(Freeware) Polygon cruncher?

[tfdesign]

Hi everyone.

Does anyone know of a half decent standalone polygon reducer crusher for Windows or Mac? Preferably freeware?

regards,

Tom

[numbthumb]

Hm... MeshLab has that mesh simplification option http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

[pilou]

I have listen that this one was performant in the result
http://www.atangeo.com/
but it's 52 $
Else if you have yet Zbrush you can have the Rolls of Polys Cruncher for free
Decimation Master
[flash=480,385:1yf3ztrz]http://www.youtube.com/v/xTp6J644zGA?fs=1&amp[/flash:1yf3ztrz]

[tfdesign]

I didn't know that Meshlab could do this. Thanks for the tip Numb!

And Pilou too

[tfdesign]

Balancer actually looks like a bit of a bargain too- especially the freeware version.

[numbthumb]

@ tfdesign: No problem. I found this "algorithm" on the net some time ago:

1. File->Open->(select your high-res .obj)

2. Filters->Remeshing [...]->Quadratic Edge Collapse Decimation

3. Set your preferred values in the dialog, and specify how much to simplify the model.

The default values are pretty much ok, but I also check "Planar Simplifications", as I believe it avoid flipping of faces. Not sure if that is what it do, but haven't seen one single face flip after starting using it. The rest is best left unchecked.

For the target number of faces, that's up to you - this controls how much smaller the low-res model will be. I recommend 32768 in general - you can go up to about 100k for a more detailed model (but this will increase compile time and reduce fps), or down to 16k for a "highspeed" work copy - even further down if you have a simpler terrain without a lot of hills and such.

I also recommend to play a bit with the Quality Threshold - I currently use 0.5, which I believe give a smoother result and avoid too steep (and ugly) angles.

4. Click apply, let it work for a minute or 2, and it should be done!

5. Finally File-Save to your low-res obj model. (if you just save it will overwrite the high-res).

That's it! (but you must still import the low-res model into Blender or similar for UV remapping).

@ Pilou: thanks for the heads-up!

[tfdesign]

I really do not like Blender- even though it is free.

But we'll see about the rest. Thanks!

[mitcorb]

Blender, I thought, also has an on board decimator. I fully appreciate why you would not like the program, however. Some who use it, do so only to port their models through it for different file extensions.
I haven't used Blender since v2.45. But it taught me some concepts or approaches that can be applied in Sketchup.
Some folks who use Sketchup, I sense, use it only as a necessary evil to get to the final picture.