Retopology - Convering tris to quads

easterislandnick · Sep 2010

Hi, I have a model of that is mostly quads with the odd tri in there. I want to take it into zbrush and so I want the whole model to be quads. I remember there was a thread about this with some really useful diagrams of converting tris into quads keeping a really nice flow of edgeloops. Has any one added this thread to their favourites as I can't find it? The only example I can find is....

http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/page4.htm

...but I remember a more detailed explanation than this somewhere.

Thanks, Nick

cryrid · Sep 2010

http://www.guerrillacg.org/home/3d-polygon-modeling/subdivision-topology-artifacts

I don't think you'll run into much problem putting a few triangles into zbrush though (at least on organic models). Once you step up one subdivision level every face will become a quad anyway, and there's plenty of tools for flattening/smoothing/etc beyond that.

easterislandnick · Sep 2010

I've not seen that video before but It's great! Really well produced for a tutorial.

McGreed · Sep 2010

If you want to remove all triangles (well almost all) and be left with quads, you can try with Meshlab, a free program. It should have that functionality.

Mark Dygert · Sep 2010

I wouldn't worry about a few tris. Zbrush should be able to handle them fine. Normally the time spent worrying about it is a total waste, they can often be smoothed out or just aren't an issue. Tuck them in places they shouldn't be an issue, or if you absolutely have to clean up the model and re-import its not a big deal.

EDIT: Almost forgot about this:
For some reason you really really need to retopo it in all quads I suggest using WrapIt for 3dsmax. It has a one button all quad solution to retopology.

http://matt-clark.co.uk/wrapit/spe.php?o=177

Sean.Buck · Aug 2011

Hey everyone, saw this post come up and seems you guys know a bit about meshlab. I am trying to use meshlab to decimate the poly count on some mudbox models, but after I import the mesh, it is automatically converted to tris. I have tried the tris-quads options in the filters, but they don't seem to actually do anything, except add MORE tris. I'm hoping there is an option that I just don't have checked or know about that is keeping this from working, as it would be very useful for our production. Also, as an added note, we only have access to Maya, not 3DS Max, so any Max plug-ins or scripts can't be used. If anyone knows the solution to my problem it would be very helpful.

Thanks, Sean

Retopology - Convering tris to quads

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