blender select ngons
Want to instantly highlight every Ngon in your Blender model? Click here to watch the step-by-step tutorial and see exactly how to isolate bad geometry in under two minutes.
If you’ve ever struggled with shading issues, subdivision artifacts, or animation deformations, chances are your mesh contains Ngons – polygons with more than four edges. Learning how to blender select ngons efficiently is a game-changer for clean topology. In this guide, we’ll show you a simple, built-in method to spot Ngons, triangles, and quads in Edit Mode, so you can fix them before they ruin your render.
Why You Need to Identify Ngons in Your Models
Ngons (faces with 5+ vertices) and triangles can cause unexpected results when subdividing, texturing, or rigging. While triangles are acceptable in some game-ready assets, Ngons are almost always problematic. By mastering blender select ngons techniques, you’ll be able to:
Quickly locate non‑quad faces in complex meshes
Improve subdivision surface behavior
Avoid shading errors and UV stretching
Prepare models for animation or 3D printing
The best part? Blender has a hidden selection filter that does all the heavy lifting – no add‑ons required.
Step‑by‑Step: How to Select Ngons, Triangles, and Quads
This workflow uses Blender’s Select > Select All by Trait > Faces by Sides menu. Here’s exactly how to put it into practice.
1. Set Up a Test Mesh (Optional but Helpful)
Start with the default cube. Enter Edit Mode (Tab), then use Ctrl + B (bevel) on some edges to manually create triangles and Ngons. This gives you visual targets to test your selection skills.
2. Deselect Everything
Press Alt + A (or use Select > None) to clear any active selection.
3. Open the “Faces by Sides” Tool
Navigate to Select > Select All by Trait > Faces by Sides. A small pop‑up window will appear.
4. Choose Your Criteria
To select triangles: Set Number of Vertices to 3 and choose Type: Equal To.
To select quads: Set vertices to 4 (Equal To).
To select Ngons: Set vertices to 5 (or any number >4) and choose Type: Greater Than.
Blender will instantly highlight every face matching your vertex count.
5. Isolate Ngons for Cleanup
Once all Ngons are selected, you can dissolve edges, retopologize, or convert them to quads using Face > Triangulate Faces or Grid Fill.
Pro tip: Use this method on any mesh – from organic sculpts to hard‑surface models – to rapidly audit your topology.
Key Insights from the Video Tutorial
The tutorial (linked at the start of this post) walks you through these exact steps in real time. Here are the most valuable takeaways:
Vertex count filtering turns topology inspection into a one‑click operation. No more hunting for bad faces by eye.
Bevel operations (Ctrl + B) are perfect for creating test Ngons. This helps you practice selection without relying on imported assets.
You can also select faces with exactly 5 or 6 edges by using “Equal To” and typing the specific vertex number – great for advanced troubleshooting.
This method works on any Blender mesh (2.8+), including imported OBJ, FBX, or STL files.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What exactly is an Ngon?
A: Any polygon with five or more edges (vertices). Example: a pentagon (5 edges) or hexagon (6 edges). Quads have 4, triangles have 3.
Q: Why are Ngons bad?
A: They can break subdivision surface smoothing, cause pinched shading, make UV mapping difficult, and lead to unpredictable deformation during animation.
Q: Does Blender have an automatic “fix Ngons” button?
A: Not directly. But once you blender select ngons using the method above, you can use Face > Triangulate Faces to break them into triangles, or manually edit edges to convert them to quads.
Q: Can I select Ngons in a complex model with thousands of faces?
A: Absolutely. The “Faces by Sides” tool works instantly, no matter how dense the mesh.
Q: Is this different from “Select All by Trait > Non‑Manifold”?
A: Yes. Non‑manifold geometry refers to edges without two faces, while Ngons are a pure vertex‑count issue. Both are important for mesh cleanliness.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Learning to blender select ngons takes less than two minutes but saves hours of manual mesh cleanup. By using Blender’s built‑in Faces by Sides filter, you can instantly identify triangles, quads, and Ngons in any model – a fundamental skill for 3D artists at any level.
Now it’s your turn: open Blender, grab a mesh, and practice selecting faces by vertex count. And for a visual walkthrough that makes everything crystal clear, don’t miss the full tutorial here:
👉 Watch “How to Select Ngons, Triangles & Quads in Blender” (start at 40 seconds)
After watching, try applying the technique to one of your own projects. Clean topology leads to better renders, smoother animations, and fewer headaches down the road.
by Blenderian
Original post, https://cgian.com/how-to-find-ngons-in-blender/
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