Loop Cut – Blender 2.80 Fundamentals

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This tutorial is part of the Blender Fundamentals series, produced by Dillon Gu.

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Loop Cuts in Blender #

Loop cuts are an essential tool in Blender for adding new edge loops to your mesh geometry, allowing you to create more detailed and complex models. This guide will cover how to create loop cuts and offer some tips for using them effectively.

Creating Loop Cuts #

To create loop cuts in Blender, follow these steps:

1. Select a mesh object.
2. Press ‘Tab’ on your keyboard or choose ‘Edit Mode’ from the interaction mode dropdown menu in the 3D viewport’s top-left corner.
3. Ensure you are in Edge or Face selection mode by pressing ‘2’ or ‘3’ on your keyboard, respectively.
4. Press ‘Ctrl’ + ‘R’ on your keyboard to activate the Loop Cut tool.
5. Hover your mouse cursor over the mesh to preview the loop cut’s position. The purple highlight indicates where the cut will be made.
6. Left-click to confirm the loop cut’s position.
7. Move the mouse cursor to adjust the loop cut’s offset or scroll the mouse wheel to add more cuts.
8. Left-click again to confirm the loop cut’s offset, or press ‘Esc’ to reset the offset to its default value.

Loop Cut Tips #

1. Slide Loop Cuts: After creating a loop cut, you can immediately slide it along the adjacent edge loops by pressing ‘G’ twice. This allows you to adjust the loop cut’s position without distorting the surrounding geometry.
2. Loop Cut and Bevel: To create a beveled edge using loop cuts, create two loop cuts close to each other and scale them apart using ‘S’ along the desired axis.
3. Evenly Spacing Loop Cuts: If you want to evenly space multiple loop cuts between two existing edge loops, select the edge loops, then press ‘W’ and choose ‘Subdivide.’ In the ‘Subdivide’ options panel, adjust the ‘Number of Cuts’ to control the number of new loop cuts added.
4. Aligning Loop Cuts to a Surface: By default, loop cuts align to the mesh’s topology. If you want the loop cut to align to an existing surface, press ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Shift’ + ‘R’ to use the ‘Offset Edge Slide’ tool, which maintains the shape of the adjacent faces.

Mastering loop cuts and the various techniques associated with them will help you efficiently create and edit mesh geometry in Blender. This will enable you to create more detailed and intricate 3D models while maintaining a smooth and efficient workflow.