If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

Main content

Unit: Character modeling

Modeling with subdivision surfaces

Discover one of Pixar's key modeling technologies: subdivision surfaces. This lesson introduces the split and average operations used to make smooth surfaces. It takes 40-50 minutes to complete.

Learn

Practice

Mathematics of subdivision

Explore how to calculate a weighted average of three points and connect this to the subdivision operation from lesson Lesson One. This lesson takes 35-50 minutes to complete.

Learn

Practice

About this unit

To get Pixar characters to not look so “computer-y,” artists turn to modeling, creating virtual 3-D shapes on the computer. To smooth those shapes out and make them look even more real, they use a simple algorithm called “subdivision,” and you’ll get to try it, too.