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TL;DR How do you create a smooth, inset, rounded, beveled edge?

Hello! I'm sorry for the mundane question, but I'm a bit stuck. I'm trying to learn Blender and as an exercise I'm modeling a cabinet from my living room.

This cabinet has a beveled, rounded, inset edge:

enter image description here

So far, I've managed to create this in Blender: (bevel modifier with 3 segments) enter image description here Now here comes the problem. I'm trying to apply a subdivision modifier to smooth the bevel, but of course this smooths the entire mesh. I've thought of using 2 seperate objects but I felt like I was just avoiding the problem and it didn't even solve it completely. So my question is this: How do you create a smooth, inset, rounded, beveled edge?

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  • $\begingroup$ Subdivision surface modifier as you mentioned works on the whole mesh. You can use creses or holding edgeloops to "unsmooth" certain surfaces. Or you can bevel the edges once more to make the smooth. It depends on the approch you would like to follow. Do you want to use the subsurf modifier or not? $\endgroup$
    – Carlo
    Commented Apr 14, 2018 at 17:53
  • $\begingroup$ Here's a great video that I watched recently that has a useful tip on how to model things such as cabinets. Doesn't help with your smooth issue, but thought I would share. youtu.be/Or9bMxAuICc?t=642 $\endgroup$
    – JacketPotatoeFan
    Commented Apr 14, 2018 at 18:58

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Similiar to creating the control edge loops manually (as stated in stauVictors answer), you can create them procedurally with the bevel modifier. Using a bevel modifier before a Subdivision Surface modifier, is common practice to prevent smoothing on sharp edges.

Create a vertex group for the edges, which are supposed to stay sharp and assign the edges to it

Then add a bevel modifier and select that group as the Vertex Group of the modifier. If you use more segments in the Bevel modifier, the following subdivision modifier will have less effect on the beveled segments.

enter image description here

Edit from Coffeehouse's comment: As an alternative to the Vertex Group, you can choose weight as the Limit Method and create Bevel Weights for the mesh.

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  • $\begingroup$ Alternatively you could also give a bevel weight to the edge you want beveled and chose method "weight" instead of creating a vertex groups for things you do not want to bevel. $\endgroup$
    – Coffeehouse
    Commented Oct 22, 2018 at 9:27
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Use loop cuts (ctrl + r) and the mouse wheel to choose how many you fant on a face. Loop cuts can be moved after selecting which way you want it and the numbers of loop cuts on the selected face. The loopcuts can be moved later by selecting them and dobble tapping "g". Create a rough beveled edge and then add a subdivision surface modifier. Add new loopcuts too sharpen the edges.

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  • $\begingroup$ I've thought about loop cuts but didn't think that was good practice to do. I'll give it a try. Also thanks for the double tap g tip, that's going to be really useful! $\endgroup$
    – user55243
    Commented Apr 15, 2018 at 8:44

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