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Blender awarded 6 GSoC projects

37
By on 3D News, People

SoC LogoThe projects that will participate on the Google Summer of Code 2008 have been announced, and again Blender was awarded with 6 projects!

Here is the list of approved projects:

  • Lightcuts for Blender
  • Editable topology for multi-resolution meshes
  • Freestyle integration
  • Automated testing framework for import / export scripts
  • ShrinkWrap Modifier
  • Improving Python Editing In Blender

If you want to know more about each project, visit this link. Now all we have to do is wait, till the end of the summer!

37 Comments

  2. Marcus on

    I love this!

    What a surprise that the Freestyle integration is finally done! I think results will make some jaws drop in the industry just as Big Buck Bunny did.

    Does the multires thing mean that changes on a high resolution level will change the low resolution mesh?

    Reply
  9. smick on

    I can't believe freestyle got it. Heck yes!!! I was worried it was forgotten about, that's why I mentioned it in a previous GSOC posting to stir the waters a bit.

    I guess that doesn't mean that over the summer it will be completed, no guarantees at this point, but I'm pretty excited for the potential.

    Reply
  10. Gryphon on

    @Marcus: Currently, multi-res meshes allow you to move verts around, rotate, scale and so on. After the project, we should be able to do things like extruding, cutting, duplicating, spinning and the like in a multi-res mesh. It's really quite exciting... and Brecht is mentoring the project!

    Reply
  12. Dusty on

    Oh, I know this is probably not part of the 6 challenges, but I would love to see the retopo tools work a bit like ZBrush (wait!! just wait to here me out!! :) ) in the fact you can "stick" new verts to the outside of a model you are working and rotate.
    If you could get the paint topology feature to stick like that to the outside of the mesh so it rotates around the model, rather than just sit on top based on your view, that would be a REALLY cool feature!

    Reply
  14. tmr232 on

    That is soooo cool. I just can't believe it. 6 projects, and all of them so cool. I can't wait for the improved scripting...

    Reply
  21. Digital FX Artist on

    Sounds great! Hopefully these projects will get completed. Blender has had many projects fall through the cracks in past summers, hopefully this will be the year that they all get done and implemented in Blender.

    One idea I wanted to interject...

    Since I come from a Maya background, I have always thought a node based modeler and animation system would be a nice addition to Blender. Hearing what is in store for the multi-res mesh, this would be a great area for node based modeling. First of all you would have a node that creates your base object then you would create a subdivide node that sub-divides the mesh or adds a level of resolution, then each time you want to sub-divide the mesh further you would simply add a node to the end of the node list. You could simply go back to each node, click on it and that would take you back to that level (resolution) of the mesh. You could then edit that level and see the changes all the way down through the different resolutions. As for the extruding, cutting, duplicating, spinning, etc. You could easily make each of these nodes which would alter the model as needed. Each node would have an input for an object. This would consist of all facets of the object (i.e. vertices, faces, edges, center of the object, etc.). Each node in the list would alter any one or more of these facets depending on what the node does. The node would then output a complete object (i.e. vertices, faces, edges, center of the object, etc.). At the end of the list you would always have the Output Node. This node links the object to the scene. This would look and work similar to the current material nodes system. A mater of fact, you could use the current material node system to test the idea out to see if people would want to use it further.

    All of this could also be a set of modifiers, of course, but I know nodes would give a lot more flexibility and would allow you to share settings between objects. And since nodes are more of a tree structure instead of a linear set of modifications, you could do a lot of things modifiers can't.

    If you are interested in hearing more of my rantings and ravings on nodes, please email me.

    Reply
  25. zapman on

    nice! good luck to all involved and thanks for your efforts guys and gals! :)

    can someone please point out to me what it's about freestyle? never heard of it and you get quit unsatisfactory results when searching the net :S

    Reply
  27. aws357 on

    I have great hope that the Bishop-Van Lommel project comes to term. Both are great coders. :)

    Improving python editing would be sweet and would allow more people to begin coding their own scripts :)
    How about using the node interface? Display piece of codes as nodes...

    The rest is nice, but the two above give me great anticipation as they have a lot of chance to be completed.

    Reply
  30. Toontje on

    All 6 projects are cool.But the coolest of them all is lightcuts. I'm always fearful that projects don't get finished, but there is already some preliminary work done for lightcuts.

    Reply
  34. Gryphon on

    @aws357:
    A graphical python programming interface would be tremendously helpful... you should put that idea on BlenderStorm, if it's not there already.

    I think the BSOC project is supposed to be improvements to the Text Editor, to make it better for both simple text editing and python coding.

    Reply

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