Meshing rules of SubD
SubDs in Rhino may be meshed in three different methods for rendering, viewport display, surface analysis, and mesh conversion. The three meshing methods are static, adaptive, and absolute.
Static meshing
How many mesh quads are created per SubD quad is based on the face count of the SubD.
|
Face count Per SubD |
1-2000 |
2001-8000 |
8001-32K |
>32K |
|
Mesh quads |
16x16 |
8x8 |
4x4 |
2x2 |
- Static meshing cannot be configured and previewed.
- Render meshes of SubDs in shaded viewports (Shaded, Rendered, Ghosted, and Xray display modes) ALWAYS use static meshing.
- Render meshes of SubDs in the Raytraced viewports and final renderings use static meshing when Jagged and faster or Smooth and slower is selected in Document Properties > Mesh.
- Static meshing reduces the render mesh faces of dense SubDs to increase display performance.
Adaptive meshing
How many mesh quads are created per SubD quad is based on the face count of the SubD and the Density or Level sliders in meshing dialog boxes.
|
Detailed |
Simple Density |
1-500 SubD faces |
501-2000 SubD faces |
2001-8000 SubD faces |
8001-32K SubD faces |
>32K |
|
1 |
0% |
2x2 |
2x2 |
2x2 |
2x2 |
2x2 |
|
2 |
1-19% |
4x4 |
4x4 |
4x4 |
4x4 |
|
|
3 |
20-34% |
8x8 |
8x8 |
8x8 |
||
|
4 |
35-75% |
16x16 |
16x16 |
|||
|
5 |
76-100% |
32x32 |
- Render meshes of SubDs in the Raytraced viewports and final renderings use adaptive meshing when Custom is selected in Document Properties > Mesh.
- Surface analysis commands always use adaptive meshing.
- The slider of simple controls in the Mesh command uses adaptive meshing.
- Adaptive meshing reduces the faces of render meshes and mesh conversion of dense SubDs with controls.
Absolute meshing
How many mesh quads are created per SubD quad is based on the Level slider. No other factor is involved.
|
Level |
Mesh quads per SubD quad |
|
1 |
2x2 |
|
2 |
4x4 |
|
3 |
8x8 |
|
4 |
16x16 |
|
5 |
32x32 |
- Only the Level slider of the detailed controls in the Mesh command uses absolute meshing. All the rest in Rhino use either Static meshing or Adaptive meshing.
- A high absolute meshing level may create too many mesh faces from dense SubDs and cause the system to run out of memory.
Reference table
This table shows where in Rhino the three meshing methods are used.
|
Static meshing |
Adaptive meshing |
Absolute meshing |
Use |
|||
|
Document Properties > Mesh |
Jagged and faster |
✔ |
  |
|||
|
Smooth and slower |
✔ | |||||
|
Custom |
Simple > Density |
✔ |
|
|||
|
Detailed > Level |
✔ | |||||
|
Object Properties > Custom mesh |
Simple > Density |
✔ | ||||
|
Detailed > Level |
✔ | |||||
|
Surface analysis commands > Adjust mesh |
Simple > Density |
✔ |
|
|||
|
Detailed > Level |
✔ | |||||
| Mesh command / export |
Simple > Density |
✔ |
|
|||
|
Detailed > Level |
✔ | |||||
= For shaded viewports (Shaded, Rendered, Ghosted, and Xray modes)
= For the Raytraced viewport and final rendering
= For surface analysis
= For mesh conversion