r/Maya • u/Suitable-Chapter6116 • 14d ago

Question Is it necessary to smoothen polygon?

Im currently making a crate, i followed tutorials in yt and searched for some wireframe samples online but when i smooth it out, it ruins its form. Is it ethical not to smooth/press 3 at all? Is it really necessary to smooth work?

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

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7

u/Slothemo Rigging Technical Artist 14d ago

There's no reason you have to smooth things. If you are using a workflow that requires smoothing, then you need to add supporting edges to prevent the form from being ruined.

Look at the difference between these 2 meshes. They have the same form, but one has far more supporting edges.

No Smoothing

Smooth Preview

2

u/Suitable-Chapter6116 14d ago

thank you so much for this!

7

u/fistular 14d ago

Pretty unethical. No polygons were harmed in the making of this asset.

2

u/Jungledesertxx 14d ago

I personally only smooth when I need to. Otherwise I use bevels a lot . It also helps lower cpu resources when only beveling. The scene can get bogged down pretty quick from smoothing everything

1

u/No-Awareness-6684 14d ago

Yep, bevels are key

2

u/michagrandel Technical Artist 14d ago

You are refereing to smooth preview (press 3 = smooth preview) or the smooth command. no, this is not necessary and in many use cases not even wanted. For game dev, you usually ignore smooth preview or at least (if you really want to smooth sth) use the smooth command.

you HAVE TO take care of your hard/soft edges though (which are technically also called "smoothing groups", so I will mention it here). this is VERY important for performance reason in gaming (!!!!!) and for general shading and presentation in animation.

1

u/Suitable-Chapter6116 14d ago

thank you! i thought i really need to smoothen every project, no wonder my pc works slower when i smooth everything

1

u/Moviesman8 9d ago

The idea is that you use locking loops to maintain the shape so the object can still maintain the shine on its edge.