3dsmax Tip: Why edit poly is better then edit mesh

Ive had the chance to work with a lot of new modelers and all of them (including me at one point) all had one thing in common, When fine tuning details they all used the edit mesh modifier. Which is fine but as soon as i showed them the capabilities of Edit poly it was amazing how, almost every time, there quality of work, and there efficiency almost doubled instantly.

The reason is that the tools in edit poly are much more versitle and its easier to mold things into the shape that you want from the perspective veiwpoint. Im by no means an expert but Im going to try to outline some of the key reasons why I almost always use the edit poly modifier instead of edit mesh.

When you select the polygon subdivision the first thing you will notice is a number of tool that are either completly new from edit mesh or that they are similer but with more obtions.

For example using extrude and bevel, you have a lot more control in how you want your subdivisions to behave. If you click on the square icons next to them you will notice that you can adjust exactly how far your subdivsion will move. Also, unlike edit mesh you can choose choose it to extrude from the entire group, the local normal or by each polygone. Im not going to go into what all these mean but if you experiment between each one you will quickly notice each effect. The effect really applies to when more .

Just to give you an example of what Im talking about, here is a virus that I made using edit poly in about 5 mins. All i did was take a geosphere and use the edit poly modifier to bevel each polygon to the desired shape, using the extrude along polygon option so that each polygon would be seperate and I added meshsmooth and then relax and voila!

Using the edit mesh modifier this same exact model probally would have taken anywhere between 15 mins to an hour.

You can download this virus model for free here :http://www.the3dstudio.com/product_details.aspx?id_product=39528

Another option I found to be very helpful is the extrude along spline option this is very helpful for things like tentacles, pipes or any thing really that is long and curvy. This helps you get a more natural curve out of you objects by allowing you to set the path of the extrusion. Just click on the square icon next to it and set the amount of segments that you and to extrude (the more segments the more smooth but at the trade off of increased polys) and then choose your spline and it does the hard part for you. Its really that easy. No more manual jaggy curves.

Other options you should explore is the ability to use meshsmooth only on certain polygons instead of the entire mesh. Paint deformations - the ability to use a paint brush to push in or out paolygons. Quickslice comes in very handy. Bridge - fill holes in your mesh with polygons and many more.