Squeaky Clean Topology in Blender

✍ Scribed by Michel Steppig

• Publisher: Packt
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 248
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

A comprehensive introduction to 3D modeling, from the fundamental ideas of topology to in-depth examples that will help you take your projects to the next level

Key Features

Overcome complex topology problems while working through projects
Learn to topologize quad-based and non-quad-based meshes with step-by-step examples
Optimize your models by reducing the triangle count to improve performance
Book Description
This book is an introduction to modeling and an in-depth look at topology in Blender, written by a Blender topology specialist with years of experience with the software. As you progress through its chapters, you'll conquer the basics of quad-based topology using triangles and Ngons, and learn best practices and things to avoid while modeling and retopologizing. The pages are full of illustrations and examples with in-depth explanations that showcase each step in an easy-to-follow format.
Squeaky Clean Topology in Blender starts by introducing you to the user interface and navigation. It then goes through an overview of the modeling techniques and hotkeys that will be necessary to understand the examples. With the modeling basics out of the way, the next stop on our journey is topology. Working through projects like a character and a sci-fi blaster, the book will illustrate and work through complex topology problems, and present solutions to those problems. These examples focus on deforming character models, non-deforming hard surface models, and optimizing these models by reducing the triangle count.
By the end of this book, you will be able to identify the general flow of a shape's topology, identify and solve issues in your topology, and come out with a model ready for UV unwrapping, materials, and rigging.

What you will learn

Identify the general flow of a model's topology, and what might cause issues
Understand the topology of a character, and the joints that they make up
Handle non-quad based topology
Lay out your meshes for UV seams
Explore and use hotkeys to get things done faster
Optimize models for a reduced triangle count
Who this book is for
This book is for character modelers, sculptors, poly modelers, and hard surface modelers. Whether you're looking for an introduction to modeling, optimizing high poly or sculpted models, or just a deeper dive into the subject of topology, this book will walk you through the topology workflow from beginning to end.

Table of Contents

Navigating and Modeling in Blender
The Fundamentals of Topology
Deforming Topology
Improving Topology Using UV Maps
Topology on a Humanoid Head
Topology on a Humanoid Body
Topology on a Hard Surface
Optimizing Geometry for a Reduced Triangle Count

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Dedication
Contributors
Table of Contents
Preface
Part 1 – Getting Started with Modeling and Topology
Chapter 1: Navigating and Modeling in Blender
Technical requirements
Making sense of the Blender UI
Navigating using the viewport
What a 3D mesh is and how it can be manipulated
Adding more vertices to enhance a mesh’s geometry
Manipulating a mesh using modifiers
The Mirror modifier
The Subdivision Surface modifier
The Shrinkwrap modifier
Summary
Chapter 2: The Fundamentals of Topology
Understanding good topology using grids
Understanding the three rules of topology
Rule 1 – an edge loop must terminate into the void or into itself
Rule 2 – loops must not intersect themselves
Rule 3 – loops must not spiral down a mesh
How should grids intersect?
Identifying grids on a complex shape
Summary
Chapter 3: Deforming Topology
Applying the bending and stretching deformation rule
Identifying poor topology on a cylinder
Fixing the topology on an elbow joint
Applying the twisting deformation rule
Applying the twisting rule to shoulder deformations
Applying the intersecting grids deformation rule
Applying the intersecting grids rule to hip deformations
Topology for cloth simulations
Summary
Chapter 4: Improving Topology Using UV Maps
What is a UV map?
Applying a texture
Shading modes
Manipulating the UV map
Ensuring clean topology for clean UV maps
Unwrapping the mesh
Improving unwraps
Summary
Part 2 – Using Topology to Create Appropriate Models
Chapter 5: Topology on a Humanoid Head
Introduction to retopology
Revising topology checks and rules
How to use snapping
Retopology of the face
Defining loops
Joining the edges
Joining the sections
Retopology of the ear
Retopology of the back of the head
Summary
Chapter 6: Topology on a Humanoid Body
How to retopologize hands
How to retopologize shoulders
How to retopologize hips
Connecting the body parts together
Summary
Chapter 7: Topology on a Hard Surface
Normals on a hard surface
Auto Smooth
Mark Sharp
Retopology of the grip of a blaster
Retopology of the front shielding
Retopology of the front grip
Retopology of the barrel
Retopology of the main body of the blaster
Summary
Chapter 8: Optimizing Geometry for a Reduced Triangle Count
Why we optimize topology
Optimizing hard-surface meshes
Optimizing deforming meshes
Summary
Index
About Packt
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