Mesh Inspector for Blender

Topological diagnostics and mesh quality analysis tool

Mesh Inspector is a Blender addon designed to identify and visually mark common topological issues using vertex colors. It assists in quality control for subdivision modeling, deformation workflows, and asset export.

🧠 Key Features

• Pole Detection: Detects E-Poles (3 edges), N-Poles (5 edges), and High-Poles (6+ edges)
• Face Type Analysis: Identifies triangles and n-gons that may cause subdivision or export issues
• Normal Consistency Check: Highlights faces with flipped normals that affect shading and modifiers
• Symmetry Deviation Detection: Compares X vs -X topology to flag asymmetrical vertex positions
• Face Area Consistency: Visualizes face density issues by comparing local areas to mesh average
• Adjustable Highlight Radius: Expands detection around poles to improve visibility in dense meshes
• Customizable Color Mapping: All artifact types can be assigned user-defined vertex colors
• Non-destructive Workflow: Uses a dedicated vertex color layer ("MeshDiagnosis"); does not modify geometry or materials
• Compact UI: Organized in collapsible sections for clarity and control

🔧 Usage & Compatibility

• Appears in the 3D Viewport Sidebar ("Mesh Diagnosis" tab)
• Available in Edit Mode and Vertex Paint Mode
• Compatible with Blender 4.0 and higher
• One-click scanning for selected mesh objects

⚠️ Avoid Common Pitfalls

Mesh Inspector helps detect topological and structural issues before they become production problems. Early detection reduces shading errors, deformation artifacts, and export failures.

✅ Prevent:

• Shading Artifacts: Caused by E/N/High-Poles on curved surfaces when using Subdivision Surface
• UV Mapping Distortions: Resulting from non-uniform face density and inconsistent face orientation
• Deformation Pinching: Triggered by high-valence poles or asymmetrical topology under rigging
• Weight Painting Errors: Due to topology inconsistencies or dense/uneven mesh zones
• Export/Import Failures: From unsupported N-gons or non-manifold geometry in other DCCs/game engines
• Solidify/Boolean Bugs: Caused by inverted normals or hidden topological irregularities
• Asymmetry in Mirrored Assets: Subtle deviations that break symmetry-based modeling workflows
• Non-Subdividable Geometry: Triangles and complex poles that collapse under subdivision
• Debugging Overhead: Avoid time-consuming cleanup late in the pipeline

📦 Includes

• .py addon file ready for installation
• Optimized for use in asset QA, rigging prep, and modeling pipelines

Mesh Inspector is intended for 3D artists, modelers, riggers, and pipeline TDs seeking a structured and visual method for validating mesh integrity before deformation, subdivision, or export.

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Happy blending!