Retopology Tools for 3ds Max

Use Retopology Tools to automatically optimize the geometry of your high-resolution model to create a clean, quad-based mesh. Useful for removing artifacts and other mesh issues for animation and rigging, these tools can also be used to apply textures and manipulate objects.

A clean 3D topology is key to achieving professional results. When a model's vertices, edges, and faces are better organized, animations will appear much more fluid and rendering will require less memory. Poorly-optimized meshes can also create visual artifacts as well as problems when applying modifiers. Using the Retopology Tools for 3ds Max, you can quickly correct many common problems introduced by a less than optimal mesh.

Retopology Best Practices

The following tools and techniques will help you quickly achieve great results when working with Retopology Tools for 3ds Max.

Poly Count and Shape

It is good practice to work with models that are under 200,000 polys, if possible.

Tip: Press 7 to show the current poly count in the top left of the viewport.

Retopology works best when an object contains uniform, equally-distributed faces. A number of modifiers are available that can help optimize the mesh before beginning the operation or if you encounter areas after computing that are still not desirable.

Useful Modifiers

The following modifiers can help achieve the best and fastest results when using the Retopology tools.

ProOptimize: Before computing the retopology, you can use this modifier to reduce the overall poly count.
Subdivide: Retopology works best on meshes containing either quads or uniform triangular polys. If a mesh contains long, thin triangular faces, use the Subdivide modifier to create smaller, more even triangles before beginning any retopology operations.
Slice: When working with symmetrical objects, use the Slice modifier to slice the object in half before beginning the Retopology operation. This will reduce calculation time.
Symmetry: After using the tools to achieve an optimal topology on a sliced object, restore the other half of the object using the Symmetry modifier.
Smooth: useful for cleaning the mesh and applying smoothing groups before beginning the Retopology operation.
Mesh Cleaner: Data imported from other applications or processed through operations such as Boolean can have malformed data that can impede the ability for Retopology to succeed or process quickly. Before applying the Retopology modifier, use Mesh Cleaner check and fix such errors.

Relax Brush and Relax Modifier

To repair any artifacts created by hard edges during the Retopology operation, use the Relax brush or modifier to smooth the edges and then recompute.

Holes, Spikes, and Small Details

Any holes left in your mesh will create additional complexity with the output because the algorithms will attempt to keep them. This will increase the processing time needed for retopology and influence the resulting mesh data.

Like holes, spikes or small details such as noise that comes from a photogrammetry capture can cause extra information to be calculated and slow down the overall processing time.

If this data is not needed, it is a good idea to manually remove it using the Relax Brush or Relax modifier to reduce the surface impact. Much like holes, spikes or small details such as noise that comes from a photogrammetry capture can cause extra information that needs to be calculated and slows down the overall processing time.

Deleting Isolated Elements

Sometimes small non-visible elements can appear within a mesh. Solving these elements requires extra processing time so it a good practice to select and delete them before using the Retopology tools.

To delete isolated elements:

Add an Editable Poly modifier to the object.
Press 5 to switch to Element mode.
Click on the object to select it.
Press Ctrl+I to invert the selection.
If any element appears selected inside the mesh, press Delete to remove it from the object.

Post Retopology Processes

Weighted Normals: After generating an output you will want to apply a Weighted Normals (or Smooth) modifier onto your retopology output to generate a new set of explicit normal for the model.
Symmetry: If you applied a Slice modifier before processing your mesh with Retopology, apply a Symmetry modifier once the option is complete to make the model whole again.
Edit Poly/Edit Mesh: The retopology output is based on what the algorithm assumes and infers from your mesh data. Sometimes this results in data that may need small adjustments or quick fixes which can be done by applying Edit Poly or Edit Mesh modifiers. Examples include capping holes, bridging edges, moving vertices, removing extra edge loops.

Generative Models

When working with low-poly models that you plan to Boolean together and then retopologize into a clean quad output, it is recommended that you first remesh using the Subdivide modifier or use sub-divisional surfaces to add more form to your model. Otherwise you may reconstruct low-poly data that will appear angular.