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PN Scripts

Blender add-ons

HoldLoop

A Blender add-on that adds holding loops where a Subdivision Surface would round your hard edges. It measures the rounding, adds loops only where they are needed and never changes the shape of your cage.

  • Blender 4.2+
  • Python
  • Paid
  • External marketplace: Gumroad
Buy on Gumroad (opens in a new tab)

Sold on Gumroad. PN Scripts does not take payment for it here.

Blender add-ons
A panel with a boolean hole under subdivision: rounded and dented without holding loops, sharp after Finish Cut with the same cage

What it solves

The gap

A Subdivision Surface rounds every hard edge unless a holding loop sits close to it. Adding those loops by hand with Bevel or Loop Cut is slow, and it is easy to move the cage, miss an edge or add loops where none are needed.

What it is

HoldLoop finds the hard edges, measures how much subdivision rounds each one, and adds loops only where the rounding is over your limit, at the widest distance that meets it. The cage is measured before every write and never changes shape.

How you use it

Select the meshes, press Auto Hold in the HoldLoop tab of the sidebar (N), and read the edge rounding before and after in the panel.

A small tool for one job: holding loops, measured and guarded. It keeps your topology and adds loops next to hard edges, nothing else.

Who it is for

Use it when

  • Hard-surface modelling with subdivision: panels, casings and props.
  • Finishing boolean cuts so they stay sharp under a Subdivision Surface.
  • Finding the edges a Subdivision Surface would round too much.

Built for

  • Blender modellers who work with Subdivision Surface.
  • Hard-surface and game asset artists.

What it does

Loops where subdivision rounds

Every hard edge, by angle or Sharp mark, or only the edges you select, gets one holding loop on each side. The distance is a percent of the object size or a length, and you can change it live in the redo panel.

Measured edge rounding

Check Subdivision measures how far Blender's own Subdivision Surface pulls away from each hard edge, shows the worst value and selects the edges over your limit.

Auto Hold

Loops only where the rounding is too large, at the widest distance that still meets your limit. Edges that are already sharp enough get nothing.

Finish Cut after a boolean

One click: QuadMend's N-Gons to Quads around the cut when QuadMend is installed, then Auto Hold, smooth shading and a Subdivision Surface. On the demo panel the edge rounding went from 88.3 mm to 3.43 mm.

The cage keeps its shape

The middle row of each loop lands on the original edge, and every new vertex is measured against the original surface. If the cage would move, nothing is written and the panel says why.

Specs

Vendor
PN Scripts
Type
Plugin
Platforms
Blender
Pricing
One-time purchase · USD 12.00 Price on Gumroad.
License
GPL 3.0 or later
Deployment
Blender extension (Windows, macOS, Linux)
Maturity
v1.0.0
Support
12 months of updates and email support

Compatibility

Platform or runtime Supported versions Tested up to
Blender 4.2 or newer 5.2

Stack

  • Blender 4.2+
  • Python

Get HoldLoop

Buy HoldLoop on Gumroad for $12, or get all four PN Scripts mesh add-ons in the PN Blender Mesh Toolkit for $36. Gumroad handles the payment and the download.

Buy on Gumroad (opens in a new tab)

Sold on Gumroad. PN Scripts does not take payment for it here.

Questions

No. The middle row of each loop lands exactly on the original edge, and HoldLoop measures every new vertex against the original surface before it writes. Above Max Cage Change (0.01% of the size by default) the mesh is left unchanged.

No. Finish Cut uses QuadMend's N-Gons to Quads when QuadMend is installed and skips that step when it is not. Everything else works on its own.

One loop on each side of an edge; for a softer bevel look use Blender's Bevel modifier. Very narrow faces limit the loop distance. HoldLoop does not rebuild the n-gons and triangles already in the mesh; QuadMend does that in Finish Cut.

Blender 4.2 or newer. Version 1.0.0 is tested on Blender 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 LTS with 33 automated tests and 14 scripted real-use scenarios.

Built with the help of an AI coding assistant; checked by PN Scripts with automated tests in Blender. Images and video are captures of real Blender sessions; no AI-generated imagery.

On Gumroad, which takes the payment and delivers the download. PN Scripts does not take payment on this site.