How about a global SubSurf button?

soletread · Post by **soletread** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 9:23 pm

What would be an absolute benefit is a SubSurf button that will turn ALL meshes subsurf on or off in one go.

It would save having to go to each mesh and having to turn it on to do some modelling then off again to do some animating.

The eyes, the head, the shirt, the socks, the shoes it becomes quite tedious.

One button to turn them all on or off, taking their modelling SubSurf settings as parameters.

What do you think?

theeth · Post by **theeth** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 10:03 pm

already exist

Ctrl-C -> Subdiv

copies the subsurf settings of the active object to all the selected object.

wheee, feature request of features that already exists are the best

Martin

Timothy · Post by **Timothy** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 11:22 am

well not exactly what he ment I think,...

he wants a button that will turn subsurf on/off on all objects, BUT using each objects own subsurf settings for it.

Goofster · Post by **Goofster** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 3:35 pm

hmmm, green's hotkey for turning subsurf on/off should be modified for this (multiple objects)..

Roel

soletread · Post by **soletread** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 9:43 pm

Theeth wrote:

Ctrl-C -> Subdivcopies the subsurf settings of the active object to all the selected object

Hmm, not quite what I meant.

Something that will retain individual mesh SubSurf settings and then turn them all OFF in one go.

Then back on again.

Almost like having them all turned off for animation purposes. (interactive display set to 0) and then rendering to see what the outcome is, based on the render subsurf settings. BUT not having to render and not having to set interactive display to 0.

One button to turn subsurf completely off then on again.

Does this make sense.

Pablosbrain · Post by **Pablosbrain** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 11:04 pm

Why do you need to have it turned off for animation purposes? there are two settings for subsurf (in the latest versions of blender since 2.25 i believe) one setting is for interactive display levels of subsurf and render subsurf levels. Just set the interactive display levels down to 0 and have the render ones turned up to whatever you want.

I don't think you would need a global on/off for subsurf then. Maybe a way to globally change the values for those objects that have subsurf enabled... but having a global on off of subsurf is not really needed.

soletread · Post by **soletread** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 8:58 pm

Hmm, sorry I can't be explaining myself correctly.

Let me try again

Currently Blender only allows sub surf options on a per mesh basis.

Now lets say I am modelling a head as simple example. I am working on the eyes, eyelids, and eyeballs and am using sub surface modelling. Now to get the eyeballs to fit in the sockets correctly, I will need to turn up the subsurf value for the interactive display for the eyeball and the eyesocket (head) to the same values I intend to render them in. And of course the eyeball and the eye socket dont need to be the same value.

In this example the head is attached to the rest of the body. (same mesh) so posing with armatures becomes sluggish due to the subsurfacing.

So I select the body and turn down the interactive subsurfacing. For optimum speed I select the eyeball and turn down the interactive subsurface value there too. Etc.

Now I pose the model. Lift an arm and now I would like to see how the mesh is deforming so I select the body mesh again and turn up the interactive subsurfacing. Looks good, hey but now from this pose it looks like the eyesockets are not quite right. Select the eyeball and turn that up.

With more detail. (Hair, accessories etc) this becomes quite tedious.

One button to turn down all the meshes interactive subsurf level in one go and then turn them all back to their original settings again when necessary.

Its not quite the same as having them all turned down for interactive and all set properly for render. rendering is one way to see yes, but doesnt help when modelling.

Is this clearer?

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theeth · Post by **theeth** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 9:27 pm

yes, it's more clear, and this is defintily a situation where what I said would apply.

You want to up the level of the whole body?
Easy, up the subsurf level of one part, select all the parts, copy the subsurf settings to the rest.

A global subsurf level (whether controlling the whole scene, the selected objects or the active layer) would be redundant here, IMHO.

That is not to say that it would not, in certain circumstances, be better than the Copy menu, but I just think that it's not a really needed feature.

Martin

soletread · Post by **soletread** » Sat Aug 09, 2003 9:15 am

Nope, Sorry Theeth. That's not quite right.

The Ctrl C only works if ALL your meshes have the same subsurf level.

I have a shirt with subsurf 3, socks with subsurf 1, eyeballs with subsurf 2. etc.

And also Ctrl C and then select all meshes then copy to them. What about coming back again? Set one down to 0 Ctrl C then select all and copy back again?

Its certainly quicker than turning each mesh down one at a time, but even if this did work, its still not a very quick method.

A global subsurf switch would be an ABSOLUTE time saver. Seriously. This is not a vague idea that I had, it has become a real necessity for me and my staff. We have modelled 5 characters so far and run into the same situation time and time again, and its really starting to become an issue.

Pity, oh well, time to bribe a programmer.....

theeth · Post by **theeth** » Sat Aug 09, 2003 5:08 pm

Ok, I think I understand what you mean now. Basicly, a big button that would do something like "Use Render subsurf level for OpenGL display" and it would be a toggle button. Right?

Yes, that would be useful.

Martin

soletread · Post by **soletread** » Sat Aug 09, 2003 5:58 pm

Yes yes !

That's it.

A small button will be ok too

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Eric · Post by **Eric** » Sun Aug 10, 2003 12:24 am

My vote goes to big Goof's proposal. Make green's SHIFT-O key aware of multible selected objects.

soletread · Post by **soletread** » Sun Aug 10, 2003 9:16 pm

Yes, I suppose button real estate is a bit scarce.....

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soletread · Post by **soletread** » Sat Sep 06, 2003 10:49 am

Eric wrote:

My vote goes to big Goof's proposal. Make green's SHIFT-O key aware of multible selected objects.

No, not quite the same. In order for this to work the interative subsurf and render subsurf values would have to be identical. And so the following applies:

If I hit SHIFT-O and it is aware of multiple selected objects then what basically happens is, as I am animating then all off. ok thats fine, now I want to render. Select all and SHIFT-O again. Now the open GL display is subsurfed back again and so to continue posing, select all and SHIFT-O again and so on....

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