Mesh optimization/a good triangle editing proggie?

I'm looking for some program or another to optimize a mesh. It is seriously in need with more than 90% of tris uneccessary. I did quite a few internet searches, and the only model optimization proggies are either source only, or have wierd errors for some insane reason. I have no idea how to work "qslim", as it opens up a window as a prompt, and there is no help for commands.I tried the ts3 optimizer, and that had horrible results.

I would also go for a good mesh editer. All I need to do is be able to delete tris/verts, and then create a new triangle. Not that hard! Wings is very clunky for me - I hate the UI. Looks like a nice proggie anyway. Tobad I can't create tris in Ultimate Unwrap. I really like it.

I can't think of a third party one off hand but if you're really stuck I don't mind running it through LW for ya.

Tom

You could download the DirectX 9 SDK.
It includes the DX-viewer which can perform mesh optimization and triangle reduction(progressive mesh).
It only works with .X files though.

All "automagic" reducers SUCK, even LW's qemLOSS2 which is quite good. It's all hard work that has to be done by hand if you want optimal results.

True if you are modelling characters, vehicles and buildings.
But if you want to optimize a heightmapgenerated terrain by hand you have ALOT of work to do. :)

:) Well that is the only thing I would consider optimizing with tools as the geometry can be "ugly".

I use 3D Browser 5.5 with Polygon Cruncher 5.1

It's a terrain mesh, so not that complex. The prob is all the flat parts are still divided up into quads(2 tris). Before, when I was only rencering, it worked fine. sswift's shadow system made it crawl though. Don't get me wrong - it's great - but the mesh is pretty wasteful. it could be only 1000, when it's 7,000. When I take out shadows for the terrain, everything is 60 fps again (and that's with shadow casting on a track still enabled).

I checked out the dx9 sdk, and it's 200 mb. that would take round 20 hours for my internet connection, and probably end up being corrupted.

Anyway, the terrain I'm talking about is pongo's terrain mesh from this pack - http://playerfactory.proboards25.com/index.cgi?board=tokamak&action=display&num=1075570526
Can't beat the price :D. Anyway, if you've got time, it'd be nice to download it and optimize it. :D Email it to me at bot_builder56@... . Then, I/You can pass it on to pongo/ use it in my thingie/ put it up on the web. this might cause problems rendering on low end machines, so it would be useful to anyone using these meshs.

Thanks!

Do you mean the mesh has flat areas that are divided into many quads when it could be represented by a single quad? If so, it's a pity you dont get on with wings coz I'm pretty sure you could optimize the mesh pretty quickly with it (using 'select similar' and then deleting).

Also, is the mesh textured? If so, wont deleting triangles knacker the UV's?

I have the DX9 sdk on disc.
I unpacked it then looked for the folder that contained the Viewer that would optimize you mesh ( maby ) and this folder is around 7 or 8 mb.
I just zipped it up and now its around 4 mb.
I could Email it to you so you could give it a try,only thing is Im not sure if there were any other hidden system files loaded when I origanaly decompressed it so it may or may not work for ya.Hopfully if there is a file missing it might give you a runtime error telling you what file its looking for then I could search my PC to find it and give it to you.

Last thing if you want this I will need you Email address then Ill try and get it to you as soon as I can.

sure. thanks. My email is bot_builder56 At fastmail.fm (switch out the AT with @ and take out spaces - One of these days spambots will be smart enough to figurethis out, but not today :D)

big10p - Hmm. yeah, I did fine deleting tris in wings. the problem is creating a new quad in replacement. And no, It's not textured. And even if it did have a texture and I optimized etc. Unwrap could put the Uvs straight in 10 seconds.

[edit]
Nevermind. The polygon cruncher in 3d browser worked well enough. crunched it down to 1000, and it still looks decent. Nice program as well!