In this Blender 2.5 video tutorial we introduce you to using the BSurfaces V1.5 for retopologizing a complex model. This add-on allows you to create with grease pencil strokes. This process can drastically speed up the retopology task.
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32 Responses to “Retopology with the BSurfaces Add-on”Leave a Comment
bsurfaces are gonna change the way we use blender .. it is the greatest tool ever. cant wait for it to become free.. only cos i cant afford to pay right now.
great tutorial jonathon
FIRST one! great tutorial.
I’m glad you guys have a tutorial on Bsurfaces already, and especially on using it for retopology. Thanks!
first
Now your instance of doofusness is immortalized for all time.
Nice mate
This Tool is a god among men!!
Nice to see a video tool so soon and live to see how you use it…
We all learn by sharing what we know
Smartdog
Thank you! I requested this tutorial(as I’m sure others have as well) Then I decided after I requested it that I should just get Bsurfaces and dive right in myself. I’ve only had the paid version since yesterday so I am still kind of getting the grips of it. I’m hoping it speeds up my workflow considerably. Thanks again!
Wow! Ask and ye shall receive! Thanks, Jonathan!
This reminds me of (but is not quite as cool as) the 3dcoat autopo system.
I bought and like it, only thing that lets it down is how it works with the grease pencil… you seem not to be able to extend a line by simply drawing more onto it, which makes it unusable for round objects (since you cannot rotate the view and draw at the same time). Would be sweet if it checks whether two strokes should be interpreted as one. Only option is to edit strokes, which is IMHO just as slow as doing everything by hand right away.
Then, again, as Jonathan shows, you can extend your mesh around as he did on the figure toward the end.
Yeeah! Got this a couple of weeks ago, but havent touched it yet. I will see if I can get into it now though. I hope you’ll do more frequent tutorials on this
Very nice tutorial, Jonathan. The addition of the shrink modifier opened up a lot of things for me. Very appreciative of the way you not only show the mechanics of the tool, but incorporate it into a possible workflow. Many thanks.
Bsurfaces does look awesomesauce indeed. Not having tried it, I have to say it looks like what might finally make me start using my tablet in a 3D environment… If I felt I could fork out the dough for it. Curse you, economy! CURSE YOO!
If you can wait it will be free eventually. I was going to hold off on getting it, but my friend put it in perspective when he said even if I bought 100 more scripts at 40 bucks a pop it is still cheaper than Maya. lol. I was just worried I’d get it and not use it much before it came free anyways. Which I hope is not the case with the help of more tutorials on it! How you find the funds to give it a shot.
@Jonathan: I saw Ben Simmonds simply using the snap tool to do retopo. I’ve never tried that, and the column was a fairly simple mesh to retopo, but what’s your opinion on whether that’s a useful technique?
Hello, can I ask with program do you use for recording the video-tutos?
I use Camtasia from http://techsmith.com
-Jonathan
Looks like a very useful tool, and I certainly don’t think it’s unfair for the developer of it to want to capitalize on it, if only to make up for the time and resources spent developing it.
Still, it seems even from this overview vid that it’s not exactly perfect. And if an add on that costs $40 simply assists with a small part of what a big, broad application that’s free can do, it’s a bit like spending $5 on a salt packet for a free filet mignion.
Of course I’ll be looking to add it if it does go free down the road. Not to be a cheapskate, though. Just another starving artist.
Hi J C Roberts,
(I’m the one behind the development of Bsurfaces) The way Blender handles tablet/mouse events in Windows and Linux, is different. For instance when sculpting a fast curved stroke in a very hi-poly model, that stroke instead of following exactly the curve we did with the tablet or mouse, it ends up straight because it only takes into account a few points. That’s more likely to happen in Windows.
Something similar happens with the grease pencil. In Windows, less points are drawn if we do fast strokes. That may affect the precision of the detection of crossing strokes since the grease pencil lines don’t end up exactly over the surface of the hi-poly object due to some lack of grease pencil points, thus they don’t exactly “cross”.
It’s possible that this could be the case in this video. To solve that, in Windows operative system, we could draw slower strokes (added this to the suggestions on the Bsurfaces website). Or go to a lower level of Multires for the high-poly model to make the 3Dview more responsive thus let Blender add more grease pencil points.
Linux version of Blender handles events much better, the strokes have more points and follow much better what we draw, so the crossing strokes are better detected.
(I think there was work on a previous GSoC that should fix this problem with tablet/mouse events for Windows when it’s merged)
great addon, but if it takes advantage if the grease pencil could paint a line around a mesh with a single stroke or a option to continue a line
Hi Eclectiel
I’m sorry, but I can not work with this tool.
Sometimes I can change the cross and follow, but most time not.
I really do not understand why.
I can not connect splines.
I really do not understand why.
Your video is nice to watch, but it is not a tutorial.
I hope I have not made you angry.
Sure you’ve put into this add-on thousands of hours of work.
I have great respect for your work.
This is also the reason that I have paid it gladly.
But until now I do not understand the application.
Excuse my English Google translation.
best wishes
patrick
Hey Patrick, not angry at all
, those things happen. I can give you step by step help. Check the Bsurfaces website for the contact info, and will see your case.
Wouldn’t it be more efficient to have a modifier that merely scaled down the mesh density to a lower level and you just controlled how much detail was taken away. kinda like tessellation. Or am I talking nonsense?
Hello there,
My opinion is a “noob” one, but as far as I can see (especially with the violin demonstration here:http://vimeo.com/26339130) this appear as one of the most powerful tool in Blender. At least for the organic model. I mean concerning the industrial or traditional architectural model for instance, this will surely be used in a different way.
The tool does look pretty amazing,o only hope that it becomes free to download soon as im trying my best to stick to free open source software.
Yeah, this is great! It genuinely supersedes Max’s Surface plugin. I use the the beta version of this tool a lot for Retopo, but it took me a while out the logic of why it sometimes fails. I’d be using 1.5 gladly, but I’m teaching a class where part of the point is how much you can do with completely free software. Can’t wait until the newer version makes GNU.
this is better than topogun!
Can someone PLEASE explain how to engage to service of Bsurfaces? I was able to follow the lesson till you reached 5:31 frame. I couldn’t figure out how you got to the point. Can you please teach assuming me that everyone is a beginner? That way, more people will benefit from your lessons. Thanks
Hi Nda,
My apologies for the confusion in the tutorial. Can you tell me a bit more about what you’re having trouble with? I’ll be happy to try and help you get through it.
Cheers,
Jonathan
Hi Jonathan,
Thank you for your response. It was the part where you brought up the Bsurfaces. I realize that the problem was with my blender. I couldn’t find the Bsurfaces. But I can find it now, though I still have to go the the preferences every time I to click on the activate button for the bsurfaces to show up in my panel.
Thank you again for taking your time to share you knowledge with the world.