Selection of components

 

Selections Suppletives ♥: set of 12 tools for selection of mesh components (Δ / .). I especially like Square Grow (C4D grow creates less useful diamond pattern), Alternative and Random selection tools (free)

Alternate (variable step) Δ .

Square grow Δ .

Random Δ .

Mirror Δ / .

Normal Δ

Size Δ

Trangles Δ

Quadrangles Δ

N-gons Δ

Edge contour /

Position > selected Δ .

From first to selected Δ .

 

Select Loop selects loops of polygons by selecting two neighboring polygons + optional alternate selections (free)	AdvancedLoopSelection select edge/polygon loops with hotkeys, stepwise selection, orthogonal loops (buy) ($)	Plan Surface Selector selects all polygons pointing at the same direction. (like Phong Select) (free)	MagicSelect lot of parameters allow to select components more or less randomly and using regular patterns (free)	RandomPoly : scripts helping to create random selections of polygons (free)	CV-Parametric Selection Tag : Python Tag that allows to make complex selections using various criteria, also on parametric objects ($)
AutoSVE Depending on viewport display mode it switches Live Selection between selection of visible only (in Gouraud), to selection of all components (in Wireframe)	Selection Transfer copies point and polygon selections between objects relying on component indexes. (useful for morph targets) (free)

 

Natural Selection : set of utility scripts designed to help in common point, edge and polygon selection tasks (set new selection, mirror selection, select similar) ($):

Set New Selection : Always creates a new selection Tag from current selection of components, even when a selection tag is active.	Mirror Selection in Object or in World X/Y/Z axis	Select Similar : selects polygons of similar shape to currently selected polygons	Normal Select : select all polygons with same normals as currently selected polygons. (works on multiple selections)	Select Facing : selects all polygons facing towards camera (within a specified tolerance angle)
Get Selection Tags : selects all selection tags in OM that contain currently selected polygon(s).	Fit To Selection : fits UV texture to selected polygons (aligns texture orientation and size to selected polygons)	Select Polygons Material : Select all polygons restricted to selected material.	Lock Axis : Locks modeling axis in its current position.

 

Modeling

Primitive Sketch ♥ draw and size primitives and splines on other objects surfaces. Additionally random scattering of prmitves and custom objects (painting objects) (video) (free)	DragPrimitives Draw primitives like Primitive Sketch, but less handy. Additional features : painting boolean (e.g. to cut holes on target objects), fit object to holes, free draw (walls) ($)	Arch-01 CAD like modeling toolset allowing precise modeling, drawing of objects, splines etc... e.g. for architects ($)	SketchMesh Probably a modeling tool for retopology. User draws spline which becomes connected by polygons ($)	Vertex Normal Tool : allows to create and manipulate vertex normals on polygon objects ($)	Add Normals : adds/updates the Normal Tag to a mesh (free)
SnapPRS Set of 3 tools, mixing Move, Scale, Rotate functionality with snapping, align, extrude ($)	Snap PSR : Example of Snap Rotate in extrude mode. It allows circular extrusion and connection of polygons ($)	AlignToVector : aligns points to a line (1click on a point - defines line start, 2 click on a point - defines line end, following clicks on points move those points to the line) Good results only when moved points close to the line, or orthogonal. C4D Guideline snapping can be used instead. Undo crash C4D. Includes FlangeMaker (see below) (free)	Isoline Helper : precisely aligns a selection of points to the reference spline (points need to be close to spline), then you can adjust individual points position on the spline by sliding them along the spline ($)	Lost a Point : in orthogonal views, it allows to create free points at depth of a selected point. ( C4D always adds points at depth 0) Integrated guideline allows to align/snap created points. (free)	Point Collapse Tool merges mesh points while also merging UV points, to keep texturing unchanged (free)	AMa 1D Snap : 1 dimensional points snapping ( obsolete, does not work >R17) (download) (free)
Perceuse ♥ Draw holes in polygons with a single click and drag gesture (free)	Troueur Creates a hole by subtracting a cylinder from selected polygons. Boolean generator remains, so hole size/depth can be adjusted by sizing/moving the cylinder.	QuadCaps Closes polygon hole with quadrangular mesh without creating Ngons (helpful for subdivision modeling and closing cylinder tops) ($)	FlangeMaker ♥ Subdivides a polygon making a circle. Probably the fastest way of making circles in C4D (part of AlignToVector plugin - see above) (download) (free)	Points to Circle Scrip takes the outer selection of points (edges, polygons) and arranges them into a circle. Rather for flat surfaces (free)	PolyCircle Interactively transforms selected vertices or polygons into circular shapes. Rather for flat surfaces. Not very handy at use. (free)	powerAxis modeling axis (unavailable, partially replaced by C4D Modeling Axis) ($)
NitroFallOff ♥ modeling tool allowing to influence components transformations by a linear falloff ($)	Magic Merge command performing a direct boolean union or subtraction on two selected objects (free)	Magic Wedge Tool tool extruding polygons along an arc (around a selected edge) (free)	Spline Extruder extrudes a polygonal selection along a spline path ($)	Polygroups Flatten command allowing to flatten selected polygon groups (free)	FlowCut cuts selected edges while considering the flow of the mesh. Made obsolete by C4D Loop/Pat Cut tool (free)	Magic Bevel Points beveling tool (obsolete, does not work >R14, almost all functionality replaced by C4D Bevel Tool) (free)
SolidChamfer : select the edges you want to chamfer and drag the mouse to get the desired chamfer radius. Now made obsolete by C4D Bevel tool. Also the Chamfer Generator object is included in the set. ($)	Polygon Paint Tool allows to create and tweak polygons on other objects, which is useful for retopology jobs. Plugin is included in PaintOnSurface plugin. ($)	KyamaSlide sliding a selection of one or more edges at once. Smarter than C4D slide tool (free)	spinPoly allows to modify the layout of the mesh while keeping texturing unaffected, as it also updates UV coordinates ($)

HB ModellingBundle ♥: set of >70 scripts intended to simplify modeling operations in C4D. Some scripts replace standard C4D commands and intend to improve workflow, many others bring new, great functionality (e.g. HB Paste) Read more about HB Modeling Bundle on Holger Biebrach webpage and watch videos explaining every script in details. ($)	FCS Toolbox : set of multiple tools for modeling ($)	DiTools : Large collection of various deformers, modifiers, shaders, Xnodes, post effects, cloner and surface painter tool ($)

 

Mirroring :

Mirror Mirror ♥: For mirroring setups which can't be properly mirrored with C4D methods. E.g. see above : an asymmetrical object deformed by two deformers properly mirrored (including deformers) (free)	MirrorPointPosition : Tag creating a symmetry map that establish links between symmetrical points on both sides so both can be modified at the same time, which is useful for creation of morph targets (free)	Magic Symmetry Tag plugin that fixed some modeling problems with C4D Symmetry generator. No longer needed, as now C4D Symmetry generator offers adequate options (free)	Flip It : Creates a mirrored copy of a selected mesh. It mirrors only single polygon object over world axis, and triangulates it. Much better can be done with C4D Mirror tool. ($)	Split Selection : When Symmetry generator is transformed to editable mesh, selections are not duplicated. Same selection remains for left and right side. Split Selection splits it in two separate selections with distinct name prefixes (free)

 

Other plugins useful for modeling :

Magic Mesh allows recording a sequence of modeling step. It can be used for animation and saved in a file, e.g. to show someone how to model something (free)	Magic Blueprint help to create blueprint background setup for modeling (free)	View Calibrator : a parametric cube with controls allowing to move each side independently. It helps to calibrate planar views when using reference images for modeling (free)	geomCheck : detect problems with geometry. Faulty polygons are selected, detailed information is displayed in the console window. Now outdated by C4D own Mesh Check feature, but its user manual offers an excelent explanation about various kinds of geometry erros (free)	Coordinates Display : displays vertex coordinates/indexes in viewport ($)	Selected Index Display : displays components indexes in viewport ($)

 

Duplicating and splitting components from a mesh

Manual splitting of selected polygons :

Spliting a selection of polygons in C4D isn't a straightforward one-click operation, as it should be. It requires several steps :
Select polygons, apply Split, Delete selected polygons (it deletes just polygons, but leaves disconnected vertices, so Optimize is needed to remove those vertices, or switch to points mode, select vertices, once again Delete), and then select splited object and remove duplicated child objects. Quite cumbersome for such basic operation. Plugins try to simplify this process. Below is the comparison of 5 command plugins able to clone/cut/duplicate actual selection of polygons :

	xsClone Duplicates in one click the selected polygons within the mesh. UV's aren't duplicated, so texturing is lost. Useful when modeling, before any texturing is done. Since cloned geometry remains in the same place, you should take care to move it to a new location, or you may end up with overlaping polygons. It can also duplicate edges, points and whole objects but this is redundant - C4D can do this with ctrl-drag, which is also more secure - as it prevents the risk of leaving overlapping geometry.	PolySplit ♥ Splits selected polygons or spline section into a new, separate object. Probably the best split plugin: split object keeps all properties, all tags remain (unfortunately including redundant tags) but it does not clone unwanted children. In hierarchy, split object appears at the same level as original object.	Perfect Split Cuts out a polygon selection from the mesh (leaving a hole) and creates a new object from the selected geometry. UV's, materials and other tags are also copied, including irrelevant ones and child objects. So Perfect Split remains less perfect that PolySplit, which offers the same, but does not duplicate child objects with splite polygons.	CopyPastePolys Works in two stages: Copy copies polygons selection into the clipboard, then Paste allows to add them as a new object (if no object selected) or into a selected mesh. If a new mesh is created then result is similar to Cinema's native Split command: whole hierarchy branch is copied, including unwanted children, and unused materials. If selection is pasted into an existing mesh, then children are not copied, either materials, but it copies selection tags, including those irrelevant. Use it when the splited object has no children, or for duplicating polygons within the same mesh.	Modeling Helper Cut/Copy/Paste raw polygon selections. Only raw geometry is pasted as a new or into an existing mesh. Useful only during basic modeling process, before any UV mapping/texturing applied. ModelingHelper moves away copied geometry (position) towards target mesh. This provides more intuitive feel. With other plugins you see no effect of duplication until you move splitted part. Here,when paste is pressed, the splitted part appears away from the original mesh.
free / commercial	free	free	free	free	$
What happens to originaly selected polygons ?	remain intact	deleted	deleted	remain intact	remain intact (copy) or removed (cut)
Where geometry is copied	into the same mesh	new object / same hierarchy level, below original	new object / hierarchy top	clipboard => new object / existing object	clipboard => new object / existing object
	---	---	---	NEW EXISTING	NEW EXISTING
New mesh selected ?	YES	NO	YES	YES YES	YES YES
Disconected vertices removed ?	---	YES	NO	--- ---	NO NO
UV Copied ?	NO	YES	YES	YES YES	NO NO
Selection Tags copied ?	NO	YES	YES	YES YES	NO NO
Materials Tags copied ?	NO	YES	YES	YES NO	NO NO
Phong breaks copied ?	NO	YES	YES	YES NO	NO NO
Vertex maps	NO	YES	YES	YES YES	NO NO
Subdivision weights	NO	YES	YES	YES YES	NO NO
Irrelevant Tags (mat, select) copied ?	NO	YES	YES	YES YES	NO NO
Children copied ?	NO	NO	YES	YES NO	NO NO

All plugins fail to clean redundant selection/material tags. This must be done manually or using Nettoie-Mat script or KTools plugin.

 

 

Automatic splitting :

Splits objects based on their selection tags, material tags or polygon islands (groups of connected polygons).

Ideal splitting plugin should put split objects as children of the original object, do not duplicate children, clean unused tags from split objects while maintaining relevant ones :

keep the base material if it was used on some polygons, remove selection tag defining the split (this tag it is no longer needed, as it selects all polygons in split object)

 

Selection to Objects Split : split an object based on its material tags and their assigned selection tags, and creates a separate object for each material. If no materials assigned to selection tags, no splitting. The simplest, "one click" command. (No dialog window, no options) Children are duplicated Separated objects put as children of the null object named after the original object. Can operate on many selected objects. Removes Selection Tags not linked to a material. This can be an advantage if you don't need such selections, but can be a problem if they are needed. Use it when objects have no children, and you need only a separation by material + cleaning of tags not assigned to a material. (free)

SplitToObjects : splits an object based on polygon selections tags and do not need textures assigned to those tags. Base material is lost from splited objects and may be missing if it was used on those selections. There is an option to not remove tags, then base material is copied, and redundant tags can be removed later with another tags cleaning plugin. Children are not duplicated. Many options: Use active objects: only the selected object is split Use Child objects: only first generation, first child is split Use hierarchy : object in all branch are split Probably the most versatile of tested plugins, but you need to take care to select right options in the dialog. (free)

Advanced+PolySplit : splits an object based on polygon selections tags and do not need textures assigned to those tags. Several options for splitting : Can split all object in the scene, only selected objects, only selected tags, only current (manual) polygon selection. Children always duplicated. Hierarchy not created, all objects separated into the same level as originals. This can be annoying if you split numerous overlapping objects. In such case, put each object to split into a separate null, so split object remains in this null. ($)

xsSplitSelectionTags : creates distinct objects from Polygon Selection tags. no data ($)

Split Unconnected Polygons : script splits mesh islands (unconnected polygon groups) into separate objects (C4D command Polygon Group to Objects does the same) (code) (free)

MAIN PAGE

Direct link to this page

 

Comment Form is loading comments...

 

Darmowy hosting zapewnia PRV.PL