3D Modelling
← Knowledge baseTopology, sculpting, hard surface, and how meshes are built.
- 01Topology: what makes geometry good or badTwo meshes can look identical and behave completely differently. Topology is the difference, and it decides whether a model can be animated, subdivided or textured well.
- 02Edge flow: geometry that follows the formWhy the direction edges run matters as much as how many there are, particularly on anything that deforms.
- 03Mesh cleanup: the defects worth fixingNon-manifold edges, flipped normals, loose geometry, interior faces. What each one breaks downstream.
- 04Sculpting versus polygon modellingTwo ways of arriving at a shape, suited to different kinds of object, usually combined rather than chosen between.
- 05Hard surface modellingManufactured objects have rules — panel lines, consistent bevels, no perfectly sharp edges. Following them is most of what makes them read.
- 06Subdivision surfacesSmoothing a low-polygon cage into a high-polygon surface. What it needs from your topology, and what it does at the poles.
- 07Normals, smoothing groups and why surfaces look wrongA faceted curve or a soft edge that should be crisp is almost always a normals problem, not a geometry one.
- 08What a polygon count actually tells youThe number is a weak signal on its own. What matters is distribution, and what the polygons are doing.
- 09Procedural modelling: geometry from rulesDescribing an asset as a set of operations rather than as a fixed mesh, and when that is worth the setup.
- 10Working from referenceThe stage before modelling that decides whether the model is any good, and the one most often skipped.