>> Seriously, to build anything of any complexity using just polygons, 
>> you would need hundreds of billions of them, and there's no way you 
>> can manually place that many polygons within a single human lifetime. 
>> There has to be a better way...
> 
> Yeh, like using all the mesh operators in 3D packages!

Heh, I knew there had to be one...

>  Like I said,
> build a rough mesh by hand with maybe 100 or so polygons

Uh... wouldn't that still be absurdly time-consuming?

> then use the 
> 3D package's smoothing tools to semi-automatically add more polygons to 
> make the mesh smoother.  Most 3D packages will do this interactively, so 
> you can wiggle about the vertices of the original low-resolution mesh 
> and see instantly how the final smoothed mesh changes.

Well, that's faster then moving billions of polygons by hand. Now you're 
"only" moving hundreds. Still sounds really slow though...

>> This sounds infinitely more plausible. (Although I can't actually make 
>> much sense out of the tutorial... I guess I'd need to actually install 
>> and run Blender.)
> 
> It's the same as 2D bezier curves but in 3D, ie you just wiggle about 
> the control points until it looks right :-)

Yes, that sounds much more likely to produce useful results in less time 
than the current age of the universe. Curiosly, I've never come across a 
package which actually allows you to do this. (But since apparently 
Blender does, I think I'll have to go give it a try...)

>> Presumably you also have to be a member first.
> 
> Yes, and you'll need to get there first, and have enough courage to 
> speak to someone there, and know how to use their search system, and 
> blah blah blah - yeh you may as well just stay at home.

OK, I will. :-P I wasn't especially bothered about learning 3D Studio 
Max anyway... (It's not like I own a copy of it or anything.)

Post a reply to this message