art smoothing

[Chris Rizzo]

When applying smoothing to an art surface, it raises the maximum Z height of the art surface.

 

eg. my base organic surface is set to .093. Apply smoothing (just leave the defaults) and upon close inspection it looks like the max. z surface is now .135ish. I can't seem to get any combination of smoothing settings not to affect the overall height of the model. wtf?

 

Also, my raised surface (bascially a spline that is added or "puffed" .093) has a very jaggy perimeter, where the raised surf. meets the flat base surf. any ideas? it looks like alot of the tutorials have some degree of this too.

[Trevor Bailey]

try using the FILTERS first to take care of the "jaggy" perimeter.

 

now...applying smooth does not raise any of my existing geometry to any new heights. maybe i am not following you well. can you post a pic or send me your file.

[Trevor Bailey]

the smoothing raises the art surface according to the smoothing factor to obtain a "smooth" element according to the boundaries you have set. to me, this is no exact science. you will still have to do what you have been and use the scale Z function in the smooth dialog box.

 

you can always go back once you have fully created your art surface and then use TRANSFORM to place the entire model where you need it. i have transformed every art surface i have created to date simply because with all the options and elements that can be used to create the surface, there would be no way to tell the software to stay below/above a specific Z level.

 

this would be a great addition to the software without a doubt. i normally build my stock first and then build my model according to my stock boundaries only because i have material already cut that i use first.