Bevel and crease features

00:02

The topology so far creates quite soft surfaces.

00:06

So we can use the Bevel and the Crease tools to create some sharpness.

00:11

So I'll start with Bevel and have a look at this rear fender area.

00:16

So Bevel is a variation on the Insert tool,

00:19

but it has Distance set as the default Offset mode.

00:23

And there's this Edge Loop setting, which is quite useful,

00:26

so I'll use that to pick this edge loop here

00:29

and just do a space bar for Build

00:32

and then either adjust this Distance slider or more typically

00:35

just click and drag with the left mouse button.

00:39

And if I zoom in here,

00:41

a division of 1 deletes the original edge and

00:44

adds two new edges spaced equally either side.

00:48

So I can increase those divisions here

00:50

or interactively with the middle mouse button.

00:55

And then I've got a Crown option to go from rounded to flat

00:59

and I can use the right mouse button

01:00

and I'll stick with 1 for a rounded fillet effect.

01:05

And typically I'll use two divisions which keeps a central edge

01:09

and then a bigger distance gives a softer edge

01:12

and a smaller distance makes it more like a fillet

01:17

So that gives quite a nice sharp highlight.

01:21

But Bevel will add complexity.

01:24

So here I've got a lot of vertices that will need managing.

01:28

So I can undo that with a Ctrl-Z.

01:31

And then if I take this Edge Loop setting off,

01:34

I could just do the Bevel on a few edges instead.

01:37

And then when I build it,

01:39

it gets created OK,

01:41

but again, I get complexity in the limit surfaces.

01:46

So I can undo that or if you can't undo

01:49

you just need to pick the new edges and hit the Delete key.

01:53

But be aware that the original edge CVs won't necessarily be

01:56

in exactly the same place as before you did the Bevel,

01:60

so use undo if you can.

02:03

So an alternative is the Crease tool.

02:06

It doesn't have any options, so we select the edges first.

02:09

So I'm gonna do this wheel arch

02:11

and then just hit Crease

02:13

and it creates a sharp edge on the limit surfaces,

02:15

but without adding any extra edge loops.

02:20

Now, if I just take off the shading here and I open up the Draw Style options,

02:25

you can see that by default,

02:27

interior edges are shown in single line thickness,

02:30

boundary edges are double,

02:32

and creased edges are displayed at four times thickness, so they are easy to spot.

02:37

And just note that I've made this selection color whiter for these videos.

02:41

It'll normally be a pale orange.

02:45

So I could use Crease instead of Bevel for this fender.

02:48

And I'll start with the whole edge loop and Crease.

02:51

And that's a really quick way of adding definition into the model.

02:56

It's also easy to remove a crease.

02:59

So if I don't want to see this break in the wheel arch, I can simply pick the edges

03:03

and do an Uncrease.

03:05

So then the crease will attempt to fade out smoothly.

03:09

And if it doesn't fade the way you want

03:12

over here on the palette in the Subdivision tab,

03:14

there's an extra tool called Modify Crease.

03:19

And if you then click on the creased edge,

03:22

then where it's red at this boundary edge, it's locked and you can't modify it.

03:26

But if there's enough edges, ideally, at least three or four,

03:30

then I can modify the fade out. So if I go from 3 to 4, that edge softens off a bit

03:36

or a bit more

03:38

or I can turn it off.

03:40

And when the Modify is applied,

03:42

these sliders become active for modifying the sharpness

03:46

and the bias.

03:47

But typically I'd leave these at the default values to create a simple crease.

03:52

And this Modify option can be a bit tricky.

03:55

So it won't work here where the ends are both locked

03:58

and it won't work if you haven't got enough edges to control the fade out.

04:04

So finally, I'm just going to have a look at a more finished example here

04:08

just to show you that the Crease has some limitations.

04:11

So down here, for example, I've creased along these three edges

04:15

and it's creating some distortion in the limit surfaces.

04:19

So you might remodel that or use Bevel instead.

04:25

But in general, it's a really efficient way to add definition to features

04:29

without increasing complexity on the control cage,

04:32

which is particularly useful as you're building up the topology.

Video transcript

00:02

The topology so far creates quite soft surfaces.

00:06

So we can use the Bevel and the Crease tools to create some sharpness.

00:11

So I'll start with Bevel and have a look at this rear fender area.

00:16

So Bevel is a variation on the Insert tool,

00:19

but it has Distance set as the default Offset mode.

00:23

And there's this Edge Loop setting, which is quite useful,

00:26

so I'll use that to pick this edge loop here

00:29

and just do a space bar for Build

00:32

and then either adjust this Distance slider or more typically

00:35

just click and drag with the left mouse button.

00:39

And if I zoom in here,

00:41

a division of 1 deletes the original edge and

00:44

adds two new edges spaced equally either side.

00:48

So I can increase those divisions here

00:50

or interactively with the middle mouse button.

00:55

And then I've got a Crown option to go from rounded to flat

00:59

and I can use the right mouse button

01:00

and I'll stick with 1 for a rounded fillet effect.

01:05

And typically I'll use two divisions which keeps a central edge

01:09

and then a bigger distance gives a softer edge

01:12

and a smaller distance makes it more like a fillet

01:17

So that gives quite a nice sharp highlight.

01:21

But Bevel will add complexity.

01:24

So here I've got a lot of vertices that will need managing.

01:28

So I can undo that with a Ctrl-Z.

01:31

And then if I take this Edge Loop setting off,

01:34

I could just do the Bevel on a few edges instead.

01:37

And then when I build it,

01:39

it gets created OK,

01:41

but again, I get complexity in the limit surfaces.

01:46

So I can undo that or if you can't undo

01:49

you just need to pick the new edges and hit the Delete key.

01:53

But be aware that the original edge CVs won't necessarily be

01:56

in exactly the same place as before you did the Bevel,

01:60

so use undo if you can.

02:03

So an alternative is the Crease tool.

02:06

It doesn't have any options, so we select the edges first.

02:09

So I'm gonna do this wheel arch

02:11

and then just hit Crease

02:13

and it creates a sharp edge on the limit surfaces,

02:15

but without adding any extra edge loops.

02:20

Now, if I just take off the shading here and I open up the Draw Style options,

02:25

you can see that by default,

02:27

interior edges are shown in single line thickness,

02:30

boundary edges are double,

02:32

and creased edges are displayed at four times thickness, so they are easy to spot.

02:37

And just note that I've made this selection color whiter for these videos.

02:41

It'll normally be a pale orange.

02:45

So I could use Crease instead of Bevel for this fender.

02:48

And I'll start with the whole edge loop and Crease.

02:51

And that's a really quick way of adding definition into the model.

02:56

It's also easy to remove a crease.

02:59

So if I don't want to see this break in the wheel arch, I can simply pick the edges

03:03

and do an Uncrease.

03:05

So then the crease will attempt to fade out smoothly.

03:09

And if it doesn't fade the way you want

03:12

over here on the palette in the Subdivision tab,

03:14

there's an extra tool called Modify Crease.

03:19

And if you then click on the creased edge,

03:22

then where it's red at this boundary edge, it's locked and you can't modify it.

03:26

But if there's enough edges, ideally, at least three or four,

03:30

then I can modify the fade out. So if I go from 3 to 4, that edge softens off a bit

03:36

or a bit more

03:38

or I can turn it off.

03:40

And when the Modify is applied,

03:42

these sliders become active for modifying the sharpness

03:46

and the bias.

03:47

But typically I'd leave these at the default values to create a simple crease.

03:52

And this Modify option can be a bit tricky.

03:55

So it won't work here where the ends are both locked

03:58

and it won't work if you haven't got enough edges to control the fade out.

04:04

So finally, I'm just going to have a look at a more finished example here

04:08

just to show you that the Crease has some limitations.

04:11

So down here, for example, I've creased along these three edges

04:15

and it's creating some distortion in the limit surfaces.

04:19

So you might remodel that or use Bevel instead.

04:25

But in general, it's a really efficient way to add definition to features

04:29

without increasing complexity on the control cage,

04:32

which is particularly useful as you're building up the topology.

Video quiz

Required for course completion

When using the Bevel tool, which of the following options enables you to create a rounded fillet effect?

(Select one)
Select an answer

1/1 questions left unanswered

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