So you are ready to start implementing your own cloud mesh optimization solution, well you’re in luck since this guide will show you how to do that exactly.
Before we start you are going to need couple of dependencies, make sure you have the following installed and configured,
To keep this guide simple i wont go into the details of installing each of these solutions, you can find many tutorials around the web to help you install and configure them correctly.
Now once you have all the services installed start by downloading / cloning the application from GitHub repository.
GitHub Link:
[Open Source] Cloud 3D Mesh Optimization System
We are now going to guide you through the required steps to get the application up and running ….
Now that you have that in place navigate to the folder and start the visual studio solution, you can find the solution file in the directory structure below,
\CloudDecimationSystem\WebApplication\WebApplication.sln
Then start the application by pressing F5 inside visual studio,
You should now get the welcome screen.
Now Before we start uploading any files you need to ensure that the file path for blender and python are already configured correctly to do that start a new command line window and type the command below,
blender --version
you should expect similar output to the image below,
Next we will do python now do the same thing and type the command below,
python --version
you should expect similar output to the image below,
Last thing to do is to check if unity has been configured to work correctly from the command line type the command below,
unity
This should start unity engine.
If you got command not recognized or something similar this means your environment path variables hasn’t been setup correctly then you would need to following the guides below to get them working,
Windows Setting up Environment Variable
Linux Setting up Environment Variable
Simply you need to point the command line or bash to know where your dependency files are and be able to execute them properly the guidelines above are general,
For example the default path for unity is
C:\Unity-V-5.4.1\Editor
For Blender
C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender
Once you get everything up and running its time to run the unity application and test the solution,
Now start unity engine and navigate to your GitHub clone folder only this time open this directory instead
\Cloud-Mesh-Optimization-System\Source\Unity Client Showcase Application\Architecture Showcase
Once the project is loaded on the project panel navigate to asset->scene and double click on Scene1
Now start unity and lets upload a new mesh file and review the decimation result,
Back to visual studio run the website again and upload your mesh, once uploaded you should be able to see the decimation results (Note if all the numbers show 0 this means the operation has failed and there is something wrong with your mesh or file, try to import it in blender manually and fix the issue)
Please note : currently mesh issues and error handling are still work in progress so you might need to ensure that all your meshes are readable by blender.
So you have successfully uploaded a new mesh and its working perfectly you should see something similar to the image below,
Now keep the web application running and start unity project you should see the new mesh loaded with the new optimized resolution,
Please note : this is a showcase for demonstration purposes only you will need to change some code to get it to work with your use case.
That’s it, your new solution is up and running feel free to contact me if you had any issues.
Have fun optimizing high poly meshes and streaming them directly to unity.