is there a way in 3ds max to lower the polycount of a mesh while attempting to keep everything in quads? both optimize and multires simply remove sections where ever they feel like it... resulting in a very unclean wireframe.

There's one way I know of:

Do it yourself. Collapse edges and merge vertices and keep "Retain UVs (or whatever its called)" checked. Perhaps there are plugins, but most of the time you just have to do it by hand, especially for characters. It becomes quite easy and quick once you know how to do it well.

yeah, i am actually needing to do it for a human face, usually i would just use multires or optimize, but for something that is going to be animated those don't work well.

EDIT: and you're right, it is quite easy to collapse and reduce the polycount that way.

is there also a way to merge two selected polygons together without messing up the mapping?
i can obviously select two face, delete them, then select the edge, then cap... but this doesn't keep the mapping coords.
btw, if you're wondering what i am working on its this., this is my first attempt at a detailed human face, and yes, i have edge loops around my eyes and mouth. only problem with him is he is a bit unneededly too highpoly.

What do you mean by 'merge'? You can't actually merge a face... you can only merge vertices and edges. If you keep 'preserve UVs' selected, you should be able to merge all the vertices and collapse all the edges you'd like and only have to tweak. I'm no 3ds expert though, so there may be better people to answer.

Quote:

Original post by Professor420 What do you mean by 'merge'? You can't actually merge a face... you can only merge vertices and edges. If you keep 'preserve UVs' selected, you should be able to merge all the vertices and collapse all the edges you'd like and only have to tweak. I'm no 3ds expert though, so there may be better people to answer.

well, the method you have told me works, except for the fact that i want to keep everything in quads (meaning like a box, with only 4 vertices) and no mattr how i select and collapse vertices and edges i get tris (triangles with 3 vertices). however, if i am able to merge two selected polygons i would be able to get quads each time. i want quads simply becuase this model is for animating and i have made it to where it will animate without problems... but will be ruined if i am not able to reduce the count while mainting the original structure (which needs quads)... plus quads just look better.

Can you show me screenshots of what you are trying to do?

i am not animating it yet, but i am going using this model (screenshots below) for practice with lipsinking, i am going to attempt variuous different methods for this simply for the learning of it.
1.)textured face
2.)shaded wire-front
3.)shaded wire-side

and what i wouldm like to do is turn this into this. now i could probably get away with using tris in some areas, but the problem is when i collapse those verts i end up with a vert with 6 connecting lines, which i have heard from quite a few people to cause problems with animating, which i don't want to do.

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Since Jarrod is in Edit Poly mode, simply select the edge(s), scroll down to the Edit Edge parameters, and click Remove.

Walla! The Edge is gone, but the shape is preserved. You shouldn't face any animation problems with that technique.

Regards,

Generally, you'll want to keep quads in areas of deformation, and only use triangles to close off edge loops. So you have the right idea. You never want to use more than a quad, since ultimately this will be broken down into quads, and all quads will break down into triangles. Even though quads will become triangles, having them set up as quads works far better with deformation... working with triangles results in a messy mesh (you seem to know this anyway, just elaborating).

As for what you'd like to do, you just want to remove an edge loop? You can just select the edges and 'Remove' them (backspace shortcut IIRC, not delete). Feel free to only close off the edge loops where you don't need them (ie, where there's no/little deformation)... use triangles for this.

And once you're ready, if you'd like, I can give some crits of the head and mesh in general.