Modeling: Nurbs vs. Polygon

# 1 04-11-2005 , 12:26 AM

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I seen a lot of tutorials, and a lot of them either start with nurbs or polygon, is this just an opinion? Like some people say better and easier to start with Nurbs while others say easier to model in Polygon?

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# 2 04-11-2005 , 02:11 AM

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it's all about personal preference...you have to play around with nurbs, polys, and subds and find a method that best suits you (could be a mix of the 3)...i personally usally model with poly's..but there are some cases where i model a few things in nurbs.....basically it depends on what i am modeling...and finding the one that is more efficient

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# 3 04-11-2005 , 06:48 AM

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I started NURBs in Rhino, but for some reason found Polygons a better choice in Maya (why? Who knows).

Try polygons to start, but you probably won't end up with it.. exclusively at least.

And with that -- cue McKinley's sig... again.

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# 4 07-11-2005 , 02:38 AM

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basic summary of the key points:

NURBS:
-longer to model
-faster to texture (uv already laid out)
-Heavy to render if you don't optimise the modelling correctly (e.g. difference in when you should use degree 1 or 3 curves)
-ensure CV's are held to barest min as maya leaves default settings which may result in over heavily models
-easier for construction of hard surface objects (cause of the toolset, allows you create the object from the core)

Polygons:
-faster to model
-everything is edited from a single node. e.g. extruding from a cube, (can check this through hypergraph)
-combines objects into a single node easier than NURBS
-face propogation
-slower to texture (map the uvs)
-allows better consolidation of textures
-mainly developed for character modelling (use of SubD also)

its key to understand both concepts, each techniques offers advantages and disadvantages.
it is down to personal perference, use whatever you feel comfortable using but ensure that you know both modelling tools. (when you do go into industry your studio supervisor may ask you to model a specific object in a specific modelling set)

3D Modeler and Texture Painter (Learning)
"We have limits.... our imagination does not"

Final Year: University of Bradford (Worst place to live and study in the UK!!)

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# 5 09-11-2005 , 08:24 PM

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some times i model in nurbs and convert to polys, but i prefer polys user added image

Environment Artist @ Plastic Piranha
www.joopson.com

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# 6 12-11-2005 , 07:08 PM

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Nurbs are great for modeling, and if you know how to use them can be VERY fast. What I do is that I make a pretty detailed NURBS model and then quickly convert to POLYS for all of the good stuff.

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# 7 14-11-2005 , 08:23 AM

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Location: Germany, Cologne

Posts: 17

Yeah, matt is right...

Another reason for Polys:

Most engines (Game, etc...) can't use them...

So if you want smooth high detail models:

Model in Nurbs, Subdivs... and export them to polys.

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Modeling: Nurbs vs. Polygon

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