Smoothing out topology in specific areas?
polycounter lvl 8
So recently I've been trying my hand at making a low-poly (~6,000 tris) C17 Globemaster. So far it's gone pretty well with only one problem which I failed to see in the first place: The nose is looking rather jagged.
If I try to tessellate, the windows of the plane end up being very round, almost like the plane has no hard edges at all. Some sections (the stabilizer and wing areas) round off on the corners and sort of disconnect from the model.
There are certain parts which look great when there's a bit of smoothing going on, and I'd like to apply that, but I don't know of ways to control where I can smooth and where I cannot.
The edges are a huge problem, and they definitely detract from the final image. Generally this wouldn't be a problem, but if I add extra edge-loops, I'm going to have to go back in and re-map the surfaces.
If I try to tessellate, the windows of the plane end up being very round, almost like the plane has no hard edges at all. Some sections (the stabilizer and wing areas) round off on the corners and sort of disconnect from the model.
There are certain parts which look great when there's a bit of smoothing going on, and I'd like to apply that, but I don't know of ways to control where I can smooth and where I cannot.
The edges are a huge problem, and they definitely detract from the final image. Generally this wouldn't be a problem, but if I add extra edge-loops, I'm going to have to go back in and re-map the surfaces.
Replies
What 3d software are you using?
Also we have some topo examples on our wiki that might help, I'll dig it up.
Actually, while we're at it, do you have any pointers towards cleaning those unwanted triangles up? This is the only part where it gets messy, and I can
't see any other workaround aside from retopology or re-building the nose area. Either way might work hand-in-hand with the whole "jagged edge" issue.
There's a feature in Max, not sure about Maya, that lets you "regularize" an edge loop into an ngon shape where all the sides are the same length. Like, "make this irregular 8-sided shape into a perfect octogon". Might help to straighten out some of those loops.
Also, triangles aren't a bad thing. To the game engine, a model is always all triangles. We just use quads in modeling because it makes it easier to select loops and rings, and edit the flow. But in the end, it's all triangles.
Heh. Triangles all the way down.
Take a closer look at the engines and wheels, what details are too small and tight, compared to everything else? Keep an eye out for any edges that don't add significantly to the silhouette or curvature... strip those out. Also, don't need squared-off back edges on all the ailerons, those can be a single edge each.
along the lines of what Eric said, make sure you compare your stuff to actual in-game assets, perception is a tricky thing and in the chaos of a game level, you may not notice a lot of things that seem to stand out when viewed in isolation.
also, depending on the engine and budget your shooting for, DX11 tessellation could help out a lot. It's kinda like mip-mapping for geo.
I'll have to look at DX11 tessellation, because it seems like the easiest option at this stage.
In max I would activate swift loop, hold shift and add a few loops to the nose, like this:
It will approximate the distance and set the new loop to compliment the surrounding loops. I would be very surprised if Maya didn't have a feature like that?
You could also create a piece of geometry that is the shape you want then use conform to warp one to the other.
@Neox: Flowconnect is very much similar to NEX in Maya 2010-2013, and fortunately 2014 has integration (which allows for connecting multiple edges much like you could in Max).
Thank you for your replies!
EDIT: I added a few more loops, and it didn't screw up the UV! I guess you don't know until you try