Getting a cleaner mesh

[JeffrySG]

Hi guys, I was trying to get a clean mesh for this test object to bring into lightwave or modo and then turn into a subdivision surface. I think I've tried a bunch of different settings but couldn't really get something that subdivides cleanly.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2392471/test.gbr (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2392471/test.gbr)

http://forums.newtek.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=99213&d=1320982576

The biggest problem areas are the cutout section in the middle and the corners. I was just curious to see if Darrel or Boris could find some good export settings on the obj that I was just missing. Don't really need rounding on the edges I was just testing that as well.

No rush on this just kind of playing with the settings and experimenting.

Cheers!
Jeff

[nzapegore]

Hi JeffrySG,

I've found this quite hard to get a handle on, but what I have found important is that the boolean objects you use to subtract from your primary shapes are as important as the primary object when setting mesh density. take a look at MeshDenSettings_004.jpg, hopefully that will give some guidance, to be honest I really don't know how groboto meshes objects because I can't figure out a consistent modus operandi, that gives great results every time. I'm guessing that's because there are so many variables involved in creating the mesh. I've created meshes in groboto that do not look right then taken them into modo and they have transformed into the smoothest beautiful shapes...I know I would really appreciate some more info on creating good intersecting meshes and the art of setting individual mesh densities....

[JeffrySG]

Hey, thanks for the reply! I'll definitely give that a try. It looks like you've given me some good info. I think I was trying to adjust those settings only in the export window but I'll try to adjust the the individual mesh settings as well to see how this affects the final mesh.

Thanks!
Jeff

[nzapegore]

Yep that's the way to go, but I can't say it isn't frustrating, the results you get can be hit and miss. I would really like to see the individual mesh density settings working a little more instinctively, when you have a model with lots of boolean objects that mesh integration gets a bit complicated, I wonder if it would be possible to regenerate individual object meshes using a refine slider, just like when you use the slider to refine distance moved effectively zooming in, just click on the part of the mesh you want to refine and use the slider to increase or decrease the mesh density. If you look at Darrel's meshes they are beautiful, but I don't know how he manages to get them soooo clean. Oh well one day it will all click into place and we will all start producing fantastic clean meshes for Modo....

[boris]

nzapegore,

Well, you gave exactly the right answer to solve this problem, I don't really understand what's all this fretting about 'hit and miss'... :)

We see from Jeff's original pic that the polygonal density on the wall facing the gap is much lower than on other surfaces. Look at that lonely vertex to which so many edges converge - we just need more vertices on that surface.

Polygonal density for each individual object can be set with Unimesh Export Overrides in Groboto's Selected Object Properties panel (leftmost tab on the right side). What is less obvious is that when boolean clusters are used, different surfaces come from different objects. You have the original, primary, object - and its density setting controls all of its surfaces. Then you add trim objects, which creates new surfaces - and density on this surfaces is controlled by the density setting of the trim object. Select the trim object in the boolean list while the cluster is activated for editing and increase its density in the overrides, and re-mesh.

[nzapegore]

It's probably just me...
I do have a question, does setting the UniMesh Export Overide on a Primary object affect that objects mesh density or does it work just as a percentage, because as I increase the overall density within the Output screen my UniMesh export Overides automatically increases. I thought this was supposed to set the mesh at a predefined level thus not changing its mesh density....

[boris]

You can have it either way. There's a checkbox near the Density Type pop-up called 'Scale Obj Overrides'. If it's unchecked changing the overall density does not change the density of objects for which overrides are turned on; if it's checked, changing the overall density changes all override densities by the same proportion (e.g. doubling the overall density doubles all overrides).

[nzapegore]

Sorry Boris...

For some reason I had thought ticking the scale obj overrides preserves the mesh overrides already set but now I realise it's the opposite. This will help a lot...

[JeffrySG]

http://i.imgur.com/KPBu8.png

I was able to clean up that test model quite a bit with the suggestions!

As a thought, it might be nice to have another setting in the export area that would let the user adjust the mesh density by length value to enable the user to create a uniformly dense mesh regardless of the settings on each of the boolean objects. Just an idea.

[boris]

Jeff,

You can essentially do this by selecting Variable: Obj Size Proportional in the Density Type pop-up. With that the number of polygons increases proportional to object size, which makes polygon size independent of object size. You might still get a bit of polygon size variation because some objects are round and some are square, and some objects, like cones, can have considerable polygon size variation within a single object.