Hello there! I have been struggling with an organic model with some square openings for many hours, first because I had trouble making it solid, then when that worked i realized that it's too low poly to get a good 3D print result. Then I spend a lot of time trying to smooth/upscale the geometry but I haven't been successful. I tried with an up sampling plugin in Sketchup which didn't work. I have tried in 3DsMax too with tessellation. I have been told that it might be possible in meshlab, but does anyone here know how to 'smooth' a model while keeping the sharp features?
Try applying thin bevels to the edges you wish to remain sharp before applying a smoothing subdivision to the whole model.
Thank you, thats a good idea, is there a certain way to add the bevels? are you referring to something like the attached? If this is what you mean, do you know a good way to do it in max?
I don't use Max so I couldn't say. I learned the trick about using thin bevels in general advice on using subdivision modelling software. Lots of modelling software seem to have some concept of 'hard edges', being ones that aren't deformed by smoothing or subdivision - if Max has this (ask a Max forum!) it'd be the thing to use.
the way to do it in MAX is to use the "mesh smooth" modifier... after add it to your stack then you can manipulate the iterations- or smoothness... to get those edges that you are looking for- or even square holes- the key is to select in the mesh smooth modifier the line select button and then increase the "crease" to 1.0 this will make the edge crisp. if you want to make it the round hole square then you must do the same to the perpendicular edges as well... there is a similar method in blender but you didn't ask how to do it in blender... chris