I'm learning how to keep edges sharp on my models and read about 'edge weighted'. There's several references to it in the Daz forums but nothing explains it. I've looked at, and rendered several different models to see how they look and while a few have support loops near the edges, some do not yet they render with (and look) perfectly sharp corners and edges.

Not sure if it's the same thing, but under the 'surfaces' tab (near the bottom), there's a setting for 'Smooth' on/off and 'Angle' By default it's on and set at 89.9 degrees, so even right-angles will look smoothed. If you set it higher, the corners remain sharp. Generally you'll get a better picture with the supporting edge-loops (IMO) but you can change this setting when you don't want something smoothed.

If you mean for SubD items, you can use the Geometry Editor tool and set the Selection Mode to Edge (Tool Settings pane or right-click menu), select the edges you want to keep sharp (or somewhat sharp), then in the right-click menu it is (as I recall) under Geometry Editing - enter a value between 0 and 1.

Thanks for that info. I'm looking more for settings, or modeling techniques to be used as a vendor. Can these selections be 'burned in' or added to my item's file so that they render as desired without the end user having to do anything? These are going to be props so I assume there's no sub-d involved; ie: they'll render with the mesh I've made. I also know about edge creases in Blender and am wondering if that's the same thing as what Studio calls edge weights. I've done considerable modelling, but never for Studio. Poser was easier since everything is well documented and there is (or was) a huge community of folks who made stuff for it and shared information freely.

Edge weights will save in the asset files, materials (including smoothing settings) will ave in the asset files or presets.

Aaaah...so after importing my model and doing the rigging and texturing, I should at that point select the settings in the parameter and render pallets and THEN save it(?) These settings will then be used when someone else loads the model and it will look the way it was intended...unless the user then changes something(?) This would make modelling much easier since it eliminates the need to make support loops on every corner, AND it reinforces what I'm seeing on other models I've examined.

I'm going to make another little tut so that others don't have to nash their teeth over something that turns out to be simple.

I see now that there's a difference between sub-D items, and props that have only one level of mesh. I played endlessly with three non-Sub-D items and tried every different combination of settings in both the Parameters pallet ('Mesh Resolution') and Surfaces ('Smoothing'). Nothing made any difference in my renders. I'm not going to worry about my edges and just get to work on my fully articulated thing-a-ma-bob. I'm also going to make a short tut (PDF format) on this since Daz doesn't want to document stuff for users, and content creators try to keep everything a secret to stifle competition.

I stand corrected as always, but Daz won't import creased or weighted edges from your modeling app. Going RH's way, for me anyway, would be a BIG PITA. Thanks though RH. I didn't know that was there.

SM, go with your intention of adding holding edges where needed. Good luck and keep me posted on your articulation :)

Hi Centriq, I've been chatting and trading tips with a group in a Discord server that caters to Studio users. It's full of people who got tired of Daz's overbearing forum moderation and enjoy helping each other learn how to model for Studio.

Anyway, I learned a lot there and am moving ahead with my first model for Studio; a fully articulated operating table. I'll be making a short tut on edges for both regular models and Sub-D items. Some time ago a content creator over at Daz started a series of tuts on various related subjects but stopped after only releasing three of them. It's quite obvious that either Daz management or the other content creators made her stop. There's also the well documented episode where a user in the forums who was leading a long thread for content creation was threatened by an anonymous content creator. I urged her to call the police over this and have them investigate and lay charges of online threats and harassment. She was reluctant and in the end eventually started the thread back up again after changing her name. This is the sort of short sighted attitude from Daz management that has made so many of us furious, and makes it so difficult to learn content creation. The tutorials are horrible and outrageously overpriced, forcing people to form secret and hidden forums where we can learn this stuff. Thanks goodness for Discord.

Renderosity could profit from Daz's insular outlook by providing detailed instruction on all aspects of content creation for Studio, AND providing it's own forum. The more people making stuff translates to more people selling stuff...something Daz doesn't seem to understand.

...and I promise to keep my mouth shut about this from now on.

FBX does carry over edge weights - if your modeller exports them. I used to be able to do it with modo>DS, but then it started to fail; however, I found that it was also failing mode>modo via FBX so I don't think it was a DS issue.

For me in modelling standard double edge bevelling holds up pretty well for either a standard edge or a sub D edge.

But it all depends what you are talking about as far as edges go, so I guess in this context, a surgical blade vs a metal table needs some entirely different geometry to give that detail.

I generally model edges in fairly hard and not use edge weights, so I guess I may not of encountered your own issue myself.

"forcing people to form secret and hidden forums "

Like the Dark Web, but not quite as naff? There is some pretty big calls here, which I am not sure I really want to go into at present. Lol

The solution for DAZ that TOO many 3D modelers use is the edge-loop. Terrible "solution" for any good modeler who cares about the polycount.

DAZ doesn't understand sh*t about sharp edges, creased edges, smoothing groups, etc. And the so called "solutions" of smooth in the Surface Tab or Geometry Editor Tool do more or less ...nothing.

Forget about .fbx either. It sure does retain some info about edges but you'll never get the proper result.

SOLUTION : Only thing DAZ understands are Normals.

So, low poly model your object. Define your sharp edges, creased edges, smooth groups, etc. (name depends on  the software used). When you have a low poly with all edges defined, then make a copy of that and Subdivided it in your software, that'll give you a high poly version, with sharp edges where they're supposed to be.

Then bake, using Substance Painter, Marmoset, Blender, etc. high onto low poly. And export the Normal Maps.

Once the normal loaded on DAZ's Surfaces, the ugly smoothed low poly will look perfect.

It's exactly the same process as lowpoly for video games.

Edge-weighting a SubD mesh does work, as does adjusting the smoothing angle for shading (which is in effect what you are using via a baked normal map - smooth shading also works by adjusting the normals).

PC hardware has evolved to the point where it's not exactly going to blow up your PC to render a few thousand extra polys, vs having to load a 2k (or higher!) res set of normal maps. Some of the DAZ store content expects end users to turn up the character's subdivision to 5 and render millions of polys so you can have hard geometry for things like pores ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Here's a quick test from cinema via FBX. 2 objects with the same geometry. I've highlighted the 2 loops I weighted

Here's the result after subdivision, It's maintained the flat-ish top and the sharp-ish middle.