Draw Xray

Addon for Blender 4.2+, that will show retopology overlay on top of your mesh. The paid version comes with custom snap engine and retopo stroke tool.

Free Version (add-on):

Video guide from Jayanam- showing the retopo Xray overlay (feature in both free and $ version)

Pros compared to build-in Blender retopo overlay:

• This tool allows for clearer visualization of how your retopo mesh interacts with your high-poly model. You can easily identify which areas of the retopo mesh protrude beyond the high-poly surface and which areas lie beneath it (unlike built-in retopo overlay, which obscure this information)
• customizable: faces overlay color, opacity,
• supports drawing in: Sculpt, Edit, Paint, Object modes
• option draw with-or without modifiers applied

Cons:

• slower - it is coded in python, so it wont be as fast as native C++ code.

No Overlay | Blender Retopo Overlay | DrawXray Overlay

How to use:

• Install DrawXray like any other Blender add-on - see Blender docs
• In 3D View Top Bar > Viewport Overlays > 'Enable Xray' - if you go to mesh edit mode, you will se new overlay rendered on top of your mesh
• Xray Overlay can be enabled in following modes: Edit, Sculpt, Paint, Object (Shift+Click to select multiple modes).
• Paid version has Snapping section, where you can set snap target (All scene objects, single target or collection)

Paid version (extension)

comes with custom snapping engine and retopo tool:

• Xray snap engine takes into account mesh curvature: sink lowpoly mesh into valleys, push outside on peaks. See this YouTube video below for details
• Xray will negate mesh shrinking effect caused by subdivision modifier (see same video above),
• Quad stroke - draw and extrude single edge strip (new in 4.0)
• Strip Wrap around joints feature (new in 4.1)
• Strip Stroke - draw and extrude multiple edges at once (new in 4.2)
• paid version comes with built-in auto-updater (new in 4.0)

Video above focuses mostly on retopo Quad tools. At the very end I show demo retopology of character head.

Second video where I show improved snapping algorithm for: concave vs convex mesh parts, and subdivided vs non-subdivided mesh.

Studio vs Standard license: if you are company with above 180k $ income, please purchase Studio version. Both licenses (Studio and Standard) can be used commercially

Note: I included fixed version of F2 add-on (mesh_f2_xray.py) - which wont crash when using F2 together with DrawXray. To use patched F2 addon: disable the build-in F2 version and replace it with fixed version (it is named 'F2 Xray Fix'). For your information, I provided patch to blender devs, with the fix, but it got ignored...

Updates History

Update 2.3 Blender 2.8 only (23.08.2019)

• fixed crashes on scripts reload, and other bugs.
• by default per object snapping is now set to 'Global' . Saves few clicks: when you enable global snapping, all objects will use now global target. You can still change it per object in: 'Object Viewport' panel to: Disabled or Local (different snap target for each object)

Update 2.7 Blender 2.8 and 2.9  (19.11.2020)

• addon draws more uniform edges now
• more snapping options (based on shrink wrap modifier)
• Simplified UI (there is no longer separate panel in object properties)

Update 2.8 for Blender 2.93 and 3.0 (01.12.2021)

• Added compatibility with Blender 3.0

Update 2.9 for Blender 2.93 and 3.x (12.09.2022)

• Added compatibility with Blender 3.3
• remade snapping - only selected vertices will snap (in past - whole mesh would be snapped to high-poly obj)

Update 3.0 for Blender 2.93 and 3.x (17.02.2023)

• Code refactor. Hopefully it will fix some random issues people are experiencing

Update 3.1for Blender 2.93 and 3.x (1.04.2023)

• added compatibility with blender 3.5

Update 3.3 for Blender 3.5 and up only! (1.04.2023)

1. moved whole open-gl drawing to new GPU module in blender 3.5

Update 3.4 for Blender 3.6 and up only! (8.08.2023)

• option to draw in Edit mode and/or Sculpt Mode and/or Object Mode and/or Paint Mode
• Xray will show now shapekeys on object correctly

Update ver 3.6 (for version with snapping (24.11.2023) :

• improved snapping behavior on concave areas
• nicer results when using subdivision modifier on your retopo mesh,
• ability to snap to any object (not just mesh types)
• new - snap to: selected object, collection of objects, all objects
• ability to affect neighbors of selected geometry, for nicer retopo mesh interpolation
• added new - projected snapping method

Update ver 3.8 (for version with snapping (2.3.2024):

• Fixed 'Projected snapping' method when using Orthographic view
• fixed not being able to snap in mesh edit mode, when Xray overlay Mode was set to Sculpt only display method,
• other fixes and tweaks

Update 4.0.0 for Blender 4.2+ (version with snapping only - Released 9.10.2024)

• Added Draw Quad Strips option,
• addon converted to extension,

Update 4.1.0 for Blender 4.2+ (version with snapping only - Released 21.10.2024)

• Added Wrap Limbs - Shift+W,
• improved searching for adjacent snap edges,

Update 4.1.1 for Blender 4.2+ - Released 24.10.2024,

• Added 'Screen Space' Wrap option,
• improve generation of last quad face (support more cases),
• smoother first quad generation (thanks to introduced warmup period - help in calculating smoother stroke tangent)

Update 4.2.0 for Blender 4.2+ - Released 12.1.2025 (for version with snapping)

• You can resample drawn quads with MMB+Scroll,
• you can extrude multiple edges now,
• added '2d Matching' for screen space calculations and detection of valid face edges,
• Wrap Strip - you can resample it now in both directions,
• Shift+Q - is used now for smoothing selected geometry,
• undo is broken into stroke welded/non-welded segments now,
• Brush uses multiple samples to pick smoother normal from highpoly mesh,

Update 4.2.1 for Blender 4.2+ - Released 13.1.2025 (for version with snapping only)

• Fix: prevent snapping on Undo/Redo,
• Fix for extending wire edges in Wrap Strip tool,
• Fix for finding closest edge not always working,
• added button to manually reload snap cache,

Update 4.2.2 - for Blender 4.2+ - Released 23.3.2025,

• Blender 4.4 compatibility fixes,

Update 4.2.3 - for Blender 4.2+ - Released 15.4.2025,

• Hidden faces are no longer drawn by DrawXray overlay,
• Xray overlay drawing should be faster up to 3 times,