Planarize, align, and smooth CV layouts

00:02

I'm gonna show you three ways to tidy the CV layout.

00:06

And I'll start with the Planarize tool and have a look at this rear end.

00:11

There's an Edge Loop option here because Planarize works on edges, not CVs.

00:17

So if I pick those, I get a preview of the plane

00:21

and I can choose here if I want a Z direction plane centered on the selection

00:25

or a Best Fit plane that averages between the two end points.

00:30

But because I want this half to mirror across smoothly,

00:33

I'm just going to check in the side view

00:35

and there's still a little bit of twist there.

00:37

So I'm gonna choose View Based which works best when I'm in Orthographic

00:42

as it's created perpendicular to the view plane and between the two end points.

00:48

And if I zoom in these yellow lines show the Projection Type,

00:52

so Closest moves the CVs 90 degrees to the plane,

00:56

and Adaptive moves them in the direction of the edges.

01:00

So then I can just hit space bar to Planarize,

01:04

and you can see that the subdivision

01:05

isn't green because there's no construction history.

01:08

But because I can pick by edge loop, it's very quick to pick another,

01:12

do a space bar

01:14

and another and a space bar.

01:17

So that does a nice job of making that layout more controlled and regular.

01:22

And we can do a similar job with the Align To Curve tool.

01:27

So let's just say I wanted these CVs to be in a straight line.

01:31

So a straight line here would be degree 1.

01:34

I'm just going to use the simple Align option

01:36

and it's highlighted as the default.

01:38

So space bar will align all of those

01:40

without creating the actual curve or the history.

01:44

And then I can use my Shift to Add-select

01:47

and space bar again

01:50

and again, Shift and Add up to here and space bar.

01:55

So that's straightened out these three sets of edges.

01:59

And then on this hood area,

02:01

I'm going to want curved shapes, not straight lines.

02:04

So I can use degree 2

02:07

and I'll pick from here and Shift-Add to here

02:11

and then just do the space bar to Align

02:14

and I can select again

02:16

and space bar

02:18

and again,

02:20

and that does a really quick tidy up.

02:23

And the key really is to understand the

02:25

effect of different degrees on a curved shape.

02:30

So then finally, I've got a Smooth tool

02:33

and this has got two modes, Smooth and Relax.

02:37

So I'll start with Smooth and keep this Strength value reasonably low.

02:43

And then I just click and hold and drag

02:45

across faces to reduce the angles between the edges

02:49

and smooth out some of these zigzags.

02:52

And again, there's no history but the Undo works well

02:56

and I can reduce this Strength value

02:58

and then do it again more iteratively this time with a bit more control.

03:05

And if I do a Smooth on this middle section here,

03:07

it will soften that inwards, but it doesn't really change the layout much.

03:13

Whereas if I now switch to Relax and do the same thing,

03:17

then it does the same smoothing. But it also changes the edge lengths

03:21

and moves towards a more even distribution

03:24

which changes the layout quite significantly

03:28

Over here, if I use smooth it

03:31

improves the layout, but I've still got this angle here.

03:35

So I'll do an Undo

03:36

and this time I'll use Relax

03:40

and I get a nicer layout.

03:42

But if that's too much, I can do Undo again,

03:45

reduce the Strength

03:47

and then just do a series of small click and drags to get a more subtle result.

03:54

But be aware that even in Smooth mode, you can lose too much of your design shape,

03:59

particularly in the interior.

04:03

And with Relax, the effect is even stronger.

04:06

So to avoid losing too much of your original work, then keep a low strength value

04:11

and just use Undo if you go too far.

Video transcript

00:02

I'm gonna show you three ways to tidy the CV layout.

00:06

And I'll start with the Planarize tool and have a look at this rear end.

00:11

There's an Edge Loop option here because Planarize works on edges, not CVs.

00:17

So if I pick those, I get a preview of the plane

00:21

and I can choose here if I want a Z direction plane centered on the selection

00:25

or a Best Fit plane that averages between the two end points.

00:30

But because I want this half to mirror across smoothly,

00:33

I'm just going to check in the side view

00:35

and there's still a little bit of twist there.

00:37

So I'm gonna choose View Based which works best when I'm in Orthographic

00:42

as it's created perpendicular to the view plane and between the two end points.

00:48

And if I zoom in these yellow lines show the Projection Type,

00:52

so Closest moves the CVs 90 degrees to the plane,

00:56

and Adaptive moves them in the direction of the edges.

01:00

So then I can just hit space bar to Planarize,

01:04

and you can see that the subdivision

01:05

isn't green because there's no construction history.

01:08

But because I can pick by edge loop, it's very quick to pick another,

01:12

do a space bar

01:14

and another and a space bar.

01:17

So that does a nice job of making that layout more controlled and regular.

01:22

And we can do a similar job with the Align To Curve tool.

01:27

So let's just say I wanted these CVs to be in a straight line.

01:31

So a straight line here would be degree 1.

01:34

I'm just going to use the simple Align option

01:36

and it's highlighted as the default.

01:38

So space bar will align all of those

01:40

without creating the actual curve or the history.

01:44

And then I can use my Shift to Add-select

01:47

and space bar again

01:50

and again, Shift and Add up to here and space bar.

01:55

So that's straightened out these three sets of edges.

01:59

And then on this hood area,

02:01

I'm going to want curved shapes, not straight lines.

02:04

So I can use degree 2

02:07

and I'll pick from here and Shift-Add to here

02:11

and then just do the space bar to Align

02:14

and I can select again

02:16

and space bar

02:18

and again,

02:20

and that does a really quick tidy up.

02:23

And the key really is to understand the

02:25

effect of different degrees on a curved shape.

02:30

So then finally, I've got a Smooth tool

02:33

and this has got two modes, Smooth and Relax.

02:37

So I'll start with Smooth and keep this Strength value reasonably low.

02:43

And then I just click and hold and drag

02:45

across faces to reduce the angles between the edges

02:49

and smooth out some of these zigzags.

02:52

And again, there's no history but the Undo works well

02:56

and I can reduce this Strength value

02:58

and then do it again more iteratively this time with a bit more control.

03:05

And if I do a Smooth on this middle section here,

03:07

it will soften that inwards, but it doesn't really change the layout much.

03:13

Whereas if I now switch to Relax and do the same thing,

03:17

then it does the same smoothing. But it also changes the edge lengths

03:21

and moves towards a more even distribution

03:24

which changes the layout quite significantly

03:28

Over here, if I use smooth it

03:31

improves the layout, but I've still got this angle here.

03:35

So I'll do an Undo

03:36

and this time I'll use Relax

03:40

and I get a nicer layout.

03:42

But if that's too much, I can do Undo again,

03:45

reduce the Strength

03:47

and then just do a series of small click and drags to get a more subtle result.

03:54

But be aware that even in Smooth mode, you can lose too much of your design shape,

03:59

particularly in the interior.

04:03

And with Relax, the effect is even stronger.

04:06

So to avoid losing too much of your original work, then keep a low strength value

04:11

and just use Undo if you go too far.

Video quiz

Required for course completion

Which subdivision modeling tool allows you to correct zigzag edges by dragging across faces to reduce the angles between the edges and without changing the layout very much?

(Select one)
Select an answer

1/1 questions left unanswered

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