8

1254 Chapter 9: Sur face Modeling
lattice for an object’s curves but not its surfaces,
or vice versa.
Curves—When on, displays curves.
Surf aces—When on, displays surfaces.
Dependents—When on, displays dependent
sub-objects.
Surf ace Trims—When on, displays surface
tr imming. When turned off, displays all of a
surface even if it’s trimmed.
Transform D eg rade —When on, transforming a
NURBS surface can deg r ade its display in shaded
viewports, to save time. This is similar to using
the Adaptive D egradation toggle for playing
animations.Youcanturnoffthistogglesosurfaces
are always shaded while you transform them, but
transforms can take longer to create.
Button set
Set Selected—Applies the display settings active in
the utility to all selected NURBS objects.
Reset—Resets the values in the utility to the default
settings for a NURBS surface.
Tools f or Low-Poly gon
Modeling
A couple of uti lities help you manage the polygon
count, for scenes and animations that cannot
become too complex. The Polygon Counter utility
monitors the number of f aces in the scene, and
helps you manage a budget of allowable faces.
The Level of Detail utility lets you manage the
complexity of an object in the scene. For example,
Level of D etail enables you to display a complex
object as simple geometry when the object is at a
distance from the camera.
Use the
Ut i lities panel (page 3–821) to open a
low-polygon utility and make it active.
Polygon Counter Utilit y (page 1–1254)
Level of Detail Ut i lity (page 1–1255)
Polygon Counter Utility
Utilities panel > Utilities rollout > More button > Utilities
dialog > Polygon Counter
If you’re concerned about using only a small
number of faces in your scene, use the Polygon
Counter utility. When you follow the path
indicated above, the
Polygon Counter dialog (page
1–1254)
is displayed, and you can set your budget
face count for selected objects and for all objects
in the scene.
Note: You can also see the face count in the active
viewport for a single selected object by pressing
the 7 key. This is a context-sensitive display; for
example, if you convert a primitive object to
editable poly format, it will then show the number
of polygons in the object instead of the number
of triangular faces.
Poly gon Cou nter Di al og
Utilities panel > Utilities rollout > More button > Utilities
dialog > Polygon Counter
ThePolygonCounterdialogshowsthenumberof
facesinthecurrentscene,aswellasthenumberof
faces in the current selection set. Use the spinners
on this dialog to set a budget for both of t hese
values. A bar graph changes from green to yellow
to red as you approach and exceed the allocated
budget.
Tip: You can also see the face count in the active
viewport for a single selected object by pressing
the 7 key . This is a context-sensitive display;
for example, if you convert a primitive object