Autodesk 12812-051462-9011 User Guide - Page 1495

Sub-object animation is supported only at the lowest level of detail: Base Level. This is accomplished by animating the mesh below the HSDS modifier. To apply deformation animation after HSDS modeling, first convert the object to an editable mesh by right-clicking the modifier stack and choosing Collapse All. The adaptive tessellation automatically subdivides polygons as needed to maintain a smoothly curved surface when transforming mesh sub-objects. You can use a preset or provide custom settings. IMPORTANT HSDS models are not passed up the modifier stack. The HSDS modifier takes a polygon mesh as input, and outputs a triangle-based mesh. Also, The HSDS modifier does not handle changes to the modified object's topology, such as altering a sphere's Segments setting. Topology changes to the input mesh results in the loss of all edits made in the HSDS modifier. Procedures To use the HSDS modifier: 1 Apply the HSDS modifier to an object. By default, the HSDS modifier doesn't convert non-quadrilateral polygons to quads. Because the modifier works best with four-sided polygons, it's recommended you perform the conversion if necessary. 2 If the object contains any non-quadrilateral polygons, in the HSDS Parameters dialog, turn on Force Quads. Click Yes in the Force Quads? dialog that appears. NOTE Upon conversion to quads, the modifier automatically performs one level of subdivision with smoothing (like MeshSmooth on page 1532 with one iteration) on the object to which it's applied. Thus, for best results, use it with relatively low-polygon objects. For example, if you usually work with the Sphere object at the default 32 segments, use a 16-segment sphere with HSDS. If the object is made up of quads only, Force Quads isn't available because no conversion is necessary. 3 Choose a sub-object mode at which to subdivide. The object is covered with a gold control grid (or, in Vertex sub-object mode, a white grid with blue vertices), indicating that the entire mesh is available for subdivision and/or sub-object transformation at base level. 1492 | Chapter 11 Modifiers