TopoGun 是一套重建表面 ( Resurfacing ) 與烘焙紋理貼圖 ( Maps baking ) 的軟體。
可以幫助你重新製作 3D 模型的布線,而模型細節不會遺失,因為重新拓撲的過程中製作的所有點線面都是吸附在你原有模型的表面上的。當你拓撲完成時,一個全新的由你控制布線結構的 3D 模型就誕生。3D模型拓撲功能在遊戲,影視項目中經常被用到。目前常用的3D模型軟體擁有這項模型拓撲功能的還有 TopoGun 是一套獨立的重建面,烘焙貼圖的軟體。他的重建多邊形功能可以幫助你 重新製作你 3D 模型的拓撲線,貼圖烘焙功能還可以將高模上的訊息烘焙成各種貼 圖,並應用於你重新製作的多邊形上。
TopoGun是一個獨立的重建表面鋪、烘焙紋理貼圖應用程式。 TopoGun中的重建表面功能將幫助您修改和/或重新創建數字3D模型的邊緣流。烘焙紋理貼圖功能將幫助您從高分辨率3D模型中烘焙各種類型的紋理貼圖,然後將其應用到您新創建的優化網格中。這些紋理貼圖包含的信息將幫助您恢復原始高分辨率網格的外觀和特徵。
在今天的3D圖形中,高質量的3D模型由於其本質,通常擁有數百萬個多邊形。這是因為當今的大多數3D模型都是基於真實世界的掃描模型創建的,或者是使用基於筆刷的3D雕刻應用程序創建的數字雕塑。為了更好地服務於他們的目的,三維模型應該有一個更低的polycount,必須提供一個應得的處理方便。除此之外,他們需要具有特定的邊緣流動才能更容易地進行動畫或進一步細化。
現在很多藝術家使用基於筆刷的雕刻應用將他們的概念創建為3D模型。他們通常從基本的原始對象,如立方體開始。在某一時刻,他們需要重新修改模型的拓撲結構。
Portability
TopoGun is a standalone application available for Windows, OS X, and Linux operating systems. TopoGun licenses are cross-platform and after buying one, TopoGun can be installed on any of these operating systems.
Friendly Interface
TopoGun supports several widespread viewport navigation models and there's a great chance you'll get used to it quickly.
The interface is simple, straightforward and very customizable, giving you the freedom to modify it to fit your needs.
You can add/delete interface elements and/or rearrange them easily. In TopoGun, the buttons are treated just like shortcut icons, so you can move them around, even place them on the viewport area. You can add a button for just about any menu item, to have it in hand for a much quicker later access.
You can also redefine keyboard shortcuts for any command and option in TopoGun.
Dedicated Topology Tools
Unlike any other 3D packages, TopoGun is a specialized standalone application, aimed for retopology in the first place. Each TopoGun tool is designed for topology creating and editing.
The newly created geometry wraps around the highres model in realtime. When you move the retopologized mesh components around, they will stick to the highres mesh's surface.
Friendly File Formats
TopoGun uses the .obj file format which is becoming more and more of a standard in today's 3D graphics. TopoGun's own file format is XML based and very easy to parse. Furthermore, TopoGun also supports the .ply file format (including per-vertex color information), used extensively in the 3D scanning industry.
Multithreading
TopoGun's baking and subdivision modules are fully multithreaded and up to 256 CPU cores are supported.
Native 32 and 64 Bit Executable
TopoGun is available in 32 and 64 bit executable code. The 64 bit version can access and use much more memory, thus increasing performance and capabilities.
Multimillion 3D Meshes
TopoGun can handle extremely highres 3D data. The polycount limit is set by the available RAM on your system. It uses special rendering techniques to achieve unparalleled highres mesh rendering framerates.
One Pass Maps Baking
One great feature TopoGun has is one pass maps baking. Instead of baking one map at a time as most of the baking engines do, the types of maps you select are baked in a single pass, thus saving you precious time.
Hardware Ambient Occlusion
TopoGun uses the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) for baking hardware ambient occlusion maps. The speed that GPU computing and multithreading offers is much greater than the ambient occlusion baking methods used by today's existing software.
32 Bit Floating Point Maps Output
TopoGun's maps baking module can export 32 bit floating point .tiff displacement maps and ambient occlusion maps. The advantage of using 32 bit floating point displacement maps are that you don't have to worry about displacement maps parameters such as "displacement amount" and "offset", because the displacement values within the displacement map are real worldspace displacement values.
Using the displacement map, as is, in your rendering engine will lead to perfect results, without ever having to tweak any displacement parameters. Another advantage of 32 bit floating point maps are that you can modify them without the fear of getting dithering artifacts, (the dynamic range a 32 bit floating point image has is huge compared to the dynamic range of a regular 8 bit image).
Subdivision Surfaces Support
TopoGun can help you recover all the details the original mesh has, by using the Subdivision feature.
Use it to create a highresh version of your digital sculpts, once you've created a lowpoly retopology. You can use an arbitrary starting topology to create a quick mock-up sculpt and once you're happy with the overall form, bring it to TopoGun, create a lowpoly version and have the Subdivision do it's magic.
Another example where the Subdivision feature can be used is when you need all the details from a 3D scanned model.
It is convenient to create a lowpoly model to have it animated and UV mapped, but you may also need the highpoly subdivided version, with all the details intact, to clean it up or add new features, in a digital sculpting application.
A highres subdivided mesh is created, (starting from the retopologized model), and is "wrapped" on the original mesh's surface in order to recover all the fine details.
Furthermore, the subdivided mesh can be used to fully recover the intermediate subdivision levels for later use within applications like ZBrush or Mudbox.
The Morpher Feature
Morpher is an extension which helps you bounce the modified reference mesh back to the scene geometry.
This way you can basically review the highpoly sculpting process after the lowpoly retopologized version was created.
It's very useful for those situations when the artist gets feedback for a highres sculpt, but has already created a lowpoly retopology. The retopology proces becomes more linear, since he can later transfer the modifications done to the sculpt back on the retopologized lowpoly mesh.
If a lowpoly version is already available too and even if an animation rig was created for it, adapting the vertices positions to reflect the changes on the original sculpture is now possible, with the Morpher feature.
The Morpher can also be used for creating lowpoly versions of digitally sculpted blendshapes or for posing lowpoly geometries like their corresponding highpoly references.
TopoGun is a standalone application available for Windows, OS X, and Linux operating systems. TopoGun licenses are cross-platform and after buying one, TopoGun can be installed on any of these operating systems.
Native 32 and 64 Bit Executable
TopoGun is available in 32 and 64 bit executable code. The 64 bit version can access and use much more memory, thus increasing performance and capabilities.
In order to run and use TopoGun, you should have the following minimum system configuration:
- Microsoft ® Windows ® XP, Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.4, Linux CentOS 5.6, Fedora 14, openSUSE 11, Ubuntu 11 or later operating system;
- 1000 Mhz Intel ® Pentium ® III processor (or equivalent) or later;
- 512 MB RAM (2 GB recommended);
- 1024X768 32 bit display (1600X1200 recommended);
- 200 MB available disk space;
- Recent OpenGL ® 2.0 enabled graphics card (at least Nvidia ® GeForce ® 6600, or equivalent), with the latest drivers installed;
- A network adapter (it should provide a valid MAC address).
Single
A SINGLE license allows you to run one instance of TopoGun at a time. The license is bound to one person and can only be active on an unique computer at a time. In order to move it to another computer, you should deactivate it on the computer it was previously installed and activate it on the other computer.
A SINGLE license can be activated Offline or Online.
Note that if you choose one activation method, you won't be able to switch to the other one.
If you want to move an Online activated license to another computer, you first need to return it to the server from here, before reactivating it on the new machine.
Floating
A FLOATING license allows you to run a limited number of TopoGun instances within an unique computer network (usually a LAN). You are not allowed to use the same license on more than one network. This kind of licensing model is useful for big studios, where there will be more than one person using TopoGun at the same time. Instead of buying a FLOATING license for each computer, you could buy several floating licenses for your network, usually less than the number of computers within the network.
FLOATING licenses are managed and installed on one computer within the network (the server). The server should have the TopoGun License Server or TopoGun License Service application installed, with at least one valid FLOATINGlicense.
In case your server runs on Windows operating system, TopoGun License Service is recommended over the TopoGun License Server.