CGTalk - Controlling mesh smooth

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James Bending

05-02-2003, 12:01 PM

Hello,

I had a look at the other post on mesh smooth by the way but it appeared to be a little more detailed than my question so anyway...

I have begun work creating a basic monitor;

http://www.jamesbending.co.uk/3DSMAX_problem.gif

On the right is the model i am working on, on the left is a reference of that model with mesh smooth applied.

As you can see on the right hand model the place where the glass on the monitor should be is a sharp square, and on the left is a rounded circle because of the way the mesh smooth modifier is manipulating the model.

Is there anyway i can control the mesh smooth modifier so that it doesnt effect the mesh so much in a specific area?

Or is it possible you suggest to me how you personally would tackle this problem?

Thank you very much for your time

James

edit / ps - Just wanted to mention i checked out the manuals and my tutorial book i had got for my birthday... i cant member what its called but its got that really cool green monster on the front, its for 3DSMAX 4, anyone have that? Sorry, OT, but yes i also had searched the forum, just saying because i imagine this is a popular question.

unrealwarfare

05-02-2003, 01:04 PM

try smoothing groups? play around with it, and see what happens

gaggle

05-02-2003, 01:12 PM

No you won't get far with smoothinggroups. Instead read up on the SubD thread in the Tutorials & Tips subforum. Or read up on it again if you've already looked over it. It contains everything you want to know on this. And I do mean everything :).

In essence what you need to know about this problem is how Meshsmooth smoothes the mesh. Try and make two polygons, 90 degrees to oneanother. The derived mesh will be a curve, more or less, there'll be no, or next to no, angle.
But then try and chamfer that 90 degree angle by a very small amount. Instead of seven edges (two polygons sharing one edge), you'll have 10 (three polygons sharing two edges). Smoothing that will result in a much tighter corner.

Try it out, and do check out some of the pages of the SubD thread, and I think you'll be quick on your way to develop a proper SubD modeling technique.

James Bending

05-02-2003, 01:28 PM

Thanks for the replies, i will definately check out the subD thread when i find it, unfortunately i didnt understand a great deal when you explained how you would go about it,Gaggle.

Im a slight newbie to 3D Studio Max, so im still grasping alot of the terminology / techniques.

Thanks alot anyways

James

edit - wow, checked out the sub-d post, lots of information far to over my head, i dont even know what a sub-d is :/ but i'll still have a look around. :)

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