Editable Mesh vs. Editable Poly?

[Kevin Thorp]

I'm a little confused about pros & cons of Editable Mesh vs. Editable Poly. It looks there are more editing tools available when you convert a object to an Editable Poly.

Are there any advantages Editable Mesh has over Editable Poly?

[3dfernando]

Most people (me included) use Editable poly instead of editable mesh... But it's really up to you...
Poly seems to be an "upgrade" of mesh tool, since (if my memory doesn't fail) it was introduced at 3dsmax v4, and it has more tools, BUT the key difference is how mesh and poly will convert the same object.

Mesh will converty every polygon into a group of triangles, and will show it to the user. Poly won't show the triangulation of the object to the user, making the modelling easier...
Just note that meshes have the sub-object "face", that selects polygons according to their triangulation

This is what i learned. It may be wrong, who knows? =)
And i don't speak english, so please don't complain about my grammar =P

[Christian]

Editable mesh is mainly used for exotic shapes and objects. Meshes are composed of triangles, and geometry class has taught us that triangles (or any three points) are flat and will render properly. Editable poly is used for dealing with shapes, polygons if you will. With polys, you introduce space. When you get above three points, you can have some variation along th z axis (if you are using the x and y) that will make it render improperly because that polygon won't be flat. If you ever noticed an edge or vertex shading to black, or black holes in your object, this is your problem.

My advice, work with editable poly, thats what I use. I don't like editable mesh personally. But if you get any of the above errors, switch to editable mesh.

Here are some links that will help out:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=3034
http://www.webreference.com/3d/lesson114/

[Mike200]

Editable Poly is a step up from editable mesh. However, editable mesh allows you to create a stack of modifiers. So for instance, if you were creating a human from one mesh, you can place the arms, torso, legs, head, etc. all on different layers in the same object.

[vadyr]

I am more of "the texture guy" on our team, but I know most of our modelingis done with editable poly. It seems to be more universal, easier to form things, and much more "user friendly" (which 3dsmax is generally not...heh). I guess what I'm trying to say is that they have different functions, and you have to choose which one fits your idea best.

[Testament-Doom]

Well, Editable poly seems like the way to go. It has more features than Editable mesh, including paint deformation and all. To me, I always thought of Editable mesh as something advanced users would use. I would prefer Editable mesh if you're dealing with terrain work and such. It's meant for that.

[Kevin Thorp]

Thaks for all the info. This is a great forum!

[raymaniac]

I've never really looked into editable meshes. When I started, I was told to stick with editable polys, so I've pretty much ignored the existance of everything else.

[BuddyB309]

I've met people who swear by NURBS and they try to animate with them. (shudders)

[Testament-Doom]

Good luck for them.

[Kevin Thorp]

I also researched this question on "professional" Max forums. The consensus is Polys are generally much more useful, but Meshes still have a couple handy features, like an accurate face count.

Some people will convert a poly into a mesh then back to a poly many times in an editing session. Evidentially there's no loss of going back & forth.

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by BuddyB309

I've met people who swear by NURBS and they try to animate with them. (shudders)

Don't rule out NURBS entirely, they can come in handy when you try to do any complex surface modeling. Infact, there are NURBS based software programs such as Rhino3d that are actually quite good at what they do. You can even download a fully functional trial of that program that stays activated for your first 25 saves.

I'm lovin' me some NURBS.

[BuddyB309]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

Don't rule out NURBS entirely, they can come in handy when you try to do any complex surface modeling. Infact, there are NURBS based software programs such as Rhino3d that are actually quite good at what they do. You can even download a fully functional trial of that program that stays activated for your first 25 saves.

I'm lovin' me some NURBS.

I do aggree that NURBS are extreamly good at making organic models and complex surfaces like that. The trouble comes when you try to rigg NURBS.

[raymaniac]

Originally Posted by BuddyB309

I do aggree that NURBS are extreamly good at making organic models and complex surfaces like that. The trouble comes when you try to rigg NURBS.

That is exactly why we try to stay away from organic stuff in our animation.