Operations

Add Vertices

Tool Shortcut:

  • [Hold V + Left Click]

While Operation is Active:

  • [Tap F / Up & Down Arrows]: Change vertex draw spacing

    Note

    When using the Tool Shortcut, keep holding V to keep the operation active.

    Create Vertices

    Plan ahead by placing vertices onto a target surface ready to fill with quads.

    By clicking and dragging you can also draw multiple vertices at once.

Fill Quads

Tool Shortcut:

  • [Hold F + Left Click + Drag]

    Fill Quads Fill Quads

    Fills in quads between points, edges, and holes in the geometry.

    Tip

    Also fills trianglular holes.

    Fill Quads

Extend Borders

Tool Shortcut:

  • [Hold E and Left Click + Drag]

While Operation is Active:

  • [Tap Spacebar]: Change Extend Mode (Single, Loop, Ring)

    Note

    When using the Tool Shortcut, keep holding E to keep the operation active.

    Extend Borders

    Extrude border edges or create new faces from border points.

Extend Modes

Tip

Change modes by pressing the spacebar or in the Tool Settings to select different types of edge selections:

Extrude Edge Options

  • Single Mode - Extrude a single edge.

    Extrude Single Edge

  • Edge Loop Mode - Extrude a loop of edges.

    Extrude Edge Loop

  • Edge Ring Mode - Extrude a ring of edges.

    Extrude Edge Ring Extrude Edge Ring

  • Create Faces - Click near a vertex to create a face.

    Create Faces

Quick Loop Cut and Slide

Tool Shortcut:

  • [Hold R + Left Click]

    Loop Cut and Slide

    Just by holding R and clicking the mouse over the edges.

Draw Quads

Tool Shortcut:

  • [Hold D and Left Click + Drag]

While Operation is Active:

  • [F]: Enter size adjust mode, then move the mouse to change the strip size. Left click to confirm, right click to cancel.

  • [Up Arrow / Right Bracket]: Increase strip size by one step

  • [Down Arrow / Left Bracket]: Decrease strip size by one step

  • [Spacebar]: Toggle between Strip and Ring mode

    Note

    When using the Tool Shortcut, keep holding D to keep the operation active.

    Draw Quads has two modes, toggled with Spacebar:

Strip Mode

Draw Quad Strips

Note

Placeholder: animated GIF showing a freehand quad strip being drawn across a mesh surface.

Click and move the mouse across the mesh to paint a freehand strip of quads onto the surface. Use the mouse wheel to adjust the size of the strip.

Ring Mode

Draw Quad Rings

Build rings of quads that follow the contours of a cylindrical form, ideal for retopologizing arms, legs, fingers, and other tube-like shapes. See Draw Quad Rings for full details.

Smooth Vertices

Tool Shortcut:

  • [Hold S and Left Click + Drag]

While Operation is Active:

  • [Tap F / Up & Down Arrows]: Change brush size

  • [Shift + Tap F / Tap G / Left & Right Arrows]: Change brush strength

  • [Tap Spacebar]: Change vertex relax mode (All, Selected,sssssss Border, Interior, Automatic)

    Note

    When using the Tool Shortcut, keep holding S to keep the operation active.

    Smooth Elements

    Smooth vertices whilst maintaining their projection onto the target surface.

Smooth Modes

  • All Vertices: Smooth all vertices.

  • Selected Vertices: Smooth only selected vertices.

  • Border Edges: Smooth only border edge vertices.

  • Interior Vertices: Smooth only interior vertices.

  • Automatic: Automatically smooth vertices based on the initial selection. If the initial selection is an interior vertex, only interior vertices will be relaxed. If the initial selection is a border vertex, only border vertices will be relaxed.

Delete Mode

Tool Shortcut:

  • [Hold X and Left Click + Drag]

    Delete Faces, Edge Loops, and lone Vertices. Quickly click and drag over a mesh to delete elements by holding X:

  • Delete Faces - Click and drag over faces to delete them.

    Delete Faces

  • Dissolve/Delete Edge Loops - Click and drag over edge loops to dissolve them. Boundary edge loops will be deleted.

    Dissolve Edge Loops

  • Delete Lone Vertices - Click and drag over vertices that have no edges to delete them.

    Delete Lone Vertices

Tweak Elements

Tool Shortcut:

  • [Left Click + Drag]

    Tweak Elements

    Move vertices, edges, and faces along the mesh. Hold Alt + Left Click + Drag * to select and move edge loops.

    Note

    * When Emulate 3 Button Mouse is selected in preferences and the Alt key is used for the middle mouse, Hold Shift + Left Click + Drag to select and move edge loops instead.

Pie Menu

Tool Shortcut:

  • [Press Q]

A Pie Menu is available either via the right-click Quad Maker edit mode menu or by pressing the Q key when using the main tool. This menu gives you quick access to the Quad Maker operations and settings:

Pie Menu

Important

Remember when you have finished with each operation, right-click again or press the escape key to exit.

Tip

You can bind the pie menu to a short cut by right-clicking the Pie Menu option in the Quad Maker right-click menu and selecting Assign Shortcut or clicking on Add to Quick Favorites to quickly access it as a Favorite by pressing Q. Please note that not all hotkeys work depending on what you are doing in Blender.