Guild of Writers

So does anyone know if Uru prefers triangular faces to quads?

Well, not I. I have always assumed that quads are split into triangles (and strips and fans of connected triangles) at export -- the reason for this being that our hardware-assisted geometry calculation and rendering only does triangles, but maybe more recent hardware supports more complex shapes, maybe even splines? -I don't know, but I kind of doubt it.

Let's see what our fearless developers have to say.

(either way, quads tend to be much easier to work with, most of the time - depends on what you are doing, of course.)

I believe that Uru only uses triangles. I know for sure that the plugin splits quads into triangles upon export.

When modeling, it doesn't make a difference which is used as everything becomes triangles when exported.

Paradox wrote:When modeling, it doesn't make a difference which is used as everything becomes triangles when exported.

It is worth keeping in mind, though, that you have little control over which direction the quads are split, so at some point (either during the last stages of modelling or before you even begin, depending on how much of a control maniac you are ), you may have to consider the matter and whether it affects your particular model.

Case in point: If you do that merging (at their centre) between two connected corners (vertices), as mentioned in the classroom thread, you may get a convex surface on one side and a concave one on the other. I tested splitting the quads of these and wound up with both sides convex. Now, what if I had wanted cavities, rather than bulges? -It is necessary to think of these things, if your quad is too "bent". (..and easy to handle; flipping the edge between two triangles is just a CTRL-F away.)

I talk too much...

One thing to also bear in mind is that although gfx card hardware processes triangles faster, if you model in quads (or n-gons) when those polys are converted to tri's, your model's polycount will increase (pretty much double). Just something to consider as your Age grows in size.

-: D'eux :-

So basically it would be better to start using triangles in order to avoid surprises.

Although it doesn't matter in the end, you really have to keep it in mind.

Though, as Chacal said, you can start with Triangles, I find myself working with Cubes all the time. For me it's easier... and then if I want I'll copy an area and do the math seeing how many triangles I'll have.

Cautious planning and thinking is key ^_^

Quads are easier to model in. They can be subdivided much more easily. Plus from what I've seen of Blender so far, it's really designed to work with quads more so than triangles.

Thing is, there isn't a magic formula for game engine modelling - i.e. the maximum number of polys etc. It really is more about experimenting with what you can get away with before the engine slows down. The basic rule though is to try to model economically and only put in enough detail to make something look right without over-cooking it, with a mixture of quads and tri's if required. There's no quick way to get the balance right, just practice I'm afraid

-: D'eux :-

Amen to what you just said! I should know.......