Because the tessellation of NURBS surfaces has nothing to do with the material assigned to the surface (unless the surface is displacement mapped), you can start adjusting tessellation early in the process, anytime after the object is modeled.

To adjust tessellation on NURBS objects

1. Determine which objects in the scene you have to adjust tessellation settings.

   See Determine which objects to tessellate.

2. Display the tessellation triangles so you can visualize your adjustments.

   See Display NURBS tessellation triangles.

3. Select the object(s) for which you want to adjust tessellation.

   If you want to apply settings to All surfaces, skip this step.

4. Select Render > Set NURBS Tessellation > to open the Set NURBS Tessellation Options window.
5. Choose either Selected Surfaces or All surfaces (see Selected Surfaces, All Surfaces).
6. Switch the Tessellation Mode from Automatic (default) to Manual.

   (You can also adjust some of the Automatic tessellation settings to optimize the default settings. See Automatic Mode settings.)

7. Select either Basic or Advanced tesselation.

   Always start with the Basic settings. Basic lets you adjust a smaller number of settings that automatically determine some of the more advanced settings.

   Note

   Some of the advanced tessellation parameters can dramatically increase rendering times, so choose them wisely.

8. Test render to see the results.

   Fine-tune the adjustments you’ve just set until you reach an adequate level of smoothness.

   Tip

   To prevent overtessellation of objects, use the Use Smooth Edge attribute in the Render > Set NURBS Tessellation window to increase tessellation only along the edge of the object.