??? Soften /Hard edge ???

#2

The best way is to select the edge loop of the area in question, and bevel it. I find 3-4 gives a nice, hard edge result.

Cheers.

#3

I think he means without adding geometry, you know. That’d be a shading thing.

#4

as Thomas Mahler said , i don’t want to create more geometry.
what i want is to control the hard/soft edge (smoothing group in Max).
when i import a mesh from maya, it’s still have it’s hard edge but i don’t now who to control them in modo which is very bad for video game :cry:

see the sphere as example (hard edge, soft edge and a mix but the same geometry)
i don’t see how too use modo for video game if you can’t control that :sad:

#5

The smoothing angle is controlled via surface attributes, and not by the geometry.

Mylenium

#6

Can you explain it a bit more? Does that mean you can control it? Is it a command or a script?

please it’s really important

thanx

#7

ahhhh sorry, my mistake…press f4 to bring up the material editor, click on the colour option of a surface…you will see smoothing is set to 60 by default…higher will make it appear more smooth…lower, the oposite. :slight_smile:

#8

ok, thank you. the smoohing value of the shader is a way to control the hard edge. But it control the hard edge on the whole mesh. i can’t soften or harden only few edge with the shader without changing the smoothing value for all the mesh. And because i work for a game , i can’t work with multiple shader only to get the hard edge where i want.
:sad:

#9

a workaround would be to make the area around the edge a different material, with a different smoothing amount

#10

Have you tried adding weight to specific points or edges. You can sharpen/soften certain edges by using the weight tool. This does not add extra geometry. The manual has more information on this.
I am not sure if this information can be transfered to maya, I know there is no problem with lightwave.

#11

it seems to me you are trying to get both at the same time. you want an organic model with sharp edges. maybe an example would be in order. what are you trying to make?? besides why are you modeling an organic model for in a video game? you know that increases the geometry to make it rounded. seems to me you should stick ith polygons. or… maybe you should create it with polygons and use sub-d in those spots where you need it. check out this tut to see what i mean: http://www.deblur.co.uk/MyModo%20Tutorial%203.htm

#12

If you want max-like smoothing groups you will have to create new materials each with their own smoothness values, much like you would for smoothing groups in max, ie. select polygons, apply new smoothing group (in this case it is a material in modo) then play with the smooth value to get what you want.

I would start with as few materials as possible and just mess with the smoothness angles for each. If you want really rigid sharp corners, then adjust it really low. If you find that this isn’t enough then break the materials down into smaller groups of polygons with their own smooth values.

Material smoothness vs max smooth groups are almost identical in the results you can get. They are just implemented differently. One you edit at the geometry level, the other you edit at the materials level.

Also, it shouldn’t matter how many materials you have to use to break up the smoothing, so long as they all reference the same bitmap image, assuming you are using textures.
This is how our artists here at DE put objects into our game engine using LW.

#13

well i figure that out by now, but i’m kind of disapointed. i’m a max/maya user a i find that the soften/hard edge in maya are way more easy and intutive to use than in maw or modo. You just select your edges and set them soft or hard. Modo is really a great soft but imho it really miss this kind of features to be more useful in game industry.no offense but it’s really faster just to select an edge and set it to smooth or hard than having to play with smoothing group or smoothing material value.
i really hope this will be add in a next version of modo as i really think this can increase the workflow(which is the main goal of modo) at least for low poly modeling.

If some guys of the Modo team out there can give there thought about that, it would be great

#14

Always listening :slight_smile:

I’ve added it as a feature request!

Thanks!

#15

awesome dion… you the man… by the way, dion, ahem. how about a renderer heh, and are you seriously adding all the improvements modo needs and has been suggested? could it be possible you really want to ake this the best package out there :)) if so oooooo i want to invest in luxology stock. :))

#16

Great! thank you very much; good do know people are listening to you. I hope this feature will be integreated soon as i use this all the time ;). As i said before, i really think Modo is a great soft, and if you keep listening too what people really need, it’s really gonna be the best modeler ever…:wink:

Sorry i’m out of topic but i have another feature request: select a ngone and make a perfect ngone from it (perfect triangle from 3 sides polygone; quad from 4 sides…etc). it’s another feature that i use often from a Max Plug and that i find very useful to make clean model. :smiley:

anyway good work guys; keep it that way

#17

there is a feature request thread you know?? hehe put all your ideas in there . i hope they are listening and put the features in. seems they waant to make modo better but who know , maybe its just PR.

#18

Well, a good few ideas users suggested made it into 102 :wink:

#19

really?! im very glad to hear that… :slight_smile: that gives me hope…thx for the info…

#20

I wonder if they are counting the times that people have asked that? I think they get it. :slight_smile: and based on what I’ve seen… I agree it would be a good investment. That is why I bought modo to begin with. My guess is still, by siggraph, you should know more about what your asking.

Also, I would hate to think that they are “seriously adding” ALL the requests. although I’m still hoping for “eagle in a barrel 2.0” :thumbsup:

#21

i wouldnt mind at all if they added everything that is asked for. :slight_smile: the more tols the merrier.
isnt that like saying you have to much money. :slight_smile: