Squeaky Clean Topology in Blender

Squeaky Clean Topology in Blender

by Michael Steppig
Released December 2022
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781803244082

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

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

  1. Squeaky Clean Topology in Blender
  2. Contributors
  3. About the author
  4. About the reviewer
  5. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. What this book covers
    3. To get the most out of this book
    4. Download the color images
    5. Conventions used
    6. Get in touch
    7. Share Your Thoughts
    8. Download a free PDF copy of this book
  6. Part 1 – Getting Started with Modeling and Topology
  7. Chapter 1: Navigating and Modeling in Blender
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Making sense of the Blender UI
    3. Navigating using the viewport
    4. What a 3D mesh is and how it can be manipulated
    5. Adding more vertices to enhance a mesh’s geometry
    6. Manipulating a mesh using modifiers
      1. The Mirror modifier
      2. The Subdivision Surface modifier
      3. The Shrinkwrap modifier
    7. Summary
  8. Chapter 2: The Fundamentals of Topology
    1. Understanding good topology using grids
    2. Understanding the three rules of topology
      1. Rule 1 – an edge loop must terminate into the void or into itself
      2. Rule 2 – loops must not intersect themselves
      3. Rule 3 – loops must not spiral down a mesh
    3. How should grids intersect?
    4. Identifying grids on a complex shape
    5. Summary
  9. Chapter 3: Deforming Topology
    1. Applying the bending and stretching deformation rule
      1. Identifying poor topology on a cylinder
      2. Fixing the topology on an elbow joint
    2. Applying the twisting deformation rule
      1. Applying the twisting rule to shoulder deformations
    3. Applying the intersecting grids deformation rule
      1. Applying the intersecting grids rule to hip deformations
    4. Topology for cloth simulations
    5. Summary
  10. Chapter 4: Improving Topology Using UV Maps
    1. What is a UV map?
      1. Applying a texture
      2. Shading modes
      3. Manipulating the UV map
    2. Ensuring clean topology for clean UV maps
    3. Unwrapping the mesh
    4. Improving unwraps
    5. Summary
  11. Part 2 – Using Topology to Create Appropriate Models
  12. Chapter 5: Topology on a Humanoid Head
    1. Introduction to retopology
      1. Revising topology checks and rules
      2. How to use snapping
    2. Retopology of the face
      1. Defining loops
      2. Joining the edges
      3. Joining the sections
    3. Retopology of the ear
    4. Retopology of the back of the head
    5. Summary
  13. Chapter 6: Topology on a Humanoid Body
    1. How to retopologize hands
    2. How to retopologize shoulders
    3. How to retopologize hips
    4. Connecting the body parts together
    5. Summary
  14. Chapter 7: Topology on a Hard Surface
    1. Normals on a hard surface
      1. Auto Smooth
      2. Mark Sharp
    2. Retopology of the grip of a blaster
    3. Retopology of the front shielding
    4. Retopology of the front grip
    5. Retopology of the barrel
    6. Retopology of the main body of the blaster
    7. Summary
  15. Chapter 8: Optimizing Geometry for a Reduced Triangle Count
    1. Why we optimize topology
    2. Optimizing hard-surface meshes
    3. Optimizing deforming meshes
    4. Summary
  16. Index
    1. Why subscribe?
  17. Other Books You May Enjoy
    1. Packt is searching for authors like you
    2. Share Your Thoughts
    3. Download a free PDF copy of this book

Product information

  • Title: Squeaky Clean Topology in Blender
  • Author(s): Michael Steppig
  • Release date: December 2022
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781803244082