Maya Beginner Tutorial Series 12/17: Difference Between Triangles vs Quads vs NGons

The following tutorial series is directly from Module 1 of 3 of "Maya Foundation: Home-Study Course" tutorial course.

I've released this entire Module 1 of 3 completely free. It is focused on teaching you how to get started learning Maya completely from scratch in 4 hours. Start with all videos in order within Maya Beginner Series here.

The full "Maya Foundation: Home Study Course" contains 3 Modules and 18+ hours of tutorials.

• Module 1 is focused on interface overview for game environment modeling.
• Module 2 is focused on environment modeling techniques (27 videos, 8+hrs).
• Module 3 is focused on UV mapping and UVing (21 videos, 5+hrs).

In this tutorial you will learn the difference between Triangles, Quads and NGons. Which geometry type you should work with and which to avoid when modeling environments and props.

Video Tutorial

Triangles vs Quads vs NGons

• Triangles = Face with 3 Edges
• Quads = Face with 4 Edges
• NGons = Face with More than 4 Edges

Modeling Principles: Quads, Tris and N-Gons

• Final Model Should NOT Contain Any N-Gons. Avoid 5 or more sided polygons on your objects. N-Gons create problems with deformations, when objects or characters have to be animated.
• Work and Model with Quads. Keep your model in quads as much as possible. Maintain 4 sided polygons as much as you can throughout your modeling in Maya. It will make modeling, detailing and sculpting a lot easier to manage.
• No Triangles or N-Gons If Object is Going to be Subdivided (Scultped). Avoid triangles if you are going to smooth, subdivide and sculpt a model. Triangles do not subdivide correctly.
• Everything is Triangles. Everything is triangles in the game engine.
• Quads and Triangles. Final optimized model that is being exported to a game engine can have triangles. Because remember, everything is triangles. But during modeling in Maya, it is best to maintain quads as much as possible. You can have triangles, but quads will be easier to work with. After you are done modeling, sculpting, subdividing and baking your model and it is ready for export, then you can go through and triangulate manually and optimize your model. So don't avoid triangles as you work but during modeling maintain quads. Good rule of thumb is maintain quads as much as you can up until prior to optimization and before exporting to a game engine

Takeaways

• Avoid any n-gons (polygons with more than 4 edges)
• Keeping everything as quads for easier topology and edge flow control
• If you are going to subdivide this model and use it for sculpting in ZBrush or Mudbox then avoid having any triangles or n-gons – keep it as quads
• It is ok to have triangles, because everything is triangles in the game engine but if you were to keep good topology in order to add detail, inserting edges, keep it as quads up until prior to optimizing and export
• Keep it clean. Optimize the model at the very end right before exporting to a game engine, at this point you can remove unwanted edges, collapse vertices and have triangles anywhere you want due to the final rendered model inside the game engine will be automatically triangulated

Next Tutorial in the Series

Maya Beginner Tutorial Series 13/17: Deleting Faces, Edges, Vertices and Making Better Selections

Maya Foundation: Home-Study Course

Learn how to environment model and UV with Maya better than anyone else. Become a modeling master with it. In "Maya Foundation: Home Study Course" I will show you how.

Get the Course»