HardSurface/NURBS in 2019
polycounter lvl 6
So Max has been my go-to modelling application for the last 10 years but things really seem to be slowing down on that front. I am seeing a lot of other applications ahead of the curve in terms of tools and responsiveness.
Right now I want to model some more complex geo such as vehicles and buildings which have insets on curved surfaces etc. I can't really do them in ZBrush because the topology needs to hold up when zoomed in (booleaning dynameshed surfaces won't cut it). My workflow in max is something like this: Define a bunch of splines, and use FFD/Lattice tools to curve them in a natrual way. convert splines to nurbs. Thing is it keeps crashing, and it's difficult to switch between the splines and the NURBS object.
I have been looking into alternative applications.
Modo meshfusion seems like it's more about booleaning objects and adding chamfers, but has strong poly tools
Fusion 360: Looks like it has some good solutions, but isn't an all around modelling toolkid, Also it seems like the splines used to define the surfaces can't be modified using some kind of lattice/FFD
So, Does anyone know if there is an application or plugin which has a solution to this kind of problem? I am hitting a hard limit with traditional subD methods, and the Modo/Fusion tools seem to require putting the mesh through multiple applications
Right now I want to model some more complex geo such as vehicles and buildings which have insets on curved surfaces etc. I can't really do them in ZBrush because the topology needs to hold up when zoomed in (booleaning dynameshed surfaces won't cut it). My workflow in max is something like this: Define a bunch of splines, and use FFD/Lattice tools to curve them in a natrual way. convert splines to nurbs. Thing is it keeps crashing, and it's difficult to switch between the splines and the NURBS object.
I have been looking into alternative applications.
Modo meshfusion seems like it's more about booleaning objects and adding chamfers, but has strong poly tools
Fusion 360: Looks like it has some good solutions, but isn't an all around modelling toolkid, Also it seems like the splines used to define the surfaces can't be modified using some kind of lattice/FFD
So, Does anyone know if there is an application or plugin which has a solution to this kind of problem? I am hitting a hard limit with traditional subD methods, and the Modo/Fusion tools seem to require putting the mesh through multiple applications
Replies
@musashidan 2019, I have used the spline tools and they certainly help with modelling, especially for getting equal segments across a curve, then you can loft/extrue it, or convert it to a NURBS object, and yeah, NURBS in max sux. Ill check out keyhydra, thanks
The thing is I have seen different approaches which look like wizadry to me, where you basically draw curves in and it generates the mesh for you, no need to fuck around with adding in a bunch of control loops on curved surfaces which will inevitably result in pinching or bad smoothing. What are the algorithms behind it, and can't they be added to max/maya?