweldVert 指令后会切换选择方式为顶点模式
-开启/关闭 热键现在不会影响对象的选择
-只要TS没有开启拽点现在可以对TS提取ISO线
-已经巩固T-Splines选项页面，现在点击tsOptions 图标会显示为T-Splines现实设置页面

错误汇报请到这里 http://www.tsplines.com/knownissues.html

[utzfztgol]

hello matt,

beta for v2 is very very promising and solves most of the challenges of v1.

however there's one item that does not work at all - > ceasing

Amazingly this seems just my problem and nobody elses, cause theres noone else reporting about
any issues concerning 'ceasing'. (see screenshot)

Whenever I try to cease an edge it would also effect every single edge that is connected to this edge.

Is there a means to limit this to the selected edge...something hidden I don't learned as yet?

Or is this related to updating without properly deinstalling in the first place?

any hints as to this would be much appreciated.

best

klaus

[cgdigg]

Nice release!
Posted this news on CGDigg:
http://www.cgdigg.com/story.php?title=t ... 4-released

[Adam Helps]

hello matt,

beta for v2 is very very promising and solves most of the challenges of v1.

however there's one item that does not work at all - > ceasing

From your screenshot, I assume you are referring to creasing.

This issue is referred to in the user manual, as part of the section on the tsCrease command. If the rest of this post is too difficult to follow, see if the examples in the manual help.

Why is creasing so difficult? The root of the problem is that T-Splines creases work the same way as NURBS creases. NURBS creases work by stacking several isoparms on top of each other (not quite the same thing as stacking control points, but a similar idea). The "tangency handles" found in creased regions of the surface are really just the additional isoparms -- on a degree 3 T-Spline, 3 stacked isoparms are needed for a sharp crease.

Now, what happens when these stacked isoparms run past a star point? NURBS surfaces don't have star points, so this phenomenon is something we saw for the first time with T-Splines. The isoparms flow around the star point, and split in different directions. The only way to cut off the extra isoparm is with a T-point, and you can't have T-points close to star points, so if you have a lot of star points close together, the unwanted isoparms will just keep going and going. That is what you're seeing in your model.

The solution is to understand the behavior and find ways to control it. Separating your star points is a good technique to prevent creases from drifting too far. Another approach is to run the crease along the surface until it is just shy of the star point, then stop it with a T-junction before it goes too far and has to run through the star point to the other side. We're also interested in adding an option to build creases the same way that subds do, but it's difficult to do that while keeping the surface NURBS compatible.

[gustojunk]

Hi Adam,

I have had the same concerns that Klaus expressed here. For all practical purposes I only consider creasing in T-splines a viable solution when I want to crease ALL connecting edges. It this case your solution works better than any subD creasing I've ever seen. Better yet, it is awesome! you can have much more control on a fully creased model in T-splines that you would ever do on a faceted solid in Rhino trying to drive it with SolidEditing tools ( MoveFace.., etc) or CageEdits.

Things are not as good when I have a combination of creased/uncreased objects. Then it becomes unusable (so even if it is compatible with Nurbs, it is irrelevant I think). Of course this is just my opinion. I can see a valid point by other users being happy embracing whatever visually pleasing result your combined creasing gives them.

I think it would be great if you could make a video of this start point limitation you are talking about, since it is hard to follow and understand (at least for me).

Regards,

Gustavo

[Adam Helps]

Gustavo,

We're aware that the creasing is difficult. We have a few ideas for making creasing better, but they haven't gotten any further than a bunch of sketches and some basic research. We are in feature freeze for the 2.0 release, so that's why I answered in terms of what is possible now. One thing that's tricky with T-Splines is that what we're doing has not been done before. We do our own research, and this takes longer than simply looking up the right answer from past SIGGraph papers or textbooks .

My personal T-Splines wish list looks like this:

- Make symmetry work with exact insertion.
- Faster/lower-memory smooth surface calculation.
- Don't recalculate the surface when opening files (fast file open).
- Allow creases to terminate within range of star points.

We use the free upgrade releases to incorporate user requests, and some of our own wishlist items usually make it in as well .

[gustojunk]

Hi Adam,

Thanks for the clarification. I think your priorities make perfect sense as they are in line we what we need to make your tool fun (and useful) for more interactive form exploration. I think speed/stability and better workflow (poly creation/selection/editing tools) is a lot more important now than making combined cases of creases/no creases work better.

Also another element that would make creasing more relevant is having a file format that maintains that creasing information. In our case we work a lot with Modo, not just for modeling in the front end, but also in visualization in the back end. For either case creasing is out of the question if we want to go back and forth with Rhino, so as you can see there are other elements that need to be addressed in a production pipeline before you go crazy on your end making the math work.

Keep up the good work and making new stuff, reading Siggraph papers will only get you in the 'same-old-new' that other people and that's a crowded place

G

[Matt Sederberg]

T-Splines 2.0 Release Candidate 1 has been released: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=29218