Just curious as to how to handle the edges of geometry intended to represent thin powder-coated metal or plastic parts so that it has a realistic “smooth” (and not razor-sharp) edge? These parts will need to be exported with the edge geometry for rendering in other software sometimes. (Example below of a rafter tie for deck/wood construction) BTW this example represents a rather thick material, so the “sharp” edges are what would need to be smoothed. I’d need to do this on thinner material as well.
I realize this can be “brute force” modeled, but not sure if there’s another more efficient way in terms of time or poly count…
In terms of modeling, is there a way to tell rhino to “smooth out the sharp edges” without modeling each individually?
I’m not sure, but it appears this is visual only? (I need actual geometry) If so, I’ll modify my original question so that it’s clear.
[edit] That is a cool trick and looks pretty good! However it doesn’t create geometry - and I’ll likely need to export for other rendering/animation. I’ll updated my post.
if it is only for renders is better to use the tool that Rolf suggest. if you use Rhino render or Vray you can use it directly from that. if you use Keyshot it has the same tool inside.
the thinncoat could be a noise texture as bump map.
if you need to export the geometry to other programs you can extract the render mesh with the softening applied too.
