Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Blender Quick Tip: Sculpt Mode for FAST Topology Fix

Ok, so maybe it seems like I was only paying attention to ZBrush & forgot all about Blender. But really that's almost impossible since I make most of my base meshes in Blender before taking them to ZBrush. ZBrush is picky about topology though. It likes quads only, regularly spaced and more or less square please. I'm ok with that and normally I at least try to get my edge flow all nice and clean before I leave Blender. 

Blender has improved sooo much over the last couple upgrades! And today I figured out a fast topology fix that means I will never again have a reason not to have near perfect topology on a base mesh. Plus, it's so good and so smart, I thought I should share it. 


Use sculpt mode to clean topology... before sculpting! (seriously)

  • It's only a Tab key away with the new radial menu pop up. 
  • Wire frame works in sculpt mode now (so does mirror modifier btw)
  • Grab Brush gives far greater control than proportional edit ever could.
  • You can adjust size, strength, fall off, switch to smoothing all with easy hotkeys or on the tool shelf.



Even if you never sculpt, try this as a replacement for proportional edit. It's just as fast to get there now and with so much more control over the fall off, you'll get what you want quicker. Plus, proportional edit doesn't let you hold shift to switch to a built in smoothing brush now does it?