& Construction

Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing

Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Any referenced datasets can be downloaded from "Module downloads" in the module overview.
Transcript
00:02
The topology so far creates quite soft surfaces.
00:06
So we can use the Bevel and the Crease tools to create some sharpness.
00:11
So I'll start with Bevel and have a look at this rear fender area.
00:16
So Bevel is a variation on the Insert tool,
00:19
but it has Distance set as the default Offset mode.
00:23
And there's this Edge Loop setting, which is quite useful,
00:26
so I'll use that to pick this edge loop here
00:29
and just do a space bar for Build
00:32
and then either adjust this Distance slider or more typically
00:35
just click and drag with the left mouse button.
00:39
And if I zoom in here,
00:41
a division of 1 deletes the original edge and
00:44
adds two new edges spaced equally either side.
00:48
So I can increase those divisions here
00:50
or interactively with the middle mouse button.
00:55
And then I've got a Crown option to go from rounded to flat
00:59
and I can use the right mouse button
01:00
and I'll stick with 1 for a rounded fillet effect.
01:05
And typically I'll use two divisions which keeps a central edge
01:09
and then a bigger distance gives a softer edge
01:12
and a smaller distance makes it more like a fillet
01:17
So that gives quite a nice sharp highlight.
01:21
But Bevel will add complexity.
01:24
So here I've got a lot of vertices that will need managing.
01:28
So I can undo that with a Ctrl-Z.
01:31
And then if I take this Edge Loop setting off,
01:34
I could just do the Bevel on a few edges instead.
01:37
And then when I build it,
01:39
it gets created OK,
01:41
but again, I get complexity in the limit surfaces.
01:46
So I can undo that or if you can't undo
01:49
you just need to pick the new edges and hit the Delete key.
01:53
But be aware that the original edge CVs won't necessarily be
01:56
in exactly the same place as before you did the Bevel,
01:60
so use undo if you can.
02:03
So an alternative is the Crease tool.
02:06
It doesn't have any options, so we select the edges first.
02:09
So I'm gonna do this wheel arch
02:11
and then just hit Crease
02:13
and it creates a sharp edge on the limit surfaces,
02:15
but without adding any extra edge loops.
02:20
Now, if I just take off the shading here and I open up the Draw Style options,
02:25
you can see that by default,
02:27
interior edges are shown in single line thickness,
02:30
boundary edges are double,
02:32
and creased edges are displayed at four times thickness, so they are easy to spot.
02:37
And just note that I've made this selection color whiter for these videos.
02:41
It'll normally be a pale orange.
02:45
So I could use Crease instead of Bevel for this fender.
02:48
And I'll start with the whole edge loop and Crease.
02:51
And that's a really quick way of adding definition into the model.
02:56
It's also easy to remove a crease.
02:59
So if I don't want to see this break in the wheel arch, I can simply pick the edges
03:03
and do an Uncrease.
03:05
So then the crease will attempt to fade out smoothly.
03:09
And if it doesn't fade the way you want
03:12
over here on the palette in the Subdivision tab,
03:14
there's an extra tool called Modify Crease.
03:19
And if you then click on the creased edge,
03:22
then where it's red at this boundary edge, it's locked and you can't modify it.
03:26
But if there's enough edges, ideally, at least three or four,
03:30
then I can modify the fade out. So if I go from 3 to 4, that edge softens off a bit
03:36
or a bit more
03:38
or I can turn it off.
03:40
And when the Modify is applied,
03:42
these sliders become active for modifying the sharpness
03:46
and the bias.
03:47
But typically I'd leave these at the default values to create a simple crease.
03:52
And this Modify option can be a bit tricky.
03:55
So it won't work here where the ends are both locked
03:58
and it won't work if you haven't got enough edges to control the fade out.
04:04
So finally, I'm just going to have a look at a more finished example here
04:08
just to show you that the Crease has some limitations.
04:11
So down here, for example, I've creased along these three edges
04:15
and it's creating some distortion in the limit surfaces.
04:19
So you might remodel that or use Bevel instead.
04:25
But in general, it's a really efficient way to add definition to features
04:29
without increasing complexity on the control cage,
04:32
which is particularly useful as you're building up the topology.
Video transcript
00:02
The topology so far creates quite soft surfaces.
00:06
So we can use the Bevel and the Crease tools to create some sharpness.
00:11
So I'll start with Bevel and have a look at this rear fender area.
00:16
So Bevel is a variation on the Insert tool,
00:19
but it has Distance set as the default Offset mode.
00:23
And there's this Edge Loop setting, which is quite useful,
00:26
so I'll use that to pick this edge loop here
00:29
and just do a space bar for Build
00:32
and then either adjust this Distance slider or more typically
00:35
just click and drag with the left mouse button.
00:39
And if I zoom in here,
00:41
a division of 1 deletes the original edge and
00:44
adds two new edges spaced equally either side.
00:48
So I can increase those divisions here
00:50
or interactively with the middle mouse button.
00:55
And then I've got a Crown option to go from rounded to flat
00:59
and I can use the right mouse button
01:00
and I'll stick with 1 for a rounded fillet effect.
01:05
And typically I'll use two divisions which keeps a central edge
01:09
and then a bigger distance gives a softer edge
01:12
and a smaller distance makes it more like a fillet
01:17
So that gives quite a nice sharp highlight.
01:21
But Bevel will add complexity.
01:24
So here I've got a lot of vertices that will need managing.
01:28
So I can undo that with a Ctrl-Z.
01:31
And then if I take this Edge Loop setting off,
01:34
I could just do the Bevel on a few edges instead.
01:37
And then when I build it,
01:39
it gets created OK,
01:41
but again, I get complexity in the limit surfaces.
01:46
So I can undo that or if you can't undo
01:49
you just need to pick the new edges and hit the Delete key.
01:53
But be aware that the original edge CVs won't necessarily be
01:56
in exactly the same place as before you did the Bevel,
01:60
so use undo if you can.
02:03
So an alternative is the Crease tool.
02:06
It doesn't have any options, so we select the edges first.
02:09
So I'm gonna do this wheel arch
02:11
and then just hit Crease
02:13
and it creates a sharp edge on the limit surfaces,
02:15
but without adding any extra edge loops.
02:20
Now, if I just take off the shading here and I open up the Draw Style options,
02:25
you can see that by default,
02:27
interior edges are shown in single line thickness,
02:30
boundary edges are double,
02:32
and creased edges are displayed at four times thickness, so they are easy to spot.
02:37
And just note that I've made this selection color whiter for these videos.
02:41
It'll normally be a pale orange.
02:45
So I could use Crease instead of Bevel for this fender.
02:48
And I'll start with the whole edge loop and Crease.
02:51
And that's a really quick way of adding definition into the model.
02:56
It's also easy to remove a crease.
02:59
So if I don't want to see this break in the wheel arch, I can simply pick the edges
03:03
and do an Uncrease.
03:05
So then the crease will attempt to fade out smoothly.
03:09
And if it doesn't fade the way you want
03:12
over here on the palette in the Subdivision tab,
03:14
there's an extra tool called Modify Crease.
03:19
And if you then click on the creased edge,
03:22
then where it's red at this boundary edge, it's locked and you can't modify it.
03:26
But if there's enough edges, ideally, at least three or four,
03:30
then I can modify the fade out. So if I go from 3 to 4, that edge softens off a bit
03:36
or a bit more
03:38
or I can turn it off.
03:40
And when the Modify is applied,
03:42
these sliders become active for modifying the sharpness
03:46
and the bias.
03:47
But typically I'd leave these at the default values to create a simple crease.
03:52
And this Modify option can be a bit tricky.
03:55
So it won't work here where the ends are both locked
03:58
and it won't work if you haven't got enough edges to control the fade out.
04:04
So finally, I'm just going to have a look at a more finished example here
04:08
just to show you that the Crease has some limitations.
04:11
So down here, for example, I've creased along these three edges
04:15
and it's creating some distortion in the limit surfaces.
04:19
So you might remodel that or use Bevel instead.
04:25
But in general, it's a really efficient way to add definition to features
04:29
without increasing complexity on the control cage,
04:32
which is particularly useful as you're building up the topology.
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