inflate + smooth vs simplify

Question

Hi, i saw in the video that in order to refine a mesh a good workflow is inflate + smooth with dyntopo. Is this the primary target of the simplify brush? If i use the simplify brush with dyntopo with an edge lenght less than the actual edge lenght of the mesh, will i achieve the same result of inflate + smooth? or is it better to use inflate + smooth?

Answer 1 · 2026-02-26T13:21:02Z

Martin Bergwerf replied February 26, 2026 1:21pm

Hi Pierluigi,

What do you mean by "refine a Mesh"?

If it's just to change the Resolution of a part of the Mesh, you can use the Density (formerly called Simplify) Brush, or the Inflate with a Strength of 0. Those two methods would have the same effect. Inflate + Smooth is the 'weirder' variant, that wants to do the same, but first changes the shape and then tries to change it back with Smooth.

So you have more than 1 opton. In fact, all Brushes that update the Topology wih Dyntopo, when used with a Strength of 0 have the same effect as the Density Brush.

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