COMP1777

3D Modelling
Week 3
Martyn Broadhead
Content

• TOPOLOGY
• Edges – Deleting
• Triangles / Quads / Ngons
• “Impossible Geometry”

• The Project Directory

• Soft Selection

• Reference Planes
TOPOLOGY

HOW WELL IS THIS MODELED?

TOPOLOGY

• In mathematics topology is used to describe how space is

organised.
• It is concerned with the properties of how geometric
space are preserved under deformations such as:

• Stretching
• Twisting
• Bending

• From the Greek words τόπος, ('place, location’), and

λόγος, ('study’).
Is important to 3D modelling and animation, as it can
impact on:
• Animation
• Deforming (Morphing)
• Texturing
• Smoothing
• Subdivision

TOPOLOGY
TOPOLOGY
• Try to construct 3D models for games
Triangles using quads and triangles.
Quads
Ngons • A square/rectangular polygon is referred to
as a quad or quadrilateral.
• 4 sided polygon.
• 4 vertices at the corners.
• 4 edges.
• Desirable type of polygon for 3D digital models
(Easily subdivided for smoothing.

• Triangles (3 sides) used in games

always create planer surfaces

Demo
TOPOLOGY
Triangles /Quads/ Ngons

Avoid Ngons – (Greater than 4

Sides)

N-Gons subdivide poorly producing

unwanted topology.
It is quicker to model using N-
Gons, but they disrupt the edge
flow of the model, making selection
and creation of edge loops difficult. Quads N-Gons
Ngons produce strange rendering
and smoothing artifacts which are
difficult to edit or to remove.

Quads and triangles will always

subdivide properly.
TOPOLOGY • Delete this edge loop using
the delete key and it will
Deleting Edges create 4 x 6 sided faces
(Ngons) with 6 vertices each
• It will appear as a cube but
Do not delete an edge using the delete key it isn’t one
(unless you are 100% sure this is what you
want to do).
It will delete the edge but not it’s vertices.
It will create more edges.
Making it difficult to add edge loops.

To delete an edge and its vertices use:

Edit Mesh > Delete Edge \ Vertex

or
Shift + Right Mouse > Delete Edge
or
Ctrl + Delete

Demo
Impossible
Geometry
“Poor”
Topology”

•Non-planer surfaces.
Demo
•Non-manifold geometry.
•Internal planes
TOPOLOGY

Non-Manifold
Geometry • A normal is a vector that is
perpendicular to the surface of a
polygon/face.
• A non-manifold geometry is a 3D
shape that cannot be unfolded into
a 2D surface with all
it’s normals pointing the same
direction. Surface Normals
• Manifold meshes are essential for
3D printing.
• Many online 3D resource libraries
will not accept models unless the
mesh is manifold and constructed
with quads/triangles.

Demo
Manifold Mesh
Manifold
Geometry
• Non unified – Normals
• This can occur when
extruding sufaces

Solution
Reverse normals so
they are unified - “all
point in the same
direction”

Demo
Non-Manifold
Geometry •Three faces
Poor 3D sharing a single
Topology edge.

Solution
Give the face
volume or
delete the face.

Demo
Poor 3D
Topology

Open Objects – No volume

Solution
Adjust thickness or close box.

Demo
• Several surfaces connected
to a single vertex

Solution:
• Disconnect the cubes or
delete one of the cubes

Demo
 Demo

•Unnecessary internal faces.

Solution
Deleting the internal face
• Go to the Polygons menu set
• Select Mesh > Cleanup…
• Select matching polygons
• Apply to all polygonal objects
• Note: if you only want to check a specific
object or set of objects, select them first,
then choose the Apply to selected
objects option for Scope)
• Enable Keep construction history
• Enable the checkbox for Faces with
more than 4 sides
The Project Folder
The Project
Folder • Most 3D Modelling & animation packages
employ a project-based workflow (like Unity).
• Your project may require a range of assets:
• Models (Geometry)
• Textures (Bitmaps)
• Video
• Scripts
• Animation data
• The project directory organises this
information.
• Projects use relative paths to locate files
associated with the project.
• For example, to load a texture, Maya looks first
in the project's sourceimages folder.
Project
Folder
Example
Structures

Example 3ds Max Example Maya

directory structure directory structure

These directories organise the projects assets

The Project
• Working across multiple systems
Folder (Home/Work/University) will require you to
Maya move the whole project directory structure.
• Each user on a system will have their own
project directory.
• It is possible to set the project to a portable
drive.
• Set the project on each system.
• Don’t simply move the geometry (.ma file
or .mb file).

Demo: File > Set Project

The Project Folder
Maya - Overview
If Autosave is enabled in
preferences files can be
located here Maya will look for video
here
Maya Exports animation
trax here
Maya will look for Scripts
Maya will render (Maya Embedded
outputted images here. Language) here.

All of the scene files will

be stored here (Models).
Maya will look for audio
here.
Maya will look for
texture maps of all
kinds, including image
planes here.
Soft Selection
Selection Modes

Soft Selection allow the

Week 1 Week 2
model to be
Object Mode Components
transformed in a more
(Polygon Primitives) (Face, Edge, Vertex)
“organic” manner
Soft
Selection

b + middle-drag left or right
to increase or decrease the
size of the falloff
b + drag left or right to resize
the falloff area starting from
the last radius value.
• Allows vertices, edges, faces, to be transformed in an “organic” way.
• Effective for creating smooth contours on models without having to
transform each vertex manually.
• Sculpting could accomplish the same effect (More on this later in
the course.
• Double click the tool in the Toolbox to access settings.

• or Shortcut = B

Demo: Apple
Soft Selection
Soft
Selection

Demo: Chapel
Mesh Smoothing
Topology
• In 3D modeling,
Topology refers the way
in which constituent
parts of the model are
interrelated or arranged.
• Topology could be
discussed in the CW
report. Good Bad
• A model with “good”
Image accessed from https://www.thundercloud-studio.com/face-modeling/ on
topology will animate, 30/01/2020

smooth and texture

more effectively.
• Models should have
appropriate areas of
density.
Subdivision
The Catmull-Clark algorithm
• A common method of sub-division is the
Catmull-Clark method (1978).
• Subsequently developed but the core principle
has remained constant
• In 2005, Ed Catmull received an Academy
Award for Technical Achievement (with Tony
DeRose Jos Stam) for the invention and
application of subdivision surfaces.
• Fast and effective, capable of smoothing a
cube down to a sphere (3 Steps).
• Used in:
• A Bug's Life
• Finding Nemo
• The Incredibles.
• Commonly used in gaming and vfx pipelines.
Steps 1.The technique for Catmull Clark starts
with a mesh (or list of input polygons).
2.Calculate the Face Point - the average
of all vertices of the polygon face.
Averaging the x/y/z values of each
vertex.
3.For each edge, calculate the edge
points - an edge point is the average
of both the end point vertices and the
face points of the faces sharing said
edge.
4.For each vertex v of the polygon P,
adjust its 3-dimensional coordinates by
using the weighted average of the a)
edge points R of the edges containing
the vertex v and b) the face points F of
the polygon/faces containing v and c)
the previous values of the vertex v. The
weighted average abides by the
formula:
Smoothing • 3D Models can be viewed at different level of
Views smoothing.
• Smoothing view adjusted under Attribute Editor >
Subdivision levels
• The model’s geometry is not altered.
• To change the models geometry to reflect the
smoothing view:
• Mesh > Smooth

1= Normal 2 = Smooth with cage

Reference Planes
Reference • A reference plane is a plane in 3D space
Planes used as the workspace for drawing and
the basis for other interactive actions.
• The reference plane is usually one of the
three Cartesian planes:
• It could also be a custom plane.
Orthographic
Projections
Reference
Planes
Perspective view allows the
viewing of 3D space in a
similar manner to how the real
world is viewed through the
eyes or a camera.
Orthographic views (Top,
Front, Side) allow the viewing
of the world using only two
parallel axes at the same
time.

This can be useful for

modelling using Reference
images.
Reference
Planes

XZ (Maya – Top)

ZX (Maya - Front) YZ (Maya – Side)

Reference
Images

3D modelling is often
implemented by using
orthographic reference
material

The proportion, scales and

size of all reference, Images
(elevations) need to be
consistent with each other
Reference
Images
Vehicle
Examples

Image accessed from https://bit.ly/2UtXMtu 30/01/2022

Reference
Images
Character
Example

Image accessed from https://bit.ly/2GeTjah 30/01/2022

Reference
Images

Architecture
Example

Image accessed from https://bit.ly/2sW72eg 30/01/2022

Character
References
The horizontal lines
ensure that the
proportions of the
references are correct
from different views

Key points are aligned

• Top of head
• Chin
• Shoulder
• Waste
• Chin
• Knee
• Bottom of foot
Reference Images

1. Top Elevation

Reference images are positioned in

modelling packages to aid modelling
2. Side Elevation (Scale/Accuracy)

Demo:
• View > Image Plane > Import Image

3. Front Elevation • Use the Channel Box to Lock or Unlock

Selections
Student
Examples

Brief: Model a geographic location at an identified period in time

Last Week You were asked to:
Self-Directed
Study • Collect, annotate, and document some reference
material for the coursework

• Make sure you have Harvard references for any

images you find on the internet.
• Start to produce design documentation for the
coursework.
• This will be reviewed in the labs.
Example:
Great Wall in China
Side Elevation

Front Elevation

Top Elevation
SELF • You should have some research material for the coursework.
You were asked to do this last week.
DIRECTED • Using this material
STUDY TASK
Week 3 • Create or source some plans and Image Reference
Planes for your model
• Top
• Front
• Side

• Don’t worry about details (door handles, window ledges, etc).

Consider the main form.

• Set up your Image Planes in Maya and begin to model the

basic form.

• Bring this work to next weeks lab (Zip up the project folder).
Report and support

• https://reportandsupport.gre.ac.uk/report