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CHAPTER

Modeling with

Polygons and Patches

eshes (or, more specifically, polygon meshes) are perhaps the most
popular and the default model type for most 3D programs. You create IN THIS CHAPTER
Mthem by placing polygonal faces next to one another so the edges are
joined. The polygons can then be smoothed from face to face during the render- Creating Editable Poly objects
ing process. Using meshes, you can create almost any 3D object, including sim- Working with the poly
ple primitives such as a cube or a realistic dinosaur. subobject modes
Meshes have lots of advantages. They are common, intuitive to work with, and
supported by a large number of 3D software packages. In this chapter, you learn Editing poly geometry
how to create and edit mesh and poly objects. Changing surface properties
A patch is a modeling type that uses curves to define the perimeter of the shape. like NURMS
Patches are essentially polygon surfaces stretched along a closed spline. Creating patch grids
Modifying the spline alters the surface of the patch.
Editing patches
In many ways, patches have advantages over the more common mesh objects.
They take less memory to store, are easier to edit at the edges, and are easy to Working with patch subobjects
join to one another.

Understanding Poly Objects

Before continuing, you need to understand exactly what a Poly object is, how it
differs from a regular mesh object, and why it is the featured modeling type in
Max. To understand these issues, you’ll need a quick history lesson. Initially,
Max supported only mesh objects, and all mesh objects had to be broken down
into triangular faces. Subdividing the mesh into triangular faces ensured that all
faces in the mesh object were coplanar, which prevented any hiccups with the
rendering engine.
Over time, the rendering engines have been modified and upgraded to handle
polygons that weren’t subdivided (or whose subdivision was invisible to the
user), and doing such actually makes the model more efficient by eliminating all
the extra edges required to triangulate the mesh. Also, users can work with poly-
gon objects more easily than individual faces. To take advantage of these new
features, the Editable Poly object was added to Max.
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