How do I close this up? (Max'09 - Subd)

[Brick Top]

Hello guys,

I have a problem with closing up this part of my model. The result just doesn't look smooth.

The model
My solution which isn't correct
The result which doesn't look good.

Thx in advance for possible answers!

Brick Top

@Mods: Am I allowed to open a 'Brick Top helpcenter' topic or something? Because I still encounter a lot of (little problems) and maybe you guys don't like it if I always start topics for 'silly things'. So maybe it's better to put all my questions in one topic.

[Autocon]

Hey brick not sure exactly how you want it to look in the end but it seems like this should fix your problem.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8263/fixizi.jpg

If you want the bottom area where the two newly created lines are you will have to move them up a little in Turbosmooth mode untill they look smooth

[chris89]

Why dont you just keep them seperated segments? Then you dont need to worry about the topo there.
Smoothing can be faked by pulling the edges up into each other.

[Dennispls]

Hmm i would defo add some edgeloops next to them to give them a hard look.


Aslo when connecting the edges at the bottom like Autocon did will probably give some nasty results because that area is curving.

Might want to space it out a little more.

[Brick Top]

@ Everybody: Thx for replies guys! I tried what Dennis said and now, the result looks a lot better.

Another question, how important is a high-poly model when you are creating props for games? Is it only used to bake the normal maps? And how important is it to have a 'clean' mesh? With clean I mean: No triangles, straight edges, no messy look,... but sometimes, my subd model looks really messy in the wireframe, but the result (when I render it) looks perfect... Do I have to worry about that? Because sometimes, I spend a lot of time lining up everything and cleaning up the messy parts, even when the final result is exact the same.

[Dennispls]

You only have to worry about triangles when you are working on hihg poly objects.
For the low poly you just need to create the most efficient mesh you can without losing shape or proper smoothing.

Modelling in high poly for props give better results than running a normalmap filter or the likes.
How you model and render it is up to you.

[Brick Top]

But if you are modelling high poly and you use triangles... Is that a problem IF the result looks fine? Because I have some triangles in my model but when I render, it's look fine. So they don't cause any errors in my final result. Should I spend some time fixing those triangles, or no need for that?

[Dennispls]

You answer your own question.
If you don't notice it it is fine.

Triangles can be used best on flat surfaces.
For everything else try to stick to quads.

[Brick Top]

Originally Posted by Dennispls

You answer your own question.
If you don't notice it it is fine.

Triangles can be used best on flat surfaces.
For everything else try to stick to quads.

Ok, thx for the answer! I asked to be sure, because maybe triangles could cause errors in the normal map or something, dunno (I haven't worked with normal maps yet).

[Ghostscape]

Originally Posted by Brick Top

@ Everybody: Thx for replies guys! I tried what Dennis said and now, the result looks a lot better.

Another question, how important is a high-poly model when you are creating props for games? Is it only used to bake the normal maps? And how important is it to have a 'clean' mesh? With clean I mean: No triangles, straight edges, no messy look,... but sometimes, my subd model looks really messy in the wireframe, but the result (when I render it) looks perfect... Do I have to worry about that? Because sometimes, I spend a lot of time lining up everything and cleaning up the messy parts, even when the final result is exact the same.

The high poly model is as important as the prop is. if it isn't an important prop, you may not need one. If it is a hero piece (IE, HEV suit power station, Statue in a courtyard, etc) then it is probably very important. if it's one of 19 different lamps a level set Lou's Lamp Emporium, it probably isn't very important.

It doesn't matter how gross your high poly mesh is, so long as it visually reads OK and thus gives you a good normal map. Some of the high poly stuff I've done has terrible wireframes that I'd never show to anyone