Turn a messy, dense mesh (an AI-generated model, a scan or a sculpt) into clean, even topology. Pick a face count, choose quads or triangles, compare the wireframes and download an OBJ.
Free · no signup · quads → OBJ; Blender imports it
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How to retopologize a 3D model online
1
Upload your model
Drop a GLB, OBJ, FBX, STL or PLY file. Models over 200,000 triangles are reduced in your browser first, so any size works.
2
Pick a face count
Choose how many faces the new mesh should have and whether you want quads or triangles. Turn on "Keep sharp edges" for hard-surface models.
3
Compare and download
Check the before and after wireframes side by side, then download the OBJ. Quads stay quads in the OBJ, and Blender imports it as it is.
What is retopology?
Retopology means rebuilding the surface of a 3D model with a new, cleaner set of polygons. The shape stays the same, but the wireframe underneath it changes: instead of millions of thin, random triangles you get an even grid of faces that follow the form.
Clean topology matters when a model has to bend, be edited or be textured. A character that will be rigged and animated needs faces that flow around the joints. A model you want to sculpt on or subdivide needs quads. A game asset needs a sensible face count.
AI 3D generators, photogrammetry scans and voxel remeshes all produce dense triangle soup. Retopology is the step that turns that output into a mesh you can work with.
Remeshing builds a brand-new surface, so the old UVs and textures are removed. The next step is to UV unwrap the new mesh and texture it with AI: one click sends it to the AI 3D Texturing Studio, which does both. To make UVs only, open the OBJ in UV Unwrap Online.
Manual vs automatic retopology
Manual retopology
An artist draws every new face by hand on top of the old mesh (Blender with snapping, Maya Quad Draw, TopoGun). It gives the best edge loops around eyes, mouths and joints, but it takes hours per model.
Automatic retopology
An algorithm lays out the new faces for you in seconds. This page uses Instant Meshes, a field-aligned remesher: it lines the faces up with the curvature of the surface and spaces them evenly. It will not always place loops exactly where an artist would, but it is a fast, clean starting point.
Quads vs triangles
Quads
Four-sided faces in rows and loops. Pick quads to rig, animate, subdivide or keep sculpting in Blender, Maya or ZBrush. Quads only survive in an OBJ (GLB stores triangles only), so this download is an OBJ. A few triangles remain where the rows meet.
Triangles
Even, similar-sized triangles. Pick triangles for game engines, real-time viewers and 3D printing, which turn everything into triangles anyway. They hold curved shapes well at a low face count.
Just need fewer triangles?
Retopology rebuilds every face and drops the textures. To keep your model as it is and only make it lighter, use the 3D Model Compressor (GLB) or Compress OBJ File. To create a new low poly model from a prompt or an image, try the Low Poly 3D Model Generator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Retopology rebuilds a 3D model with a new, cleaner set of faces. The shape stays the same, but dense or messy triangles are replaced by an even grid of quads or triangles that follow the surface, so the model is easier to rig, animate, edit and texture.
It is automatic retopology, which is what most "AI retopology" tools mean: one click, no edges placed by hand. Under the hood it runs Instant Meshes (Jakob, Tarini, Panozzo and Sorkine-Hornung, 2015), a field-aligned remeshing method, on our server. It is an algorithm rather than a neural network, so the same model and settings always give the same mesh.
Manual retopology means drawing each new face by hand over the old mesh. It gives the best edge loops but takes hours. Automatic retopology lays out all the faces in seconds. It is a strong starting point for props, scans and AI models; for a hero character you may still fix the loops around the face and joints by hand.
Pick quads to rig, animate, subdivide or keep sculpting, because quads form rows and loops that bend and smooth cleanly. Pick triangles for game engines, viewers and 3D printing, which use triangles anyway.
GLB and glTF can only store triangles, so a quad mesh saved as GLB is split into triangles and loses its quads. OBJ keeps every quad. Blender imports the OBJ as it is (File > Import > Wavefront .obj), and so do Maya, 3ds Max, ZBrush and Unity.
No. Remeshing builds a brand-new surface, so the old UVs, textures and vertex colors cannot carry over. The next step is to UV unwrap the new mesh and texture it again: the "Texture it with AI" button sends it to our AI 3D Texturing Studio, which unwraps it and paints a new texture from a text prompt.
Choose the lowest count that still holds the shape you care about. Start at 5,000, compare the wireframes, and go up if small details melt away or down if the mesh still looks dense. You can pick anything from 100 to 100,000 faces; the result lands close to your target, not exactly on it.
GLB, OBJ, FBX, STL and PLY files up to 100 MB. The remesher takes up to 200,000 triangles, so a bigger model is reduced in your browser first and you see the triangle count before anything is sent.
It is free, with no signup and no credits. Only the mesh (vertex positions and triangles, no textures or names) is sent to our server, remeshed, and its temporary files are deleted as soon as the result is back.
Probably not. Retopology rebuilds every face. To keep your model and its textures and just lower the triangle count, use the 3D Model Compressor for GLB files or Compress OBJ File for OBJ files. To make a new low poly model from a prompt or image, use the Low Poly 3D Model Generator.
Remeshing by Instant Meshes (Wenzel Jakob et al., BSD-3-Clause license).