The importance of quads when modeling environments
Thanks to the half-assed university program I got myself sucked into, I've been learning 3d modeling in a very haphazard fashion - a combination of self-teaching, experimentation, tutorials and the added bonus of having relatively unskilled instructors there to confuse me along the way.
Needless to say, I have a few questions.
I'm taking some time off from the world of character and organic modeling to try my hand at environment modeling. For the time being, I'll ask only one question - how important is it to keep quads when modeling environments? Subdivision doesn't seem to be a large issue, since most objects involved are fairly geometric. Furthermore, none of the objects require any deformation/rigging down the line.
I ask because I had worked on an assignment for class once that involved constructing a castle - my instructor insisted on quads, though never gave a decent explanation as to why. All I saw was my processor being overburdened with seemingly unnecessary data, which resulted in a few all-nighters to watch my poor laptop chug through thousands upon thousands of polygons.
A few articles I've read have suggested that the importance of quads are a little over-hyped, but despite this I find myself in need of a swift kick in order to shack my fear of stepping out of my familiar four-sided square. It's a scary world out there.
Needless to say, I have a few questions.
I'm taking some time off from the world of character and organic modeling to try my hand at environment modeling. For the time being, I'll ask only one question - how important is it to keep quads when modeling environments? Subdivision doesn't seem to be a large issue, since most objects involved are fairly geometric. Furthermore, none of the objects require any deformation/rigging down the line.
I ask because I had worked on an assignment for class once that involved constructing a castle - my instructor insisted on quads, though never gave a decent explanation as to why. All I saw was my processor being overburdened with seemingly unnecessary data, which resulted in a few all-nighters to watch my poor laptop chug through thousands upon thousands of polygons.
A few articles I've read have suggested that the importance of quads are a little over-hyped, but despite this I find myself in need of a swift kick in order to shack my fear of stepping out of my familiar four-sided square. It's a scary world out there.
Replies
for lowpoly modeling all quads get turned into tris once imported into the engine anyway. might be easier to edit the model when its quads within the modeling package since it allows for loop and ring selections, but other than that there's no reason to not use tris.
Also, terrain divided up into evenly spaced quads is good for predictable texture blending. As mentioned, they're also helpful when modelling just for the ease of use.
Quads for quads' sake however is pointless, so unless your instructor can explain WHY he wanted you to work solely in quads then I'd call him out. A "just because" answer is useless.
As mentioned - whether your face is a triangle, a quad, or a 500 sided polygon in your 3d app is mostly irrelevant. In the end, your graphics card is going to render triangles, whether you like it or not.
When looking at "polygon counts", it is important to realize that the numbers that really matter are vertice and triangle counts, not specifically polygon counts. A 500 sided polygon is not saving performance simply because it isn't "quadded" - it is sill a fairly large number of triangles and vertices. Your computer won't start working overtime simply because you quadrified it either - it's already made up of verts and triangles, you just don't see them.
I think this "urban myth" is mostly from character modeling / rigging or from those who use sculpting programs like Zbrush or Mudbox where having triangles can cause issues. It won't break the fabric of time and space though if you don't follow it. It's more a "guideline" than an absolute rule.
Using quads is just a clean way of modeling. That's why teachers like to pretend you can ONLY use quads. This is not true. You can use triangles in some situations, it's just easier and cleaner to use quads most of the time.