Control which modifier Bevel Weight applies to.
An Idea I've had for a while now is making a way to use more than one Bevel Modifier use the "Weight" limit option on a single object. Currently the Edge/Vertex Weight properties are applied to any and all Bevel Modifiers that are set to "Limit by Weight". This means you cannot use the Bevel Weight of any given edge to control one Modifier, but not others.
I was recently working on a model were I needed multiple Bevel Modifiers for different parts of the mesh. Some parts needed a wide bevel with 4-5 segments, while others had a very narrow bevel, with 2 segments. I could have manually beveled the edges within the mesh to make this work, but I also needed the non-destructive nature of modifiers to hide the bevel visibility at times.
Creating a option to select which Modifier(s) the Edge/Vertex Weight of any selected Edge is controlling would add quit a bit more flexibility to the system. This option would likely be displayed right below Bevel Weight slider in the Properties Region, in the 3D View. Obviously this could be changed as needed to fit the new UI of 2.8.
One issue to deal with is how to cleanly merge the intersection points between different Bevel Modifiers with differing numbers of segments. This might be solved the same way the SubSurf Modifier triangulates a mesh to find the average point and smoothest transition between vertices.
If anyone else has suggestions or issues this might run into, I'm happy to hear them.
6 Comments
How would you expose the option? And anyway, what would you be able to do more than using bevel modifier with vertex groups?
@lsscpp: Indeed. This is the biggest question mark with this proposal. It's not really actionable until there's some decent method for defining edges.
It may be possible if we got edge groups in addition to vertex groups.
@Jason van Gumster: The only problem I ran into with Vertex Groups is that you can't bevel two adjacent edge loops without beveling the edge ring that connects them. But as you say, Edge Groups would probably solve this, and be simpler to implement. Thanks for that idea. :)
@Jason van Gumster: Just curious, is there any reason Edge Groups aren't a thing already?
@andrewsellersm90: My guess... no one has had the time or interest to code it yet.
@Jason van Gumster: My guess... no one has had the time or interest to code it yet.