Subdivision

Subdivision settings allow you to subdivide the geometry of a crude model at render time to create additional polygons and obtain a finer and smoother mesh.

At the object level, AMD Radeon ProRender tessellates geometry adaptively. The number of polygons depends on the proximity of an object to the camera, or its rendered size. Objects closer to the camera are subdivided into a greater number of polygons and therefore have finer geometry. Whereas, for objects positioned farther from the camera, the surface is subdivided into a smaller number of polygons. Thus, objects far away from the camera are not overly subdivided (as they would with uniform, or level subdivision) which allows to optimize resource usage and reduce the render time.

By default, geometry subdivision is disabled. To tessellate geometry, enable the Subdivision option in the object settings and adjust subdivision parameters as described below.

Tip

To preview how subdivision settings affect the geometry, switch to the Wireframe render mode in the viewport.

Adaptive Level

The Adaptive Level parameter determines the size of the resulting micro-polygons in pixels, and basically describes the required level of detail or mesh refinement. The parameter can take a value equal to or greater than 0. For example, setting this parameter to 1.0 will subdivide the geometry to polygons of one pixel size.

Note that smaller subdivision level values will require more computational and memory resources and will slow down the rendering process.

Crease Weight

The Crease Weight parameter controls the sharpness of the mesh edges and corners. The parameter can take a value equal to or greater than 0.

With a greater crease weight, the mesh is more resistant to smoothing at its intersections, so the edges and corners appear sharper. Smaller values produce more deformation of the mesh around the edges and result in smoother transitions between polygons.

Boundary Type

The Boundary Type parameter is commonly intended for meshes with unconnected patches that have a common boundary, or a seam. It describes how these patches meet along the seam — at the edges only or at the edges and corners.

With the Edge only option selected, the face boundary is smoothed at the corners, but may produce unwanted gaps across the boundary. The Edge and corner option keeps the corners constrained, so that the boundary remains sharp.