Tgi3D - Revolution in 3D Modeling

New versions (v1.28) of Tgi3D Su Amorph & Tgi3D SU PhotoScan have been released.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 11:14:00 +0000

We are happy to announce the release of the latest versions (v1.28) of Tgi3D plugins for Trimble SketchUp. You can download the new versions from the Downloads page on Tgi3D website.

This release includes the following new features and bug fixes:

NEW: (PhotoScan Only) Added support for transporting SketchUp drawings in the old calibration to a new calibration with new cameras or new calibration settings.

In general, camera calibration is an iterative process and the camera calibrations are improved either by adding more calibration points and/or adding new cameras. Suppose that you have created a model in SketchUp from a set of photographs and resulting calibration from Tgi3D SU Calibration Tool. Later, you improved your camera calibrations further using Tgi3D Calibration Tool and exported the new calibrations to a new SketchUp (SKP) file. You can now transport your previous drawings created with the earlier calibration, to the new Sketchup file with the improved camera calibrations and continue working on your model.

Details can be found Section 12 in the Tgi3D SU Plugin Help document.

NEW: Support for planar texture mapping has been added. When you select “Planar” item from the “Mapping Method” list in “Create Texture Options” dialog box the texture is mapped to the most common plane in the selection (i.e., the plane with the largest total area). This feature is especially useful for architectural applications.

FIX: The issue with “Collapse” command not working well inside groups has been fixed.

Enjoy!

Would you like to try Tgi3D SU Amorph or PhotoScan again?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:47:00 +0000

It's been more than a year since we launched our plugins for Google SketchUp. Since the beginning, we have positioned ourselves as a dynamic and innovative company. As such, we continually introduced many new features to our plugins almost every couple months. This meant however that some of our 30-day trial users did not get a chance to check out the later, improved, and exciting new features.

Now you can do just that! We have reset all the 30-Day Trial versions of Tgi3D SU Amorph and Tgi3D SU PhotoScan that have expired by December 31st, 2011. Even if you have tried Tgi3D plugins before, you can try them again now.

Here are a few of the later introduced features that you may have missed the chance to try out:

Tgi3D SU PhotoScan – Image Based Surface Modeler

Tgi3D SU Amorph and PhotoScan – Warper Tool

Tgi3D SU Amorph and PhotoScan – Terrain Tools

Enjoy!

New Terrain tools in the latest release (v1.26) of Tgi3D SU Amorph and PhotoScan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:52:00 +0000

Last month we have released the new versions (v1.26) of Tgi3D plugins for SketchUp. We added new tools to Tgi3D SU Amorph and PhotoScan's arsenal along with some minor updates and fixes.

The following new tools have been added:

Map to terrain: This utility applies a warping function that transforms the xy-plane to a given target, typically terrain data from Google Earth. It has different options regarding component instances for mapping to terrain; none, translate, rigid (translate and rotate), affine, and full.

Channel extrude tool extrudes selected edges along a preselected connected path of edges. The extrusion is constrained so that the alignment of the extruded edges with respect to the ground plane does not change. Thus a horizontal edge remains horizontal throughout the extrusion. This is useful to create roads, landfill skirts (where the skirting angle is specified), or hedges etc.

Resample path: This utility takes regular samples along given path(s). This comes in handy when placing lamp posts, lane separators etc. along a curving, rising, etc. road at regular intervals.

"Channel extrude" and "Resample path" tools are included unrestricted in the free Training version of Tgi3D SU Amorph.

Here is a quick video that shows Map to terrain and Channel extrude tools in action.

Enjoy!

Tgi3D SU Amorph & PhotoScan's new Warper Tool is released!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:48:00 +0000

I would like to announce the release of the new versions (v1.25) of Tgi3D SU Amorph and Tgi3D SU PhotoScan. The new version introduces the latest Warp tool.

Warper helps modelers deform/reshape the selected surfaces including the ones inside the selected groups and components. Using the warper tool consists of three basic steps:

Create a warper, which is basically a bounding box of your selection placed in a new group
Edit and modify the bounding box inside the group. All your edits including scale, rotate, translate etc. done inside the component will be reflected to the output. If you use Tgi3D tools in modification a preview of the deformation result is displayed instantly during your edit. You can turn preview off for very large meshes if it slows down editing.
Finally issue the Warp command to apply the transformation of the Warper on the corresponding object.

As with all other Tgi3D tools, if the object that is being warped has a texture on it, the texture is modified automatically according to the deformation performed by the Warper without requiring “safeguard texture” and “restore texture” commands before and after the use of Warper Tool.

Warper has six different “Child component transformation type” options that determine the type of transformation to be applied on the selected components and groups.

Full: The given transformation is applied to the whole hierarchy as if the whole selection were flat. In the process it may have to uniquify instances with more than one instance. The instances are left intact, enabling smooth edits on large designs despite SketchUp performance issue. You can easily warp large designs where you can not even hope to explode and flatten the whole thing. For the other options the hierarchy is preserved.
Nothing: The component (group) instances in the selection are ignored, they are left untouched.
Translation: The instances are translated only with an average amount (as determined from the transformation on the warper)
Rigid: Rotation and translation only (the amounts are approximated to be optimally matching the transformation)
Similarity: Rotation, Translation, and uniform scaling.
Affine: Rotation, Translation, arbitrary scaling, and shear. (this is equivalent to the SketchUp instance transformation matrix)

The following videos demonstrate how the Warper tool is used to reshape the objects.

The new Warper Tool is included both in Tgi3D SU Amorph and Tgi3D SU PhotoScan.

We have also introduced a new “Flip if necessary” command within the “Image based Surface Modeler” Tool of Tgi3D SU PhotoScan. This command changes the topology of the mesh to capture sharp discontinuities in the surface. The edges are flipped as in the “Flip Edge” tool of the Sandbox Plugin based on the image matching quality.

The following video shows the new flip command in Image Based Surface Modeler

Enjoy!

Tgi3D is on the cover of CatchUp!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:18:00 +0000

The management team of SketchUcation, the most vibrant online community of Google SketchUp users, recently announced the second edition of CatchUp, SketchUcation Community Newsletter. We are delighted to see Tgi3D on the cover.

There is a detailed review of Tgi3D SU Amorph by the CatchUp editor Rich O'Brien on pages 14 to 18. Rich O'Brien suggests:

"[Tgi3D SU Amorph] really is bringing a level of modeling accuracy to SketchUp that hasn't been so readily possible before. It's not like other plugins that offer great fixes or quicker methods. It's introduced a whole new method of modeling, a cunning set of tools and features that haven't been explored before."

Open publication - Free publishing - More catchup

You can use Tgi3D plugins both at work and at home now!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:11:00 +0000

Many of our individual customers have expressed a desire to be able to install Tgi3D plugins on multiple computers, specifically one at work and one at home, without the additional cost since they are the only ones who use the software. This can be achieved by a different licensing scheme than “per computer licencing” that we currently have . It is called “single user licencing” where the software can be installed on multiple computers (upto a certain number) but only one user can use it at a given time. This requires either the software to have internet connection to check with the license servers online or use a form of a dongle to activate the usage of the software. Our current licenses are issued per computer which allows for faster, local license checking without the need for internet connection or a dongle. So, each licensing scheme has its advantages and disadvantages and we are currently considering different alternatives.

In the mean time though, we have devised a very attractive promotional sale for those of you who don't want to wait:

Buy one get one free!
You will receive two licenses of the same Tgi3D plugin in a single purchase for the price of one. You can then install the software on two different computers, e.g. one at work and one at home, and obtain two independent permanent licenses using the same activation key and e-mail.

Our existing customers: Get your second copy now, free of charge!
We appreciate your business. Therefore, we made sure that you also benefit from this sale regardless of the timeline you purchased the product. Simply download the latest version of the software from here and install the software on a second computer and use your existing activation key and e-mail to activate the second licensed copy of the plugin.

Enjoy!

Tgi3D SU Amorph now has a 30-Day Trial Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:06:00 +0000

We have listened to our customers and decided to release the 30-Day Trial Edition of Tgi3D SU Amorph so that our customers can test the product without the vertex count limitation imposed on the Free Training Edition. You can download the 30-Day Trial Edition from the Downloads page on Tgi3D website.

Tgi3D SU Amorph Free Training Edition lives on...
Rest assured that this announcement does not mean that the “ever popular” Free Training Edition of Tgi3D SU Amorph is abondoned. You can continue to use the Free Training Edition, but if you are thinking about the next step to purchase the plugin and want to experience the full capabilities of Tgi3D SU Amorph before the decision, you now have a chance to do so.

Enjoy!

Tgi3D SU Amorph and PhotoScan Update (v1.21)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:11:00 +0000

We are happy to announce the release of the new versions of Tgi3D plugins (v1.21). As always, you can download the new versions from the Downloads page on Tgi3D website.

We have some of the most wanted and anticipated improvements in this release.

1. Tgi3D now loads much faster at start up!

2. The texture map is preserved during Tgi3D's own edit operations, i.e. the texture map dynamically adjusts as the surface is edited.

3. You can “safeguard” and then “restore” texture maps for other edit operations that break the texture.

4. You can optionally compress the Tgi3D context menu items to be accessed through “Tgi3D commands” submenu.

To do this:
-- Click on the Tgi3D Settings button on Tgi3D toolbar.
-- Turn off the "Direct context menu access to Tgi3D commands" option under "Global Settings" in “Tgi3D Settings” dialog.

Enjoy!

Tgi3D SU Amorph and PhotoScan Update (v1.20)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:53:00 +0000

Upgrades of Tgi3D SU plugins have just been released! You can download the new versions from the Downloads page on Tgi3D website.

The new releases include a new downsampling feature to reduce the polygon count of a model while preserving the model fidelity in a controllable fashion. There are also some exciting updates to the existing features, such as a “clean Bezier surface” option for mesh creation and preservation of texture.

Below are the details of the updates in the new releases:

Introduced "Downsample" command to decrease the resolution of a mesh

Create mesh can nowcreate Bezier (i.e. parametric) surfaces, if the boundary is

A quad of bezier curves and the number of samples on opposite curves match
A triangle of bezier curves and the number of samples on the longest two sides match

Introduced "Collapse" command to collapse the selected region to a point

Mesh editing (upsample and downsample) results are placed in a Sketchup group optionally to allow faster processing.

Cross Section Tool now supports measured motions.

(Mac) Plugin now works on Mac OS X v10.5.x.

(Upsampling & Downsampling) Preserve the texture mapping during upsample and the new downsample

(Texturing) Preserve SketchUp assigned material transparency in texture creation

(Texturing) Preserve the horizontal and perpendicular structures (e.g in buildings) in unwrap mode of texture mapping

(Texturing) Preserve material transparency and color in the texture mapping.

(Texturing) Do not display uv map in the texture if the seperate uv map output is selected.

(Move tool) Improved Bezier curve editing.

In addition to the updates included in Tgi3D SU Amorph, Tgi3D SU PhotoScan includes the following fix.

(Calibration Tool) Added user warning if a camera can not be found in the built-in or local database

Enjoy!

Mac OS X versions of Tgi3D plugins for SketchUp are out!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:28:00 +0000

We are very happy to announce that we have just released the new versions of our plugins which are now also available for Mac users! You can download Free Training version of Tgi3D SU Amorph and 30-Day Trial version of Tgi3D SU PhotoScan from the Downloads page on our website.

There is also good news for Microsoft Windows users! The new releases come with a new smart texturing feature and other enhancements to the existing features which are detailed below. We also encourage you to update your versions of Tgi3D plugins and try the new versions.

The updates include:

Mac OS X support!
New smart texture creation and mapping feature which enables you to easily create, seamlessly merge and paint image textures on smooth curved surfaces, while keeping existing image textures. The produced texture images can be accessed from Sketchup's Materials window and edited with your favourite image editor. Below is the video of the new feature.

Enhancement to existing features:

Tgi3D Move Tool now supports vertex snapping (via pressing Shift key during move)
Tgi3D Select Tool now has a face tagging option where the user selects a group of faces and tags them to be able to reselect them later with a single click.
Tgi3D Cross Section Tool now works with user selected closed loops.

Small fixes

Tgi3D Costruction Point Tool correctly places construction points inside the component under component edit.
Tgi3D Cross Section Tool loop detection is improved.

In addition to the updates included in Tgi3D SU Amorph, Tgi3D SU PhotoScan has the following additional updates:

Tgi3D Calibration and Metrology Tool's SketchUp Export now produces a SKP file. There is no need to “import Tgi3D calibration” in Sketchup anymore. The user simply loads the SKP file created by Tgi3D Calibration and Metrology Tool.
Tgi3D Calibration and Metrology Tool's 3D Viewer refresh functionality after a new measurement entry and recalibration has been improved.

Enjoy!

Tgi3D SU PhotoScan Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:36:00 +0000

Here are a few tips that may be helpful to make photoscanning complex amorph shapes easier. There is also a video showing surface fitting to photographs in action, if you haven't seen it already in Tgi3D's YouTube channel.

(1) Make sure the calibration is good. In Tgi3D Calibration Tool you can check the accuracy of the calibration by running calibration with “create calibration uncertainty (or accuracy) information” option. You can then increase the accuracy by going over the calibration points with the help of the "point errors" tab. You can add new points in different photographs to match existing calibration points or adjust the locations of existing points, and re-run the calibration process. In a human scale object the uncertainties of distances between calibration points should be at the order of millimeters for a good reconstruction.

(2) When applying surface fitting to photographs in SketchUP using Tgi3D SU PhotoScan plugin, the initial curves do not have to be exactly correct, they have to be close enough such that color based matching can arrive at the minimum from the given initial condition (a few pixels in the second picture). For that purpose actually, it is enough that one side of the surface is close to the real 3D, the rest of the surface will find its 3D location from that. The idea is to draw/match an easy (and possibly small) part of the object first, and then grow from there. You select the portion of the surface to be optimized, you do not want to spend optimization time on already optimized surface, but you want your surface to touch or include part of an already optimized surface.

(3) Also you can remove and put view locks and any part of the surface as needed. Do not hesitate to erase, repair, lock, unlock parts of surface as you see fit.

(4) If you have enough photographs, you can draw accurate curves using the silhouette of the object. This is sometimes useful. Imagine the silhouette of an arm from the side, you can draw the curve from front and if you have a side view you can position those curves from the side view. In fact if you have enough such silhouettes you can draw the object in 3D by using those silhouettes and simply creating and smoothing the corresponding surfaces without surface fitting to photographs, especially if you do not require a "numerically accurate" model.

(5) To draw curves on an object that does not have edges you may also make use of point-like features on the texture.

(6) One other thing that may be useful is to try to make the initial match with as few faces as possible. Do not increase resolution until you have a good match at lower resolution. Keep in mind though, if your resolution is too low you can never have a good match.

(7) Remember this is also a drawing tool, you can manually help the PhotoScan tool at any point, on any part of the surface with manual adjustments.

(8) For complex shapes some parts of the surface will remain hidden, or just have no texture on them, for those parts you can use smoothing operation. The smoothing operation guesstimates the surface shape from boundary conditions and softness/sharpness of the shapes.

(9) The photographs that you use should not have fake excess resolution. That is, do not increase resolution simply by changing image size in an editor. In fact, for most cameras you can decrease the resolution, decreasing the run time for PhotoScan.

(10) If you are making a really high detail model, you may want to create parts of the model in different SketchUp files, like head in one file, torso in another, legs in other etc, and then join them. SketchUp handles small polygon count files much better, try to remain under 5000-10000 faces per file, for example.

Launching Tgi3D Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:11:00 +0000

We are launching this blog to provide 3D modelers with news about Tgi3D plugins for Google SketchUp. Visit often to find out what's cooking and to learn tips about using the plugins, to view models, how-to guides, and more...

Let me start with a quick introduction to Tgi3D and its products:

Tgi3D is a registered trademark of Ocali, Inc. With the launch of our website in mid-October, 2010 we have started marketing the two sets of plugins (Tgi3D SU Amorph and Tgi3D SU PhotoScan) for Google SketchUp under this trademark. We refer to our products as “sets” of plugins, beacuse each has a number of greate features that can be viewed as seperate plugins bundled in one.

Tgi3D SU Amorph allows you to create highly sophisticated 3D models by providing tools to create and edit free form curves and amorph surfaces. You can generate and manipulate curves and surfaces, increase resolution, edit extrusions, and do more with great ease. Tgi3D SU Amorph has a free Training version that has the same functionality as the commercial version except that it has a limit on the number of vertices two work with in some of its features related to surface meshes.

Tgi3D SU PhotoScan presents 3D scanning capability from photographs like never seen before in SketchUp. It is now possible to create highly accurate 3D models of complex real life objects in SketchUp. The Tgi3D SU PhotoScan package includes a seperate executable called the Tgi3D SU PhotoScan Calibration and Metrology Tool, which provides state-of-the-art camera calibration and metrology capabilities that can also report measurement uncertainties accurately. When the user is satisfied with measurement accuracy, the resulting calibration is exported to Google SketchUp, where the user then draws the approximate surface on photographs and Tgi3D SU Photoscan automatically corrects the selected portions of the surface by matching the textures in photographs corresponding to the selected surface. You can try the fully functional Tgi3D SU PhotoScan with the 30-Day Trial Edition.

To get more information about Tgi3D plugins for Google SketchUp

visit our products page at www.tgi3d.com/index.php?Page=PProducts
find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Tgi3D
watch our videos on YouTube at www.youtube.com/Tgi3D
check out the models in our gallery at www.tgi3d.com/index.php?Page=Gallery

and of course

download and try the free Training version of Tgi3D SU Amorph and 30-Day Trial version of Tgi3D SU PhotoScan at www.tgi3d.com/index.php?Page=Download