Blender 3DModeling for Architecture

Table with mesh organization tips for 3D polygon modeling

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Allan Brito July 2, 2009

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What is required to learn and develop even more your modeling skills? One of the things that I always say in my modeling classes is that we have to balance the technical side of 3d modeling with the artistic side. Even with the advice to balance the focus of the modeling, my students often leave the technical planning of the modeling to the last moment. Why we have to care on the technical side of the modeling? It`s quite simple actually, if we don`t plan the topology of the model, there will be a moment where the edition of the model will reach a dead-end.

You may be aware that Blender 3D doesn’t support N-Gons, yet. With the lack of support to N-Gons, we have to organize the topology of our project, in order to avoid triangular faces. A triangular face can mess up the modeling, with the creation of non-orthogonal edges. Have you ever tried to add an edge loop to a model full of triangular faces?

A few days ago I found an interesting table that could help a lot, on the planning process for any project. This is a great help to Blender users too, because it focus on the use of quad faces and the organization of the topology.

This is the table:

You can find the 3d polygon modeling table in full resolution in this link. The table was designed by Pedro Amaro Santos.

The table is a guide to organize the topology of a model, created with polygon tools. For instance, we can find several examples of multisided polygons, created only with quad faces. At the upper side of the table we will find lots of examples that. At the bottom of the table, we will find some great descriptions and examples of how the edge loop flow, can be affected with tools like the knife or the Face Loop Cut in Blender 3D.

With the table we can have some great reference for modeling, especially if you don`t have much experience on the planning of polygon modeling. For architectural modeling, the table won`t be much of a help in the modeling of large models, but for furniture modeling it will be a good reference to avoid topology problems.

I will recommend this resource for all my students when the next semester begins!