I discovered how to smooth static meshes

[chewmyheadoff]

For weeks now Iv had trouble getting static meshes 3ds max to be lit nicely in unreal ed. Hard corners would be rounded off and look really ugly, if you shone a light at it. But I'v just google this and found this.

http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/Legacy:UnrealEd_Console

Under the commands:

STATICMESH SMOOTH

and

STATICMESH UNSMOOTH

there are question marks ?

What they actually do are life saving, and will save you pulling your hair out. Unsmooth makes it nice and solid and SMOOTH makes a rounded static mesh such as a sky dome, nice and rounded. It means you don't have to go back to 3ds max or maya to smooth it and rexport everything.

BUT I'm sorry if everyone already knows this, I'm just so happy I accidentally found it.

[Murphy]

Wow, after all these years, this is the first time I hear of this!

Does it work? How does it work? Do I have to select the StaticMesh in the browser or in the level? Is the effect permanent? Could you go into a little more detail with this?

[chewmyheadoff]

Yea just select the static mesh(es) and type in STATICMESH SMOOTH/UNSMOOTH in the console at the bottom of unreal ed, and it will permanently change it. But a word of warning, if your sm contains both rounded and cornered shapes, don't use this as it will either smooth everything or solidify everything.

[Templarion]

I recommend you and all others to read Unreal Wiki more. There is lots of good info.

Unreal Wiki

[smokeythebear]

Is there a difference between this and using smoothing groups?

[Murphy]

Yes, with smoothing groups you can have some parts smooth and some parts hard. For example if you are making a cylinder you want the mantle smooth so it looks round but you want top and bottom to have hard edges.

[chewmyheadoff]

The thing is you can't have smoothing groups in unreal ed, it has to be done in an external program. So this is helpful if you create a static mesh out of brushes in unreal ed.