Facetted Surfaces

[Rob WDA]

VW 2011

I hope someone can help.

Everytime I create a curved 3D surface and 'add' it to another surface it goes from being perfectly smooth to horribly facetted. It does not matter if the 3D settings are high or Very high because it facets anyway and totally distrupts the form.

I am a product designer and I felt that because VW now uses Parasolids that this issue would be a thing of the past but nothing has changed.

Can someone please explain why VW does this and if there is anything I can do to stop it from happening.

I would like to create complex 3d models and for them to look smooth.

Many Thanks

Robert

[GWS]

Hi Rob,

Are you rendering in OpenGL, if so are those settings set to 'very high'.

I often find when adding solids together the surface turns much smoother I think it is because it turns things into NURBS surfaces which are much smoother anyway.

If you convert the object to NURBS what happens then?

[Rob WDA]

Hi Guy, thank you for responding, i reall appreciate it. I have to admit that turning the object into Nurbs at the end does actually make it smoother, not perfect but definately better. Its a shame though because once its a nurb you can't really edit it anymore so I suppose you have to created two files, one for the original and one of the nurbs.

But is that how it is with VW? Is VW simply not suitable for product design? I just want someone to be honest with me and admit that the modelling in VW is never going to be as perfect as it is in other dedicated software like 3DS or Rhino for example or maybe even cinema 4d.I used to be an exhibition designer and VW is perfect for that because no one cares about the imperfections but for product design the beauty of the curved and perfection in the detail is all important. Maybe its just not up to the task..

what do you reckon?

[GWS]

I think that VW is fundamentally an architectural software package and while it does delve into other areas, Landscape, Spotlight etc it's really focus is architecture.

Machine Design has now been dropped and although there are some parts of it incorporated into the VW Design I doubt it will be developed further.

CAD software is developing quicker and quicker these days and I can't help feeling that VW is just playing catch-up. There are too many basics missing or not working well, one of which is the way VW deals with rendering in OpenGL, namely text on a working plane, faceting of objects, viewport rendering etc.

As far as fluid 3D modelling goes, again there are some basics that are missing, i.e. the inability to alter a fillet easily and in real time makes Product Design hard work and the fact that 'move face' mode in the Push/Pull tool often results in an uneditable Generic Solid.

I have used VW for many years and I have always liked it but if the basics don't get fixed/upgraded I will have to look elsewhere, not something I either want or will enjoy doing.

VW does export STL files which are very useful in Product Design for 3D printing although I have had some difficulties even with that process lately.

So in answer to your question I'm not sure that VW is the best option for Product Design.

[Rob WDA]

Thank you for your answer Guy, this is something that i have suspected for a while now but could never get a straight answer from my software suppliers. Everytime I complained about the facetting or lack of power within the 3d modelling tools they would just tell me to wait for the next version. Maybe its time to start using Rhino or something like that..