2
$\begingroup$

I've been handed some off the shelf meshes to use and I'm finding a number of them have really dirty geometry which is causing an issue with rendering them in (three.js).

Screen shot of the geometry mesh can be seen here: mesh actual mesh can be downloaded here http://just.dabe.co.uk/dump/three/model/iphone4.obj

The problem is when using THREE.SmoothShading the bad geometry shows up. Is there a tool that can fix a mesh so the polys are equally spaced etc?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
4
  • $\begingroup$ Try the Remesh Modifier, or Alt J to convert triangles to quads. $\endgroup$
    – someonewithpc
    Commented Nov 7, 2014 at 18:17
  • $\begingroup$ Also related: blender.stackexchange.com/q/7532/599 and blender.stackexchange.com/q/5613/599 $\endgroup$
    – gandalf3
    Commented Nov 7, 2014 at 19:16
  • $\begingroup$ Really appreciate all the answers and apologies for the dupe question, I had searched but didn't know enough about the problem to search to get the right results. I've tried the re-mesh modifier and that really makes a mess of things. The 'tris to quads' kind of works but doesn't fix the big issue (the none-uniform tris, it just ignores them). Thanks for the suggestions $\endgroup$
    – Case Developer
    Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 0:34
  • $\begingroup$ @CaseDeveloper No need to apologize, duplicates are not a bad thing. They make it easier for others to find the answer in the future. Also, if you don't mind having a tri based mesh and just want them evened out, I would recommend trying dynamic topology sculpting or the decimate modifier. $\endgroup$
    – gandalf3
    Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 8:05

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
0
$\begingroup$

Not good enough out of the box. What you are asking is basically retopology.

If you don't care about number of polygons and good smoothing, you could use remesh (a modifier), but that would preserv the edges and not let you smooth them. See this screenshot using that modifier. Also, note artifacts (encircled).

retopology modifier

You should use a retopology method (snapping or shrinkwrapping) and build a new mesh on top of the old one. This new mesh should have good enough geometry to be smooth.

Here are a good answer on retopology:

How to convert from high poly to low poly

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ I tried the same thing with the Remesh modifier but it's having big problems on the curved areas of the corners so using UnSubdivide afterwards ends up being pretty messy. I started a manual retopo to give you some hints as to how you may want to handle the poly flow. It's definitely not perfect or anywhere near complete but the smooth shading on the corner that I did looks pretty good. Here's a screen-capture of the highlights across the corner pasteall.org/pic/79491 And the .blend file. pasteall.org/blend/32666 I used the snapping method mentioned by Gunslinger $\endgroup$
    – MarcClintDion
    Commented Nov 7, 2014 at 19:08
  • $\begingroup$ btw. the reason I am not posting an answer is because what I think you need to do is waaay too involved for a Q&A site like this. It would take a full tutorial and all day just to scratch the surface of retopo tools and techniques. Jonathan Williamson of CG Cookie has made a specific focus of this area so you may want to look for his free tutorials. $\endgroup$
    – MarcClintDion
    Commented Nov 7, 2014 at 19:12
  • $\begingroup$ Guyslinger, I'm marking your answer as accepted as I believe that retopology is what is required to fix this mesh. I had hoped for a simpler solution especially so as my knowledge of 3d modelling is next to nothing but after a couple hours of research this evening, including watching this great tutorial here - cgcookie.com/blender/2011/08/08/… this is the only real solution. Thanks for all your help and suggestions. $\endgroup$
    – Case Developer
    Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 0:41
2
$\begingroup$

I wouldn't recommend retopo for a relatively simple mesh, just create it from scratch scale a cube and add a bevel modifier (apply it when your're happy with the result):

enter image description here

Than add two loop cuts like in the next image this will help to avoid crazy meshes when using Knife project

enter image description here

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Unfortunately I've little-to-no 3d modelling experience and these cases are quite accurate. I wouldn't trust myself to re-create them. In my naivety the problem didn't look that complex... nothing a button that said 'fix flat faces and redistribute polys' wouldn't fix. Thanks for your suggestion though. $\endgroup$
    – Case Developer
    Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 0:36

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .