squarize and triangulate

[blackjack-VS- 0]

i'm looking for an important answer to the squarize and triangulate way of presenting a model, so before u understand what is one thing and the other i'll copy paste the only perfect explanation i found about it in this forum.

from footmunch :

Quote[/b] ]It's just geometry. Imagine a pyramid with a triangular

base. That has four vertices, but it's not a single plane,

right? If you 'flatten' the point of the pyramid down to the

same level as the base, then all four points are in the same

plane, but it's not a pyramid anymore. It just happens to

be the case that all four points are in the same plane.

If you have a 4 point face that 'should' be planar, make sure

you haven't bumped one of the vertices by mistake. Flatten

points is your friend.

O2 will make square poly's out of all those pairs of

adjacent traingular polys that it can. So you go up to 5000,

but you then come back down to 3500 + N, where N is the

triangulated polys. It's exactly equivalent to triangulating

the non-planar faces.

the model i'm working now is being made in max ( u can apply this to all other famous 3d packages), and i choose to model it with EDITABLE POLYS. modeling things with polys makes thing work like footmunch described.

it builds polygons made by squared faces and each squared face is made by 2 coplanar triangles). so if i push or pull one of the vertex, it splits the square to a 2 triangle config.

if i choose to model with EDITABLE MESH, the model will become exactly the same look, but now instead of square+triangles configuration, i only have triangles! it detects all squares and split them in 2 triangles.

ok now lets go to o2 (the place where all happens ) .

i imported the 3ds file to o2 and the 1st aspect is always weird. 1st thing to do is "select all" and sharp edges. then i'm gona check the face count for the imported model- there's 1972 faces.(its the number of squared faces + triangular faces).

then i'm gona triangulize / . i have now 3282( total number of triangular faces).

i also checked the diference in o2 when i select by face active and go selecting faces. if its squarized i select square faces and have 1 face in the count.

if i triangulize and with face selection active, i select triangular faces ONLY, so the same square is now 2 triangles, and the face count is 2.

so i guess we can deduct this function is present in o2 for the POLYGON modeling ( the most used technic to model things for games). now my question is... which one of the versions does the ofp engine "eats" ? if i squarize does ofp engine faces it like a 1972 faces model? or does it always calculates the 3282 faces? this is really important to modelers just because it will define the limit of detail of the 1st lod at least.

side notes i had from some experiences. if the model is triangulize and then i go to "Check faces" under structure menu, i have 0 faces selected.

but if i do the same thing with squarized version, i have now a 365 red faces in my model. what is wrong with them?? non planar? remember this model is presented by squares+triangles...

another question.. what's the diference between "triangulize /" and "triangulize /" ?

is there any COMPLETE tutorial about the o2 menus. explaining exact cause/effect ? couldnt find any so far...

so i'll wait for someone answer on my question. hope i'm not talking about old news here!

[ag_smith 0]

Those 365 faces - they're either non-planar or non-linear mapped. "Check faces" function creates 2 above-mentioned selections that group incorrect faces.

I'm not sure about the triangulisation (??) problem, though.