Sub-Division Surfaces

The Sub-Division tool provides the ability to sub-divide a mesh for greater detail and smoothing of the mesh. Sub-dividing the mesh of a figure will not lose the ability to adjust morph targets that were added to the figure prior to be subdivided. In addition, the UV Mapping of the object is adjusted to reflect the additional polygons.

Most figures supplied by DAZ or other sources are usually at a fairly high polygon count once they are released so using sub-d on them will probably not be a good idea, especially as it may cause memory problems due to the increased polygon count.

To sub-divide a mesh in Studio:

1. Select the object/figure to sub-divide.
   
   
2. Choose Edit > Convert to SubD. A message will come up indicating that this operation cannot be undone.
3. Click in the checkbox if you do not want to see this warning to come up when selecting to sub-divide an object. Click on Yes to continue with the operation or Cancel to leave the object as it is.
   
   
   
   A conversion dialog will come up indicating that the conversion is in process. Once the object is finalized, it will show in the viewport at the default Sub-D setting of 1 (four polygons for every one original polygon).
   
   

NOTE! If you notice that the mesh is not sub-dividing, this may indicate that your memory is low and Studio cannot complete the operation. Close Studio to clear memory and re-open it or use some other method of clearing memory in order to continue.

1. Make sure the main body or object is selected and in the Parameters tab, scroll down until you see the Subdivision section.
   
   
   
   Two parameters will be available in this section, described below.
   
   The values can be adjusted by dragging on the slider, clicking on the +/- signs, or double-clicking on the number and entering a different value.
   • Viewport Level: Indicates the level of Sub-D visible in the viewport. The default is 1 which is one level of Sub-D, zero indicates no Sub-D visible. The slider goes from 0 to 2 but can be increased by double-clicking on the label and increasing the Max Limit. Be careful when using this as some figures/objects are already at a high resolution and increasing the Sub-D level could lock up your system if it cannot handle the memory requirements.
     
     
   • Render Level: Indicates the level of Sub-D used when the object is rendered. This allows you to work at a low resolution and then render at a higher resolution. The default settings are 0 to 3 but the Max Limit can be set higher just like the Viewport Level, but again, be careful using this at higher resolutions (depending on the complexity of the mesh).
     
     The examples below show a sphere rendered first at 0 Sub-D then at 3 Sub-D. Note how the second sphere is much smoother than the first one.
     
     

CAUTION! Sub-division of surfaces does not work well with objects that have non-welded vertices. Make sure that all vertices are welded prior to applying Sub-D.

CAUTION! Any morph targets applied prior to sub-dividing a mesh should work afterwards, however, once sub-divided, any morph targets made to work with the original mesh will no longer match the new mesh and cannot be loaded as a morph target.