What should I bevel?

[paco]

I'm working on an interior scene -walls, stairs, etc. In order to make the scene more realistic i've read that I should bevel edges. I have a couple of questions:

1) should I bevel EVERY edge, or just those closest to the camera?

2) I take it that I need to bevel the edge, and then set the mesh to smooth? I read somewhere that blendigo cannot handle a mesh with smooth/ non-smooth components - is that true? How do I get around this?

Any help appreciated!

[palawat]

1. For me, I'd bevel just the ones that hurts the render not all of them. But for experimental or perfectionism sake, you can always try bevel all of them

2. "Set smooth" to object still gives weird result. Try using "Subsurf" instead.

Hope this help.

[Stur]

If you want a smooth object with some sharp edges, the better is to add a subsurf modifier, then an edge split modifier.

About beveling, I second Palawat.

[paco]

Thanks for the replies! The scene i'm working on is at:

http://www.indigorenderer.com/joomla/fo ... 8937#58937

I ended up beveling the stairs but didn't bother with the walls. I'm guessing beveling is most noticeable on reflective materials (ie, with highlights). I did try the walls at one stage but I couldn't tell the difference.