Campbell Barton's latest update to the Freehand curves adds drawing on 3D surfaces, with many options to work with.
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About the Author
Bart Veldhuizen
I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.
17 Comments
Very, very cool - great cross-pollination of open-source projects at work - nice one Mr Barton
I'm curious!
I've downloaded and installed the freehand curve addon but It shows up a little different than the example in the above video! I can setup my tablet but it doesn't have the option to draw on surface! Maybe I have an older version?............
The new features are in Git Master, not the addon. Disable/uninstall the addon and dowload Blender from buildbot to try the new features:
https://builder.blender.org/download/
Thanks!!
This is now included with Blender.
I've installed the add on, but it won't show up in my 'create' tab. What am I doing wrong? I have the lasted build of Blender.
Campbell Barton. One of those names that when you see it, you pause whatever you're doing just to check it out.
Funny enough, I had a similar idea, using Grease Pencil drawing to convert strokes into tubes, based on a (cumbersome) makeshift system I've been using in Blender.
But this is much better. Well-integrated into Blender. Nice adjustable options. I'm relieved!
Good job, Campbell! Looking forward to Blender 2.78.
Hi, nice addon, but i downloaded the latest build from buildbot , and the draw curve button in tools curve menu and in and add curve, appears , but are are grayed and do no let use, ignore if can be an isolated error in this compilation, and better wait for next, or i have, or i am doing something wrong .
You add a curve in Object Mode and go to Edit Mode. You can delete the curve in edit mode if you want. Now to draw in edit mode, add > draw curve. Or just hold Shift key while you draw.
¡Oh¡ I was doing wrong, thank you very much.
This is no longer an add-on, its now built into Blender.
Hi Campbell,
Really valuable addon! Thank you! One idea: how about adding an option to take the actual radius of beveled curve into account for the "offset" from a surface. (like
offset = constant_offset + bevel_depth * vert_radius
or similar) This way you could ensure that everything lies smoothly on the surface with minimal intersections)
Best, Michael
Hi Michael, the radius is taken into account. Just not with the taper option (which modifies radius after the stroke is complete), though adding support isn't such a big deal.
Perfect, thank you Campbell! You were right, the taper fooled me :)
Cheers, Michael
Committed fix for this case: https://developer.blender.org/rBf4ecd24f96b158cb6b3c21686ebd048a9cca2c71
Hello Campbell!
I really want to make use of this, but it is not showing up in the latest build of blender! I see it in the user prefs as 'active' but it wont show up in my 'create' menu. What am I missing here?
Thank you!
-Michael
Hello,
I just started using this great add-on but I am having no luck getting the Taper Radius option to work. No matter what number I enter the Start & End taper settings the curve looks the same. I'm sure I must be missing something. Thanks.