2012 3ds Max frame rates drop with edge faces on

Notes

The project im currently on is running high in the polycount numbers and with edge faces on the frame rate drops dramatically... I use a combination of "Shaded+Edged Faces" in the view port when modeling.
The same number of polys on screen with edge faces off is fine, but when I enable edge faces frame rate drops...anyone else have this problem???

Dylan Brady

I have the same problem, but Ive always had that problem. I think its just harder to render than w/o edges.
Im sure someone will be able to give a more technical explanation but tbh I think that's just how it works

SpeCter

Shaded+Edged Faces should be 2 rendercalls, the scene has to be rendered twice, once for the solid part and a backface culled wireframe one on top, at least that´s how it´s often done.

Notes

I have backface cull off on all the objects though...if this is the case how do the guys in the industry manage this during the high model poly stage???

Mark Dygert

It really depends on your hardware and the polys you are trying to push.

Normally now most people like to model high poly at the desired resolution but in the past you didn't always have that option the hardware was just too slow to display that much stuff so you worked with sub-divided models, a low poly approximation that would smooth well when more polygons where added, either through TurboSmooth or through Subdivide Surface in Editable Poly.

If you are trying to drag in a high poly sculpt from zbrush and work on that, it will always grind to a halt. Max was never really designed to handle one object with a lot of polys even though they have made some great improvements over the last few releases. Max has always worked better with a lot of polys if they are broken up into seperate objects.

So yea it really depends on what kind of hardware you are running and just how many polys you are trying to push.

SpeCter

Notes wrote: »

I have backface cull off on all the objects though...if this is the case how do the guys in the industry manage this during the high model poly stage???

This is not a matter of turning it off or on, this is what happens under the hood when you use hidden line or Solid/shaded + edged faces.

Edit:
I didn´t mean backface culling , i meant it renders the wireframe on top with single sided rendering.

And it´s just a little bit slower, not unmanagable

monster

If you are using Direct X (instead of Nitrous) make sure that Anti-Alias wireframe views is turned off.

Historically, wireframe and edged face views have been slower for me than just shaded views. I think if you have an Nvidia Quadro or an ATI FirePro, you don't suffer from this issue.