This script will draw a gray scale wireframe of an .obj file of your choice on to your active layer.
So have a black-filled layer selected, and use this script to draw a wireframe on to that layer.
The script will be available under File -> Open Object file (install this python into your gimp's plug-ins folder)
see #2 post for new version with some bugs fixed.

Options you can change look like below

bz distance seems to distort your perception (you can read it about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_projection scroll down till you see a diagram of an eye and BZ is distance from your eye to the monitor). I'd just leave it as default a high number to not distort anything.

Here's a sample .obj file (Suzanne the monkey from blender, or you can search on the internet for others, or maybe create your own in blender although if you use blender i don't see the point of this plug-in hence the "just for fun" part)


here's a sample of what the script produces (with scale 160 of monkey.obj)


with scale of 320 of monkey.obj

found some bugs and fixed it.
here's the updated version and corrected the miss-spelling of obj instead of ojb (so delete the other version)
latest version found ->here<-

here's a teapot.obj (scale:2, rotateX:180, rotateY:35)


and another angle of Suzanne

Doesn't show up under file, or anywhere else that I can see.

Down at the bottom it says "Open Object File"

Sort of works, a quick test, PClinuxOS, Gimp 2.8.10, Art of Illusion v3

You do need a canvas open for the menu item.

Two objects no problem, http://i.imgur.com/xY8NowY.jpg

Add a cylinder and it crashes, http://i.imgur.com/srcmwZa.jpg

but it is the cylinder, if I replace that with a elongated 'cube' then it renders ok.

As title, just for fun but interesting.

Oh duh, didn't even see it there, haha. Thanks.

It is conventional for menu commands that result in interactive dialogs to include ellipses: "Open Object File..."

Nitpicking a bit further, for consistency with the grammatical approach taken with the popup blurbs of the other GIMP commands (as well as most of the menu commands themselves), your blurb should describe what running the command will do, not what running the command does -- i.e., "Open an obj file", not "Opens an obj file".

Can you attached your .obj file zipped up so i can debug it and see why it crashes.

I will add the "..." and will make it say "Open an obj file". Thank you for our suggestions.

this version is a little faster, it only draws an edge once instead of multple times (since 2 faces can share an edge).
lastest version ->here<-

Two files, as a comparison. One with a cylinder (crashes here) and one without (renders ok).

I did dig up a blender cylinder from the web and that crashed as well.

edit: still have that one, give it a try.

rich2005, try this version (i've changed it so that i recognizes different types of faces' definitions)

an even more updated version of this plug-in: ->here<-

May try this one later trandoductin; looks cool for importing wireframes of Sculpture Generator output.

That is working with cylinders now.

I thought I would be a bit more ambitious and try some extruded text. Took some time to render but it got there.

However, I need to do some work on the orientation.



All good fun, thanks

looks better if you try it on black background because i draw it with gray shades fades to white where white is the closest edges and and dark gray are further edges.

I looked up Sculpture Generator and gave it a try. It exports to .stl file. So i used an converter (http://www.greentoken.de/onlineconv/).

I found that the .obj file converted had duplication of vertices and faces defined. So I changed the plug-in to find unique vertices and unique edges only.

With the below test/sample (from 12601 vertices down to 2099 unique vertices, from 12600 edges down to 6300 unique edges)
so it reduces the workload to call gimp_pencil so not as slow (still slow since there's a lot of edges to draw)



Here's the updated version of the plug-in that finds unique vertices and edges only.


Go ->here<- for later version (auto-scale version)

Oh great now you have me breaking out Sculpture Gen again.
Lyle will know what i mean.

Nice filter by the way.

break it out

Already have. Notice the change in the interface