[3DS Max] Chamfering Thin Edges - Problem

FredCM

Hello!

I'm having this issue where I want to give his object below a good amount of chamfering, but as it gets thinner on top, I end up messing up with those edges.





So, does anyone know if there is a way of making "safe" chamfers in 3DS Max? I mean: is there a script, plugin, or something that prevents one edge from going through another when working with chamfers?

I've already tried increasing/decreasing weights and creases on the edges, and I've also tried all the Chamfer modifier options available, including the "Limit Effect" checkbox. But I couldn't get any results so far.

I could manually fix that, but I'm dealing with a case where I have several shapes like that one, and this would be a nightmare to fix all of them individually.

Kanni3d

Basically, you need to avoid uniform chamfering, since there is there is a requirement for thinner/more controlled chamfers where the mesh is inherently thinner.

Only way to do that is by using creases to control chamfer widths, creasing+opensubdiv, or manually placing your loops.

Ghogiel

Hack method would be to have a non uniform scaling on the mesh then add the chamfer modifier.  That will add a bias to the chamfers on the long side of your rectangle so the edge distances aren't equal on either side of the chamfer. Not a good solution because it would be faffy and not really greatly controllable or iterative.

I don't know if there is natively another way to use the chamfer modifier like you want, creases won't do what you want, that can only add a bias along the length of the chamfer, not on either side of it.

Could be cool to have a constraint option somewhere in the chamfer modifier that would act like edge constraint when you edge slide in max (I like that behaviour where it halts the edge verts from passing through the next vert along the edge and use that feature a lot in modelling)

FredCM

@Kanni3d Thanks! control loops + subdividing got the job done. The only bad thing is having to delete the extra edge loops created by turbosmooth manually.

FredCM

@Ghogiel The best solution I found was what Kanni3d suggested. But I tested your "hack" method and I liked it. I've never thought of using scaling to affect the modifiers. That was really interesting and opened my mind in some way. Thanks for your suggestion!

Yes, that would be cool if Autodesk implemented a constraint option like that to the chamfer modifier. And I got a bit upset about not having an option like that already available.

Kanni3d

@FredCM
if you really want to, you can have your support loops on an edit poly modifier. When you're done, it can then be easily deleted, and you now have your base mesh with no added control loops.

FredCM

@Kanni3d I'm not sure if I got that right. I tried this cleanup solution you suggested, but I might have done something wrong:



I inserted the control loops manually and left them selected. Then, I applied TurboSmooth, and finally, I applied another Edit Poly modifier and entered the edge mode. But it didn't get that selection from the Edit Poly modifier below. Even if I create a selection set, after applying TurboSmooth and applying another Edit Poly on top, that selection set is no longer available.

Ghogiel

He's not saying how to optimise the high poly of excess loops, he's just saying how to make getting back to a 4 sided low poly, if ever needing a low poly that is. I like to keep manual support loops in an edit poly too, just turn it off in the stack and that solves having to do any manual labor to get a base low poly to start working on.

coven

Similarly to what @Kanni3d mentioned about using crease weights, you can also just use weights in a absolute fasion. I cover a lot of the chamfer stuff in this video if interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czarDWJqKcw

Kanni3d

Reread your question again, I thought you meant you wanted to remove the support loops after removing turbosmooth, to get your basemesh/lowpoly mesh back.

But I just realized you meant that you want to remove edges after turbosmooth has been applied/collapsed, what for exactly?

FredCM

@Ghogiel got it! Yes, I always try to keep my workflow in a non-destructive manner too.

FredCM

@Kanni3d Correct. In the case mentioned in this post, I didn't actually want to end up with a too dense mesh. That's the reason why I tried to stick with Chamfer (which didn't work well). TurboSmooth or Opensudiv solved my problem, but they create extra loops even on flat surfaces, and these loops aren't really adding to the shape. In my case, getting such a dense mesh isn't a big deal. But it would be better if it was less dense.

I was modeling an object (which I can't share) composed of several shapes like the one I posted, and those shapes are slightly different from each other, which prevents me from instancing, for example. And manually deleting all those extra loops would be a nightmare. So, if there was a way of deleting those extra edges, that would be great. I don't know if that's possible though.

Kanni3d

If your goal is to use turbosmooth to get correct amount of rounded edges, and not a traditional highpoly mesh, the unfortunate fact of the matter is, you'd have to manually delete them. Takes a few seconds in your demonstrated shape, but for more complicated meshes, yeah could be a piece of work.

Ideally, you'd want to chamfer the edges with the above various methods to rectify your original posts issue. It'll be much faster, procedural, and more control, and no manual edge removal.

FredCM

@coven dude, what was that? This video totally blew my mind. Thanks a lot for sharing this! I had no idea of how powerful the Chamfer modifier has become. Subscribed.

And how did you link that point helper to the Chamfer modifier? Do you have any tutorials on that? I quickly went through your videos, but I didn't find how you set that up.

coven

@FredCM Glad you liked it! We did put a lot of effort in, and there are still a few small things we want to do. 

For the helper, that is the Data Channel Modifier. It's a super powerful modifier that allows you to use different data types and do some basic math functions, and spit the data back out. You can put the data in a lot of different places, or output multiple streams for different uses. It's one of my favorites, obviously

FredCM

@coven I didn't know you were behind it. Thanks so much!