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Philosophical question but why do we still use nurbs instead of, for example, subdivision surfaces? Is that mostly because users want to export to nurbs after e

• phkahler 5y ago
  >> Philosophical question but why do we still use nurbs instead of, for example, subdivision surfaces? Subdivision surfaces are a generalization of B-spline surfaces that predate them. History aside, sub-d surfaces can not exactly represent circles, cylinders, or torri. When you're designing real objects - rotating machines in particular - you want perfect circles. Round wheels and bearings. Trimmed NURBS (which result from itersections) are also easy to model features like chamfers, where again subdivision surfaces may fall down. Pixars creased subdivision surfaces probably do a bit better for things like chamfers. Nurbs are a better fit for modeling the kind of surfaces created by traditional machining operations. You wanna make movies? Use subdivision surfaces. Wanna design mechanical devices? Use NURBS. I'd like to see something better, but the industry isn't likely to change. Open source is IMHO the way to go with any fundamentally new representation.