i am starting using blender right now, but used 3ds max for some years.
my question is, is there something like smoothing groups in blender ?
i read about using creases and dividing the model into pieces for getting the effect of smoothing groups.
But this sounds quite unflexible to me.
for example: http://drastiq.com/pandur/maskenheinz/
this is done in max, using smoothing groups in combination with subdivision surface.
is it possible to create such a model (in one piece) in blender ?
I don’t know about smoothing groups, but you can find the subsurf modifier.
Look under the editing menu (F9) in the modifier tab. Click the drop-down menu which says “Add modifier” and pick subsurf. Then set the level of the subsurf. You can also determine when to apply the subsurf. If you don’t want the subsurf to be visible while editing your model or while being in interactive display, just turn the two rightmost little icons off (next to the name “subsurf”).
There are two types of subsurf: Catmull-Clark and Simple Subdivision. Catmull-Clark will round the mesh while Simple Subd. will only add vertices and not change the shape of the mesh, which is useful when you work with other things who need a lot of vertices but you can’t afford to use the special “Subdivide” all the time.
Note that you can move modifiers in the stack of modiefiers. The topmost gets executed first.
Welcome to the world of Blender by the way
Enjoy your stay.
and some other wizard on another thread shows that you only need to apply the subsurf smooth to some of the vertices. I think you would do that, leaving the creased ones out of it so they have a nice sharp angle.
Actually, I don’t think Blender has something similar what you’re looking for…the methods above merely apply to Autosmoothing the shading which has nothing to do with Subsurfing. Although that CVS thingey might be useful…but I personally would not know of anything, which could easily add the effect you’re looking for.
Thanks for your fast and friendly answers.
edgesplit is actually a really great modifier!
to achieve (nearly) the same result as in max i do now following:
1.add modifier subsurf
2.add modifier edgesplit (after subsurf!)
3.set split angle to 89,9 (or “a bit” lower than 90°)
4.now you can select faces and press shift+e (crease) to control the “smoothness” of the corners.
using this workflow it seems as i can do the same stuff as in max.
the difference is, that the smoothing is now done after subsurf.
another interesting thing is the sharp flag. but to use that, you have to do the edgesplit before subsurf, which does not work for me, because it creates holes in the object.
Ha, thanks for finding that out
I didn’t know about that modifier (only saw it when it was posted here) but now that you have demonstrated what it can do, I’m surely going to take a look at it.
