I noticed that this post turned into a wall, sorry for that.
TL;DR;
* To create patterns more easily, as a Valentina user, I would like to simulate my creations during the design process
* To keep my workflow as lean as possible, as a Valentina user, I would like to avoid using other tools as much as possible
* To make this happen, as a programmer, I would like to help out
I've been using Valentina for a while and I see real great potential in it even though I understand that some people think it has a bit of a learning curve which I understand if you haven't used any parametric CAD software before.
But that is what I love so much about it: it's parametric! so for a well designed pattern you just need to enter your measurements and it will auto-adjust to a pattern that fits you.
I've tried out MD and I see some great power in being able to try out garments during the design process and I wish that would be possible in Valentina too, but as you know, it isn't... (at least not yet...)
From my point of view as a Valentina user I don't care too much about generating clothes for use in MH, using it in games/art, or using MH to change size of the clothes as other people here have discussed earlier in this and other threads.
Instead I would value:
* being able to trying out patterns on an body/avatar which has the same measurements as the pattern does in its parametric formulas,
* adjusting the measurements of the avatar and see so the pattern works in other sizes too, and
* keep as much of the garment information in the pattern files (stuff like seams, grain lines, button holes/positions and fold lines)
Optimally I would like to avoid switching between programs and include MakeHuman as a library in Valentina to configure an avatar from my measurements and then simulate the garment inside Valentina just like you do it in MD/optitex PDS/etc. but there seems to be two big problems with using MakeHuman like that:
*
MakeHuman isn't designed for being used as a library and
*
Model a body in MakeBody after measurements isn't really possible at the momentAnd to be realistic, I think it would be great if just this workflow would be possible:
1. Create a body in MakeHuman that approximates measurements read from a Valentina measurement file (we could scratch this step to start with and just generate a body using the normal procedure)
2. Save the body and its measurements (I doubt a true 1:1 match will be possible even if we might get close)
3. Load up Valentina and start creating the pattern based on the measurements from the 3d model and add attributes for seams, bone relative positioning, etc.
4. Export the pattern in a file blender can open (would probably need to create a new format here)
5. Simulate the garment using the body MakeHuman generated in blender
If I find any problems during simulation I could just:
6. Make adjustments to the pattern in Valentina
7. Goto step number 3
And when I feel I'm done I could just chose to load my original measurements, print, and sew it (or in your case add the resulting clothes into the MakeHuman library/use it in a game or movie)
I've discussed this a bit with some people over at the Valentina community and I've poked around in- and started to commit to the Valentina's code base so I have a feeling of what needs to be done there to get this thing started.
But I haven't looked at MakeHuman's code base yet, n fact I've just cloned it, but the plan is to start reading up on the codebase and start poking around in the next couple of days.
I would like to hear what you think of the workflow above though. Does it make sense to you and do you have any ideas how to improve it? (I would like to avoid solving the wrong problem ^^)
And I think it would be good to discuss how to implement step 2 with people who know how MakeHuman works internally.
From testing out MakeHuman I get the feeling that I either need to create a new mesh or modify the mesh so it has edge loops on the places that needs to be measured, or figure out another way of measuring the 3d model.
I have a bad feeling about the first approach though.
Some measurements are tricky as it measures extreme points (B3,B5,G46), follows the body just for a while (H1, M2), or depends heavily on pose (L1,2,3,4 vs L5,6,7,14 and M5 vs M10)
So I think we need to measure using another approach, some may work just by measure once, change pose, and measure again while others might need to be calculated by measuring the intersection between the body and planes (and the planes transformations might depend on extreme points for a specific area)
Or do you guys think? or do you have any other interesting ideas on how to solve this problem?
