2019 Roadmap
Scrubs started this discussion in General Discussion
Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

Mecabricks is being improved everyday. Sometimes I have the impress that it doesn't go fast enough, however when I stop and reflect on what has been made in the past year, it is actually quite amazing:

  • A year ago, the only solution to render models was to export the scene and do it yourself. Nowadays, you have another fast and easy option to do it right inside the workshop in your browser. It supports custom lamps, environment lighting, floor, background, part appearance and compositing among other options. I wouldn't even think about going back before this time as I use this tool pretty much every day.
  • A year ago, people adding parts to the library had to go through the painful process of generating the little preview icons in Blender. Now it only requires one click. It has saved countless hours for all of us part designers. Ask Stas 😛

So for 2019 I hope to achieve the following. It is quite ambitious, but I think it shall be possible overall. This is mainly centered around the workshop, model presentation and rendering.

1. Upgrade viewport code.
2. Add new options to display and shade objects in viewport - lighting, shading, edges, reflections, transparency, logo on studs.
3. Save custom viewport settings.
4. Redesign flexible tool - parametric geometry description, snapping, real time geometry refresh, configurable coils and knots for strings.
5. Write converter for legacy flexible geometry.
6. Refresh viewport information and tools - gizmos, controls, statistics.
7. Activate/Deactivate custom lamps in viewport.
8. Add a third mode to configure scene displayed in 3D player - lighting, compositing, color management, background, preview, camera.
9. Update 3D player to include all the new options described above.
10. Add new configurable environment objects for rendering - volume scattering box, smoke and fire, water.
11. Add support for custom 3D objects and PBR materials in the scene - image plans, custom 3D model importer, particles.
12. Add support for custom decorations.
13. Update Add-ons for blender 2.8
14. Redesign workshop file explorer.

Items 1, 2 and 3 are already well under way and I hope to be able to release them before the end of the year.
Feel free to comment on this roadmap.

If everything goes according to plan, the big items for the following years are:

  • Redesign of the forum.
  • Redesign of the homepage.
  • Redesign of the user file library to add support for password protected files, file sharing between users and classroom options.
  • Support for animation in the viewport, the 3D player and the renderfarm.
  • Instruction maker.

Let's see how many of my ideas stud.io will integrate...

More…
48 replies · Page 2 of 3
Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

I can start ticking items from the roadmap yeah 🎉 That will be it for 2018.
Here is a short video to show the new customization options for the viewport:
[youtube]g0Es_Jq1ps4[/youtube]
To test it: https://www.mecabricks.com/en/workshop/r6/

Is it possible to X-ray your model but certain groups not? So for example: X-ray the Bugatti, but leave the engine and gearbox just normal?

Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

No, you cannot have different types of rendering for different groups. It is technically not feasible the way I designed the system. Performance would drop. Maybe in the future.

That thing looks rad ! Congratulations, and a huge thank you Scrubs for your awesome work. Would it be possible to render models with MatCap lighting ?

Also, I noticed two missing things : when I expand a group, I can't see the subgroups that are included in it, and I can't use the numpad shortcuts to change the position of the camera.

Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

@Jeff any errors recorded in your browser console?

Oh, the numpad shortcuts now work.

No errors, but some warnings. Most of them look like this :

THREE.WebGLProgram: gl.getProgramInfoLog() C:fakepath(**,23-154): warning 👨571: pow(f, e) will not work for negative f, use abs(f) or conditionally handle negative values if you expect them*

But there's a number instead of ***.

Also, when I try to groups groups in one group (groupception haha 😄 ), the + icon moves on the right, but the grouped groups don't go below the newly created group in the tree. So I get this :

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4813/44498499660_f4c8bddc97_o.jpg

While I get this with the previous version :

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4832/46315176491_0be8bff6f2_o.jpg

Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

Thank you for the bug notification. It is fixed now.
I think I will have to update the group panel properly at some stage. It is still pretty buggy, especially with the undo/redo function.

Watches Video WOOAAHH!!!

So excited for this! Will there be a way to revert to default viewport settings, or will that happen each time you reload the page?

Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

The save button on the right side saves the settings for both wireframe and shaded modes at the same time. If you are logged in, it will be loaded when you open the workshop. You also have a button to reset to default settings. It only resets the selected mode. You can try right now if you follow the link above.

Yep, the groups work fine now.

But I noticed another error in the rendering menu : the tool to pick a part on which the camera will be focused when the DoP option is ticked doesn't work, and I see this on the console :

Uncaught TypeError: GBLViewport[b(...)][b(...)] is not a function
at PanelCamera.move_picker (workshop.r6alpha.obf.js:1)
at HTMLDivElement.<anonymous> (workshop.r6alpha.obf.js:1)
at HTMLDivElement.dispatch (jquery.min.js:2)
at HTMLDivElement.y.handle (jquery.min.js:2)

Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

@Jeff Thank you for reporting it. Fixed now.

Hello! There was a problem after the update. I can't log in to the workshop when I'm in my account. I can only log in to the workshop when I log out of my account. With what it can be connected?

Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

I activated the option to display or hide the LEGO logo on studs. This requires a lot of calculations so use carefully with that in mind.

Love all the new settings! 😄 In a year or so, you should do a poll to see how many users use the original workshop settings (studio) in comparison to how many use HDRIs.

@Scrubs The workshop updates are really great! Thank you for sharing and all the time you've put into mecabricks! This has replaced video games in some of my spare time, which is good - much more creative

Wow Scrubs, the Workshop updates are absolutely spectacular! Absolutely love them, things look so pretty now. 😍 😛

A CAD program in the browser without resorting to Java is amazing. I can see it uses ajax/jquery and SVG, but there must be some kind of higher level framework you're using to group it all together?

Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

Mecabricks uses threejs for WebGL but otherwise everything else is custom made.

Wow, this is awesome. Looking forward to seeing those simulations! 😉

6.5/14 by April! Not bad... 😉

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