3 ms·

Volumetric heat diffusion skinning

22 points by jeff18 17y ago

bilbo0s 17y ago
This algorithm is implemented for free in Blender 2.46+. When you parent a mesh to a skeleton (armature), select "Create From Bone Heat" from the available options. Or, After parenting a mesh to a skeleton (armature) or adding a skeleton (armature) modifier, go to the combined weight paint and pose mode, use the W key, and choose "Apply Bone Heat to Vertex Groups". Export the mesh to any file format or game engine that supports multiple vertex bone weights. ie - COLLADA, or to Ogre, FBX, or if you really just want to get a game written in a couple of weeks, export it to JME. EDIT: BTW, In Blender, skeletons are called Armatures. That is why the word Armature is in parentheses in this comment.
- carbocation 17y ago
  I am not all that familiar with this topic, but I was under the impression that the article's author distinguished what he did from what you are describing because his is volumetric diffusion while the method you named uses surface diffusion.
  - bilbo0s 17y ago
    Doh! You're right. I should have read the whole article. This method uses volumetric instead of surface heat. While Blender uses surface heat. Actually, strictly speaking, Blender is closer to using surface glow instead of surface heat, or at least the version used internally at one of the companies I work with does. I think this algorithm could probably use glow instead of heat as well. Then again, the article does not mention the method they use for calculating their weights, so it may effectively be glow and not heat. Which would make this algorithm probably the best out there in terms of results. Or maybe they have a weighting factor that is better than glow or heat! Without more info we can't say. But I think we should definitely implement this volume diffusion architecture in Blender with a replaceable weighting factor so that people can experiment with which weight factor is best. I think that would be useful. Too bad 2.5 is so big. Maybe for 2.49-?

22 points by jeff18 17y ago

This algorithm is implemented for free in Blender 2.46+. When you parent a mesh to a skeleton (armature), select "Create From Bone Heat" from the available options. Or, After parenting a mesh to a skeleton (armature) or adding a skeleton (armature) modifier, go to the combined weight paint and pose mode, use the W key, and choose "Apply Bone Heat to Vertex Groups". Export the mesh to any file format or game engine that supports multiple vertex bone weights. ie - COLLADA, or to Ogre, FBX, or if you really just want to get a game written in a couple of weeks, export it to JME. EDIT: BTW, In Blender, skeletons are called Armatures. That is why the word Armature is in parentheses in this comment.

carbocation 17y ago
I am not all that familiar with this topic, but I was under the impression that the article's author distinguished what he did from what you are describing because his is volumetric diffusion while the method you named uses surface diffusion.
- bilbo0s 17y ago
  Doh! You're right. I should have read the whole article. This method uses volumetric instead of surface heat. While Blender uses surface heat. Actually, strictly speaking, Blender is closer to using surface glow instead of surface heat, or at least the version used internally at one of the companies I work with does. I think this algorithm could probably use glow instead of heat as well. Then again, the article does not mention the method they use for calculating their weights, so it may effectively be glow and not heat. Which would make this algorithm probably the best out there in terms of results. Or maybe they have a weighting factor that is better than glow or heat! Without more info we can't say. But I think we should definitely implement this volume diffusion architecture in Blender with a replaceable weighting factor so that people can experiment with which weight factor is best. I think that would be useful. Too bad 2.5 is so big. Maybe for 2.49-?