I finally made a follow-up to this video. You can watch is here - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/o556nrVn2a_DoWg.html

Brilliant demonstration! Thanks

Decoded: "Once you can do that, you can do anything." Me: "Hold my beer, gonna start a restaurant now."

Tip: Use the "J" key to automatically connect two selected vertices by cutting through the surface with a new edge instead of using the knife tool (which can sometimes be inaccurate and create extra vertices).

Wow. I almost deleted this video before uploading because I thought it was crap 🤣

Imagine modelling for several years now and find out about this :D

wow I wish someone has explained this to me like 10 years ago, I still do it kinda randomly nowadays (and avoid topology work as much as possible haha). I never properly learnt this technique because well, that knowledge was hard to find. But I talk too much lol thanks for that video it's great

Been a CG generalist for 20+ years and had many of these individual methods vaguely in recesses of my brain somewhere, but this makes it all make sense finally! I´m a 100% sure that this video will end up on every CG teacher's must-view playlist for decades to come!

Absolutely blew my mind. Doing fingers is always a pain in the butt

This vídeo made me love retopology My tricks -Keep edges x4, x8, x12, x16 ... -Make main loops first -use the 3 to 1 edges -patience, is like a game

I never knew understanding topology can be THAT MUCH of a game changer

It's 3 AM, i don't use blender, I'm not a 3D artist. Why is this in my recommendation KZfaq?

Thanks, i really struggled with this and had a million loop cuts going everywhere, i knew there was a better way but i couldn't get it look nice in shade smooth or subdiv

Finally someone shows the proper way, with and actual example, Jeez!

This is amazing! Your knowledge and explanation was just perfect👍

Heya there DECODED. it's a good thing you didn't delete it. Just in case you didn't know, Andrew Price put a link to this video as a "great explanation of redirecting topology" in his notification email about his new "chair" tutorial. I've just got it a couple of hours ago, and there I found the link to this video. I'd like to think it's a very good thing. As for the video itself, I checked it out when you first uploaded it, and I think it's really great.

This just revolutionized my game of cutting shapes into spheres. A life saver. Thank you.

I've struggling to get clean topology for a long while and you just solved that with a very simple explaination. Seriously, thank you.

Why am I here? I don't even do how to model. I can't understand but it seems very interesting.

This is probably the single most important video I've seen with regards to mesh modelling, I just wish I saw it earlier. Now I need to go and practice it over and over until it becomes second nature. I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for explaining it in such a simple way! It seems so obvious now and I feel stupid for not being able to figure it out myself.

INCREDIBLE. I have been watching and reading so much, and they keep showing pictures and pre-cut planes etc... your 7 min demonstration changed my life. Thanks for being someone that doesn't keep fundamental industry concepts secret

Not quite sure how I stumbled across this one but even as a programmer I found this incredibly clear and understandable. Thanks for helping me understand when my artists talk about retopologising and n-gons

It's the best and simplest explanation about topology I ever found in internet. Thank you!

This is the best 3D modeling video I've ever seen. Straight, to the point, delivering one message = you don't have to have those damn edge loops going all around your model

I remember coming to this video from a question I asked in reddit, someone helped me to this, and then i also shared this video a ton to whoever has asked me help about topology, people only do this when videos are NOT crap, this video is precious. ❤

I'm just at that moment when I'm getting into hard surface modeling and becoming aware of problems like this. Your tutorial will surely be useful in the future.

This is a great tutorial from you, that was straight to the point.

This series might be the very best topo guidance I've seen anywhere. Thanks so much for sharing.

Been having trouble with my first model alone (with no tutorials) and you pretty much answered my problem after hours of trouble. Thank you sir!

I am a total beginner at 3D art but I just know this is one of those art videos that I would watch as an expert and go "Wow I wish I had this tutorial when I was starting out"

Things to keep in mind. Long and thin polygons will trip up Gouraud shader. It's not usually relevant today, but it was super relevant when you were targeting Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube era hardware and may still be relevant when targetting low-end mobile platforms. More relevantly for today, Catmull-Clark subdivision trips up on triangles, so you're good on avoiding them. However it also trips up on odd-valence vertices. Normally in a pure quad mesh, every vertex has 4 edges connected to it, so the valence of the vertex is 4. You have built a bunch of 3- and 5-valence vertices in here, which are usually not as bad as tris outright, but will still cause waviness in the subdivided mesh output. Since pure 4-valence quad topologies are generally impractical, there's often no substitute for just winging it and taking the waviness and letting it be the model feature where necessary, building the topology adjustment around there. I'm also not convinced that the industry should stick to Catmull-Clark subdivision invented in the 70s. I my experiments, i had the impression (but no mathematical proof) that the behaviour of the subdivision could be improved by introducing normal-based displacements that would depend on local topology and would also help the subdivision be somewhat volume preserving, since Catmull-Clark tends to deflate a lot. It's not like research ended there, there was Stam/Loop 2002 "Quad/Triangle Subdivision ".

Can't believe no one explain these things when they teach you how to model in 3d. I've been modeling for years and now finally I've found this video. Thank you! Clear and good explained!

Dude this video right here helps so much nobody explains how they come to their conclusions and make it really hard to understand the process to be able to come up with these solutions for yourself they never explain what logic they are following thanks a bunch

I didn't realize how much I needed this explanation. There's no doubt that simplicity is the maximum sophistication. Thank you very much, I'm saving the thumbnail so I can always go back to remember exactly how to deal with topology.

Great tutorial, ive spent literally hours making sure my edge loops did make it round my models so they all connected up. Now I can just cut them off at source. Cheers bud.

You have totally made topology so much easier than anyone else. Thanks for this

This is one of these videos that I always come back

Jaw dropped at 2:50 and stayed there through 5:05. I feel like you just taught me how to do the Rubix cube in 10 seconds. An excellent illustration of the principles, thank you!

Just recently I started trying out blender and did a really wonderful donut. Just last night I went full on solo mode and tried to model my own phone. And oh boy! How badly I need this video as the loop cuts are everywhere! THANK YOU!

I've had problems with multiple edge loops going around my models since I started and couldn't figure out how you actually should do it. This really helped me thank you.

this is one of the most valuable tutorials for topology. it helped me alot in my workflow. thanks!

I am glad i found this it was very helpful Iam using blender from a month And after reading comments i think iam lucky that i did not found it after server year of experience Its just a month and i was searching for retopology techniques and i found this most helpful video THANKS A LOT

Thank God KZfaq didn't suggest me this video 5 years later, I really needed such explanation. Great video!

This is hands down the best video on topology IMO.

I've been doing this for a while now and I must say that it is extremely useful, BUT sometimes it completely destroys the flow and also sometimes there is a problem with the subdivision. You should use this on relatively flat or empty surfaces. For instance, an ear is more detailed, than the head, but at the same time there is a flat space before the ear begins, but a tear duct might be actually better with triangles, since there is detail all around the tear duct too, which'd be destroyed in the process.

this amazing honestly. an eye opener for me. Thanks very much for this tip.

I've been looking for this exact knowledge for years. I kind of found the 1 to 3 method once, but 1 to 2 was always nightmare for me. I'm so glad YT recommended me this.

That's what I like. Kick tutorial treating a general manner to approach a common issue. Brilliant!

This has baffled me for so long!. Thank you for explaining it so clearly :-)

Im gonna have to watch this like a billion more times because i dont even know what topology is but hopefully this will help fix some problems i find in my models.

This is exactly what I needed. Great job dude. Kept on looking at my loop cut model thinking "there has to be a better way." Thank you for sharing!

Brilliant! I've never thought about it this way. I think I've probably accidentally done something similar while trying to clean up messy topology, but this really does change how I will think about approaching this problem in the future. Thank you!

I've been avoiding learning this skill. Thanks for posting it!

Very underrated channel amazing videos, 1 minor thing to improve the videos on i would say is improving the background audio

I still come back to this video every now and then, still so helpful. Thank you again

Thank you so much for making this short video, I really hate it when i have to sit through 30 minutes just for someone to get to the point, you really wasted no time! Appreciate it brother 🙏

I just used this to make my first fork. Damn it's a sexy fork. Dat topology.

I got this in my recommendations and I was like "Nah, I'm too tired to watch tutorials" but then I saw a 6 minutes in the title and decided to go for it and I'm glad I did. I would have missed a really amazing lesson. Thank you!

This explanation is amazing. I'd seen those topology images before but now it finally makes sense. Thank you for this.

I started learn blender a few month ago. I just need to say this video is life saver for me. Thanks a lot.

Dude, I randomly clicked on this. I have no regrets. This will come in handy. Thank you.

Thank you so much for posting this video. I'm in my 40s, have ADHD and am attempting 3D modeling for the second time in my life. The first time was prior to medication, with poor tech that would crash and with software that was spline-based so dealing with the topology was EVERYTHING. As I have picked up Blender, I have had this distracting, anxiety in the back of my head that has been a roadblock. TOPOLOGY. I am someone that needs to know a little more about the machinery before I can feel comfortable using it and unfortunately, no-one titles youtube videos, HEY, the thing with the shapes and creasing and the part-mathy, part-real world stuff, I CAN HELP WITH THAT. After watching your video and with a rudimentary knowledge of anatomy it makes sense. You don't go from your fingers to your forearm with five bones. It's inefficiency use of energy and probably shitty mechanics. You build down with multiple bones decreasing and increasing based on the needs for flexibility until you get to the structure where all you need is rigid support. We of the neurodivergent thank you.

Simply the best explanation of the argument. Thank you!

First three minutes of the video and I'm already wowed. Thank you so much, as a beginner who was struggling to make clean topology, this was helpful.

Well he didn't lie, my life has been changed and I am now illuminated with forbidden knowledge

Well done with a great practical example, thank you! Subbed.

I've been doing 3D for about 5 years now and I've never seen something like this. Thank you!

This has been the best demo so far to explain philosophically the breakdown of 5-3-1-3-5 topology! I practicing now. Thanks!!!

Oh my god, this is life changing. I've watched it three times now. Thank you so much man.

This is genius! You're a genius!

Best and most practical video on topology I've seen yet.

ive come back to this video a few times just to keep this straight in my head. so simple but when modelling i get so confused on topology. thanks for uploading this video!

that was very useful indeed, thank you

I think this is more on the beginner level not really the intermediate level. As you get more advanced, it's important to understand how to use poles to create pinch points and direct edge flow. I think an intermediate exercise would be how to use the minimal amount of faces to achieve the same effect.

This is gold. There are many videos that basically explain the same thing, but your does really click. Thanks!

This was probably the most useful thing i have even seen about blender. Thanks.

Besr video i saw in a while, thank you i sub, liked and share! Keep making those short videos of topology fixing.

i didn 't understand anything but i'm still going to save this for whenever i start using blender.

Looked for a topology tutorial like this for a long time, couldn't find one. Thanks!

Thank you for explaining this, as someone that started learning blender a week ago this is a good habit to learn early.

never delete this video

I think the easiest way to think about it is this: Each quad has 2 edges perpendicular to the direction of the topology which i call "front egdes" and the other edges I call "side egdes". Whenever you change the amount of faces, you turn one edge to be diagonal making up a front edge for one and a side edge for another quad. So if you want one more face, make one side edge to a front edge and you have one more front edge, hence one more quad, or reverse etc.

Wow I have been modeling for 19 years and this is best and fastest video on this topic I have seen! Very nice.

I've seen those charts you showed at the beginning of the video multiple times, but never could quite put them into practice. Very helpful stuff!

A true master of toplogy, respect and salute. Thank you so much for solving the most difficult mystery for the NOOBIES, trully appreciated and will forever remember the NAME, of the master. Thank you.

I remember watching a video of someone modeling the Sanic. He made a lopp cut just above the eyee for the eyeball to fit and this loop cut had gone all the way down through neck, around the body and then back to the neck and ended above the other eye. It was hilarious.

Simple and right to the juicy parts. I love it!

Got no word to say HOW thankful I am for that

Noice , helpfull explanation keep doing these!!

I don't even know what topology is, how was I recommended this?

this video is crazy. learned so much in such a short amount of time.

one of the most important modelling videos iv ever seen

...and it's actually a sub from me as well. I like where this is going and I'm pretty tired of donut gurus. Keep the great work!

At first I didn't quite get the point of what you were saying. I was like "at 1:27 just dissolve all those loop cuts." It wasn't until I got to the end (and tried it myself) that I realized that doing it your way results in all quads!

I paused at 0:08 and tried to recreate this. I had a hand with like 15 vertices loop trying to connect it to 6 vertices loop of the arm. I somehow managed to reduce 15~ vertices to 8 vertices and 6 vertices I increased to 8. Such satisfaction when I connected them! Although somehow the topology doesn't feel to look very good, but the overall result satisfies me. Thank you very much!

This is awesome. I knew there had to be some method to slice through this particualr puzzle. now I feel some freedom in the mesh. Thank you so much!

Topology is what kills me. Very interesting

Do the changes in direction have an impact on smooth shading? I saw a tutorial once, where they talked about engons and they teached and showed that there is more of a problem with topology direction changes. Anyone got experience with that?

wow. One of the most useful tuts ive seen so far, for Blender. Thank you!

Single best tutorial on modeling I've seen so far!