[3ds Max] What is an effective method for adding more sides for organic formations?

DarkHalo003

Hey Polycount,

I'm definitely a quieter member here, so forgive me if my question is redundant to an obnoxious extent.

I currently am working on some cliff structures. These structures extend from one side to another, but they aren't linear. They bend and shift. They curve around and inside areas. I'm afraid to post anything because I would feel utterly embarrassed, but I would like to know a decent method in adding more sides to already existing organic structures as mentioned above.

WarrenM

Embarassed or not, screen shots would help generate more specific answers beyond "Use Turbo Smooth" or "Swift Loop".

Mark Dygert

Yea... its hard to visualize.

Are you having a modularity problem where you can't get the different pieces to flow together?
Are you having a problem where you don't have enough geometry to define the cliffs?
Or is it that you have the cliffs defined but need them to bend and scale in ways the geometry won't let you do and you need to make additional cuts to allow for this?

I dunno... I'm a little lost... pics might help...

DarkHalo003

Fair enough. Please don't judge the structures themselves; I'm not only going for a lower poly, but nothing is smoothed and I'm still majorly messing with them.




The area where I want more sides at is the top area. Though there is no apparent wireframe, it's still pretty clear which area I'm talking about.

Ghostscape

You have two things you need to learn here:

1) how to add some loops to something or whatever this is unimportant in the long view

2) how to get over feeling embarassed about your work and instead put it out there so you can get useful feedback.

People improve much more quickly when they present their work than when they hide it. There is no reason to hide it outside of personal feelings of embarassment, and those are fleeting.

e: if you're trying to add more edgeloops, assuming this is 3ds Max use Flow Connect to help maintain some of your organic shape while adding edgeloops.

DarkHalo003

Ghostscape wrote: »

You have two things you need to learn here:

1) how to add some loops to something or whatever this is unimportant in the long view

2) how to get over feeling embarassed about your work and instead put it out there so you can get useful feedback.

People improve much more quickly when they present their work than when they hide it. There is no reason to hide it outside of personal feelings of embarassment, and those are fleeting.

e: if you're trying to add more edgeloops, assuming this is 3ds Max use Flow Connect to help maintain some of your organic shape while adding edgeloops.

Thank you for the reassurance.

I'm currently using a method where I select use the Border tool and simply select all top edges of the map, drag those down, then shift+drag up for more sides. A bit conventional, but I'm not complaining yet.

I would still love to know how to "INSERT" more sides like my original question.

Ghostscape

Use Flow Connect

tharle

select an edge, click select edge ring then click connect and put in how many edges you want. assuming everything in still quaded then that'll add in new edge loops.

edit: just looked again and it looks like its not still quaded are you using max or maya? in maya there's a cut faces tool that allows you to draw a line and it will cut in a face along that line through your whole selection. it can create some nasty geometry if not used properly but should be fine for this if you use it in ortho mode. not sure if max has something similar. you might be able to just create a plane and boolean it together and then delete the face you dont want. just did a quick test and that should work.