I don't want Multires to smooth my mesh!

If you've been working with Multires for a short while even, you'll notice that by default it smooths out your mesh when it's applied. Generally this is the best option, even if you have to reposition edges and endpoints, but sometimes, like when you're making a geometric shape, you don't want multires to smooth the sculptie out at all.

The two meshes in the image above started out as the same 8x8 sculpt template. The one on the right was given the default multires treatment. The one on the left also has multires added, only it had one little thing changed.

Add multires to your sculptie, but before you add a level, look to the right of the Add Level button. You'll see something that says "Catmull-Clark." Click on it and change it to "simple subdivide." Click Add Level and VOILA! You get a multires level without smoothing out your sculptie.

Further Explanation

Your subsurf types are algorithms used by multires to determine where the new points of the mesh should go.

The Simple Subdivide algorithm calculates the midpoint of each edge and places the new points there.

Catmull-Clark is fairly well-known algorithm developed by Edwin Catmull (of Pixar) and Jim Clark (see Wikipedia). I don't know the technical details of how it works. Only that it's currently the best algorithm for smoothing a mesh.


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