ARCHIMATIX PRO Node-based Parametric Modeling for Unity [Unity Awards Finalist]

There is a node planed for a trussing, which will be great for steel structures such as railroad trestles, stadium roofs, etc.. That node will be a kind of Repeater that sizes the steel parts, making extrudes of different lengths for different cords in the truss network. For a tacoma narrows behavior, the joints could be physics spring joints that are very stiff. Once you are writing your own nodes, the possibilities are endless!

I will certainly give a notice before nay pricing changes and yes, there is an illustrated User Manual PDF that comes with the Archimatix package.

 

Hi @laurentlavigne - Archimatix doesn't have a node yet for 3D boolean. Meshes are built up from 2D shapes, which is where all the realtime booleans happen. The complex curved boolean of the star in the example with Robot Kyle is a 2D boolean turned into a mesh with a curved PlaneSweep.

 

When do we get that???

 

So you have plans for that... very promising (I mean it already looks dashing)

 

@roryo - I am coming across a similar issue. I have had it happen when trying to move with mouse and WASD, and also when paying with variables on a node in the graph editor then switching to the scene view to see the output. I can make the model re-appear by clicking on the object in the hierarchy window, but as soon as i click on anything (like anything anywhere in the editor, a menu, clicking on the snap to grid option.. anything) the model is gone again.

 

[EDIT - moved to AX Trello support site] - Amazing tool and excellent service and support.

 

I assume the misplacement has to do with scaling - am facing the same issue with my Node Editor Framework, it seems like the default dropdown/menu controls of unity don't account for GUI.matrix (which includes scale).
To confirm, this shouldn't happen when you have a zoom level of 1...
Don't think rory can do anything about it other than replacing these controls with custom one - if there is a way, I'd really like to know

 

[EDIT - moved to AX Trello support site] - Amazing tool and excellent service and support.

 

[EDIT - moved to AX Trello support site] - Amazing tool and excellent service and support.

 

Hello @roryo

As I have been learning to use AX, I've noticed a couple of features that may be missing or hidden somewhere:
- the ability to lock a node so that it is unchangeable (i.e., read only) -- for example, once a grouper is finished, I would like it to be unchanging (e.g., standardized window shapes and sizes) even if it is included in a larger design
- the ability to limit the transforms (e.g., floors have to be a minimum 3 metres high, hallways have to be a minimum 2 metres wide, stair steps can be no taller than 15 centimetres)

Cheers!

 

Okay...

It would be nice if, when Shift-clicking a second node, both nodes remained visually select. Right now the second node clicked changes to the "selected" color, and the first node appears to be unselected. The selection of options on the right side of the screen shows that both are selected, but there's no indication of which node was selected for the first one.

Additionally, grouper nodes are a little confusing to me. I was looking at the "domino houses" one, and I just don't really see why things like the repeater tool for the floor repeater go directly to the grouper, rather than only going to the floor repeater. It seems like too many of the nodes are going to the grouper. But I have yet to read section 7 in the user guide. Perhaps that explains it.

And it would be nice if ALL of the documentation could be downloaded, rather than having to access some on the website. Could set something up like Unity does, with its "offline" web pages for the manual and script reference.

Next:

I'm trying to build a tower. Kind of like your lighthouse, but with floors and a spiral staircase inside. From what I've done so far in the user guide, I figure a floor repeater would be good. So doing this...



So I figure I should start with the floor plan, those three nodes on the left there. I'm going to need to make a cut in it to allow the each flight of stairs to raise up a level, but as you can see I have bigger problems...



The spiral staircase. How do I make it work for a non-zero radius? I deleted the interior rod or post it was circling. I then increased the radius of the radial step repeater. However, you can see what happens. It doesn't automatically create more steps or anything.

I messed around with it for around half an hour, but can't seem to get it work. When I lower the height the steps start stacking on top of each other while staying separate from the next or previous one. When I add more steps they get smaller and smaller while maintaining gaps between one another. When I adjust the riser I get the same effect.

So how would I get this to give me a set of stairs on the outside there?

 

Any plans for an evaluation/water marked demo version. It looks like a really great tool but the learning curve seems a bit steep and the price is quite high.

 

Sounds great. I am really looking forward to that feature. Another area of interest is being able to create elevated tracks. Basically like the monorail they have Disneyland and Disneyworld so that was another interest area where the basic idea of bridges plugin came from.

 

It's usually only assets that hide their source code and do their own special rendering to the screen that can do such watermarks on demo versions, and even then this has happened very seldom with Unity assets over the years. And I certainly dont see how this could be applied sensibly to something like Archimatix that outputs standard 3D models at the end of the day.

 

Here is a follow-up to the mysterious "disappearing model in the viewport" issue.

I've been able to isolate a consistent issue where when I enter a number in one of a node's text boxes (e.g. "Thickness") and then click the viewport, the model disappears. Clicking on the AX graph editor afterwards makes the model reappear in the viewport.

I've tried this with various nodes (e.g., Shape, Extrude) and it seems that manual text entry that modifies the geometry directly causes this issue. To whit, changing the UV scaling in the Material Tool node does not cause this phenomenon.

Looks like we've caught our gremlin

Cheers!

 

[EDIT - moved to AX Trello support site] - Amazing tool and excellent service and support.

 

Hi @SilverStorm - thanks for you post. @elbows makes a good point about watermark not really working for a mesh-generation tool. I have been mulling over the possibility of an Archimatix Basic at a lower price that would have some starter nodes. Would love to make it as easy as possible for people to step into Archimatix!

 

Brilliant! That is indeed reproducible. Led me right to the bug, which is now dutifully squashed! I'll try to push out an update bearing this fix in the next couple days. Thanks @DasBiot and those others who were joined the hunt for this gremlin!

 

@EternalAmbiguity - In this case, set the radius of the RadialRepeater to 0 and go inside the Grouper for the step. In there you will see the step shape. Adjust its radius and innerRadius to you your liking.



I will add parameters to the top of that library items grouper so that the radius and innerRadius are right up at the top and easy to get to.

For a stair on the outside, you may want to create your own step as an extrude of the SpiralStepShape library item and alter the radius and innerRadius of the step shape. That way, your steps will have a thickness.

 

You're quite welcome.

I look forward to the update!

Cheers

 

Thanks for this. I'll try it when I get home, but I have a question for you.

So in your version the size of each level is kind of floaty, and shifts from small to large as you "stretch" things, until the next level gets popped it when you reach a certain threshold. However, this wouldn't work for a level with walls, because those walls are a certain size.

Is the solution to this to make the walls X amount higher than the "level height" so they'll overlap? Or something else?

Edit: Actually, that won't work at all, because the stairs of each previous step need to be able to reach the next floor. I suppose they could be stretched like in "domino house," but I'm not sure how to do that for radial steps, and it's not really what I want anyway (I want the floors to be a specific height).

So it would be nice to have a way to make this NOT stretch, but stay at the current number of floors until "stretched" enough to fit another floor.

Things seem kind of buggy. I've put something together, but I'm trying to walk in an opening and it won't work. Mesh collider. Additionally, nodes keep appearing and disappearing when I put them in the groupers. I may try without the groupers and see if it works correctly.

Edit: Yeah, significant trouble with meshes. Too bad there isn't a way to export this configuration of nodes, so it could be tried elsewhere. But I can use pictures if need be.

 

If you save something to your library then files that end with .axobj are created and these can be shared.

 

Okay, I saved it and then put that file and the meta file in a zip folder. Attached.

Hopefully Rory can help me.

 

Thanks, @EternalAmbiguity - downloading now... we can continue this on the support slack where sharing files is a little easier.

 

Just want to say, the price is kind of "high" for an asset in general, but not at all for what it can do. I've already done in a few minutes what would have taken me hours, HOURS in Blender (and I'd have hated every moment of it). And I don't think the learning curve is steep at all. The user guide does a fantastic job of introducing you to all the elements you can use to make some great and usable shapes.

 

Ditto for me.

In my case it would be HOURS in ProBuilder and cursing the whole time at its utter lack of organic/round building tools.

Talk about learning curves . . .

 

Level design through shape merging:


One of the key strengths of Archimatix is shape merging. This is a great way to try out different maze-like levels in editor realtime. Great frame rates even with complex hybrid shapes.

 

Hey - it looks amazing and I'll definitely be picking it up soon.

 

@roryo, please put a link to the asset store in your first post. I know it's sort of a mundane thing (because I can always type a search), but it's so common I reflexively go to the 1st post in a thread to find the asset link...

 

Wow - totally forgot to edit the first post to reflect the release! Thanks, @wetcircuit - just updated it.

 

I will be keeping an eye on the tool for now. But I certainly wouldn't mind all the source code being hidden if that means I get to truly test it out and see what it can and cannot do. I just don't mess around with assets at that price let alone anything over $30-50.

Judging by the commitment from the author and the constant updates we will see what the future brings.

 

I find these morphing shapes fascinating, does it do that at runtime?

 

That is insanely cool!

 

It can do this at runtime, but we need to wait for the runtime API to make it available.

 

A physics frame made with the new PhysicsJoiner node (coming in the first update!). It essentially lets you make concave mesh colliders.

 

Hey I figured a fun way to see what this thing is capable of is to request you show us what it can do in other fields.
For example I see that it can make a lot of architectural stuff but what about the very robot you use to advertise it with or a prefossors lab coat?

 

Hi @SilverStorm - Archimatix was indeed designed to help developers create architectural forms. For Robot Kyle and his lab coat, amorphous rocks, character faces and bodies, etc., the right tool would be polygonal or topological, brushed-based modelers such as ZBrush, Maya, Modo, Rhino, and Blender. The images we have posted on this forum thread (back to the beginning) are pretty representative of what you can do with AX.

 

Robot, yes…. Labcoat, no.

 

Parts of Robot Kyle could be done in Archimatix, but the chest plate and head, in particular, would have to wait for the "Loft" node that will let you create more complex curvilinear surfaces like ship hulls and car bodies. We would also probably want to wait for the Deformer nodes before really attempting to improve on Robot Kyle's fine physique!

 

This looks great, and I am definitely going to look for the money to get this! I do wish I could find some more info around the texturing aspect though. Which textures are included, what other options are there in terms of texturing, and how does the Substance support work?

 

its not yet compatible with 5.6 or?
as i get:
Assets/Archimatix/Scripts/Core/AXModel.cs(2716,102): error CS0117: `Generator' does not contain a definition for `getUpstreamSourceParameter

5.6b11

just getting 5.5 to finally use it yeah

 

This looks fantastic, is there a node to add Unity GameObjects into the graph? What I mean is it possible to use other models to fill in smaller detail that are traditionally modeled on top of a parametric model?

There are other unity assets that do this, however I imagine integrating this functionality directly into the graph will be a far greater time saver.

That said, assuming there is a robust API we could easily do this ourselves, provided we could inject our own nodes.

 

Yes there is a prefab node that you can use like any other 3D node (group, repeat, etc)

 

Hi @Arganth - welcome aboard! Still need to do a final round of 5.6 compatibility testing/modifications before its unity rolls this version out. I'm glad you are able to use Unity 5.5 for the time being. Hopefully the first official AX update at the end of this week with have 5.6 adjustments in it.

 

Hi @tosvus - thanks for you interest in Archimatix! Great question about texturing. More information coming, but, in general, tiled textures work well with parametrics because, as you adjust parameters, the mesh faces change rapidly. It is great to have this freedom and not be bound to the constraints of a texture atlas. Almost all the examples posted on this thread use tiled textures. In general, draw calls are kept to a minimum because AX is good at combining meshes where it sees there is a common material. A good example of tiled textures providing modeling freedom is with this parametric bookcase (which is included with the Archimatix package). The GridliaCastle (also included in the package) uses only 3 tiled textures and 3 draw calls.

For texture atlases, you can apply a material with an atlas texture to a parametric model and then, in the MaterialTool node, shift and scale the texture until regions in the atlas line up with the faces you would like them to. Or, you can then adjust parameters of the model interactively until the mesh lines up with the texture atlas. I will eventually add a new UV editor window, but the fitting of atlas regions to mesh faces is already possible in AX.

Texturing in AX is very fluid, since, in general, the model is fluid and can be manipulated non-destructively. This is a departure from the workflow where you model a static mesh, unwrap the face to UV space and then position or paint. While this is possible with AX, you can more the model to the atlas as well.

Hope some of that makes sense! Will provide a video tutorial as soon as possible!

 

What might we be looking forward to in this update?

 

Make sure it is easy to find on the first page posting. It should be big and bold.

Looking forward to that.

 

I am enjoying playing with this tool.

One of the issues I am running into is how to "cut" an edge out of a closed 2d shape. For instance I am modeling an indoor room. I want the floor to be a square plane, but I want to cut the 2d square I used for the floor so I can put doors in the room, I would then extrude this cut up 2d shape for the walls.

Difference on shape merge doesn't seem to do it. I could put thickness and then do a difference but I dont want the walls to have thickness (the player is only seeing the inside geometry).

Any ideas how to essentially "clip" a 2d geometry by another 2d shape leaving an open shape as opposed to a closed one?

 

Wow looks like you already thought of this issue. Difference rail is exactly what I was needing and looking for. Should of read more documentation before I jumped the gun and posted. Great product, there is a lot directions this can go.

 

AM should be fully compatbile with Unity 5.6
the error above has resulted from DunGen Demo Scene

without it everything works flawlessly