From Voxels to a Mesh

The shapes in the Voxel tab are a recipe, not a mesh. To sculpt, paint or retopologize them, Vertexix builds a surface from the visible shapes, and that surface becomes the Loaded Mesh. Most of the time you never ask for it: leaving the Voxel tab for Sculpt, Paint or Retopology builds it for you. The bottom of the Voxel palette tells you where the surface stands and has a button to build it straight away.

When the surface is built

In a document you started from voxel shapes, the surface is rebuilt whenever you leave the Voxel tab for Sculpt, Paint or Retopology and the shapes have changed since the last build. If nothing changed, the existing surface is kept. The build runs in the background, and the first one frames the camera on the result; later builds leave the camera where it is.

Only visible shapes count. If every shape is hidden there is nothing to build, and the button is greyed out with Every shape is hidden. Show at least one.

The surface status line

Above the build button, a grey line says where the surface stands compared with the shapes:

Status	What it means
Surface: built when you open Sculpt, Paint or Retopology.	No surface has been built for this scene yet. One will be when you switch to one of those tabs.
Surface: up to date.	The Loaded Mesh matches the shapes. There is nothing to rebuild, so the button is greyed out.
Surface: behind the shapes -- rebuilt when you leave this tab.	You have edited the shapes since the last build. Leaving the tab, or the button below, brings the surface up to date.
Surface: building...	A build is running in the background. The button is greyed out until it finishes.

Build Surface Now

Build Surface Now builds the surface from the shapes immediately, instead of waiting for you to leave the tab. It is useful when you want the real mesh ready before you move on. Like the automatic build, it runs in the background.

How fine the surface is depends on the Voxel size at the bottom of the palette: halving it multiplies the work by eight. Preview detail beside it only affects the live preview in the viewport, never the built surface. See Voxel Size & Preview Detail.

Relax and Adaptivity

Two more settings shape the built surface. They appear in the Numeric window while the voxel size gizmo is on. The ruler button beside the Voxel size field turns the gizmo on and opens that window; by default R also toggles the gizmo.

Control	What it does	Range
Relax	How many times the build evens out its quads. The surface stays where it is and sharp edges are kept. 0 turns it off.	0–8
Adaptivity	Lets the build use fewer, larger polygons where the surface is flat. At 0% every voxel keeps its quad; at 100% the surface may move up to half a voxel to save polygons. Some triangles are left where quads will not fit.	0–100%

Voxels in a document with an imported mesh

If you imported a model and then added voxel shapes, leaving the Voxel tab never touches the imported mesh. The status line is hidden, and the button reads Replace the Loaded Mesh instead. Clicking it builds a surface from the shapes and loads it in place of the imported mesh, as a voxel object you can sculpt, paint and retopologize like any other.

When a Generated Mesh exists

Building the surface replaces the Loaded Mesh, and a Generated Mesh is built on that Loaded Mesh. So while a Generated Mesh exists the button is greyed out, and its tooltip says Revert the generated mesh first -- this replaces the loaded mesh it was built on. Leaving the tab with changed shapes leaves the old surface in place and says so in the status bar. Revert the Generated Mesh first if you want the new shapes on the surface.

Going back from Sculpt into Voxel

You can return to the Voxel tab after sculpting or painting the surface and keep adding or cutting shapes without losing that work. When you return, Vertexix samples the sculpted surface back into the scene. While it works, the palette shows Bringing the sculpt into the Voxel tab...

When it finishes, the whole sculpt is one locked node called Sculpted, and it replaces the shapes it was made from. The palette then explains: The sculpt is one locked node here. Shapes you add or cut merge into it when you go back to Sculpt, Paint or Retopology; the rest of the sculpt keeps its detail. When you leave the tab, the new surface follows your sculpt, and its painted colours, wherever you did not change it. The status bar reports Merged the new shapes into the sculpt.

Each later visit to the tab brings the sculpt in again if you have sculpted it since. If you only painted, just the colours are updated.