Weighted Normal Modifier¶
This modifier changes the custom normals of a mesh, using various selectable methods. This can be useful to make some faces appear very flat during shading, among other effects. See Normals for a description of normals and custom normals.
Note
This modifier requires custom normals to be enabled, which can be done by enabling Auto Smooth in the . See Normals.
Options¶
- Weighting Mode
The normals around a vertex will be combined to create a custom (per face corner) normal using various weights for each. The Weighting Mode defines how to compute the weights.
- Face Area
- Weight according to the area of the face that the normal originates. A larger area means that the normal from that face will get a higher weight in final result.
- Corner Angle
- Weight according to the angle each face forms at the vertex. This is the method Blender uses by default when combining face normals to compute a vertex one.
- Face Area and Angle
- Weights are obtained by multiplying the face area and corner angle ones.
- Weight
Determines how strongly the weights are biased according to the face areas and/or corner angles, a bit like a contrast setting for a picture.
A value of 50 means all faces are weighted uniformly.
More than 50 means faces with higher area or angles are given even more weight (more « contrast »).
Less than 50 means faces with higher area or angles are given lesser weights (less « contrast »).
- Threshold
- A weight-rounding threshold which means that, if two angles or areas differ by less than that threshold, they will get equal weights.
- Vertex Group
- If a vertex group is specified, the modifier will only affect those vertices. The « arrow » button to its right will invert the selection (only affect the vertices not in the vertex group).
- Keep Sharp
- Try to preserve sharp edges, though smoothing will still happen if there are multiple faces between any two sharp edges.
- Face Influence
Use face weights (weak, medium, or strong) as assigned by the Set Strength tool or by the Set Strength mode of a Bevel modifier.
For example, if three faces meet at a vertex and have the face weights weak, medium, and strong, then only the normal associated with the strong face will be used to set the final result.