Intro to Subdivision Surfaces

Subdivison Modeling (Subsurf, subd, etc) is a different style from box modeling.

It uses less direct manipulation of the mesh, and instead relies on utilizing the Subdivision modifier to automagically add detail, and smoothness, to our mesh.

While this sounds great, it does require a great deal of skill in order to master.

As per the mushroom, we can see that adding geometry to an area will increase that areas tightness, resulting in less smoothing.

This is going to be a reoccurring theme going forward, and has a lot of interplay with NGons, poles, etc, where those kinds of structures have the potential to create unwanted pinching.

In addition, to add this geometry we primarily depend on the Loop Cut tool, and therefore require a mesh which is dominant in quads.

In this "knife" video, we see that we can also control the tightness of an edge means of "creases". These creases simply force the modifier to hold whatever edge that is marked as creased. While this deprives us of our smoothness from the mushroom video - it is trivially easy to utilize, allowing the user to explore drastically evolving shapes and forms with very little forethought required.

In this "spear tip" video, we combine the best of both worlds. We start by establishing the overall shape via our creases, and then swap them out for edge loops.

Note - This is not the only way to make subdivision surfaces. Infract many artists never utilize creases at all. Creases will be a re-occuring theme when we talk about bevel baking, and workflows that some call "The Midpoly workflow" which utilizes hard edges, subdivison surfaces, and shaders to create our smooth edges. But more on that at a later date.

✨Homework✨

Create the following short sword:

Note - Pay attention to the softness of the bevels. In the real world, edges are not sharp, they have character, and curvature. Also pay attention to the strap detail on the handle - its not perfectly flat is it? Also pay attention to how the blade fixes to the cross guard, and into the handle - they are not one solid piece ...

I want you to create as much detail as you can possibly see in the above image.

Remember to lean on your loop cut, extrude, and inset tools heavily.