TopoGun News

Make sure you check out the new TopoGun tutorials released by Digital-Tutors, these are highly recommended:

Topology Tools in TopoGun 2.0

TopoGun: How to Get Started Learning Path

We're happy to announce you that TopoGun 2 is now available. You can download it from the Download section.

TopoGun 2 and TopoGun License Server are also available for Linux and have been tested on CentOS 5.6, Fedora 14 and Ubuntu 11.

The upgrade from TopoGun 1.xx to TopoGun 2.00 is FREE OF CHARGE for existing customers.

If you already have a TopoGun 1.xx license, you can activate and use TopoGun 2 by using your existing licensing details.

What's new

1. Improved user interface.
2. TopoGun and TopoGun License Server are now available for the Linux operating system.
3. The Symmetry has been rewritten and it works with all the tools. You can create custom Symmetry Planes and Symmetry Warps, so you can use symmetry on arbitrary rotated objects or on objects with slightly asymmetrical features
4. The Morpher extension helps you modify the reference mesh and have the modifications bounced back to the scene geometry. This way you can basically review the highpoly sculpting process after the lowpoly retopologized version was created. The Morpher can also be used for creating lowpoly versions of digitally sculpted blendshapes or for posing lowpoly geometries like their corresponding highpoly references.
5. The Draw tool has been upgraded, it supports two new line types, the Section lines and the Sweep lines, which help you retopologize cylindrical parts of the reference mesh.
6. The new Tubes tool also helps you retopologize cylindrical parts of the reference mesh, by using a slightly different approach.
7. The Brush tool: modify vertices with industry standard brushes and tablet pressure sensitivity support.
8. The Extrude tool allows for border edges extrusions.
9. Double clicking on a border edge in SimpleEdit mode selects the entire border edge loop.
10. File history: access the latest opened/saved scenes from within the File menu.
11. Scene crash recovery makes it impossible to lose any scene data, due to unexpected software errors.
12. Merge Scene: now you can merge polygon data into an existing scene, from external files.
13. To Full Shell command helps selecting the current geometry shell, including its vertices, edges and polygons.
14. The Spin Edges command.
15. Select Path now works on edges too.
16. Online activated license can now be returned to the server via the website (from the Return License page).
17. The Interactive Help System shows an information box in the viewport, for each interface element you move the mouse cursor over.

Digital-Tutors released two new TopoGun online training courses:

Getting Started with TopoGun  and Creating Game Vehicles in Maya and TopoGun.

Digital-Tutors released a new highly recommended online training course, Creating Game Characters with ZBrush and TopoGun.

"In this course we're going to use ZBrush and TopoGun to convert a very high resolution female hero character into a lower resolution game-type model. Sculpting applications like ZBrush are great for creating extremely detailed models, complete with surface texture and color. But to be able to rig, animate, or integrate these models into a game engine, we first have to convert the model to a much lower resolution. TopoGun is a great tool for taking our detailed meshes and allowing us to very intuitively redraw this new topology. In addition, it will allow us to project all of the mesh's detail onto maps. In this way we can use a lower resolution version of the model, while it still appears very detailed. We will start by preparing and exporting our dense meshes from ZBrush and then bring those into TopoGun as references. We'll use several tools in TopoGun to literally draw new base geometry right onto the high resolution meshes. We'll look at several of the tools available and how we can manipulate and change topology once it's been created. Once the topology is done, we'll create UVs for the new pieces and then generate maps for the detail and color information. Once we're done you'll have created your own game-type character from a very dense sculpt and you'll have the knowledge you need to repeat the process on your own creations."

TideArt interviewed Cristi Prefac, the creator of TopoGun. You can read the interview here.

EZ launched a Topogun Full Learning Course. It contains over 4 hours of videos.

You can purchase it from here: http://3d-model-designer-warehouse.com/dlg/cart/index.php?action=desc&pn=43&c=14&page=

Max Underground published a review on TopoGun 2.0 BETA1.

You can read it here: http://www.maxunderground.com/topogun_20_review .

We're excited to announce that TopoGun for OS X was released today. Grab the install kit from the download section and if you like it, you can buy it from our online store.

If you already have a TopoGun license (either used with the Windows build or with TopoGun for OS X beta), you shouldn't buy another one, as your old license works with TopoGun for OS X too.

Remember you should return the license to the server before uninstalling any previous version, in case you're using the Online activation mode. If you're using the Offline activation mode and used the license with TopoGun beta for OS X, write down your license activation data for future use.

We'd like to thank everybody who contributed to betatesting TopoGun and helped this project come alive.

TopoGun 1.06 is now available for download. This is a free of charge upgrade for existing customers.

Remember that you have to uninstall any previous version of TopoGun and TopoGun License Server before installing the new version.

If you're using the Online activation model, you should return the license to the server, prior to uninstalling. In case you're using the Offline activation model, remember to write down your license activation details.

What's new:

1. Numerous bugfixes.
2. Improved user interface.
3. The floating licensing server is now available as a Windows service too (TopoGun License Service), so there is no more need to run the server under a logged-in account.
4. Right clicking when the Bridge tool is active switches to the SimpleEdit tool.
5. Vertex Conforming is now fully multithreaded, using up to 256 CPU cores.
6. Border Vertices and Border Edges on the fly calculus.
7. The Show Borders option in the Options menu, to enable/disable border vertices and edges display. The border vertices and edges display characteristics can be tweaked in the Preferences window.
8. Antialising for scene elements rendering. This option can be enabled/disabled in the Preferences window.
9. There are no more Main or Secondary vertices and edges, the rendering pipeline and interface have been simplified.
10. The Preferences window Colors tab was updated, in order to reflect the changes.
11. The Steady Mouse feature allows you to create smooth mouse paths, with any tool you're using. The option can be enabled/disabled in the Options menu. Currently, its only real use is in conjunction with the Draw tool, in order to help you draw smooth lines. The Steady Mouse Radius can be modified in the Preferences window.
12. The Reject Inner Faces feature helps in removing unwanted faces that are created in the interior of three or four sided tube-like meshes. The option can be enabled/disabled in the Options menu.
13. Implemented a keepalive like command in TopoGun,  TopoGun License Service and TopoGun License Server, in order to keep connections alive and not have them lost on timeout by some routers.

The CGSociety Challenge XXV - B-Movie has started and we are proud to announce that we are one of the challenge sponsors.

TopoGun 1.05 was released today. Get the install kit from the DOWNLOAD section.
Very important!!! Uninstall any previous version of TopoGun before proceeding to install TopoGun 1.05.
Those who have a Nodelocked license can use their activation codes in TopoGun 1.05 too. The Nodelocked licensing model is now called "Offline".
The Floating licensing model remains the same in TopoGun 1.05.
The upgrade is free of charge for existing customers.
If you own a Nodelocked license, you are able to switch to the Online activation model, free of charge (if you bought the Nodelocked license before September 28). Contact our Support department in order to make the switch. You must use the same email address you used when you purchased TopoGun and also provide us your name and serial number, in order to make the switch.

Changelog:

• TopoGun and TopoGun License Server now work fine under limited accounts on Vista. The installer should be launched from the user account you want to install TopoGun for. You should NOT run the installer under Admin rights, although you will be asked later for an Admin password. Also, after installation, TopoGun should not be run under Admin rights either. Remember that TopoGun will be available only from the user account it was installed for;
• Online licensing model. For SINGLE licenses, the user is able to take his license anywhere and activate it if he has an Internet connection, by using the Online activation method (the single user license is portable);
• Fixed alot of bugs;
• Autosave feature: You can always recover the scene prior to the crash moment. The scene is automatically saved in the same folder as the original scene, using the same file name, except the extension, which is .bak. All you have to do is change the extension from .bak to .tgs and load the file as a normal scene;
• Bridge tool improved rendering;
• Improved startup time;
• You can use ZBrush 3.5 polypainted reference meshes in TopoGun. Make sure you check the Colorize option before exporting the tool from ZBrush as a reference mesh (.obj). You'll be able to visualize the vertex colors and also bake them into textures, by using the Bake TopoGun feature.

 

You can now follow TopoGun's development much closer and stay tuned to any news and updates. Click HERE to access TopoGun on Twitter.

TopoGun 1.0 License Server is now available for download. Go to the Download section in order to get it.

You should download and install TopoGun 1.0 License Server in case you choose the FLOATING licensing method.

TopoGun 1.0 for Windows 64 bit is now available for download. Go to the Download section in order to get it.

TopoGun 1.0 for Windows 32 bit is now available for download. Go to the Download section in order to get it.