In this article I want to tell you about the differences of Subdivision and Nurbs.
Many fans reached me and asked about the difference between these two way of modeling. Both are great, useful and have a bright future for developments but each one has it’s own special usage!
If you use Subd instead of Nurbs, there is no way to reach needed quality of surfaces. If you use Nurbs instead of Subd, you are loosing a lot of time and energy!
Workflow
Nurbs tools are managing the flow and the shape of any surface with respect to the position of points called CVs. You have to manually connect surfaces to each other and create any flow, tilt, reflection or bump in surfaces. Fillets and rounded corners will be created by you and take a significant time. Automated tools are accessible but they are not good enough to use so the most pressure is on yourself to manage every single curve, surface or any related objects. Construction history is not usable most of the time. But the quality of surfaces is extremely perfect! You can play with Curves (and Cvs) and also Surface tools to make changes to a Nurbs model. Analyzing tools and shadings are wonderful and you can use Nurbs to create a clean 3D data called A Class surface or Stark surface as a final 3D model of a 3D printing, CNC or any kind of production services.
Subdivisions work with one factor only and that’s the position of the control points called Vertices. If vertices are close to each other, the surface will reach a maximum fillet there and if you have a distance between them, the created surface will be soft and have a flow based on the position of control points. So everything is automated. You can play with Vertices and Edges (line between vertices) to make change to a Subdivision model. Making changes to a Subdivision model is super easy and under control and this is what a designer is looking for! Subdivision is created for Designers actually instead of Modelers.
Usage
About the usage, Nurbs is the best output that you can get from a 3D modeling software. Autodesk Alias is the most professional one so imagine how impressive could be the final production or surface if you use a professional software and professional tools of Nurbs! Nurbs tools are actually hard to understand and use in compare with polygons and subdivisions. The process of connecting Nurbs surfaces to each other is very time consuming and a project may take even up to 3 months if you try to meet the design team’s changes and engineering team’s feed backs at the end point.
Subdivision usage is much more various. You can create shapes and surfaces many times faster with respect to references, designs and ideas. The quality of final surfaces might not meet the automotive industry standards and in some cases, the quality is not even good for a simple 3d printed model. You can reach a very good visual quality but reaching the best quality in technical is very hard and somehow impossible.
Conclusion
Nurbs modeling is made for production, for having a very clean, smooth and best quality model meeting automotive industry standards. A Class surfaces are supported and in compare with the huge time you work on the data, the quality of the final file is definitely wonderful. If you are looking for the best way of 3D modeling that is being used in automotive industry for real products, this is the only choice!
Subdivision modeling is made for designers, for having a fast and clean 3D data to show off the design. The speed of progress is very good and the changes are easily made. If you wanna watch your idea in 3D, make changes to the design to finalize the concept work, this is what you were looking for!
The best comparison was the sentence I have written at the top of this article; If you use Subd instead of Nurbs, there is no way to reach needed quality of surfaces and If you use Nurbs instead of Subd, you are loosing a lot of time and energy!
Learning
If you are looking for learning Subdivision modeling, please take a look at Audi RSQ8 Subdivision Modeling Course at MS3D Academy.
And if you wanna learn Nurbs modleing, check Audi E-Tron GT Nurbs Modeling Course or Alias Learning Camp.
Written by Mohammad, Co-Founder of MS3D.
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