Blender Non-Destructive Panel Lines

I’ve been working on various models for my book trailer and have tried to find a good way of creating panel lines for projects such as spaceships. This can be done with materials, but I’ve had better luck creating physical detail rather than using texturing.

Up to now, the method I’ve used has been slow and cumbersome, but after recently going through a bunch of tutorials on adding this kind of detail, I’ve found a method that seems to work well (at least for me) and is non-destructive to the base mesh. So I thought I’ share it for anyone interested. This introduces more polygons, so may not be suitable for models intended for real time rendering, but works fine for still images or video/animation.

Personally I find that a clearly written set of instructions is much quicker to follow than a video tutorial, so here goes:

1. Add lines(edges) on model where panels wanted (might be able to use existing edges depending on surface)
2. Mark desired panel lines as “sharp”
3. Add “Edge Split” modifier, uncheck Edge Angle
4. Add “Solidify” Modifier. Adjust Thickness to taste, check Only Rim to avoid back facing polys
5. Add Bevel modifier, Adjust Width and Segments to taste.

You can now add or change panel lines by marking/clearing sharp on edges! Also, this method would allow you to turn off the panels completely if needed for a particularly complex scene render.

Here’s a shot of the modifier stack (Click to enlarge):

And an example before/after shot (click to enlarge)

Thanks to the following people for their helpful  youtube tutorials:

Andrew Price

Jason Clarke

Dan Brown CGI