Getting object SMOOTH !

[Wolvster]

Ok, I've done a TON of reading in my time to learn
lightwave on my own without being a " pest " to people out
there with silly questions ! :thumbsup:

BUT, that said,this is bugging the CRAP outta' me !

I've been working on allot of things in Lightwave and
I am baffled as to how to " fix " this problem !

If you look at render 1 - 3 I start with something
pretty chunky. I am " trying " to get it as smooth as
possible.

It does not seem to matter if I triple the
polys then subdivide to my hearts content I still seem
to end up with the image in RENDER 3...

CHUNKY ??????

http://www.fairpoint.net/~wolvie12/render1.jpg

http://www.fairpoint.net/~wolvie12/render2.jpg

http://www.fairpoint.net/~wolvie12/render3.jpg



Am I missing some simple setting in Lightwave or what ?
I mean, I can MASSIVELY increase the poly count looks
to look " nice " when viewed in WEIGHT SHADE.....

But, when you look at it in SMOOTH SHADE it still looks like HELL !

{{ BTW, that's what they look like too when I convert to
STL's for growing ! }}


Long story there..

Hence my problem, I'm missing something to get ULTRA SMOOTH
and I don't know what it is ???

Any help guys ?

[kcole]

First step is to enable smoothing in your texture, near the bottom of the surface editor. Play with the smoothing angle until only the sides you want smooth are smooth. I'd guess 20 degrees might be a good place to start.

[Iain]

Or hit the TAB key if smoothing isn't enough.

[hrgiger]

Using smoothing in the surface editor should suffice for your model, there's no need to subdivide or triple your polygons. Like Iain said, hit tab to activate subdivision surfaces. That'll smooth it out in a jiff.

Also, you may want to crack open the docs, they're chock full of gems like that.

[Surrealist.]

Hitting tab will open up a can of worms however. This is not a technique for smoothing per se. It is an entirely different technique for modeling. If not controlled properly with good technique it will just turn your object into a blob.

For polygon modeling - what you have there, the technique is to A) have a lot of geometry for curves and B activate smoothing as mentioned for the faces of the object.

For the top of a disc lets say, you have to have upwards of 50 ssegments to get a nice smooth curve around the edges.

Smothing will only then work on the sides of a cylindar, let's
say as long as the camera is looking at them from an angle that does not show the top or bottom. If that angle is to be shown then you must have many segments.

This is commonly refered to as the profile. And you have to create this profile when you first create the model.

To add more segments after the fact use subdivision (shft d) and select "Smooth" on the control panel, not "Faceted". "Metaphorm" (what we had before subdivision surfaces) will round it off more like a blob.

[Nangleator]

Another thing with imported meshes is the importance of merging points. Separate discrete bits of the model into different layers if you must, but perform a merge operation to knit pieces together that would otherwise not appear smoothed.