Static Mesh re-triangulation.

[Secret_Squirrel]

When importing a static mesh, how does the re-triangulation process work exactly? I understand that most models are created from quads and the UDK would then break these faces into tris to be rendered in game, but how does the way in which the model is made impact this?

Is it always better to model in strictly 4 sided faces (quads), and rely on the import process to do the rest? Or can some models contain tris, 5gons, etc and still import/render correctly?

Thanks

[Vald]

When importing a static mesh, how does the re-triangulation process work exactly? I understand that most models are created from quads and the UDK would then break these faces into tris to be rendered in game, but how does the way in which the model is made impact this?

Is it always better to model in strictly 4 sided faces (quads), and rely on the import process to do the rest? Or can some models contain tris, 5gons, etc and still import/render correctly?

Thanks

The best thing is to test it out.

Import 3 meshes where one has many tris,the other 5gons etc

[Secret_Squirrel]

Yeah I was going to do that as a last resort, but I know there are a few people around here that could answer my question.

[Zpanzer]

If you're using 3ds max, you can under edit poly press "Edit Triangulation" in the main panel, this will show how max is cutting up your mesh in tri's, and you can expect the engine to do rougly the same. My personal opinion is to fix all non triangle/square faces(and fix thoose square faces that could cause a shape error if not triangulated correclty) and then import it into the engine. I have yet to experience a problem with triangulation inside the engine.

[geodav]

sorry but seems a bit of a silly question.
Game Engines use triangles not quads,
meshes done with quads make it easier to do hi-res versions in apps like zbrush/mudbox
low-res models don't need quads

if your unsure, in max convert your model to an editablemesh, this will make it tri's only

[TheFreeman]

I've never come across any issues with the engine converting from quads/polygons to tri's.

[Secret_Squirrel]

Its good to know that this isnt much of an issue then, thanks.

[Mrfred]

The was some spec and shading bug that would happen on round surface every time people wouldn't care about triangulating the mesh manually.
Most people wouldn't notice it tho. It wasnt really a bug neither but if you would rotate your triangle to match a diamond formation the spec and shadow would hook better on polygon edges.

But it seems to have been fixed in the udk. I tried to replicate it but I couldn't.