How to Use UV Sculpt Tools in Blender

Blender's UV sculpt tools allow 3D artists to manipulate and smooth out UV maps directly in the UV Editor using intuitive brush-based workflows. This guide covers how to enable UV sculpt mode, explains the primary brush tools like Grab, Relax, and Pinch, and provides clear steps to fix texture distortion and stretching on your models without damaging your 3D mesh geometry.

Enabling UV Sculpt Mode

  1. Open your Blender project and switch to the UV Editing workspace.
  2. Select your 3D model, press Tab to enter Edit Mode, and press A to select all faces so they appear in the UV Editor.
  3. In the UV Editor window, press T to reveal the left toolbar.
  4. Click on the Sculpt icon in the toolbar, or press V to activate the UV Sculpt tool directly.

Essential UV Sculpt Brushes

  • Grab: Pulls and moves UV vertices along the brush path. Use this to manually adjust out-of-place UV islands or align edges.
  • Relax: Smooths out the distribution of UV vertices to eliminate pinching or overcrowding. This tool distributes faces evenly while preserving the general shape of the UV island.
  • Pinch: Pulls UV vertices inward toward the center of the brush cursor. Use this to increase UV density in specific areas requiring higher texture resolution.

How to Adjust Brush Settings

  • Brush Size: Press F and drag the mouse to change the radius of the brush, then left-click to set.
  • Brush Strength: Press Shift + F and drag to adjust how strongly the brush affects the UVs.
  • Invert Action: Hold Ctrl while using a brush to reverse its effect (for example, switching Pinch to Expand).

Workflow for Fixing Texture Stretch

  1. In the UV Editor, click the Viewport Overlays menu in the top-right corner.
  2. Enable Display Stretch and set the type to Angle or Area. Dark blue indicates minimal distortion, while green, yellow, and red indicate high distortion.
  3. In the Sidebar panel (N), navigate to the Tool tab and check Lock Borders. This prevents the outer boundary of your UV island from shrinking or distorting while you edit the interior.
  4. Select the Relax brush and stroke over the yellow or red regions on the UV map until they turn blue.
  5. Use the Grab brush to fine-tune any remaining uneven areas.