9.5.2

424 • CHAPTER 7
OBJECTS MENU • DEFORMERS • 425
Polygon Reduction manages and diminishes the number of polygons in an
object but it cannot take care of the exact number of points in the object.
Using Polygon Reduction
To apply CINEMA 4D’s polygon reduction to an existing object, proceed as follows.
 Choose Objects > Deformation > Polygon Reduction to create a new object
in the root of the Object manager, named Polygon Reduction.
 Rename this object if you wish.
 Now move this object into the hierarchy of the object that you wish to
affect; you can place the Polygon Reduction object anywhere within an object’s
hierarchy – polygon reduction will take place on this object and all its children.
It works as a deformer.
While the polygon reduction is taking place, information on the process (including the original and
the expected nal polygon count) will appear in CINEMA 4D’s status bar (bottom left).
Attribute manager settings
Object Properties
Reduction Strength
You can use this value to interactively vary the amount of polygon reduction that takes place. The
reduction is expressed as a percentage of the original number of polygons (triangles, remember) in
the object so that if you choose 50% for an object with 500 triangle polygons, the tool will attempt
to reduce the object to 250 triangle polygons.
Do not expect this to be an exact science; there may be further reductions due to, for example, any
co-planar areas (i.e. faces with polygons all in the same plane) which are always reduced as far as
possible. But the Reduction Strength is a great way to quickly reduce or increase the poly count.
With a Reduction Strength of 0%, all coplanar neighboring polygons will be fused together and then
triangulated. A Reduction Strength value of 100% will result in no change to the object.
There are a number of options that allow you to adjust the trade-off between the speed and the
accuracy of the reduction. These are now described.