What's the best way to keep a crisp edge, but retain the 'roundness' of a circle...

mister_s

I have something I'm having a bit of trouble with:



I'm working on a blade. I need a crisp edge on the face of the blade, but the loops terminate on the loop for the circular cutout. So when I turbosmooth I end up with an oddly shaped cutout for that circle.



Moving the vertices where the loops terminate slightly alleviates the problem, but it still has a dull point on the circle.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can keep that edge and preserve the integrity of the circular cutout?

Thanks.

mister_s

If it helps here is the current wire frame. I've been toying with it trying to figure out the best way to make everything look right. Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way.

Joao Sapiro

hey man, the answer lies on this thread : http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56014

good luck !

ZombieWells

not all of this is 100% correct... but the idea is to add more geo.

mister_s

ZombieWells wrote: »

not all of this is 100% correct... but the idea is to add more geo.

Thanks for the tip.

I've been trying to get better at modeling since I can't really find anyone that needs just a level designer at the moment. I'm too frugal with geometry I guess.

pablohotsauce

per, question: in the raised area w/ the hardening edges, how come you're making those outer quads square-like, instead of just leaving them looking like triangles?

In other words, in the image below, why are the yellow verts not positioned farther away from each another, e.g. where the blue dots indicate? Are you trying to avoid t-verts or something, or is this just a byproduct of whatever process you used to add hardening?

pablohotsauce

oh, no no, I did try it, but there's not a huge visual difference between the two (slightly softer corners on the square-like one), so I was just wondering if there was some philosophical lesson here, or whether it's completely inconsequential. My results:

mister_s

Thank you for the additional information everyone. I do appreciate it.

ZombieWells

Maybe saying just add more geo was not the best way to put it... Make the shape and build from there; could have been a better explanation. So what perna is suggesting is not wrong, and I remove edges, move my verts, create edges, and use modifiers to avoid pinching. Still, adding more geo to a model in order to avoid headaches, like making sure you can cut into the model, have more refined control, precise shapes etc. is worth the coast/saves time, in many cases. It's not to say make no holds barred, super hi-poly model that's going to be hard to work with. In any case, your still going to have to put more geo into that model to get it work. So yes, "not all of this is 100% correct... but the idea is to add more geo" Still.

This is an example of adding a bit more geo to get down the proper shape.



So here is what perna is suggesting, and it is correct to the point where it helps the roundness of the inner circle, The method is sound, I use it, and others myself... Take note; the extra geo helps smooth the outer edges, and helps with the pinch to the side.


In the end the more experience you have with modeling the better your judgement will be on stuff like this. For now just learn shapes, have fun, and if you have to add more geo, add more geo.

pablohotsauce

Zombie: for what it's worth, if you experiment w/ the positions of the hardening loops on the top surface of the 8-segment version of that shape, you can minimize that buggy jutting area. Results aren't perfect from every angle, but still:

ZombieWells

Unfortunately there's no soundbite-friendly way of saying "use the minimum amount of geo necessary after you have applied proper sub-d technique, in order to reap the benefits of what makes sub-d the preferred modeling approach in the first place".- True! and there are different tools, and methods for tackling different shapes/models. Still, I could have been more clear in my initial post. By no means do I want folks needlessly chucking polys at a sword blade.

Pableaux: cool man! thanks for the tip!