# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Organic Modeling

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**Subsurface modeling**

Organic modeling is considered by some the most challenging. Non-organic
can mostly be accomplished by extrusion and scaling. Organic modeling on
the other hand involves mainly curves, as nature has a thing against
straight lines. Because of this, organic modeling is usually done with
subsurfaces. To subsurf a mesh, first select it and navigate to the
\'Editing\' tab. Then go to the modifiers stack and add a new Subsurf
modifier.

![](BlenderAddSubsurf.jpg "BlenderAddSubsurf.jpg")

In Blender 2.5 Alpha 0, Subsurf has been removed from the modifiers
list. Instead hit Ctrl, followed by a number which will specify the
subsurf level. For example `<b>`{=html}Ctrl-1`</b>`{=html} adds a new
Subsurf modifier of level 1. This also works in Blender 2.4. Increasing
the level greatly increases the number of verts in your model, so make
the level relative to the number of vertices in your original model
(pre-subsurfed). Subsurf often works best in conjunction with smoothing,
so be sure to set your object to smooth, again in the \'Editing\' tab,
or in 2.5 A0 under \'Object Tools\', which you can bring up by hitting
the `<b>`{=html}T`</b>`{=html} key in the 3D viewport.

![](BlenderSubsurfModifier.jpg "BlenderSubsurfModifier.jpg")

In this way you can create a smoother, higher-poly shape based on that
of the original mesh. This is controlled by the vertices, edges and
faces of the original.In order to control the rounding of your mesh you
can use two methods: loopcuts, which is a very sloppy method as it adds
more verts to your mesh, which serve very little purpose and can get in
the way of modeling; and Edge Creasing. The latter can work extremely
well in most circumstances. By default all edges are declared uncreased,
and so allow complete rounding in subsurfing, by creasing the edges
using `<b>`{=html}Shift-E`</b>`{=html} you can far better control the
amount of rounding on your mesh, and most importantly, without adding
extra vertices. However, unfortunately Edge Creasing is not available in
Blender 2.5 A0. Yet. And so loopcuts and extra verts are the only
option.\

<File:Blender-DefaultSceneRender.jpg%7CBefore>
<File:BlenderCubeSubsurfed.jpg%7CAfter>

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Now, start shaping your mesh into an organic shape. There are various
tutorials for modeling bodies and faces, but it is often a good idea to
use references. Only use quads - that is, shapes with four vertices.
Triangles do not subsurface well, they create bad looking rough
surfaces - avoid if at all possible. Also avoid Poles, which are
vertices connected to anything other than 2 or 4 other vertices, as they
create literal creasing in your subsurfed mesh, that is, sudden bunching
up and pinching of faces.

To make the object shape properly, you will need good edgeloops and
edgeflow. This means that all your vertices and/or faces line up in a
continual line or curve around your model. It is possible to select
edgeloops all in one, fantastic when you have to resort to them in
controlling rounding, by holding down `<b>`{=html}Alt`</b>`{=html} when
selecting a vert. This really expands into topology, which is an
advanced subject. I would recommend visiting
<http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/forums>, although it has just been
closed down, which was a great place to start, however it still (at the
time of revision) is active and well worth a look if you are struggling
with modeling heads. It is best not to have too many vertices to avoid
making the subsurfaced shape look rough - in other words, the original
shape should be quite low-poly.

