Show mesh volume in Text Viewport Overlay
The mesh volume of an object is an important metric for 3D designers. It can currently only be calculated with the 3D Printing Toolbox extension extensions.blender.org/add-ons/print3d-toolbox/ .
The volume of an object, being a core statistic of 3D design (not just 3D printing), could also be displayed in the Text Viewport Overlay in core Blender, without the need for an extension.
PROPOSAL:
The Text viewport overlay could show this information.
This could be enabled with a Mesh Info Overlay option in the 3D viewport:
Or in the Mesh Edit Mode Overlay, for an overlay directly on the 3D object:
The volume unit should then also be adjustable in the Scene Properties:
It can't just follow the Length unit, like Face Area does, because Volume can also be in liters or gallons.
1 Comment
Why is the volume an important metric for 3D design?
In 3D design, there often are limits for volume or weight. This can range from shipping cost reduction to government regulations for empty space in shipping boxes. Of course the amount of material used to create something also plays a big role in the cost of manufacturing.
But weight also plays a huge role in how objects feel in your hands. When you are designing a pen, knowing or estimating how heavy it is, can be a huge advantage. If the weight of your tungsten pen design is 1kg, you already know that it is too heavy. No need for a prototype.
An overlay can also help estimating weight distribution of your design. When the very back of your pen is as heavy as the rest of the pen, that's something that would be good to know during the design stage.
Those are some use cases where the current 3D printing extension is insufficient, because the weight of parts of an object (for weight distribution) or the empty space in a box (comparing a bigger volume with a smaller volume) is just as important to 3D Design as the total volume or total weight.
Why should this be in core Blender, not in an extension?
Knowing how big something is, is very important for any design. Blender already has overlays for how big something is in 2D (Face Area Overlay). Showing how big something is in 3D (Volume Overlay) is a logical next step for that feature, that should not rely on an extension.
I can imagine access to the mesh volume to be an interesting metric for geometry nodes. Having this metric in core Blender as a part of a new node in "Mesh > Read > Volume" would allow every geometry nodes setup to access this metric. This would indirectly give access to weight of a mesh as well, with setups that define a density for a given volume.