Max 7 poly problem

[Ramsay]

Hey guys,

I have posted this a few other places but I thought I would try here too...

I'm having a bit of a problem with max 7. Lets say I create a rectangle then un-check the "start new shape" box, I then draw 3 more rectangles inside the larger rectangle and extrude it. The result is clean geometry as expected with no extra edges but as soon as I convert the shape to an editable poly extra edges appear across some of the faces that can't be removed! Does anyone have a solution to this? I'm sure it didn't happen in older versions of Max.

Craig

[percydaman]

can you reproduce it again and again? Ive tried here and while Ive seen hit happen previously I cant make it happen today.

[cgrant3d]

Example Image http://www.scriptspot.com/ftp/vray/ExtraEdges.jpg

Those extra edges are there because max displays them the way they are calculated instead of hiding them (which it probably should because we're artists not engineers)...

Editable Poly's use "winged edges" (a method of representing polygons) which call for these new edges to be created at every hole in the mesh... At least that's my understanding of it. There is no way as of max 7sp1 to turn off those edges unless you add a turn to mesh modifier or collapse the object to an editable mesh.

Hopefully they will add the intelligence for epoly's to automatically hide those ugly lines from us in the future but for the time being, you're not doing anything wrong or anything, it's just max displaying things the way it thinks they should be...

(EDIT) if you really want to get nerdy, you can do a google search for "winged edges" and see what's going on. I found this page http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/COURSES.../winged-e.html via google that at the bottom explains fairly simply what's going on when max adds that seemingly unnecessary edge.

[Da_elf]

dont forget that also when you create rectangles and convert to editable spline your vertex are bezier curves so its always good to go in and select all vertext then change them to corner

[Ramsay]

can you reproduce it again and again? Ive tried here and while Ive seen hit happen previously I cant make it happen today.

Really? It happens every time I try it... Are you using Max or Viz? And what version?

[Ramsay]

Example Image http://www.scriptspot.com/ftp/vray/ExtraEdges.jpg

Those extra edges are there because max displays them the way they are calculated instead of hiding them (which it probably should because we're artists not engineers)...

Editable Poly's use "winged edges" (a method of representing polygons) which call for these new edges to be created at every hole in the mesh... At least that's my understanding of it. There is no way as of max 7sp1 to turn off those edges unless you add a turn to mesh modifier or collapse the object to an editable mesh.

Hopefully they will add the intelligence for epoly's to automatically hide those ugly lines from us in the future but for the time being, you're not doing anything wrong or anything, it's just max displaying things the way it thinks they should be...

(EDIT) if you really want to get nerdy, you can do a google search for "winged edges" and see what's going on. I found this page http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/COURSES.../winged-e.html via google that at the bottom explains fairly simply what's going on when max adds that seemingly unnecessary edge.

Thanks for the explanation I'm almost 100% positive this didn't happen before. I'm seriously considering changing to another modeling program until Max gets sorted out

[Da_elf]

is there a reason why you would want to get rid of them. its not like they are visable during a render. so who gives a crap what their mesh looks like in the viewport. its the render that counts. in that scriptspot example i would have taken each hole and added a single link to the corners of the main shape rather than link the holes together. then i would do a quick re-triangulate on it and not bother with it again.

[Ramsay]

is there a reason why you would want to get rid of them. its not like they are visable during a render. so who gives a crap what their mesh looks like in the viewport. its the render that counts. in that scriptspot example i would have taken each hole and added a single link to the corners of the main shape rather than link the holes together. then i would do a quick re-triangulate on it and not bother with it again.

Hmmm im not sure I understand your method

Its not that I care what the mesh looks like in the viewport... my point is that say you highlighted the edges of the holes in the scriptspot example and you wanted to apply a chamfer to them, the edges wouldnt bevel properly due to those pesky extra edges. Try it, you will see what I mean.

Craig

[cgrant3d]

is there a reason why you would want to get rid of them. its not like they are visable during a render. so who gives a crap what their mesh looks like in the viewport. its the render that counts. in that scriptspot example i would have taken each hole and added a single link to the corners of the main shape rather than link the holes together. then i would do a quick re-triangulate on it and not bother with it again.

Because every time I see some funky diagonal line in the viewport that just doesn't belong there my left eye starts to twitch, and my right hand follows with these spasms so I can't work at all... ... ... Ok, so mostly for me it's just an aesthetic thing, but the extra edge does get in the way when I'm modelling as I have to click around it or deselect it from the edges I want to work with. It's not a huge problem for me but it is a small annoyance.

[mike.edel]

i would try to get some regular structure in the model - so try to subdivide the border edges into quads
currently you have a lot of hidden edges that form non-quad polys - which in theory is a bad thing (try to meshsmooth the model to see what i mean...)

similar object to yours, with and without quad-polystructure
(the one without visible edges was created by extruding a spline and shows none of your problems)

http://home.arcor.de/mike.edel/quad_vs_nonquad.png

instanced meshsmooth modifier on both models
http://home.arcor.de/mike.edel/smoothed.png

btw: http://www.scriptspot.com/download.asp?ID=2432&inf=1
cs poly tools has a tool caled cs_dissolve which can delete those problematic edges in the poly i think

[mike_kennedy]

this happens when modeling with splines. nature of the beast.
There are a two things I would suggest. One, the shape you are trying to make could be made with a plane object and Meshtools much cleaner.
If you want to stick with splines, you could convert to Editable mesh, hide the edges using the "Invisable" Toggle....and switch back to editable poly....easy...