Smooth Tool Options

The following options are available for smoothing facets:

Angle threshold Determines if an angle stays sharp or gets smoothed.
Flatten Peaks Flatten Peaks works locally on slightly rough areas. Topology is maintained and local spikes are reduced.
Add Facets The Add Facets option allows vertex positions to move, achieving generally smoother results but possibly with significant changes in volume and triangle count.
Volume Aware Volume Aware smoothing keeps the triangle count the same and tries to maintain the original volume.

Angle threshold

This option determines if an angle stays sharp or gets smoothed. Vertices on edges with faces coming together at angles above the Angle threshold will not be moved or changed. The example below shows a block that has all 90° edges except for two which are 45°. With an angle tolerance of 60°, only the two 45° edges get smoothed and the 90° edges are left alone.

Smooth type

Determines which of the following algorithms is used to do the smoothing.

  • Flatten Peaks:

    • Flatten Peaks keeps the triangle count the same.

    • It mostly knocks down spikes.

    • The example below shows how repeated application of Flatten Peaks smoothing works on slightly rough areas. The number of facets remains the same and the spiked areas are brought down closer to the surroundings.

  • Add Facets:

    • The original vertex positions and the new vertex positions are permitted to move.

    • The amount of movement depends on how smooth the surroundings are.

    • In sharp areas, the amount of movement will be large.

    • In smoother areas, the amount of movement may be barely noticeable.

    • Because of the movement, the Add Facets option will, in general, produce smoother results.

    • The Add Facets option can produce results that are noticeable as shown in the example below. The final result is achieved with several smoothing passes.

  • Volume Aware:

    • Volume Aware does not change topology.

    • It tries to maintain the sharps and minimize volume loss.

    • The example below shows how Volume Aware smoothing works on the rough faceted body.