Trouble Fixing Topology

[Anonymous]

I'm having a hard time fixing the topology of the shape I've modeled. I've gone ahead and circled the polygons that cut off my ability to add an edge loop. How do I merge the bent side into one continuous line, so that it becomes a quad again and an edge loop is able to be completed?

Should I use the multi-cut tool? How do I merge edges?

On the same note, here is what happens when I select the edge loop tool--a blue wireframe-y looking cage surrounds the model. I have "3" hit on my keyboard, which shows me the shape in smoothed form. Is the blue just showing me the outline of the original form? Or is it something different that I should be worried about?

Thank you.

[brentmc · Accepted solution]

Hi,

1) Here is an old article that explains how to convert a pentagon to quads.

http://mayazest.blogspot.com/2013/07/quickly-convert-n-gon-or-5-sided.html

Note: Mesh > Cleanup can be used to identify polys with more than 4 sides. Just turn on the "Select Matching Polygons" and "Faces with more than 4 sides" options and it will select all the n-gons on your model.

For your other topology issue I wonder if you have an extra vert in one of your edges? Mesh Cleanup as described above should help you identify what the issue is.

2) The cage is being displayed because the edge loop tool only works on original edges, not the smoothed ones. When you switch tools the hull will go away.

Note: This is the same display you get when hitting the 2 hotkey on the keyboard to show both the hull and smoothed mesh at the same time and it is nothing to worry about.

--

Brent