Dynamic Topology

Created Oct 3, 2026 · Updated Oct 3, 2026

Normally a sculpt brush can only move the points a mesh already has, so it cannot add detail where there are no points to carry it. With dynamic topology, the brush also adds and removes points under itself as you sculpt. Turn it on with the Dynamic topology checkbox in the Brush Settings accordion of the Sculpt tab. It is off by default.

The Sculpt tab's Brush Settings accordion with Dynamic topology ticked and the Detail size slider beneath it at 8 px, and the Loaded Mesh in the viewport with wireframe-style shading showing a band of small, dense triangles along a freshly sculpted ridge, surrounded by the model's original larger polygons — Dynamic topology on: small new triangles where the brush has been, the original polygons everywhere else.

How detail is added and removed

While the brush moves, edges near it that are noticeably longer than the Detail size are split, adding points, and edges noticeably shorter are collapsed, removing them. A light smoothing step then evens out what changed. The result is that the area you sculpt ends up with edges of roughly the detail size, whatever the mesh had there before.

Control	What it does	Range	Default
Dynamic topology	Off: brushes move the mesh's existing points. On: brushes also add and remove points under them. UV seams and open borders are never changed.	—	Off
Detail size	How long the new edges are, in screen pixels. Smaller is finer. Appears only while Dynamic topology is on.	2–40 px	8 px

Tip

Because Detail size is measured on screen, zooming in gives finer detail with the same setting. Zoom out to block in big forms with coarse triangles, then zoom in for small details.

Which mesh and which brushes

Dynamic topology works on the Loaded Mesh only. On the Generated Mesh, brushes always move its existing points, which keeps its topology (and any subdivision levels) intact.

Even on the Loaded Mesh, some strokes never change the topology:

Grab Brush and Rotate Brush, which pick up a set of points and move them, and Mask, which edits the mask rather than the surface;
sculpt strokes started from the Paint tab;
strokes on a rigged model, because its skin weights are not carried through topology changes.

Seams and open borders

An open border is never split, and its points are never collapsed. On a UV-mapped model that includes every UV seam, so seams keep their original resolution and textures cannot tear along them. Non-manifold edges are left alone too.

Textures, UVs and paint on new points

A new point takes its values from the points around it: vertex colours, UVs and the mask are blended from the edge it was split from, painted material channels are carried over, and a new face keeps the material of the face it came from.

On a textured model the sculpt palette adds a reminder under Detail size: This model has textures. New points take their UVs from their neighbours, so a texture may stretch where they are added.

With Paint While Sculpting on, a dynamic-topology stroke still paints, except for channels that have paint layers. Those are not painted yet — untick them, or turn Dynamic topology off.

Undo, layers and leaving Sculpt

Ctrl+Z undoes a dynamic-topology stroke exactly: the points, faces and everything painted on them go back as they were.
A dynamic-topology stroke always goes straight into the mesh, even with a sculpt layer selected, because a layer records per-vertex movement and these strokes add and remove vertices.
While you sculpt with it, the polygon wireframe is hidden, because it describes the old topology. When you leave the Sculpt tab (or save a project), the mesh is tidied: polygons dynamic topology never touched stay as they were — a quad stays a quad — every changed face becomes a triangle, and the wireframe comes back.
That tidy-up renumbers the Loaded Mesh's points, so its sculpt undo history is cleared at that moment.