Polygon/subdivs/surfaces , i dont understand :S

Introduction to Maya - Rendering in Arnold

This course will look at the fundamentals of rendering in Arnold. We'll go through the different light types available, cameras, shaders, Arnold's render settings and finally how to split an image into render passes (AOV's), before we then reassemble it i

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# 1 13-03-2008 , 02:25 AM

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Join Date: Dec 2007

Posts: 4

Polygon/subdivs/surfaces , i dont understand :S

Hi, i,ve been playing with maya for about 2 mouths now. But i really dont understand why there is so many things to choose, when should i choose to model in polygon and when in surface. I mean, it's so complicated to me :S. so plzz can somone explain when i should use any of these 3 things , and why?? user added image

If i smooth a polygon face , does it turn to subdiv? cause when i smooth it it's no longer a polygon. user added image

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# 2 13-03-2008 , 04:23 AM

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Join Date: Jun 2004

Location: Cleveland, Ohio (USA)

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when you smooth, they're still polygons, just more of them.

when sub-ds came out people used them instead of smoothing polygons because you could choose sections of the model to make more smooth and add detail to instead of just... smoothing the entire model, which helped keep poly count down and saved render time.

now, with the more advanced toolsets for sub-ds, people tend to model either in polys or nurbs and then convert to sub-ds for more control.

you can use whichever you like, it doesn't really matter. it all comes down to what you feel you're most comfortable and frankly, most experienced and talented with.

i started using maya around version 2.0, and so i was much more comfortable using nurbs and never really changed my preference, although i can model in polys now as well. i never really got the hang of sub-division surfaces so i'm not quite as learned in them, but they definitely do have their positive points.

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