Workspace Customization
Increased viewport/workspace customizing with the use of PaintStop, Zapplink and the xyz Floor Grids.
For some hardsurface work, I like the feel of a real-world environment with visible orientation. I switch on the grids, use PaintStop or Zapplink to put my concept sketches onto a ground and wall plane and my virtual workshop is ready to go.
For details about setting up images on the Grids see the Grids page.
Remesh possibilities
The possibility to easily combine, add or subtract subtools into a new mesh using the standard primitives and the Remesh functionality helps me to build structures without having to resort to polymodeling.
Two Types of Smoothing
The use of the two smoothing algorithms helps me a lot when doing hardsurface work: activate the second smoothing by
- pressing Shift to activate smoothing
- start to smooth and release Shift to activate the second smoothing algorythm.
Two materials that help me to better judge the surfaces I’m smoothing/polishing are:
- the WedClay MatCap material: somehow, this material succeeds in bringing out all the areas that need smoothing/polishing. It has the right balance of color, light, shadow and shininess.
- Chrome Blue Tint material: with a custom made light probe* texture (replacing the default RGBGrab01 texture) It’s a great way to get visual feedback on the smoothing: you can see how the mesh is pulled into place while smoothing by looking at the flow of the reflection. Alternating between the old and the new smoothing clearly shows the benefits of both the old and the new.
Sometimes, the changes are subtle -compare the two chrome skulls -but very noticeable with the WedClay material.
Think positive? Try negative!
I think the image below speaks for itself… any mouldmakers out there?
