Exactly how bad are tri's?
polycounter lvl 5
I'm reading, and in some cases seeing, how people stay far away from triangles in their poly models but I'm also seeing a lot of them anyway. Especially when it comes to low-poly objects.
So what's the rule of thumb here? Does it have to do with just how high of a poly model your making? Are they ok when working with super-low poly assets?
So what's the rule of thumb here? Does it have to do with just how high of a poly model your making? Are they ok when working with super-low poly assets?
Replies
This usually happends when you export your model into the game engine, or you can do a simple triangulation manually.
When you look at polycounts, always look for tri count. Beacuse thats what matters. It can sometimes be confusing if MAX or maya is calculation quads and then when you export you model the polycount is dubbled.
If you should stay away from tris? definatly not, since the triangulation process is automated errors can occur. Its good to keep track on HOW your model will get triangulated, before sending it off to the engine.
However, quads are usually earier to work with.
So what i do is that i work in Quads as long as i can, then right before sending it over to UDk or Cryengine i triangulate, check for any errors and then proceed with the export.
They don't tend to subdivide well in some standard sub-d algorithms. They can cause odd topological distortions, which is why people go to great lengths to avoid them in their base meshes for high poly sculpting.
If you're using sculptris or 3dCoat this is also a non-issue, as sculptris uses a different subdivision algorithm than mudbox or early z-brush, and works exclusively in triangles (sculpt triangles = sculptris) 3dCoat uses voxel sculpting, so it just takes your mesh data as an outer shell for its voxels, essentially using triangles to create the set of plane angles anyway.
The in game models, tris are fine. When the model gets rendered to the screen its in triangles anyway, so there's no point to stress over quad topology in the final game res model, so long as the model deforms and renders properly.
You sound like you're very confused, you see all this leet artists working with it and you wanna follow, I can understand, I relate even, but one needs to be able to walk before he can run.
Learn to create good game art, get good at modeling, texture and UV'ing (keep UV'ing inside Maya or Max for now) and then when you start to gain experience you start adding plugins and scripts to your workflow, and eventually a sculpting app.
Knowing how to sculpt is NOT an essential or vital skill, definitely not for beginners or even for intermediates.
As for the Tris VS Quads matter.
When you hear people say quads are better, the reason is because when you work with High Poly models, you work with a base mesh, this base mesh is gonna get tesselated and tesselation algorithms have a hardtime working with Tris or ngons, therefor your sub-d mesh should be made out of 90% quads.
As for low poly (game ready) geometry, it doesn't really matter. Although modeling in quads is still recommended because it's easier for you to work with, and the exporter will triangulate all your models anyway.
I see what you're saying, but I got into Zbrush because I have a sculpting background...so it was natural for me to begin working in that format with at least moderate results. Now I'm going back and seeing that there is a lot of other things I need to get the basics down on. The UV Master plugin on Zbrush just seemed like an easy way for me to get something to completion at this point. But yes, it might seem like putting the cart before the horse.
If you are focusing on environment art then I'd get very comfortable with 3d modeling in maya or 3ds max or any similar modeling package. Going straight into zbrush usually works when your focus is on character art and when you have extensive traditional art training. But don't let that stop you, if you are having fun then you should just do it!
There is nothing wrong with using triangles in your models, as long as the deformation and/or subdivision is desired.
Hard surface or more basic meshes are still made easier in more traditional 3d app though. At least for me.
This