What are some common seam removal tools and techniques in Blender?

1 Marking and Clearing Seams

The first step to remove seams is to mark them correctly. You can use the Mark Seam and Clear Seam options in the UV menu or the Edge menu in Edit Mode. Marking seams helps Blender to unwrap the model in a way that minimizes stretching and distortion. Clearing seams removes the existing seams and allows you to re-unwrap the model with a different configuration. You can also use the Select Seam option to select all the edges that are marked as seams.

2 Stitching UV Islands

Another way to remove seams is to stitch the UV islands together. This means that you connect the edges of the UV islands that share the same texture coordinates. You can use the Stitch option in the UV menu or press V in the UV Editor. Stitching UV islands reduces the number of seams and creates a more continuous texture. However, you need to be careful not to create overlapping or inverted UVs, which can cause rendering errors.

3 Blending Textures

Sometimes, you cannot avoid having seams on your model, especially if you have complex shapes or multiple materials. In that case, you can use some techniques to blend the textures across the seams and make them less noticeable. One technique is to use a clone brush or a heal brush in the Texture Paint mode to paint over the seams and copy the pixels from one side to the other. Another technique is to use a gradient or a noise texture as a mask or a blend factor to create a smooth transition between the textures.

4 Baking Textures

Baking textures is a process of transferring the texture information from one object or material to another. You can use it to remove seams by baking the texture from a high-resolution model with no seams to a low-resolution model with seams. You can also use it to bake the texture from a procedural material with no seams to an image texture with seams. To bake textures in Blender, you need to create a new image texture, assign it to the low-resolution model, and select the high-resolution model as the active object. Then, you can use the Bake option in the Render Properties panel and choose the type of texture you want to bake.

5 Testing and Adjusting

The final step to remove seams is to test and adjust your results. You can use the Rendered Viewport Shading mode or the Material Preview mode to see how your model looks with the textures applied. You can also use the Texture Paint mode to see the seams on the UV map and paint over them if needed. You can also use the UV Sculpt mode to relax or smooth the UVs and reduce the distortion. If you are not satisfied with your results, you can go back and tweak the seams, the stitching, the blending, or the baking until you achieve the desired outcome.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?