Smoother Low Poly Meshes

[Deluxe Designs]

Hi there,

I've been trying a lot of meshing recently and i've been using the help that I got here to improve my mutlipliers and uv maps etc. However I keep running into the same brick wall, I really need some advice or help on how to create a smoother looking mesh without sending the poly count through the roof. The picture i've attached is of a mesh that i've been working on, it is already fairly high poly but if you notice on the arms, the shading really highlights how bumpy it looks, i'm not keen to increase the polys as it is high at the moment. Is there any way I can get the arms to look smoother?

Many thanks in advance,
DD

[HystericalParoxysm]

What are you meshing in? If you're using Milkshape, you can use the Align Normals plugin to fix that: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=139859

[Lisen801]

Are the faces welded together? I think you get a smoother appearance if you welds them together.

[orangemittens]

If the shading is a problem you could try something like this:


The way to get very detailed models is to make a decent low-poly representation, then make a high-poly version from that and use it to generate a normal map. This gets you the shading detail without so many polys placed in the game.

I'm not sure if that would help all the issues but I think it might help get rid of that chunky shadowing on the arms.

[Deluxe Designs]

I've tried fixing it using baking but for some reason it didn't make a difference, i'm not entirely sure why. I'm currently using Wings to mesh, but obviously i have to then put it through milkshape before i can put it into the game, so i'll try the plugin and welding too. Many thanks, i'll post back later when i've tried this.

[orangemittens]

Well, the way the shading on the arms looks in the picture above it is as if Blender is "seeing" all the edges on the part that you want to be more smooth. That is, if I'm understanding you correctly.

The only way I can see to get Blender to stop putting those shadows there would be to make the mesh with a very, very smooth arm (the high poly version of your mesh) and then bake that. Then use the resulting multiplier to apply to your lower poly mesh that you put into the package. Is that what you tried?

[Deluxe Designs]

Listen: Ok i tried welding in milkshape, but i just can't select the faces to weld, i don't know how anyone uses milkshape to mesh :/ It is impossible to select just the faces i want, any tips?

Orangemittens: That is what i tried before, but i'll try it again with a really really high poly model

HP: I tried to plugin but it didn't make a difference

[Deluxe Designs]

Ok so i've made a very high poly version, which i baked, and when i imported the new multiplier it made absoloutely no difference :/ So i then tried to import the very high poly mesh and it looks perfect, but it's almost 4000 vertices, so high poly version is a no go.

EDIT: i've attached images to show what i mean more clearly, as you can see the high poly one looks far better than the low poly, which is using the same multiplier, which i created from the high poly mesh

[cmomoney]

Wings doesn't have a "smoothing" option?

[Deluxe Designs]

It does, that is how i created a high poly version. But smoothing = high poly

[HugeLunatic]

In Wings are you using Smooth or Auto Smooth? What you want to do is use Auto Smooth as it is more selective in which faces/vertex's it smooths. Unless I am misunderstanding you want to get rid of the sharp lines on the curves, correct? By using Auto Smooth it will make those edges soft while the others are hard, which gives the crisp edge.

[BloomsBase]

Download Demon's alligne normals as HP said.
Install them,

Open Milkshape
Import you mesh
turn off autosmooth(groups tab)
select the faces(not vertices) of the parts you want to smooth out(tick the box faces on select options in the Model tab)
Selecting the faces is done with the left mousebutton, unselect the faces you dont want by pressing the shift button and use your right mouse button.
You should be able to only select the curve of the sides of the couch.
The use demon's alligne normals on them to smoothen them out.

[Deluxe Designs]

In Wings are you using Smooth or Auto Smooth? What you want to do is use Auto Smooth as it is more selective in which faces/vertex's it smooths. Unless I am misunderstanding you want to get rid of the sharp lines on the curves, correct? By using Auto Smooth it will make those edges soft while the others are hard, which gives the crisp edge.

Will this cause the poly count to increase largely? And where can i find auto smooth, because currently i am just selecting the faces i want and pressing 'S' on my keyboard to smooth them.

[Lisen801]

Which UV mapping program do you use? In some you can select faces and weld. But it's also possible to weld in Milkshape, I do it often, BloomsBase describe how to.
I think it's the best solution if you want low poly and smooth faces.

[cmomoney]

Will this cause the poly count to increase largely? And where can i find auto smooth, because currently i am just selecting the faces i want and pressing 'S' on my keyboard to smooth them.
If it's anything like Blender's autosmooth, it doesn't affect the polys. The smoothing is done by altering the normals.

[orangemittens]

Looking at some of the EA sofas it seems you don't have *so* many polys to get rid of from your high-poly mesh. The EA Colonial1 sofa has almost 3000 faces on its MLOD1.

If the smoothing doesn't work out for you maybe you could simplify the cushion part of the mesh to get rid of some of the polys and keep a lot of the curve in the wooden part...just a thought.

[HugeLunatic]

Using Auto Smooth in Wings does not add polys, it simply takes some vertexes and makes them have hard/soft edges. Smoothing does increase polys as it alters the shape to be more rounded. Select the entire mesh (make sure the far right triangle is selected), then right click/ Auto Smooth. If some of the lines are still too sharp, select by lines and right click/Hardness/Soft.

[Jonesi]

Download Demon's alligne normals as HP said.
Install them,

Open Milkshape
Import you mesh
turn off autosmooth(groups tab)
select the faces(not vertices) of the parts you want to smooth out(tick the box faces on select options in the Model tab)
Selecting the faces is done with the left mousebutton, unselect the faces you dont want by pressing the shift button and use your right mouse button.
You should be able to only select the curve of the sides of the couch.
The use demon's alligne normals on them to smoothen them out.

Thanks, this is very helpful!

[Deluxe Designs]

Ok thanks everyone, i'll give the auto smooth in wings a go in a short while when i move to my PC HDD. Also as a point of information, i used to use UV mapper to map my meshes, now i use wings 3D to do it, i find it much more accurate and far more advanced :)

EDIT: Great news, i tried the auto smooth, made a few hardness adjustments of my own, and it is perfect! I am so pleased, it has turned out wonderfully smooth. I did also try using the align normals tool as well, however that didn't turn out quite so well, which i think might have something to do with the welding i did earlier on in the process, however it was very useful to learn, and in future meshes i will definitely be using it. Many thanks to everyone for your help, it is appreciated greatly!

So it's almost there now, just a few more changes to the textures to make them more crisp, and finish off a few bad seams and it'll be done :)