I'm finding the single biggest challenge with Shapeways is this limit on triangles. Is there any chance Shapeways can increase this limit to the 1.5 million range? Even 1.25 million. It seems that often I find my models are just outside the 1 million, after I've reduced the polycount and cut the fat of the model as much as possible without totally destroying the integrity. Sure I can reduce the triangle count to under a million, but then the quality of the product suffers and at that point, I question even if its worth making the product. Would it be that much of an issue or improbability for Shapeways to increase this count?
Do you have an example of an item before and after decimation? There used to be a way to submit larger files, but I think it's been discontinued.
Hi Swavek, Yes, it's more complicated than you think as this affects many systems. Typically, 1M triangles is enough for medium-sized models - chances are that you are adding details that will not be visible. What is the size of the object that you're trying to make? Have you tried polygon reduction with tools like MeshLab? They're quite good at removing unneeded triangles. Cheers, Bart
You might want to try Zbrush 4r4. I cant say enough good things about this program. Ive had highly detailed models up to 15mil polygons and have been able to reduce it to 990,000 while still keeping it visibly identical. If theres any way you can FTP or https://www.wetransfer.com to send me something you want reduced, I can give it a try with my program and send you the results so you can see if its to you liking. Ive tried other programs that have this feature such as 3d Studio Max 12 and Rhino 3d but the quality in Zbrush 4r4 is the best I've seen.