how to render with wires?

Submitted by tomcat on
Forum
Artists

Hi everyone.

I have a simple question about rendering with 3Dsmax.
How do you render an object so that the wire and smooth mesh is visible. Everyone else does it as ive seen in the galleries and I am new to Max.

cheers
bach

Submitted by Pantmonger on Tue, 24/06/03 - 5:30 PM Permalink

Make a copy of the mesh and place on top of the exsisting mesh, slightly expand the mesh (select all facees and extrude by face local) and give it a texture that is wire frame 100 percent self illuminated and the colour of your choice.

Your model now has a wire version on top and the model under it can be displayed anyway you want. ie Smooth Facet etc..

Pantmongner

Submitted by Malus on Tue, 24/06/03 - 11:45 PM Permalink

or just do a screen capture [:P]

Submitted by Pantmonger on Wed, 25/06/03 - 3:54 AM Permalink

Yeah you can do that but then you can't use the renderer to make the model look cool and you are limited to your display quality.

Some would say that a screen grab is the best way to display your mesh as it shows it in a raw state, the choice is yours.

Pantmonger

Submitted by Malus on Wed, 25/06/03 - 9:33 AM Permalink

for game dev its more accurate of the raw like pants said, but gi lighting is so purdy for pimping [:P]
If your only showing the wireframe why do u need it to look spiffy?

Submitted by Major Clod on Wed, 25/06/03 - 1:19 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Malus

for game dev its more accurate of the raw like pants said, but gi lighting is so purdy for pimping [:P]
If your only showing the wireframe why do u need it to look spiffy?

Its easier to simple render and save as a JPEG. You don't have to open a paint program and copy paste, edit out unwanted parts of the screen etc :P Good for the lazy!

Submitted by Pantmonger on Wed, 25/06/03 - 6:54 PM Permalink

Yeah but you are going to have to open a paint program anyway so that you can optimise said JPEG and get the best quality to memory ratio, lest some 56k user kick you in the nuts.

Pantmonger

Submitted by Sorceror Bob on Wed, 25/06/03 - 10:11 PM Permalink

The way pants mentioned works, but can often cause probs when you have small detailed areas in the silhoutte.. When you scale out the outer mesh, it pushes the wires outwards..

The best way I know to do it, is to select all edges, make them 'visible' if you want to show all the triangulation, then click 'create shape from edges', check 'linear' and you're done..

Now, there will be a spline created on top of your mesh, select it, change it to renderable, 3 sided and change the thickness where necessary in the rollout.

Apply a black texture to it, and you're done.

Posted by tomcat on
Forum
Artists

Hi everyone.

I have a simple question about rendering with 3Dsmax.
How do you render an object so that the wire and smooth mesh is visible. Everyone else does it as ive seen in the galleries and I am new to Max.

cheers
bach

Submitted by Pantmonger on Tue, 24/06/03 - 5:30 PM Permalink

Make a copy of the mesh and place on top of the exsisting mesh, slightly expand the mesh (select all facees and extrude by face local) and give it a texture that is wire frame 100 percent self illuminated and the colour of your choice.

Your model now has a wire version on top and the model under it can be displayed anyway you want. ie Smooth Facet etc..

Pantmongner

Submitted by Malus on Tue, 24/06/03 - 11:45 PM Permalink

or just do a screen capture [:P]

Submitted by Pantmonger on Wed, 25/06/03 - 3:54 AM Permalink

Yeah you can do that but then you can't use the renderer to make the model look cool and you are limited to your display quality.

Some would say that a screen grab is the best way to display your mesh as it shows it in a raw state, the choice is yours.

Pantmonger

Submitted by Malus on Wed, 25/06/03 - 9:33 AM Permalink

for game dev its more accurate of the raw like pants said, but gi lighting is so purdy for pimping [:P]
If your only showing the wireframe why do u need it to look spiffy?

Submitted by Major Clod on Wed, 25/06/03 - 1:19 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Malus

for game dev its more accurate of the raw like pants said, but gi lighting is so purdy for pimping [:P]
If your only showing the wireframe why do u need it to look spiffy?

Its easier to simple render and save as a JPEG. You don't have to open a paint program and copy paste, edit out unwanted parts of the screen etc :P Good for the lazy!

Submitted by Pantmonger on Wed, 25/06/03 - 6:54 PM Permalink

Yeah but you are going to have to open a paint program anyway so that you can optimise said JPEG and get the best quality to memory ratio, lest some 56k user kick you in the nuts.

Pantmonger

Submitted by Sorceror Bob on Wed, 25/06/03 - 10:11 PM Permalink

The way pants mentioned works, but can often cause probs when you have small detailed areas in the silhoutte.. When you scale out the outer mesh, it pushes the wires outwards..

The best way I know to do it, is to select all edges, make them 'visible' if you want to show all the triangulation, then click 'create shape from edges', check 'linear' and you're done..

Now, there will be a spline created on top of your mesh, select it, change it to renderable, 3 sided and change the thickness where necessary in the rollout.

Apply a black texture to it, and you're done.