Elementary question about combining objects

#1

I just want to get this straight. I have been following along some video tutorials, where you are instructed to combine two or more objects together. Now my question is: as long as you aren’t attaching verts to edges from one object to the other, this isn’t going to create an ngon?

Very often you are pushing one object through the face of another object which, when you look at it, it is affecting how many edges there are around each of the affected polygon faces.

As an example: if I made a metal wall and created some bolts, I then sank the bolts into the metal wall a little, are the edges around the bolt creating an ngon in the metal wall?

Does this affect texturing and UVs?

Sorry if this is an elementary question that is often asked.

Much appreciated.

Tim

#2

Attaching two objects together does not modify geometry in any way. The method can also be called “floating” objects, simply because you can place objects on top of each other.

While it is a quick and easy way to model, it can introduce problems for UV layout (wasting UV space). Some portions of the floating geometry will never be seen, but on occasion you will need to unwrap a big chunk just to texture a tiny visible portion…so you’d be wasting UV space.

Some game engines require air tight meshes (everything welded together) or the asset will create visual artifacts, such as flickering. It’s also a better workflow to use airtight models when baking normal maps, because of efficient uv mapping and easier setup of cages, without the need to “explode” models.

#3

Thanks for your reply, Psyk0, and for clearing that up for me.

Much appreciated!

#4

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