Arteon & SubDivHero
Arteon Arteon
Hey, I've been wrestling with how to keep a character’s silhouette crisp while still letting the geometry breathe, especially when I’m pushing edge loops to their limits. Got any tricks for balancing the dreamlike flow with the need for clean subdivisions?
SubDivHero SubDivHero
Hey, if you want a silhouette that stays sharp but still feels like it can breathe, start by planning the edge flow before you even start pushing loops. Put a loop on every corner of the silhouette – those are the places the eye will grab onto. Then, for the areas that should feel more fluid, keep the loops sparse and let the subdivision do the smoothing. Use the crease tool on the silhouette loops so they stay hard no matter how many divisions you add. Don’t forget to lock your hard edges in the edge list; that keeps the geometry from warping when you add extra detail elsewhere. If you need a little extra punch, add a few isolated loops just above the silhouette lines and give them a high crease value, that will reinforce the shape without adding a ton of polygons. Finally, always double‑check your edge loops in an orthographic view – it’s the quickest way to catch a loop that’s out of place before you spend hours on it. Good luck, and keep that spreadsheet updated – I’m watching your mesh efficiency scores.