I keep making objects that need to be rotated around in groups. being able to quickly manipulate link/attach/join/mask discontinuous parts would be very handy.
Did you try to select the mask tool and simply tap on a part to mask/unmask it?
I did, but I have separate objects w different subdivistion levels. like a head w hat, glasses hair, eyes, corneas, eyelashesm brows, gums, teeth tongue, goatee, earring, etc. making him turn his head is a pain.
Ah you are talking about different objects, not disconnected parts of the same objects.
In any case it seems you are asking for bone support (with IK).
Just to make sure: you know you can select multiple objects (you can do it in the viewport by holding the smooth shortcut) then use the gizmo with a custom pivot point?
Also the custom pivot will be saved depending on the selection, meaning if you select “shoulder+head”, and then move the pivot to a certain position, it will be remembered next time you reselect the same objects (“shoulder+head”).
However these “multimesh” pivot are not saved in the file, so if you relaunch Nomad the gizmo position will be reset.
But this would be quite nice, if the pivots would be saved. One could create some maquette which could be posed quite quickly then. FK only, but better than nothing.
I think scene hierarchy/parenting would be the only way to really solve that.
The custom pivot for the upper arm would be the pivot for the child node hierarchy (lower arm/hand etc) as well then. This is a huge ui challenge though (considering 720p portrait mode compatible)
But it’s already possible, just not save able. Nomad remembers custom pivot for selections but doesn’t saves them. Posing the little robot I used that.
I think the issue is also ease of selection if the model gets more complex.
I made a quick mockup ui in google slides what it could look like.
feel free to edit…
Yes I like that, it will probably be something similar.
I’m gonna BUMP this request. I just worked on my most complex piece to date in Nomad - only 24 objects - but i’m hurting for some form of hierarchy management. Especially with things like wheels (rim plus tire) and moving parts with multiple components, like this little test vehicle I did earlier.
I would also like to ask (again) for FBX export, only because if I’m working on a large, multi-object piece, I tend to name my objects and parent accordingly, knowing that if I need to take it back to Maya, the hierachy stays intact. Not so much going to ZBrush though. Actually, does USDZ respect heirarchical grouping upon import/export?
I love this concept idea. We really are in need of some serious hierarchy management and pivot manipulation.
Yes, some sort of basic hierarchy would be extremely helpful. A lot of my work has a lot of small objects that I don’t always won’t to simple merge. Sub folders would help to keep things tidy and even be able to group scale many items. Any sort of folder group system would be a great asset.
Absolutely, it’s a no brainer. One of the things that kept me from taking Blender seriously. (Don’t get me started.)
Hmm what do you mean by that, blender has all of that, no?
LOL - don’t get me started, lest I get attacked by the BlenderHeads again.
I posted this video almost 2 years ago and got raked over the coals in the comments:
I don’t know how much has changed, but just wanting to do SIMPLE parent/child grouping turned into a confusing mess. I think maybe there’s now an add on (Blender seems to need a ton of these VS having it built-in by default) but honestly, I haven’t made the time to try and figure it out. It’s this constant love/hate with Blender - i love Eevee and some of the hard surface modeling add ons, but the backwards navigation and lack of basic functionality drives me insane at times.
Upon further review, I’ll have to try this out. Using an “Empty” should be similar to using “Groups” in Maya.
It just always seemed very UNintuitive in Blender, hence the confusion and frustration.
Same for their navigation style. W/E/R is industry standard for Translate/Rotate/Scale, but they felt it necessary to deviate and introduce their own convention. Of course, they now allow you to change the key mappings to Industry Standard, but then that breaks OTHER hot keys, that make following previous tutorials rather, ahem, “challenging”.
We all have problems to get used to things already learned in other apps.
Coming back to Nomad I collected some ideas:
1st, no need for pencil or move sign. Long press drag is very common in all apps for move, double tap on name for edit name.
2nd, A folder system for better organising. Allowing nested folders.Folding from top to bottom. Make a selection and folder icon on top object appers, pressing folder icon, put all objects into this object folder.
3rd a link system storing selection pivots. Tap on chain of parent and drag onto child object.
Yes hierarchy is planned, cf Collecting TreeView UI Ideas