Modeling Quads/Tries

Dastan

Do you model with quads, right? but when do you convert it to tries? What is the right time when working for a video-game project?

If I model an object or character to be used in a game engine, do I need to triangulate it before UV mapping and texture creation? Or can I keep the quad geometry and expect the engine or software to handle the tessellation while preserving the overall look of my textures?

cryrid

You don't have to model in quads, but doing so helps if the model needs to be subdivided, and will also help you to quickly select loops. Otherwise, throwing in the occasional triangle can be a nice help for deformation (the wiki has some good examples).

I'd say triangulate it once you have no more changes to make to the mesh, preferably before baking anything (normal maps mostly). After that, keep it triangulated for the export. This way the triangles used in the bake are guaranteed to be identical to the one used in the game (some engines might triangulate the quads differently).

Eric Chadwick

Nice example!

McGreed

Thats good with 3ds max (dont know if Maya got it as well) that you can apply editable mesh modifier and adjust the triangles without actually triangulate everything, so you can keep it more 'clean' in max but it export it with the triangles pointing the right way.

Rick Stirling

You don't even need to switch to Emesh, Epoly will let you re-triangulate too.

Hoopla!

yeah, poly mode/turn feature.