The most surprising part of this build is that the whole mug starts life as a bare subdivision wireframe, with the polygon cage on full display before any smooth surface exists. The maker then flips on the Subpatch preview, and that same cage resolves into the smooth, grey-shaded cup of the finished model. Seeing that transition happen inside FreeCAD is what caught my attention first. The toolchain is FreeCAD version 0.21.1 dev, running the SubD Modeler workbench with Catmull as the subdivision setting and a step of 1 mm. Tools visible along the way include Create, Modify, Solid (STEP), Extrude and SubD, and navigation follows Blender-style mouse controls. The finished model measures 97.502 mm by 148.119 mm by 106.661 mm and includes a curved handle, a base and an inner hollow. The maker singles out Rotate and Extrude as a pair that worked well together, which reads as a genuine workflow note. One open issue stands out. Loops could be added during modelling but not removed, and the maker ended up with more loops than intended, leaving the cage denser than it strictly needs to be. There is also an unanswered question on the table: how do you edit the shell thickness once the shell has been finished? That is a fair thing to wonder about, and it leaves clear room for a refined second version.
First SubD mug modelled in FreeCAD from a polygon cage
Nov 03, 2026
Last reply: 19 hours ago
3 Replies
Using Catmull as the subdivision setting seems like a sensible pick for a shape with a curved handle, where smoothness matters more than hard edges. The 1 mm step also reads as a workable level of control for a first attempt. The trade-off, as I see it, is that every extra loop in the cage, and the maker ended up with more than intended, adds geometry that is hard to take back out.
I would like to know how the maker shaped the curved handle inside the cage. Was it pulled into form with the Modify tools after an extrude, or was the outline already there in the first wireframe? I am also curious whether the Blender-style mouse controls needed any special setup inside FreeCAD before navigation felt natural.
For a second attempt, it could be worth trying Crease, or a support loop placed with Knife, on the rim and handle edges. That route would keep crisp lines where wanted without stacking up more loops, which matters here given the ones already added cannot be removed. Shell (Modify) also seems worth a look for giving the wall a proper thickness.
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