Inputs
Here you direct the geometry into the Node whose points or edges you want to round.
In this menu you select the element type to be rounded. The choices are "Edges" and "Points".
If you want the Node's function to act only on certain edges or points, there are two options to choose from. Either you pass a selection of the matching element type as an index array to the Node here, or you still have an active selection of the matching element type on the geometry. In this case the Node automatically accesses this selection.
Here you can, for example, use the name of a selection in quotation marks that you want to read out, e.g., "MySelection". Otherwise, the default entry will use an active selection on the geometry.
You can also use special keywords and logical operations here to create a new selection from scratch or a combination of already saved selections. The following keywords and operations can be used:
- Default: This term causes an active selection currently present on the geometry to be used. If no selection is active, all points will be used.
- odd: This term is used to select all elements that have an odd index number.
- even: This term is used to select all elements that have an even index number.
- all: This selects all elements of the selected type.
- hidden: Selects the hidden elements of the geometry.
- Name of a saved selection: If you enter the name of a saved selection in quotation marks, this selection will be read and used. To use a combination of a saved selection and another keyword or selection, use quotation marks with the selection name.
- Index numbers: You can also use index numbers directly, just as you are used to from the Index Array From String Node.
- Mathematical and logical operations: Mathematical or logical operations can be used to combine selections. Using the string odd – "center" for instance selects all odd elements and then subtracts the selection that has been stored by the name "center". You can use +, -, & (logical and), | (logical or) as well as a comma to combine multiple selections or index sequences.
Often the purpose of rounding is to make hard edges appear rounded. The edges lying within flat surfaces do not also have to be rounded for this purpose. If you want to automatically limit the rounding to the harder edges, activate this option. The following Max Angle parameter helps to filter out the corresponding edges. For the "Points" mode this option is irrelevant.
If Use Angle is active, the angles to the neighboring polygons are calculated at the edges in question. Rounding only takes place if this angle is larger than specified in Max angle.
Here you have the choice of whether components areChamfered- this is what is commonly thought of as a rounding - or whether parallel edges(Solid) are to be inserted to the selected ones along the adjacent polygons. The latter is used to accentuate edges (and only these; Solid does not work in the "Points" component mode) on subdivision surfaces.
Here you have the choice among these 3 modes:
Fixed Distance
When beveling in the "Edges" mode, at least 2 new (outer) edges are created from the original edge in each case, which are moved in opposite directions along the two adjacent polygons (a new surface is then formed between them). The distance (equal, by the way) between these marked outer edges from the original edge to be flattened is defined absolutely by Size in this mode.
In the "Points" mode, the corner formed by a selected point is resolved by creating new points along all edges belonging to this point and connecting them by a polygon surface. Size here specifies the distance to the original point in absolute terms.
Radial
This mode works specifically only where 3 edges meet in one point (in other cases the Fixed Distance algorithm works, see above).
This tries to give the rounded corner an exactly spherical (increase Subdivision for this) shape, which is not necessarily the case in the other modes. With Size you can determine the radius of this sphere section.
This is a "realistic" corner as you know it from shapes created by NURBS CAD programs.
Proportional
When beveling in the "Edges" mode, at least 2 new (outer) edges are created from the original edge in each case, which are moved in opposite directions along the two adjacent polygons (a new surface is then formed between them). The distance (equal, by the way) between these two outer edges from the original edge to be flattened is specified by Size in percent. The percentage refers to the distance to the next edge. At 100% these become congruent (but NOT merged!).
In the "Points" mode, the corner formed by a selected point is resolved by creating new points along all edges belonging to this point and connecting them by a polygon surface. Size specifies here the distance to the nearest point in percent.
Size is the general measure of the width of the bevel, i.e., the smaller Size is, the narrower, smaller is the edge, rounding or pole or corner resolution. The used Size can be limited by enabling the Limit option. As soon as points/edges meet, they are then merged.
Within the new areas created during beveling, this parameter can be used to subdivide as much as desired. If you set 0 here, there will be no curves, but hard chamfers and edges. Especially in connection with the Shape setting described further below, you should make higher value settings here to create any edge shapes softly.
The subdivision is usually done by creating parallel edges, in case of point, pole or corner resolution a suitable mesh is formed.
When beveling with increasing Size, newly created points and edges abut others, this option defines whether they merge with the existing ones or grow beyond them. In the vast majority of cases, it makes sense to have this option enabled. Otherwise, overlapping polygons can quickly occur.
Certain bevel tasks require special settings. This is also the case here with the miters. Since these miter points are among the most difficult problems to solve when beveling, you have a lot of options to choose from here. What does miter mean in Cinema 4D? If you select a continuous edge pass (Mitering therefore has an effect only in "Edges" mode) along several polygons, then a miter is a common point of two selected edges where 3 or more polygons are on one side of the edge pass.
If you chamfer such an edge move, a vertex can be resolved in several ways: see Mitering.
Note that the Uniform mode is the only one that does not create N-gons on the surrounding polygons.
If the end of a selected edge to be beveled abuts edges that are not beveled themselves, these options control how the transition of rounding to unrounded edges occurs:
- Default: The transition (depending on Size) takes place along the unrounded edge(s).
- Extend: In this mode, the transition occurs exactly along the entire length of the original, unrounded edge(s).
- Inset: In the "Inset" mode, there is no gradual transition at all, but an abrupt one, creating a hard edge. The unrounded edges remain unchanged.
These settings apply only to the special case when edge beveling 3 selected (and 2 unselected) and adjacent edges meeting at a point. The edge that lies at the "arrowhead" obeys these options:
- None: The edge is linear.
- Full: The edge is rounded with full consideration of Depth.
- Convex: You will only see a difference between Full and Convex if Depth is negative. Convex then ensures that the arrowhead edge and the (white) edge opposite it can take on convex (= pointing outward) shapes, which is what allows the mesh in the arrowhead to point outward in the first place (when Full, it is turned inward).
Edge flattening, or edge resolution, can take on any profile shape (for example, if you bevel a cube edge and look at it from the side, you will see this profile). This form can be set here:
- Round: The profile here is always executed as a circle segment - if Tension is at 100% (otherwise as an ellipse).
- User: In this mode, the original edge can take appropriate shapes by means of a function graph. If you uncheck the Symmetry option, you can imagine the function graph shape fitted directly between the two diverging edges (the Depth parameter controls the direction and size of the protrusion). Set Subdivision to a suitable value to replicate this shape as closely as possible. Note that this option works only limited in "Points" mode.
- Profile: In this mode, you now have a totally free hand when it comes to designing the edge bevel shape. The shape of the edge to be resolved can be specified here by a spline. The subdivision is given by the spline alone(Subdivision has no function in this mode).
In Profile mode, the following requirements apply:
- The spline must not be closed.
- The plane in which the spline is located must be defined under Profile Plane. So if you design the spline in the front view, for example, it should say XY.
- The axis of the spline must not be aligned arbitrarily:
We will now assume that you have set Profile Plane XY. Chamfer now goes along the geometry X axis and takes the deviation from it in the Y direction to create the Chamfer profile shape. The best way to work with it is to set the shape axis to the start point of the spline and then rotate it so that the spline end point is on the X axis. This will produce clear results, since the spline will then be comprehensibly fitted as a profile between the edges that diverge by Offset. By the way, the size of the protuberance must be adjusted with Depth!
Note that when beveling more than 2 edges that meet at a point ("pole"), problems can occur.
The pre-set rounded profile caused by the Subdivision (so if you bevel a cube edge, for example, and look at it from the side, you will see a curved profile) can be turned in and out in either direction as desired using Depth.
Allows you to change the tangents (direction AND length!) of the arc ends. If the value is 100% and higher, the rounding starts tangentially from the two adjacent surfaces. With smaller values, the profile turns increasingly inward or outward depending on the starting edge (outer or inner edge).
In this context, also note the Depth parameter, with which you can additionally influence the rounding.
This option is available for the Profile and User Shapes.
If the option is deactivated, the function graph or spline is simply fitted between the two edges that diverge with increasing Size. If it is activated, the function graph/spline is created twice (mirrored at the right end).
This option is available for the Profile and User Shape.
Depending on the edge to be rounded, the User and Profile modes can result in "tube thicknesses" (if you think of the rounding volume as such) that change over the edge length. If you activate Constant Cross Section, it will be more or less constant (especially in the corners).
Use these options to define whether the newly created geometry should have normal polygons (disabled) or N-gons (enabled).
In the case of a corner, however, the sensibly designed spherical mesh is dropped and is usually replaced by a somewhat shapeless N-gon. In most cases, you should avoid N-gon generation.
By means of these two options, the phong shading can be broken along the newly formed outer edges(Shading Break Rounding) or at the miters.