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Converting Complex NURBS to Polygons - Best Workflow?

Converting Complex NURBS to Polygons - Best Workflow?

andymc4997
Advocate Advocate
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Converting Complex NURBS to Polygons - Best Workflow?

andymc4997
Advocate
Advocate

Hey everyone, 

 

I've been given high-detail CAD files (STP) of smartphone cases to texture and render with photorealism. I've found that the NURBS-to-Poly process is very time consuming and many times inaccurate, producing meshes with normals facing all different directions, and in many small pieces, instead of a single mesh. What's frustrating is that the cases look relatively simple, yet they are extremely difficult to convert and UV map: 

andymc4997_0-1647892828574.png

andymc4997_1-1647892853739.pngandymc4997_2-1647892883901.png

 

Do you all have any suggestions for me to speed up this process? I've tried many different tessellation types and processes to speed things up. Obviously quads topology is what I'm always after, but the fact that the models are NURBS and in many different small pieces makes it very time consuming to merge them in any clean way. 

As bad as this screenshot looks, the cleanest topology I can come up with currently is to use Standard Fit which leaves me something like this:

andymc4997_3-1647893191706.png

 

Yeah... fun.. 

 

Then I have to take the thing into Substance Painter to texture it, so you can imagine how long this is taking.

 

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, 

 

-Andy

 

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damaggio
Mentor
Mentor

This is never an easy task , I'm attaching a PDF here from our studio that maybe can help you optimize your file before exporting from Rhino, this is our workflow for film production in Unreal but I think there are good tips here for you.

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