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Understanding Mesh Quality
Good mesh quality ensures your models work everywhere.
What is a Mesh?
A 3D mesh consists of:
- Vertices - Points in 3D space
- Edges - Lines connecting vertices
- Faces - Surfaces (usually triangles)
Quality Factors
Watertight (Manifold)
- No holes in the surface
- Essential for 3D printing
- Each edge shared by exactly 2 faces
Normal Direction
- Faces have an "outside"
- All normals should point outward
- Inverted normals cause rendering issues
Polygon Count
- Higher = more detail, larger file
- Lower = faster rendering, less detail
- Balance based on use case
Clean Geometry
- No overlapping faces
- No zero-area triangles
- No intersecting surfaces (unless intentional)
Why It Matters
| Use Case | Quality Needs |
|---|---|
| 3D printing | Watertight, correct scale |
| Web display | Low poly, optimized |
| Games | Low poly, good UVs |
| Rendering | High quality, proper normals |
Our Primitives
The built-in primitives are:
- ✅ Watertight
- ✅ Proper normals
- ✅ Clean geometry
Boolean operations maintain quality when:
- Shapes properly overlap
- No very thin sections
- Tools fully penetrate
Common Issues to Avoid
- Floating geometry - Disconnected parts
- Internal faces - Hidden surfaces
- Non-manifold - Edges with >2 faces
- Inverted normals - Inside-out surfaces