There are many ways to create round corners in Blender, and the most famous operation for round corners is the "Bevel" command.
The Bevel command can be applied in several ways to a mesh, it can be applied on a component level, meaning on vertices, edges, or faces, and the other is to apply it globally on a mesh via a modifier.
In this article, I will explain to you in-depth about round corners and how to achieve them in a very easy step-by-step way.
Let's jump right in!
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What are Round Corners in a 3D Mesh?
Round corners in a 3D modeling pipeline are a task that is needed on a regular basis, and the reason is that very hard edges do not pick up any light when rendered or when backed in a gaming workflow.
This is why 3D artists often use round corners or what we can bevels in order to break the sharp edges and create round shapes that can pick up light and are more pleasant to see when rendered.
Here is an example below of what a round corner looks like vs a sharp corner.
Create Round Corners in Blender
In Blender there are many ways to create round corners, I will divide them below into 3 parts:
- Round Corners on Vertices
- Round Corners on Edges
- Round Corners with Modifiers
The first 2 are done in Edit Mode and could be done on a singular component or all components at the same time.
The last method is applied globally on a 3D mesh and can be controlled via modifiers in Blender.
Round Corners on Vertices
To make a vertex a round corner means we need to apply a Bevel onto it, and to do that first enter edit mode by pressing Tab then click Edit Mode.
After that press 1 to enter vertex selection mode and then select one of the vertices head over to the vertex menu up top and select "Bevel Vertex".
After clicking on Bevel vertices you notice there is a line as you move your mouse the bevel starts happening and as you move your mouse cursor away from the vertex, the bevel grows even bigger.
Once you click the Bevel will stop and then you notice there is a small window on the left called Bevel, This is where you can adjust the settings of the Bevel command you just made.
Here are the most important settings you can play with:
- Width: With this, you can make the Bevel bigger or smaller
- Segments: With this, you can make the bevel rounder hence adding more edges to the Bevel.
Previously we applied Bevel on one vertex, but we can apply the same process on all vertices as well, Ctrl+Z to undo the Bevel on the vertex we just did.
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Now, click "A" on the keyboard to Select All vertices then Vertex Menu, and then "Bevel Vertices" and below is the result we get.
Round Corners on Edges
We can also apply round corners "Bevels" on edges as well and the result would be a bit different let's test it out.
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Again, make sure you are in "Edit Mode" and then press 2 to enter edge mode select one edge, and then go to the top "Edge Menu" and click "Bevel Edges".
Again we will have the same method as we move our mouse we can control how big the bevel will be and once we click the bevel is confirmed.
let's try now to apply the Bevel on all edges and see the result, dont forget to select all edges by pressing "A" on the keyboard, and below is the result.
Round Corners with Modifiers
Now let's try to apply a Bevel on the entire object meaning we have to be in "Object Mode" make sure you switch mode by pressing Tab on the keyboard.
Then head over to the right and click on the wrench icon which is the "Modifier Properties" and then click "Add Modifier" and choose "Bevel".
Then in the modifier setting you can change the settings to adjust how the bevel looks, and I would like to highlight the main options I usually play with here:
- Amount: Defines the size of the Bevel.
- Segments: Defines the smoothness and sharpness of the Bevel.
Conclusion
Round corners in any 3D application is an essential 3D modeling technique any 3D artist has to know and master, as it elevates your workflow and the quality of your mesh to a higher level.
In this tutorial, we learned how to apply Bevel both on components like vertices, edges, and faces and also how to apply it globally on the mesh via modifiers in Blender, hope this helps you in your professional work.
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