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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!

I've seen DOZENS of KZfaq 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.

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 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.

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

I’ve been learning modeling for years; and although I’m still comfortably amateur, I can tell I’m improving by watching videos like this and thinking “well, duh,” and at the same time, remembering that none of this is second nature at first. Great video though, first class advice.

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!

Thank you very much, I never understood my former teacher and I used to get frustrated every time I modeled. You explain everything so great and I finally can enjoy modeling :D

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.

This content is gold. I work with Blender, but I really enjoy your videos. I think every beginner should watch these tips. In fact, I'm going to use some of them in a project I'm working on right now. Thank you, Mussi, for your help in this and other videos.

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!

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.

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🔥

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.

What really works for me is that I basically add loops before adding booleans and once I apply then I work on that specific part of the model before moving to another boolean. I delete the areas around boolean parts (so anything between the bool parts and the loops I added around the part before applying) and then reconnect the high density area to the low density areas by reducing the poly count between them (reducing the density on the edges of boolean parts in the "transition zone")... This way, I am reducing the poly count all the time and progressively with the progress of the model. Since I am limited by the parts with low poly count, all the boolean parts need to be perfect. If I have an extra vertice, I fucked it up and need to chase down my mistake in stead of trying to fix it later... The places that have a lot of details have higher density and are connected by a low density area (so basically details are connected by a large area of simple geometry via the transition areas). There are two downsides to this method: 1) It requires that you can imagine the whole model and reconstruct if from memory since you need to think about geometry before actually making it. 2) Works best for non-organic things (hard surface), so it is more adequate for level design (I am in that field so it suits my needs) Sorry if I explained it really bad, I am a non-native speaker so some more complex stuff can be hard to explain... Also, I work in Blender. That being said, good geo is an universal skill...

I love your breakdown on topology. This is probably the hardest thing to learn for early modelers.

As a technical artist in the games industry, I can confirm that the thumbnail is incorrect. As long as the outcome looks good, the typology comes second, and this is in regards to hard surface. When it comes to characters, it is important to have amazing meshflow.

Greetings from Brasil. I am not a Maya user, I am Blender enthusiast and I learned a lot from your video, thank´s so much. You explained complex stuff in a very easy to understand way.

I have been going through your vids recently and just have to express my gratitude for your work. You explain things very well and your videos have helped me grow as a 3d artist. Thank you. Also, SubD modeling has been the most useful for me so far, so the localized density was wildly helpful!

I've a feeling I'm gonna be watching a whole lot more of your videos, I modelled a prototype car maybe 15 years ago on my spare time at work, I've just been given some real inspiration from this video to go back and carry on with it, I haven't modelled in years and always struggled with how to route topo, I always tried removing the reroutes, tris and diamonds etc and only have quads as I thought they were bad... So much extra time wasted that wasn't needed... Thx dude...just need to use maya controls in 3ds max so I can follow your shortcut keys, subbed and props

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 .

This is such a good video. I remember when I first started learning Blender I saw this video but soon as I saw it was all in Maya I skipped it and what a shame because this knowledge is applicable to any polygon modelling software like Maya, 3d a max, cinema 4D and blender and is one of the best videos on topology that I’ve seen!! Thank you for sharing.

i´m from Brazil and here is kinda difficult to get good stuff on 3D Modeling tutorials videos, you are helping me so much on this, thanks for all of your videos. 😄

This is great. I've been away from 3D modeling for a long time and will likely need these techniques soon. Thanks.

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

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.

I've been doing this for years and I would say this video is perfect for any and every 3d artist especially a beginner. Its easy to get to high sculptural detail with out great topology but in the end if you want to pose or animate or texture that thing bad topology will make sure you redo all that work again to get a desired result. Having bad topology is a huge limiter in every package. I always have to remind myself what the end goal is for the thing I'm working on with consideration that i might want to do more later like animate or 3d print it. It's always best to push yourself to be not be lazy and do it right the first time with good topology.

If you've got your sights set on the game industry, then my advice is don't _only_ learn modeling ... learn to write code and shaders and how graphics really works, and sharpen your tech art skills. You'll be literally unstoppable, especially if you pick up animation later and learn to write code and scripts to do things with them.

Thanks for sharing this information. I'd struggled with texturing and uv mapping/ and topology in the past any clarity and new information on this subject is thoroughly needed. Thank you.

I only model as a hobby but this video is very concise and informative for me, thank you!

Thank you, I've been interested in 3d modelling for a long time and have tried to find help in this area but nothing made sense. Your explainations are clear, concise and actionable.

Awesome info, and thanks so much for sharing! I'm a firm believer in the power of height maps and normal maps in my shaders, especially when the rendering stack supports vertex and/or pixel displacement. There's always that line, though, of how much you can get away with relying on the shader and how much you really need extra geometry. I was amused by your comment of relying heavily on modeling because you could -- I am currently in the reverse situation, having gotten too much in the habit of "I'll do that in the shader" and am now using tutorials like this one to take my hard surface modeling to a better level. :)

You are great, thank you. More complex examples would be appreciated. Maybe a more in depth look at balancing mesh density on a vehicle model, for example, without ruining complex curves.

Frankly saying I am watching ur videos daily! It really improve my! Topology and hard surface modeling 📌❣️✨good going brother! Love from 🇮🇳India

Topology type depends highly on the application. For example, if youre doing low poly models for gaming, you would need the high poly dense model to transfer the texture map of the low poly in substance or whatever. It's completely different for industrial design and also completely different in film. However, as a global practice, good topology is important for decent UV maps.

Thank you, This video gives great coverage to good topology. I'll be getting my new 3D modelling students to watch this at the start of modelling process. Cheers mate!

I wish i had this about 4 years ago when starting out. I was, even in the beginning very meticulous about good topology. But had a hard type finding resources to help me understand how. So I had to learn trial by error. And still to this day search for information to help me improve. Thanks! Also i have always avoided booleans because of the mess they create but after watching this, i am considering giving them a second chance. They would be very useful in some situations.

I agree with making use of UV mapping, texures and separated meshes. When I started out, I always thought that every single detail has to be modelled from text, to labels or anything else. However, after working on a lot of projects, I realized that not everything has to be modelled as a mesh. It would be difficult to both create and modify if a client wants to make changes. So, separating meshes, using textures and such made me work smarter, not harder.

As always JL, a great video. Really compliments your 3D mastering Topology course. Top job

Pretty great video, lots of info, what I learned hard way, in my beginnings. Little stuff what I noticed, in video, in first topology tip, reroute, this is great stuff. People have to be aware that this method on curved surface with very glossy material, like chrome or car paint, can cause reflection distortions. And in destroy and rebuild tip, in Maya you can usually use Edge Flow tool, that way not need to always delete and rebuild topology.

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.

Thank you for this great tutorial, these techniques are extremely helpful!

Great video JL. All the points you touched are fundamental for creating great Art! You know your stuff!

I am in 3D modeling for some time, with breaks in between, and this is one of the best videos for good topology. I am currently using only blender for 3D modeling, but this can be applied to any 3D modeling software. I have watched many begginer and more advanced tutorials and i have finished some of Udemy courses but none of them mentioned these details like you did in this video. This video was very helpful for some of my current projects than i am going to do. Thank you very much

According to the thumbnail, smooth previews get you hired! Easier than I thought it would be ;p

I have been an independent Animator and artist for 30 years. You sir have delivered one of the best summaries of the Nuts and Bolts of 3D modelling I have ever seen.

These are the type of tutorials hard to find for free, Good one JL.

Great video and all these tips are fully usable even though I'm actually using Blender instead of Maya!

Excellent tutorial. I have been learning to implement the principles in your video.

3D Modeling is a craft more than an art form. Many people may not agree with that idea, but it's a tool that's learned and it's like learning anything..to fix a car, you have to have experience solving problems associated with the car..The same thing applies to modeling and to earn credibility as a modeler, you have to show dynamic understanding of the tools we use. This video helps understand the basic functions of topology and I appreciate that the creator is helpful in this way. I encourage every new modeler to check this out!

Awesome and concise vid. Love videos that are well outlined and get straight to the point.

*To achieve the exact results in the thumbnail...* In 3ds Max, If one were starting with a Spline and doing Extrude/Bevel, the way to have both smooth edges (and optimization) would be to check the 'Adaptive' check box on the Spline. The spline goes from jaggy to smooth...

Hello, just randomly came across your video when I asked myself repeatedly if I should start working with 3D again. I take it as a hint! You are a perfect teacher!

Good stuff. I appreciate that you just explain the concepts involved without banging on about how to actually use the software. That is a big annoyance for me in Blender videos.

Thats a quite insane video! Well done i have to say. Totally agree with everything you have said in this video. I have now multiple years of experience in 3D Modelling and also 3D CAD Engineering. I think this is another good example that 3D modelling and CAD modelling should move even closer together to harmonize the way both techniques are working. Having the intuitive and fast way of modelling mechanical parts as we do with CAD programs combined with the freedom of mesh modellings with its optimized quad/tri count would be a nice combination. Of course you don't want to CAD model a character's face for sure. But modelling CAD models with poly meshes only could be quite time consuming compared by doing it with proper CAD operations. (and its also quite unflexible) Mesh density would be a disadvantage of course, but with automatic retopologizers these days, its becoming less and less of an issue in the near future, in my opinion. At the end it's always a matter of time. Sacrificing rendering speed by boosting modeling? But i think this doesn't have to be a problem in the near futures anymore. Im already quite deep into parametric modeling and industrial, military and vehicle visualizations atm. and i think there is still a lot of head room for optimizations. I also think that we should move away from mesh modelling, as best as possible, in the future, to use that free time for more direct modelling tasks. Of course the UVW Mapping process should also be more parametric and flexible, which i think will be the most problematic thing to program. Also deformations could be a problem them, but with a proper parametric or CAD modeling way, i think this can be even more automatized too. Yeah, but that's just my vison for the whole CAD and 3D modeling world. Thanks for reading, have a nice day :)

wow great video! this is exactly what I've been looking for. thank you thank you thank you

Thank you so much for this tutorial. Very useful for me as an architect

wow, your story telling skills and knowledge (teaching) is really good, I was hooked to the video from start till end !

This was a great rundown on modeling in general! Now, looking for that Substance Painter tutorial, that one looked great.

the knowledge of topology is insane. these are amazing models, damn near perfect. I have some good years ahead of me in terms of my skills and this helps a ton.

Great tutorial and insight, I wanted to share some insight as well to modeling, I see a lot of juniors making models at school with one career path in mind. Modeling depending on the career path changes how topology is done and what final product it's going into whether it be VR, Film, or games. I use 3Ds Max, but that tip five I think it was you can enable axis constraints snaps, this removes the guesswork. I know Maya has something like this, but I really don't like Maya for modeling to be honest.

Even though I do have years of experience in modelling, I have learned many new things from this tutorial. 🙂

one thing i learned that changed the way i see re-topology was that you can have a 3, 4, or 5 edge connecting vert and any more causes too much stress and should be avoided

Loving this video so far! Throughout my entire time at College, everyone would make fun of me for understanding the technicalities for 3D Modelling I have been watching your videos for the past 2 years and I am so glad that I have been able to hone in on my Topology and Modelling workflows all the more thanks to you! Thank you!!

Man, I wish I had watched this when I hooked with 3d. now already working in different field. This is what I've been missing.

Thanks waitting for more of these great tutorials

Incredible video! Thank you!

This video answers a lot of my doubts in my practice especially in making separate parts and proper topology flow. I usually didn't care about how topology arrangements between those parts and flow of them but well after i started to make more complex ones like sail ships it becomes noticeable the weird parts so after feeling irritated i just drop it. Maybe i can try again but i guess i should start on simple ones first and fix my bad habits

so nice advise!! Thank you for your video so much !!!

Wow what a fabulous tips and tricks of topology and modeling technique ..Thanks For this Greatness one ❤❤❤

The diamond shape is a lifesaver. Just when I thought "how the hell do I deal with edge loops that I need in this part of the model, but don't want them to run through the whole thing?", you saved the day. God bless. Very informative and a fun intro. Definitely a sub.

3:10 I feel you. I can draw pretty well and high poly sculpting has felt surprisingly easy for me but trying to create optimal topology is really really hard. I'm still on the borderline if AI guided topology is going to fix the issue faster than I can learn it (when I do 3D modeling as a hobby only). After watching this video, I think I'm trying to avoid poles too much (e.g. "5 star points") and I end up with excessive edge loops all around the object.

In my experience I can say that In games low density topology and triangles are perfectly fine, sometimes also characters would have triangles and "messy" topology in some areas of the geo

Never learnt about topology at uni. This video is SO good.

sir please make more videos like this on different difficult shapes modeling....this video really helped me thank you

YOOOO THAT STORM EAGLE LOOKS GORGEOUS, you just earned a sub

Nice tutorial like always. Especialy your Substance Painter tutorial helped me a lot while learning. Here is maybe a video Idea for the future. How would you prepare CAD data from lets say solid works to a 3d model with clean topology. Keep up the great work.

sir, you are awesome, the video is really helpful. Thanks for creating this😍😍😍

This is a good video. Explaining the why more than the how. I like it. Clearly taught.

Man my mind cant stop asking me to press 1 to see those pretty models without smooth hahaha Good work!

thank you for guide!❤

the one thing that helped me create better topology....was this video! thanks JL

I dont think this will get seen, but I would really enjoy a objective based point of view on a discussion around "distances and details vs camera distance" For example tips on how to conceive certain details and/or leave them to normal mapping based on what type of scene and detail you are doing, others such If this is a perspective shot, how much polys I need on the ground on the first m2, what about the detail 30m away, what about that tree sitting behind in comparison with the one in the first plane... a relation on on how the textures are used (like , well why use a 4k texture for that tile in the background while you use a 2K texture for the whole textures of the main elements etc... and tricks to become more efficent losing the lesser amount of quality avalaible... I noticed that ussually there is little objective "data" or rules on this kind of videos, most portray each artist own experience that may differ a lot on what kind of work do you realize... Im talking about simple rules like for example, "rounded corners will require probably x3 times more topology than straight lines, or, if you Render X pixels2 each Y distance away from the camera will require a Z% lesser texture density showing the same detail, etc.... or similar trick for topology

This tutorial. Helped me with everything in topology Thanks

this video randomly appeared on my timeline, now im hyped to learn 3d modeling

Such great info in this video, thanks for these great tips

This is the kind of tutorial I've been looking for a while

Missi I just saw you in this video that you did customised shoe designs why don't you make a video of it I'm interested in learning that much as I'm into 3d design and creation love your tutorials bro it's always filled with great information. 👍

Thanks for those advice. However, I would like to add that for hard surface game assets that won't be deformed or where subd won't be applied n-gons on flat surfaces are fine and even wanted for lesser polycount.

This thing is very informative and helpful. To the point with facts!

Thank you for this. I feel like this video was made for me. I'm an artist. I went to the sculpture area first. Now I'm trying to re-edit my work😢 .... sigh. Now, I have to actually learn what I'm doing.

Best part of ur video is! Destroy and make! I experience this too much! Because when I create model! I stuck in too many things ! But when I delete that part and some shapes I get idea to make that edge flow in good way ! So deleting unnecessary this from model is best part! Same as! Delete unnecessary people from life😁🥴 Keep creating brother

I use 3ds max instead of Maya, but most of your tips are valid for that too. I have never tried Maya before. I do use substance painter as well though. I do use the diamond shape a lot in my models too.

I'm gonna have to disagree with the thumbnail... if you do the 'correct' topology, with the Catmull algorithm, you will 100% get unevenly-sized highlights due to the uneven distances between the grid on the front plane and the supporting edge loop vertices. Absolutely would be better to have triangles radiating equally--it's a flat plane and you have a supporting edge separating the triangles from the edge anyway so you're not going to get pinching like you normally would with triangles right at edges, your highlights will still be flat, and most importantly, you'll get a perfect semi-circle supporting loop, AND the highlights around the edge won't be thicker or thinner in some places. This is one case where people apply the wrong principles. No modern renderer is going to care about triangles being in the middle of flat planes on your mesh. (edit: If the mesh HAS to deform, then yeah, triangles will be a mess, but I still wouldn't put that uneven of a grid shape just beyond the supporting loop of a shape that needs to be circular). Honestly the best approach would be to have the cylinder cap with triangles as a template subdivided with several loops, and then just remove the innermost triangles and connect them across to complete a grid. Also, 9:16, there's an n-gon to the right of the rear vent that seems to go out of its way to be an issue, all you would have to do is remove the two edges that intersect the supporting loop below the offending vertex and just connect the incoming loop to that vertex directly.

My course just gave us an assignment to make a 3D character and a 3D environment without even teaching us these basics, which has been causing me so much grief. Thank you.

You are an angel for people like me. Thankyou J💗