Smoothing Edges

Troubleshooting gudes, solutions and other ZModeler3-related discussion

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keithd203
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Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2018 10:52 am

Smoothing Edges

Post by keithd203 »

Sorry for the noob question, I'm sure there's probably a thread already, but since I don't have a clue what to search I figured I just ask the question.

How can I smooth out these edges?
smooth.png
In 3dsMax I would just add a turbosmooth modifier, is it the same in ZM3?
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Oleg
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Re: Smoothing Edges

Post by Oleg »

smoothing in ZModeler is handled by per-vertex normals. Your first hit should be a Surface->Normals->Calculate tool (hotkey 'C' by default).

there might be a bad result when vertices are weld together, so they share the normal (surface direction) and produce smooth shading whether it should be sharp.

For example, the tiny edges (side edges) of left/right big cylinders are likely to have sharp edges and not be smoothed together with top/bottom cap. Do do so, you might need to select polygons of cylinder side edges and use Modify->Submesh->Detach tool with options (to new object = off, interaction = none). Doing so will cause side edges polygons to be detached from the rest of geometry, and in result these will have their own unique vertices to reside on. A further hit of Surface->Normals->Calculate tool will give unique normals for capping polygons and unqiue normals for side-edge cylinder polygons, so you will see a sharp shaded edge between sides of cylinder and its cap.

If I'm not mistaken, there are no (visible) per-vertex normals in 3dsMax, so this might be a bit messing to get used with at first. But you can always check what's going on with normals in ZModeler by switching object to vertices level and selecting vertices in some area. you will see per-vertex normals that actually give the shading/smoothing in ZModeler and in game.
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