in 3dsmax, opposite of meshsmooth?

[Joel Hooks]

Multi-Res modifier works pretty well, the optimize modifier works less so.

[Chris]

You could also try putting a 'mesh select' at the top of the stack, that should speed your viewport up a bit - if your working on an editable poly, or meshsmoothed object...

[ghengisjim]

When you are editing a mesh, isnt there a way to combine 2 vertices? This would help a ton as I have a bunch that I just put right next to each other, and look like they are touching just about.

Thanks

Wow, Another important question i thought of is:

Is there a way to count how many polygons are on an object that you have made?

What would be an acceptable number of polygons for in game modeling of a tank, where the maximum number of tanks on the screen at any time is 8...?

[ghengisjim]

OK I am getting an error message when I try to do the Multi-Res modifier. Is this possibly because my object (the tank wheel within the tracks) is not an editable mesh?

The message says:
Multiple Mesh Modification not Supported.
Please remove this application of the MultiRes modifier from the stack.


humm, the wheel shouldnt be hard to redo though.. maybe all those copied wheels were what was making it go so slow in the first place.

The multi-res and then optimize modifyers worked GREAT on my tank body though, I cut the polys by a third and it still looks the same as it did before. COOL!!!

[Wiro]

Try the plugin Polychop. It's free and the advantage is that it keeps mapping information unlike Optimize. Plus it does a better work overall.

You have lots and lots of stray vertices? GET RID OF THEM! Select all the verts of your model, set weld treshold to 0.001 or any small number and Weld Selected. If your verts are too far apart, increase the treshold. Lone verts = bad!

Go through your model manually. Polychop may work but you might lose detail where you don't want to. Go through each and every edge and poly you dont need and get rid of them. It pays off to keep that in mind WHILE you're modelling.

Also you can enable meshsmooth ONLY to show during render. There's a checkbox for that in the meshsmooth modifier.

Wiro

[hrydek]

To combine to verts in editable mesh use target weld - only in MAX4 and higher.

Keep up with rendering.

[ghengisjim]

hrydrek, what do you mean, keep up with rendering? Do you guys want to see some screenshots of what i have got? Or do you mean just to occasionally render your object to make sure you havnt gotten rid of faces or something. I have found that this is a problem---sometimes the object appears 'warped' in one way or another after making a seemingly inconspicuous change to the model.

Anyways, I would really like to share some of my work with you guys, does anyone have a suggestion for a free and easy to use web hosting service?

[Martijn Wijmer]

I assume you have problems with playback during animation. Why don't you make a lighter version of your model (quick boxmodel reference) and then use that as a x-ref?

[2D3DGoddess]

You can weld vertese together by going to the edit mesh modifier and go down to weld.. you can weld targeted vertese or weld selected vertese... personally I prefer to weld targeted vertese.. you can pick 2 or more and hit the button.. selected weld you have to type in a number.. you have more control with targeted weld.. try to make it as low poly as possible.. gaming company's don't want anything with a lot of polys.. look on the net for references.. box modeling is the best way to go esp. if they won't be that big on the screen.

[ghengisjim]

Originally posted by Martijn Wijmer
I assume you have problems with playback during animation. Why don't you make a lighter version of your model (quick boxmodel reference) and then use that as a x-ref?

I am not even messing with animation at this point in time. That will be down the road. All I am trying to do is model a low poly tank. The optimize and HighRes modifiers work really well I have found with certain things and certain geometry but not well at all with others. They did not really help out my wheels much at all (the ones that go inside the track), and I ended up modeling the tracks over again. Pretty soon, once I find a web hosting service, I wont have a problem showing you guys my models and seeing if you think they are low-res enough... errr.. few enough polygons for a game engine. At least, I hope that the average system 3 years from now should be able to handle them.. thats my goal at least.

Anyways, any suggestions as far as web hosting would be greatly appreciated.

[Biohazard]

Counting polys : utilities / polygon counter (old usefull free plug)

Modeling hi / low rez : definitely, use some HSDS or multi res plug with max.

Modeling low poly is an art of simplicity. The best seems to begin your model with low poly then TO hi rez if you aim to have the twice rez in one model (LoD ?). The straight easy way is meshsmooth, then.

Optimize will respect your mesh in some ways if you've avoided compound operations (creating sharp / long tri faces), but this ain't a solution for obtaining a lovely and elegant model. :)

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