[rscaper1070]

In most general modeling tutorials they have you adding the turbosmooth modifier early on. Whenever I use it though I get a model with a ridiculous amount of pollies. I was wondering if turbosmooth is ever really used when making FS ships.

[Droid803]

wats turbosmooth

edit: looks related to meshsmooth. feels like something used for "organic" modelling. unnecessary for FS IMO. chamfer curves out manually like a boss.

[mjn.mixael]

chamfer curves out manually like a boss.

This.

Also, I have found turbosmooth to be... well.. not as good as the alternatives. Particularly meshsmooth.

[pecenipicek]

those subdiv modifiers are golden however when checking models for issues. if you are making a fully manifold model, it will show you if you failed to connect vertices somewhere or if you have poly holes anywhere.

[Nuke]

this is what you should use to create super high res versions of models for normal map generation.

[pecenipicek]

this is what you should use to create super high res versions of models for normal map generation.

depending on the modelling style and the relative differences between models themselves. you cant just plop on turbosmoot/meshsmooth/hypernurbs/subdivisions and have a good result.

[Thaeris]

The Chicken Man is right! 

Using subdivisions effectively is a real art - I've done several experiments in the past to try and learn that art effectively, but I still have a ways to go. Also keep in mind that subdivisions won't save a model that has inherently bad geometry. Modeling (depending on what you're doing and the software you're using) can be nothing short of hard labor - the only way to get something done right is to trudge through it.

[Roanoke]

Ocassionally I would  mesh smooth and then cut the poly number back down again, especily if I were strugglng to make progess. Granted it's a massive waste of time but y'know it didn't really matter when it's just a hobby....

[Vengence]

Turbosmooth, when it comes to modding FS2 is pretty much moot and mostly useless, even for high poly normal map projections. It might be okay for planet surfaces, asteroids, and organic ships but otherwise I personally think you're better off making a superb geometry and applying high poly projections when needed. I'm pretty sure a photoshop normal map is okay for most surfaces, if you want normal mapped pipes and greebles, consider making it on a surface that looks like the face in question then project away.

Honestly, 3DS Max is pretty bad at Turbosmooth as far as I know. Maya can do it a bit better as it is able to 'view' models smoothed without applying a smooth modifier. This is a very useful tool as it won't create a program crashing smooth and will still allow you to keep your low poly model and edit it with the smooth in mind.

Otherwise I suggest you poly model most things. Sometimes a single chamfered edge is better than everything being chamfered.

[mjn.mixael]

Wut

Max is just fine at Turbosmooth... you just need to know how to use it. Though I would still recommend Meshsmooth because it seems to work better.

[Vengence]

I recall using turbosmooth and didn't like it  , that's really it hehe.

[bobbtmann]

I use Turbosmooth all the time. Looks good, and makes nice curves. I don't recall ever using Meshsmooth, so I can't comment.

[Nuke]

this is what you should use to create super high res versions of models for normal map generation.

depending on the modelling style and the relative differences between models themselves. you cant just plop on turbosmoot/meshsmooth/hypernurbs/subdivisions and have a good result.

no you got to do a lot of other things to make it work right. im not sure if its turbosmooth or one of the other subdivision modifiers but one of them supports smoothgroup boundries and assuming youve smooth grouped it well it can look pretty good. turn a 5k polycount into about 3 million polies and run that through the normalmapper. usually this only works on parts of ships. il generate as much of the normal map as i can with this technique. other parts i may just need to remodeled from scratch. once i got some good normal map pixels of everything i just composite in parts from other attempts to generate complete normal maps. then do a lot of 2d touchups. its a technique im still refining.

The Chicken Man is right! 

Using subdivisions effectively is a real art - I've done several experiments in the past to try and learn that art effectively, but I still have a ways to go. Also keep in mind that subdivisions won't save a model that has inherently bad geometry. Modeling (depending on what you're doing and the software you're using) can be nothing short of hard labor - the only way to get something done right is to trudge through it.

subdivisions used thusly should never make it into the final model, the goal is to bake the extra info into a normal map and then discard the resulting polygonal abomination. it generally involves doing horrible things to a model, so i always use a copy of the final product. its very easy to model good geometry in max, since you have control over everything. weld by threshold value is an especially good way to find and eliminate bad geometry. you also have control over the renderer so you can disable backface cull and flip the normals and bad polies stick out like a sore thumb.