Clear Banding

This is another experimental operator in the add-on that deals with a particular issue regarding random operators like Random Loop Exrtrude and Random Panels.

Figure 1

When using the Cuts property to increase the resolution of the source mesh to get more faces for randomization, banding starts to appear particularly with curved surfaces like the cylinder.

Figure 2

To solve this, the Clear Banding operator creates a copy of the random mesh where the surface banding is cleared using limited dissolve then uses the data transfer modifier for the random mesh to use this cleaner normal shading.

This works most of the time but not everytime as the functionality is limited to the current state and capability of the data transfer modifier.

Figure 3

Pressing the F9 hotkey after confirming the operation will show you the redo panel where you can modify the properties to change the result.

For most cases, the default setting in the redo panel works.

The operator adds a bevel and data transfer modifier to the selected object and limit dissolves the data transfer object used in the shading transfer.

The data transfer object is saved in Blender memory to avoid clutter in the 3D viewport.

The Bevel Width, Bevel Segment, Bevel Profile, Bevel Limit and Clamp Overlap properties comes from the bevel modifier added to the active or selected object. This ensures that the data transfer trick works by creating a gap for each edge where the new faces generated from the bevel are averaged to create a much better normal shading for the existing faces of the mesh.

Figure 4

In Figure 4, you can see the result when the bevel modifier is disabled.

Figure 5

Modifying the bevel properties have a direct effect on the shading made by the data transfer modifier.

The Limited Dissolve property is the angle by which the data transfer object is limited dissolved to get rid of the banding by removing edges while keeping the overall shape of the model.

The Max Distance property comes from the data transfer modifier and determines the maximum distance between the surfaces of the targe object and the data transfer object to calculate the new face normal shading.

Generally, the 5° default angle for Limited Dissolve and the 0.0005 default value for Max Distance works for most situation.

Using the operator also clears any unused data transfer object in the blend file.