Hello, I'm still figuring out Vue (5). This is a WIP to get a grip on importing models (the boat is unfinished yet) and a small render experiment. I like the materials availability and functions, but cannot find any phong polygon smoothing functions. Im thinking there are none but just thought to ask since Vue is a pretty advanced renderer. Is there any way to control how polys get smoothed? Red circle is where the polys were fine in Max when I modeled the boat, but did not import very well. Thanks a lot. wb

If you right click on the object in the world browser (the list at bottom right), you should get a popup menu that will include "Edit Object". Click that, and a small dialogue window will come up with a smoothing angle. I don't know what "phong" is, but this might help a bit on the angles.

I found it. Thanks to a post by Bloodsong here. Tried many settings and still no luck. Tried reversing normals, onesided, etc, etc and still no luck. Any suggestions would be appreciated. By the way, I did NOT weld anything on import. Maybe I should have....... Thanks again, wb

Thanks Djeser, we musta x-posted. Phong shading is another CG term for poly smoothing in other softwares. Thenks for your help! wb

http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1970569 maybe it could give you a hint, because sometimes .3ds imports show rendering artefacts .

Thanks Polax. I have found some - but not all - of the problem using several different applications to run the model through as you have suggested. Subdividing the polys did not help, actually made some undesirable geometry banding in the model. Still can't get all the shadowing fixed, but it is better. I there a setting for shadow bias on either the sunlight or spotlights or is there something about rendering qualaity/resolution I might not understand? I looked around but did not find anything. Many thanks to you. wb

Looks to me like the smoothing angle (as Djeser suggested). How high an angle did you try? Just for fun, turn it up to 359 and see what happens. Obviously, you don't really want the smoothing angle that high, but if it makes a difference, you'll know that's where the problem is. Another possibility... what lighting mode are you using? GI and radiosity could cause that if the quality setting isn't high enough. Good luck!

Hi DigReal, Good suggestions...I have tried high smoothing way over 90 deg, with no luck. Nothing changes, and Ive tried different lighting input including just a spot at different angles too. It renders just fine in Poser 5. Tried importing then exporting from Rhino, Poser and VIZ (Max6)as a .3ds and .obj. I guess I'll have to rebuild with some delilberate kind of subdivision. In some software there is the possibility of polys and other objects casting shadows on themselves in ways that show up like this. Adjusting shadow bias can help. Just wishing Vue had that capability to try. Thanks. wb