Hi,

I wanted to break this part of the discussion out from an earlier thread http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI

Michael responded to my "Can Moi export an OBJ with quads?" with this:

> It can export an OBJ with n-gons - it will be quads in internal areas of the surface and n-gons in areas where the surface has been trimmed - it basically starts out with quads on the base surface and then n-gons are formed where the surface has trimming information. This n-gon structure gives it a clean wireframe look but it is not the same as "all quads" output.

MoI is generally focused on producing an output mesh that will be used for rendering - if you're worrying about all quads that might mean that you're thinking of applying sub-d smoothing on to the mesh? If so then no - MoI's output is not intended to be used for sub-d smoothing, that really requires hand tuned topology and you will usually need to create a sub-d cage by hand in a sub-d modeling program and not as some automatic generated output. You can use the MoI output as a starting point for a retopology process though.

See here for some previous discussion:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=4923.1

But if you want to generate a rendering, there is no need to have "all quads" for that anyway.
>

What I am looking for is a way to get mesh files that capture the detail where it is needed, but are economical in terms of overall file size. So when I mentioned quads, I was thinking that it could be more efficient than triangles. I wish it were possible to work exclusively in polys or nurbs, but there are advantages and limitations to both. So what happens is that at some point I end up transferring large meshes between applications, which is time consuming. Ultimately, the work is 3d printed.

I use SolidWorks to do some of the work, and the meshing is poor, with very limited user control. So if there were something that does a better job and it were within my budget, I would consider it.

Maybe if the AMF standard catches on, there will be a better way to deal with meshes http://amf.wikispaces.com/AMF+Editor
Until that happens, I have to work with what out there now.