ReduceMesh

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Reduce Vertex Count

The ReduceMesh command decreases the polygon mesh face count while minimizing geometric and texture distortion.

Note

The mesh is first triangulated, its polygon count is reduced, and the resulting triangular mesh is quadrangulated again.
Nonmanifold meshes (meshes whose edges are shared by more than two faces) may produce undesirable results in some cases.

Steps

Select mesh objects.
Set the mesh reducing options.

Reduce Mesh Options

Starting polygon count

The number of triangle polygons in the input mesh. Each quadrilateral face counts as two triangle polygons

Reduce to ___ polygons

Specifies the target number of polygons for the reduced mesh.

Reduce by ___ percent

Specifies the percentage by which to reduce the starting polygon count.

Planar only

Reduces the mesh by simplifying coplanar faces without changing the mesh shape.

Keep grid

Preserves the row-and-column structure of mesh grids during reduction.

This option is available only when the input mesh has a row-and-column structure, like the mesh on the left in the image below.

Keep quads

Attempts to preserve quadrilateral faces during mesh reduction. Triangular faces may be created where necessary.

Locked Mesh Points

ReduceMesh command lets you lock mesh points. Reduction will not alter those points.

Show

Highlights locked mesh points.

Add

Adds selected mesh points to the set of locked mesh points.

Use SelBrush to select or deselect points.

Remove

Removes selected mesh points from the set of locked mesh points.

Undo

Undoes previous operations.

Add all naked

Adds mesh points on naked edges to the set of locked mesh points.

Add creases ___ degrees

Locks mesh points along edges where the angle between adjacent faces is greater than the specified angle, preserving those edges during reduction.

Corners only

Locks only the ends, junctions, and corners of creases, allowing the edges between them to be reduced.

Preview

Displays a preview of the reduced mesh and enables the preview display mode options.

The reducing progress is reported on Rhino's status bar.

Wireframe

Displays the reduced mesh as a wireframe.

Shaded

Displays the reduced mesh with shaded faces and no wires.

Shaded with wires

Displays the reduced mesh with shaded faces and wires.

Ghosted over original

Displays the reduced mesh with semi-transparent shaded faces and wires over the original mesh in a white wireframe.

The reduced mesh is previewed using the object's material in shaded display modes.

To access hidden command-line options

Type a hyphen in front of the command name: -ReduceMesh.

Command-line options
Accuracy	1=Fast Trades accuracy for speed during conversion. Reduction is performed more randomly, involving fewer calculations, and is therefore faster. 10=Accurate Produces the fewest visible artifacts. This involves more calculations and is therefore slower. Note: This option does not affect the dialog version. The dialog version always uses 10 for max accuracy.

Command-line options

Accuracy

1=Fast

Trades accuracy for speed during conversion. Reduction is performed more randomly, involving fewer calculations, and is therefore faster.

10=Accurate

Produces the fewest visible artifacts. This involves more calculations and is therefore slower.

Note: This option does not affect the dialog version. The dialog version always uses 10 for max accuracy.