Clean up, simplify, or validate meshes

User Guide > Modeling > Polygonal Modeling > Editing polygons > Deleting and simplifying polygons >

The Cleanup feature lets you remove unwanted geometry from a polygon mesh (for example, zero area faces or zero length edges). You can also tessellate faces that may be valid within Maya, but not in a game console, such as concave faces, or faces with holes.

NoteBecause the Cleanup feature has the ability to merge vertices and collapse zero length edges, there may be situations where the Cleanup feature can output nonmanifold geometry.

This can occur when you set the Cleanup options to perform multiple cleanup operations on a mesh in a cascading way.

If this situation is likely, it is recommended you run the Cleanup feature multiple times and turn on the Non-Manifold Geometry option in the Remove Geometry section only on the last iteration.

To clean up polygon meshes

Select the polygon mesh you want to clean up.
Select Mesh > Cleanup.