Convert Mesh to Low Poly "flat" Quads

[KarlZeilhofer]

Hi,

im looking for a method, how I can simplify a complex 3D mesh into quads, where all 4 vertices of a quad are on a plane. I think normal quads in blender still mostly have an invisible edge and therefore consisting of 2 triangles.

In the further process, I’d like to manufacture that low poly quads out of sheet metal. So my next question: is there any tool to unfold such a geometry?

[RickyBlender]

a quad is 4 verts
if on same plane then it is a coplanar quad
if not then it will render like 2 tris

you should start with a mesh with quads in first place
then you can unfold it to get all the faces

check these out

Paper models

Export-Paper-Model-from-Blender Add-on in 2.80?

Creating Paper Models

Creating paper models

EDIT: I am working on an automated script for this purpose. You may want to try it - it could save you a hour of work. Link Blender comes with a script called Unfold. It can easily turn mesh into a flat net, without deforming any faces. What is it good for? If you use some more tricks around and are not afraid of mat-knife, you can have all your blends staying in front of you on the table. All you need is a printer, a good glue, two hands and blender (blender is almighty!). I’ve made three mo…

hope it helps

happy bl

[Alan_Talbor]

Convert tris to quads

[KarlZeilhofer]

Thank you very much!

I just tried out the “export to paper model”, and it works like a charm.

I’m not relly sure now, if I even should go for coplanar quads, since, it doesn’t really matter. Tris could be even a bit better, since I think they don’t buckle that much. Anyhow: can I scale the quad’s local z-axis to 0 all in one batch?

[KarlZeilhofer]

@Alan_Talbor

Convert tris to quads

sure, but the generated quads are not coplanar (one of the 4 vertices is out of plane). How could I solve this?

[emu]

There is a built-in Make Planar Faces operator. If you crank up the iterations parameter, it will produce quite nicely flat quads.

I spent some time working on actual computation that would do this. It’s contained in my Add Dual Polyhedron script but that script is not available in blender 2.80. You can try it – if you think it could help you, I’ll update it.

[KarlZeilhofer]

@emu

You can try it – if you think it could help you, I’ll update it.

Wow, great, that’s what I was looking for. Unfortunately I have installed Blender 2.80, so how could I try it out, if it is not available in Blender 2.80?

Greets, Karl

[emu]

Here is a version for 2.80: planarize.py (Save as… -> import in Blender). It was quite easy to fix.

[RickyBlender]

can you make short video to show how it work and use it

I tried to run it in text editor but does not work !

and what is it suppose to do ?

thanks
happy bl

[emu]

It’s an addon, you have to enable Planarize in Preferences. Then just switch a mesh to Edit Mode and use Faces -> Planarize (bottom of the menu).

All faces with more than three sides will be made perfectly flat. It does quite the same as the Make Planar Faces operator – just better.

[RickyBlender]

I check the operator and not really that good
and it work on only one face at a time!

I would prefer to have it as a simple script in text editor
and not have to modify list of scripts every time blender changes
also not needed a lot of time only on rare occasions

will see if I can modify it

thanks
happy bl

[KarlZeilhofer]

Thanks EMU, your tool works perfectly!

[Alain_Laboile]

It’s really helpful emu thanks
it’s working (not completely ) for Blender 2.91
Two years later…