PolyStrips

The PolyStrips tool provides quick and easy ways to map out key face loops for complex models, as well as adjust existing strips of faces.

Inserting

To create a strip of quads with PolyStrips, hold down Ctrl and LMB Drag on the surface of a source object.

The size of the quads corresponds to the size of the brush that you see when you hold down Ctrl. To adjust the size, use the hotkey F.

Right after you’ve drawn a strip, you’ll be able to adjust some of its properties.

• Ctrl Scroll changes the segment count
• Shift Scroll changes the width

These options are also available in Blender’s Adjust Last Operation panel, along with a Split Angle property that adjusts how sharp the curve needs to be in order to be considered a corner.

Control Points

Any selected strip of quads will show control points and curve handles while you’re using PolyStrips. Simply LMB Drag on the control points or handles to adjust the strip like a Bezier curve.

PolyStrips handles work great with Blender’s proportional editing. If you enable that (hotkey O), you can easily adjust sections of existing loops that are already surrounded by geometry.

Selecting

The default selection mode for PolyStrips is Face so that you can quickly select and tweak parts of strips. However, you can work in just Vertex and / or Edge select mode just as well if you prefer.

It’s helpful to remember that even though Ctrl LMB to select shortest path is blocked because Ctrl is used to create strips, you can always do the same thing with Ctrl Shift LMB. So to easily select a part of a strip, LMB to select one face and then Ctrl Shift LMB on another.

Transforming

A LMB Drag on components in PolyPen will perform a tweak action similar to Blender’s Tweak tool. The tweaking settings are shared across multiple tools and can be read about on the Retopoflow Mode docs page under Common Settings.

Limitations

It is not currently possible to adjust segment counts or other properties on existing strips, but that is on our to-do list.