Tuesday, August 4th, 2020 Posted by Jim Thacker

Check out open-source auto-retopology tool AutoRemesher


Tools developer Jeremy Hu has released AutoRemesher, an interesting new open-source auto-retopology tool intended to convert source meshes into clean, animation-friendly all-quad geometry.

The toolset, which is still in alpha, will be integrated into Dust3D, Hu’s Epic MegaGrant-winning open-source 3D modelling software, and provides an alternative to the native remeshing tools in applications like Blender.

A new alternative to Dust3D’s native auto-retopology tools
Hu began work on AutoRemesher as an alternative to Dust3D’s native remeshing functionality, which includes tools based on the open-source Instant Meshes library.

In a blog post, Hu describes Instant Meshes as “super-fast, with high-quality quads generation” but notes that on some meshes, it leaves “annoying holes” after remeshing.

The new toolset uses a novel combination of two other open-source projects: quad extraction system libQEx, and the CoMISo Constrained Mixed-Integer Solver to optimise the geometry.

Hu describes the quads generated by the combination as “beautiful”, although initially slow to calculate: something he hopes to improve over successive updates.



Already a promising alternative to Blender’s native remeshing tools
Although the software is still an early alpha, it now has a basic user interface and compiled binaries, making it straightforward for anyone interested to test it.

In a tweet last week, Hu describes the current build as still “slower than Instant Meshes but with better global edge flow”.

This thread on BlenderArtists.org shows examples posted by users, including comparisons to Blender’s native remeshing tools based on the open-source QuadriFlow library.

Early tests suggest that processing times are quite workable, and that AutoRemesher sometimes produces better topology than QuadriFlow, although results vary from model to model, and between parts of a mesh.

System requirements and availability
AutoRemesher is a free standalone tool, available under a GPL licence. The software is still in alpha, and currently only imports OBJ files.

Binaries are available for Windows, Linux and macOS, or you can compile the software from source.


Read more about AutoRemesher on Jeremy Hu’s blog

Download free standalone auto-retopology tool AutoRemesher from Jeremy Hu’s GitHub repository