Okay we all know meshsmooth is slow...

[halo]

try turning it on in the renderer only

and if your using max 4 deselect everything before rendering so it doesnt update 3x after a render

[ilasolomon]

how to manage developing heavy scenes in max that rely on lots of polys, meshsmoothening, and lots of character animation without your entire interface slowing to a crawl!
turning viewport 'mesh-smooth'ing OFF isn't good enough?

[Bluplet]

Putting an edit mesh modifier at the top of the stack helps a bit, have it set to be on only in viewports.

[Gremlin]

yah, I just set it to 0 perspective iterations and 2 render iterations.... so it looks low poly in my ortho's, but renders 2-I smooth. :D

[Dave Black]

You can also remember to make named selection sets so you can easily hide and unhide the stuff that is really heavy.

-3DZ

:D

[John-Stetzer]

Originally posted by Bluplet
Putting an edit mesh modifier...
Turn to Mesh or Mesh Select would be better here (compared to Edit Mesh) as both are "lighter" in impact than Edit Mesh.

[Rice]

Here are some tips for maintaining good workflow habits.

1. Name all your objects!!! Goes without saying really.

2. Use a layer manager system - like David Humpherys LayerMan. You can download at Rezn8.com

3. Create Amimatics. Work out your cameras and shots before building the environments helps determine where you need mesh detail and where you don't.

4. If working with Polys, use Meshsmooth and add a Mesh Select mod to the top of the stack. Right click on Meshsmooth and select off in viewport.

5. Learn how to composite and render in passes :)

Knowing where and when to put detail comes more as you gain experience. These tips aren't anything new but should help you on your way. Cheers.

[Bluplet]

Originally posted by John Stetzer
Turn to Mesh or Mesh Select would be better here (compared to Edit Mesh) as both are "lighter" in impact than Edit Mesh.

Really? I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the tip!

[sam]

Actually, I find this to be the best solution for me . . .

I use a macroscript that will render out a quick meshmooth look at my model when I want it but only when I want it and I avoid the overhead of meshmooth entirely.

It basically toggles on the "Use Nurms Subdivision" checkbox in edit poly which will then activate whatever settings you have set there, i usually set it for 2 iterations at render. Then it toggles everything back off so you can continue modeling without any meshmooth overhead.

I then attach this macroscript to a hotkey so I can model with absolutely no overhead, then hit a key and it will generate a render window showing me a meshsmoothed version. And then I am back to work.

Perfect for taking quick peaks at a meshmooth model while working on the low level cage.

here's the macroscript

. . . . . .

macroScript ToggleMSRender
category:"MyScripts"
toolTip:"Toggle Meshsmooth and Render"
(
on isEnabled return
(
if (((getcurrentselection()).count == 1) and ($ != undefined)) then
if (classof $.baseobject == Editable_Poly) then true else false
else false
)

on Execute do
(
tempstate = showEndresult
showEndresult = True
tempsurf = $.surfSubDivide
$.surfSubDivide = True
render ()
$.surfSubDivide = tempsurf
showEndresult = tempstate
)
)

. . . . . . .

I hope you find this useful. I know I do

sam

[enforcer2k]

Thanks guys some major helpful stuff :) I hope DISCREET improves the speed of the meshsmooth modifier though it does seriously lag behind Lightwave and Softimage, though I prefer working in Max to either of those apps.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:-
***Bluplet***
***3DZealot***
***Rice***
***John Stetzer***
***Sam***

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