To Facet or Not to Facet

[ddustin]

I find faceting to take a lot of extra time.

 

Attached is an image of one scene that the customer thinks, looks great.

 

Of course I know it could be a ton better if I had faceted everything.

Isn't there an add on to AM that facets shapes for you?

 

What do ya'll think?

 

d

[KenH]

I think Marcels Zevel plugin might be right up your street.

[zacktaich]

I don't suggest Zevel with v11. I can't get good results.

 

I highly suggest beveling for realism, but if your client just wants a really basic mockup, then by all means, use what you have.

[ddustin]

I think Marcels Zevel plugin might be right up your street.

 

Ken,

I guess my point is I know it could be improved upon.

 

I think I've tried the beveler before, and had problems with complex shapes, but that was in v10.

 

Has anyone else tried it under v 11 with good results?

 

Thanks for the feedback !!

 

 

d

[John Bigboote]

Believe it or not, for most of my mechanical 'blocky' shapes I do my modelling right within... Adobe Photoshop!

 

Model in Photoshop, you ask? Yes, up to the point of extrusion. You draw your shape using the pen tool (bezier) and when done 'export' shape to an AI file. (adobe illustrator) Then in A:M, use the AI import wizard and it will add the bevels perfectly to your design.

 

Works like a charm and saves hours of bevelling time.

[Gene]

Hey ddustin,

 

I think the image looks flat with the items which are closest to the viewer. (i.e The foreground tables and those small drums). You might try some decaling to get the highlights on the edges, but personally, there's no way to beat modelling the bevels in there right from the start.

 

Actually, the long square tube in the back doesn't look bad at all and I see there is some specularity on the legs or is that just reflectivity? Either way, that part comes across well.

 

Regards,

 

Eugene

[ddustin]

John,

I've got to try that!

 

Excellent suggestion.

 

d

[ddustin]

Gene,

 

That's just reflectivity, those legs are as square as an Old North Georgian

 

Decaling would help a lot as well.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

d

[ypoissant]

I suggest you use the beveled primitives since most of your models are already nearly primitives. Take a look at my beveling tutorial to see how to modify them to suit your application.

[ddustin]

Heyyyyyy,

 

What do you mean my work is primitive?????

 

Oh, you said it was mostly primitives, my bad.

 

Sorry to sound so paranoid but... if everyone was after you, you would be paranoid too.....

 

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: The above was merely my self deprecative sense of humor. If I was really offended I would say some thing like..............never mind...

 

I'll check out the tutorial, thanks.

 

d

[ddustin]

Attached is one reason why I don't care to use primitives as supplied.

 

When you scale them into shapes they get distorted.

 

I think ypoissant's way is better because I can size it correctly then create the shape.

 

d

[Rodney]

ddustin,

For subtle effect you could try what I call the Emilio method (After Moscafilms!).

He was the first person to show me the utility of using magnatude adjustment to gain subtle beveling effects automagically on a spline.

 

I must confess I still don't understand but it's an easy thing to test.

Instuctions for anyone that wants to try:

-Create an object and use the comma to select your spline.

-Adjust the magnitude slightly (bias handles if you prefer but typing in numbers works nicely)

-Adjust to taste.

 

In a realtime render you don't always see the bevel effect. However, it works pretty well in final render.

 

-Rodney

[ddustin]

Believe it or not, for most of my mechanical 'blocky' shapes I do my modelling right within... Adobe Photoshop!

 

Model in Photoshop, you ask? Yes, up to the point of extrusion. You draw your shape using the pen tool (bezier) and when done 'export' shape to an AI file. (adobe illustrator) Then in A:M, use the AI import wizard and it will add the bevels perfectly to your design.

 

Works like a charm and saves hours of bevelling time.

John,

I used your technique after spending hours doing it the old way.

 

It works fantastic!!

 

 

thanks a ton.

 

David