CubeSurfer Addon

The CubeSurfer Addon allows us to remesh a particle system realtime. While we can get similar effects by using a Metaball, we get now the possibility to add modifiers. At the moment the cubesurfer addon is working for Blender 2.8, not 2.81. Per November 4 we see a comment here from Poipt that there is an update. (The Cubersurfer Addon didn’t fill all the faces, and now it does).

Mind that when we render animation, it doesn’t update cubesurfer. Meaning the animation is freezing. So we can use it for modelling purpose for now or for experiments.

The CubeSurfer Addon was originally written by Pyroevil, and it is now ported over to Blender 2.8. Watch the video below about how to get around the current bug and how to install the addon.

How the CubeSurfer Addon works at the moment

CubeSurfer Addon for Blender 2.8

For those who don’t have access to the video, here some notes. Make first a particle system as you used to do. For example add an Ico-sphere to the scene and duplicate it. Subdivide the first IcoSphere and make a particle system on it. In the particle settings you select, under the render section, the second IcoSphere as render object.

Then add an IsoSurface to the scene. Select the IsoSurface in the Outliner, and go to the properties panel > Object properties. Scroll down until you see the CubeSurfer panel. Click the plus-sign, and under object you select the IcoSphere. And under Particle System the Particle system the IcoSphere has. Play the time line and you might see some geometrie popping up every now and then. That is a good sign, but you have to adjust the Voxel Size and the Particles Size Multiplier.

How to install the CubeSurfer addon?

This could be tricky (latest version): You need to end up with a folder in the blender addons folder named: cubesurfer. In the folder cubesurfer you need to see __init__.py and mciso.pyd. To get that, you need to extract the .zip file, and in there is another .zip file that need to be extracted. So then make a folder in your blender addons location, make a folder and name in cubesurfer, place the two files in there. Restart Blender, go to the preferences and enable Cubesufer.

The Download
Update: here is the latest version that fills all the faces: https://gofile.io/?c=sEWqb3
You can download the older version that shows missing faces: CubeSurfer addon on Github. Then in Blender you go to Edit > Preferences > Addons and press the Install button. Navigate to the .zip file and press Install. In case you get the error when activating the addon, close Blender, change the folder name as describe here above. Then restart Blender and activate the addon again. In case there is still a problem it could be that you need a C++ distributable. For more information about it check: http://pyroevil.com/cubesurfer-addon-download/


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15 thoughts on “CubeSurfer Addon

    • November 4, 2019 at 1:59 am
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      Thanks, I updated the info, and got it to work in Blender 2.8. In Blender 2.81 it installed but didn’t show op in the UI.

      Reply
      • November 4, 2019 at 3:28 am
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        That’s strange, it worked perfectly for me on 2.8.

        Reply
        • November 4, 2019 at 3:30 am
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          Also my version doesn’t fix the faces issue, it fixed a bug for me where it wouldn’t install. Sorry, I should have clarified. It would show an error saying “module not found: cubesurfer” or something like that.

          Reply
  • November 22, 2019 at 6:42 pm
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    The addon doesn’t work for animations unfortunately. It plays normally in the viewport, but when rendering it doesn’t calculate the rest of the animation, just freezes the particle at the inicial frame.

    Reply
    • December 2, 2019 at 11:26 pm
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      I have the same issue of the addon not working for animations. Does anybody know a solution for this? I need it badly for a project!

      Reply
      • December 2, 2019 at 11:38 pm
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        Hi, I will update the post that the cubesurfer is not updating when you render. I knew that, but didn’t bother about it so far because I use it for organic modelling. Maybe we can fill in a bugtracker, but I am afraid I am running out of time to do that.

        Reply
  • March 5, 2020 at 6:40 am
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    Hey, So I found this after having issues caused by metaballs not having modifiers. This fixes that and frankly works brilliantly! It’s exactly what I was desperately looking for! Then I went to render my animation and found the bug. It updates in viewport but not when rendering animation! Oh boy that was tough. I hand rendered manually, which was NOT fun at all. Can someone PLEASE fix this amazing addon? It really is brilliant! For the motion graphics work I do it would be invaluable. Thanks

    Reply
  • March 18, 2020 at 8:09 am
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    How do i add the an item to the isosurface via a script? The “+” button says “undocumented operator” but i guess there must be a way to add through code? Anybody help?

    Reply
  • August 8, 2021 at 12:37 am
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    The link – the new one given by ‘New Media Supply’ – is to an empty folder now.
    And Pyroevil’s website is gone.

    Is there anywhere at all online where I can download the current version of this?

    Reply
  • June 5, 2022 at 4:56 pm
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    is there gonna be any updates for blender 3.1?

    Reply

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