In Figure 4.1 on the left, you can see a
park bench in a far shot compared to a view of the bench up close on the right. It would be
a waste of effort and time to detail the bench to exacting levels when the bench will be seen
only in a far shot.
You should ask yourself what the model will be used for when you are deciding how best
to detail it. If you are not sure how the model will be used in the end, it??™s generally best to
create as much detail as you think necessary. You can always prune down the details later
if, for example, your scene ends up very large and will not render.
Here??™s another thing to confuse you: You can always add detail to a model with texturing.
Textures, when applied well, can really turn an otherwise ho-hum model into a spectacular
object when rendered. You can easily add details such as grooves, dents, and engravings
with special texture maps called bump maps or displacement maps. You will learn about
108 ?– chapter 4: Modeling in 3ds Max: Part I
these maps in Chapter 7, ???Materials and Mapping.??? Don??™t worry about these things yet,
though. Most people begin by putting all the details they can into their model, and as they
gain more experience, they start to realize that some of the modeling work can be deferred
until the texturing phase.
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