SDF polish and faster triangulation

Polygonjs 2.0.59 is out. Last week’s release came with SDF modeling nodes, and this one adds more, and makes them faster.

New SDF nodes:

• geo/SDFTwist and geo/SDFBend deform an input field.
• geo/SDFPolarRepeat allows duplicating in a ring pattern, great for gears.
• geo/SDFThread is a polynode (a node made of nodes) giving you a recipe to create threads.
• geo/SDFCreate now takes a curve, so a line becomes a tube.
• geo/SDFCreate can also cache its bake to disk, so a heavy mesh is voxelized once instead of on every scene open.
• geo/SDFBuilder can modify an input field. You can use it for simple updates like adding a pattern or to completely distort the input.

geo/SDFRound is now geo/SDFOffset, which is a better name for what it does.

Triangulation is much faster. In order to 3D print or export an SDF, it needs to be triangulated. The first version of geo/SDFTriangulate was a tad slow. It now samples the field on the GPU in the desktop app.

New SDF examples:

• A Bolt & Nut with SDF: a threaded rod and the nut it turns in.
• Twisting an SDF About an Axis: a prism spiraled into a column by one node.
• Arraying an SDF Around an Axis: a simple but very common gear.
• A Tube Along a 3D Curve: a line bent into a helix, and given a thickness.
• Wrapping Text Around a Cylinder: text engraved around a cylinder.
• Displacing a Field With Noise: a sphere with a pattern.
• Caching an SDF Bake: a mesh voxelized into a field, with the bake cached so it only runs once.

I am now preparing several videos about 3D printing with those tools. Subscribe on YouTube if you want them as they land.

As always, tell me what you build, and what is missing. Reply to this email, or say hello in the Discord, Bluesky or Twitter.

Gui