Shade Smooth & Flat

The appearance of the mesh edges are determined to be evened out or well defined within the 3D Viewport and render. In Edit Mode, individual faces can be selected to determine which faces are smoothed or flattened.

Note

Both Shade Smooth and Flat are also available in Object Mode and function the same way.

Shade Smooth

Reference

Mode:

Edit Mode

Menu:

Face ‣ Shade Smooth

Using interpolated vertex normals, the mesh faces will blur at the edges and appear smooth.

Shade Flat

Reference

Mode:

Edit Mode

Menu:

Face ‣ Shade Flat

Face normals are displayed evenly, because of this all the edges of the selected mesh will be easily visible.

Tip

Use the Edge Split modifier and Smooth by Angle Smooth to balance between smooth surfaces and sharp edges.