Tetgen compiled software program for use with Wings 3D

Retro Lad

Recently I have become interested in attempting to create volume cubed Voronoi style meshes. The Meshlab plugins for Wings 3D mentions importing Tetgen "ele", and "face", files. So I did a search for Tetgen and discovered that it is a small software mesh modeling program. But, but, the "blasted" program has to be compiled. The last time time I compliled a small software program was 20 year ago. I forgot how to do it, and I really don't want to go through all the complication of downloading compiler software and reading Manuals. I am too old for that stuff now.

So, if one you fellow geeks, or geekettes, has Tetgen already compiled and running can you send me a copy of it in a "zip" file. Tetgen is free, so no problem there with piracy.

Also, another free Mesh program called Gmesh exports .off files, and I found a screenshot of a cube in Wings with what looks like a Voronoi volumed interior. Any help on that would be appreciated by this pooped out old "geezer".

Thanks ahead of time, and if there are any of you out there who are already experienced creators of Voronoi volumed mesh models, or just plain surface/face meshed Voronoi models, your guidance and suggestions, would be a great help to me.

WendyLuvsCatz

Not sure what you are trying to import but Meshlab has a Voronoi filter for joining points

I don’t find it useful for point clouds as it joins the nearest points getting what you illustrated not a nice solid mesh from my scans but if that’s what you want it does it!

You could empty various subdivided  cube polygons in Carrara and export the points I guess.

WendyLuvsCatz

https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Voronoi-Pattern-with-Autodesk-Meshmixer/

is that useful?

prixat

Also have a look at voronator.com it will create a voronoi mesh from several formats.

Retro Lad

I am interested in 3 dimensional volume Vornoi modeling, not so much just surface 2D style Voronoi which is all over the place and rather easy to do,

The attached pictures illustrates what I want to create. A kind of 3 dimensional volume swiss cheese effect, or a bone marrow micro webbing effect. I can't afford any new software at the moment, so whatever can create these volume effects must be from a free source.

Taoz

Low calorie cheese?

SixDs

This would seem to be what you are looking for:

https://github.com/fangq/iso2mesh/pull/19/files

(BTW, the software being free is not what determines whether it is redistributable. However, in the case of Tetgen, the license does in fact allow re-distribution, so all is good)

Retro Lad

Thanks, but it appears I still have to compile Tetgen.

I was hoping that this exe file would load the whole program without my having to complie it. But it seems that just like in the version I downloaded from the Tetgen homepage it still requires compiling. Compiling for me is like "do-it-yourself" stuff; forget it.

I downloaded a Youtube video, for the none exe version, that gave Byzantine instructions on how to compile Tetgen. The guy sounded like an actor from and old 1950s science fiction film trapped in in an echo chamber. Weird.

Thanks anyways. No swiss cheese today.

DaremoK3

Hey FlashGarcia, I can't find any info on a MeshLab plugin for Wings3D, nor the reverse -- Could you point me in the right direction, please.

I hope this helps you out...

Tetgen 1.5 EXE binary:  https://github.com/fangq/iso2mesh/blob/master/bin/tetgen1.5.exe

Tetgen 1.5 build page (for info regarding built binary file) :  https://github.com/ufz/tetgen/tree/9c4b70d479c6f67cb9e16dbe65f81ec3b821acad

 

Artini

Looks interesting. Even Microsoft has published development paper on such topic:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Efficient-Computation-of-3D-Clipped-Voronoi-Diagram.pdf

Retro Lad

DaremoK3,

My mistake about the plugin. I meant ManifoldLab for Wings, not Meshlab. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3cwsi5kvm0jeiae/AACWabcUIFe8UObZoyOvSQ6Ca?dl=0

The reason I am making a big deal about this Voronoi stuff is because I would like to be able to construct a large CG model volume cube with what would pass for the webbing structure inside bone marrow. Why? So that I can add a medical nanobot robot moving through the CG bone marrow mesh.

I made some money years ago selling renders of various medical nanobots inside the human body, and maybe there is still enough interest for those types of renders today. Maybe, maybe not.

There must be at least a half dozen ways to create a high quality CG bone marrow mesh. Blender has a plugin called "Tissue" that may do the job, but maybe not.

WendyLuvsCatz

Houdini?

https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/sop/tetrahedralize.html

WendyLuvsCatz

And that’s something different entirely 

you could fill an object with spheres maybe particles, export the obj then open it reimported in the vertex modeller and bridge them all or something 

or use something that creates voxels

I know you tend to avoid Carrara but there are modifiers that atomise and stuff that will get you halfway there

DaremoK3

FlashGarcia:  The irony is I erased my original post, because I was referrencing Mark's (ggaliens) ManifoldLab.  Then I reread your opening post, and saw that you said MeshLab...

I am well aware of, and user of ManifoldLab (though, for only a couple of functions)-- What I meant was; Where did you get the Wings3D volumetric screenshot?

I looked through the W3D > ManifoldLab forums, and I only found one thread on 3D Voronoi.  It does not have that image, nor a discussion regarding the technique, or use of ML for that technique.  Please, if you could, point me in the direction where you discovered the use, and talk of requiring Tetgen.

 

Artini:  Thank you, for the paper.  I hadn't seen that one, and it was a good read.

 

Wendy_Carrara:  Do you know if that can replicate the volumetric voronoi through the 3D tetrahedralization?  It just seems the same old 3D (surface) tetrahedralization that Tetgen already does.  FlashGarcia stated he is not interested in surface reconstuction -- if that was the case I would have just pointed him to Netgen, or TopMod for free 3D tetrahedralization (what Tetgen does, but with GUI's/custom creations).

It looks like Mark's ML makes calls to Tetgen for the 3D tet in his volumetric voronoi, but FlashGarcia knows more about this, so I defer to him for this info...

Retro Lad

Wendy_Carrara

Houdini is way too expensive for me. My one and only desktop computer died last October and I still can't afford a new desktop replacement for it, so I am stuck using a 2012 Sony laptop. As I mentioned back in October, for those Americans in the middle, or lower middle class, economic conditions are getting worse, and worse. No one seemed to believe me then, but no one can hide from it now.

I am not avoiding Carrara. I can't do any serious rendering or modeling with my Sony laptop so using Carrara now is the equivalent of sitting in an expensive car with no gas.

About all I can do now is make 3D models using free software, and plan out new images for a time in the future when I can purchase a new desktop.

WendyLuvsCatz

Houdini has Apprentice

WendyLuvsCatz

DaremoK3 said:

 

 

 

 

 

Wendy_Carrara:  Do you know if that can replicate the volumetric voronoi through the 3D tetrahedralization?  It just seems the same old 3D (surface) tetrahedralization that Tetgen already does.  FlashGarcia stated he is not interested in surface reconstuction -- if that was the case I would have just pointed him to Netgen, or TopMod for free 3D tetrahedralization (what Tetgen does, but with GUI's/custom creations).

 

no idea just saw Houdini did this, it can break stuff up afterall etc too into chunks 3D chunks

WendyLuvsCatz

playing with Carrara modifiers you could then use one of those surface vornoi makers on the atomised mesh and do a few different wiggles and sizes

https://www.voronator.com/

I will try it when I can but froze Carrara up trying something silly in vertex room

WendyLuvsCatz

mmmm maybe if I just did one not four at once

WendyLuvsCatz

errr nup

well I tried

 

 

 

BTW Houdini almost certainly could do it but I could not do it in Houdini 

I cannot do anything in Houdini

found a less than helpful tute

 

 

mmm maybe some boolean thing using my atomised balls

wolf359

Hi Blender has a free plugin called "tissue

https://github.com/alessandro-zomparelli/tissue

Be forewarned it requires high levels of subdivision for
a smooth organic look

 

WendyLuvsCatz

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/60808/how-can-i-cut-holes-using-a-voronoi-texture

this looks volumetric

Retro Lad

DaremoK3,

Are you refering to the the model that looks like a cube of swiss cheese? That screenshot was part of a big list of voronoi images with no info on how the voronoi swiss cheese effect was created. The guy who made the "manifoldlab" plugins may know how it was made. I am frustrated too.

Wendy_Carrara,

I'll give your ideas a try using Carrara with my old laptop, but it will probably freeze up or take forever to refresh images. My 2012 Sony laptop has only 2 cores, and about 8 or 10 ram which is it's limit.

Maybe if I upload a plain volume cylinder, or volume cube, to Voronator.com my volume web mesh will be created instantly and save me all the work involved. Lol

wolf359,

I downloaded "Tissue" for Blender and will give it a try, but it may be just a surface mesh maker. Even so, I could make surface rectangle mesh screens and stack them in a row. That may work to create the illusion of a complete 3D mesh.

Retro Lad

Here are the results from my "Voronoization Online"https://www.voronator.com/ test. I uploaded a stack of 16 connected boxes from Wings in "object" format. The website took almost 5 minutes to finish, and the results are close to what I was trying to create.

Maybe if I extrude the box lines a bit the mesh would have a thicker formation. 

This is the first time I have used Carrara on this old 2012 laptop, and it seems fast enough for small experiments but not for any major rendering or large scenes.

WendyLuvsCatz

looks good but 

I reckon some Carrara trees replicated on the inside of a mesh overlapping could look pretty bonelike too.

my femur has no marrow in the middle,

I did try some with outwards normals (the bone has reversed normals for the replicator) but did not work well with replicator

but this Carrara file should give you an idea how you could use trees
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/FileUpload/26/5a073da7bf7e71acb20ce850282050.zip

if you create real instances and export an obj you could edit out the ones poking through and maybe add marrow too and trim whats in there

Artini

Not exactly what you need, but there is a free plugin for Blender - "Crack it!", already included in 2.79b.

Below are the iray renders from Daz Studio of this plugin applied to UV sphere, UV mapped and exported as .OBJ

Original object in Daz Studio

Converted to SubD and with iray material applied

and increased SubD to 3 and applied different iray material

Retro Lad

Wendy_Carrara,

Thanks, but Carrara trees are out. They would take forever to process on this very slow laptop, and that is really not the type of structure I want anyway. I tried several other box and dodec shaped objects at the Voronoi online website and they all have the same basic look.

 

Retro Lad

For those of you who are masochists, here is a Voronoi making video ......

"How to create a voronoi wireframe from a 3D model using MeshLab"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWSeZk2IqHg

WendyLuvsCatz

There is always Voxel slices and Fiji imageJ

 

I better elaborate 

MRI scans etc use voxel slices and many doctors make 3D prints using imageJ a software that can combine them into a 3D mesh

Fiji imageJ is a modified version that is easier to use that can create an obj file, I use it with Mandelbulber 3D to get obj files of fractals that I export as voxel slices

you can get lots of voxel slice images of actual bones on the internet 

Retro Lad

Wendy,

Thanks for the info on the voxel approach. I'll check out Fiji Image and what it can do.
BoneJ is a collection of skeletal biology plug-ins for ImageJ so that may help me.

Maybe 3DCoat would be useful for making volume cube Voronoi swiss cheese, and bone marrow webby, models. I monkeyed about with a trial vesion of 3DCoat last year, on my old desktop, but when it began overheating the desktop I stopped using it. Voxels are great for sculpting and making freakish 3D solid objects.

I fiddled about a bit, years ago, with MandelBulb on that old desktop but it wasn't powerful enough to handle the amount of calculations that the program requires. Great program for people with super fast home computers.

 

 

 

Retro Lad

 Wendy,

I mixed up Mandelbulber 3D with Mandelbulb3D.

Mandelbulber 3D is a program I have never used or even knew existed. I downloaded it from SourceForge, and of course Norton Anti-Virus went berserk AGAIN. I am sick of Norton seeing everything as some kind of virus terror attack. As they say a hammer sees everything as a nail. Anyway it's loaded up ready to try out. Youtube has instruction videos on how to operate it.

I downloaded MagicaVoxel and it looks interesting, but limited.

I downloaded Fiji imageJ and my first reaction was street slang language, "what the $$%& is this stuff". There is a plugin for it called BoneJ but I still have to figure out how the whole thing works.