Become familiar with the dedicated Subdivision Workspace as you discover subdivision modeling methods and terminology.
Tutorial resources
These downloadable resources will be used to complete this tutorial:
Transcript
00:02
In Alias, we can create smooth NURBS models
00:05
using subdivision modeling techniques.
00:09
A subdivision object has an orange wire frame
00:12
but sometimes it will be shown green if it's got construction history
00:15
like Symmetry Align here.
00:19
The individual patches are known as limit surfaces
00:22
and we don't manipulate these directly.
00:24
Instead we use the subdivision control cage
00:28
that I can show with this box shading mode
00:30
and manipulate by turning on the control vertices.
00:35
And then I can use the normal Selection and Transform tools
00:39
to shape the subdivision either in the box shading
00:42
or more typically with surface shading.
00:45
And you can see that all the limit surfaces update and stay connected and smooth.
00:51
And because these are NURBS surfaces, I can create a hybrid model.
00:56
So you can maintain the simplicity of the SubD control cage
01:00
but also use traditional NURBS trimming and surface tools.
01:05
So here I've projected curves and trimmed holes in the limit surfaces
01:09
and added a surface filet
01:11
and the same up here
01:13
all with history and without affecting or over-complicating the SubD topology.
01:19
So you can present a finished design but keep the subdivision model easy to change.
01:26
And the topology of the control cage is key
01:28
to sculpting more complex shapes like this car.
01:32
So we're generally aiming for quads where possible
01:35
with a good flow in both directions.
01:38
But we do have the flexibility with subdivisions to use star
01:41
points like these five edges coming into one point here,
01:45
and n-gons like this five sided one
01:48
and three sides down here.
01:51
And this thicker edge is a crease on the subdivision cage
01:55
which gives a sharp edge on the limit surfaces.
01:59
So if I check the G2 curvature continuity,
02:02
all the non-creased surfaces are smoothly connected.
02:06
And where a crease is specified, you get G0 position continuity.
02:13
You won't get production quality highlights,
02:15
but you do maintain a smooth coherent object as you make changes.
02:20
And this means that you can focus on shaping
02:22
your design by moving the control cage vertices.
02:26
And the subdivision math does all the work
02:28
of keeping those limit surfaces smooth and connected,
02:31
which is a big time-saver around tricky blended areas like this wheel arch.
00:02
In Alias, we can create smooth NURBS models
00:05
using subdivision modeling techniques.
00:09
A subdivision object has an orange wire frame
00:12
but sometimes it will be shown green if it's got construction history
00:15
like Symmetry Align here.
00:19
The individual patches are known as limit surfaces
00:22
and we don't manipulate these directly.
00:24
Instead we use the subdivision control cage
00:28
that I can show with this box shading mode
00:30
and manipulate by turning on the control vertices.
00:35
And then I can use the normal Selection and Transform tools
00:39
to shape the subdivision either in the box shading
00:42
or more typically with surface shading.
00:45
And you can see that all the limit surfaces update and stay connected and smooth.
00:51
And because these are NURBS surfaces, I can create a hybrid model.
00:56
So you can maintain the simplicity of the SubD control cage
01:00
but also use traditional NURBS trimming and surface tools.
01:05
So here I've projected curves and trimmed holes in the limit surfaces
01:09
and added a surface filet
01:11
and the same up here
01:13
all with history and without affecting or over-complicating the SubD topology.
01:19
So you can present a finished design but keep the subdivision model easy to change.
01:26
And the topology of the control cage is key
01:28
to sculpting more complex shapes like this car.
01:32
So we're generally aiming for quads where possible
01:35
with a good flow in both directions.
01:38
But we do have the flexibility with subdivisions to use star
01:41
points like these five edges coming into one point here,
01:45
and n-gons like this five sided one
01:48
and three sides down here.
01:51
And this thicker edge is a crease on the subdivision cage
01:55
which gives a sharp edge on the limit surfaces.
01:59
So if I check the G2 curvature continuity,
02:02
all the non-creased surfaces are smoothly connected.
02:06
And where a crease is specified, you get G0 position continuity.
02:13
You won't get production quality highlights,
02:15
but you do maintain a smooth coherent object as you make changes.
02:20
And this means that you can focus on shaping
02:22
your design by moving the control cage vertices.
02:26
And the subdivision math does all the work
02:28
of keeping those limit surfaces smooth and connected,
02:31
which is a big time-saver around tricky blended areas like this wheel arch.
Transcript
00:03
If you prefer to stay in the Default Workspace,
00:06
then you can access all of the Subdivision tools here in the palette.
00:11
And if you use a shelf,
00:12
you could use the middle mouse button to drag that onto the shelf as a separate tab.
00:17
And that opens out all of the tools onto a single level
00:20
which makes them easy to access.
00:24
And you'll also want easy access to
00:25
the subdivision selection tools here under point types
00:30
and here under SubD.
00:32
So you can either add these to your shelf as well
00:35
or like I've done here, to your marking menu.
00:40
Alternatively, you can go directly to the dedicated Subdivision Workspace
00:45
and this has a shelf docked at the
00:47
top with most of the subdivision tools already added
00:50
and the Symmetry tool here and some useful curve tools.
00:55
The marking menus have Pick Vertex, Edge Face and Face and Edge Loop already added.
01:01
And over here in the Control Panel, there's a dedicated SubD panel shelf
01:06
with Transform, Display and Navigation tools.
01:10
And these have been set up with the default Maya hotkeys.
01:14
And because we're using numeric hotkeys and the letter R which is reserved,
01:19
you need to turn off the Auto prompt line mode here for those single hotkeys to work.
01:25
So you can use 2 for box shading
01:30
and 4 to display the vertices.
01:33
And then I could use the marking menu to pick an edge loop
01:37
and then R for Scale
01:41
and W for Move
01:44
and make changes to your model.
01:47
And then when you're finished, you can use 5 to turn off the controls.
01:53
And finally, the palette isn't shown by default,
01:56
but you can open it at any time from the Windows menu
01:59
if you need access to any of the palette tools.
00:03
If you prefer to stay in the Default Workspace,
00:06
then you can access all of the Subdivision tools here in the palette.
00:11
And if you use a shelf,
00:12
you could use the middle mouse button to drag that onto the shelf as a separate tab.
00:17
And that opens out all of the tools onto a single level
00:20
which makes them easy to access.
00:24
And you'll also want easy access to
00:25
the subdivision selection tools here under point types
00:30
and here under SubD.
00:32
So you can either add these to your shelf as well
00:35
or like I've done here, to your marking menu.
00:40
Alternatively, you can go directly to the dedicated Subdivision Workspace
00:45
and this has a shelf docked at the
00:47
top with most of the subdivision tools already added
00:50
and the Symmetry tool here and some useful curve tools.
00:55
The marking menus have Pick Vertex, Edge Face and Face and Edge Loop already added.
01:01
And over here in the Control Panel, there's a dedicated SubD panel shelf
01:06
with Transform, Display and Navigation tools.
01:10
And these have been set up with the default Maya hotkeys.
01:14
And because we're using numeric hotkeys and the letter R which is reserved,
01:19
you need to turn off the Auto prompt line mode here for those single hotkeys to work.
01:25
So you can use 2 for box shading
01:30
and 4 to display the vertices.
01:33
And then I could use the marking menu to pick an edge loop
01:37
and then R for Scale
01:41
and W for Move
01:44
and make changes to your model.
01:47
And then when you're finished, you can use 5 to turn off the controls.
01:53
And finally, the palette isn't shown by default,
01:56
but you can open it at any time from the Windows menu
01:59
if you need access to any of the palette tools.
Transcript
00:03
I can use primitives to create some of the basic shapes for this bike.
00:07
There's four subdivision primitives here on the palette
00:10
and up here on the shelf.
00:13
So I'll just start with the SubD cylinder
00:16
and it says enter the position.
00:17
So if I click in the perspective view, it gets created in a column orientation
00:22
centered on the ground plane.
00:24
So if I wanted to do this part of the exhaust, for example,
00:27
I'd need to rotate this by clicking here
00:30
and typing 90 degrees in the prompt line.
00:33
Alternatively, if I just delete that one,
00:36
what most users do is first choose an orthographic view and then place the cylinder
00:41
so that it's already in the orientation that I wanted.
00:44
And that just saves me doing the rotation.
00:48
So then I can use the Transform manipulator to
00:51
get that into the right shape and position.
00:56
For the front forks. I can use another cylinder.
00:59
And this time I'll use the top view to place it
01:02
and then I can use the left orthographic view to stretch it and scale it
01:07
and move it roughly into position.
01:11
And now if I rotate it,
01:12
you'll see that the Transform manipulator goes with it when I'm in this Pivot mode.
01:16
So the scaling still works nicely.
01:19
And here it can be useful to use the Move Pivot tool to control that pivot position.
01:24
And I'll just drag it so you can see the green pivot point.
01:28
And I'm just gonna hold down the Ctrl key
01:30
to snap it accurately to this vertex point,
01:34
so that now when I do a transform,
01:36
the scaling and rotation is working from that
01:38
pivot point in a much more manageable way.
01:42
And I've always got the option to switch to Global if
01:44
I prefer to work in the grid directions around the centroid.
01:49
So I'm gonna leave these two as simple cylinders.
01:54
But for the seat, I'll need a more sculpted shape.
01:56
So I'll start with a box primitive and I'll double click or Shift-click
01:59
to open the option window.
02:02
But first, I'll just place it
02:04
and shade it
02:06
and scale it a bit
02:08
and it doesn't look much like a box because it's
02:10
the control cage shape that box is referring to.
02:15
So I can get that a bit wider.
02:17
And now it's really important to keep this
02:19
window open so you can change these settings.
02:22
So I can make a guess as to what I'm going to need
02:26
and I can continue to transform the box.
02:30
But as soon as I close that window, I can't get back to it.
02:32
There's no Query Edit History on SubDs,
02:36
but that's not a problem because let's say I now spend some time sculpting the seat,
02:41
either using the Transform tool or the individual Move,
02:44
Rotate and Scale tools whichever you prefer.
02:50
So I'll get more of a seat shape.
02:52
I can bring up the middle a bit
02:54
and then maybe drop this center part down
02:59
and then maybe rotate the whole seat and move it up a bit.
03:03
And then now if I need to change the number of divisions in either direction,
03:06
I can use Delete and Insert.
03:09
So if I use Pick Edge Loop,
03:11
I can then just hit Delete on the keyboard to remove one
03:14
and to add divisions, I can use the Insert tool here.
03:17
And there's two options.
03:20
Parallel is the default,
03:21
which means I select an edge loop in the direction that I want an extra one in
03:25
and then just drag it to the location I want.
03:28
And I can do that in either shading mode,
03:31
but I'm gonna undo that one.
03:32
And then this time I'll use the Perpendicular option instead.
03:37
And here I just click on any edge to break in a new edge loop across it.
03:43
And it's up to you which one you prefer to use.
03:47
So you can keep sculpting and adding or deleting
03:50
divisions until you get the shape you want.
03:53
And you can create some quite useful
03:55
results starting from simple primitive shapes.
00:03
I can use primitives to create some of the basic shapes for this bike.
00:07
There's four subdivision primitives here on the palette
00:10
and up here on the shelf.
00:13
So I'll just start with the SubD cylinder
00:16
and it says enter the position.
00:17
So if I click in the perspective view, it gets created in a column orientation
00:22
centered on the ground plane.
00:24
So if I wanted to do this part of the exhaust, for example,
00:27
I'd need to rotate this by clicking here
00:30
and typing 90 degrees in the prompt line.
00:33
Alternatively, if I just delete that one,
00:36
what most users do is first choose an orthographic view and then place the cylinder
00:41
so that it's already in the orientation that I wanted.
00:44
And that just saves me doing the rotation.
00:48
So then I can use the Transform manipulator to
00:51
get that into the right shape and position.
00:56
For the front forks. I can use another cylinder.
00:59
And this time I'll use the top view to place it
01:02
and then I can use the left orthographic view to stretch it and scale it
01:07
and move it roughly into position.
01:11
And now if I rotate it,
01:12
you'll see that the Transform manipulator goes with it when I'm in this Pivot mode.
01:16
So the scaling still works nicely.
01:19
And here it can be useful to use the Move Pivot tool to control that pivot position.
01:24
And I'll just drag it so you can see the green pivot point.
01:28
And I'm just gonna hold down the Ctrl key
01:30
to snap it accurately to this vertex point,
01:34
so that now when I do a transform,
01:36
the scaling and rotation is working from that
01:38
pivot point in a much more manageable way.
01:42
And I've always got the option to switch to Global if
01:44
I prefer to work in the grid directions around the centroid.
01:49
So I'm gonna leave these two as simple cylinders.
01:54
But for the seat, I'll need a more sculpted shape.
01:56
So I'll start with a box primitive and I'll double click or Shift-click
01:59
to open the option window.
02:02
But first, I'll just place it
02:04
and shade it
02:06
and scale it a bit
02:08
and it doesn't look much like a box because it's
02:10
the control cage shape that box is referring to.
02:15
So I can get that a bit wider.
02:17
And now it's really important to keep this
02:19
window open so you can change these settings.
02:22
So I can make a guess as to what I'm going to need
02:26
and I can continue to transform the box.
02:30
But as soon as I close that window, I can't get back to it.
02:32
There's no Query Edit History on SubDs,
02:36
but that's not a problem because let's say I now spend some time sculpting the seat,
02:41
either using the Transform tool or the individual Move,
02:44
Rotate and Scale tools whichever you prefer.
02:50
So I'll get more of a seat shape.
02:52
I can bring up the middle a bit
02:54
and then maybe drop this center part down
02:59
and then maybe rotate the whole seat and move it up a bit.
03:03
And then now if I need to change the number of divisions in either direction,
03:06
I can use Delete and Insert.
03:09
So if I use Pick Edge Loop,
03:11
I can then just hit Delete on the keyboard to remove one
03:14
and to add divisions, I can use the Insert tool here.
03:17
And there's two options.
03:20
Parallel is the default,
03:21
which means I select an edge loop in the direction that I want an extra one in
03:25
and then just drag it to the location I want.
03:28
And I can do that in either shading mode,
03:31
but I'm gonna undo that one.
03:32
And then this time I'll use the Perpendicular option instead.
03:37
And here I just click on any edge to break in a new edge loop across it.
03:43
And it's up to you which one you prefer to use.
03:47
So you can keep sculpting and adding or deleting
03:50
divisions until you get the shape you want.
03:53
And you can create some quite useful
03:55
results starting from simple primitive shapes.
Transcript
00:02
In this next example, I've built some simple block shapes using NURBS surfaces
00:07
as these give me very clean reflections.
00:10
So I'm going to use the side surfaces
00:13
and with Retopo,
00:14
I'm going to select the surfaces as targets
00:17
and then Next and then Go.
00:21
And a slightly different way of working is
00:23
to just start by specifying the whole shape
00:26
and then creating a large face
00:29
and then I'll do another one.
00:31
And then I can just use Insert using Shift
00:35
to add divisions
00:36
in particular where I've got features I want to capture.
00:40
And because we had smooth target geometry,
00:43
the subdivision has got pretty good highlights
00:46
which gives me a good starting point to develop the side of the vehicle.
00:51
And with the roof,
00:52
I'll use the NURBS surfaces and an existing SubD
00:56
which doesn't fit the roof shape yet.
00:59
So if I do
00:60
retopo, I'll pick the target surfaces as before.
01:02
But this time, I'll answer the second prompt by selecting the SubD
01:06
and then hit Go.
01:09
Now this doesn't automatically snap to the target surfaces
01:12
until I pick and move a vertex.
01:16
And I can use the Relax tool with the right mouse button as
01:19
a quick way to get all of the vertices attached onto that target.
01:27
And then if I don't use any target geometry, so I'll just hit Next and Go,
01:33
I can create directly in a view plane.
01:36
So I'll choose the side view
01:38
and then draw freely with all of the
01:40
Retopo tools.
01:42
And there's no great advantage to this, but some users just like the Retopo
01:46
workflow and prefer it to starting with curves or primitives.
01:53
Now, this only creates a flat SubD in that view plane.
01:56
So I would delete the construction history so that
01:59
the vertices no longer snap back to the plane
02:02
and then move it and edit it with the normal
02:04
SubD tools to start building up this cant rail.
00:02
In this next example, I've built some simple block shapes using NURBS surfaces
00:07
as these give me very clean reflections.
00:10
So I'm going to use the side surfaces
00:13
and with Retopo,
00:14
I'm going to select the surfaces as targets
00:17
and then Next and then Go.
00:21
And a slightly different way of working is
00:23
to just start by specifying the whole shape
00:26
and then creating a large face
00:29
and then I'll do another one.
00:31
And then I can just use Insert using Shift
00:35
to add divisions
00:36
in particular where I've got features I want to capture.
00:40
And because we had smooth target geometry,
00:43
the subdivision has got pretty good highlights
00:46
which gives me a good starting point to develop the side of the vehicle.
00:51
And with the roof,
00:52
I'll use the NURBS surfaces and an existing SubD
00:56
which doesn't fit the roof shape yet.
00:59
So if I do
00:60
retopo, I'll pick the target surfaces as before.
01:02
But this time, I'll answer the second prompt by selecting the SubD
01:06
and then hit Go.
01:09
Now this doesn't automatically snap to the target surfaces
01:12
until I pick and move a vertex.
01:16
And I can use the Relax tool with the right mouse button as
01:19
a quick way to get all of the vertices attached onto that target.
01:27
And then if I don't use any target geometry, so I'll just hit Next and Go,
01:33
I can create directly in a view plane.
01:36
So I'll choose the side view
01:38
and then draw freely with all of the
01:40
Retopo tools.
01:42
And there's no great advantage to this, but some users just like the Retopo
01:46
workflow and prefer it to starting with curves or primitives.
01:53
Now, this only creates a flat SubD in that view plane.
01:56
So I would delete the construction history so that
01:59
the vertices no longer snap back to the plane
02:02
and then move it and edit it with the normal
02:04
SubD tools to start building up this cant rail.
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.
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.
Transcript
00:02
As the design develops, you'll end up with more CVs
00:06
and in wireframe, the ones in the distance and the foreground are all visible.
00:11
And so if I do a box-select,
00:14
I kind of expect to select these ones at the front and these ones behind.
00:20
But that becomes more of an issue when I'm using box mode
00:23
because I don't see the CVs behind the shading.
00:27
So it looks like I've done a controlled selection.
00:30
But in fact, I've accidentally selected these ones behind.
00:36
It's not so much of a problem in surface shading
00:39
because I can see the obscured CVs
00:42
and that's due to this Xray setting that gives them a partial visibility,
00:47
so you can see them,
00:49
but you're still at risk of selecting them.
00:53
And that's why we have this icon up here for Camera-based Selection.
00:58
And when that's on, a drag-select won't select the ones behind.
01:03
The shading occludes the selection.
01:06
And that works for box mode shading too.
01:09
And this icon is a shortcut for the Preferences > Selection Options here
01:14
and it defaults to just Shaded occlusion,
01:17
but I can choose to use both Shaded and Wireframe.
01:23
So then without shading,
01:25
I still have the occlusion effect for the selection
01:28
even in the wireframe.
01:30
And I can always toggle that off and switch back to being able to pick through.
01:36
And it's worth keeping an eye on that setting so
01:38
that you always get the behavior that you're expecting.
01:44
Another way of managing lots of geometry is selection sets.
01:48
So let's say I want to select this hood
01:50
and I can use the Grow tool here to get the faces that I want.
01:55
Then if I want to pick that often,
01:57
I can come up to the Edit menu and create a selection set from it.
02:01
And there's a couple of options, but I'll just take the default setting and say go
02:07
and then here on the Windows menu, I've got the Selection Set Lister
02:11
and I can rename the set here if I want to.
02:15
And if I do a Pick Nothing, then on the palette, I've got a Pick Selection Set tool
02:19
that'll pick the whole set with just one click
02:23
and a set can be surfaces, curves, faces, CVs or a mixture.
02:29
So here I can pick this line of CVs
02:32
and create another selection set
02:35
and I can rename it here.
02:39
And when I use Pick Selection Set,
02:41
I need to click on a member of that set,
02:43
so a CV, in this case.
02:46
I can't just pick on the edge of the hull to select it.
02:50
Alternatively, I can pick it using the entries in the Set Lister.
02:56
So if you're going to use selection sets,
02:58
it's probably worth adding the pick tool to your marking menu.
03:03
And another tool that some users also add is Pick Hull
03:07
because picking SubD elements and CVs can be a bit confusing.
03:12
So here if I use Pick Edge, it actually does two things.
03:15
It selects the edge which I use for SubD tools like Bevel or Crease.
03:21
But also when I do a transform CV, it selected the two CVs associated with that edge
03:29
and Pick Face has the same two selections,
03:32
the face object for tools like Extrude or Extract,
03:36
but also the four CVs on the corners for Transform
03:42
and the same for edge loop,
03:44
I've got edges
03:46
but I only see selected CVs when I activate the Transform CV tool.
03:51
So if I want to pick those CVs first, I can use Pick Hull instead
03:56
and it selects the same range
03:58
but only the CVs not the edges.
04:01
And for some tools like Align up here,
04:04
that's what's required.
04:08
And then just a final tip is to explore
04:10
these different settings for the three mouse buttons,
04:14
they're fully customizable. But there are four options for only three buttons.
04:19
And the one not in the default settings is Pick,
04:22
so I'll show you that. And I'm going to put that onto my middle mouse button
04:26
and then put add back on to the left because it's so useful.
04:30
And that just means I no longer have the toggle option.
04:34
So then if I pick some faces
04:37
and then I want to pick over here instead,
04:39
previously, I'd have to do a Pick Nothing first,
04:43
but with the middle mouse button, I can just pick this one instead
04:47
and then use the left button to add
04:49
and add again
04:51
and I can use the right button to unpick.
04:55
So that pick option just means I don't have to use
04:58
Pick Nothing to go and pick a completely different item.
05:02
So there's no right or wrong for these.
05:04
It's just up to you to explore the settings and see if they suit you better
05:08
or to just keep the default settings if you're used to those.
00:02
As the design develops, you'll end up with more CVs
00:06
and in wireframe, the ones in the distance and the foreground are all visible.
00:11
And so if I do a box-select,
00:14
I kind of expect to select these ones at the front and these ones behind.
00:20
But that becomes more of an issue when I'm using box mode
00:23
because I don't see the CVs behind the shading.
00:27
So it looks like I've done a controlled selection.
00:30
But in fact, I've accidentally selected these ones behind.
00:36
It's not so much of a problem in surface shading
00:39
because I can see the obscured CVs
00:42
and that's due to this Xray setting that gives them a partial visibility,
00:47
so you can see them,
00:49
but you're still at risk of selecting them.
00:53
And that's why we have this icon up here for Camera-based Selection.
00:58
And when that's on, a drag-select won't select the ones behind.
01:03
The shading occludes the selection.
01:06
And that works for box mode shading too.
01:09
And this icon is a shortcut for the Preferences > Selection Options here
01:14
and it defaults to just Shaded occlusion,
01:17
but I can choose to use both Shaded and Wireframe.
01:23
So then without shading,
01:25
I still have the occlusion effect for the selection
01:28
even in the wireframe.
01:30
And I can always toggle that off and switch back to being able to pick through.
01:36
And it's worth keeping an eye on that setting so
01:38
that you always get the behavior that you're expecting.
01:44
Another way of managing lots of geometry is selection sets.
01:48
So let's say I want to select this hood
01:50
and I can use the Grow tool here to get the faces that I want.
01:55
Then if I want to pick that often,
01:57
I can come up to the Edit menu and create a selection set from it.
02:01
And there's a couple of options, but I'll just take the default setting and say go
02:07
and then here on the Windows menu, I've got the Selection Set Lister
02:11
and I can rename the set here if I want to.
02:15
And if I do a Pick Nothing, then on the palette, I've got a Pick Selection Set tool
02:19
that'll pick the whole set with just one click
02:23
and a set can be surfaces, curves, faces, CVs or a mixture.
02:29
So here I can pick this line of CVs
02:32
and create another selection set
02:35
and I can rename it here.
02:39
And when I use Pick Selection Set,
02:41
I need to click on a member of that set,
02:43
so a CV, in this case.
02:46
I can't just pick on the edge of the hull to select it.
02:50
Alternatively, I can pick it using the entries in the Set Lister.
02:56
So if you're going to use selection sets,
02:58
it's probably worth adding the pick tool to your marking menu.
03:03
And another tool that some users also add is Pick Hull
03:07
because picking SubD elements and CVs can be a bit confusing.
03:12
So here if I use Pick Edge, it actually does two things.
03:15
It selects the edge which I use for SubD tools like Bevel or Crease.
03:21
But also when I do a transform CV, it selected the two CVs associated with that edge
03:29
and Pick Face has the same two selections,
03:32
the face object for tools like Extrude or Extract,
03:36
but also the four CVs on the corners for Transform
03:42
and the same for edge loop,
03:44
I've got edges
03:46
but I only see selected CVs when I activate the Transform CV tool.
03:51
So if I want to pick those CVs first, I can use Pick Hull instead
03:56
and it selects the same range
03:58
but only the CVs not the edges.
04:01
And for some tools like Align up here,
04:04
that's what's required.
04:08
And then just a final tip is to explore
04:10
these different settings for the three mouse buttons,
04:14
they're fully customizable. But there are four options for only three buttons.
04:19
And the one not in the default settings is Pick,
04:22
so I'll show you that. And I'm going to put that onto my middle mouse button
04:26
and then put add back on to the left because it's so useful.
04:30
And that just means I no longer have the toggle option.
04:34
So then if I pick some faces
04:37
and then I want to pick over here instead,
04:39
previously, I'd have to do a Pick Nothing first,
04:43
but with the middle mouse button, I can just pick this one instead
04:47
and then use the left button to add
04:49
and add again
04:51
and I can use the right button to unpick.
04:55
So that pick option just means I don't have to use
04:58
Pick Nothing to go and pick a completely different item.
05:02
So there's no right or wrong for these.
05:04
It's just up to you to explore the settings and see if they suit you better
05:08
or to just keep the default settings if you're used to those.
Transcript
00:02
As your design develops, you'll typically have a lot of CVs.
00:08
These subdivision shelf tools turn them on or off for all of the objects
00:13
and they work well if we are, for example, managing the display with layers,
00:19
and I can further simplify the view by using these visibility tools here.
00:24
So I can say, Hide Unselected to isolate this and clear up the screen
00:29
and then just Visible to bring the others back.
00:34
But with subdivision modeling, even one object on one layer can have a lot of CVS.
00:40
And so we've also got these tools up here for CV visibility.
00:44
So let's say I just want to work on this front area here
00:48
so I can select the CVS I want and then I can do maybe an Invisible first
00:54
and then Toggle that visibility.
00:57
So that significantly reduces the complexity on the screen.
01:01
And I can pick the CVs I want more easily.
01:04
And that works even if I apply symmetry, for example.
01:08
So I can pick this CV here,
01:11
and even though the corresponding one isn't visible,
01:14
it's still selected and moved symmetrically.
01:18
And then up here, I can use Visible to get all the CVS back again.
01:24
But often we want to do our modeling with all the design components visible.
01:29
So on the dedicated Control Panel tools,
01:32
Clear All Objects works the same as Controls OFF up here.
01:36
But these ones work on the active item only,
01:39
and that means I've got a bit more control over which CVs are displayed.
01:44
But the limitation of these is that they can't be
01:46
hotkeyed or added to a shelf or marking menu.
01:50
So most users will use a shelf or hotkeyed version
01:53
or a marking menu version for speed.
01:57
And all of these are actually instances of the Display Control tool
02:02
and this lists all the control elements and sets
02:04
their visibility on or off for different situations.
02:09
But we almost never use it from the menu, instead
02:12
it's added to shelves or marking menus as customized versions.
02:16
So for example, if I double-click on here,
02:18
it's just an instance of that tool set up for
02:21
all objects to display the vertices and the hulls,
02:24
which is also edges for subdivisions.
02:27
So you could change that to Active if you prefer
02:30
or alternatively add an extra instance of the tool on your shelf,
02:33
so that you've got both All and Active as options.
02:37
And don't forget that if you want to use these numeric hotkeys,
02:40
then you need to switch to this mode on the prompt line.
02:43
So 4 for all on
02:45
and 5 for all off.
02:49
And the default marking menus are the same tools set up slightly differently.
02:53
So I've got Active here instead of All.
02:56
So I'll just pick the object first and then turn the controls on just for that object
03:01
and Controls OFF is set up for All,
03:05
but also with isoparms
03:06
on here, which I probably don't want for subdivision modeling,
03:09
so I can change that or customize any of the settings.
03:15
And then finally, you've got an alternative workflow here on Preferences > Hotkeys.
03:21
And there's a special section for Display Functions.
03:24
And this has got a list of predefined behaviors for CV display
03:28
similar to the Display Control settings
03:31
and some already have default hotkey assignments.
03:34
So I'm just going to show you one way that you
03:36
could use these efficiently if you like using hotkeys.
03:40
So I'm just gonna add F3 for All Off,
03:43
and then F4 for Active On.
03:46
And obviously you could choose whatever hotkeys you like.
03:49
But I have chosen these as being close together
03:52
on the keyboard because I will use them together.
03:55
So the workflow would be to pick the object I want to work on,
03:58
hit Active On,
03:60
do whatever I want to do with those CVs.
04:03
And then when I want to work on something else instead,
04:05
I don't have to worry about which CVs are currently displayed.
04:08
I just pick the one I want,
04:10
do an All Off and then Active On straight away
04:13
to just swap the display of CVs to that object.
04:17
So these are all methods of doing exactly the same thing,
04:20
and it's up to you to explore the options and discover which one
04:23
is the easiest and quickest for you in your day-to-day workflow.
00:02
As your design develops, you'll typically have a lot of CVs.
00:08
These subdivision shelf tools turn them on or off for all of the objects
00:13
and they work well if we are, for example, managing the display with layers,
00:19
and I can further simplify the view by using these visibility tools here.
00:24
So I can say, Hide Unselected to isolate this and clear up the screen
00:29
and then just Visible to bring the others back.
00:34
But with subdivision modeling, even one object on one layer can have a lot of CVS.
00:40
And so we've also got these tools up here for CV visibility.
00:44
So let's say I just want to work on this front area here
00:48
so I can select the CVS I want and then I can do maybe an Invisible first
00:54
and then Toggle that visibility.
00:57
So that significantly reduces the complexity on the screen.
01:01
And I can pick the CVs I want more easily.
01:04
And that works even if I apply symmetry, for example.
01:08
So I can pick this CV here,
01:11
and even though the corresponding one isn't visible,
01:14
it's still selected and moved symmetrically.
01:18
And then up here, I can use Visible to get all the CVS back again.
01:24
But often we want to do our modeling with all the design components visible.
01:29
So on the dedicated Control Panel tools,
01:32
Clear All Objects works the same as Controls OFF up here.
01:36
But these ones work on the active item only,
01:39
and that means I've got a bit more control over which CVs are displayed.
01:44
But the limitation of these is that they can't be
01:46
hotkeyed or added to a shelf or marking menu.
01:50
So most users will use a shelf or hotkeyed version
01:53
or a marking menu version for speed.
01:57
And all of these are actually instances of the Display Control tool
02:02
and this lists all the control elements and sets
02:04
their visibility on or off for different situations.
02:09
But we almost never use it from the menu, instead
02:12
it's added to shelves or marking menus as customized versions.
02:16
So for example, if I double-click on here,
02:18
it's just an instance of that tool set up for
02:21
all objects to display the vertices and the hulls,
02:24
which is also edges for subdivisions.
02:27
So you could change that to Active if you prefer
02:30
or alternatively add an extra instance of the tool on your shelf,
02:33
so that you've got both All and Active as options.
02:37
And don't forget that if you want to use these numeric hotkeys,
02:40
then you need to switch to this mode on the prompt line.
02:43
So 4 for all on
02:45
and 5 for all off.
02:49
And the default marking menus are the same tools set up slightly differently.
02:53
So I've got Active here instead of All.
02:56
So I'll just pick the object first and then turn the controls on just for that object
03:01
and Controls OFF is set up for All,
03:05
but also with isoparms
03:06
on here, which I probably don't want for subdivision modeling,
03:09
so I can change that or customize any of the settings.
03:15
And then finally, you've got an alternative workflow here on Preferences > Hotkeys.
03:21
And there's a special section for Display Functions.
03:24
And this has got a list of predefined behaviors for CV display
03:28
similar to the Display Control settings
03:31
and some already have default hotkey assignments.
03:34
So I'm just going to show you one way that you
03:36
could use these efficiently if you like using hotkeys.
03:40
So I'm just gonna add F3 for All Off,
03:43
and then F4 for Active On.
03:46
And obviously you could choose whatever hotkeys you like.
03:49
But I have chosen these as being close together
03:52
on the keyboard because I will use them together.
03:55
So the workflow would be to pick the object I want to work on,
03:58
hit Active On,
03:60
do whatever I want to do with those CVs.
04:03
And then when I want to work on something else instead,
04:05
I don't have to worry about which CVs are currently displayed.
04:08
I just pick the one I want,
04:10
do an All Off and then Active On straight away
04:13
to just swap the display of CVs to that object.
04:17
So these are all methods of doing exactly the same thing,
04:20
and it's up to you to explore the options and discover which one
04:23
is the easiest and quickest for you in your day-to-day workflow.
Transcript
00:02
As you create topology, you'll often get uneven layouts or zigzag shapes.
00:08
So I'm gonna use simple NURBS geometry,
00:11
so this for example, is just a flat plane
00:14
to help line up these vertices.
00:19
So I use the SubD Align To Surface tool
00:22
and it says "Pick at least three CVs". So I'll just drag-select this whole row.
00:28
And I am only going to use this middle button which is Align To Surface.
00:32
And then my only decision is which way the vertices will move.
00:35
So Closest would be fine,
00:37
but in this case, I could choose Z as well.
00:41
It then says "Pick the target surface".
00:44
So I'll select that plane and then all the CVs get lined up to it.
00:49
So then if I take off the shading,
00:51
you can see that the subdivision is now green, which means construction history.
00:56
So that means that if I move the plane, the CVs will follow
00:60
or if I rotate it
01:02
and they'll always stay aligned.
01:05
But even more useful is that I can turn off the target geometry layer.
01:09
But still when I move a vertex, it's going to snap back into alignment.
01:14
So I can nudge it along, but it's always gonna stay on that plane
01:18
and that gives a really clean lower edge to that rear bumper.
01:25
Another example where I can use this is on this front wheel arch
01:29
and that's gone out of shape as I've been developing the topology.
01:34
So I've got another NURBS surface here
01:36
and this one's not completely flat, it's got a bit of curvature at the bottom.
01:41
Now, I don't really want to have to pick these vertices one by one.
01:45
So I like to use the Pick Hull tool
01:48
and I've added it here on my marking menu.
01:52
So sometimes it's easier to pick the CVs first
01:56
and then choose the Align To Surface tool.
01:59
And this time I'm gonna want the Y direction instead
02:03
and I'm gonna hit the Align To Surface button
02:06
and pick that
02:08
and the vertices just snap to the surface.
02:12
And with construction history,
02:14
they stay stuck to that surface as I make adjustments.
02:20
So some other examples,
02:23
you could use part of a cylinder to tidy up a wheel arch opening
02:28
or at the front here, I can use a NURBS surface to get a smooth centerline shape
02:32
and a coherent profile along this front edge.
02:39
But I can also just use a NURBS curve.
02:43
So for the top of this front fender, I'm going to create a curve
02:48
and a single span degree 1 will always be a straight line.
02:51
So I could increase that to degree 2.
02:55
And then I've got a middle CV that I can use to give it some shape in the side view
03:01
and then move it out a bit in the top view.
03:05
And the nice thing about degree 2 is that the curve is always planar
03:09
without any waviness.
03:12
And it's this simplicity that we want to make use of.
03:17
So I'll use Pick
03:18
Hull again to select that row of CVs along the top.
03:21
And this time, I'm going to use the Align To Curve tool.
03:25
And again, I'm just going to use this middle button Align To Curve
03:29
and it says to pick the target curve so I'll select that
03:33
and you can see that all the CVs get aligned.
03:37
Now, if I zoom in a bit,
03:38
you can see that the limit surfaces won't match the curve
03:41
exactly because it's the control cage vertices that get aligned.
03:47
And while this is still live, I'm going to have a look from the top
03:50
and show you the Uniform option here.
03:54
And this spaces out the CVs evenly along the curve,
03:58
but I will generally use Closest to maintain the layout that I had to start with.
04:05
And now I can control that whole shape with just this one CV
04:09
and the four interior vertices on the subdivision
04:11
follow that
04:12
and stay in a nice controlled relationship to each other.
04:18
And then finally, I can automatically generate the curve.
04:23
So here I've got quite a good layout, but there are a few wobbles
04:28
so I can take advantage of the work that I've
04:30
done so far by using the Generate Curve button.
04:34
But before I use it, I need to select the degree of the curve that I want to create.
04:39
So it would be degree 1 for a straight line
04:42
or degree 2 for a clean planar curve.
04:46
And degree 3 is probably what I'm going to need
04:48
here to capture this curved shape at the rear.
04:52
So once I've chosen the degree I can say generate the curve
04:56
and that does two things, it creates this curve
04:59
and it aligns the CVs.
05:02
And if I shade that up, you can see that again,
05:04
I have a history relationship where the curve shape is controlling all of those CVs.
05:13
So if I was to delete the construction history on that whole subdivision,
05:17
I would lose all of those history alignments.
05:20
But if I just want to remove one,
05:22
then I could use either the History View or the History Visualizer.
05:28
And here you can find the rear plane
05:31
and the wheel arch surface
05:33
and the fender curve and the side curve.
05:37
So if I wanted to delete the history, just for that one,
05:40
I can pick the associated Align function
05:43
and just do a delete
05:45
and then it's no longer affecting the subdivision.
05:50
Or if you want to keep it simple, you can just pick the target geometry and delete it
05:55
and that will only affect that one alignment
05:58
and leave the others still connected.
00:02
As you create topology, you'll often get uneven layouts or zigzag shapes.
00:08
So I'm gonna use simple NURBS geometry,
00:11
so this for example, is just a flat plane
00:14
to help line up these vertices.
00:19
So I use the SubD Align To Surface tool
00:22
and it says "Pick at least three CVs". So I'll just drag-select this whole row.
00:28
And I am only going to use this middle button which is Align To Surface.
00:32
And then my only decision is which way the vertices will move.
00:35
So Closest would be fine,
00:37
but in this case, I could choose Z as well.
00:41
It then says "Pick the target surface".
00:44
So I'll select that plane and then all the CVs get lined up to it.
00:49
So then if I take off the shading,
00:51
you can see that the subdivision is now green, which means construction history.
00:56
So that means that if I move the plane, the CVs will follow
00:60
or if I rotate it
01:02
and they'll always stay aligned.
01:05
But even more useful is that I can turn off the target geometry layer.
01:09
But still when I move a vertex, it's going to snap back into alignment.
01:14
So I can nudge it along, but it's always gonna stay on that plane
01:18
and that gives a really clean lower edge to that rear bumper.
01:25
Another example where I can use this is on this front wheel arch
01:29
and that's gone out of shape as I've been developing the topology.
01:34
So I've got another NURBS surface here
01:36
and this one's not completely flat, it's got a bit of curvature at the bottom.
01:41
Now, I don't really want to have to pick these vertices one by one.
01:45
So I like to use the Pick Hull tool
01:48
and I've added it here on my marking menu.
01:52
So sometimes it's easier to pick the CVs first
01:56
and then choose the Align To Surface tool.
01:59
And this time I'm gonna want the Y direction instead
02:03
and I'm gonna hit the Align To Surface button
02:06
and pick that
02:08
and the vertices just snap to the surface.
02:12
And with construction history,
02:14
they stay stuck to that surface as I make adjustments.
02:20
So some other examples,
02:23
you could use part of a cylinder to tidy up a wheel arch opening
02:28
or at the front here, I can use a NURBS surface to get a smooth centerline shape
02:32
and a coherent profile along this front edge.
02:39
But I can also just use a NURBS curve.
02:43
So for the top of this front fender, I'm going to create a curve
02:48
and a single span degree 1 will always be a straight line.
02:51
So I could increase that to degree 2.
02:55
And then I've got a middle CV that I can use to give it some shape in the side view
03:01
and then move it out a bit in the top view.
03:05
And the nice thing about degree 2 is that the curve is always planar
03:09
without any waviness.
03:12
And it's this simplicity that we want to make use of.
03:17
So I'll use Pick
03:18
Hull again to select that row of CVs along the top.
03:21
And this time, I'm going to use the Align To Curve tool.
03:25
And again, I'm just going to use this middle button Align To Curve
03:29
and it says to pick the target curve so I'll select that
03:33
and you can see that all the CVs get aligned.
03:37
Now, if I zoom in a bit,
03:38
you can see that the limit surfaces won't match the curve
03:41
exactly because it's the control cage vertices that get aligned.
03:47
And while this is still live, I'm going to have a look from the top
03:50
and show you the Uniform option here.
03:54
And this spaces out the CVs evenly along the curve,
03:58
but I will generally use Closest to maintain the layout that I had to start with.
04:05
And now I can control that whole shape with just this one CV
04:09
and the four interior vertices on the subdivision
04:11
follow that
04:12
and stay in a nice controlled relationship to each other.
04:18
And then finally, I can automatically generate the curve.
04:23
So here I've got quite a good layout, but there are a few wobbles
04:28
so I can take advantage of the work that I've
04:30
done so far by using the Generate Curve button.
04:34
But before I use it, I need to select the degree of the curve that I want to create.
04:39
So it would be degree 1 for a straight line
04:42
or degree 2 for a clean planar curve.
04:46
And degree 3 is probably what I'm going to need
04:48
here to capture this curved shape at the rear.
04:52
So once I've chosen the degree I can say generate the curve
04:56
and that does two things, it creates this curve
04:59
and it aligns the CVs.
05:02
And if I shade that up, you can see that again,
05:04
I have a history relationship where the curve shape is controlling all of those CVs.
05:13
So if I was to delete the construction history on that whole subdivision,
05:17
I would lose all of those history alignments.
05:20
But if I just want to remove one,
05:22
then I could use either the History View or the History Visualizer.
05:28
And here you can find the rear plane
05:31
and the wheel arch surface
05:33
and the fender curve and the side curve.
05:37
So if I wanted to delete the history, just for that one,
05:40
I can pick the associated Align function
05:43
and just do a delete
05:45
and then it's no longer affecting the subdivision.
05:50
Or if you want to keep it simple, you can just pick the target geometry and delete it
05:55
and that will only affect that one alignment
05:58
and leave the others still connected.
Transcript
00:02
I'm gonna show you three ways to tidy the CV layout.
00:06
And I'll start with the Planarize tool and have a look at this rear end.
00:11
There's an Edge Loop option here because Planarize works on edges, not CVs.
00:17
So if I pick those, I get a preview of the plane
00:21
and I can choose here if I want a Z direction plane centered on the selection
00:25
or a Best Fit plane that averages between the two end points.
00:30
But because I want this half to mirror across smoothly,
00:33
I'm just going to check in the side view
00:35
and there's still a little bit of twist there.
00:37
So I'm gonna choose View Based which works best when I'm in Orthographic
00:42
as it's created perpendicular to the view plane and between the two end points.
00:48
And if I zoom in these yellow lines show the Projection Type,
00:52
so Closest moves the CVs 90 degrees to the plane,
00:56
and Adaptive moves them in the direction of the edges.
01:00
So then I can just hit space bar to Planarize,
01:04
and you can see that the subdivision
01:05
isn't green because there's no construction history.
01:08
But because I can pick by edge loop, it's very quick to pick another,
01:12
do a space bar
01:14
and another and a space bar.
01:17
So that does a nice job of making that layout more controlled and regular.
01:22
And we can do a similar job with the Align To Curve tool.
01:27
So let's just say I wanted these CVs to be in a straight line.
01:31
So a straight line here would be degree 1.
01:34
I'm just going to use the simple Align option
01:36
and it's highlighted as the default.
01:38
So space bar will align all of those
01:40
without creating the actual curve or the history.
01:44
And then I can use my Shift to Add-select
01:47
and space bar again
01:50
and again, Shift and Add up to here and space bar.
01:55
So that's straightened out these three sets of edges.
01:59
And then on this hood area,
02:01
I'm going to want curved shapes, not straight lines.
02:04
So I can use degree 2
02:07
and I'll pick from here and Shift-Add to here
02:11
and then just do the space bar to Align
02:14
and I can select again
02:16
and space bar
02:18
and again,
02:20
and that does a really quick tidy up.
02:23
And the key really is to understand the
02:25
effect of different degrees on a curved shape.
02:30
So then finally, I've got a Smooth tool
02:33
and this has got two modes, Smooth and Relax.
02:37
So I'll start with Smooth and keep this Strength value reasonably low.
02:43
And then I just click and hold and drag
02:45
across faces to reduce the angles between the edges
02:49
and smooth out some of these zigzags.
02:52
And again, there's no history but the Undo works well
02:56
and I can reduce this Strength value
02:58
and then do it again more iteratively this time with a bit more control.
03:05
And if I do a Smooth on this middle section here,
03:07
it will soften that inwards, but it doesn't really change the layout much.
03:13
Whereas if I now switch to Relax and do the same thing,
03:17
then it does the same smoothing. But it also changes the edge lengths
03:21
and moves towards a more even distribution
03:24
which changes the layout quite significantly
03:28
Over here, if I use smooth it
03:31
improves the layout, but I've still got this angle here.
03:35
So I'll do an Undo
03:36
and this time I'll use Relax
03:40
and I get a nicer layout.
03:42
But if that's too much, I can do Undo again,
03:45
reduce the Strength
03:47
and then just do a series of small click and drags to get a more subtle result.
03:54
But be aware that even in Smooth mode, you can lose too much of your design shape,
03:59
particularly in the interior.
04:03
And with Relax, the effect is even stronger.
04:06
So to avoid losing too much of your original work, then keep a low strength value
04:11
and just use Undo if you go too far.
00:02
I'm gonna show you three ways to tidy the CV layout.
00:06
And I'll start with the Planarize tool and have a look at this rear end.
00:11
There's an Edge Loop option here because Planarize works on edges, not CVs.
00:17
So if I pick those, I get a preview of the plane
00:21
and I can choose here if I want a Z direction plane centered on the selection
00:25
or a Best Fit plane that averages between the two end points.
00:30
But because I want this half to mirror across smoothly,
00:33
I'm just going to check in the side view
00:35
and there's still a little bit of twist there.
00:37
So I'm gonna choose View Based which works best when I'm in Orthographic
00:42
as it's created perpendicular to the view plane and between the two end points.
00:48
And if I zoom in these yellow lines show the Projection Type,
00:52
so Closest moves the CVs 90 degrees to the plane,
00:56
and Adaptive moves them in the direction of the edges.
01:00
So then I can just hit space bar to Planarize,
01:04
and you can see that the subdivision
01:05
isn't green because there's no construction history.
01:08
But because I can pick by edge loop, it's very quick to pick another,
01:12
do a space bar
01:14
and another and a space bar.
01:17
So that does a nice job of making that layout more controlled and regular.
01:22
And we can do a similar job with the Align To Curve tool.
01:27
So let's just say I wanted these CVs to be in a straight line.
01:31
So a straight line here would be degree 1.
01:34
I'm just going to use the simple Align option
01:36
and it's highlighted as the default.
01:38
So space bar will align all of those
01:40
without creating the actual curve or the history.
01:44
And then I can use my Shift to Add-select
01:47
and space bar again
01:50
and again, Shift and Add up to here and space bar.
01:55
So that's straightened out these three sets of edges.
01:59
And then on this hood area,
02:01
I'm going to want curved shapes, not straight lines.
02:04
So I can use degree 2
02:07
and I'll pick from here and Shift-Add to here
02:11
and then just do the space bar to Align
02:14
and I can select again
02:16
and space bar
02:18
and again,
02:20
and that does a really quick tidy up.
02:23
And the key really is to understand the
02:25
effect of different degrees on a curved shape.
02:30
So then finally, I've got a Smooth tool
02:33
and this has got two modes, Smooth and Relax.
02:37
So I'll start with Smooth and keep this Strength value reasonably low.
02:43
And then I just click and hold and drag
02:45
across faces to reduce the angles between the edges
02:49
and smooth out some of these zigzags.
02:52
And again, there's no history but the Undo works well
02:56
and I can reduce this Strength value
02:58
and then do it again more iteratively this time with a bit more control.
03:05
And if I do a Smooth on this middle section here,
03:07
it will soften that inwards, but it doesn't really change the layout much.
03:13
Whereas if I now switch to Relax and do the same thing,
03:17
then it does the same smoothing. But it also changes the edge lengths
03:21
and moves towards a more even distribution
03:24
which changes the layout quite significantly
03:28
Over here, if I use smooth it
03:31
improves the layout, but I've still got this angle here.
03:35
So I'll do an Undo
03:36
and this time I'll use Relax
03:40
and I get a nicer layout.
03:42
But if that's too much, I can do Undo again,
03:45
reduce the Strength
03:47
and then just do a series of small click and drags to get a more subtle result.
03:54
But be aware that even in Smooth mode, you can lose too much of your design shape,
03:59
particularly in the interior.
04:03
And with Relax, the effect is even stronger.
04:06
So to avoid losing too much of your original work, then keep a low strength value
04:11
and just use Undo if you go too far.
