3 .0 .

U se rD o cs

APID o cs

R e l e a se N o te s

Fo ru m

ModelingTips
Topology
UseFewerSpans
AvoidHighValencevertices
EdgeLoopTransitions
PracticalTopologyPrimer
TrianglesandNGons
SemiSharpCreases
Usecreasesets
AdditionalResources

Thefollowingsectionsdescribecommontechniquesspecifictomodelingwithsubdivisionsurfaces.
Note
ThefollowinginformationcontainstechniquesspecifictotheCatmullClarksubdivisionscheme.Some
elementsneedtobeadjustedforLoopsurfaces.

Topology
Wellconstructedsubdivisionmesheshaveseveralimportantproperties:
Theyconsistprimarilyofquadfaces
Theycontainfewextraordinaryvertices
Theyefficientlydescribetheintendedshape
Theyaretopologicallymanifold

UseFewerSpans
Whilepolygonmodelsneedtousealargenumberofspanstoapproximatesmoothcurvedsurfaces,subdivisionmodelsrequire
significantlyfewercontrolpoints.
Inmostsituations,6spansareenoughtocreateaccuratecircularshapes,and4isoftenenoughtoapproximatebackgroundobjects.

AvoidHighValencevertices
Ahighvalencevertexisavertexconnectedtomorethan4adjacentedges.
Highvalenceverticescauseseveralproblemswhensubdivided:
TheCatmullClarkschemecanproduce"wavy"surfaceswhenarevolutionvertexissurroundedbytriangles(see
here):

Highvalenceverticesincurfairlylargeperformancehits
Currently,OpenSubdivhasahardconstraintimposedbyGPUshadersonthemaximumvalenceofavertex
(~27oncurrenthardware)
Instead,herearesometopologicalstrategiestocaprevolutionshapes:

GITHUB

Notethatallthesecylindersuseonlyquadfaces,andalltheverticesinthecapshaveavalenceof4(exceptthebottomleftexample)

EdgeLoopTransitions
Itisoftennecessarytovarythedensityofcontrolverticesoverthesurfacemesh:areasaroundthefingersofahandrequiremore
CVsthanthecomparativelysimplerregionaroundthepalm.Itisimportanttohandlethetopologyaroundthesetransitionsefficiently.
Onestrategyistouseextraordinaryvertices,suchasthisexample,usingavalence5vertextoexpand3edgeloopsinto5.
SEARCH
Introduction
License
GettingStarted
Contributing
BuildingOpenSubdiv
CodeExamples
Roadmap
References
Release3.0
Overview
PortingGuide:2.0to3.0
SubdivisionCompatibility
SubdivisionSurfaces
Introduction
Topology
Uniform
FeatureAdaptive
BoundaryInterpolation
FaceVaryingInterpolation
SemiSharpCreases
ModelingTips
OpenSubdivUserGuide
APIOverview
Sdc
Vtr
Far
TopologyRefiner
TopologyRefinerFactory
PrimvarRefiner
PatchTable
StencilTable
Osd
ShaderInterface

PracticalTopologyPrimer
Somerealworldexamplesshowinghowtoproducedetailedshapeswithsparsetopology,fewextraordinaryvertices,andnohigh
valencerevolutionpoles.

Tutorials
HistoricalButRelevant
Hbr
UsingHbr
HierarchicalEdits
AdditionalResources
Forum
Links
Videos
ReleaseNotes
Doxygen

TrianglesandNGons
Usedsparsely,nonquadscanbeveryusefultogather3ormoredivergingedgeloops.Theseareoftenencounteredinhighly
deformingareaswithcurvaturesaddlepoints(ex:armtorsoconnection).Thestrategicplacementofapentagoninoneofthesecritical
spotsensuresthatthesurfaceremainssmooth,whileallowingforcomplextopologytoflowaround.

SemiSharpCreases
Semisharpcreasescanbeaverypowerfultoolforhardsurfacemodeling.
Bothedgesandverticescanbetaggedwithasharpnessvalue.
Creasesharpnessvaluesrangefrom0(smooth)to10(infinitelysharp)
Itisgenerallycheapertousecreaseswheneverpossible,insteadofaddingextraedges/edgeloops.However...
Creasesintroduceextracomputationcoststhatareproportionaltothesharpnessvalue.So...
Sharpnessvaluesabove5shouldrarelybeneeded.

Thefollowingsectionsintroducesometechniquestobestleveragethem.

Usecreasesets
Complexhardsurfacemodels(giantrobots,vehicles,buildings...)arelikelytotaglargenumberofedges:itisextremelyusefulto
organizetheseedges/edgeloopsintologicalsetswithdescriptivenames.Edgesorverticesinacreasesetgroupallsharethesame
sharpnessvalue.
IfyouaremodelingwithMaya,theCreaseSetEditorimplementsthistypeofworkflow.Additionally,fordebuggingpurposes,itisoften
veryhelpfulifthenameofasetcontainsthesharpnessvalue(ex:topDeck_2).

Besidesauthoringconvenience,oneofthebenefitsofhavingmanyedgeloopsshareidenticalsharpnessvaluesisthatitenablesvery
powerfulperformanceoptimizationswithinthefeatureadaptivealgorithm(fasterrenders&lessmemory).

AdditionalResources
AnexcellentshorttutorialfromtheGuerrillaCGProjectthatillustratesmanyofthecommonpitfallsofsubdivisionmodeling,andthe
strategiestoovercomethem:

Subdivision Surfaces: Artifacts

IvoKos,ModellingTechnicalDirectoratPixarAnimationStudios,showssomeofthemodelingtechniquesheuseswhenmodeling
propsandarchitecturesetsforfeaturefilms.

WhyModelwithSubdivs?ByIvo
fromPixarGraphics PLUS

07:23

Generatedon:2015081417:39UTC.

UserDocs

APIDocs

ReleaseNotes

Forum