Mesh Maze Addon

February 10, 2020June 20, 2021 New Media Supply 0 Comments Edit-mode, Modeling, organic, Parametric

With the Mesh Maze addon we can easily apply a maze to nearly any mesh that has enough faces. Not only you can use it to make a maze, but also brains or other maze-ish geometry. Here a few tips on how to start with this cute add-on for Blender 2.8x . One note I have to make is that it is not clear what the exact name is. It could be also known as ” Maze any Mesh” or just Maze.

How the Mesh Maze Addon works

It’s pretty simple how the this addon works. First start with a mesh that has enough faces, let’s say 400 faces. To do this you could for example create a grid by pressing Shift+a > Mesh > Grid. Set the grid 20×20 meter or units. And the size 40 meters. To find the add-on, you go in Edit-mode and in the menu on top of the 3D view port on Mesh > Maze Mesh Selection. (Don’t forget to select all the faces.

Next, a pop-up will show up on the bottom left where you can set parameters for the maze. In this case you set the width around 0.8 and extrude on 1. The tickness works like a taper, but in this case we don’t need it to make a simple maze.

If you want to experiment more, you can try for example use a standard icoshpere and subdivide it two times with a the subdiv modifier. And now you see that when you enable outset, that the taper works in other direction. (or in other word the bottom will get an offset).

Here an example of using the Mesh Maze addon on an icosphere.

Example result mesh maze addon — Example with an icosphere

Of course, for this render I did some more steps. In short, to get a result like this, use the Tissue addon and go in Weight Paint mode. The Tissue addon provides to auto- paint weight the curvature and you can convert that to colors. This, because you can then use it with an attribute node to mix some colors. To get a less sterile look of basic shaders, you can use the Material Nodes addon (paid) or any other technique to make an interesting shader.

If you are interesting in organic modeling, keep an eye on the Organics Asset Pack.

The UI of the Mesh Maze Addon

You will get the hang of the ui fairly quickly when playing with it. Below a screenshot of the UI.

Mesh Maze UI — The UI of the Mesh Maze Addon.

Mainly the following parameters are most important: Width and extrude. So start first with those, and if you want a taper then use thickness. Do you want to offset the grooves, then enable Outset. For more in depth information on how to use the addon, visit the Mesh Maze addon on Github.

There you can also download the addon and download is as usual. That is: download the .zip file (green button). Then in Blender you go to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons. Click Install and search for the .zip file you just downloaded. Safe preferences, refresh and find the addon in Edit mode. (top menu > Mesh > Maze Mesh Selection).