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Tools to Reduce Poly Count without making the mesh look "choppy" (retain topology)

Discussion in 'Formats & External Tools' started by cl9-2, Jul 25, 2013.

  1. cl9-2

    cl9-2

    Joined:
    May 31, 2013
    Posts:
    417
    Hi,

    Is anyone familiar with any tools that can significantly reduce a mesh's polygon count while retaining its topology without making it look too choppy? I have some models that are highly detailed, but would like to create various LOD's for them.

    Thanks.
     
  2. BigDaz

    BigDaz

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2013
    Posts:
    54
  3. Beardbotnik

    Beardbotnik

    Joined:
    Jul 27, 2013
    Posts:
    49
    It can cost quite a bit, but have you checked out Zbrush's new updates to the QRemesher? You can reduce the mesh size and get edgeloops in tacts, and add guidelines for even more control.

    3dCoat as a similar feature, however the results seem a little less effective as the Zbrush results.

    $346135m.jpg

    Here is an example of retopo comparisons between different pieces of software.
     
  4. nipoco

    nipoco

    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2011
    Posts:
    2,008
    Zremesher is definitely great. I've made also some tests with it. But keep in mind it pays only off for slightly higher polycounts starting around 5000. For extremely low poly stuff, you could go with one of the available mesh reducer like Meshlab which is free. Simplygon is also working on a Unity plug-in afaik.
    Another free one is Blender, which has a decimate modifier. But their reduce algorithm is not that optimized and most resulting meshes are far from perfect, when it comes to character, or hard surface.
     
  5. Beardbotnik

    Beardbotnik

    Joined:
    Jul 27, 2013
    Posts:
    49
    True, though I feel like if you are making LODs for a game, then things below 3,000 tris will be pretty far away, so in that case something like mesh lab might be best and edgeloops might not be as important.

    Or I think a good way to go about it would be to use Zbrush to get down to around 5,000 with the edgeloops it creates, then from there you can do things by hand if edge loops are important. You could start by collapsing edge loops and whatnot.

    If you are doing things for LODs then facial edgeloops will probably be less of a concern because of the distance of the models, facial animations wouldn't show through anyways so even decimation through Mesh Labs or the decimation tool in Blender wouldn't be so bad.

    The only thing is that anything like Blender's decimation, mesh lab polycruncher and the like really only try to remove polygons, without thinking of the overall geometry, leading to really unfriendly geometry for animations. So if you are going for LODs for static objects, then Mesh Lab is the cheapest software you can get for the best results.

    If you are working with characters I would suggest Zbrush's remeshing tool and then if need be, lower the polycount more manually.
     
  6. Marble

    Marble

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2005
    Posts:
    1,268
    For characters, I automatically decimate hands and feet in Balancer, then manually retopo the rest in 3D Coat. Even at my limited level of ability, this results in pretty good looking topology in the 2000-3000 poly range.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2013
  7. vidi

    vidi

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2012
    Posts:
    175