INSIDE 3DS MAX® 7 [Electronic resources]

Paint Deformation and Relax

Modeling can be a pain if you need to pick and pull, vertex by vertex, to sculpt an object. New to 3ds max 7 is Paint Deformation, available from the Paint Deformation rollout under Editable Poly. Paint Deformation offers the ability to drag the mouse (or a styluspressure-sensitivity is supported for tablet users) over an area to deform it. Each stroke of the cursor over the mesh surface pushes or pulls the vertices in the direction of each polygon's normals or the object's local X, Y, or Z axis (Figures 2.13 and 2.14). (Normals are vectors that are perpendicular to the plane of the poly.)

In Figure 2.13, the direction of deformation of the model will be along its local Z axis. When it's in Paint Deformation mode, the cursor changes to a circle with a Brush Size value of 10. The short line coming out of the brush indicates a Strength value of 5.

Figure 2.14 demonstrates the result after Paint Deformation. Use the Relax brush to smooth the mesh if there are any sharp spikes as a result of Paint Deformation.

Tip

The new Relax function found in the Edit Geometry rollout (it is different from the Relax discussed in the previous paragraph) is in some ways a complement to Paint Deformation. It blends sharp areas of a model where the surface appears to wrinkle or turn too sharply. This can be a real boon for artists creating characters and other organic objects. Relax moves each poly vertex in the brush's area of influence toward an average position relative to its neighbors. It's as if the wrinkles in the model were being ironed smoother or hard edges melted slightly.

The Relax function has been added to Editable Poly and Edit Poly; you only need to create a selection or Soft Selection and then open the Relax dialog to change values. Because there is no modifier to collapse, you can immediately make a new selection and perform the Relax function again (Figures 2.15 and 2.16).