Hey there guys, let me show you a cool new trick today involving the Shell modifier in 3ds Max. We’ll be taking a look at how you can remove unwanted polygons while modeling high resolution assets.

As you can see in the video above, I’ve used the Shell modifier on my chair to give it some thickness. The side effect of using this modifier is that you get an extra layer of polygons. The problem is that my modifier stack is already quite full and I don’t want to disturb anything. I’ve used a lot of Edit Poly modifiers and an FFD to shape my chair.

In order to remove the extra inner layer without affecting the stack, I’ll use a simple little trick. You can even use this same technique in a lot of situations while modeling.

The Shell Removal Trick

1. Select the shell modifier and override the material IDs of all the layers. Assign a unique material ID to the inner layer.
2. Add a new Edit Mesh modifier on top of the stack. In its material ID settings use the inner layer ID number to select the extra layer of polygons. Keep this selection active.
3. On top of this, now add the DeleteMesh modifier. It will recognize the sub-object selection and remove it.

Using the principle behind this technique, you can isolate polygons by material ID and remove them from your model. Hope you found this tip helpful. Stay tuned to this blog for more useful tips and tricks. See you soon.