How do you manage your memory and performance when working with dynamic topology sculpting?

1 Adjust the detail size

One of the most important settings to control the resolution of your sculpt is the detail size, which determines how much geometry is added or removed when you use a brush. You can adjust the detail size by pressing Shift + D and moving your mouse, or by typing a value in the tool settings panel. A lower value means more detail, and a higher value means less detail. You can also choose between constant detail, which uses a fixed pixel size, or relative detail, which adapts to the zoom level and the brush size.

2 Use simplify brush

Sometimes, you may want to reduce the amount of geometry in some areas of your sculpt, for example, to smooth out rough edges or to create large flat surfaces. For this purpose, you can use the simplify brush, which is a special mode of the draw brush that removes geometry instead of adding it. To activate the simplify brush, press Shift while using the draw brush, or enable the simplify option in the tool settings panel. You can also adjust the strength and the detail size of the simplify brush to suit your needs.

3 Enable smooth shading

By default, dynamic topology sculpting uses flat shading, which means that each face of the mesh is shaded with a single color. This can make your sculpt look faceted and low-poly, especially when you use large detail sizes. To make your sculpt look smoother and more realistic, you can enable smooth shading, which interpolates the colors between the faces. To enable smooth shading, go to the shading panel in the tool settings and check the smooth shading option. You can also adjust the strength of the smooth shading to balance between the original shape and the smoothed result.

4 Use dyntopo subdivide collapse

One of the drawbacks of dynamic topology sculpting is that it can create uneven geometry, with some areas having more faces than others. This can affect the quality and the performance of your sculpt, as well as the efficiency of other tools and modifiers. To avoid this problem, you can use the dyntopo subdivide collapse option, which automatically subdivides or collapses faces depending on the detail size. To enable this option, go to the dyntopo panel in the tool settings and select subdivide collapse from the refinement mode dropdown menu.

5 Save as .blend file

When you save your dynamic topology sculpt, you may be tempted to export it as an .obj or .stl file, which are common formats for 3D models. However, this is not recommended, as these formats do not preserve the dynamic topology settings and data, and can also increase the file size significantly. Instead, you should save your sculpt as a .blend file, which is the native format for Blender, and which retains all the information and options for your sculpt. To save your sculpt as a .blend file, go to the file menu and select save as, or press Ctrl + S.

6 Use decimate modifier

Finally, if you want to reduce the polycount of your dynamic topology sculpt, for example, to export it to another program or to use it for rendering or animation, you can use the decimate modifier. The decimate modifier allows you to simplify your mesh by removing faces and vertices while preserving the shape and the volume of your sculpt. To use the decimate modifier, go to the modifier panel and add a decimate modifier. You can then adjust the ratio slider to control how much geometry is removed, or use the collapse or un-subdivide modes for different results.