Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Like many modifiers in Blender,
Screw
can be used for many more things than
making vases, and experimentation outside of this exercise is encouraged.
Why 32 steps? Those who are new to 3D modeling or computer science may wonder
why such a seemingly arbitrary number like 32 is used. There are two reasons for
choosing 32.
The first reason is because 32 is divisible by 4, so that the vertices line up with
the four axes directions nicely. If 30 were used, there would be vertices that lined
up nicely with the horizontal axis, but on the vertical axis there would be points
straddling it, which might be complicated if you have to do any vertex editing along
the axis later. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, but generally speaking it's best to choose
numbers which are divisible by 4 and have small prime roots, hence 8, 16, 32, and 64
are common.
The second reason is because 32 is sufficiently high to make the shape seem round.
For smaller objects, 16 may be enough and generally it's good not to overdo it. In
the following screenshot, the effect of 8, 16, 24, and 32 steps are shown. By 24 the
object is pretty round, and 24 is a pretty good number of steps to choose. But for the
reason given before, 32 is better and not that much more. However, there is a point
of diminishing returns and 64 steps (not shown) has hardly any visible benefit.
