Mesh Tools#

Mesh tools will create, modify or operate on meshes. These tools are intended to augment Autodesk Maya’s existing modeling tool-set and be specific to the common use cases for MatchMove tasks.

Create Aligned Plane From Points#

The Create Aligned Plane From Points tool is used to generate a Maya Mesh Plane aligned to a set of 3D points. The plane can be used as a ground plane, a wall or the beginnings of a 3D terrain.

The aligned plane transform can also be used to re-orient a MatchMove camera by Reparenting your camera under the generated Mesh plane, and then zeroing the translations and rotations of the plane.

reparent-under-node-tool-ref

Create Plane from Points example.

Usage:

  1. Select transform nodes.

    • At least 3 transform nodes are required.

  2. Run Create Aligned Plane From Points tool.

    • A new “alignedPlane” node transform node will be selected.

To run the tool, use this Python command:

import mmSolver.tools.createplanefrompoints.tool as tool
tool.main()

Mesh From Points#

The Mesh From Points tool is used to generate a triangulated mesh from a set of 3D points. The generated mesh is extremely helpful to create a 3D visualisation, or as a starting point for a refined hand-generated model.

Mesh From Points uses a type of Delaunay Triangulation named Delaunator, which is optimised to generate meshes for landscape meshes. As a result, the 3D points are expected to mostly lay in 2D axis plane (but the plane may be at any orientation).

Mesh from Points Window.

Note

September, 2024; The Mesh From Points tools cannot be undone. This is intended to be fixed in a future release.

Usage:

  1. Select transform nodes.

    • At least 3 transform nodes are required.

  2. Run Create Full Mesh From Points tool.

    • Optionally, use the Create Border Mesh From Points or open the Mesh From Points UI.

    • The Create Border Edge Strip Mesh button in the Mesh From Points can be used create a mesh with extra geometry at the edges. This is intended to be used to create a “patch” of geometry that can be adjusted further using Maya’s modelling tools. Adjust the Border Edge Strip Width slider to adjust the position of the edges.

To create a mesh from the selected nodes, use this Python command:

import mmSolver.tools.meshfrompoints.tool as tool
tool.create_full_mesh()

# Or create the border mesh only.
tool.create_border_mesh()

To open the window, use this Python command:

import mmSolver.tools.meshfrompoints.tool as tool
tool.main()