# Low poly exports from high radius items

**URL:** <https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514>\
**Category:** Modeling Questions\
**Created:** [August 19, 2026, 9:24pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514 "2026-08-19T21:24:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![spencersmitty](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/spencersmitty/32/35302_2.png) [@spencersmitty](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/spencersmitty)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 9:24pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/1 "2026-08-19T21:24:07Z")

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here is a excerpt from a model ive made, its a sticker label that goes on a curved surface. i cant exactly remember how i modeled it but i think i just drew a side profile with the arc tool, then extruded up or something.

 ![Screenshot 2026-08-19 at 14.12.21](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/e/4/e40a8bf55d44c20a589a4a94d2b5ce7f123362f0.jpeg)

 ![Screenshot 2026-08-19 at 14.10.24](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/c/0/c07515d0ee40dfdf38b712bfb0373633bc8682ee.jpeg)

so, i am noticing that .obj exports are making high radius items really low poly. it makes sense, and even seeing this huge radius in shapr seems like its not proper, so im not surprised it doesnt export very clean. so, im wondering if there is a way to sort of.. get rid of this radius attribute or something, something that will help export this with the smooth curve it has in shapr. ive tried exporting to step and reimporting that step, and exporting as .obj again but i get a similar result alas slightly improved.

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**Author:** ![TheBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@TheBum](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TheBum)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 12:48am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/2 "2026-08-20T00:48:55Z")

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Are you using a paid or free version of Shapr? The free version renders exports in low poly. You need the paid version to get high poly exports.

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**Author:** ![spencersmitty](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/spencersmitty/32/35302_2.png) [@spencersmitty](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/spencersmitty)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 3:12am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/3 "2026-08-20T03:12:45Z")

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if i had the free version then i wouldnt be able to export to obj man

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**Author:** ![TigerMike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/tigermike/32/32650_2.png) [@TigerMike](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TigerMike)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 3:50am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/4 "2026-08-20T03:50:25Z")

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What if you export as STL then import into Blender. Different result?

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**Author:** ![Oregonerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/oregonerd/32/8012_2.png) [@Oregonerd](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Oregonerd)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 4:01am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/5 "2026-08-20T04:01:37Z")

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Or turn into quads and subdivide?

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**Author:** ![Oregonerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/oregonerd/32/8012_2.png) [@Oregonerd](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Oregonerd)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 4:25am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/6 "2026-08-20T04:25:57Z")

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Turn it into quads then re-mesh by subdividing

 ![Screenshot 2026-08-19 212455](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/2/3/23eb960ac95df2d628da099d4bbc17f0e7d0088b.png)

 ![Screenshot 2026-08-19 212237](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/9/9/9927de867aff177a05cfdaa2644c799658476be7.png)

 ![Screenshot 2026-08-19 212318](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/d/0/d05cc57c5cf083758852c4b14b6bcf3fd12e928a.png)

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**Author:** ![Oregonerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/oregonerd/32/8012_2.png) [@Oregonerd](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Oregonerd)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 4:37am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/7 "2026-08-20T04:37:19Z")

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Keep in mind Blender isn’t really a cad tool. Sure you can do cad like stuff.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spencersmitty](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/spencersmitty/32/35302_2.png) [@spencersmitty](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/spencersmitty)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 6:48am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/8 "2026-08-20T06:48:20Z")

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exporting to .stl helped retain the curve yep! but it discarded the mesh seperation in my model and the colors too… so thats kind of a dealbreaker unfortunately.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spencersmitty](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/spencersmitty/32/35302_2.png) [@spencersmitty](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/spencersmitty)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 6:50am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/9 "2026-08-20T06:50:41Z")

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i was interested in knowing why the huge radius items were becoming low polygon in the export, and if there was a solution to fix those faces to not read as an obnoxiously large radius in shapr itself. i basically need a shapr workaround here to have it export cleanly.

i am not very comfortable with modeling in blender, and i dont want to alter the topology if i can help it 😕

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**Author:** ![Xdrakosha](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/xdrakosha/32/24881_2.png) [@Xdrakosha](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Xdrakosha)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 7:50am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/10 "2026-08-20T07:50:31Z")

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> [@spencersmitty](#):
>
> a shapr workaround

Did you try to redraw the curve using spline instead of arc?

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**Author:** ![DrKronos](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/drkronos/32/36064_2.png) [@DrKronos](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/DrKronos)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 9:52am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/11 "2026-08-20T09:52:14Z")

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I played around a bit with the export settings.

As it turns out, the angle threshold has a lower limit of 0.01, I can’t make it go any lower. Since your object is nearly flat but not quite, that angle tolerance unfortunately translates to rather large polygons.

 ![01](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/7/0/70a4d4d89fc52ffdda66a8864c484461f0377208.jpeg)

One workaround I can see is that you scale up your part along the z axis by a certain factor, export it, and then scale it down again along that axis in your target application. Certainly not elegant, but It would result in a denser mesh.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Oregonerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/oregonerd/32/8012_2.png) [@Oregonerd](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Oregonerd)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/12 "2026-08-20T14:18:55Z")

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Know your tools and their limitations to determine best fit case for your design needs.

In Blender you wouldn’t necessarily make a label as a separate item. Much easier to project a UV mapped label image to a model surface. That’s where Blender shines. And you can map to low poly items and make them “look” high poly. Blender can also work with meshes that are more like paper than Cad programs can.

The more polygons in Blender objects the more overhead in your project.

Mixing Cad objects with Blender has it’s caveats.

If you create content, no one tool does it all.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spencersmitty](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/spencersmitty/32/35302_2.png) [@spencersmitty](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/spencersmitty)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 11:56pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/13 "2026-08-20T23:56:44Z")

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![splinevsarc](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/8/2/82def48d81e2e9fa10ba2534a56c8c1b6abef055.jpeg)

clever.. the spline bypassed the massive radius value, but unfortunately export suffered the same result.

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**Author:** ![spencersmitty](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/spencersmitty/32/35302_2.png) [@spencersmitty](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/spencersmitty)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/14 "2026-08-21T00:26:40Z")

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> [@DrKronos](#):
>
> the angle threshold has a lower limit of 0.01, I can’t make it go any lower.

you are inside the stl export settings, so unfortunately this doesnt help as i am exporting as .obj - but good thinking!

> [@DrKronos](#):
>
> One workaround I can see is that you scale up your part along the z axis by a certain factor, export it, and then scale it down again along that axis in your target application. Certainly not elegant, but It would result in a denser mesh.

 ![scales](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/4/7/4707a07f9ebc851bec164a5857a6c6afb9b0efbc.jpeg)

this actually worked decently well, exactly as you described too. its at a cost of about 40,000 more tris.. but oh well. very clever!!!

 ![before](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/f/0/f0342020a20ed83a9f88a3447a560d43f268c38e.jpeg)

 ![after](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/7/6/7694e5c655ecc8cba951faad81a167900c1387e8.jpeg)

i wonder what the proper fix for this is however.. maybe better export optimization supporting bigger radiuses? like you said, while this fixed the issue it came with a cost of extra topology where it isnt really needed.

thank you doctor!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Oregonerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/oregonerd/32/8012_2.png) [@Oregonerd](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Oregonerd)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 3:48am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/15 "2026-08-21T03:48:41Z")

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Out of curiosity what is Blender’s role in this project?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spencersmitty](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/spencersmitty/32/35302_2.png) [@spencersmitty](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/spencersmitty)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 5:31am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/16 "2026-08-21T05:31:46Z")

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blenders role in this project is uv mapping and pbr materials - no modeling is being done inside it. im creating assets for an app im developing 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Oregonerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/oregonerd/32/8012_2.png) [@Oregonerd](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Oregonerd)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 5:39am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/17 "2026-08-21T05:39:00Z")

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That’s what I figured. Things are easy to flesh out in Shapr.

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**Author:** ![DrKronos](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/drkronos/32/36064_2.png) [@DrKronos](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/DrKronos)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 9:37am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/18 "2026-08-21T09:37:02Z")

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> [@spencersmitty](#):
>
> you are inside the stl export settings, so unfortunately this doesnt help as i am exporting as .obj

STL and OBJ export do the same thing, but in Shapr there are no custom resolution settings for obj exports. That’s why I showed the STL export screenshot.

Expectedly both produce the same issue with nearly flat objects. In fact I would be very surprised if they used different algorithms, the difference between an STL and an OBJ is really just metadata.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DrKronos](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/drkronos/32/36064_2.png) [@DrKronos](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/DrKronos)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 9:53am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/19 "2026-08-21T09:53:23Z")

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> [@spencersmitty](#):
>
> maybe better export optimization supporting bigger radiuses?

I just looked into the blender extensions.

There is a STEP file import extension for blender!

I think that could potentially produce better results. Export your part as a step file and then use the blender extension to import it. It’s possible blender has better options then to avoid the issue in the conversion to a polygon object.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spencersmitty](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/spencersmitty/32/35302_2.png) [@spencersmitty](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/spencersmitty)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2026, 11:25pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514/20 "2026-08-26T23:25:01Z")

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yes! i am familiar with the STEP import extensions for blender, ive tried about 3-4 of them. they all have weird quirks, and ive even chatted with a few of the devs of each extension to fix bugs that were present. i ultimately landed on one from the blender extensions page, but it still gave an undesired topology count, and incorrect normal lighting so i opted for obj exports instead.

i could try making my own STEP blender extension but lets be honest, the elephant in the room is shapr’s exporting needs improvement. usdz exports are [bugged](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/usdz-export-losing-proper-file-structure/41325), and i suppose it needs a little better support for high radius items like i’ve just discovered.

[Next page](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/low-poly-exports-from-high-radius-items/41514.md?page=2)