The feature lets you automatically reduce the number of polygons in a mesh by a percentage of the overall polygon count, a target
number of vertices, or a target number of triangles that you specify. The feature also attempts to retain the original shape as part of the reduction process.
Reducing the number of polygons is useful when you need to reduce the overall polygon count in a polygon mesh or reduce the
number of polygons in a particular region of the mesh. For example, you may need to create a low resolution copy of a high
resolution polygon model with a reduced polygon count for level of detail display purposes in an interactive video game. Another
example would be to simplify a polygon data set of a detailed physical model that was 3D laser scanned.
Overall, polygon models that have been simplified will have less data and improved interactive performance when animated in
the scene view.
The polygon reduction is controlled via a node that gets created. This lets you experiment with the amount of blend reduction and can be removed altogether should
you wish to return the polygon mesh to its original pre-reduced state.
Reduce the number of faces in a mesh.
Select the faces you want to reduce, then choose Mesh > Reduce > .
Keep the current polygon mesh so you can compare the original and reduced versions as you change options.
In the window, turn on the option.
The reduced mesh will appear next to the original along the X axis.
Enable symmetric reduction.
In the window, select or from the drop-down list.
You can also use the Artisan paint feature to specify a region on the polygon mesh you want to have the polygons reduced.
Painting a region for reduction using the gives you finer control over the polygon reduction as well as blend between the areas where less reduction occurs.
To get finer control over which areas are reduced using the
- Select the faces you want to reduce.
- Choose Mesh > Reduce > .
- Set the reduction percentage, target number of vertices, or target number of triangles and turn on , then click .
The reduced mesh appears next to the original along the X-axis.
- Choose Mesh > Paint Reduce Weights Tool.
- Paint reduction values on the original polygon mesh.
Darker areas will be reduced more. Lighter areas will be kept as-is as much as possible.
As you paint on the original, the reduced version updates.
Notes on using the feature
- You cannot paint reduce weights on the reduced version. You must use the option and paint on the original object.
If you try to paint reduce weights on the reduced version, Maya will automatically select the original instead.
- When you select faces to reduce (rather than reducing the entire mesh), faces bordering the selection may move or be reduced
You can avoid this effect by extracting the polygons from the mesh before reducing them. Turn on the option so the extracted mesh can be reattached later.
- When you are painting reduce weights, the ’s default is to only update when you finish a stroke. This is because the reduce operation can take a noticeable amount of
time on large meshes.
If you want the reduced version to update as you paint, choose Modify > Paint Attributes Tool > , open the section, and turn on .
- Reduce Weights are a bias, not an absolute control. In some extreme cases polygons that you painted white but are not needed
will still be reduced to preserve shape elsewhere.
- works with quads and n-sided polygons, however, non-planar polygons can become deformed and may not reduce well.
- The option can produce distorted results in some situations. When this occurs, reduce the slider value.
- If you are painting reduce weights and want to revert a region back to its original state, you can either undo your paint
strokes or simply flood the mesh with black color.
- Setting any option in the section of the to 1.0 ensures that those components are not modified by the reduction. This is useful to exactly preserve border edges where
- The feature preserves topology, so scanned mesh data with small, extraneous handles should be cleaned up before reducing the
number of polygons.
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