What would be the best way to make this shape into quads, so my shading is correct?

Support Modeling
#1

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I thought it might be easy to just give both hole A and hole B the same number of vertices per curve (19), and then make edge loops that connect each vertex from hole A, to its corresponding vertex from hole B.

But if you look at the bottom of the pic you can see the problem, if I connect the first vertex of hole A to the first vertex of hole B, the line cuts through the hole itself, and if I continued connecting some of the lines would cross each other.

What’s a smart way to make this into quads? Also if I keep it as simple as possible it seems like I’d have some really long thin quads, is that a problem?

PS: if it matters my eventual goal is to use smooth shading (not subsurf, for simplicity). It’s ok if all the edges, even the sharp ones, are a bit rounded.

#2

To convert to quads, try CTRL-T (triangulate) and then ALT-J (tris to quads).
For your eventual goal, quads isn’t going to help. Instead use a bevel modifier.

#3

It doesn’t have to be quads. Getting it convex is enough if the triangulation causes problems.

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#4

oh, I’d heard so many times that you want things in quads. How does the shading look on that if you were to choose smooth, or use a subsurf, any issues?

#5

So what I ended up doing is first getting the weighted normals plugin, which mostly (but not entirely) fixes smooth shading. After messing around with a lot of different ideas, I came to the conclusion that the more cuts and edges I added, the worse it got. so I decided to just isolate the shading weirdness to the smallest area possible, and use just a couple of edge loops to separate the rounded pockets from the flat area.

Making it into quads doesn’t seem necessary, though several tutorials I’ve seen said it’s best practice. But to do it I’d have to add many extra cuts and even when I tried doing that, I still got shading weirdness.

I took dudecon’s advice to use a bevel modifier, and with smooth + loops close to the edges, I got the effect I was looking for. If I pick some matcap materials the issue still stands out a little, but in rendered view it seems ok.

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#6

It is using smooth shading in the cropshot. When subdivisions are properly supported, it doesn’t matter what type of faces flat surfaces consist of.

#7

It depends what your final goal is. In most cases, you would use roughly 6 vertices for a rounded corner.

#8

pure quad is not needed… all depend the shape and what the piece is. First do you need subd or just smooth vertex is enough ?

Here i have start both with a bolean, then i have just use the knife on the left one with standard straight cut.
On the right one, i have just use tris to quad. ( control F ) and cut the edge who are not needed … As allways theres allways a lot of different way to do thing…

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Now only with smooth vertex at 60%( vertex panel )

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I have use a limited amount of vertices on the cylinder for the bolean, but increase the number will then result on a smoother curve off course.
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