Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
What if you want to
remove
segments
from your mesh? LightWave has
Construct
| Reduce | More | BandGlue
, which
“stitches” bands of polys together in much
the same way BandSaw cuts them apart.
The tool has no interface (just click its
button, and away it goes). The one big dif-
ference between it and its counterparts is
the direction in which you select the polys
to be glued. Just remember that you're
selecting the polys that will become
one
band
around your model.
Note
“Elegance” in Modeling
Something that takes most folks a while to pick
up on is an overriding concept of
elegance
in
whatever it is you're doing in 3D. This applies
to modeling, animating, texturing, lighting —
all aspects of working in 3D.
Your best work will come from using the
absolute minimum number of “whatsits”
needed to hold your “schiznit” in place — no
more and no less.
Tools like BandSaw can let you really load
up your mesh with lots and lots of segments,
and it's very tempting to do so. But the best
modelers build their meshes with the barest
minimum number of these
isoparms
necessary
to keep the exact shape they're going for.
Sometimes a good modeler will spend half the
time it took to create the mesh just going
through it again and again, looking for places
he can optimize it and removing anything that
isn't absolutely necessary to hold its shape.
This optimization not only makes for a
model that's quicker to refresh when working
in both Modeler and Layout, but when working
with characters, it means that it is a lot easier
to
rig
(set up for character animation). It also
means that the bones that drive its deforma-
tion will create shapes that look a whole lot
better than on a mesh that has a lot of seg-
ments. (See
LightWave 3D 8 Character
Animation
for complete information on charac-
ter rigging.)
To help us use as few segments as possible
in making our mesh do what we need it to, we
can adjust the
weight
by which the sub-patch
is controlled by its
cage
. This information is
stored on each individual vertex as the Sub-
Patch Weight.
Positive values
increase the pull
of the
control vertex
on the sub-patch surface,
where 100% makes it touch its
control vertex
.
Negative values
relax the sub-patch's pull
toward its control vertex. Map | General | Air-
brush is a tool that lets you modify the values
of your currently selected weight map in real
time.
It's important to note that the vertices in
your object are not inherently assigned to any
given weight map, including SubPatch Weight.
While Weight Shade will show your vertices as
having a value of zero, until you actually
assign a map value to them, they have no
value whatsoever. You can directly enter values
for selected points under the Information win-
dow for your selected points, or you can use
Map | General | Set Map Value. While this
information may not be of immediate use as
you're learning the software, higher-end
functions such as Dynamics do utilize vertex
map assignments, so keep this bit of informa-
tion in the back of your head.
Figure 7-9
