I think I understand. When you are in edge selection and want to go to polygon selection but with those selected. Click CTRL+ (polygon selection). Let me know if this is what you were talking about.
Reset Xform, yes. Also, in the Edit UVW menu Select, use the option that selects inverted polygons. If the UV is inverted then Relax can cause distortion. 3rd thing to try, there are three Relax options to try. Polygons, Centers, Edges.
well i have raytraced shadows from 1 omni light, 1 no shadows omni, skylight for AO, 14,300 polygon object sub-d'd x3 to 228,200 polygons. I think the raytraced shadows is what scanline is choking on.
If you select by Polygon or by Element, you can paint in solid colors. The way this works internally, is the vertices along the edges between polygons get multiple colors per vertex, which ends up looking like a hard edge.
This is a fairly crude and quick example, but does that mean you would do it something like this? Essentially having your low polygon model not being very accurate while focusing all your attention on the final high polygon result?
ok many thanx, hopefully it will work.... i will try it today... this kind of problems "Long thin polygons will smear your UV's" are really fu***** up. Is there no button / function in max to make the polygons the same aspect ratio like on the mesh ?
Maybe the poly mode in edit poly is selected thus unwrap is using only one polygon. Check it, it should be unselected before applying unwrap. Also, pelt may not work properly if you have floating/detached polygons or elements.
I would create a null (or call it bone) for each metalplates. On the underlaying character mesh i would create point clusters for each polygon loop. The nulls can be constrained to the polygon loops so they will move when the character moves
stuff like the buttons could be just a texture. It looks like there are too many polygons in some areas - like the cord, as already mentioned, and the area in the top left. These polygons could be better used in other areas like the crumpled cup.
Cheers for all the help guys, oooh Vig do you mean?... that 1902 polygons looks to much i.e. I've wasted em in this model orrrr... That the texture requires more polygons to make it look more effective? Thanks again