When a mesh is smoothed, every selected vertex is moved towards the average position of its neighbors. Is there a way to do the opposite, given a mesh with bumps, curves and corners, to move selected vertices by small amounts opposite of what mesh smoothing would do?
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$\begingroup$ related: if you receive a blender model which has smooth shade enabled, how can you undo this? $\endgroup$– juFoCommented Sep 24, 2014 at 6:57
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6 Answers
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Yes. Use the smooth modifier with a negative factor.
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$\begingroup$ Is the smoothing process perfectly reversible(not considering floating-point error), or will unsmoothing a mesh by the same factor as it was smoothed produce a different mesh? $\endgroup$ Commented May 23, 2013 at 1:41
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$\begingroup$ It appears like it is. I'm not sure, but I tested it with Suzanne, and it appeared to get back to its original geometry. $\endgroup$– DanielCommented May 23, 2013 at 1:44
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An alternative method to reverse an operation is to add 2 shape keys, enter editmode with with a non-basis shape, edit the mesh (smooth it for example), exit editmode, then slide the shape key to a negative value you can then optionally apply it to the base mesh.
answered May 24, 2013 at 6:18
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Unsmoothing with a negative modifier is sufficient for a roughening effect, but not to fully undo a smoothing operation. To test this, I rendered Suzanne and smoothed the mesh(factor 1.0), applied the modifier, and then unsmoothed with factor -1.0.
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9$\begingroup$ come on! rerender this with suzanne fitting the window and lit up with more ambient lighting, so much grey..so little suzanne.. $\endgroup$– zeffiiCommented May 24, 2013 at 8:13
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$\begingroup$ @zeffii I was short on time so I basically threw this in a scene with the defaults. When I have some time tomorrow I'll make a better image(animated as a GIF) that shows this. $\endgroup$ Commented May 24, 2013 at 10:29
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$\begingroup$ Would be great if you could find the time, @ ping me in case. I'd like to upvote. $\endgroup$– LeanderCommented May 14, 2019 at 12:05
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1$\begingroup$ @Leander added to todo list; hopefully will have time this week at some point. $\endgroup$ Commented May 14, 2019 at 12:26
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Another thing to try is the Laplacian Smooth modifier with a negative factor.
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If you're looking to make a model more low-poly, then try using the Decimate modifier.
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$\begingroup$ Please try to answer the question asked. Your answering how to un-subsurf a mesh. The question is asking how to use the smooth tool in reverse. $\endgroup$– CharlesLCommented Jun 23, 2013 at 23:50
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If you're looking to reverse the Subdivision Surface modifier, try the Decimate Modifier on Un-Subdivide mode. I find that you should usually double the subsurf level in the decimate modifier.
One of these Suzannes has been subdivided twice and then un-subdivided four times with the Decimate modifier. How well do you know your Suzannes? Which is which?
Also take a look at a smooth-shaded version:
Original face count: 500; processed face count: 699.
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2$\begingroup$ Left is the original, is it not? $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 15, 2013 at 23:09
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$\begingroup$ Yeah, the top of the nose and the top of the mouth are the only real giveaways i see. $\endgroup$– WeaverCommented Nov 27, 2014 at 22:08