That’s already possible with standard keymap (ctrl+rmb extrudes the active vertex) - provided poly build’s keymap does not overlap, this should be possible. Haven’t tried yet.
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The Poly Build doesn’t need to have all that stuff, but I think some of that functionality can be added to it at least. One click quads and verts for instance.
What I meant by “don’t need a mesh” was that the Poly Build tool requires an existing mesh to draw tris and quads from for it to function. It is not an independent drawing tool. In Maya for instance you are able to put down vertices first that you can draw with independently from the rest of the created mesh. Something similar I think could be done with the Poly Build tool. As long as you create an Empty Mesh Object, the Poly Build tool should be able to draw from that despite having no mesh to start with, if you catch my drift.
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Okay, will try that then! Thanks. : )
okay i got you now, that’s why i like PolyQuilt addon’s approch,not only you can add geo independently but also tweak it, just needs a quick fill option between points, maybe Pablo will take Polybuild that direction instead of just drawing quads.
How do you do that? Didn’t know that functionality existed honestly.
I think it does that when there’s no mesh.
I tried it just now. Yeah, it does seem to create vertices as you pointed out. However, the controls and UI are a bit wonky, so some improvements there are certainly needed. Thanks for the help though!
The best thing William can do is take the route that will disappoint the least amount of people (at least that is what this thread is indicating) 
It’s like trying to play a game where every possible path and every possible strategy will lead to the “game over” screen, but some sessions suck less than others.
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At my studio we rent Maya LT almost exclusively for this. We have searched and tried other solutions, Modo, Retopoflow, Retopogun and so on. Always to come back to the NEX tools now part of native Maya.
So having a real solid workflow for retopo tools in Blender would almost completely eliminate the need for Maya LT. Apart from that it would require I strong arm a few of the guys to learn Blender 2.8.
But until Blender can do retopo, there is little reason to do this.
Regarding should this be a mode or not.
Here is my opinion. Work it back from all of the things we need in a retopo tool. If we can get all of that functionality with snapping and a few other improvements to tools… fine.
But if we can’t I lean in favor of a mode. If we are getting this feature, lets get it right. Otherwise people won’t be able to fully switch.
Trust me when I say that people who enjoy retopo in other apps will not consider it useful if we don’t.
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I have to ask this question as well.
A new mode for retopology is perfectly normal, in fact it would do a lot to stream line the task itself. All blender has to do is have a new task tab at the top, with a mode that offers a set of tools that aid in that specific workflow. The user can either choose to use the mode within the tab they are in or use one already set up for it (which is ideal). Swapping between tabs is fairly normal for task specific workflows, be it in Modo or 3D Coat (both which offer great retopology workflows).
Current retopology in Blender almost feels barbaric compared to the dedicated retopo tools out there.
Blender has to remember that task specific UI and workflows help the user rather than hurt them. It allows for more features and tools to tossed in without cluttering the UI and over complicating the experience.
Add: And if many users are worried about having too many modes, then the ideal solution is to simply find a way to combine all the painting modes into one. I mean really, just have a toggle in paint mode that can switch between weight, texture and vertex painting. No need to split it into 3 different modes as their tasks/workflows tend to overlap eachother. 2 cents.
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It should also be fairly noted that Maya retopo tools open in it’s own panel. But this fact came under heavy criticism for the same reason as these are here.
I get the idea that it was not possible to use the existing tools in Maya to make this happen. Also originally the Nex tools panel had its own snapping. The recent versions have moved the snapping over to a global snapping option on the object level.
Additionally you are free to work with Maya native editing tools when the Nex panel is open.
For this reason I am not in favor of it being its own mode. But new tools in edit mode might have to be created.
Regardless. If we get retopo in Blender I hope it is well thought out, and can even better - in some ways -existing tools.
In this case I wish they would just ignore naysayers and implement the retopology tools they way they wanted to originally. You guys really don´t know what you´re missing, and prefer a crippled tool…
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That’s the spirit, I mean this worked out so well with the current beloved sculpt mode brush system 
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I agree with this. I am currently on a pretty large retopo job and found blenders tools very good how they are now. However, there is room for improvement. But the fact that you can use the native tools made me prefer them to the 3ds Max tools which are actually pretty good as well, even superior in some ways, but they don´t let you use the native tools which is a major drawback imo.
Well to let you know how far away from Blender’s native tools I am willing to go for good retopo… Maya.
So I also agree with what is being said about people not knowing what they are missing.
I would take it in a stand alone app. I don’t really care. Retopgun [Topogun] is being revised…
Bottom line. Make the tools rock. Make them as good as or rival other tools.
How you do that is not important. If they can be native Blender tools. great. But don’t limit the functionality of it, just to do that.
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sorry, really not trying to nitpick here but it’s Topogun. Still one of the best tools for retopo out there.
I completely agree though - being it automatic or manual retopo, Blender has currently none of it and almost every industry is using it for at least a decade or more. Be it Nex/Maya, 3Dcoat, Topogun, ZRemesher, Mudbox auto retopo, whatever.
Seems they are making some progress though, good to see steps in the right direction.
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When it comes to manual retopo, 3D-Coat’s toolset for that is the best i.m.h.o…
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Not sure what you mean by that.
I said for once, implying that I don´t always agree with their decisions, so drop the strawmen. In this case, there´s no doubt a dedicated tool is a more efficient workflow. The discussion I´ve seen so far has been mostly about not getting all the tools in editmode…
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