A convert mesh modifier
You put this onto a target mesh and similar to the modifier that copies mesh data, this one will copy / convert a selected spline or metaball into a mesh. This is useful for doing procedural stuff like displacement on a curve without having to build a rather complex animation nodes setup. It would also be nice if you could transfer the curves UVs aswell
9 Comments
I can see the usefulness of this for procedural stuff ! just like in max , there is a modifier for editing the mesh and apply further procedural operations on it.. but... i think the everything nodes project will cover that and much more !!
Technically, if you're adding a modifier to a non-mesh object, you're already implicitly converting it into a mesh. What more, specifically, are you interested in happening?
* @Jason van Gumster * In this specific example I needed vertex groups and the hook modifier on a spline
* @alf * Hook modifier is already possible. But even in meshes with modifiers, you can't select and assign vertex groups to vertices in the derived mesh... so that ask is much bigger than your original proposal might indicate.
I like the idea, if for no other reason than that some modifiers are unavailable for other object types. Also, using modifiers on metaballs would be awesome.
Perhaps modifiers that give you the option of using a vertex group could have that section greyed-out?
* @Jason van Gumster * well my original suggestion was literally a modifier that converts the spline to a mesh
* @alf * But my point is that all modifiers convert to mesh... but none of them give raw access to the vertices in the derived mesh. To support that, you'd need an edit mesh modifier... and from what I understand, that's a non-trivial ask.
* @Jason van Gumster * no, there's literally a Blender operator that already does that and there is literally another modifier that already lets you copy the complete mesh data from one object to another
* @alf * We'll have to leave it there. Feel free to look at the code. What you're asking for is not quite as simple as what you're describing. It's not impossible... but it's not easy, either.