Quad draw tool

Quad draw tool

The Quad Draw tool lets you fly over the surface of the model creating a new topology in real-time. With this feature an artist can quickly move around the object and build a new model following the surface of the reference. Maya offers a few tools to streamline the process of creating a simplified topology, allowing artists to focus on the creative process.
- Retopology in Maya.
  - MEL polyRemesh; MEL polyRetopo;
  - Mesh > Remesh, Retopologize

You can model in a natural and organic way using Quad Draw Tool, which offers a streamlined, one-tool workflow for retopologizing meshes. The manual retopology process lets you create clean meshes while preserving the shape of your reference surface.

The following table lists the default hotkeys for the Quad Draw tool.

Operations	Hotkeys
Drop dots	LMB + Click the reference surface
Generate faces	Shift + LMB
Delete components	Ctrl + Shift + LMB
Tweak components	MMB or LMB+ rub across the surface
Relax components	Shift + LMB
Relax a selection of vertices	Shift + MMB (rub across all points)
Insert an edge loop	Ctrl + LMB
Remove an edge loop	Ctrl + Shift + LMB
Extend an edge	Tab + LMB
Extend an edge loop	Tab + MMB