Surface Project

Project and blend geometry onto other mesh surfaces. Transfer normals and UVs for a seamless blend.

• 
  Blend a mesh object to other surfaces. Multiple other mesh surfaces can be specified.

• 
  Project mesh as a "Decal" onto other objects. This flattens the geometry but keeps the original normals.

Open Edges

This modifier works best on meshes with "open edges", i.e. non-solid objects. These edges are used as the base for most masking methods.

Examples

Examples can be found in the Surface Project/Insert scene in the example file.

Options

Projection Targets

Choose which meshes to project to.

• Target Objects: How many mesh objects to project to.
• Objects: Choose individual mesh objects to project to.
• Collection: Choose a collection containing mesh objects to project to.

Projection

Define how mesh is projected to surfaces.

• Method: Method for vertex projection:
  • Wrap to Surface: Wrap mesh to target surface. Points will be projected to target surface and re-displaced based on their calculated height.
  • Blend with Surface: Project points to target surface then blend between original and projected positions.
  • Project Decal: Flatten geometry to target surface while keeping original normals. Ideal for "floaters" intended for baking.
• Surface Offset: Move projected vertices a fixed amount towards or away from the target surface.

Projection Direction

Control the direction and properties of surface projection.

• Project Direction: Define direction of projection rays:
  • Object Direction: Direction in object space (default -Z).
  • World Direction: Direction in world space (default -Z).
  • Mesh Normal: Use individual point normals.
  • Mesh Island Normal: Use the average normal of each mesh island.
  • Mesh Tangent: Use individual point tangents.
  • Surface Normal: Use the normal of the closest part of target surface.
• Base Height: How height is calculated for Wrap to Surface and Project Decal projection methods:
  • Boundary Center: Calculate height from a plane defined by the center of the boundary and the projection direction.
  • Object Origin: Calculate height from a plane defined by the objects origin and the projection direction.
• Re-Displace: When using Wrap to Surface. Direction to apply calculated height:
  • Projection: Apply height displacement using the projection direction.
  • Surface Normal: Apply height displacement using the normal of the target surface.
• Ray Length: Maximum distance rays will collide with target surface. Best to keep at a large enough value that all points collide.
• No Hit: Change behavior of vertices when projection rays miss:
  • Unchanged: Do not move vertex.
  • Closest Surface to Max Dist: Move vertex to the maximum distance in ray direction then snap to closest point on target surface.

Projection Masking

Control how projection is masked. See Mask Falloff.

• Vertex Group: Choose a vertex group to project.

Transfer Normals

Transfer normals from target surfaces. Internally this uses Normal Transfer. Normals are transferred after vertex projection, using the closest target surface.

• Normal Domain: Whether normals are stored on points (smooth) or face corners (allows sharp edges).
• Normal Masking: How to mask the normal transfer:
  • Projection Mask: Use the same mask used for vertex projection.
  • New Mask: Create a new mask using mask falloff.
• Vertex Group: Limit all normal transfer to a vertex group.

Transfer UVs

Transfer UVs from target surface.

• UV Map From: Which UV Map to transfer from the surface.
• UV Map To: Which UV Map to write to on this object.