Imported meshes often contain irregular triangle distribution. In such meshes, triangle sizes and edge lengths vary significantly across the surface. This uneven topology can make further operations less predictable.
The Remesh tool helps address this issue by rebuilding the surface so that the mesh has nearly uniform edge lengths across the model. As a result, the geometry becomes more evenly distributed, which improves stability for many subsequent mesh editing and repair operations. To access this tool, open the Mesh Repair tab, then click Remesh to launch the operation.
Remeshing Modes
MeshInspector provides two remeshing modes. This setting determines how the remeshing algorithm treats the geometry during the reconstruction process:
- Mechanical Surface works best for non-natural surfaces, e.g., mechanical or CAD models. In such meshes, triangles often have non-uniform shapes, and the surface may contain sharp edges between elements.
- Organic Surface is intended for natural or smooth surfaces. In these meshes, triangles are typically close to equilateral, have similar area, and the surface does not contain sharp edges.
Settings
Target Edge Length controls the desired length of mesh edges after remeshing. During the operation, the algorithm rebuilds the mesh so that most edges become close to the specified value. Smaller values create denser meshes with more triangles, while larger values produce coarser meshes with fewer triangles. Adjust this parameter depending on how much geometric detail you want to preserve and how dense the resulting mesh should be.
Preserve Sharpness controls how strongly the algorithm attempts to maintain sharp geometric features during remeshing. Higher values help keep edges and angular transitions more pronounced, while lower values allow the surface to become smoother and more uniform. An edge flip is allowed if it changes the dihedral angle by no more than 30°.
Advanced
Expand the Advanced section to access additional controls that influence how the remeshing operation behaves.
Project on Original Mesh. When this option is enabled, every new vertex created during subdivision is projected onto the original mesh surface before smoothing. This projection applies only to vertices created during subdivision and does not affect vertices moved during other processing stages. This option helps keep the remeshed geometry closer to the original surface.
Max Boundary Shift defines the maximum allowed movement of boundary edges during an edge collapse operation. Increasing the value allows boundary edges to move more freely during remeshing, while smaller values keep the mesh boundaries closer to their original positions.
Final Relax Iterations controls the number of relaxation iterations applied to mesh vertices at the final stage of remeshing. Additional iterations can improve the uniformity of vertex distribution and edge lengths. However, more iterations may cause the resulting mesh to deviate further from the original surface.
When this parameter is set to a value greater than 0, an additional option called No Shrinkage becomes available.
No Shrinkage, when enabled, allows you to prevent the surface from shrinking during the relaxation process. That is, when the checkbox is selected, MeshInspector prevents the surface from shrinking after multiple relaxation iterations.
Preview, when enabled, allows you to update the mesh in real time when parameters are changed. This can temporarily freeze the interface during computationally heavy operations.
Click Apply to commit the remeshing operation.
Example: Before
In this example, we apply the Remesh tool to an organic model. This is why Organic Surface is selected, as the model represents a smooth, natural shape. Pay attention to the fact that the default recommended value of the Target Edge Length parameter equals the Average Edge Length displayed in the Information tab. Other values and settings are left at their default values.
Also, for better visibility, we pressed L to visualize triangles and activated Flat Shading.
Example: After
After applying Remesh, the mesh is rebuilt with a more uniform edge-length distribution, based on our settings. The triangles across the surface become more consistent in size and shape, resulting in a more regular mesh structure while preserving the overall geometry of the model.
How the Remesh Tool Works