triangle/quad yer or no? And pipeline confusion for games
polycounter lvl 2
Hi dear Polycount community!
I have 2 questions
1) I'm learning game asset/character creation and as I understood game engines(I'm aiming against UE4) triangulates models as they get imported. And I'm hearing different opinions regarding having triangles in your models. So Is this something to account for in all stages(meaning high/low poly and other stuff in the pipeline) or is it just something old that stuck?
2)I'm learning 3ds Max and Zbrush, what is the fastest way of creation things for games while combining the two programs?
Thanks for replying!
I have 2 questions
1) I'm learning game asset/character creation and as I understood game engines(I'm aiming against UE4) triangulates models as they get imported. And I'm hearing different opinions regarding having triangles in your models. So Is this something to account for in all stages(meaning high/low poly and other stuff in the pipeline) or is it just something old that stuck?
2)I'm learning 3ds Max and Zbrush, what is the fastest way of creation things for games while combining the two programs?
Thanks for replying!
Replies
I'm not sure exactly what your question is, here. All models are ultimately made of triangles (quads are just two triangles, really). But modeling in (mostly) quads will keep your mesh cleaner and more organized and will be really helpful in tons of situations like UV mapping, vertex skinning, etc. You'll probably always have some triangles here and there, though, if you're working at game resolution.
Someone more experienced with 3DS Max should answer this, but basically--you make a high-res model in Zbrush, and a low-res model in 3DS Max, and bake normal maps from the high-res model using xNormal or similar. That's a lot of ground to cover and I'm not sure what the optimal way to do it is with 3DS Max, but I recommend looking up some guides to normal map baking so you're familiar with the process.
Good luck!
On low poly : Use tris, whenever you need/ want. Usually you triangulate when you want an edge to be a certain way.
Only downward is, while editing the model, it makes selection a bit harder, because loop and ring tools won't work. So generally speaking, you don't fully triangulate a low poly model while building it. You might need to fully triangulate before any normal map baking tho, to prevent importer/exporter to triangulate different ways.
On high poly : General rule : if it smoothes fine, it's fine. Once a model is subdivided, everything is quad ! Ain't that beautiful.
A triangle will create a bit of pinching when subdivided. This might or not be wanted. Sometimes a ngon will be the best approach. A triangle on a flat surface won't change anything. Most people don't bother to connect edges on a flat surface anyway. On a curved surface, if you want everything smooth, you'll certainly want to avoid triangles. Another thing to consider is poles are harder to sculpt in zbrush, as the topology is more dense on them. Might create pinching aswell.
Anyway, juste practice, and light will come to you.
As for the workflow, it totally depends of the subject, constraints... But generally, it's back and forth between the 2 softs. Some people will build their hp fully in zbrush, some will start the blockout in max, then go in zbrush...then adjust back in max...Then retopology in a 3rd soft, bake in a 4th...No hard rules here.
Thanks for the answer TH98! Yeah that was basically it, so focus on quads as much as i can
2)Yeah that was what I learned as far for now
Wow thanks so much for the good info
Learning from errors == experience
Quads = clean looking = good for pimping them hoes.(?) I think so anyway.
Ngons?! (status unknown.)
Yeah, thats what Im doing. And probably why I was confused :P
Does it smooth correctly? Then it's fine.
So it's often a good idea to triangulate your mesh before baking and exporting to the game engine, to ensure that everything is consistent.
Other than that, model in tris or quads... your choice. Mix and match them if needed. Although I'd advise keeping any ngons to the high poly mesh, as they can be more problematic in the low.