sharp edges

Support Modeling
1

To sharp edges in Blender you have to apply autosmooth or edgesplit. Are there other ways to Blender hard edges?

2

Yes, just like in any other Sub-D modeller. When you put two edges closer together, the edge gets sharper. I can’t upload images right now, but if you create a cube and apply a subsurf modifier you have rounded edges. Do a loop cut (CTRL+R I think) and place the loop very close to one of the edges and you will see the result.

3

You can add a loopcut on one or both sides of an edges that you want to be sharp. Just slide your new loop right up to the edge you want sharp.

Edit: Looks like Gobley beat me to it. :slight_smile:

4

Gobley and Enigmatic, thank you for your post. I already know about loop cut, but I don’t want to increase the number of edges of my model. In Wings 3D you can set hard/soft edges easily without increasing the number of edges. I make this question because I want to render sharpen edges in 3delight and with ribmosaic I don’t know how to render hard edges in edgesplit.

5

You could try to crease edges. I’m not sure about making your model less poly-intensive by
not using edgeloops, so you’re on your own there.

6

I’m still looking for a really good way to set edge sharpness in Blender. Each of the different methods has their own disadvantages.

Here’s a link to the wiki page about creases:

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/Subsurf_Modifier#Weighted_creases_for_subdivision_surfaces

But wait, you’re exporting. That means you’ll have to use a sharpening method that your exporter supports. Creasing may not be supported by your exporter.

If you’re not subsurfing (I can’t tell from your posts) and you want perfectly hard, sharp edges, then edgesplit would probably be the best. In edit mode, mark your edges to be sharped with Ctrl+E->Mark Sharp, then add an Edgesplit Modifier with “From Marked As Sharp” set. And here’s the key step: Make a duplicate of your object for later editing, and then Click the Apply button on the EdgeSplit on the modifier. Since the split edges are now part of your base mesh, they should export perfectly. Export this copy with the applied modifier. If you want to change your mesh later, change the one that still has the modifier on it and recopy and reapply.

7

In this post I have said that I had problems rendering edgesplit with ribmosaic. Ribmosaic can render edgessplit perfectly. (I have to eliminate the displacement shader that ribmosaic creates in the default material) Anyway, I am interested in learning more about setting hard and soft edges in blender without edgessplit technique and increasing number of edges (subsurface crease, loop cut).