---
link: https://cgcookie.com/tutorial/modifier-stack-order/
title: CGCookie - Modifier Stack Order
author: Jerry Perkins
tags: blender, modifiers, cgcookie, modeling, blender.tip
---
ORDER IS EVERYTHING!
From top to bottom, the stack will be performed in order of the sequence. Modifiers also make life easier as you as you go about creating meshes.
The first example is the skin modifier. The skin has proved to be irreplaceable to be however there are some caveats to the initial tool behavior that can be improved through modifier stack ordering.
Initially the skin hits very hard on the areas of extrusion resulting in a harder shape than the one possibly wanted. Adding a subdivision below helps a little but not enough. However adding a subdivision before and after the skin gets the behavior much closer to how I want.
The next example is the modifier sphere. Sometimes I’ll set up modifiers on the sphere to test out the behavior, then transfer that to actual mesh. For this I have planes that have been cut with the knife tool (K-key) and the split tool (Y-key). Just through this workflow you can see the amount or work being reduced for creating paneled sci-fi modular assets. Even transferring the modifiers to a ship you can see how the work is almost taking care of itself.
Ctrl+L brings up the linked menu where you can link materials, animation data and in this case modifiers.
The final example is going to be my creation of a tire. By stacking modifiers in the proper order I am able to:
1. Model a single tread flat.
2. Bend it into shape using a lattice
3. Array it out 48 times
4. Curve it around a circle from the curve >> circle menu
5. Lattice the overall shape to allow tire deformation after the other modifiers
The combinations you can use are endless. Its just a matter of deciding what you want done to the mesh and at what stage. I hope this was able to shed some lights on modifiers since they are such an important part of my workflow. If you discover cool combinations let me know!
link: https://cgcookie.com/tutorial/modifier-stack-order/
title: CGCookie - Modifier Stack Order
author: Jerry Perkins
tags: blender, modifiers, cgcookie, modeling, blender.tip
---
ORDER IS EVERYTHING!
From top to bottom, the stack will be performed in order of the sequence. Modifiers also make life easier as you as you go about creating meshes.
The first example is the skin modifier. The skin has proved to be irreplaceable to be however there are some caveats to the initial tool behavior that can be improved through modifier stack ordering.
Initially the skin hits very hard on the areas of extrusion resulting in a harder shape than the one possibly wanted. Adding a subdivision below helps a little but not enough. However adding a subdivision before and after the skin gets the behavior much closer to how I want.
The next example is the modifier sphere. Sometimes I’ll set up modifiers on the sphere to test out the behavior, then transfer that to actual mesh. For this I have planes that have been cut with the knife tool (K-key) and the split tool (Y-key). Just through this workflow you can see the amount or work being reduced for creating paneled sci-fi modular assets. Even transferring the modifiers to a ship you can see how the work is almost taking care of itself.
Ctrl+L brings up the linked menu where you can link materials, animation data and in this case modifiers.
The final example is going to be my creation of a tire. By stacking modifiers in the proper order I am able to:
1. Model a single tread flat.
2. Bend it into shape using a lattice
3. Array it out 48 times
4. Curve it around a circle from the curve >> circle menu
5. Lattice the overall shape to allow tire deformation after the other modifiers
The combinations you can use are endless. Its just a matter of deciding what you want done to the mesh and at what stage. I hope this was able to shed some lights on modifiers since they are such an important part of my workflow. If you discover cool combinations let me know!
