5 Topology Tips That Will Get You HIRED

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For people who want to work in gaming industry - "bad" topology for game ready assets is not always a bad thing, it's often what keeps games playable

This is the kinda stuff you never see in beginner 3d modeling tutorials and yet it is an essential part of good topology. This absolutely should be included and yet…this is the first time Ive seen it. I swear, there are so many teachers that just like to hear the sound of their own voice instead of actually teaching fundamentals. Good stuff!

Faking topology with normal or height maps is actually a key tool for (not) modelling! Thanks so much for pointing this out and for making the clear link between good modelling and good UV mapping and texturing!

Speed x1.5 = time saved

Just like a previous comment said, that "bad" topology isn't necessarily bad esp in Video Games/Real-Time applications. You're not going to SubD or deform everything. What you'll focus on is how it performs within the scene and how it's supposed to work in the scene. Don't treat everything universally, a character needs to have good topology that you might reuse again and again but a trash can or chair is a low-priority object that you can optimize the hell out of. Tris are not evil, in the game-engine it will all convert back to Tris. It's just how you use them taking in mind the shading and factors like deformation.

I've seen DOZENS of Youtube tutorials on topology / edge-flow, yet this one covers important issues they don't and is presented in a clear, structured way. Well done, indeed.

I 've been learning Blender for 4 years and no tutors I learn from has this indepth and clarity level that you have.

One thing to consider when modelling is how the geo will light and render. For hard surfaces, I assign a work material with a strong tight specular. Then I take a point light and put it under a null and then slowly rotate it around the model. This way I can see any irregularities or bumps in the curved planar sections and whether or not there are pinched subdivisions when applying smooth. You can see how the bevels are working too. Your lighter will love you if you can deliver beveled models that are silky smooth when a light or refection travels across the surface. You can sometimes iron out the mesh bumpiness by using the Edit Mesh > Average Vertices command.

Are you some kind of wizard or guiding angel lol. Every time I run into some problem in my 3d modeling learning, you immediately upload a video on that particular problem. I can't thank you enough🔥

I've acquired 80% of my Maya knowledge from your channel. Thanks for educating and supporting us. You're the best ❤️❤️

Honestly I'm a beginner blender user and I've looked for this advice everywhere and couldn't find it. This is a great video. I tried to model a gun and ended up using loop cuts like mad that stretched the length of the gun every time just to get detail in one place and I was absolutely stumped on how to get detail in one place without over-complicating the rest of the mesh. Other tutorials used separate parts and just made them LOOK connected, but this was great. I think I'll take another stab at the model.

Remember people, ask yourself what category you will be modeling for. This will answer your approach to these newbie "tips". And no. Lower your expectations, these will NOT guarantee your hire. The art industry is tough and the gaming industry is tougher. They will always expect you to be multifaceted, the game industry will expect more and both of them will have you perform other tasks which really should not be in your skillset. Secondly, the way JL Mussi approaches the rerouting pattern is perplexing because he performs a bad habit for newbies and a bad explanation overall. The way an edge loop works is by placing an edge between 2 mirrored triangles to form a single face. When you need to route an edge to follow a specific pattern, the corner(s) that will represent your angle will use 3 vertices from a single face- or in other words and more notably use 2 vertices from 1 triangle and 1 vertices from another triangle, and because you cannot perform an edge loop with triangles, we sacrifice speed for accuracy by using faces. Also, please always keep in mind where you will be placing a texture in replacement of hard surface. In videogames for example, most details that are non interactable features are often just textures. For example GTA 5 buildings and windows are with textures. When they involve a building's innards and interactions, they replace the asset. Last but not least, the worst practice you can have is to keep a constant subdivision modifier equipped (unless it is an animation that uses rounded features such as organics like humans. This also translates well with UVs). This abysmal practice is absolutely horrendous. Why? Well, this should never be your final result. The point of topologizing your mesh is not only for having good flow, clean topology and to animate well, but it is also to lighten the computational load and remove the visual impairment often portrayed by rounded edges when they should really be straight ones. The best example typically comes from the idea that the subdivision modifier subdivides the entire mesh instead of making use of localized density. You have little to no control over which parts of the mesh that must be subdivided by the modifier.

Thank you very mush for this great video, which helps me to learn a lot in this weekend. The topology in 3d models seems not only a new tech for the artists with traditional art background, but may also for people used CAD before with engineering background. Thanks for this video that guides me to dig and understand the relationship between topology and meshes, which I was very confused before. The topology tip three you taught about 'doing separate pieces at the very end of/or towards the end of the modeling stage' is really helpful for my recent modeling. Really appreciate.

I've been waiting for a video dealing with topology like this! I struggle with dealing with topology, so this video is a lifesaver for me! Thank you so much!

Great video. One artist said UV's are a "necessary evil". Maybe one day we'll do without them, but until then, learning how to UV unwrap is important. I don't use Maya for 3D modeling, but your videos have given some great insight on 3D modeling methodology. Keep up the great work.

These are super handy things to get anybody started on making clean models and also to have much better control on the mesh. Great tips for efficiency and accuracy!

For Games topology doesnt matter much unless you are deforming . As long you are retaining form for your targeted resolution you are good to go . For clean surface normal you can always get away with hard and soft edges ( MAYA ) , transfer normal , bake & etc , or you can just crease it and clean it up in Zbrush. Certain console has limits in polygon count so you have do the "wrong" topology to save count . For starters who are enthusiastic in joining the industry , dont worry too much about the technical and just make Good Art . Technical like this differs from project to project and you are going to learn it along the way .

i have worked with so many people with the "all quads mind" making hard surface non deformable videogame assets, and they always be delivering the most unoptimized model ever with too many useless geometry, and it get sfrustrating quickly, so remember: characters / deformable objects: triangles are bad hard surface non deformable objects: triangles are good

In gaming industry you can use both quad and triangular topology. Quad is often used at models that will deform with animation. Otherwise it is completely fine to use triangles too. It will also save a few polygons.