smoothing normals options

Integrating 3D models with photography

Interested in integrating your 3D work with the real world? This might help

Watch

# 1 12-12-2009 , 01:31 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Jul 2008

Location: Chelmsford, Essex, UK

Posts: 1,162

Hi all. I have just been watching a video tutorial by Alex Alvarez, 'the making of smile'. In one bit, when he brought a sculpted model from zbrush into maya, he went to soften the normals. But rather than just press 'soften edge', he clicked 'set normal angle' and then cranked the angle right up. Obviously doing it that way gives a greater degree of control, but are there any obvious differences between the two ways of smoothing the normals? does one just do the edges while the other does the whole lot? any particular instances where youd definitely opt for one over the other? ive never come across this 'set normal angle' feature before...

Quote

# 2 12-12-2009 , 08:29 PM

Technical Director
Join Date: Feb 2004

Posts: 2,988

Soften edges sets the normal angle to 180. Harden sets it to 0. It's just a quicker way of doing those two numbers.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Quote

# 3 12-12-2009 , 09:39 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Jul 2008

Location: Chelmsford, Essex, UK

Posts: 1,162

ah. So nothing major then.

Quote

# 4 13-12-2009 , 02:06 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2008

Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Posts: 168

What is the purpose of angles between 180 and 0 then?

Quote

# 5 13-12-2009 , 03:45 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2007

Posts: 1,055

You can vary the hardness/softness of the normals. Just try some different settings and render to see the difference. You can even just see the changes update in the viewport.

cheers

gubar

Quote

# 6 13-12-2009 , 04:14 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2008

Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Posts: 168

can u show me an example where i should use something other then 180 or 0? :blush:

Quote

# 7 13-12-2009 , 04:17 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Jul 2008

Location: Chelmsford, Essex, UK

Posts: 1,162

A rubicks cube being blown up?

Quote

# 8 13-12-2009 , 04:55 PM

Technical Director
Join Date: Feb 2004

Posts: 2,988

What the angles are, is that it will make anything hard under a certain degree, and softer over.

For example, set at 89 degrees, any angle less than 89 will be hard (ex 62), and above (ex 120) will be soft.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Quote