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coreysMonster
02-24-2009, 10:56 AM
alright, so this is the torso of a character I'm modelling, and I was told by my supervisor that the mesh is all wrong (I'm still in training), because it needs to be only squares with no tris at all. Now I've read that the main thing to avoid were 5+sided polygons, and that tris don't damage the mesh at all.
Question 1, are tris evil?
Question 2, any suggestions on how to fix the edge flow of this model? would it be quicker to fix this model, or start over and do it right from the beginning?

Unfortunately, my supervisor is also a professor at a university, so he is rarely around to be asked questions, and when he is he has very little time.

Thanks in advance.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g202/coreysMonster/front.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g202/coreysMonster/profile.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g202/coreysMonster/frontsmoothed.jpg
Piflik
02-24-2009, 11:40 AM
Tris are not all that bad. You should try to avoid them, but if you have to use some, it is okay. Using tris is way better than cluttering your model with unneccessary or even disuptive edges, just to maintain 'all quads'. You can move the tries to areas, where they don't interfere with the animating, e.g. the lower back. Sometimes you even have to use tries to ensure correct animation.

Much more important is a good edgeflow, which is more or less completely wrong in your model. Have a look at the topology thread (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=25&t=38469) here in the forum or this tutorial (http://kokos.umcs.lublin.pl/MIRRORS/apieceofstring.com/kos/tutorials/body/body_tutorial.htm). This Body has quite a good edgeflow and is nearly all quads. (See, he has also some tris..:D)
Sbowling
02-24-2009, 11:56 AM
Look at the topology research thread above. There is a lot of great advice in there by some fantastic artists, and from the look of your model, you need all the help you can get on topology. you should also pick up some books on drawing the human body.

Edit; here's the link to the body modeling topology thread. I was thinking it was in the above thread, but that one deals mostly with facial topology.