How to solve Triangles?

NAIMA

Hi , I am trying for first time approaching the hardsurface modeling throught subobj division and so applying creaseset and then opensubdiv, the difficulties I am finding is when I met triangles and how to solve them to keep an all quad subdivision ... How do you do ? and what of this solution is it correct or wrong?

https://gyazo.com/29df78790bef85ff59b76dc08b8207ea

musashidan

It's a very in- depth subject and can take a lot of time and experimentation to understand. I would advise going to the hard-surface mini-challenge thread on these forums for advice and maybe try a few of the challenges. It's really a puzzle with a few rules you need to follow. 

This is a great video for anyone new and wishing to understand the concepts of sub-d

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_S1INdEmdI

NAIMA

thanks I will take a look , but the way I did is wrong?

musashidan

Yes, but only wrong in a certain sense. As I said, it's a complex subject. The topology will cause artifacts when smoothed. But that might not be a problem if it's not seen in a shader with texture maps. But if you're just learning this stuff you need to learn the why things are behaving a certain way, as well as the how to control your edgeflow and final smooth meshes surface.

S-S

I'll second what was already said, and would say triangle never killed nobody, and then again, it really depends on end use, is mesh going to be used only as highpoly source from where you derive normal map (for example) or is it itself going to be textured....

There are sites like this, that show patterns that can happen and how to avoid / circumvent them:

http://probiner.x10.mx/pedro-contents/flash/Shifting-Grid-Topology-Keys.swf

...and sometimes, you can paint yourself into corner... noses, ears and such are good example (yet not mechanical pieces) that show well that sometimes you end up creating a sort of "pole area", and can't remove some nasty loop end... without bigger change in local topology. I wouldn't sweat too much with such cases, first try to follow forms and create your edges along paths that visually follow shapes and details needed.

Add3r

Honestly, if keeping the model entirely quads is going to take more time than just modeling it and having a triangle here and there... Don't sweat it.  I honestly have ngons in quite a few of my high poly models, as long as they bake/smooth correctly.  In some cases, ngons actually smooth better than if there was quad/triangulated face.  I really only focus on having the best topo as possible near my edges for easy control edge adjustments if need be.  

NAIMA

Ok cool , I am kind of freaking out on them ^^ lol , because I always read to avoid them as pestilence , so I was trying to solve as soon as I met them  .
My actual objective is make a spaceship by doing that lerning hard surface modeling wich I never actually did b4, I mostly did organic stuff , natural environments etc.
The spaceship I am doing may be I can open a thread somewhere  to get sugestions and help on progress?

musashidan

Yes, of course. Post your work in progress to the 3d art and critique section of the forum. It's always active and there are plenty of people willing to offer advice and feedback.

cromadbomber

I use ngons and triangles all the time. As long as the final result looks good I do not really care. Do not get too obsessed with it too much or else you won't end up modeling anything.

NAIMA

Thankyou Ok I posted a thread, hope to get some help couse despite I seen tons of tuts I am still stuck on some subjects.

http://polycount.com/discussion/169587/spaceship-harssurface-subdpolymodeling-lerning-and-help?new=1

CreativeSheep

I make sure I never have any nGons and I always try to make sure my meshes are all quads, I recommend keep triangles to a bare minimum; that is how I like to model, super clean