when if ever do you need to click the apply button on a modifier such as subsurf? Does it make a difference when animating a model if you don’t?
i would think there are many times you need to make that effect real. There are lots of modifiers, which one were you concerned with?
The subsurf modifier you only need to apply if you need the raw polygons for some secondary use like export, sculpting, game engine.
Applying the mirror modifier means you can do asymetrical editing and you can stop worrying about the pivot point / object center quite so much (probably helpful if you need to animate it rotating around a corner or something).
Star Weaver, thanks for the informative reply.
No problem.
Also, was just thinking, applying lattice modifiers might be useful if you’re just using the lattice for an intermediate step.
Um . . . Applying a displace modifier lets you do more detailed work with sculpting or whatever. Same with array, I think. Applying decimate might be useful if you have a mesh with too many polys to be sane and you can’t get rid of them easily.
And then there are ones that I’m not even sure if you CAN apply, like UV project. Or ones where I don’t think it would EVER be useful, like the armature linkup one?