How to let intersecting objects “merge” in the render as if it’s modeled in one object?

Support Lighting and Rendering
#1

I posted this in the modeling section with currently no anser, but perhaps it should belong in rendering.

I remember seeing the ability to do this years back, it might’ve been in 3dsmax back then, now that I’m back into this field and using Blender, I can’t find how to do it and google isn’t working with me.

It was a technique to avoid having to make everything into one same model for high-poly modeling and would blend intersecting objects at the seam, so that it looks as if modeled in one piece in the render, and avoids the hard edges between the two objects.

Anyone around understanding what I’m talking about here?

#2

Not sure if this is what you need?

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#3

Thanks. With a quick look that seems exactly what I was looking for. I’ll have a look at the full video after work.

#4

Wow. That was an amazing tip. I really had no idea. Looking forward to watch the rest of his stuff.

#5

I dont know how exactly your mesh looks like :slight_smile: but you can also use the bevel node in the shader editor. In this way you dont even have to setup anything, the shader will add a bevel (but this can change the look of the rest of the model, it depends on what you have)

1 Like
#6

My mesh is actually more of an organic mesh even though its inanimate, adding ears to an inanimate animal decoration type object, working it into the topology is useless for this kind of thing.

#7

I just watched it, it’s still not what I was originally looking for, it would work but requires more modeling. I’m literally talking about, lets state a simple case, put a cylinder halfway into a cube, rendered out the cylinder mesh and cube mesh would blend together like the look of that video, without the need of adding extra detail to a mesh.

#9

SOLVED – Open this up to see more information –

How to make it seem like two intersecting objects are connected as if modeled in one piece.
Step 1: Join the objects together (Ctrl+J) - if you do not join them it will not work.
Step 2: Add the bevel node to the shader and connect it to the normal input.

bevel_node_intersecting
bevel_node_intersecting723×970 132 KB

Here are some gifs of what the difference is between having or not having the bevel node, low and high poly cases, simple and metalic materials.

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