Topology help please

craigrmsmith

I'll try and keep this short. I've been racking my brain all day trying to work on topology for a Maya/Mudbox workflow. I'm trying to get good topology on a bog standard crate shape but I for the life of me can't figure out a good way to handle the corners ensuring I keep only quads.

Firstly, Could anybody give me advice on how to handle corner triangle sections? (See pictures this is the best solution I've been able to come up with)

Secondly is it worth the effort of incorporating small assets in to a Mudbox workflow? I created a 156 tri crate with a normal map using maya transfer maps in a 1/4 of the time It's taken me to try and figure out a decent smooth version to move to mudbox?

Eric Chadwick

Have a run through this thread, tons of great resources for learning how to make great topology. It'll take some time to learn, but you'll end up with the knowledge of how to tackle just about any shape you need.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56014

We also have some great learning resources here.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Subdivision_Surface_Modeling

craigrmsmith

Thank you for the links. I've had a look through them all and can't seem to find anywhere any suggestions for when you have a 45 degree angle aka a triangle detail coming off of a quad box. The change in direction is pretty extreme and no matter how many different layouts I try I always end up with triangles somewhere.

CheeseOnToast

You're making things unnecessarily difficult for yourself. The real object is made from several separate boards. Make your base mesh in the same way.