Issue with Modo's smooth edge shader.

Hayden Zammit

Hi everyone. Continuing to learn Modo at the moment.

I'm a big fan of Tor Frick/Snefer's art, and I've been trying to use the rounded edge shader in Modo the same way he does in some of his images here : [LINK="http://www.torfrick.com/" target="_blank"]http://www.torfrick.com/[/LINK]

It's been great, except for one issue I can't solve. Here's a pic:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/btjny4I.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/zI7vhdF.png[/img]

It's like those edges that I've indicated just don't get affected at all. Any ideas, guys? Using Modo 801.

thanks.

Also, sorry, but I've no idea how to put images in the actual post in this new Polycount.

Farfarer

The rounded edge shading only works with edges sharper than 40 degrees.

We need to look at fixing that up, but there are other visual issues with rounded edge to sort out at the same time (it wasn't really intended to be used this way when it was put in).

Hayden Zammit

Ah, damn, that's a bit limiting then. Thanks for the info. I guess the best bet is to just mix and match between the round edge shader and sub d modeling?

Hayden Zammit

Farfarer said:

The rounded edge shading only works with edges sharper than 40 degrees.

We need to look at fixing that up, but there are other visual issues with rounded edge to sort out at the same time (it wasn't really intended to be used this way when it was put in).

Ah I see. Yeah, I saw Tor Frick using it a lot so I thought there might be some work around. Perhaps he avoids certain shapes or something. Might have to buy his gumroad tutorials and see what I can learn.

dzibarik

Hayden Zammit said:

Ah, damn, that's a bit limiting then. Thanks for the info. I guess the best bet is to just mix and match between the round edge shader and sub d modeling?

one of its best uses is intersection between meshes. Meshes can be separate but normal map will conceal that. 



I will post wires tommorow

Hayden Zammit

dzibarik said:

Hayden Zammit said:

Ah, damn, that's a bit limiting then. Thanks for the info. I guess the best bet is to just mix and match between the round edge shader and sub d modeling?

one of its best uses is intersection between meshes. Meshes can be separate but normal map will conceal that. 



I will post wires tommorow

Yeah, it works like that for me. I haven't tried to bake anything with it yet, but it seems amazing. I guess you just have to be careful what shapes you use it on, otherwise it won't work.

dzibarik

the shader has a lot of limitations but in current "this shit is used" style that will be prevalent until better rendering capabilities become available its drawbacks are negligible because nobody will simply see its artifacts under tons of other textures. 

Hayden Zammit

dzibarik said:

the shader has a lot of limitations but in current "this shit is used" style that will be prevalent until better rendering capabilities become available its drawbacks are negligible because nobody will simply see its artifacts under tons of other textures. 

Oh yeah, I don't think it's shit or anything. Still pretty amazing, and I can still see myself using it once I get used to its little quirks. In your example, did you join all that geo together?

dzibarik

Hayden Zammit said:

Oh yeah, I don't think it's shit or anything. Still pretty amazing, and I can still see myself using it once I get used to its little quirks. In your example, did you join all that geo together?

By "this shit is used" I meant the current prevalent art style which gravitates to worn or slightly worn look to give more realism to materials because rendering capabilites nowadays aren't there to display pristine clean materials. UE4 is getting there but it's still quite costly to render them in arch viz beauty. Also "dirty look" is easier to do.

And no, I didn't join them, that's the coolest thing about the shader

Hayden Zammit

dzibarik said:

Hayden Zammit said:

Oh yeah, I don't think it's shit or anything. Still pretty amazing, and I can still see myself using it once I get used to its little quirks. In your example, did you join all that geo together?

By "this shit is used" I meant the current prevalent art style which gravitates to worn or slightly worn look to give more realism to materials because rendering capabilites nowadays aren't there to display pristine clean materials. UE4 is getting there but it's still quite costly to render them in arch viz beauty. Also "dirty look" is easier to do.

And no, I didn't join them, that's the coolest thing about the shader

Ah, right. I get what you mean about that style now.

So that's your high poly there then, right? You'd join em for the low poly?

Tzur_H

you should buy Tor's vehicle transport tutorials on his Gumroad page, he's the 'master' of this technique - I highly recommend em!  also check his youtube channel, he got some great videos that you can learn a lot from just watching him as he work.

dzibarik

@Hayden Zammit No, that's my low poly and high poly at the same time, high poly has more hard edges to make them round through shader. I don't join anything. You can test it yourself - make two cubes, move one into another and bake it down, you'll get smooth transition between those in your normal map.

repete

Keep in mind Hayden that this method is NOT a substitution for high poly models, the traditional method (high poly to low poly) gives better results. 

Hayden Zammit

DZIBARIK - Yeah, thanks for the info. I'm going to try a bake soon. Never baked in modo, so I'll have to learn it first.

REPETE - I wasn't trying to learn this to totally replace traditional modeling. I read in a modo thread on here, Tor was saying all of his art at the time was done this way.

dzibarik

Hayden Zammit said:

DZIBARIK - Yeah, thanks for the info. I'm going to try a bake soon. Never baked in modo, so I'll have to learn it first.

for most people it's very hard for some reason even for those who work in modo, so ask here if you have any issues

Asadar

Hayden Zammit said:

REPETE - I wasn't trying to learn this to totally replace traditional modeling. I read in a modo thread on here, Tor was saying all of his art at the time was done this way.

Same for me, but I still can't figure how he did this, and I'm really curious to know how to achieve this in modo (or even with another 3d software). Does anyone have a tutorial ?

ZacD

Asadar said:

Hayden Zammit said:

REPETE - I wasn't trying to learn this to totally replace traditional modeling. I read in a modo thread on here, Tor was saying all of his art at the time was done this way.

Same for me, but I still can't figure how he did this, and I'm really curious to know how to achieve this in modo (or even with another 3d software). Does anyone have a tutorial ?

https://gumroad.com/snefer
I'm not sure how into detail it goes on the smooth edge shader.

Asadar

Not sure either... but I will take a look if I can. Thanks for the link.