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Old 28th December 2003, 03:03 AM   #1
Cowboybebop
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Default few questions

Like how do you tell your polgon count ?

Model info gives you vertices and surfaces, but I don't know how to calculate that.

What exactly is a polygon I gave some thought to it and realized I didn't know for sure, but it seems it may be a 4 point surface.

How do you merge 2 vertices and not get the surface stuck between them ? The vertices themselve merge but any surface or edge stays and cause problems down the road.

Also I did a mirror of a model I am doing, when I subdivide it a gap appears straight down the middle of the model.(where it should have merged)

Any and all help appreciated, That's all thanks in advance.
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Old 28th December 2003, 12:22 PM   #2
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Default Re: few questions

I may be wrong, but in most cases you would have to double the number of surfaces to get your actual polygon count. I think it's based on planar ( or plane ) surfaces. In other words, a flat surface that is made up of 3 or more vertices ( ? ).
A polygon is simlply a closed plane figure bounded by straight sides. It takes at least 3 closed points to create one surface.
After snapping vertices together, you always have to optimize sufaces afterward to get rid of any leftover or duplicate surfaces.
The reason why your model had gaps after subdividing is because not all of the vertices snapped together after you mirrored your object.
One good thing to do before mirroring your object is look at it in front view then select all of your vertices along the edge that is to be mirrored then scale to 0 along the "X" axis. This will ensure that all of your vertices are lined up along the "Y" axis. If you don't have a straight edge it wont mirror properly ( hope I'm right on at least part of what I said ).
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Old 28th December 2003, 01:37 PM   #3
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Default Re: few questions

Ok so if I understand correctly, a polygon count for a basic cube would be 6 ?

And If on subdivide one vertice is left unsnapped, this causes the whole model, front and back to have a gap on subdivide ? Can you explain the scale to 0 I am throughly confused as I went thru the model front and back to be sure the snap did not cause problems. Oh well Back to the lab again
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Old 28th December 2003, 04:08 PM   #4
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Default Re: few questions

Well if you start with a simple cube and look at it in front view you'll see the vertices on either side of the cube. If you in vertex mode, drag a selection box to select the vertical row of vertices on the right side of the cube then scale to "0" along the "x" axis, it will flatten them to form a vertical straight collum.

along "x" axis to flatten
-------------->|<-----------------

If you did do this before you mirrored and still had problems, it could be because you overlooked something like making sure you snapped and optimized all of your veritces and surfaces to make sure you didn't have any overlapping or leftover sufaces.
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Old 28th December 2003, 08:51 PM   #5
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Default Re: few questions

I guess it's the 'scale to 0' that's confusing me. Are you saying manually scale all the vertices to coordinates 0.0 on the X axis ? Or is this a command ? Or is it something else completely ? Anyways something to laugh at, I tried that new 'select planar surfaces' plugin and it selected 654 surfaces of the 734 surfaces of my model :lol: I guess I'll never get this modeling bit down and I thought I was getting better. Thanks for all the help woody, I really appreciate it as I've been having a problem with subdividing anything that's more than one object that's been combined I get the same results everytime. gaping holes, I like smoothing objects and adding detail, it's much more work but it doesn't tear. Oh well I've been reading up on nurbs I wonder if working with them are any different they seem more flexible, but I hear that they can get complex.


Nevermind went thru the manual again, I forget things I don't use or don't use much, the manual explains it, thanks a bunch.
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Old 30th December 2003, 05:32 PM   #6
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Default Re: few questions

Ok, what's a N-sided polygon ?
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Old 30th December 2003, 05:44 PM   #7
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Default Re: few questions

N=number of sides
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Old 31st December 2003, 04:38 AM   #8
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Default Re: few questions

:lol: I still don't get what it's for in ac3d you can create these and that's cool cause I heard the term before but do not know what it is.
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Old 31st December 2003, 02:41 PM   #9
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Default Re: few questions

Also how do you control normals ? when modeling everything's uniform except for 5-10 normals pointing in wacky directions. This really would help me out to figure out so far I remember woody saying select vertices in a counter clockwise motion but that's it. The manual doesn't say much more either I guess I'll read over it again.
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Old 31st December 2003, 02:51 PM   #10
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Default Re: few questions

I always had pretty good luck using the Surface>Flip normal command.

If you have a reversed normal first click on the "surface" button in the select area of the panel on the left side of the screen. Then select the surface that is reversed. Make sure you have the normals selected in the view you are working on. You should see a pinkish line in the middle of the surface. If you don't see it or it is very "stubby" then it is probably reversed. Select this surface and click on surface > reverse normal.

Another way around this is to set the offending surface as a 2 sided surface.

I hope this helps. Of course, it is probably as clear as mud.
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