Modeling the Details - Blender Master Class: A Hands-on Guide to Modeling, Sculpting, Materials, and Rendering - page 51

 

❶

❷

Figure 5-3: Sketching your topology beforehand can help you
avoid difficulties.

❸

above: By spinning edges to bring two triangles
together, you can eliminate them, as shown in
Figure 5-4.

Add an edge loop. Adding a loop cut ( ctrl -R) that
ends on a triangle will turn that triangle into
a quad (or two triangles, which you can merge
into a quad). If the new edge loop terminates at
an open edge, you've eliminated your triangle.
If your mesh is closed, it might just move the
triangle to the other end of the edge loop, and,
if you have triangles at both ends, you can take
out two at a time (see Figure 5-5).

❹

Figure 5-2: Topology dos and don'ts: Avoid triangles ❶ , avoid
poles ❷ , create loops around important forms ❸ , and align
edges with the forms, not against them ❹ .

Split a pole in two. A pole with six edges can easily
be split into two fives by adding a face loop
between the two halves. Add further faces for
even cleaner topology, as shown in Figure 5-6.

Rotate edges to move triangles. To rotate or “spin”
an edge, select it and press ctrl -E 4 Rotate Edge
CW/CCW (clockwise/counterclockwise). This
rearranges the faces around that edge, allowing
you to move triangles. You can combine this
trick with the joining adjacent triangles trick

Cut, dissolve, and join. The cut tool ( K ) allows
you to arbitrarily cut edges and faces to get
the topology you want. You can combine this
tool with the Dissolve operator (X 4 Dissolve)