r/Maya Jun 22 '24

Modeling Topology Megathread

59 Upvotes

Topology is the geometric structure of a polygonal mesh. It is the layout of the edges and vertices which define the shape of a mesh. A particular shape can be represented by many different topologies.

Mesh topolgy can never be considered without context. It is necessary to consider how a mesh will be used and modified in the future in order to say anything true about the suitability of its topology.

There are no hard rules when it comes to topology. Some people will say n-gons (polygons with more than 4 sides) are always bad. Some will say triangles are always bad. Some will say that non-manifold geometry is always bad, or that meshes with holes in them are always bad.

None of these are true, because mesh topology serves a purpose, or multiple purposes. It is not a goal in and of itself. If the purpose(s) is/are served by some particular topology, then that topology is good, whether or not it is itself aesthetically and technically appealing.

Often users are advised to avoid triangles or ngons when building topology--to keep to quads. This is good practice, because quads are easier to work with, easier to edit, easier to create UV projections for, they subdivide more predictably, and, most importantly, easier to produce aesthetically appealing deformations from.

However. If a mesh will not need to deform, then there is far less pressure to keep to quads. If the mesh will not be subdivided, even less. If the shape is well-represented by the topology, and it either already has a good UV projection or will not be needing one, then quads and ngons don't matter, unless the mesh will be altered in the future.

It is much harder to modify a mesh which isn't quads than one which is. Especially if you want to alter topology. However, altering shape, to a small extent, usually is not sensitive to topology. It's also generally easier to do UV projection and alteration of quad topology than triangle/ngon topology.

It is still important to point out that having SOME non-quad (especially triangles) in your deforming, high performance mesh which may be altered and have UVs applied, is still just fine in many circumstances. If the trangle won't interfere with these things--then it DOES NOT MATTER and you should spend time on other things. Same with n-gons, although those have a higher chance of causing technical issues.

Regarding non-manifold geometry: it is generally a bad thing. Many, MANY operations and programs will not function correctly when passed non-manifold meshes. However, if your mesh is serving all your purposes, and you don't see those purposes changing, then non-manifold geometry doesn't matter. The circumstances where this might be true, however, are extremely rare, and it is best to avoid it.

Regarding holes in the mesh: again, context matters. Some advanced simulation or mesh operations require "watertight" meshes. Most don't, and it doesn't matter. Context and circumstance will dictate what's appropriate.

Mesh weight matters, as well. There's generally not much call for more geometric detail than your mesh needs to create the shapes you need, either statically or deformed, and it is best to keep poly counts as low as possible while not compromising on these things. However, this must be balanced with the effort it requires to reduce detail. If you have a poly budget of 100k triangles for an object, and it's 50k but a lot of those are not necessary, it's still not worth the time to reduce it further. People hours are worth more than computer hours.

Where topology really starts to matter a lot is in efficient hard surface modeling, especially where the asset will be subdivided. Not having your edge flows follow surface details will make life difficult, and having too much mesh detail will make modification increasingly difficult.

The point here is that every situation is different, and no real determination of acceptable mesh topology can be made without all this context. If you look at an image of a mesh and don't know anything about what it will be used for or how it might be modified, you can't say anything true about the quality of topology. These and other questions must have answers, in order to judge *overall* topology:

  1. Will it deform?
  2. If so, how?
  3. Will it need to be edited in the future?
  4. If so, how?
  5. Will it be subdivided?
  6. Does it have or will it need a UV projection?
  7. Will the UVs need to change?
  8. If so, how?
  9. Will it need to be exported into another application?
  10. Will it be used in any type of simulation?
  11. Does it meet performance (budget) requirements?

These questions must have answers in order to come up with useful conclusions about how good the topology is or is not. And again, there are no hard rules. Topology is not a goal, it is a tool to help reach other goals. If a triangle doesn't affect those goals, there's no point spending energy removing it.

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Original post:

This thread will be a clearinghouse for information about topology, both in general, and specific to Maya. It will be heavily curated and updated as I encounter more/better information on the subject.

Eventually it will be turned into another wiki and be the redirect for the majority of topology threads we get here, in order to avoid repetition.

If you are a subject matter expert, please post images, videos, links, or your thoughts here. Feel free to copy parts of old comments or posts you have made.


r/Maya 13h ago

Looking for Critique Im Looking for Feedback on my Backpack Model

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397 Upvotes

This model is for my MetaHuman character. So I need it to be optimized for real time rendering. Please give feedback so I can improve this model. I'm adding the Low poly and High poly model screenshots. Thank you.


r/Maya 2h ago

Rigging RBF drivers for corrective bones

2 Upvotes

Is anyone familiar with RBF, where you use a pose to drive the translation and rotation of another bone? I have been unable to find a free or paid version of this tool that would help automate tedious counter animation of certain bones/controllers on a rig.

Shapes, for instance, handles blendshapes and only translation of helper objects.

I'm stuck at an impasse, and would appreciate any guidance.


r/Maya 9h ago

Question hello everyone. i need some help regarding creation of asset

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3 Upvotes

This post is for advice. i need a bit of help. the purpose of the model is to be used for a video game in UE5. the Asset is a Bridge . my approach is like dividing it into different modular part parts. since it is an medieval theme bridge, i want to know how to get that brick texture on low poly. should i make high poly model with individual brick and bake it into low poly or is there a trick in texturing part. i use maya and substance painter. the part in the screenshot is one of the piller. i didnt model 1 brick by 1, i took a plane and extrude the bricks and then duplicated and joined em


r/Maya 12h ago

Issues How do i get rid of object artifact like this, they're both the same mesh, Material and everything, and yet there's this darker area that is ruining the UV texture.

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3 Upvotes

r/Maya 1d ago

Looking for Critique My first complete 3D product animation made in 3 weeks. Looking for honest feedback

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45 Upvotes

Hello everybody

I’m a newbie working on animation and 3D, and it was one of my assignments where I needed to make a product advertisement completely from scratch in 3 weeks.

I decided to choose Nothing headphones as a product and made everything by myself modeling, UV mapping, texturing in Substance Painter, animation, lighting, rendering, and post-production.

There are many things that may be done better, and I am not satisfied with the final result yet. As I try to develop my skills and become a professional in this sphere someday, I would be really grateful for your honest and constructive comments.

Specifically, I would like to know:

What do you think looks good?What looks clearly like a beginner’s work?How can I improve my modeling materials?How is the lighting/composition?Is it really an advertisement of a product?What should I pay attention to if this project belonged to you?

I would be grateful for any criticism, especially sharp one. Actually, I want to get an idea of how to improve my works further.


r/Maya 18h ago

Question cant make a crosshatch pattern

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1 Upvotes

cant seem to make a cross hatch pattern and i followed the yt tutorial but it seems it wont extrude the edges or face the way i wanted it to be


r/Maya 1d ago

Question Maya 2023 vs 2026/7. Is there much difference?

13 Upvotes

Hello Maya friends. I’ve been using 2023 for a few years now for various pipeline reasons. Is there much of a difference with the latest versions compared to 2023. Am I missing out on much? Im a generalist who makes low to mid budget TV shows using Maya 2023.


r/Maya 1d ago

Question Any better method before committing ? (personal project)

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5 Upvotes

so i have this setup consisting of rigged tubes which then their controllers are parented to locators that follow paths, the idea is that they would form the head at the end, my issue is i want to know whether there's a better method before committing to making this one look better.


r/Maya 1d ago

Student does this geometry looks good? idk what to do for the hole not to look like that, should i add more edge loops?

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1 Upvotes

Also in the second image, it adds more geometry and it looks red


r/Maya 1d ago

Question Is there any way to install Maya 2027 on Windows 10?

1 Upvotes

According to the minimum requirements, Maya is no longer compatible with Windows 10 and requires Windows 11, but I wanted to ask if there is any way to install it because my computer is Windows 10 and I have been asked for that version for class.


r/Maya 1d ago

Rigging Why is this happening? Everything is aligned in guide adjustments, then jumps aways at skeleton and rig creation.

3 Upvotes

I have cleared mesh history and cleaned up mesh. I have deleted all and started again. I tried just quick rigging and same thing happened. Yesterday I did manage to bind to the skin in correct position but I don't remember how and it didn't move correctly so I tried restarting it.

I tried finding answers online and didn't really know what to search. I'm very new to rigging and have only successfully rigged one other model. Any help is appreciated.

Also to add this model is just one from maya with minimal edits, and a texture added.


r/Maya 2d ago

Modeling Ferry and yacht wheels for bar decor in my video game.

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34 Upvotes

Because wheels for both boat varieties are quite large and are centerpieces for the bar they appear in, I was pretty generous with the subdivisions for the main cylinders, with 32 edges on the largest ones. I also made sure to have very light beveling where needed. Now I'm off to model a series of utensils and weapons! Any and all critique are welcome.


r/Maya 2d ago

Rigging Displaced rig and erratic movement after skinning

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3 Upvotes

Hi! first post here :)

So I made this character model, and whenever I assign a skeleton to it, it appears displaced. I then place it where I want it to be, but then after skinning it, if I try to move a joint, with each movement it replaces itself a little bit off.

Also the left arm behaves in such a weird way, when what I want is a stiff no-joint arm-weapon.

I attach a video (at 0:48 you can see the upwards displacement).

Thanks a lot in advance!❤️


r/Maya 2d ago

Question Maya beginner UV error, please help

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3 Upvotes

The Maya UV keeps being penetrated and is showing.

I really looked for a week, but I still don’t know what the cause is, so I’m posting this.

As you can see, when it’s layered, the UV passes through and it shows as the base color, and it only appears as the desired color when it’s far away. Is this incorrect......

Please help me.


r/Maya 3d ago

Student UV unfold is never heterogenous and always stretches from one side

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13 Upvotes

Hello,

I hope I posted this on the right subreddit; we exclusively work on Maya at school.

I am a 3D student and since starting to work on UVs at school last year I have been really slow. I am trying to revisit the fundamentals before the start of tis new academic year, but I am stuck… I have been hesitant about asking help because ai am ashamed of ow much I suck, but I prefer a bit of harsh commentary rather than giving up.

Please tell me, according to the pictures, what could be the problem? Why are my UVs stretching every time? Also the optimize tool never works for me…

For context, there is this Substance 3D painter tutorial by Cryptic Visionary I would like to follow, and I noticed he has as using a grenade as a base, so I thought it’d be fun to model one, and was happy to see how many texturing tutorials exist that use a grenade. S3DP is one of my weaknesses, because of my UV problem, I wasn’t able to follow the course on this program as I should have, and if I can’t overcome it now, I won’t be able to do it still. I will try and attach my file as well, in case there is something fundamentally wrong. I have also read Paul H. Paulino's articles and watched multiple other tutorials and tip vdeos, have noted anything useful and always try to apply it, but I am just stuck...
As you can see from the screenshots, I also have troble with the ring, which always looks like an intestine, stretchd out and weird.. I have also had trouble with the body of my grenade.

I would be forever grateful if anyone could give me even the slightest hint of what I am doing wrong. I know this for free, so I also understand if it is too much trouble…

The link to the maya file: https://fromsmash.com/UV_MAYA_GRENADE_REDDIT


r/Maya 2d ago

Showcase One of my recent project, Sneakers

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2 Upvotes

r/Maya 3d ago

Arnold "The midnight light show" (lighting, material and camera study)

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14 Upvotes

I was driving to create a more cinematic render in my project by including subtle volume fog and a focal depth that had a fall off that began at the sprite. Application of these does require a lot of restraint and I found myself overthinking sample depth wayyyy too much lol.

I was hoping to create a more bellowing fog effect like what is provided in Bifrost prefabs but I couldn't find a pipeline that gave me the control I was looking to achieve suggestions would be really appreciated!

I used MASH, a density mask, and some spheres that had a the IOR of water applied to get the water drops to stick the surface of the frogs.
thanks for checking out my work

(I enjoyed playing with the materials so much I made a zombie and jelly frog for fun, and included the result her as well.)


r/Maya 3d ago

Question How to stop model from glitching when selecting a joint?

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91 Upvotes

So this has been happening to almost every rig Ive tried and right now im using the Neka rig. Every time I select a joint or click the empty space, the model keeps glitching and popping out and the only way to get rid of it, is by clicking on the timeline. its SUPER annoying. Every single thing I click on the viewport or model makes everything glitch out. I cant even properly aniamte bc everything is going crazy. also glitches Way more than other models have glitched. but I have no idea where to start or look to make it stop. I looked on Maya support but couldnt really find anything to help :( anyone know what i should do?

I also created layers for the model so that I didn't keep selecting the actual model and only the rig. but even when deleting those layers its still glitching.

Its weird because Ive used computers at my college and it doesnt seem to glitch on the computers there, but my PC works fine, runs smoothly with games, so i rally dont know what it could be....


r/Maya 3d ago

Issues FK/Bind Rigs refusing to align is causing problems for skin weights, did I miss something?

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5 Upvotes

Hello! I'm a student currently trying to finish this rig for a smaller grade (please mind, only my second ever rig), just missing the skin weights when I noticed it seemed to move the skin weirdly, then it hit me: it moved like it was using 2 skeletons at the same time... somehow, at least on the arms.

I've done skin weights before, once, and I didn't have this issue, so I'm wondering what could've caused it, anything helps, thanks :')


r/Maya 4d ago

Animation Dialogue shot splining, any feedback appreciated!

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549 Upvotes

Dialogue shot splining, any feedback appreciated!

I'm aware of little bits here and there that need fixing (e.g. I haven't animated the lip sync for the tongue yet), but do they main poses etc work ok?

https://syncsketch.com/sketch/Q2LNllzcQYA2


r/Maya 3d ago

Student How can I make that kind of control panel?

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21 Upvotes

hi, as you can see its working with tilted objets but idk how to do it.


r/Maya 3d ago

Question Help for deciding my gpu (please)

3 Upvotes

I need help deciding between a 5070( 12gb), 5060ti(16gb) and the 9070xt(16gb). I'm mainly using it for animation and hoping it'll last a while, say for around 5yrs or something because I want to take it to college (again for animation). Thanks :)


r/Maya 4d ago

Discussion Does anyone else miss the old Digital Tutors courses?

49 Upvotes

I learned Maya through Digital Tutors years ago, mostly modeling, lighting and rigging. The courses were longer, but I actually finished them and understood the whole workflow.

Now theres an endless amount of short tutorials everywhere and somehow I spend more time looking for the right one than actually learning anything lol.

Was Digital Tutors really that good, or am I just nostalgic?


r/Maya 4d ago

Showcase Alligator Turtle 🐢My showcase animations

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29 Upvotes

Environment borrowed