Hard Surface Modeling Q
polycounter lvl 11
First, the question: Do you do much/any editing to Sub-D models above your Turbosmooth modifier, or do you try and keep as much as possible below it in the stack?
My main problem is that, in trying to hit a specific polycount without much/any baking, some parts end up having more detail than others when trying to achieve hard edges (modeling vehicles; currently, a helicopter). It's wreaking havoc on my polycount, and the easiest solution is to do edits above it in the stack, but then it makes it harder to make changes later on. I'm trying to find out if this is something people just deal with, or if they simply don't edit much/anything above their Turbosmooth layer.
Most of the mechanical bits I'm modeling low poly, but I've found that I really need to Sub-D the hull in order to get it to look right. If I sub-d the hull, however, the windows become hugely painful both in process and polycount. Curious if this is just what you deal with, or if people handle it differently?
My main problem is that, in trying to hit a specific polycount without much/any baking, some parts end up having more detail than others when trying to achieve hard edges (modeling vehicles; currently, a helicopter). It's wreaking havoc on my polycount, and the easiest solution is to do edits above it in the stack, but then it makes it harder to make changes later on. I'm trying to find out if this is something people just deal with, or if they simply don't edit much/anything above their Turbosmooth layer.
Most of the mechanical bits I'm modeling low poly, but I've found that I really need to Sub-D the hull in order to get it to look right. If I sub-d the hull, however, the windows become hugely painful both in process and polycount. Curious if this is just what you deal with, or if people handle it differently?
Replies
No, it's still a runtime mesh, not exactly high poly. I've been doing two LOD's; 1k and 10k, so we're sort of calling them Low and Medium. But since we don't have a lot of time for a bake, I'm skipping a High Poly pass.
I'm modeling a lot of aircraft lately (currently http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook), and I was finding that without Turbosmooth I get a lot of chunky looking models at lower resolutions. So I started modeling with Turbosmooth on the stack, and using a large part of my poly budget for the hull, then adding other details on top without a turbosmooth. This works well, except for detail areas such as the windows, which is sort of where this question comes from.
Dustin - are you saying you'd just model this with Edit Poly and nothing else? How would you keep your corners round, just eyeball it all? Maybe I'm just lazy, but it always seemed like without Turbosmooth it looks like a very round Box, and not a truly aerodynamic shape.
Boeing CH47 Chinook:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/CH-47_2.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/RHIB-helicopter.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Pinnacle_manuever.jpg
It's not a very complex shap, but it's basically a box with compound curves on all corners. Anything with compound curves I usually Turbosmooth, just to get the shape down. Maybe Swiftloop or something else would be better, and put them just where I need them, nowhere else.