Sub Surface Modifier and Vertex Groups

Is there any reason why vertex group support couldn’t be added to the subdivision surface modifier? I could see it being useful for some models that are a mix of hard surface and organic shapes. Just curious really.

Just me eh? LOL.

Because preventing crazy pinching/poles/bad interpolation in general between zones that are subdivided and those that aren’t is anything but trivial, and as far as I know isn’t covered in any of the Catmull-Clark papers out there or their derivatives.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding you, but I didn’t mean within one mesh object. Just for a silly example, say in edit more you had a cube for your hard surface object and a sphere for your organic object. I’d want to use a vertex group on the sphere so that the modifier ignores the cube.

Still, I now see that you’d need a way for the modifier to ignore any vertex groups that are used on the same mesh.

I see what you mean. But is there a burning reason you aren’t just separating those meshes into separate objects?

I don’t know why, but I had it in my head that rigging that way wouldn’t work. Now that I think about it, you could still parent the different objects to an appropriate bone right?

Yep, your rig can be the parent of as many objects as you’d like. I couldn’t imagine doing something like a suit of armor with everything as one object o.O