3ds max bezier patches

[toast]

actually, I switched to patches and eventually moved on to surface tools but in the end I found myself back with box modelling and subd. With things like mesh tools, I find it the easiest and quickest way to work in Max. NURBS are garbage, so ya patches might make a good stepping stone for you if you're coming from another prog. but I think in the end MAX's power lies in poly modelling. That's my experience tho, I'm sure others will disagree.

[Antilles]

Yar, poly modeling kicks butt, especially for non-organic models like spaceships or something.

[Iain McFadzen]

I used to build with patch modeling/ surface tools. In the end I just got sick of dicking about with bezier handles and endlessly complex spline cages and switched to box modeling. I can't model anything I couldn't model before, but I can do it about 300 times faster and I get to enjoy it into the bargain. Rigging and Unwrapping are also much much much easier on polys than on patches.

$0.02

[edaddy]

i went from boxes, to splines, to patches, and then back to the box ;) box modeling is so easy yet so intricate you can make some really amazing models - same goes with all forms of modeling though - so i guess it's all about your comfort level with the tools (patches are good for cars):D

[toonman]

My personal POV..

NURBS: Although a lot of people ditch them immediately, they're not as unusable as most people think. There is a LOT of powere in the relational modeling they provide. Also, built in UV mapping and view-dependent (and user-controllable) tessallation are very nice to have. The downside to them is that they're kinda limited. If you want true NURBS modeling, go with Rhino.

Patches: Very nice to work with. User-definable tessallation, spline cages, all nice. Mapping can be tricky sometimes. Also, foldings and creases can be hard to get rid of sometimes. If there was a way of 'smoothing' the patch object (besides relaxing it), I'd be veeery happy. Also, max is not as streamlined to work with patches as it is with polys. Get Spline Tools if you want to work waaay faster with them!

Polys/SubD's: Super fast to work with. Still have the problem of not having true SubD's, but that is more of a rendering-related issue. Meshtools are a must to have!

Personally, I've used NURBS succesfully many times for vehicles, patches every now and then, and polys quite a lot now (I used to rely more on patches before the meshtools days). This is just my 0.02 cts.

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