Preview a smoothed polygonal mesh

Smooth Mesh Preview lets you quickly and easily see how your polygonal mesh will appear when smoothed.

By default, polygonal meshes display with the Smooth Mesh Preview setting turned off. You can turn on the Smooth Mesh Preview setting for any polygon mesh so it displays either the original mesh (as a wireframe outline referred to as cage mode) and a preview of the smoothed version simultaneously or only the smoothed preview version by itself. The cage term is used because it allows the smoothed version to appear

You can modify components on the mesh in either of the preview display modes. Any modifications occur on the original mesh and subsequently appear on the smooth preview as well.

Note Smooth Mesh Preview only changes the display of a mesh to allow you to visualize how it will appear when smoothed. The original mesh is not modified or smoothed.

When the Smooth Mesh Preview version of the mesh is rendered, the original version will be rendered. If you want the Smooth Mesh Preview version to be rendered you can convert it to a fully smoothed mesh using Modify > Convert > Smooth Mesh Preview to Polygons or create a subdiv proxy from the smooth mesh preview settings using Proxy > Subdiv Proxy.

To preview a polygonal mesh using Smooth Mesh Preview

Select the polygonal mesh(es) you want to preview in smooth mode.
Do either of the following:
- Press the 2 key.
This turns on the Smooth Mesh Preview feature and sets the display mode to Cage + Smooth Mesh, a display mode which displays both the original mesh as a wireframe (cage) and the smooth mesh preview version in shaded mode simultaneously. You can select components on either the wireframe cage or the shaded smoothed preview and view the resulting effect.
- Press the 3 key.
This turns on the Smooth Mesh Preview feature and sets the display mode so that only the Smooth Mesh is displayed. You select and edit components directly on the smoothed preview and the changes are reflected back onto the original mesh.
- In the Attribute Editor, select the polyShape node for your mesh, open the Smooth Mesh Preview section, turn on Smooth Mesh Preview, and then select the desired Display setting: Cage + Smooth Mesh, or Smooth Mesh.
Press the Page Up and Page Down keys to change the amount of smoothing/subdivision that occurs on the smoothed preview version of the mesh.
In the Smooth Mesh Preview settings section of the Attribute Editor you can also set what components can be edited while working in Cage + Smooth Mesh mode: Cage, Smooth Mesh, or Both.
Note
When modifying the components on the smoothed preview the transform manipulator (move, rotate, scale) always appears in the location of the component as it appears on the original version of the base mesh.
Press the 1 key to turn off the Smooth Mesh Preview feature so that the mesh displays in its default display mode.

To edit a polygonal mesh when Smooth Mesh Preview is turned on

Ensure that Smooth Mesh Preview is turned on for the polygonal mesh you want to edit.
Turn on Smooth Mesh Preview to either Cage + Smooth Mesh mode (Hotkey: 2) or Smooth Mesh mode (Hotkey: 3).

Note
When working in Cage + Smooth Mesh mode you can set the Edit options to select components on the Cage, Smooth Mesh, or Both by selecting the desired option in the Smooth Mesh Preview section of the polyShape node within the Attribute Editor. For more information on the Smooth Mesh Preview settings see Smooth Mesh.
Select and edit the desired components on the mesh.
NoteWhen the Edit option for Cage + Smooth is set to Both you may want to change the active and inactive display colors for the Smooth Mesh Preview to more easily differentiate between the cage and the smoothed versions of the mesh.
Select Window > Settings/Preferences > Color Settings and then select the Active and Inactive tabs to set the active and inactive color settings found within the Smooth Mesh Preview section of Colors preferences window.

To display the subdivisions on a polygonal mesh when using Smooth Mesh Preview

Select the polygonal mesh that is currently displayed in Smooth Mesh Preview mode whose subdivisions you want displayed.
In the Attribute Editor, select the polyShape node for the selected mesh and open the Smooth Mesh Preview section.
Click the Display Subdivisions option so a check mark appears.
The subdivisions are displayed for that level of smoothing on the mesh.

Converting the Smooth Mesh Preview to polygons converts the preview version to a smoothed version of the mesh by copying the Smooth Mesh Preview attributes to a polySmooth node.

To convert the Smooth Mesh Preview to polygons

Select the polygonal mesh(es) that you want to convert and ensure that the Smooth Mesh Preview setting is on. (Press either the 2 or 3 keys on your keyboard to turn on Smooth Mesh Preview.
Select Modify > Convert > Smooth Mesh Preview to Polygons.
The original version of the polygon mesh (Cage) is smoothed using the Smooth Mesh Preview settings.

Note
The Smooth Mesh Preview options are set in the Smooth Mesh Preview section of the polyShape node in the Attribute Editor. For more information on the Smooth Mesh Preview settings see Smooth Mesh.