3DS Max 2016 - Distortions

reboot

Good day,

I'm very new to modeling regardless of the software and I'm trying to learn 3DS Max (on trial version) by following a tutorial on how to model a grenade.

This isn't the first tutorial I have attempted to complete; however I've encountered similar problems with previous tutorials where my model acts up a bit or throws in distortions (curveballs) which the author of the tutorial doesn't encounter so I'm at a loss as to how to rectify them.

So far I've managed to rectify minor issues on this model but now I have finally encountered something I just don't know how to fix.

The one side is fine as you'll see in the images below, but the other is distorting a bit. I have tried connecting two vertices and deleting edges an so on but the improvements are either marginal or in some instances I'm just worsening the problem.

Please help a complete newbie.

reboot

After more than an hour of frustration I fixed it by connecting two vertices, then connecting edges, chamfering and deleting a vertix which wasn't doing anything.

Eric Chadwick

Looks like you're doing subdivision surface modeling. Some great resources here...

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Subdivision_Surface_Modeling

• How The F*#% Do I Model This? - Reply for help with specific shapes

Najo

Hi, I am a student as well and I also study 3DS Max. I am not sure but I think you just go to polygon mode and select a part of polygon you wanted. And then you go to the polygon: smoothing groups, you will be able to see the box with numbers from 1 to 32. You just select a number of the polygon smoothing groups or match the polygon smoothing number.

musashidan

This is caused by smoothing errors due to bad topology. Where the holes are cut out there is a giant n-gon with no supporting edges. Cut in some edges to alleviate the shading errors. Boolean modeling is a perfectly fine technique but it always involves some cleanup. You need to research the fundamentals of topology:n-gons, quads, triangles, poles, subdivision surfaces, edgeloops, etc... Without understanding what you're doing you'll always be frustrated.