Poly Finder – Documentation

Poly Finder is a Blender addon for identifying and optimizing high-polygon objects in your scene. It helps you quickly find which meshes are causing performance issues and gives you tools to fix them.

Location:
3D Viewport → N-Panel → Poly Finder Tab

1. Overview

Poly Finder analyzes mesh objects and shows how much geometry each object contributes to your scene. Instead of seeing only a total poly count, you see exactly where the polygons are.

Use it when:

• A scene suddenly becomes slow

• You import downloaded models

• You need to meet performance budgets

• You want to clean up heavy assets

2. Interface Breakdown

Object List Panel

The core of Poly Finder.

Displays:

• All mesh objects in scope

• Sorted from highest → lowest poly count

• Percentage weight relative to total scene geometry

Selection Controls

• Click → Select object

• Ctrl + Click → Multi-select

• Shift + Click → Range select

Metric Selector

Choose how geometry is measured:

• Faces – Standard face count

• Triangles – Final triangle count (important for real-time)

• Vertices – Vertex density analysis

• Edges – Edge complexity

Include Modifiers Toggle

ON → Counts include Subdivision, Boolean, etc.
OFF → Shows base mesh only.

Use this to understand the true cost of modifiers before applying them.

Heatmap Visualization

Applies color coding in the viewport based on relative polygon weight.

This makes problem meshes visually obvious.

Polygon Budget System

Set a per-object polygon limit.

Functions:

• Highlights objects exceeding the budget

• Displays count of over-budget meshes

• Select Over Budget button for instant selection

Ideal for game or VR projects.

Batch Tools

Once heavy objects are identified, optimize them fast.

Remove Subdivision
Removes Subdivision Surface modifiers from selected objects.

Add Decimate
Adds Decimate modifiers with a custom ratio.

Apply All Decimates
Applies all Decimate modifiers in one click.

Scope Selector

Choose what Poly Finder analyzes:

• Entire Scene

• Visible Objects

• Selected Objects

• Specific Collection

Useful for large or layered scenes.

3. Typical Workflow

1. Import a model

2. Open Poly Finder

3. Check the top of the list for heavy objects

4. Use heatmap to visually confirm

5. Select heavy meshes

6. Remove SubD or add Decimate

7. Re-check poly counts

Repeat until performance is acceptable.

4. Best Practices

• Use Triangles mode when optimizing for games

• Check Include Modifiers before rendering

• Use budgets early in production to prevent issues

• Decimate gradually to avoid visual degradation

5. Performance Notes

• Analysis updates when scene or selection changes

• Heatmap is viewport-only and does not affect renders

• Large scenes may take a moment to scan

6. Troubleshooting

Heatmap not visible

• Ensure viewport shading supports overlays

• Check that objects are meshes

Poly counts look wrong

• Toggle Include Modifiers to compare

Batch tools not affecting objects

• Make sure objects are selected

• Check for locked modifiers

7. Compatibility

• Works with mesh objects

• Supports scenes with modifiers

• Designed for Blender 4.x+

8. Summary

Poly Finder turns scene optimization into a visual, data-driven process. Instead of guessing what’s heavy, you see it instantly and fix it in seconds.