Hi,

I've been using the SubDivision Levels setting in Parameters under General on the default setting somewhere between 1 & 2 from the beginning and as long as Sub D is enabled elsewhere(basic On/Off box-forgot where @ the moment), everything looks great.

But it occurred to me tonight while experimenting to move the SubD level slider all the way to the right to 2. I'm not seeing any difference best I can tell in quality between Default setting & 2. Even with V4 zoomed in close.

Is there a benefit to using SubD level 2 that my monitor(HP W2408 1920x1200 at highest settings)is not showing me? The default level looks great as is.

Btw, I should mention this is DS 4.0 version, if it helps. What settings do you use for SubD Levels? 

If you are talking about the V4 figure (as opposed to Genesis) then this figure was not designed to require subD—it's a reasonably high resolution figure at base. I wouldn't have thought that subD wwould benefit at all; however, if you find an improvement by using a level of subD, that's fine, but I'm sure you are right that it will not look any better with 2 levels.

Obviously, with Genesis one level of subD is essential, but I don't see any benefit in turning it up higher*. On different kinds of models (e.g. some props) it may well be a different matter, although many props don't have appropriate geometry for SubD. On the other hand, I often add a subD modifier to clothing, usually when fitted by Autofit, and I find that very useful sometimes.

*The exception to this is for prepping figures for rendering in Luxrender (e.g. via Reality), where turning sub D to 2 or 3 levels can eliminate "grazing" artifacts (they look like parallel lines on the skin) which occur under certain lighting conditions. As I only use Luxrender I always set subD on Genesis to 2 before rendering.

 

Thanks for your reply.

I found some time ago that V4 does benefit, especially the smooth curvature of her breasts by enabling SubD. Otherwise, I was noticing a bit of jaggedness in the shape of her breasts, especially the lower part. Enabling SubD smooths it out to what it should be.

But yeah, I could not see any discernible difference between the Default setting which was halfway between 1 & 2, and all the way to 2.

Non-integer values don't really make sense - the number determines how many times each polygon is split in four. In any event, the setting affects only the preview - the render always goes to a limit determined by the render settings.

 

OK, thanks RH. So no additional benefit then in sliding to 2 from Default.