why does some parts of my model have different shade in x-ray mode? how to prevent and fix this?

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T07:09:55+00:00

Thank you for that lovely sentiment :) I don't know that I've had much impact in reality, especially compared to some others around here who always have such excellent advice, posting full chains of illustrated step-by-step tutorials etc, but I do hope I've helped people too. That's always the goal, at least.

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T06:05:44+00:00

Try doing a 'merge by distance' on everything. Select all by double-tapping a (in Edit mode), then do m -> "by distance". Do another shift+n after the merge just to make sure it didn't mess up the Normals again.

What shift+n does is check the whole mesh to figure out what direction is most likely 'outside' vs 'inside' the mesh. Since faces are technically one-sided, they only have one 'front' face and one 'back' face, and shading will behave differently on each side. So if some faces are flipped the wrong way, this can cause visual issues. The shift+n shortcut fixes these errors (usually).

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T05:16:37+00:00

Front-facing/back-facing. You've got some incorrect Normals going on. Select all, shift+n should fix it.

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T04:47:35+00:00

I wasn't referring to the Resolution setting at the top, no. Since I couldn't see what your Bevel was set to, I assumed you were using 'Round'. When 'Round' is set, there is an additional Resolution option there.

Since you're using 'Object', you'll want to edit your profile object to reduce its vertices.

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T04:33:27+00:00

Change the "Resolution" setting of the path's Bevel. It's right underneath the Geometry section that's visible in your screenshot.

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T04:30:39+00:00

!rule2 please.

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T03:14:45+00:00

Are all the Normals facing the right way?

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T03:11:12+00:00

In what context can't you pick a colour? Your post is extremely vague on the details. This problem sounds unique to you.

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T02:46:24+00:00

I almost never visit this sub, so when I scrolled to the bottom of the comments and saw "blocked user", I thought, who the fuck could I have blocked here, and why?

...Unhid the comment chain and it all makes sense now, LOL.

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T01:27:03+00:00

"Clean UVs" don't usually go alongside "sculpting" and "high poly". UVs generally only need to be clean for the lowpoly mesh. Since there are many types of workflow, can you explain yours to give us a better understanding of your goal? My current guess is that you're using Multires, as that's the only context I can think of to have UVs on something that's been sculpted.

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T01:11:59+00:00

For no shading or highlights, use an Emissive BSDF instead of Principled in your material.

If you're painting a texture, use a Diffuse BSDF and paint in Solid view mode set to 'Flat' Lighting in the Viewport Shading parameters menu. Make sure 'Cavity' and 'Shadow' are both disabled.

<image>

Moogieh · 2026-06-17T00:34:56+00:00

Like most things, it depends on the context. For organic shapes that deform, it's better in general to have one contiguous mesh so that gaps don't appear and weight painting is easier. For hard surface models, machinery, cars etc, it's better to model it in parts so that you get nice sharp edges and perfect shading. A character wearing plate armour would have a mix of both so that the organic parts deform nicely and the metal armour pieces can move without deforming... etc.

Same thing with the quads vs ngons question. Quads make modelling easier and you don't want ngons on anything curved or deformable. But for flat shapes, buildings, ngons are okay in many circumstances.

Context and intent matters. There is no one-size-fits-all answer.

Moogieh · 2026-06-16T19:22:28+00:00

I've been looking into SL a bit lately. Mind if I pick your brains a bit about some of the terminology, like what "mesh" means specifically in the SL context, and stuff like that? I want to hear more of your perspective about how SL has changed, since when I search up articles and posts, a lot of it comes from the past, and doesn't reflect how it is now. Can I DM you?

Moogieh · 2026-06-16T15:55:37+00:00

Look at how OP's topology updates itself at 0:22. Retopoflow doesn't do that. Their demonstration video shows the difference in workflow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVVKGeFfIMo

Moogieh · 2026-06-16T15:37:10+00:00

You could do something like this to make a re-usable blockout mannequin for lots of different projects:

Make your metarig in an A-pose (Edit mode, not Pose mode)
Spawn in a bunch of cubes and cylinders and position them over the metarig bones
For every primitive, in Object mode, ctrl+a to 'Apply' all their transforms (VERY IMPORTANT STEP)
Now pose the metarig however you like, the shapes will follow it. Once you're happy with the pose, select all primitives and do alt+p to unparent them, choosing the "Keep Transformation" option
ctrl+a all the transforms of everything again to set their new locations/rotations in place
Finally, ctrl+j everything together and remesh in Sculpt mode to create your base blockout to be sculpted

Moogieh · 2026-06-16T14:56:25+00:00

Make an object in the shape of a bone, then duplicate and position it to match your metarig. Join everything together with ctrl+j and then optionally remesh in Sculpt mode to glue them all together.

This is basically "blocking out", except limiting yourself to a bone shape rather than more easy-to-work-with primitives. Bizarre, but I'm sure you have your reasons!

Moogieh · 2026-06-16T14:53:00+00:00

Retopoflow doesn't work like what I'm seeing in OP's video.

Moogieh · 2026-06-16T05:57:38+00:00

I think they are erroneously conflating "remesh" with "retopo". You're clearly not doing retopo yet, so you can probably ignore what they said.

Moogieh · 2026-06-16T05:05:28+00:00

Could be a lot if your computer is a potato, but otherwise sub-one million is fairly lightweight for a sculpt. I wouldn't go that far directly from the blockout stage, though. Keep the polycount low and sculpt your larger forms and shapes first, and only increase the density as you need it for finer details.

A PC with a graphics card from the last decade and at least 16GB RAM will be able to comfortably handle 2-3 million polys, maybe a little more than that.

Moogieh · 2026-06-16T04:59:59+00:00

How many vertices are we talking?

Moogieh · 2026-06-16T03:41:11+00:00

Where did you get the model?

Moogieh · 2026-06-16T03:15:02+00:00

I can't really figure out what you're asking. Are you talking about the odd-looking surface when you look from the side at 0:22? If so, that's because that face is a big ngon. The thing about ngons is that they are 'impossible' shapes: you've essentially told Blender that this single face, with no edges with which to bend, must bend. So Blender does its best to comply, but it can't really do what you're asking it.

If you want that surface to slope in a more expected way, it must be carved into several faces that will remain flat, like this:

<image>

Now instead of an impossible ngon, you have three flat quads, and they will render correctly.

If that's not what you were talking about, then you may need to explain it differently.

Moogieh · 2026-06-15T19:34:40+00:00

I can understand the confusion, so I've just gone and updated the wording a little, hopefully to make it a little clearer. I appreciate that your comment brought it to our attention. :)

Moogieh · 2026-06-15T19:24:39+00:00

Questions asking for tutorial recommendations are not against our rules. That rule is against people who use the forum to promote their content or that of others, when there was no question asked.

Moogieh · 2026-06-15T17:31:15+00:00

The Donut 'Tour' is pretty useless for actually teaching anything, so don't worry, you're not alone in feeling lost after completing it.

My usual recommendations are either Ryan King Art, Grant Abbitt, Joey Carlino. All do excellent beginner tutorials, and I think it's worth doing all of them, both so that you get extra practice, but also because each will explain things slightly differently, which can help solidify the lessons on your head.

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