QUOTE(gmask @ 06/15/09, 01:49 AM) [snapback]309472[/snapback]
btw the problem you were having with smoothing might be because the binding set the mesh to not allow topology mod.. select the shape tab in the attribute editor and look under Mesh Controls.
Also the geforce cards are not really supported by Maya so that's a likely reason why hardware rendering was crashing
Surface Approximation is pretty easy to use ... Window>Rendering>mentalray>Approximation Editor
Under Subdivision just select your mesh and then click Create.. now when you render in mentalray it will take your low res mesh and make a sub division surface out of it.. this will be much faster use less memory than smoothing
A new feature in 2009 allows you to select your mesh and hit 1 2 or 3 on the keyboard to choose different levels of approximation smoothing. You will see the result in the viewport but it will only render with mentalray.. it might render with the hardware renderer.. I haven't tried it
I tried Surface Approximation but it didn't work, instead my character's body disappeared in the mental ray render and only the eyes and the objects parented to him remained(unsmoothed). I checked and Allow Topology is enable on the mesh so that can't be the problem.
I used the preview keys in the past but as you said they can only be used in hardware render.