CGTalk - why do people use NURBS?

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mnemonic

04-05-2002, 05:13 AM

Note this is from the perspective of a NURBS newbie- I haven't even completed my first NURBS model, in fact. This is more of a question than a challenge.

I always hear about how CG firms use NURBS to model just about everything- characters, vehicles, scenery etc. For vehicles I can understand, but for characters with many components it seems that NURBS would be very time-consuming and restricting. Why is NURBS used so much for everything? Why not subd's or large amounts of polygons?

Speaking of NURBS, does anyone know of any good vehicular modeling tutorials using NURBS? There are tons of tuts on modeling humans, but not any that I can find on vehicles.

blc318

04-05-2002, 07:02 AM

This should keep you busy.

Dont know much about Maya or nurbs but I came across this not too long ago
http://homepage.mac.com/mikethomson/Tutorial/tutorial.html

dmcgrath

04-06-2002, 09:46 AM

I'm still learning NURBS modeling myself. It is hard at first. But I do have to say that not all of the big companies use NURBS out there. And many of the smaller companies still use mostly polys. Not even sub-ds yet. You just have to decide what you want to do. Researching helps, like what you are doing here. Computers have to still convert the nurbs models into something polygonal before they render it anyway. You just don't see that happen.

goosh

04-06-2002, 01:50 PM

A lot of the companies now are getting into the SubDs.

Poly tools have become really good in the last little while. You didn't used to have as much controller on things and smoothing works great now.

As far as NURBS go.. I personally don't like them at all.. but companies use them 'cause if you want to put hair on a char, it's pretty much NURBS or nothing.. it's really tough to put hair on polys... might as well go nurbs there

Goosh

pcbehmer

04-09-2002, 09:03 AM

I hope that excellent article will help u in that...

Its from "Subdivision modeling resource page", a excelent web site about sub-d ...

http://maxrovat.sns.hu/subdiv/subdiv.htm

Cheers, Patrick

DrAdamDinosaur

04-09-2002, 01:48 PM

I think the main reason why people use nurbs is because you can have an "infinate" amount of detail with them. what i've been told is :Nurbs are based of a mathmatical equation that can provide completely smooth geometry. True, most of the time murbs are converted to polys at render time, but software like Pixars Renderman can render nurbs as nurbs offering completely smooth geometry. I think thats right, i'm a polly man myself.

Lyr

04-09-2002, 02:36 PM

True subd's (not just smoothed poly's) are infinite in resolution too. You get the infinite resolution of nurbs combined with the ease of polygons, that's what makes subd's so great.

Most studios use nurbs because that is what thier pipeline is built around, it's what thier artists know and are comfortable with. Hopefully this will change soon.

DigitalSkorpyon

04-10-2002, 11:47 PM

I definitely agree that Nurbs can be a pain in the ass... But I do have to say that once you get the hang of them and understand their limitations, you can sit back and enjoy Nurb modeling. That's all I primarily use and find it to be much more personally satisfying to me both creatively and functually. Of course "To each his own." My advice is... Play. Have fun with the program and push it and yourself as much as possible. You'll find your own groove and will find yourself endorsing it and frowning at others.

-Grant

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