MicroStation CONNECT Edition Help

Facet Smoothing

Used to improve the rendered quality of discrete polygons. To do this their normals are calculated by averaging the normals of adjacent polygons, thereby softening their otherwise harsh appearance. Applications where this is desirable include digital terrain modeling and where approximated surfaces have been created, usually as a result of translating a file.

The new normals are written to the selected polygons as attribute linkage data. The polygons themselves are not modified.

You can access this tool from the following:



  • Ribbon: Modeling > Mesh > Mesh Utilities
  • Toolbox: Visualization


SettingDescription
Mode Sets the operation to be performed:
  • Attach — To select the polygons that are to be included in the smoothing process.
  • Detach — Remove selected polygons from the smoothing process.
Angle Tolerance Sets the maximum angle between faces that are smoothed. If the angle between two adjacent shapes is larger than the Angle Tolerance value, the edge is not smoothed. (This setting is useful because a typical model contains a set of faces with both sharp edges [that should not be smoothed] and edges that should be smoothed.)
Note: Using the Facet Smoothing tool does not change the appearance of wireframe polygons. Only during the rendering process is the smoothing effect evident.


Rendered image of a digital terrain model, in which the polygon mesh is clearly visible.



Same digital terrain model after applying facet smoothing. The polygon mesh has been smoothed during the rendering process.

Key-in: RENDER SHAPE ICON
Note: Use the below Keyin to remove facet smoothing:
Key-in: RENDER SHAPE CLEAR