ZBrush has a feature called ‘Polish by Groups’ which basically smooths the model while considering its sharp edges, like so:
Recently I’ve been looking for some way to replicate this feature in blender, AFAIK there is no feature/add-on that achieves this result (If you know of one, please let me know!)
But! I’ve managed to find a somewhat clumsy solution to the problem using a great addon called EdgeFlow
I figured that if you:
- Mark sharp edges for your mesh.
- Use the edge split modifier and check only ‘Sharp Edges’ (and apply modifier)
- Select all vertices and choose ‘Set Flow’ (from the addon)
- Merge vertices back by distance
You will get a somewhat decent result, such as in the video below:
This is extremely useful.
for example, after I finish retopology of a hard surface piece, instead of manually adjusting the low poly’s vertices to prepare it for sub-D, I can just do it in a few clicks.
let me know what you guys think.