Optimizing deforming meshes
Optimizing a deforming mesh is very similar to working on a hard surface. Like before, the objective is to minimize the triangle count to improve performance. The main difference is that, now, we not only need to make sure not to disturb the shape too much but also ensure we do not affect the way the mesh deforms. That is why our strategy will be very similar. We will modify the areas of detail as little as possible, and also avoid deforming areas as much as possible. So, it is easier to start in areas that we know are not going to deform a whole lot. In this case, we will start with the side of the head shown in Figure 8.46.
Figure 8.46 – A close-up of the side of the head that we will start work on
Like our hard-surface model, we are going to use a vertex slide to merge these vertices into the row next to them. You can see the merged vertices in Figure 8.47.
Figure 8.47 – The first...
