Is there an item by item description of Simplify tool somewhere? I can’t seem to find it.
It really shouldn’t be a huge effort to note down a few sentences on what each setting does:
Type:
Target triangle count:
Minimal edge length:
Coordinate system:
Unit type:
Preserve parts:
In particular what I am trying to find out is how to simplify just by using minimum edge length. What is the unit? I have defined a length in model using 2 control points. I have two distances showing (which is also a bit confusing) - Defined distance and Calculated distance. Why are they not the same? How did RC calculate the distance in the first place? I digress a bit. What minimum distance is the Simplify tool referring to? Calculated or defined? In my case they are different by factor of 10.
A dedicated video explaining each tool would be really helpful. I don’t want to go through dozen of videos to hunt if someone mentions simplify tool and what it does.
Thank you!
hello and welcome at our user forum,
the Help documentation in-built in the software is a great place to start -> tutorial Simplify
It would be useful if there was an article online. Help button is also not in the most obvious spot in the UI. Might be more useful if it lived next to about button and took you to an online page.
Description is very sparse. Does not provide more detailed info.
For example:
“Minimal edge length The affected edges will not be shorter than this threshold.” Does this mean that it will skip edges shorter than defined? I want exact opposite - edges shorter than specified to be eliminated. Is there a way to do this in RC?
So for other people looking for the same, here is a copy from the UI help.
Simplify
Let us have a look at another powerful tool to help you make your work much more effective. Please note that the Simplify Tool becomes active just after you reconstruct and select a model. It can be found in the RECONSTRUCTION tab in the application ribbon. You can hide/close it either by clicking the Simplify Tool in the RECONSTRUCTION tab in the application ribbon or by clicking the respective x button in the 1Ds panel view.
Simplify Tool
This tool enables you to reduce the number of model triangles so that it connects surfaces which are approximately flat, for example a wall consisting of 1,000 triangles will be replaced by an equivalent wall of 2 triangles.
- Use this tool to reduce the number of triangles in your model in order to make the model smaller in size.
- Please note that this tool does not modify the already existing model(s) but it creates a new reduced model which loses its texture and keeps only the coloring. You can switch between models using the 1D scene view.
- After clicking on the Simplify Tool its menu comes up in the 1Ds window.
Type You can choose from 3 types of simplification modes:
Absolute is applied according to the Target triangle count. It simplifies models to a selected number of triangles - recommended way.
Relative is executed based on the Target triangles percentage. This one simplifies models to a chosen percentage of the number of triangles of the original models.
Maximum of absolute and relative works with both of the above.
Minimal edge length The affected edges will not be shorter than this threshold.
Coordinate system and Unit type units according to the set coordinate system. This is just for your information, the values cannot be changed here.
Preserve parts When set to True, model parts will be preserved. We recommend you to preserve model parts for simplification of each model smaller than few million triangles.
- When you are done with the settings above, click on the simplify button placed at the bottom of the panel.