Tip: Controlling Topology Flow

by Jonathan Williamson

When working with a high density mesh in Blender, maintaining a firm grip on topology is essential. This quick Blender video tip demonstrates a few tips for increasing/decreasing your topology in a given area and for redirecting the flow of your topology.

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Discussion

24 Responses to “Tip: Controlling Topology Flow”
  1. TheVisionary
    Posts: 10

    Nice tutorial Jonathon. I really needed this. Its hard for me to have a nice topology when i’m modeling a complex model but this really helped me out :)

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    1
     Feb 1, 2010 at 10:30 pm
  2. Sean Greene
    Posts: 4

    The day I learn to effectively use all those ctrl + E options is the day that isn’t going to happen. Nice tip there. One the first tip, if you have a lot to merge remember your edge slide tool and remove the doubles.

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    2
     Feb 1, 2010 at 11:28 pm
  3. tommy5
    Posts: 7

    This is essential stuff, great tip. Thank you!

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    3
     Feb 2, 2010 at 2:54 am
  4. codexus
    Posts: 11

    Nice tip! Rotate edge seems like a useful tool, but it’s easy to overlook it.

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    4
     Feb 2, 2010 at 5:53 am
  5. Yegor
    Posts: 13

    Damn! This covers my previous question on the head modeling! Thanks a lot :)

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    5
     Feb 2, 2010 at 6:44 am
  6. janidotux
    Posts: 9

    Amazing, nice tips, very helpful!! Thanks.

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    6
     Feb 2, 2010 at 7:56 am
  7. comeinandburn
    Posts: 62

    Thanks Jonathon,

    This is definitely going to be bookmarked for future reference. These are the fundamentals that are missing from Blender/3D tutorials in general.

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    7
     Feb 2, 2010 at 8:33 am
  8. Solineoz
    Posts: 95

    That is one of the subjects that we can’t find easily on the web,
    so thanks for these nice tips Jonathan :)

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    8
     Feb 2, 2010 at 9:56 am
  9. Christopher Cherrett
    Posts: 8

    That was a great little tip. ore of the same would be awesome!

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    9
     Feb 2, 2010 at 11:34 am
  10. Mitch Klein
    Posts: 45

    Short and sweet. Very nice. Thanks!

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    10
     Feb 2, 2010 at 12:25 pm
  11. Luis Salcedo
    Posts: 2

    Hello guys and thanx jonathan for this tutorial, all you can check this too for more reference :) ENJOY

    http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8000

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    11
     Feb 2, 2010 at 12:45 pm
  12. Joe
    Posts: 2

    very nice tips ..

    hey Jonathan do you have a very helpful reference in this regard ..

    thanks again ..

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    12
     Feb 2, 2010 at 12:49 pm
  13. Patrick Boelens
    Posts: 225

    Thanks Jonathan, this answers my question perfectly! I’m not sure if it’s possible to (not) be left with triangles when you’re working with even numbers, but I’ll go play with this first! =) Thanks again!

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    13
     Feb 2, 2010 at 1:35 pm
  14. Astapov
    Posts: 1

    Excellent.

    This is exactly what my modeling prof covered on our first day of class back when i was in school.

    Something that every modeler should know.

    This will be of help to a lot of people.

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    14
     Feb 3, 2010 at 2:42 am
  15. Tobey
    Posts: 98

    GREAT one. Your topology really flows smoothly and it’s nice of you to share some of the techniques you use to keep them so.

    @Luis: Thanks for the link.. that’s insanely detailed! :-)

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    15
     Feb 3, 2010 at 3:00 pm
  16. Michael Ruthstrom
    Posts: 12

    I’ve never Thought of using the edge rotate tool to change edge flow. For that matter I can never really predict how it will change the nesh

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    16
     Feb 6, 2010 at 11:20 pm
  17. Adin Davis
    Posts: 50

    Good tips, definitely going to try and maintain these as much as possible.

    Great link Luis, was a very nice follow up to this video. Lots of great reference and discussion there.

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    17
     Feb 10, 2010 at 12:49 am
  18. Philippe M.
    Posts: 43

    woah, Edge Rotate! that’s bound to be useful :)

    great mini-tutorial, Jonathan :)

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    18
     Mar 19, 2010 at 11:47 am
  19. JackieNP
    Posts: 2

    Thanks you for very good tips.

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    19
     May 17, 2010 at 8:47 am
  20. David
    Posts: 1

    This is INVALUABLE information. I can make some pretty decent models and I’ve been using blender for quite a few years now, but even though this information is simple and straightforward once you see it in action, I’ve never seen it posted anywhere else. Thinking back on all the models I’ve done, If I’d been able to implement these techniques it would’ve saved so much time

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    20
     Jun 30, 2010 at 1:29 pm
  21. slinky
    Posts: 14

    Wow that’s great! It’s like seeing the light :)

    I’m of the age where modeling at school was about sticking matchboxes together and throwing paper mache balls at people. No such thing as computers in those days, let alone cgi, so I have a LOT of catching up to do ;)

    Also after a few false starts with other software, I’m having to re-learn everything I thought I knew about modeling :(

    As was said above, this topology series is absolutely invaluable.

    Blender ROCKS!, and this site helps it Rock even harder. Terrific! :)

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    21
     Aug 8, 2010 at 10:20 am
  22. Gediminas Ligeika
    Posts: 5

    I allways keep asking my self how does he know so much..

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    22
     Jan 17, 2011 at 2:56 pm
  23. Mirko
    Posts: 1

    I may be wrong, but I don’t think that diamond shape is good idea for the case that it’s vertices don’t lie within a single plane. Because if they aren’t, the renderer has to make two triangles out of it, in order two fill the surface. And if you don’t decide where to put that resulting edge, the renderer will do it for you and probably does it not the way you want it.
    Besides that, thank you for this video tip. I always enjoy watching your videos and always learn something from them :)

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    23
     Mar 16, 2011 at 5:31 pm
  24. Powerclam
    Posts: 2

    I’ve watched this tip dozens of times – for some reason I can NOT internalize this and have to refer back to this tip time and time again :P
    Thanks SO MUCH for it!!

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    24
     Apr 18, 2012 at 11:59 pm

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