Blender Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people who use Blender to create 3D graphics, animations, or games. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
When I create a bezier curve and start working with it, it's not a curve. As seen here, it's a series of straight segments. When I convert it to a mesh, it still looks like a number of straight segments, like in this photo:
I have been told this is handled in rendering, but I'm creating objects to use with a 3D printer, so I want the curve to be smooth. What's going on here and what can I do to make my bezier curves actual smooth curves instead of straight segments?
It won't be a smooth curve like in a vector software but you can increase the Resolution of the curve in the Object Data panel:
This resolution will be taken into account when you'll convert your curve to mesh, the resolution is the number of vertices that will be created between 2 vertices of the curve. For example if I give a resolution of 6 to the default curve, give it thickness with a Geometry > Bevel > Round and convert it to mesh, here is what I'll get (and the resolution of the circle profile will be determined in the Object Data > Geometry > Bevel panel):
Would you like to increase the resolution value in the curve tab?
And since the maximum curve resolution is 64, after converting to a mesh, press Ctrl + 1 to add a Subsurface modifier to make the curve smoother more.
Answer to export with subsurface modifier question
When you export in obj, fbx, stl etc format to send data from blender to external the subsurface modifier can actually transform the mesh. A high subsurface value will make the your file with more triangles. Also if you want to do 3D printing, you will get a smoother surface.
