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I have a model that has some text embossed into it. I need to remove them. (We're still making it in the USA, but it is not legible when 3D printed.) Unfortunately this file was exported from something else and appears to be 100% triangles. What's the best way to do this?

Oh the triangles!

This model is very complex and curvy on both sides. It makes things like disabling "Limit selection to visible" not useful because there is no perspective where all of the inset faces are visible.

So curvy!

Bruno Bronosky
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  • If those insets were made as a part of model and if model has not very easy topology I can think that the easiest way will be to retopologize it, i.e. create another mesh atop original one using Shrinkwrap modifier. The lazy solution might be to remove embossed area and fill it with something like F > GridFill, i.e. creating flat grid surface instead of original one. – Mr Zak Jun 05 '16 at 18:21
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    Your lazy way is definitely not for the lazy. There are thousands of triangles involve. I don't see how this can be done with the shrinkwrap modifier. I've only watched videos about shrinkwrap, but it looks like it would sink into the text. – Bruno Bronosky Jun 05 '16 at 22:47
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    Could you show us or share a .blend file? – MicroMachine Jun 06 '16 at 17:20
  • @fabriced, Ugh! I don't know how I missed that the screenshot was not attached. I created it before I posted this. I bet the part about "We're still making it in the USA" seemed quite out of place without the image. Sorry. – Bruno Bronosky Jun 06 '16 at 23:13
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    Uploading a .blend so that others can take a look will probably be useful here. You can upload your file to Blend- Exchange and edit the resulting link into your question. – Timaroberts Jun 07 '16 at 05:43
  • Unfortunately this file is not something I can share. But good to know for other situations. Thanks. – Bruno Bronosky Jun 07 '16 at 06:30

2 Answers2

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Select the faces in edit mode, X and dissolve them enter image description here

eromod
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  • This looks promising. But my model is really complex and it makes it hard to select only the front without the back also. I'm learning to work with h & Shift+h & border select to get the right target. It's going to be a lot of work. – Bruno Bronosky Jun 07 '16 at 05:36
  • https://www.blender.org/manual/modeling/meshes/selecting/advanced.html – eromod Jun 07 '16 at 05:54
  • In edit mode click the "Limit Selection to Visible" button. – Dontwalk Jun 07 '16 at 16:32
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I'd suggest selecting what you need to without worrying about what else gets selected, then deselecting the extras later.

  1. Switch to wireframe view (Z) so that everything under the cursor is selected
  2. Use Circle Select (C) to selection the faces with the text.
  3. Change your perspective so you can clearly see the extra select faces on the other side of the model
  4. Use Box Select (B) or something like it to surround the region with the extra faces. Hold ⇧ Shift while confirming the selection to deselect.
  5. Delete the remaining selected faces (⌦ Delete or X)
  6. Select the open edge around the resulting hole with ⎇ Alt RMB RMB RMB RMB (yes, two clicks of RMB RMB to select the entire edge)
  7. Fill with F, then if you wish, triangulate it to match the surrounding topology with ⎈ CtrlT ;)

enter image description here

Community
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gandalf3
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