[Smooth Groups] how?

[ice_killer]

hey lads,


a qeustion, how can i use smooth groups to the max ? i actuly have no i idea and i di not rely do mutch the, thanks

[ice_killer]

kick!

[tooncinator]

what do you mean 'to the max'?

[tooncinator]

Smoothing groups in 3d studio max are good for smoothing, or seperating parts of 3d objects without adding more polys/tris to it. They come in handy but they also have limitations. Even though they will blend poly surfaces together and make it appear like theres a lot of poly/tris there, it wont change the contour of the object at all. Its all just a lighting trick.

I assume you know how to get to the smoothing groups parameter window but just in case: Select the object (poly/mesh or whatever) then select the polygon /faces option. Scroll down till you see the 'Polygon Properties" , then smoothing groups is under that.

Under there, you should see 32 little boxes, all numbered. Those are the available smoothing groups. Most Primitives you can create in 3dsmax (sphere, cyliner, cone etc) will have the option to have smoothing groups already set up (When you create a sphere primitive, for example, under the Modify tab, there will be a "Smooth" option, probably already checked. If you uncheck it before you convert it to an editible poly or mesh, then it wont have smoothing groups set up..

Notice how when you make an 18 segmented sphere (and with Smooth checked before you convert it), it will appear to have a well blended, smooth look to it, but if you look at the contour you will see the jagged edges. This sphere is defaulted to have 1 smoothing group, so that all the faces blend with each other. A cylinder, on the other hand, will be defaulted with 2 sets of smoothing groups. 1 group set up for the rounded sides, and one group that contains the flat top and bottom. (The top and bottom of the cylinder can be set to 1 smoothing group. This is because they arent touching each other with any verts or edges, so there will be no blending done.)

Its really easy to set up smoothing groups. Just simply select the faces that are touchin you want to blend together, and select one of the 32 numbers. Be careful you pick a number that doesnt have surrounding faces you dont want blended in with the selection you have.

When you do select a poly that is set to a smoothing group, the group it is in will be 'pressed' and be yellow.

Another powerful tool with smoothing groups is the 'Select by SG" option (Select by smoothing group). You can use this to make selections on your object. Like on a body, you can set the smoothing groups for the hands or feet or torso and so on, then press the select by sg button and you will see a list of all the smoothing groups that have been used. Simply select the smoothing group with the desired selection you want and there ya go, its selected.




Anywho, hope that makes some kind of sense to you and helps.

[mikeab7925]

thanks tooncinator. that was pretty informative.

[ice_killer]

Thanks : tooncinator, that was a rwaly helpfull post made things alot clearer,