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Following the answers to my last posted question I incorporated the answers and reworked the exercise to create a 3D Logo. This post shows what I did to make it work.

enter image description here

You can see that I remade the closed complex shapes and pressed "F" to make a face on them.

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That worked fine, then after selecting everything I went to the Front Ortho view.

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The extrusion worked just fine. But there are no Quad or Triangle faces

enter image description here

Are they needed? How do I make them?

Thanks again,

Randy Van Nostrand

Randy Van Nostrand
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  • Looks like Ngons, see: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Modeling/Meshes/Editing/Basics/Creating_Faces_and_Edges – p2or Dec 10 '14 at 14:40
  • Note that it looks like ngons might be okay in your particular case, as it doesn't seem like the model will need to be deformed or subsurfed. See http://blender.stackexchange.com/q/89/599 – gandalf3 Dec 10 '14 at 20:18

2 Answers2

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Right now your model consists of ngons. In most cases it is better to have quads than ngons in your model (see this topic- it explains it nicely: http://blog.digitaltutors.com/ngons-triangles-bad/). To create them, select two vertices on the corner of your model and press J to join them with edge. Repeat the process in other corners. enter image description here

Now your model consist of quads. You may add edge loops to your model to sharpen the edges (it would be impossible to do it having ngons). Hover your cursor over model and press CTRL+R). See the manual here: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Modeling/Meshes/Editing/Subdividing/Loop_Subdivide enter image description here

Paul Gonet
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There are several reasons to use only quads in your models.

  • some modelling tools only work with quads. eg Loop cut will cut quads but stop at a triangle or ngon.
  • triangles and ngons can deform badly when animated.
  • ngons are automatically broken into triangles to be drawn to screen, particularly on non flat ngons, these may not be cut in ideal locations causing noticeable shading artefacts.
  • the subsurface modifier also doesn't subdivide ngons very well.
  • generated textures can also suffer from bad co-ordinate generation on ngons.

For flat surfaces shaded in a single colour you can get away with leaving ngons in your final model if you want to.

To get quads you need to cut your mesh up where you want the new edges. you can select two vertices and press J to cat a new edge between them or you can use the knife tool K to cut new edges and vertices where you want them.

An easy way that can work under some conditions is to use the remesh modifier. Once you are happy with the settings you can apply the modifier to make the new mesh permanent.

sambler
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  • Perfect Gonzou! I will use this just as you wrote it in the notes I am writing for my class. Would you like a copy when I am finished with it? It is a companion that I will give my students that will go along with the BlenderBasics_4thEdition2011.pdf that I am using. – Randy Van Nostrand Dec 11 '14 at 15:41
  • Nice to hear it helped you. About the .pdf. It'll be great to see a copy. Please send it to my mail (you can find it in my profile's info) when it's finished. Greetings. – Paul Gonet Dec 11 '14 at 19:44