I have a feeling that the cause of that crowded vertex lies in the edges I've used to constrain the shape of the panel near the tail light, leaving a face with at least 5 or 6 edges. I suppose it's little things like that which get amplified through subdivision that can create big problems, which worries me from the point of view of reflections as I'm also hoping to use this model for a video project too, so the big drive is making it look right when a high poly version is rendered which can only benefit the version that gets exported for WRS, I suppose
I'm using wings 3D which on each pass I think splits each edge in half, leaves the newly formed vertices in place and moves the original vertices to smooth the model (The best example I've seen is how a hexagonal loop tends towards a circle when subdivided in wings). It's brilliant for making things that look natural but I'm aware of the downsides i.e. poly count (130k for the model without wheels after two subdivides).
I think you're right about performing less subdivision, I'll probably either smooth the thing manually or edit the smoothed model rather than relying solely on subdivision passes so that I can keep the poly count down and generally keep the model tidy. The pain of UV mapping an untidy model has put me off basically all of my previous projects so that's something I'm bearing in mind too.
Thanks for the feedback Hawk, I really appreciate your help and insight
I'm using wings 3D which on each pass I think splits each edge in half, leaves the newly formed vertices in place and moves the original vertices to smooth the model (The best example I've seen is how a hexagonal loop tends towards a circle when subdivided in wings). It's brilliant for making things that look natural but I'm aware of the downsides i.e. poly count (130k for the model without wheels after two subdivides).
I think you're right about performing less subdivision, I'll probably either smooth the thing manually or edit the smoothed model rather than relying solely on subdivision passes so that I can keep the poly count down and generally keep the model tidy. The pain of UV mapping an untidy model has put me off basically all of my previous projects so that's something I'm bearing in mind too.
Thanks for the feedback Hawk, I really appreciate your help and insight