questions about modelling deformations and cloth

[WhiteRabbitObj]

I would guess your best bet would be to go into polgyon mode on each of the Subdivisions surfaces, then deleted history on each and delete the subd surface, keeping the poly-cage. Then smooth that and apply a default shader so its not just a wireframe. I have done that before when subd's just ended up being too slow. I suspect actually using Convert->Subd to Poly will not give you the same amount of vertices necessarily or may at least not number then the same and then your deformations might be screwy. It's a bad situation. Make sure you backup before trying anything!

[gunslingerblack]

yeah i think im gonna try a simple blendshape and turn it into polys too and see what happens. if not i dont even know what i might do maybe i'll just work in polys from now on.

[WhiteRabbitObj]

I don't know why anyone works with SubDs in Maya at this point. They're so slow and buggy. Sure, they look fantastic but so do polygons and I have found that a heavy poly model still renders faster than even a light SubD model! :( I hope they catch up with 3DSMax soon since I hear, though I haven't used it, that 3DSMax SubDs are incredible.

[gunslingerblack]

so then let me ask your opinion about animation because im not familiar with animating in heavy polygon models, being a former lightwave user subd's is all i used, if i animate the lo res model first and then properly set the goal weights and whatnot will the model still deform correctly or will i have to use lattices and such to deform the body correctly ie. the crease on the arm inbetween the bicep and the forearm when the arm is bent. also im assuming since i never got to see any wires that that's how they did final fantasy, with polygonal meshes.

[WhiteRabbitObj]

I use the script called CPS, or Connect PolyShape. It's a fantastic script which is similar to the built in proxy smooth function in Maya. It allows you to work with a base cage and it is automatically updated to a high resolution smoothed version. You can tell the script how many subdivisions to make and the continuity of the smooth, so you can take a very blocky base model and up the poly counts as high as you want it. Using CPS, you can bind the base and animate with that, then switch on your smooth layer for rendering and voila, high res model, little work. As for lattices, I prefer rigid binding using lattices and flexors but you do not need any of that, you can use soft bind and paint your weights. You can do this on the base model or on the higher res, whichever is easiest for you I believe.

[gunslingerblack]

ooohhhh are there any tutorials for that procedure using cps? and im gonna look for that plugin is there an official site, ive heard of it before but i dont think ive gotten it yet.

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