Skip to main content
3 of 11
added 304 characters in body
zeffii
  • 39.9k
  • 9
  • 106
  • 189

Prior to cutting the new geometry the shading is nice and smooth because the shading is a function of the various face normals adjacent to each vertex. Each vertex uses connected faces to get an average vertex normal. Because each of those adjacent face normals is different around the object, the vertex normals allow for a smooth enough transition around the surface.

One you start cutting into a face, you get new geometry which has a number of vertices which are surrounded by faces which have the same face normals, therefore the shading is 'flat' on those sections.

The way out of that is to carefully adjust the positions of the new vertices such that they follow the inferred curvature, this doesn't have to be exact. as long as you get away from the faces all having the same normals on that spot.

i'll add an image.

Resolution

  1. One option is to move a few of the vertices that are furthest away from the boundaries of that shape (ie, closest to the center) and set proportional editing to enabled and simply drag those vertices by a small amount, this to affect a continuation of the previous 'faux' curvature.

  2. make a scaffolding, duplicate a sufficient bit of the object, move it somewhere else, select the area you want to modify, then do 'subdivide smooth'. it will generate geometry which follows the main curve of the surrounding object. This will give you an idea of how to fix the geometry you are interested in.

    enter image description here

    The reason the shading on this image is not optimal is because there is a discontinuity when you subdivide one face among other undivided face. The point is that it reveals the curvature.

zeffii
  • 39.9k
  • 9
  • 106
  • 189